The Strength of the Church: (Righteousness)

By SK Rotimi

Christian faith as it were, has its codes of practice which must be adhered to in order to be pleasing to God. One of such codes is righteousness which the author explained explicitly in this book. Im in total agreement with his submission that righteousness is the strength of the church because it is the very thing that Jesus asked us to seek first in Matt. 6:33. To anyone seeking to deepen their relationship with God and also desiring not to be ashamed on the great day of the Lord, this book will be an invaluable resource.

Pastor Kola Bamigbade, Regional Pastor
RCCG, Scotland UK


Undoubtedly, this book is meant to bring to the fore the ills and weaknesses of the modern church with a view to challenging every professing Christian to self-examination. It is a revelation of the wide gap between the existential world system and the prescribed scriptural standards. It is a tool for raising and nurturing all heaven bound believers in godliness. It will serve as a means of strengthening the resolve of the committed and consistent believer in the pursuit of the things of God. It will serve as a ready manual for awakening the modern church to its responsibilities and the promotion of Christian ethics.

Pastor SD Filani, Christs Overcomers Ministries Intl.
Lagos Nigeria

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Mar 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524667351

SK Rotimi

Pastor Stephen Kayode Rotimi is the Parish and Senior Pastor at the RCCG, King of Kings Tabernacle in Dagenham, Essex, UK. He gave his heart to Christ in 1974. He has been active in serving God from secondary school days at Baptist High School Jos, Nigeria. He later served in various leadership capacities to Executive Church Council levels at Somolu Baptist Church and at the Pentecostal Upper Room Baptist Church all in Lagos before relocating to the UK in 1997. He was the President of the Nigerian Christian Graduate Fellowship Lagos Chapter for several years. He holds HND in Civil Engineering from Yaba College of Technology and having gone through some registration procedures, he became a registered member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and COREN. In addition, he holds a Masters degree in Information Systems from the Thames Valley University, Slough, UK. He worked on the managerial team of the Lagos State Transport Corporation, Lagos, Nigeria from where he retired. Pastor SK Rotimi is an ardent encourager of righteousness and of the voracious study of the word of God. He holds many Post graduate certificates in Theology. From his early days in Christ, he has been on a routine of going through the Bible at least once in a year and encouraging all around him to do the same. God has also helped him to take the Gospel of Christ to Europe and Asia through missions and Church planting.

Book preview

© 2017 SK Rotimi. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 20/03/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6733-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6734-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6735-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016921318

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Endorsements

Foreword

Synopsis

Chapter 1 What is the Church?

Chapter 2 The Church Infiltrated

Chapter 3 The Current State of the Church

Chapter 4 What is the Strength of the Church?

Chapter 5 Righteousness, the Strength of the Church

Chapter 6 Price Paid For Our Righteousness and Its Implications

Chapter 7 The Demands of Righteousness

Chapter 8 Implications of Righteousness

Chapter 9 The Fruits of Righteousness

Chapter 10 The Reign of Righteousness

Chapter 11 Conclusion

DEDICATION

This piece of work is dedicated to the glory of God through His only begotten SON, my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who was sent from on high to become our RIGHTEOUNESS. Therefore, we have a righteousness, not our own, but of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the Immortal, the Invisible, the Omni sapient, all wise God, our Redeemer.

To Him be all glory, all honour, all majesty and dominion forever and ever (Amen).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My sincere gratitude goes to the following people who through the grace of God played no small role directly or indirectly in seeing to the successful completion of this book. These people include:

Daddy and Mummy G.O., Pastor and Pastor Mrs E.A Adeboye who God used to teach me at the Redeemed Christian Bible College (RCBC) and whose pattern of life has been of tremendous encouragement to me over the years. Others in RCCG include: Members of the executive council and all our Province Pastors as well as my other colleagues in the ministry. I must not fail to mention particularly Pastors Kola Bamigbade and Femi Popoola for their support over the years.

At Upper Room Pentecostal Baptist Church (URBC): Former and present General Overseers and the other Brethren in the Ministry particularly the Filanis, the Adekanmbis and the Aboludes for their maintenance of the long string of Christian relationship over the years. These are great encouragers and investors in relationship.

In my family: I thank God for the legacy left behind for me by my late parents Pa Jacob Olawumi Rotimi and Madam Leah Adetumbi Rotimi. The character mould they exemplified and set for me at the very beginning of my journey here on earth was significant to my early quest to know and do the will of God. Hence, it enhanced my belief system which later made it easy for me to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour at an early age. Also worthy of note are my siblings: my big brother Chief I.O. Rotimi who is the current Obadofin of Ayedun Ekiti; my big Sister Taye (Sr.); Late Dr. Kehinde (Sr.); Sister Idowu; Folorunsho (Engr.); Taye (Jr.) and Kehinde (Jr.). One way or the other, God used these ones to help me along my life’s journey.

At RCCG, KKT: All the Brethren in KKT particularly Sister Chantal Ogunfolu who helped type the draft; the Ministers both former and present. I recall the occasion when the Ministers gave me as a gift a hard cover note book and a pen telling me in the presence of the Brethren that it was high time I put pen on paper. These include the current ministers representing all the KKT Brethren both former and new: Pastor Shade Fasogbon, Pastor Esther Enwezor, DC. Josephine Abolude, Dns. Doris Ladipo, Dns. Adeola Ogundipe, Dn. Sunday Aladetoyinbo, Minister Demola Hamzat and Minister Sarah Jolaosho.

