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LOOK UNTO GOD AND BE SAVED- Pst. (Dr.) L.O OLADELE (TACN, Abuja FCT Area Superintendent).

Published

5 years ago

May 2, 2020

LOOK UNTO GOD AND BE SAVED- Pst. (Dr.) L.O OLADELE (TACN, Abuja FCT Area Superintendent).

Text: Isaiah 45:22
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else”.

PREAMBLE
Peace be unto you children of God everywhere. We thank God for another Lord’s day, and we give glory to God who has been giving us courage and enablement to cope in this lockdown order. Children of God, I believe we have had a time of spiritual rejuvenation, restoration and transfiguration, time to commune with God better and I believe God must have been revealing Himself to us during the quiet time of lockdown. I believe it’s not just a resting time for the living Christians but rather a time of penitence, time of seeking the salvation of God and time to be closer to God. I pray that after this time, you will be a better Christian, instead of being a lukewarm Christian in Jesus name.

INTRODUCTION
Today’s topic is “Look unto God and be saved”.
God is addressing the whole earth because He is able to save unto the uttermost. I’m challenging your faith by this topic to ask you dear children of God, who have you been looking unto for help?
Of course, man is a dependent being, man must look unto something in one way or the other to survive, to escape from one problem or the other. Are you looking unto man? Are you looking up to the government? Are you looking up to any dominion of power? Are you even looking unto any power of darkness? Are you counting on your personal education or qualification? I’m here to tell you that all these will fail and all these have failed. That is why God is giving you this message “LOOK UNTO ME AND BE SAVED.”

Are you weary and tired of what’s happening? Are you just complaining, grumbling not knowing what to do? I am here to give you a message of joy “LOOK UNTO ME AND BE SAVED” says the Lord.
This message came when the Children of Israel were in Babylonian bondage, due to their disobedience. Today, the nations of the world are in bondage of Coronavirus because of disobedience, because of self-conceitedness, unhealthy rivalries and competitions. What then is the way out? The only way is to look unto the creator of the universe for mercy and healing of the whole world.

The Bible says, God is able to save unto the uttermost, those who come to Him, if they repent of their sins of arrogance and evil concupiscence. Then the ability of God to save will be experienced.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOOK UNTO GOD?
(1). To look unto God is to acknowledge our human weakness: We can’t help ourselves, we can’t save ourselves from sins. Human nature is utterly depraved, hence we need a superior being, we need divine help. Let us accept our weakness everywhere in the world and as individuals. All the glory of man is like a grass, that is what the Bible says. What can you do on your own if it’s not given from above? What can you achieve without God? Nothing and absolutely nothing. Isa. 3:5.

(2). The Second step is to submit to the Lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ for our Salvation (Micah 7:7). He is the only one that can save. Romans 6:23 says: “For the wages of sins is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(3) Confess your sins and turn to God for forgiveness. Acts 3:19 says that after repentance and conversion, the time of refreshing shall come from the Lord. Children of God everywhere, even unbelievers that are reading this message, confess your sins, it’s not about religion or denomination, God cannot answer the prayers of a sinner. Psalm 66:18 says; “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me”.

(4). To look unto God means to live a holy and sanctified life through the help of the Holy Spirit. God wants His people to serve Him in holiness, and exhibit power and gift of the Holy Spirit. 1 Pet. 1:15-16, John 3:3-5.

(5) Looking unto God is to trust in Him for help: Psalms 121:1 says: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” Our help can only come from God, it cannot come from human being, if human being helps you now, it’s for a while, it’s only God’s blessings that add no sorrow to it. If you have been disappointed by parents, brothers, sisters, or friends, it’s just because, you did not look unto God. The time of amendment is here. Look unto God now, re-focus your attention now and you will be saved.

(6) Another way to look unto God is to meditate in the Word of God (Psalms 119: 97-104). You can only see God inside His word. The word of God is powerful and is God Himself.
Matthew 7:21 says; “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Obey whatever He tells you through His word.

(7) Another way to look unto God is to be determined to obey Him from the depth of your heart; Obedience is the key, many in the Church today, their problem is partial obedience. Consider it as you are reading this, are you obeying the will of God totally? Are you not setting one aside and taking the others? We should obey God totally so that we can be saved. 1 Sam. 15:22-23

(8). You also need to look unto God through living a prayerful life and your prayer must be according to the will of God. Remember, God does not answer the prayer of sinners, that means you have to lift up holy hands. Ps. 15. There is nothing you can gain if you dissociate yourself from congregational prayer (Heb. 10:25), family altar prayers and personal prayers to wait on the Lord. (Lk. 18:1-8). A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian.

(9) You need to receive instruction from Him. Looking unto God means receiving instruction from God, not from man. Let Him direct you, let Him communicate His will to you to prove that you are a child of God. (Prov. 3:6, Isa. 40:31).

(10) You need to look unto Him for His second coming (Acts 1:11) says: “Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
If you are looking for His second coming, you will wash your clothe in His blood and you will occupy for Him in holy service. So, don’t pollute yourself, don’t compromise, people may ridicule you, people may call you different names, look unto Him and maintain your integrity.

APPLICATION:
In the book of Numbers 21:4-9, God told Moses to make a brazen serpent and raise it up on a pole and that, whosoever looked unto brazen serpent would be saved from death. And as many that looked unto the serpent were saved.
John 3:14-15 says that, the same Jesus, was hanged on the cross of Calvary that whosoever looked unto Him would be saved.
Let me tell you, after this pandemic, there is going to be restoration, the church of God is going to be heavily blessed, Nigeria is going to be lifted and there will be blessing everywhere for those that look unto God in all the ways mentioned. For deliverance therefore in all ramifications, God says “LOOK UNTO ME AND BE SAVED”.

PRAYER POINTS
1.Lord I surrender myself to you, forgive all my sins.

2. Lord direct my eyes, focus my sight on you that is hanged on the cross of Calvary, remove my eyes from Satan and his works, remove my gaze from the world and sins, even from looking unto men. Let me focus my attention unto you from this time.

3. Declaratively, say Lord, the whole earth is looking unto you for a total stop of Coronavirus pandemic. Whatever the storm of our lives may be, Lord, we are looking unto you, save my family, marriage, work, career, save the Church and save the world.

4. As Jesus is lifted up, Lord, I am looking unto you, let me live, let my body and spirit live, let my work and everything about me live in Jesus name.

Remain Blessed.

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

The Gleamer

Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D

The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.

The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.

In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”

The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.

The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.

Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.

In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.

Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.

Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.

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