The worship team sang “The Lord is my rock, I will not be afraid of storms”, and the Spirit of God filled the hall of the church with His presence. Sunday in Kiev was marked with the strongest hurricane and storm. But many people came without any fear of hurricane!
Today the engagement of Catherine Popova and Emmanuel Chindove took place. “While you serve God, He will fulfill all of your needs,” shared Emmanuel. “I am grateful that I am in such a church as the Embassy of God.”
Kate also shared what was happening to her. “I grew up in this church, and matured on the values that are in the Embassy of God. Everyone is destined to fulfill a definite purpose. Emmanuel and I were both carrying out our callings and met along our journeys of ministry. Pastor Bose once said that marriage should go when you do not expect this. Thank you, Pastor Bose, and thank you to my parents. “
Pastor of the central church, Bose Adelaja, thanked the parents of Katie, who brought up and educated her, and encouraged other parents to pray for their children. “Everything that is planned by God will be realized”, added the pastor.
Those present then heard some testimonies. Andrey Rudenko said that he had once received an SMS from an unknown person asking for help. The person was losing his life because of alcohol addiction. Andrew prayed for him. Later he came to find out that the man had found a Christian rehabilitation center and was rehabilitated and restored successfully.
Dasha Kuhtik shared that although there hadn’t been notable miracles in her life, God always proved His existence to her. At the last anniversary of the church “Embassy of God”, Dasha prayed for a friend who had severe pain and problems in her back. After the prayer of St. William Kumuyi, who visited our church that year, God healed her. Then Dasha realized that we mustn’t doubt that God can heal or hear our prayers – He just responds in his own extraordinary way.
Next it was time to listen to the Word of God. Pastor Bose taught on the theme: “Our Work (Labour)”. She shared with us her knowledge about work and leisure and showed us what the Lord had said about it, and also gave advice about improving our work ethic.
1. Your work – it’s your picture, your reflection, your writing.
Our work is our reflection. Each person reflects himself in his work and we cannot separate our work from ourselves. Every generation always has a high work ethic, and it differs from the others. The difference for believers is the fact that they should do their best in all work, as unto God.
2. Labour and work – it is God’s gift for us, it isn’t punishment.
From God’s point of view, when He gave us the responsibility to work – it was a gift. A wise man will appreciate the opportunity to get skills to work. The pastor explained that work is not just our job in a certain place. For example, after work we go home and work there, we work in our home groups etc. Building good relationships with people is also a form of work.
“Jesus said to them: – My Father works hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17).
3. Rest – Rest is switching to another activity. Outside becomes dark in the evening, and we can no longer be as effective at night as we were during the day. At night there is a natural desire to sleep and this has been provided by God. He cared about our rest. Therefore, labor is replaced by rest, and then we work again. “We will not be successful if we do not have the understanding that we must remain constantly at work. Why are there so many divorces? Because we do not want to get knowledge in this area and work hard at our relationship till the last breath. Work is a spiritual value. We must understand this “, – said Pastor Bose.
“For when we were with you, we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thes. 3:10).
4. Our true employer is God. Therefore it is necessary to ask him if He is satisfied with the way we work and what we do? We need to ask ourselves, “Do I give to God high-quality work?”
5. Pastor noted that all work and labor are important to God. For example: washing dishes, working as a loader, answering calls on a Hotline, the work of cleaning, any work in the church, any ministry. We should always be thankful to God for any work. “People always thank the pastor for preaching, but who tells those who maintain order: “thank you” ?” – Pastor Bose added.
6. Work helps us to discover our personal uniqueness. When we do something, we have the uniqueness is revealed as well as our abilities. We discover our talents, and they are also improved through the work.
7. Labor is a tool, a channel, a means of blessing others. Our attitude to work should be as the philosophy of a servant. This was the attitude of Jesus also. He always served the people – it was his work.
Pastor Bose drew attention to the fact that people often seek refuge from work that they do not like. They live with the mentality of rest. A delight for them is not in their work but in rest. But one should keep rest as far away as possible, except when it is necessary.
She then gave vivid, but not comforting statistics: 84% of workers required and need constant reminders and control, in order to guarantee that they will do what they should do, 14% need little supervision and reminding. Only 2% are able to deliver the goods without a reminder about their responsibilities. “These 2 percent of people are high-performance people and we need to aspire to be like them!” – said the pastor.
Tips that will help us to improve our work ethic.
1. Attend spiritual trainings and seminars in your business, career, occupation, to constantly learn new things.
2. Increase knowledge through reading books, specialized magazines and articles on the internet.
3. Chat and create friendships with successful people in your field….
4. Respect elderly people at work, at home, in church.
5. Learn how to use criticism to our advantage. Criticism is unpleasant, but it will serve for good. Do not wait for critics, but go and ask others how you can do a certain thing even better.
6. Do not grumble or complain about our work.
7. Avoid making excuses as to why we do not fulfill our duties.
8. Do not bribe.
9. Be honest and own up to any mistakes we have made.
10. Do not be a thief of time at work.
11. Be thankful for the people with whom we work.
12. Refuse to participate in gossip and rumors.
13. Do not allow another person to be ill spoken of in our presence.
14. We must be ready to fulfill all that we are asked to do.
15. Do not be negative.
16. Respond favorably to any task.
17. Ensure there is always a challenge in any work we do, because monotony dulls the brain.
18. We should have a list of priorities. Have a list of what we need to do and have a deadline, lead organizer.
19. We must have accountability. A good worker is that person who gives an account even when he is not asked to.
20. Have discipline and order at the workplace.
21. Have communication skills: learn to communicate very clearly, so as not to give place for misunderstanding.
Dear brothers and sisters, let our image as Christians be that of one who continually works hard: one who works with high quality and is worthy of the title “Christian”.
From the Central Church’s service
Press centre of “God’s Embassy Church”
Translated by Anna Tyzhnevaya
Edited by Kizito Leacock
