LUKE 14:25-35
Another year is fast approaching, and with it comes so many expectations, responsibilities, and commitments. However, how well prepared we are (or otherwise) to successfully handle these challenges will, to a large extent, be dependent on the lessons we have learned (or failed to learn) in the preceding years of our lives, especially in 2026, the year we are just about to exit.
It goes without saying that good things don’t come easily; they are, more often than not, the outcome of a carefully laid-out plan for success, coupled with prayers and faith in God, our Father. If we have failed to realize this principle or have neglected to follow it in the preceding years of our lives, then now is the time to come to terms with reality and embrace wisdom in planning for the coming year, 2027. Proverbs 1:20-23; 2:1-9; 3:13-18; James 1:5-8.
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him”. James 1:5.
Before embracing the coming year, wisdom demands that, as a church and also as individual Christian members of God’s church, we must first evaluate our performance in the previous years, especially 2026, to see how we have fared so far. This will, in turn, help us to make purposeful plans for a fruitful and victorious 2027, through the help of our Almighty God, who has so ordained it from the beginning. Genesis 1:26-28; John 15:1-8.
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples”. John 15:8.
This study will run under two sub-topics, namely:
- Personal Evaluation of Our Christian Commitments for the Year 2026.
We shall expand this first sub-topic using the following five (5) points:
a. Time Management
b. Church Attendance
c. Contributions to Church Growth
d. Financial Commitment to God’s Work
e. Personal Impact in the Lives of Fellow Church Members.
- Purposeful Planning and Persistent Pursuit of Set Goals and Achievements for the Year 2027.
We shall also expand this second sub-topic using the following three (3) points:
a. Uncommon Business Ideas for God’s Children
b. Financial Breakthrough and Prosperity for Diligent Christians
c. Partnership with Christ in Church Growth and Financing.
Having begun this study with an overview of what the study would look like, we shall now begin a piece-meal, in-depth study of each of the two sub-topics and points already highlighted, beginning with the first one below:
- Personal Evaluation of Our Christian Commitments for the Year 2026 in the Following Areas:
a. Time Management: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Time Management is the act, or process, of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, or productivity within a limited amount of time. This is so because time itself cannot be managed; it is fixed. So, you can only manage the activities within the boundary of the time God has given for your life to begin and end.
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted…..” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).
Our lives are timed from the very beginning of our conception to that moment we cease to live on this earth, whether by natural death or the supernatural catching away of the saints to glory, otherwise known as the rapture, whichever comes first. Wisdom begins with the effective utilization of this knowledge for doing God’s revealed will and achieving His defined purpose for our lives.
Within the fixed time of your life, God expects you to discover and fulfill the following:
- Firstly, and most importantly, is to know Him as the only true God and to believe in His Son Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul. John 17:1-3; 1 Chronicles 28:9.
“And this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent”. John 17:3.
Unfortunately, for most people, Satan tactfully delays them from gaining this knowledge early, until most of their lives are wasted in unproductive pursuit of worldly ambitions and sinful pleasure, which counts for nothing as far as God’s purpose for their lives is concerned. This is a wake-up call for parents to raise their children early enough in the nurture and fear of the LORD. Proverbs 22:6.
- Discover your place in God’s plan and purpose for His creation.
Noteworthy is the fact that every person created by God has a specific role to play in God’s plan for His creation; otherwise, He would not have made them (or caused them to come into existence).
What is your place in God’s big plan for His Kingdom and all His creation? Part of the time of your life must be dedicated to finding the answer to this question.
From a careful reading of 2 Timothy 1:7-9 and Romans 8:28-30, it would seem that we were made, commissioned, and released from heaven to earth with a mandate to accomplish certain duties for God within a fixed time. You must, therefore, find out and fulfill your mandate while your time still runs!
- Develop yourself sufficiently to effectively carry out God’s purpose for your life.
Unfortunately, most people fail here and waste their entire lives fulfilling their personal pursuits until death calls. Your education, your skills acquisition, personal discipline, and every laudable achievement in life are all worthless if they are not being harnessed for the effective discharge of God’s purpose for your life concerning the business of His Kingdom. 2 Timothy 2:1-26.
All of the above would require effective management of the limited time allotted to our lives if we must be fulfilled Christians by the time we leave this world.
- Finally, after achieving the three objectives above, you should dedicate your entire life to fulfilling them. John 4:31-38; 2 Timothy 4:5-8.
