Have Hope In God
A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, January 5th, 2022, byEvangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, UK Even as bad news and negative reports become the ‘new normal,’ you can still expect your best days to be ahead of you. It’s easy to be worn down by hopelessness, but regardless of who you are or what condition your life is in, you can’t function successfully without hope in God. Make a quality decision to step out into the new thing God has for you today. Never assume that where you’ve been or where you are is as good as it can get. And when your goal or your situation seems impossible, keep in mind that nothing is impossible for God. Whether you’re anxious about the future or you’re going through a personal storm right now, let this uplifting message breathe fresh hope into your heart. Break free from wrong believing that holds you back from your blessed future in Christ. Having hope is always vital. It has been vital throughout the ages and it’s just as vital today. A new year calls us to reflect on where we’ve been, and to look to where we’re going. Everyone knows 2021 was a painful year. Some people lost loved ones, some lost jobs, some even lost hope. After such a difficult year, full of change and uncertainty, we’re all holding out for a fresh start in the new year even though there is still so much uncertainty. The situation around the globe has changed a lot since the pandemic. This has led to an economic crisis. People are losing their jobs, prices at the markets and shops are rising sharply. Many families struggle to afford food. Across some countries, the healthcare system has virtually collapsed. You need to have hope when situations or circumstances seem hopeless and you need to believe that it will be well because we serve a God of new things. Let me refer you to a text of scripture which reminds us that our God is a God of new things. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV). These verses from the book of Isaiah promise something brand new and God encourages us to keep our eyes open to see it. We all need newness in our lives. We yearn for it and we must continually seek out the new to replace and refresh the old. No matter what happened last year or even last night, God is faithful to His word. God is in the business of providing “new things.” As He says, “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it?” (Isaiah 43:19, NKJV). It’s hard to put things behind us, especially things that have troubled or upset us deeply. If you read this text of scripture in context, the prophet Isaiah was writing to God’s people who had been taken away to another land as slaves. He was telling them to look to the future because it was time for new things and new ways to go; there was a new hope. In a wilderness, there is no path to see, and you can’t be sure which way to go. Do you return to the start or find a new destination? The landscape all looks the same. If you are in a place that feels dark and confusing, like the wilderness, He is the God who makes way in the wilderness. Have hope in God. He is a God of new things. If you are in a place that feels hopeless and barren, He is the God who causes streams to flow in wastelands. A wasteland bears no fruit and doesn’t seem to sustain much life, but when a stream flows, life returns, with an abundance of animals, flowers, and fruit. Have hope in God. He is a God of new things. Don’t let anybody tell you that the future is bleak. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV). What does a “new thing” look like for you? Did you know that God longs to do a new thing in and through you, not just once but every single day? Today, or this week, or this month, not only presents us with the gift of a new year, it presents us with a gift of a new day, a new week, a new month and God is about to do a new thing, so have hope in Him. Neither you nor I know what this year will hold, but we do know that God is calling us to look ahead of us and forget the former things. Don’t dwell on what you can’t change, simply receive the new thing God is going to do in your life this year. It is through Jesus that we can build our hope and confidence and seek a fresh start. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). There are new ways, new opportunities, and new hope. A future that is rooted in Jesus provides a clear pathway in the wilderness and life to the wasteland to enable us to flourish, bear fruit, see new opportunities, and make a difference. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6). Now He is the one to put our trust in, the one for a sure future. Jesus is our sure foundation as we move into a future assured
The place of obedience in attaining success
A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, November 18th, 2020, byEvangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, Uk We see through the word of God, several men and women who heard God’s voice and simply obeyed and became a great success. They believed in what God spoke and were convinced based on God’s character and nature that if He promised something, He had the ability and the desire to bring it to pass. They gave themselves to God’s eternal purposes and saw good success in their lives. In a similar manner, you can also believe and obey God so you can fulfil your purpose and participate in God’s eternal purposes. All over scripture, we see examples of God’s people ignoring His direction for the sake of safety and security and it never ended well for them. So, don’t rob yourself of the success that God will give you when you focus on living in obedience rather than living according to the standards of this world. The purpose of this message is to the truth that our faithful commitment to obey and trust God is the guaranteed way to attain success. In the last couple of episodes, we’ve been talking about success attitudes. Today, I want to talk to you for a few moments about success attitudes with emphasis on how obedience affects our lives. First of all, let me remind you that when you disobey, the cost is huge. First, you rob yourself of opportunities to serve