Bible Teacher. Pastor.Educator.

Jesus Christ is bigger than my cultural boundaries! July 2018 Ministry Update

Dear Prayer Partners,

    Wow!! 2018 has been filled with major  personal setbacks and unexpected showers of blessings from God. On this first day of August and as I reflect on the past few months I am excited for what God has in store! This past weekend I had one of the my most memorable opportunities of an itinerant bible teacher! The Lord opened the door for to speak to a Chinese-American youth ministry in Naperville, Illinois from July 26th-July 29th 2018. Based on my past cross cultural experiences in other ministry context,  I was extremely honored but not initially super excited to serve at a  Chinese American atmosphere…(pray for me).

    I never would have guessed how touched and welcomed I would feel at this summer retreat. The teenagers at Living Water Evangelical Church were not like the typical youth groups that I encounter. These middle school and high school students were refreshing to my spirit, because I could tell how hungry they were for the Word of God! Not once was there an interruption to my presentation. Their willingness to drink deep from God’s word and take notes was unmatched by even some adult audiences. The worship team...Wow!!

I have never felt more respected and treasured as a guest pastor than by the students on this retreat. I have spoken to thousands of youth across my 20 years in ministry and although many retreats and camps have youth that enjoy my messages, the desire for the Word was striking with this particular group. Many students went out of their way to start conversation with me and during one of the lunch breaks a group of teenage boys and their leader invited me over for a Q&A! I enjoyed answering their well thoughtful and inquisitive questions about full time ministry work. It kept my personal morale very high as I worked through 6 different talks while feeling like a volcano was happening in my head and a tsunami was going on in my blood veins.

    After the first night I had a terrible drawback by catching the flu. I was aching, shivering, and had pounding headaches. With some of my energy effected and of course being visibly sick, I wasn’t sure how that would affect the response from the audience. To my surprise the students did not let my sickness all weekend  hinder them from getting God’s Word! I was blessed by a parent who overwhelmed me with the kindness she had to bring me medication after hearing I was ill. The graciousness of everyone I encountered truly made my experience as a whole better than I could have imagined.

After this awesome ministry experience here are three reflections:

• Jesus Christ is bigger than cultural boundaries and our foolish fears ! It is not everyday that a Nigerian American is asked to speak at a Chinese American Church. The fact that I was asked to speak at this event shows that God’s Word is for everyone and I am so glad that it unites us! I saw a handful of students make decisions that I personally believe will effect them forever. Students of all ages and genders commented to me that they appreciated the points from my sermons and I know that they saw me as a vessel in use of the Lord and not just my skin color. When students would give me compliments I could feel the genuine connections we made. I am grateful to have met Pastor Geoff who was so gracious to invite me and his hospitality showcased the need for us as leaders to invest in cross cultural relationships.

 

• The Word of God is powerful! I love that when the word is taught in different forums it always has the same impact. Even though my health was falling apart it did not cause a distraction or hesitation from the students because they already had set in their spirits that they were going to draw near to God’s Word regardless! They had a willingness to listen critically and they kept their hearts open to self reflection. I could see facial expressions change when I gave personal anecdotes from my life. Any gender or cultural barriers had no chance of surviving the mighty truth of the Bible! I love the bible because it never fails to change lives. I'm glad that it is a core value of my ministry to keep the bible at the center. I know that God purposed it to change lives and produce transformation. That is why I continually strive to always to teach the Bible with simplicity and depth.

Cherish Your Heritage! Reflections on going back to Home to Nigeria.#1 of 5

After returning back to my home in Nigeria I was immersed in a culture that was all to familiar and simultaneously foreign. 20 years is a long time to be gone from a place that used to be all I knew. I hope that the new knowledge I will be sharing impacts your life and enhances you as a person.

One of the first things I noticed after returning to Nigeria was how westernized everything has become. The native people of Africa are now wearing more western styled clothing in place of the traditional African patterns, they are also speaking english regularly and have even adapted to using American figures of speech. Even though the electricity was inconsistent, the weather is different and of course the infrastructure of roads has still not come up to North American standards, the country was heavily laced with westernized values.