Every born-again person who walks (or has walked) the earth is caught up (or must have been caught up) at least in one of these four stages of existence. Unfortunately, those who are not born again cannot invest time in discovering God’s ordained purpose for their lives yet because that is not possible without a spiritual relationship with Him. But equally sad is the truth that some (if not most) Christians are not fully utilizing their time to God’s glory; they are either investing it in the wrong pursuits, or they are not serious with the use of their time in the right things they have invested it in. We must take a cue from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave much attention to spiritual matters than to His physical, bodily needs.
“Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” John 4:34.
The highlight of what has been said so far in the first point is as follows:
Under the first point titled Time Management, we held that time has a fixed value and, therefore, cannot be managed; rather, the activities for which the time is set out would be the focus for management. And we identified four activities tied to each person whom God has created and sent into this world, to be as follows:
- The quest to know God. John 17:1-3.
- The quest to find out His plans and purposes for our lives. Jeremiah 1:4,5.
- The task of sufficiently developing oneself to fulfill God’s plan and purpose for one’s life. 2 Timothy 2:15,20-21.
- The determination to carry out God’s known plans and purposes for one’s life and to fulfill them satisfactorily. 2 Timothy 4:6-8; John 4:34.
We shall now continue with the study under the second point below.
b. Church Attendance
Hebrews 10:19-25; Acts 2:41-47; 5:12-16; Psalm 122:1; 42:1-4.
“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD…”. Psalms 122:1.
Church attendance is very important, as it creates the forum for the unity of true believers and gives them the opportunity of knowing and understanding each believer’s unique spiritual abilities and talents, the exercise of which brings mutual edification and spiritual growth and maturity among the members of that church. 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Ephesians 4:7-16.
“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as Pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ…” Ephesians 4:11,12.
In the light of the Scriptures above, we (I mean every true Christian with a conscience) can now see how disturbing and disrespectful to God a believer’s absence from church activities can be, except for some unavoidable reasons.
Deliberately absenting oneself from participating in church activities, or favouring some personal engagements above that, must be seen as a deliberate denial of our services to God, who saved us by giving up His Son for our sake. Below are some grim consequences of church absenteeism:
- It shows how ungrateful the absentee is to God, who keeps him alive and provides for his needs. Psalms 103:1-5; John 21:15-17.
- It exposes the lack of true love for Jesus, who left heaven and its glories to attend to us on this vile world of sin; would it, therefore, be asking too much to also endure always being in His presence for fellowship? Philippians 2:5-8; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15.
- It shows how unwilling we are to diligently serve God by the use of the gifts and talents He has imparted to us by His Spirit. 1 Timothy 4:14,15; 2 Timothy 1:6.
- It shows how unconcerned we are about the progress of the gospel work for which Jesus Christ laid down His life. 2 Timothy 4:9,10; John 9:4,5.
- It exposes our lack of sacrifice for heaven’s sake, whereas others sacrificed everything (including their lives!) so that the church should keep marching on to future generations, of which we are one. Matthew 16:18; 2 Corinthians 6:3-10; 2 Corinthians 9:19-23.
- Lastly, by this act of unjustified absenteeism, the absentee denies the LORD the opportunity to perfect the work of grace that was begun in their lives at the moment of their salvation encounter with God; for it must be understood that we do not only come to church to minister to others and also be ministered to by them, but, above all, to appear before the LORD and allow Him to work in us and make us more and more like Jesus Christ. Galatians 4:19; John 15:1,2; Hebrews 3:12-14; Psalms 51:7-12; 1 John 1:7.
“…..what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ…” 1 John 1:3.
c. Contribution to Church Growth
1 Corinthians 3:1-15; 2 Corinthians 6:1-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31.
Church growth is the spiritual, numerical, and structural expansion of the body of Christ, made possible through the collective contributions of each individual member thereof. Ephesians 4:11-16.
Although this growth is attained through the collective contributions of each member of the church, yet it is the personal drive of each member for this growth that makes it possible; this, also, is the basis for God’s evaluation of our works in order to give to everyone a reward deserving of their personal contributions. Revelation 14:13; 1 Corinthians 3:8-15.
“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour”.
1 Corinthians 3:8.
God has brought us together as one body so that He could provide a platform to each of us for the demonstration of His grace and gifts bestowed on us, which also, as earlier said, provides the basis for individual rewards here on earth and forever in heaven. Matthew 19:27-29.
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:12.
