ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER. [ A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja.] 16 Year Anniversary Edition. VOL. 2. NO.35 13-04-14. MY FATHER’S BUSINESS, ONE DECADE AND SIX, STILL COUNTING! FOR 72- consecutive quality hours and at a tender age of twelve years, the Lord Jesus Christ sat in a Temple Conference with eminent scholars, doctors of law, professors and philosophers of His time, listening to their thesis, doctrine and analysis, in respect of the Scriptures, while His parents troubled over His ‘mysterious disappearance’! The strict observance of the annual Jewish festival of the Feast of Passover, divinely commanded by God, took Joseph, Mary and Jesus, who was a first-timer, to Jerusalem, after the custom of the feast. According to the Jewish Calendar, it was held annually on the 14 of the Month of Nisan which commemorated the saving events of the Israelites who exited from Egyptian bondage after 430 years of slavery and servitude of the worst type of human degradation. [Read, Exodus.12:1-34; compare with Chapters 1-11 and Genesis 15:13-14]. When they had fulfilled the Pentecost which attracted multitudes of worshippers, Jesus’ parents who journeyed back to Nazareth and for 24 hours, were unaware of Jesus’ absence among the throng, quickly returned to the Temple only to find Him on the third day sited among the intellectual ‘gurus’ of Palestine, both listening, asking questions with great knowledge, to the amazement and astonishment of all people, including His parents! In a spiritually worded answer to His mother’s query for inconveniencing them, Jesus Christ said, “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” [Luke. 2:49; compare with verses 41-48 and 50-52]. His Father in this context is the God-Head and not Joseph, the carpenter and His Father’s business began in the Temple and extends into the salvation of the world! His Father’s business has nothing to do with commerce and industry! Though the parents could not comprehend the spiritual interpretation of that account of His Divine Assignment, Jesus went home with them as a good child, subjected Himself to their authority and increased in wisdom, stature and had favour with God and man! As a boy, Jesus Christ, under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, knew His life mission, keyed into it and subsequently grew to maturity and adulthood. With great spiritual authority and precision, Prophet Isaiah predicted the Lord’s qualifications, even before His birth as follows: “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.”[Isaiah. 50:4-5]. This prediction was confirmed by the Lord Himself when handed the TORAH –that is, the Books of the Law and the Prophets- on HIS FIRST OUTING AT THE SYNAGOGUE. He opened the Book of Isaiah Chapter 61:1-3, and read out following MISSION STATEMENT: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me because the LORD has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty, them that are bruised and the opening of prison to them that are bound. To proclaim, the acceptable year of the LORD, vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified.” *Like the Lord Jesus Christ, every child of God has a spiritual mission to fulfil on earth because we are His off-shoot and were not created to fulfil the lusts of the world, but HIS OWN DESIRE OF A LIFE-LONG OBEDIENCE TO HIS HOLY LAWS AND COMMANDMENTS! *We are in a decadent 21 Century world where all forms of decent behaviour and good morality have been discarded for the absurdities of civilization and technology which have led the youths of tender ages like the Lord, to opt for carnality and sins that damn the soul instead of discovering divine visions and missions! [Galatians. 5:19-22]. *Today little boys and girls under 12, have been exposed by Society, to all forms of vices including sexual pleasures and abuses, prostitution, drugs, rape, robberies, kidnappings, murders, drunken-driving, manslaughters, use of dangerous weapons of warfare as child-soldiers and for insurgencies! *HOWEVER ALL IS NOT LOST BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST HAS HIS REMNANTS AMONG THE FAITHFULS, SAINTS AND THE 7000 PROPHETS, WHO HAVE NEITHER BOWED THEIR KNEES TO SATAN NOR WORSHIP HIS IDOLS, TO FULFIL THE MANDATE OF HIS COMMAND, ‘OCCUPY TILL I COME!’ *THE LORD WILL DEFINITELY FIND ‘FAITH IN THE EARTH’ BECAUSE, ZION FAITH BIBLE-BELIEVING CHURCH, OF NIGERIA, AKA. ‘ZION B-BC’, WHICH CELEBRATES 16 YEARS ANNIVERSARY OF INVESTITURE INTO THE FATHER’S BUSINESS, IS A LIVING TESTIMONY! * ZION B-BC’S VISION IS HINGED ON THE BELIEVER’S CONFORMITY WITH GOD’S HOLINESS AS DEMANDED, BOTH IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. [LEVITICUS. 11:44,45; 19:2;20:7,26; AND 1 PETER.1:15-16], AND HER MISSION IS TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE TO THIS COMMAND THROUGH EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORD OF GOD AND INTERCESSION IN PRAYERS. * AND LIKE THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, ZION B-BC HAS EVERY REASON TO BE CONTENT THAT WE HAVE IDENTIFIED OUR CORE ASSIGNMENT AND ARE ALSO FULFILLING THE SCRIPTURAL GREAT COMMISSION AS STIPULATED AND COMMANDED IN THE GOSPELS AND IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES BY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS FOLLOWS: [Matthew,28:18-20; Mark.16:15; Luke. 24:46; John.20:21; 21:14 and Acts. 1:1-8], BUT LIMITING OUR REFERENCE TO, Acts 1:8; which says, “But , ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” *ZION B-BC HAS THOUSANDS OF ON-LINE MEMBERS ALL OVER THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA AND THE DIASPORA AND WE STILL HAVE ROOMS FOR MORE! PLEASE WASTE NO TIME TO JOIN THE ZION TRAIN WHICH IS CONSTANTLY ON THE MOVE ‘TO CARRY HOME,’ ALL WHO ARE COMMITTED, ROOTED AND READY TO TAKE UP THEIR OWN CROSSES DAILY AND FOLL0W THE LORD WITHOUT LOOKING BACK![LUKE.9:23-26, 57-62]. The Father’s business of saving lost and perishing souls, should be the SOLE PRIORITY every true CHRISTIAN WHO IS SOLD TO THE Lord Jesus Christ. There is a universal thought and belief that FIGURE SIXTEEN(16), is a very unique and strategic number in character moulding and good moral behaviour on the ascending ladder of human physical and developmental growth! Figure16, being the adolescence link age between childhood and adulthood, presents the platform for any sincere person, to entrench a life of obedience to God’s high moral expectations in this transient world which leads Man back to his Creator for accountability and inescapable judgement! A sixteen year old boy or girl is tagged, “SWEET SIXTEEN” and generally acclaimed by society as very innocent, pure, clean, unadulterated, even ‘holy’ in attitude, culture, mannerism and religion and is therefore required to live above board. At that age, an adolescent is at the peak of FORMATIVE AGE and ready to transit into the foundational ages of 17-21, which terminates into adulthood! Spiritually at that age, the youth should covet the support of the Holy Spirit to resist a loose life of “youthful exuberance”, and begin to inculcate a decent and new life of absolute dedication to the Creator. It is written, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally-minded is death; but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.” AT SIXTEEN ZION B-BC IS SPIRITUALLY-MINDED CARRY THE LORD’S CRUSADE TO ITS LOGICAL CONCLUSION! There was a first advent of the Lord which MISSION was focused on SALVATION OF THE WORLD; there will be a second advent, not too long from now, which will dwell on the JUDGEMENT OF THE WORLD! * YOU HAVE JUST TODAY TO JOIN THE BAND-WAGON OF THE SAINTS, TOMORROW MAY BE TOO LATE! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ALL OUR NUMEROUS READERS AND MEMBERS WORLD-WIDE AND PLEASE PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD FOR THE PRESENT DAYS ARE EVIL! ON OUR PART, WE ARE MORE DETERMINED TO LEAD IMPECABLE LIVES WORTHY OF EMULATION AS WE ROAR WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE HOLY GHOST INTO THE SEVERAL YEARS OF FURTHER SERVICE AHEAD OF US! “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance; But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” Amen. [1Peter.1:13-17]. If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations. Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access,to this newsletter, log on to: facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch & Zfbbc1.blogspot.com]. I am, Yours sincerely,Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor.08058436756 08098194390.g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com .