Meeting: Sunday School
Date: 10 March 2024
Theme: The Church Life In Times Of Troubles/Tribulations
Topic: Introduction to the subject of tribulation or trouble
Minister: Bro David Kilanko
(Psalms 34:19) – “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.”
(Matthew 24:29-31) – “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
(Acts 14:21-22) – “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, 22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
(1 Thessalonians 3:1-5) – “Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone; 2 And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith: 3 That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. 4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know. 5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.”
(2 Timothy 3:11-12) – “Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
(Revelation 1:9) – “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
The true essence of tribulation is for entrance into God’s kingdom. God is not a respecter of persons. His standards are high for those who will access His kingdom. Every man who will enter and inherit the kingdom must pass through tribulation. God is also not a sadist, He does not ask us to go through tribulation because He enjoys watching people suffer. If we do not commit to understanding the essence of tribulation, we will misinterpret it and give the adversary an advantage.
Tribulation is a doorway to the kingdom. Trials, tests, temptations, afflictions e.tc all fall under tribulation. All this is to raise a man who can sit on the throne. This man is focused on the journey and process of becoming one who can sit on the throne.
There is a popular song: Me I no go suffer, I no go beg for bread. A lack of understanding makes men equate suffering to a lack of bread (or food). This is because a man can be in abundance yet go through suffering. Suffering is neither lack nor abundance but the stripping away of nature that is anti-God. Suffering is to make a man go from being carnal to being spiritual and then divine. The adversary wants us to have a wrong definition of suffering and things spiritual.
For the believer who is seeking the kingdom, suffering is inevitable. Therefore, there is a heart state we must have as we suffer (1 Pet. 3:14).
Many have defined suffering as the lack they go through or the discipline they subject themselves to to acquire things in the natural. This is not what Christ suffered for! (Luke 12:15).
Satan is hell-bent on ensuring that men will not transition from seeking to keep acquiring carnal things to seeking true riches. Like Job, we must be willing to endure suffering and give up our life, family, and wealth when tempted by the devil. Satan was sure Job would curse God and attempt to preserve his life. Satan fights men from inheriting the kingdom, especially when he sees that man has started walking in the way of the Lord.
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” (Hebrews 12:6-8).
The idea that God should only pamper us is a lie the devil has sold to believers. How the Lord receives us is by scourging, by chastening. Any man not chastened by God will not be a partaker of His kingdom.
(Psalm 23:4) “thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” – Rod is not for pampering but for corrections, for scourging men who will be sons of God.
God our Father is salvation-minded, anything He does is to save our souls. If we value entrance, we’ll see tribulations differently. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:” (2 Tim. 2:12) – Unless we suffer with Him, we’ll not be glorified together with Him.
God will expect that as we go through tribulations and persecutions from men we like Stephen remain compassionate towards our persecutors. We must understand that we are warring against spirits not men for our entrance (Eph. 6:12, 1 Cor. 2:8).
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:12-14).
God doesn’t tempt with evil. He cannot be tempted and He doesn’t tempt. Every man is tempted when he’s drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Enticement is the conception of sin. Jesus was tempted for forty days in the wilderness but He wasn’t enticed. He did not bring forth sin and death. In the heart of God, temptation should not end in death but in the purification or beautification of our souls. The intention of the Lord for trials and temptations is to birth a man who has fidelity and integrity.
(1 Thes. 3:1-5) The labour of heaven is to raise a man that is established and rooted. The intention of Satan at every temptation is to move one away. It’s possible to be offended by the way God is leading us. Satan moving us away is not necessarily that we stop going to church but that we come to a wrong judgement about God.
The reward for all our obediences and the tribulations we go through is that we are saved by God. The Lord wants to bring us to a place where we’re not moved by afflictions. Our minds need to be adjusted to knowing that the Lord is in the tribulation with us. He’s with us through every trial and every test.
(2 Pet. 3:9) One of the essences of our back-to-back meetings is to give us the right sight and/or judgement so we can see the work God is doing through his lens. We must come to a place where we regard the time spent in the church not as a waste because this is where God will do His work and install His judgement in us which sometimes can take time because of the infirmities in our souls. We must appreciate the lengthiness of our meetings same way we do not mind the hours we spend at work.
“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” (1 Pet 4:1-2).
There is a 21st century Christianity that does not believe in suffering and therefore isn’t positioned to receive the gospel of Christ unto salvation. This ideology robs this believer of the requisite strength to endure tribulations.
We must break away from the thought that Christianity is not hard. In certain countries like China where Christianity is prohibited, the Christians there wait on the spirit to have meetings because their moves are being tracked. This pressure however heightened their sensitivity in the spirit. We must not have the mindset of “Daddy wey dey pamper.” God wants to chastise us so He can receive us. This is why the pressure we’re getting is for God to bring us to Himself.
The intention of this teaching is not to make us have a mindset where we allow all types of trouble or tribulations without checking our spirit if it was permitted by God for our salvation.
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) – For the believer who will enter the kingdom, tribulation is something he is acquainted with because narrow is the path that leads to the gate of the kingdom. This man understands all excesses of the flesh and infirmities of his soul must be trimmed away to enter the gate.
We must begin to see the reasons for trials and pressures. We must disabuse our minds from thinking what Jesus died for is for us to have a soft or comfortable life. While God can permit this type of life for the believer, He does so only because this is the pathway in which such a soul will be saved. The reward of our service to God is not a soft life but rather that our soul is saved to the uttermost.
We need to start having a heart that is prepared and ready for tribulations for the sake of the kingdom. If we love to be led by the Spirit and love to follow God, we should be prepared for tribulations.
That we go through tribulation is not enough, how we go through it is equally important. We must allow the work that tribulation ought to wrought in us and usually it is to deal with infirmities of or iniquities in the soul.
Pastor Laide Olaniyan (Round off)
“and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.” (Mark 4:17) – Tribulation is usually a result of the word we have heard.
“And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” (Rev. 7:2-3).
Seasons of hurt are coming upon the whole earth that are inevitable. This is why the seal of the Father is being administered. There is the hurt that is inevitable upon the earth but the reason for our pressures or tribulations is for the word sake. The subject of tribulation supersedes this hurt.
“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion,..” (Amos 6:1) – It is through pressure that we’ll be admitted into the kingdom. This is why we must not be at ease. We must always be ready for war. We must always be prepared for pressure and assault.
Christ is not a ticket to an easy life. He’s a conscription to an army. God must erase the anomaly of looking for an easy life in the faith. Our confession should be “I am born to endure adversity”. The pressure can come from different places, sometimes at once, recurringly but just breathe knowing that someone is standing with you. God is raising us to hold fast to his judgement, to be fierce in the spirit in the face of pressures. Our comfort is this that many are the afflictions of the righteous, the Lord delivereth them out of them all.
THE END