Having spent more time as an adult in America than my upbringing in Africa, I’m so grateful to understand my native language and it felt amazing to communicate in my native tongue. It honestly disappointed me to see the increased pursuit of western culture was causing Nigerians to start to losing their roots. It was striking to meet kids who are Nigerian citizens with two Nigerian parents that only know English!

 

As people who are African, Korean, or any ethnicity -- we need to remember that our ethnic heritage is special. We should never be afraid, ashamed or embarrassed about our roots. Every culture has it’s pitfall and highlights, Yoruba culture for example is very petty on its respect for authority and how we communicate between age groups. It can be especially cringe worthy pertaining how we depict roles in marriage; relationships between husband and wife in Nigeria can consistently be found as abusive or insensitive to the needs of women. Contrasting hashly to white American culture that can be easily misunderstood as making men feel passive or encouraging passivity in the household. Every culture has its extreme nature and patterns. The most important thing to remember is that your culture, whatever it may be,  is a gift from God. Our languages, skin tones, origins, and identity determinants are all gifts from God. We should never worship our culture, but we should treasure it and cherish it.

 

What does it mean to cherish our culture?

A healthy way of cherishing our culture is simply respecting it, remaining grateful, sharing parts of it with others, and passing on the stories of our ancestry. Our ancestors and the components that make our respective countries unique deserve celebration. The Lord has made the body of Christ in a beautiful gradient of skin tones, hair textures, and languages for divine reasons. Generations to come should still have pieces of the past running through their veins.

 

What does it mean to treasure our culture?

A healthy way of treasuring our culture is teaching our children their native language, maintaining our traditional clothing styles, and keeping certain customs alive. Even though technology is advancing and global communication is improving we should not start to simulate to one plain world. Keep your culture alive and cherish it in a way that would honor the people who came before you.

• Remember to always worship God for your heritage and the heritages of others
• Find other cultures that have a better style in terms of communication, common practices, or quality of life we should embrace the knowledge, but not adapt to a level in which we are not recognizable.
• Respect other cultures .No culture is perfect and no culture should be worshipped, but they are all valuable to the Kingdom of God.

 

Each heritage is equal and loved in the Lord’s eyes, so keep that spirit of inclusivity in your heart.

Respectfully,

Pastor James Owolabi

 

A Desperate Need to Embrace Self-Control

I am reading through the book of Titus each day to rediscover my job description as a Youth Pastor on the southside of Chicago, and wow! What I am learning is both profound and sobering to me as a man who desires to serve God radically in this generation! The content of this book just brings total clarity to my mind!

God has called me to challenge young men who are living in an emotionally reckless society to be in control of their emotions and their actions. God desires that His holy Truth infuses the lives and hearts of the young men in my church with self-control.

 

Self-Control in Today’s Society

The current tragedy of the young black men and beautiful young black women living on the southside is that self-control is not a core value of our culture across America. Instead, it seems that our youth ministries and schools celebrate emotional recklessness! ‘Self-control’ is not even a phrase that most mothers in my church would use to describe their sons. We live in country that has lost its passion for self-control. Yikes! We even have a president who “seems” and “appears on twitter” to lack self-control of his speech!

To make matters worse, selfishness has become a virtue in the western world. Young men are encouraged by our “self-improvement gurus” to “follow their hearts” and their “passions” with no emphasis on controlling their emotions in the process! Perhaps this is why young gifted male athletes and young creative passionate Youth Pastors can make bad mistakes like shoplifting and running from the police when an officer instructs them to stop?

 

Paul’s Take on Self-Control

Paul felt differently in his letter to Titus. Instead, he challenged Titus to embrace and encourage self-control. ‘Titus,’ I can just hear Paul saying, ‘be humble! Watch your life! In everything, be an example!’

 

My Desires for My Own Self-Control

In everything I do and say, God wants James Oyedele Owolabi to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. God wants me to create a culture of self-control by modeling Christlikeness in my speech, especially in challenging situations such as when a grown man a decade younger than me is threatening to beat me up senselessly with excessive words that children should not hear. Yes, this happened yesterday at an event at my church. Yesterday!

