Pastor Taiwo Odukoya @ Sunday services
In an emotional, yet glorious second Sunday service, the congregation was treated to the outstanding, enduring, and impactful memories of the late Pastor Nomthi Odukoya. Significantly, many who knew her attested to the integrity of her walk with God and the graceful manner she lived her life.
Ministering subsequently, the Senior Pastor of the Fountain of Life Church, Taiwo Odukoya encouraged the congregation to know that Pastor Nomthi is in a better place. He alluded to the truth that where she is currently is every Christian’s future. He mentioned that while she was alive, she did all she could do for the Lord and charged everyone to get ready to serve God with newness of commitment.
Reading from Mark 14:1 – 9, Pastor Taiwo highlighted that in every gathering, people always have different motives, notwithstanding the nature of the gathering. Teaching on the reference Scripture, he identified those who were purely religious at the gathering. He talked about those who came to see Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead. Others, he said, were there to kill Lazarus, to end the testimony to his miraculous existence.
Pastor Taiwo stated that despite the religious and educational qualifications of the Pharisees, they didn’t have the prophetic insight that Mary had that made her break the alabaster jar and anoint Jesus’ legs with her tears and her hair. The Man of God declared that “while religion called her action a waste, Jesus qualified it as pure worship”. He taught that the woman, in her gratitude and appreciation, saw what the disciples and the religious leaders of the day couldn’t see. According to him, she was prophetic!
Teaching the congregation to be conscious and careful of wrong motives, Pastor Taiwo stated that motives define perceptions. He emphasized the importance of always having the right motives in order to be spiritually correct and enjoy the best that God has to offer His children.
In bringing his message to a close, he advised that it is time to seize the moment and show forth the glorious realities of God in our lives. He prophesied that there will always be a change in any environment that a Christian steps into due to the fragrance of His presence at work, referencing 2 Corinthians 2:14–15, the anchor Scripture for the month.
Pastor Taiwo Odukoya @ Thursday Showers
Speaking from Acts 19:1-12, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, while preaching at the November 10 Thursday Showers, noted that the reality of being born again is the total death of a believer with Christ as well as the experience of resurrection with Him. According to the clergy, the essence of being born again is regeneration, which suggests the presence of the Holy Spirit in a believer. “You cannot be born again without receiving the Holy Spirit,” he said.
Pastor Taiwo further noted that receiving the Holy Spirit is not the same as having the baptism of the Holy Spirit. According to him, receiving the Holy Spirit is the regeneration of a person. This, he said, leads to the baptism into Christ. This, he said, yields the manifestation of some qualities in the life of such a believer. “Just like the apostle Paul, believers need to be conscious of who they are in Christ. The day you know your rights, that day changes your destiny,” he said.
He therefore urged them to allow the expression of the Holy Spirit to be made manifest in the way they speak, relate with people, manifest the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit and power to handle the devil. “You need boldness to receive what belongs to you. He lives big inside of you, so live as big as He is inside of you,” he said.
