Last Sunday was the penultimate Sunday of the year 2021 and we were more that ready to receive God’s word to us even as we wrap up what has been a glorious year, during the service, Pastor taught us on the subject of Resilience.

She defined resilience as having a resolve, been tough and able to move on even in the face of opposition, she reminded us that Jesus forewarned us about offenses but he is our example and he was resilient even in the face of death showing that as Sons of God, we ought to stand firm, unmoveable, possessing inner strength to be bold and work against external forces.

Pastor made us to understand that in our preaching of the gospel, we are bound to face opposition but God expects to be resilient in spite of it all, in Luke 4, Jesus was on the verge of being pushed headlong off an hill after he had preached in Nazareth, rather than resign and give up on preaching, he moved on to Capernaum and continued preaching, this was in line with the instruction he gave to his disciples in Matthew 10:23 about moving on to the next city when they are persecuted in any city. In John 8, the Jews attempted to stone Jesus and yet in John 9; he still had compassion to heal a blind man, a demonstration of resilience in spite of raging opposition, we also saw that in John 11, Jesus didn’t mind going back to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead despite the concerns from his disciples about having just escaped being stoned to death, Pastor charged us to have the same mind, to forget previous unpleasant experiences and be dogged about ministering the gospel at all times.

We saw other examples of how in Mark 5, having been chased out of the city of Gadara after he healed a man possessed with devils, Jesus went on to heal the woman with the issue of blood and to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead, also, in Luke 9, Jesus was not received into Samaria and two of his disciples wanted to call down fire to destroy them but Jesus rebuked them and instead went to another village, Pastor charged us to act like Jesus, he didn’t allow what some had done to him at any point influence his response to others, she charged us not to be biased but to preach and maintain resilience irrespective of what we face.

We also learnt from the lives of the apostles, many of whom were beaten for preaching the gospel but that was not enough to stop them, Paul was stoned to death but he rose up and went on preaching, the same Apostle Paul having been delivered from the lion’s mouth in Rome converted Ceaser’s household and even when certain death awaited him in Jerusalem as confirmed by prophet Agabus, he remained tough, ready to suffer for and die for the name of Jesus, unmoved by the pleas and tears of those around him.

Pastor showed us in all of this that God’s expectation is for us to stand strong at all times and live our lives as resilient preachers of the gospel.