*DAILY DEW 3/JUNE/2023* *GROWTH DEMANDS TRAINING* (IV) _Key Bible Text:_ *"As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away."* (Acts 13:2-3 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ Don't put yourself under any kind of pressure. If you have not properly trained men to be effective pastors, you have no business opening new centres. God CANNOT LEAD YOU TO DO IT. Stop deceiving yourself! When the Lord told me in late 2019, that He will soon require us to begin to spread at The Edification House, the next thing I did was to put a better structure of training in place to further prepare the men I have been training hitherto to become much more effective. By the time it was time to spread, we were ready. The men who would handle all the things needed at every level were ready. There's no pressure anywhere! Now, the catch here is that about five years ago, I ALMOST made a fatal mistake that would have adversely affected what we do today. I was going to appoint people into certain positions, but the Lord wouldn't let me do it. I didn't quite get why, because everyone seemed "fine" to me. I eventually had to drop it and just kept doing what I was doing. It was as the days unfolded, that it became clear why God restrained me, and all I could do was lift my hands in thanksgiving to God. If you do things in a hurry, you will regret it. The work of ministry is a not a copy-copy thing. It's not a but-we-are-colleagues thing. There are things you CANNOT copy if you don't have TRAINED MEN to run it. If not, hypertension will kill you. And that's not a figurative statement. The years are very long. You are in this thing for decades. Focus on the training, and the increase will come. I know that doing that wants to make it appear as though things are slow, but dear sir, whatever will be built to last cannot be built in a hurry. If you chase the numbers without raising the men, you will eventually betray proper apostolic doctrine and practice. We have big dreams for the gospel in our local church, but we are doing it with no pressure. We are strengthening our discipleship structure and training and raising more leaders, so that when the crowd begins to troop in, we don't start convening emergency meetings on what to do. We simply keep doing what we are doing, and the word of God will increase as the number of disciples multiply greatly. _MEDITATION:_ *Never forget this: Focus on the training, and the increase will come.* *#Popoola_Oluwatobi* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JUNE,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 2/JUNE/2023* *GROWTH DEMANDS TRAINING* (III) _Key Bible Text:_ *"Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business."* (Acts 6:2-3 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ God doesn't just want to add more men to you just so your building can be full; He wants men trained. If He knows that you don't have the men and the structure to make that happen, I put it to you, that God will only keep bringing them in trickles, in accordance with what you can handle at the moment. And if that doesn't satisfy you, then you would have to resort to all manner of gimmick, then you'll lose yourself, and there you are...doing all the things you had said you'd never do. So heed this counsel. Do what you must do, within proper scriptural boundaries. Ensure your local church is missions-minded. Be an evangelising church. Stay praying. Believe God for increase. But by all means, FOCUS ON THE TRAINING. Your primary attention must be on raising men who are trained enough to effectively disciple others. Pour all your energy into it. If you are evangelising, and you are praying, the people will come, first in trickles, then eventually in troops. It will happen! The few people that God is adding to you should be discipled by the few men you have trained. That's how the number of trained hands that you have will continue to increase. Steadily. And with that, more men to be discipled will come! _MEDITATION:_ *Church growth must translate into more faithful and trained men among committed members and workers, who can be entrusted with serious discipleship work.* *#Popoola_Oluwatobi* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JUNE,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 1/JUNE/2023* *GROWTH DEMANDS TRAINING* (II) _Key Bible Text:_ *"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."* (Acts 2:41-42 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ If your desire for numerical increase agrees in intent with God's desire, then your FOCUS will be on ensuring that you have PROPERLY TRAINED men who will ensure that this discipleship is effectively done. If you neglect this, and just keep going after increase, then clearly, you want increase for ulterior, selfish, and carnal reasons. We are often swift to make reference to the addition of 3,000 souls to the church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41), and the eventual increase to 5,000 men (Acts 4:4), and the steady increase from there upward. We want the same. Don't we? After all, it's the same Spirit at work then, who is at work now. But here is something we probably have not properly thought about. According to Luke's account, there were about 120 DISCIPLES gathered together upon Jesus' ascension, awaiting the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 1:15). Paul puts the number of disciples that Jesus appeared to at 500 (1Corinthians 15:6). Now, think about it. If all they had was 120 properly trained men, that would be ratio 25 new converts to 1 discipler. If we go with 500 trained men, that puts it at 6:1. Point is, they had already trained hands to handle the discipling of that influx of multitudes. The eventual outcome of that is seen in Acts 6:7 *..."the word of God increased, and the number of DISCIPLES MULTIPLIED GREATLY in Jerusalem...."* The platform for discipleship was set and thus, the new converts were well discipled. So, I ask you, dear Man of God/disciple/believer, how many men have you trained today who can EFFECTIVELY disciple those multitudes you want to see come in? There is no Pastor/church worker I know, who aggressively went after the numbers without prioritizing the training of the men to handle it, who did not compromise on proper discipleship process and who did not suffer a leadership crisis. Because the challenge is this: if you have more numbers than the trained men that you have, you will be pressured to appoint emergency leaders, who have no proper training at all either in true followership or leadership, and the consequence is that, such men will eventually become your greatest headache. _MEDITATION:_ *God doesn't just want to add more men to you just so your building can be full; He wants men trained.* *#Popoola_Oluwatobi* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JUNE,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 31/MAY/2023* *GROWTH DEMANDS TRAINING* (I) _Key Bible Text:_ *"And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."* (2 Timothy 2:2 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ Focus on the training, the increase will come. Numerical increase in the local church is of God and is the will of God. The mandate is to disciple the nations, and the local church is how God gets this done. As we go out, evangelising the lost, it is God's will that the saved be brought into the local church to be taught and trained as ministers of Christ. Thus, there is no one whose mind is fixed on God's mandate on the earth who would speak low of or despise numerical increase in the local church. That said. It is pertinent to always fix our mind on the REASON God adds people to His church. The idea isn't JUST to have a populated church, but to have more people trained to become effective ministers of the gospel. Any numerical increase that doesn't translate into this has fallen woefully short of God's purpose and plan. This is the ONLY reason a pastor ought to desire numerical increase; any other reason cannot be inspired by the Spirit of God. People desire increase for many ridiculous fleshly reasons today. For some, they want to be called one of the fastest growing churches in town. For others, it is just to increase revenue. More people, more money. While for some, it is just the satisfaction of seeing a mammoth crowd before them while they preach. None of these should be THE REASON we desire numerical increase. Whatever our reason is will always reveal itself in HOW we go about our pursuit of God's desire to see more ministers trained and raised for the cause of His work. _MEDITATION:_ *Now, if TRULY the reason you want increase is because you want disciples multiplied, then you know that it takes TRAINED (faithful) MEN to multiply disciples. That is, for you to be able to properly train and raise people as ministers of the gospel, you must ALREADY HAVE well trained ministers, who will get the work done. If you have more people than you have TRAINED hands, then you will fail woefully to multiply disciples. I believe this is very clear* *#Popoola_Oluwatobi* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JUNE,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....