Pray for me today that God will help me embrace self-control daily! I desire to please God and represent His heart by exhibiting personal self-control. I hope, too, that my choices can be a good example to those who are watching me.

I love you all, and I am praying for you!

 

Respectfully,

Pastor James

 

 

What I read today ......God is using Paul Tripp to rock my mind

What I read this morning:

 

" The Christian life can really be boiled down to two words: trust and obey. I must always entrust the things that are out of my control to God (Circle of Concern), and I must always be faithful to obey His clear and specific commands (Circle of Responsibility). - Paul Tripp From Pg 255 of Instruments in the Redeemers Hands..[1]

 

“Because sin is deceitful and fallen people are so naturally blind to uses of self, data gathering must always pursue two goals. First, the process must give the counselor the information needed to provide wise biblical counseling but an even more fundamental purpose is that we would be the Messiah’s instruments to open the eyes that have been blind for too long”. Pg 277 Instruments in the Redeemers Hands

 

“Our goal is not only to expose the darkness that exists in relationships and situations but the darkness of the heart, so that the gospel can be applied”. Pg 278. Instruments in the Redeemers Hand

 

“ I want to help counselees see themselves in the mirror of God’s word I will ask questions that they would never ask and probe in places they would not know to probe”. Pg 278. Instruments in the Redeemers Hands

 

Pray. Plan. Prepare. Pursue. Perspire. Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard! Give it all you've got today, and then make it a habit! -Bishop Dale C. Bronner

 

Facts about Spiritual Blindness from Paul’s Tripp:

• A fundamental part of being spiritually blind is that you are blind to your blindness... Pg292
• Spiritual blindness is the condition of every sinner, every counselee. Pg 292
• Spiritual blindness is deceptive because it masquerades as other things.
• Manna falling from heaven became to the Israelites because they were not focusing in the covenant love it’s provision represented, but on it’s taster as compared to the menu of Egypt”.  Page 282
• If you really want to understand what is important to a person, find out where he feels needy. Values become desires, desires become demands, and demands get expressed in counseling as “needs”.  Page 281.
• Another scriptural term for the spiritually blind is  “fools”.  Page 282

 

How this impacted me?

Do I come to situations with silent demands and respond with anger when my needs are ignored? I need to remember that I cannot hold people responsible for unwritten or unspoken expectations.

---

[1] . Facebook status on Thursday, October 25, 12.

Elma Update Pictures and video: Prayers needed this Easter Sunday......at First Baptist Church Elma, WA. Check out this video.

1. This morning I read Isaiah 38, and wow!!!....God is super amazing  AND SO......really Gracious. He sees our tears, He knows our pain and He can change our destiny...God is so gracious and kind....check this out.

Isaiah 38 ---In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”( God sees us when we hurt)

 ² Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ³ “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ( God knows when and where it hurts)

 ⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city ( God can change your destiny). AWESOMENESS!!!!!!! Our God is greater......

 

1. Hey Church!!!!!Thank you all for your praying and investing in our community and church!!!.
2. Continue to pray for Easter Sunday 2012 at First Baptist Church Elma. ( I love this Church)!!!!!

 

 

 

 

1. Pray that God will move in power and save lives through the preaching of His word.
2. Pray for those getting baptised this Easter Sunday.
3. Pray for those who have been invited!!!!!!
4. Our average attendance for the month of March is over 65.
5. Attendance my third Sunday in December of 2011 Sunday was 39 people.
6. Keep praying....the negative forces in my life  say: "it just the honey moon"....My spirit says " Celebrate what God is doing".. Guess what!!! I will celebrate what God is doing......
7. We are praying for over 80 people for Easter. I am planning on showing this movie this Sunday as a teaser for Easter.
8. Pray for God to use this service  this Sunday to hook people to Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives...
9. Pray that God will use these service to assist us in embracing the greatness of the cross and reality that the tomb is empty.....
10. Take some 20 minutes to watch this video and pray that as I show it this Sunday as part of my 40 minute sermon God will use it to ignite in people a passion for God.

 

 

 

Grace and Peace 
Pastor James Owolabi  3-19-2012.