Almighty God and become a partaker of all the good things the grace of God has provided for us. You then live a life without purpose. Isa. 1:18 talks about what the grace of God has provided for us: “Come now, and let us reason together,”Says the LORD,“Though your sins are like scarlet,They shall be as white as snow;Though they are red like crimson,They shall be as wool.” This is a powerful text of scripture describing the grace of God. It says that if your sins are blood-red, they’ll be snow-white. Marvellous! If they’re red like crimson, they’ll be like wool. Let God do in your life what you cannot do for yourself. And that can happen only through your obedience and cooperation. Nobody deserves forgiveness. We have a saviour that paid for our sins and that’s the only way our sins are dealt with. Having been forgiven, our sins are changed from crimson to white as snow, not through our own goodness or because we deserved it, but by the grace of God. It’s all about the grace of God. How do your sins get forgiven? Only by what Jesus did. You cannot wash away your sins, only the blood of Jesus washes away sins. The Bible talks about how the leopard cannot get rid of its spots. You have to have God to supernaturally touch you, and that’s the grace of God. The grace of God has provided forgiveness of sins and only those who believe in what Christ has done can be cleansed of their sins. Those of us who obeyed God’s command to receive Christ’s gift of salvation have been delivered from the punishment of sin. “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Rom. 6:17). I want to encourage you to tap into what grace has already provided. God has already provided everything that we will ever need before we had the need. That’s the wonderful miracle working God. He created Adam and Eve and He didn’t wait until they sinned before He provided the means by which mankind can be forgiven of their sins. The Bible says the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world. He didn’t wait until they were hungry before He said oh you need some food and then He responded to them. Or you need to breathe and then He gave them air. God anticipated every need of Adam and Eve and the entire human race. That’s the God we serve. That’s the God I want to introduce to you. Understanding that God has already provided everything that we will ever need will change your thinking. Our future is history to God because He knows everything. We are not waiting on God to move; God is waiting on us to reach out and receive. That doesn’t mean we sit down and think God has already done it so there is no responsibility on us. This is not about you taking responsibility to make God do something. But it is the fact that we have to respond to God’s ability and that’s our responsibility. There is a part that we have to play. God has already created the supply before you had the need, and there is something He has put in your hand that will release His power. There is nobody who is incapable of overcoming or succeeding in life. It doesn’t matter how bad your sickness is, or how bad your finances are, or how bad your emotional problems are, it doesn’t matter. Whatever has happened to you, or whatever situation you are in, God has anticipated your problem and He has created the supply before you ever had the need, so just tap into it. There is a way for you to turn that situation around. But it’s usually beyond our ability to do that, praise the Lord, that’s why we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and show us these things. Our part is to trust and obey Him. Receiving Christ as your saviour is only the beginning of a life of success. You have to obey whatever God tells you to do so that you can enjoy God’s goodness. Every good and perfect gift comes from God, but to enjoy those gifts, you need to obey Him. “If you are willing and obedient,You shall eat the good of the land;” (Isa. 1:19) Disobedience will cost you missed
Boasting in the Lord
A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, November 11th, 2020, byEvangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, UK No one enjoys being around a person who boasts of himself. Bragging about your own ability and wealth is a turn off in anyone’s book. So, the question is, can a Christian boast? Can a Christian be proud of anything? The answer is yes, for all boasting is not sinful. The Bible does encourage us to be boasters. Boast in the Lord. You see, boasting in the Lord is on the one hand quite the opposite of boasting in oneself. Instead of drawing attention to ourselves, we draw our attention to Christ. So, what do we take pride in? Is it our possessions, intellectual gifts, relational abilities, or artistic attractions? Do you ever boast about God’s grace and work in your life? Is God blessing you in ways that ought to be shared with others for their encouragement and up building? Then boast in the Lord today, He is worthy of our boasting. The message I want to convey to you today, is about the best way or the positive or right way to boast. You may ask, is there a positive way to boast? How could boasting be something positive? Friend let me tell you that boasting is good if we boast about the right thing. So, what are the things that we shouldn’t boast about and what should we boast about? For those of us who know God, there is a reason for celebration. The Bible uses the word rejoice, which in the original language is translated to boast. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2). Normally for the believer in Christ, boasting is a sign of pride, where the sinner boasts of his independence of God. But there is a positive boasting, not in self but in God. We’ve been prompted by God to boast about something – He doesn’t want us to boast of our achievements or the things that we have or have done. He simply wants us to boast about knowing Him personally and how He operates in the lives of humanity. So, the Bible says in Jer. 9:23-24 that:“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, 24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. “Therefore, as it is written: Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:31).But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord” (2 Cor. 10:17). Go ahead and boast about knowing God! It’s good to boast in God. It’s not pride at all. The only way boasting is not good is when the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches. There is a holy boasting: live for God and know God intimately. You shouldn’t be ashamed of making the character of God known to the world. Don’t forget to mention the love of God when you have the opportunity. Just because it might be seen as boastful, don’t refrain from sharing your faith in God and sharing His goodness. Don’t refrain from declaring your new identity in Him and how He has created you for success. You limit yourself so as not to offend or outshine others, but the Bible clearly says that the believer is the light of this world. See yourself as God sees you. Otherwise, you are not living to achieve God’s purpose for your life. This might lead to self-sabotage, downplaying who you are, playing small or even limiting the character and attributes of God. The passages found in Jer. 9:23-24, 1 Cor. 1:31 & 2 Cor. 10:17 are powerful passages of scripture. If we will sit down and be honest and objectively analyse ourselves, we will find out how much of our lives is boasting in the fact that we know God, or know Him in an intimate way. You see, the scripture says, “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, 24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. “Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Cor 1:31).But “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord” (2 Cor 10:17). These verses of scripture are talking about here in this life. They are not talking about when we stand before God and get a revelation about what’s right and wrong. These are telling us what’s important. They say don’t let people boast in their wisdom or in their own knowledge that they have accumulated. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” I’m repeating these scriptures to let you know that boasting in the Lord is not pride at all. It’s a commandment from God. People always want others to know what they have achieved. We are not saying that you shouldn’t tell people what you have attained or achieved, but the emphasis must not be on your accomplishment. If you know God, that’s the most distinguishing characteristics in your life. We are not talking about just knowing who God is, or just having somebody told you and you know that He exists, but having an intimate walking relationship with God. Currently, people
God wants you to know Him
A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, November 4th, 2020, byEvangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, UK The single greatest privilege in life is to know God. The God who formed you, provides for you, and sent His son to die for you longs to have a real relationship with you. He longs to be known by you, and through the powerful sacrifice of Jesus, we truly can know Him like any other person. In fact, in some respects, He is infinitely more knowable than any other person. No matter who you are, or what you’ve done, you can know the God of love and count on the wonderful aspects of a relationship with your heavenly father as you wholeheartedly seek to know Him. God is calling us to a life of seeking Him with all we are. He is calling us to value our relationship with Him above all else. The purpose of this message is to stir your heart up to simply seek a deeper relationship with your heavenly father. I want to ask you a question: what in the world are you hungry to know about? I want to challenge you with another question: do you know Jesus personally? Is He closer than a brother to you? Well, you know you are, or you aren’t. Do you know God? Do you know His will for your life? We are on this earth to increase in the knowledge of God. It’s not only about knowing God, but increasing in the knowledge of God. We are not talking about just knowing who God is, or just having somebody tell you that He exists, but you having an intimate walking relationship with Him. That’s what we are talking about. The Bible says in Jer. 9:23–24 that, “Let not the wise boast of their wisdomor the strong boast of their strengthor the rich boast of their riches,but let the one who boasts boast about this:that they have the understanding to know me,that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,justice and righteousness on earth,for in these I delight,”declares the LORD. This was what God spoke through His prophet, Jeremiah. It’s the will of God that every single person has the knowledge of Him and His will. Almighty God in heaven wants us to learn about Him more than everything else or anything else. Do you think God is more interested in you learning about trees, seasons and the birds, the oceans and technology, medicine, history, literature and mathematics? Yes, God is interested in whatever you are involved in and do well, but what God wants you to increase in knowledge about above everything else, is who He is and how He operates in a person’s life. Nothing but a true knowledge of God can make a person successful in life. Don’t go for the dictionary’s definition of success. Nothing but a true knowledge of God can make a person successful in life. This is because knowing Him means that you will know how He operates, and you will consistently seek His will and direction for your life. Knowing God intimately will enable you to see things, not the way the world sees them, but seeing things from God’s viewpoint. You will understand God’s mind and have knowledge about how He operates in certain situations and circumstances. You will comprehend what God is up to in your own life. You can distinguish between the world’s wisdom and Godly wisdom, and know what God is saying to you. You will have the knowledge of His will, and His wisdom and understanding in your life. Incredible! It’s so important to know God and know His will for your life. Not settling for anything in life except what God wants for you is what makes a person successful in life. Make it your top priority to know God intimately by having