Finally, my beloved wife and son: Pastor (Mrs) Fadeke Abiola Rotimi and Olarewaju Charlie Rotimi: I thank them for their all-round support in every Department of my life over the years in little as well as in big things.

God bless you all in Jesus name.

ENDORSEMENTS

Christian faith as it were, has its codes of practice which must be adhered to in order to be pleasing to God. One of such codes is righteousness which the author explained explicitly in this book. I’m in total agreement with his submission that righteousness is the strength of the church because it is the very thing that Jesus asked us to seek first in Matt. 6:33. To anyone seeking to deepen their relationship with God and also desiring not to be ashamed on the great day of the Lord, this book will be an invaluable resource.

Pastor Kola Bamigbade

Regional Pastor

RCCG, Scotland

UK

FOREWORD

It has been a privilege to be a fellow labourer with Pastor S K Rotimi in the ministry for about thirty years and it is imperative to testify that he has been steadfastly resourceful and consistent in the pursuit of God through Christ. As a Pastor he has impacted many lives in Africa, Europe and Asia. He is a rare man of God who lives what he preaches.

This book serves as a wake-up call to the church for a return to righteousness. It is an appraisal of the status of the modern church that has continued to drift from righteousness into materialism, worldly security, and the pursuit of worldly glories. It is an address of the shift in emphasis from godliness to worldliness. It is an examination of the effect of modernism on the church of God.

The author examines the concept of the church from the biblical perspective and emphasizes that it stands for a called out assembly of people to serve, worship and fulfil the purpose of God. He notes that unlike the biblical goal of the church, the modern church is increasingly seeking for wealth, security and good things of life without due regard to righteousness which he rightly considers as the strength of the church. He notes that the church has been increasingly infiltrated with all kinds of doctrines, philosophies and New Age teachings. He notes that the world system along with its global institutions has become a tool in promoting ungodly ideas that have continued to erode and confuse the faith of many.

He therefore counsels that the time has come for the church to return to the true strength of the church. Accordingly, he proffers the ways and means by which the Christian faith can arrest and redirect the further sinking of the modern church into unrighteousness. He discusses such global issues as human rights, abortion, racism, climate change, economic inequality, sexual perversion, homosexuality, moral decadence etc. and how the church should react to them as revealed in the scriptures. He distinguishes between false righteousness and true righteousness. He posits that false righteousness is man-made, self-inclined and rooted in personal human efforts while true righteousness is rooted in the pursuit and acquisition of the life and nature of God as prescribed by the scriptures.

He emphasizes that the church must continue to pursue the kingdom of God and its righteousness in order to meet the standards of God. He avers that the strength of the church does not lie in the erection of large and luxurious buildings, conspicuous display of wealth, miracles, signs and wonders, spiritual gifts all of which cannot guarantee eternal relationship with Christ. He chastises churches which tend to equate success in the ministry with structural edifices, musical excellence, congregational size and other parameters that are at variance with the righteousness of God and warns that Christ will reject a person on the judgement day if and when iniquity is found.

He counsels that the church must be prepared to pursue righteousness even in the face of all odds. He notes that the promotion of the concept of eternal security is unscriptural as grace must not be misunderstood for liberty for lasciviousness. He opines that Christ has not promised that the Christian race will be easy. He therefore charges that righteousness must be pursued with courage and determination through faith in God, peace through justification and son-ship in Christ.

He concludes by warning that the pursuit of the glories of this world amount only to vanity. He counsels that it is vanity to pursue godliness while denying the power therein. He warns that professing Christians should not turn the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying Christ in the process. He emphasizes the need for the modern church to get its priorities right as only the pursuit of righteousness can provide lasting and genuine salvation of souls.

Undoubtedly, this book is meant to bring to the fore the ills and weaknesses of the modern church with a view to challenging every professing Christian to self-examination. It is a revelation of the wide gap between the existential world system and the prescribed scriptural standards. It is a tool for raising and nurturing all heaven bound believers in godliness. The book will serve as a succour for the discouraged, confused and backsliding believers. It will serve as a means of strengthening the resolve of the committed and consistent believer in the pursuit of the things of God. It will serve as a ready manual for awakening the modern church to its responsibilities and the promotion of Christian ethics.

Pastor Samuel Dipo Filani

Christ’s Overcomers Ministries Intl.

Lagos Nigeria

SYNOPSIS

On account of national and natural circumstances masterminded by the forces of nature and in many cases by the devil such as famine, drought, wars, poor economic or social conditions coupled with man’s insatiable appetite for power, fame and pleasure, many are willing to do anything to ensure their hearts’ desires are met. The Church is not spared from this strategy of the devil to get as many people as possible off the track of righteousness. It is therefore common to see many claiming they are Christians or even ministers of God while they are seen to deviate sharply from the standard of God for His people. To most of these people, Christianity is all about acquisition of power, material prosperity, gratifications of fleshly desires and nothing more. This then makes the words of Jesus