Having said all that, it should now be the earnest desire of the true child of God to make the most use of every opportunity available to them to further the growth and expansion of the body of Christ, which is the church. Below are some tips especially formulated to help us to achieve this:
- We must awake to the fact that God brings us to the church to give us the chance to earn His trust, His rewards, and His Kingdom. Although salvation is freely given, yet the blessings or rewards emanating from that relationship with God are bestowed only on His faithful and diligent children whose works are deserving of it. John 9:31; 14:21-23; 4:34-38; Matthew 25:14-30.
- We should each have a personal drive towards promoting the church to outsiders and inviting them to our weekly activities, that they might be saved also. 1 Peter 2:11-12; 3:1-6; Philippians 2:14-15; Matthew 5:13-16; Colossians 4:5-6; Romans 10:1.
“One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, we have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus…”
John 1:40-42.
- We must learn to employ the common strategies we see daily in the secular world in getting people interested in attending our church fellowship.
Some of those corporate strategies are as follows:
a. Employees promoting their goods or services and wooing potential customers to patronize them.
b. Companies rebranding their products and services to give them an edge over competitors.
c. In some exceptional cases, we even see business owners resorting to fasting and prayer to God over slow business growth; we certainly can do better for the church.
d. Employees or business owners being nice to customers so as to encourage their continued patronage. We can do the same to newcomers in the church and win their hearts to Christ.
e. Business owners beautifying their shops, offices, or business premises to make them attractive to potential or regular customers. We can do the same to the house of God and make it as physically attractive as it is spiritually.
- Lastly, we must endeavour to pray and fast for the unity and growth of our church regularly, while also striving to be the change we are expecting to see in our fellow brethren. John 17:11-23; Romans 12:4-21.
d. Financial Commitment to God’s Work
Psalm 50:1-15
When we talk about the Christian’s commitment towards offering financial support to God’s ministers and for furthering the work of the gospel, we are actually not doing so on the basis that God needs our money or property for Himself; but, rather, we do this in the light of the following Scriptures:
- That God owns all things, visible or invisible, in heaven or on earth. This implies that man is just a custodian of whatever they own. Deuteronomy 10:14; 1 Chronicles 29:10-17.
“… A man can received nothing, except it be given him from heaven”. John 3:27.
- That in the pursuit of the establishment of His Kingdom on earth, God involves the services of trusted and chosen men, women, groups of persons, or organizations, and plans out a means by which He could empower them financially and materially, to enable them use those financial and/or material resources for the support and expansion of His Kingdom here on earth. Deuteronomy 8:11-18; Exodus 10:24-26; 3:21,22; 11:1-3; 12:35,36; 35:4-29.
“But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: For it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth:” Deuteronomy 8:18.
- That in whatever way God uses us to raise money for His services, whether through the possession of a good business acumen, a rewarding career, an excellent, well-paying job, a life that attracts favours, or gifted hands and talented minds that easily render services that pay handsomely, we are to understand that the purpose for this blessing is, first of all, for the progress of His Kingdom and, then, for our own benefits. Malachi 3:10; Proverbs 3:9,10; Ecclesiastes 11:1,2; Proverbs 11:24,25.
“Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine”. Proverbs 3:9,10.
If we are careful to observe this divine plan of the flow of financial and material resources from God to man, and then to the church, we would keep this channel of God’s blessing open always, far beyond the reach of Satan, demons, and their agents. Malachi 3:11,12.
But where we selfishly withhold God’s blessing to ourselves and thereby cause a breach in this divine flow of resources from heaven to earth (through us) and then to the church, for the expansion and propagation of the works of God’s Kingdom, there’s bound to be trouble.
It is not uncommon for Satan to lure some people into praising themselves for the financial or material blessings they have, only because they think that their successes are the results or fruits of their own labours. How sadly mistaken! We must consider that much toil, good opportunity, intellectual prowess, or good connections do not always translate into prosperity; it is God who gives the blessing—for a divine purpose. Ecclesiastes 9:11.
“…The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skills; but time and chance happeneth to them all”.
Below are some accounts in the Bible where such misleading thoughts resulted in God’s wrath and judgment:
- Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 2:37-38; 4:28-37.
- Eli’s house. 1 Samuel 2:27-36.
- The Israelites. Malachi 3:7-9; Hosea 2:8-13.
“For she (the nation of Israel) did not know that I gave her corn, and wine and oil and multiplied her silvers and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness”. Hosea 2:8,9.
