Pastor Taiwo @ Sunday Service
The first service for the penultimate Sunday service before the end of 2022, held at the Fountain of Life Church in Ilupeju on the 18th of December 2022, was a glorious service of deep and intense praise and worship to God. The congregation was led to a series of worship sessions to pour out their adulations to God.The sermon for the day was delivered by the senior pastor of The Fountain of Life Church, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya. Taking his anchor scripture from 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, he said the sermon was to prepare the believer’s heart for what God has planned for them this year and for the coming year 2023.
Pastor Odukoya said it is an established fact that once believers are still in this world, there will always be a war to fight, for life in itself is a battle. Making references to John 16:33; 1 Timothy 1:18; and 1 Timothy 6:12, he noted that it is imperative for believers to know who they are and what they have to win the war that always occurs in their minds, because the mind is the battlefield (Proverbs 23:7). He emphasised that a Christian should therefore guard their heart since the battlefield is the mind (Proverbs 4:23). He also stressed the fact that it is the word of God that believers need to win the battle of life. He did, however, warn them that in order to win the war, they must not be entangled in the affairs of life, and he backed this up with scripture from 2 Timothy 2:4.
The clergy further added that the weapons of a Christian’s warfare are not physical but spiritual for victorious action (2 Corinthians 10:4), and these weapons can be found in Ephesians 6:13–18. He summarised the whole arsenal as the word of God being the basic entity of every weapon. The weapon’s purpose is to destroy strongholds, thereby revealing the enemy’s tactics. Pastor Odukoya used Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness as an example, saying Jesus was able to win His own war, which occurred in His mind as well, through the word of God. Jesus, being the word Himself, used the word; hence, all Christians should follow suit (Matthew 4:1–11).
Quoting from Psalms 1:1–4, he said, “Meditating daily on the word of God is the secret to success.” He therefore encouraged Christians to confess the word of God over every situation rather than what the situation dictates to them, and that they should take charge of their thoughts and actions, just as David did in Psalm 103, taking charge of his soul and making it bless the Lord.
TESTIMONY GALORE
Pastor Taiwo Odukoya @ Thursday Showers
It was indeed another awesome time in God’s presence at the Fountain of Life Church in Ilupeju during the Thursday Showers, which held on the 15th of December, 2022. Pastor Dapo Williams led the congregation in the opening prayers, and the praise team spiced it up with worship and praises to God.
A number of the brethren came up to testify of God’s faithfulness and how He showed up when they felt all hope was lost. Each gave an account of how, despite all the negative reports and how the situations looked, God stepped in, and they have all come to return all the glory to Him. A particular testifier said she had walked into service while someone was giving their testimony in 2019, and she keyed in, and today she has come to say God has done it. And this was at a point in her life when she was at the point of choosing a church to be a member of.
The senior pastor of the church, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, then came on the altar after the testimonies were done and said, with all humility, that he was happy to be the pastor of the Fountain of Life Church. He appreciated God for what He has been doing in the church since its inception. Despite having a well-paid, reputable job, he left all for the call into the ministry, and God has been faithful ever since in upholding His word.
Pastor Odukoya ushered the church into another session of praise, thanking God for His goodness and faithfulness in their lives and for how far He has kept the church. He expressed his gratitude towards all the pastors, department and unit heads, fellowship heads, and most especially to those who have over the years been faithfully attending the Thursday Showers, even when some are not members of the church.
He then gave room for others to come and testify to what God has done, and it was another series of awesome testimonies being shared by some members of the service. With each testimony, Pastor Taiwo made the congregation see how truly God has been faithful. The last person to testify was the focus of the service, and as the clergyman said, his message has been preached. He said the church has been called to be witnesses, and as the testifier has just shared, when the church gets to heaven, she will find out that those things that are being considered big things do not matter as much as taking the message of the gospel to the ends of the world.
And with that, he rounded up the service as he blessed the church.