intimate relationship with Him, and He will show you His will for your life. God will make it very clear to you how you are to invest your life. He will help you to make the right decisions in life. He will fill you with the knowledge of His will. You will grow in the Lord and have a deep yearning desire to know His will and that’s a life of success my friend. By doing things from God’s viewpoint and understanding what He is up to in your life, you will be able to have lasting impact and a positive influence on others and that will in turn cause them to want to know God and glorify His name. Halleluiah! How will you know the career you have to pursue without having an intimate relationship with the Lord and knowing His will for your life? Why will you spend time, money, and other resources in college, university or an apprenticeship without knowing the exact purpose of God for your life? That’s a good question to answer. I think it will be very wise to seek the Lord for His will for your life. It will be wise financially, and also in other areas. In every aspect of your life, you need to seek God and know the way He operates. You need to see life from God’s point of view, and not the world’s viewpoint, and live your life on the bases of that. So, what’s God’s purpose? What’s His plan for your life? What’s God’s will? What does He want to see in your life? These are fundamental questions you’ll need to answer as you conduct your life. That means understanding things from God’s point of view or seeing things and perceiving things as they are, just as they appear to be, to know God and how He operates. Knowing the will of God for your life is so important because it prevents you from wasting your time, gifts, talent and treasure. Normally when I ask young people, what career do you want to pursue? What course do you want to
There is a better way to live
A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, October 28th, 2020, byEvangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, UK If someone were to ask you to define success, what would you say?No doubt there will be about as many different answers as the number of people asked. You see, most people define success in terms of achieving goals or acquiring wealth, having prestige and having high status and power. But God does not define success the same way we do. In God’s eyes, success means discovering His will for your life and using that purpose for His glory rather than your own. When we stand before God in the judgement, it will not matter how the world thought of us. How successful we were according to the world’s standard will be meaningless. So how do you define success? Is the success you are seeking only temporary, or is it an eternal success that lasts? The purpose of this message is to encourage you to get a proper and Biblical understanding of what success truly means. Do your fellow believers, strangers and the general public hold you in great esteem for your Christian walk and conduct? I just want to ask you this question and you can answer it for yourself. What brings you the greatest amount of joy when people talk about you? Do you want them to say, “you are rich, you are wise, you are so educated and intelligent, you are always the best and doing fantastic in sports,” and on and on they go? Or would you rather hear them say, “I love you because you are walking in truth with courage, confidence and commitment to Jesus Christ?” Life is not about fame, life is not about popularity, or the abundance of things one possesses (Luke 12:15). So, we have to be extra careful in terms of the life that we live on this earth. Our peace, success, comfort, joy and happiness do not depend on having a great deal of wealth of this world. The things of the world will not satisfy the desires of your soul. The Bible says that, “what shall profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul” (Matt 16:26). So, it’s so important to know what you are living for, my friend. The things of the world will not supply the needs of your soul. Many people have abundance of things but they are discontented and they live in fear. They don’t have peace. Their abundance do them no good. God created you for success but don’t define success like the dictionary does. You may ask, how does the dictionary define success? Well, the first one I have found was achievement of something attempted. That is a pretty broad definition, but success is not about things that we do or the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Another definition I found in the dictionary was the gaining of fame, or prosperity. So, this is how the dictionary defines success. Your security is not in your wisdom or in your popularity or fame. It’s foolish to trust in these things when you have no relationship with God. So, this is not a godly definition of success at all. There are a lot of people that have fame but it’s not success. Hell is going to be occupied with a lot of people that you think are successful. The Bible is saying that what shall profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul. All the people who have been given all the credit and the ones that people just want to talk about, these are going to populate hell if they don’t know Christ. They are not successful. The Bible says if you gain the whole world and you lose your soul, you have no profit. So, what shall you exchange with your soul? Having money or prosperity is not success. Just look around the world, we have seen people who seem to have got everything. They’ve got money, they’ve got prosperity in the eyes of men and fame. Everybody talks about them, everybody wants to be like them, and yet they end up committing suicide, they end up having their lives in shambles. They end up losing their soul. It profits them nothing. Having money is not success. Success needs to be redefined. We have been influenced by the world more than we should. We think that means doing something grand or something big. Do you know that not everybody is called to do something big? It doesn’t mean that you should be limiting God. Therefore, don’t despise small beginnings. Some of us could