But today, God is eagerly advancing His Kingdom on earth and raising up financial partners who would faithfully channel His resources, sent from heaven, through them and to the Church. There are souls to be won, needs to be met, helps to be rendered, and ministers of the gospel to be financially supported, motivated, and encouraged to continue with the good work they’ve been doing for Jesus Christ.
Heaven is filled with resources of all kinds, ready to be disbursed to men, women, groups, or organizations here on earth for onward transmission into the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but unless God certifies us as faithful, He wouldn’t make us one of these channels.
“Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful”.
1 Corinthians 4:1,2.
The issue here is not so much what you think you have, but rather what God would commit in trust to your hands if He can depend on you.
Below are some Bible accounts where God used trusted persons as channels of His blessings for the gospel:
- The centurion: Luke 7:1-10.
- The early church: Acts 4:32-37.
- Tabitha: Acts 9:36-41.
- Cornelius: Acts 10:1-6.
- Epaphroditus: Philippians 2:25-30.
- Lydia: Acts 16:14,15.
- Onesiphorus: 2 Timothy 1:16-18.
- Paul’s supporters in Rome: Romans 16:1-16.
“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shown towards his name in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister”. Hebrews 6:10.
e. Personal Impact In The Lives Of Fellow Church Members.
MATTHEW 25:31-41
“And the king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”
Matthew 25:40
The church is like a nursery where the children of God are catered for and prepared for His service until such a time when they are matured and perfected for His Kingdom. How old or how new we are does not really determine who takes care of the other in the church, because we all need this care, whether we are matured Christians or just babies in the Lord. See 1 Corinthians 12:18-27.
“That there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.”
1 Corinthians 12:25
Whereas the new Christian in the church draws a lot of encouragement from the maturity and experiences of the older Christians, they (the older Christians) also draw so much inspiration from the daring, childlike faith of the new converts. In this way, a healthy state of interdependence is created among the members of the body which, if sustained, would keep the church strong and united in Christ.
The church that neglects to bring in new converts will lack the benefit of the warm, dynamic, and daring faith often associated with such new converts in Christ. Similarly, the church that refuses to grow in Christian maturity and discipline will lack the benefit of the experience needed to grow and move victoriously against the opposition of Satan and his agents. Acts 9:17-20, 22, 26-28, 31; Acts 18:23-28; Acts 11:19-26.
From the Scriptures above, we see how newly converted Paul invaded the dreaded synagogues with the gospel of Christ, a place the older Christians had kept away from. For all the risks he subjected himself to, they could not kill him. We also see how zealous Apollos was better prepared for greater service by Priscilla and Aquila, who were older Christians. So also, we see mature Barnabas sent to encourage the new converts at Antioch, but he later went back to bring in newly converted Paul. Together, their combined virtues resulted in a yearlong revival that saw the conversion of many souls and the growth of the church at Antioch. These things were made possible because the brethren, old and new in Christ alike, complemented one another’s efforts in the church, each impacting the life of the other positively and encouraging one another to greater service for the Lord.
Below are some other ways we can positively impact our fellow members in the church:
- Godly Visitation
Acts 15:36, 40, 41
The aim of Christian visitation is to strengthen the brethren being visited. Idle talk must be avoided. Titus 3:9; 2 Timothy 2:16-18; 2 Thessalonians 3:11.
Visitations must result in godly impacts.
- Biblical Encouragement
Acts 11:19-24; Acts 9:26-28; Hebrews 10:19-25, 35-39; Acts 14:21-22
We must inspire hope in the heart of the discouraged, using the Scriptures as the basis for the confidence we have.
- Sharing with the Needy
Acts 4:32-37; Acts 11:27-30; Matthew 25:34-40; James 2:15-16; Luke 3:10-11; Deuteronomy 15:11-15
Sharing must be done sacrificially; having enough for yourself must not be the basis for helping the next person in need.
- Standing Firm in Support of One Another
Romans 12:15-16; Philippians 2:1-4; Acts 12:1-17
When we stand in support of one another in the church, our faith will remain strong. The problem of one member should be the clarion call for all members to rally around them in support. 1 Corinthians 12:26
- Being the Example We Want to See in Others
1 Timothy 4:6-16; 1 Corinthians 11:1; 4:16-17; John 13:1-17
“Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:12
There’s nothing that impacts other people positively more than the observable, exemplary Christian life that is demonstrated by other Christians around them. We may preach, teach, and pray all we can, but if our practical living does not reflect it, it is hardly likely that anyone would take us seriously. Therefore, we must first be the change we expect in others; then they will become the change they see in us.
“For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.”
John 13:15.
To Be Continued.