not do what we were called to do if we didn’t have helpers, if we didn’t have people in the back room helping us. They may not be in front of the camera, but they are just a part of what we are doing. If we are not faithful with little, God will not increase it and give us more. The world has made us have a wrong impression that doing something huge means your life is counted, and if you are not doing something huge, your life isn’t counted for anything, but that’s not true. The way that success has been presented is not a Godly concept at all. I want to encourage people who think they haven’t done much that you can succeed regardless of what God has called you to do. Some people think they are successful but all these temporary things are going to pass away. God judges things differently from what we do. We look at the outside but God looks at the heart. And there are many people that on the outside just look awesome, but in the heart, they are miserable. They don’t have the joy and the peace that God gives. Let me tell you that there is nothing in this world that will minister to you and satisfy
A mindset of success
A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, October 21st, 2020, byEvangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, UK God designed you for a success. He made you to be a winner, and this is true for every person regardless of what has happened in the past. God has never destined anybody to live a mediocre life. The Bible tells us pointily that God wants us to prosper in all things and be in health. God wants you to experience success even in the seemingly insignificant things of life. Today, perhaps you see roadblocks in certain areas of your life. Instead of growth or increase, you see lack. Or perhaps you’ve lost something, it could be your job, an important relationship, or your health. My friend, remember that the Lord cares about every matter that troubles you and He wants you to experience wholeness and success in those areas. The purpose of this message is to Biblically redefine what success really means and to show you the simple but powerful Bible secrets of having good success. There are attitudes you need for success. First, you must believe that success is possible. God not only heal, deliver, or prosper, He created us to be successful in life. God wants us to succeed my friend. He created us for success. God has never made a failure; nothing is wasted in God’s kingdom and so God has never destined anybody to a mediocre life ever. He made you to be a winner, trust His word. There are a lot of voices out there telling you that the structures of society are aligned against you. There are voices telling you that the government hasn’t done enough to provide the opportunities you need to succeed. There are voices telling you that someone has hurt you so badly you can never make it in life. These are all lies. You may even think that your past is holding you back, but I can assure you that every person that God created is created for success. It doesn’t matter what has happened in the past, or how you may evaluate yourself or even how people have evaluated you, God made you for success. Friend, you will never be successful if you believe the world around you or the structures of society or your family or your past is preventing your success. This doesn’t mean that there are no systems and structures working against us, but rather, to have the mindset that in all these situations you are more than a winner and that success is possible. So, you’ve got to have success mindset, or success attitude. You have to believe that success is possible. God made you for great things. He made you and me for great things. God created every one of us to be something special and we need to be motivated to press towards that goal and seek direction from God. We need to press forward. Nothing can prevent you from achieving success. We live in a culture today that has totally misrepresented what success is. How do we know that you have to succeed in life? How do you know that you were created to succeed? The Bible tells us so. After creating Adam and Eve, God blessed them, and God said to them,“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). How can such people be failures? The same way God has given us power to do so. We are to dominate the earth and subdue it. You cannot be a failure. You will need to go for the word of God. Take Him at His word: His word is so powerful. Don’t doubt because of the situation that you are in, or circumstances that you find yourself in. God’s word says exactly what He means. God always says exactly what He means, He never lies, and He never says, “I’ve changed My mind.” He said “I give you authority and dominion.” He gave absolute dominion to Adam and Eve. He has given us power to rule, control and subdue the earth. See how victorious and successful we are supposed to live. We are to take dominion. Whatever He says is like a contract that cannot be broken. “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repentHas He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.”(Numbers 23:19-20) So, when God says anything, He means what He is saying. Hebrews 1:3 says,“Upholding all things by the word of his power,” and Psalm 89:34 says,“My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” You have to learn to believe what God is saying and not let your circumstances dictate to you. This entire universe is being held together by the power of God’s word. His word is powerful and will accomplish whatever He sends it do. So, if God says you are successful, believe that you are successful. Believe and have that attitude. You see, it’s all about the mindset that we have. Let’s turn to Jer. 29:11, this is a familiar text of scripture most people know:“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” An expected end! That’s very powerful. Most translations will say, a hope and a future. But if we go for the old KJV, He says, ‘He will give you an expected end.’ God has already set the end that you expect up. How can you fail? You are to succeed in life. An expected end means that instead of going through life and