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Thematic Analysis

By

Peter Anyebe

Youth Seminar: Church of Christ, Gboko

Theme: Overcoming in Times like These; Ephesians, 516-18

Sub-Themes:

Modern Challenges Confronting Youths

The Winds of Compromise

The Christian Youth and the Business World

Bridge Building; Building Healthy Relationships

My God and I

Open with discussion on the following two, 2 concepts:

Wisdom

Love, Faith, and Hope

Wisdom is the capacity to define the limits of being or existence, according to the

following three, 3 expressions of the Will of God in Romans, 122:

Perfect Will

Good Will

Permissive Will

Thus, nothing exists, unless God has permitted it; e.g. evil, pain, suffering and death.

Neither can anything be, outside its best possible state of existence. It would become

necessary to make an improved bur entirely new product; like the refrigerator and

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the deep freezer. After the fan was perfected, improvement demanded that the air

conditioner be invented. It is same with the hand needle and the sewing machine.

Goodness is in-between these two, 2 including perfection and permissivity.

When the Apostle Paul, in 1Corithians, 1313

, 1Thessalonians, 13 and

1Thessalonians, 58, reduced the basis for the human relationship with God into

Love, Faith, and Hope; he actually defined the limits of the relationship. The bottom

line in our relationship with God is defined by hope, below which we cannot claim

any connection with Him. Ultimately however, this hope can only be sustained by

love, when we are willing to keep God’s commandments, and to tend His sheep;

John 1415

and John 2115

. In-between, to make these possible, is faith. Faith comes

when we have found God’s Way or the natural order, N-O; which is different from

ours or the personal order, P-O; Isaiah, 558. It is only when the P-O is exchanged

for the N-O, our way for God’s way; that we can be assured of our evidence, as a

substance on which to hinge hope; Hebrews, 111. This makes God’s Way, as

exemplified by the five, 5 items, or the natural order, N-O the ultimate find in our

lives. Recall that it would be impossible to please God without faith; Hebrews, 116.

Moreover, when faith is given, the other two, 2 extreme limits are determined. This

means that when goodness is given, perfection and permissivity are determined; as

in the principle of optimisation. The process of optimisation links the minimum to

the maximum. It defines how a thing or being is to be improved upon. This

preamble therefore enables us to answer the following questions, to evaluate this

year’s youth seminar predictively:

What is the object of the youth seminar?

How do the organisers plan to achieve this?

To what extent is the plan according to God’s way?

The object is defined by the theme. And the plan is outlined by the sub-themes.

Serially:

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By this series, for Christians to overcome, it would be necessary to pursue this goal

or object against the background of the principles that connect God to us (My God

and I?). This would be operationalised in the relationships that we cultivate. And it

would be exemplified in the way we do business. In both cases, we would be

evaluated according to our responses to the challenges that we face in the process,

whether we compromise or keep the faith.

If this outline is consistent, then to that extent, we can expect the seminar to be

successful. In other words, if God were to organise this seminar, would He select

these same five, 5 items or sub-themes to achieve the desired theme? Does the series

correspond with the natural order, N-O? Verses 16 and 18 of the thematic scriptural

reference link overcoming with my God and I, respectively as follows:

16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of

the Lord is.

18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but

be filled with the Spirit

It is my hope that the discussant of this last sub-theme will make this link.

Caleb and Joshua exemplify the basis for a scriptural relationship between

Christians. They were both contemporaries, with intimidating credentials. This was

sufficient to have created a rivalry, when Joshua, rather than Caleb, was selected to

replace Moses. But both were sufficiently humble, for Joshua to grant Caleb’s

request for permission to take the inheritance promised him, Joshua, 146, 12, 13

.

1. Business Youth Seminar, 2011

2. Compromises 6. Overcoming

3. Challenges 5. My God & I

4. Relationships

Humility derives from knowing both one’s strong and weak points; and accepting

them as the basis for working out the good in the person.

Following God’s dealings with Abraham, it could be inferred from Genesis, 123b

that God desires to work, specifically, with families:

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed

In this however, the male descendant that is selected is to represent an entire

lineage, and not merely himself; or his nuclear family for that matter:

For I have known him, in order that he may command his

children and his household after him, that they keep the way

of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD

may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him

If Christians are to be successful business men therefore, they must consider the

following two, 2 conditions:

The selection is for an entire posterity

Christians are to be heads, and not tails

In the human resource hierarchy from labour, to entrepreneur; through leadership

and management, the business man is head; Deuteronomy, 2813, 43, 44

, Isaiah, 915

:

The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who

teaches lies, he is the tail

And, according to Proverbs, 1322

:

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children,

But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous

Moreover;

Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains

understanding;

14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And

her gain than fine gold.

15 She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you

may desire cannot compare with her.

16 Length of days is in her right hand, In her left hand riches

and honor

If elders in the Church do not fit this description, it ought to be because we do not

yet operate in this wisdom. The challenge is to find it!

This challenge is however different from the challenges confronting youths in the

Church. I would like to draw attention to two, 2 of these latter challenges as follows:

Liberty; 2Chorinthians, 317

, 1Peter, 216

Simplicity; 2Chorinthians,113, 3

16, Colossians, 2

8

We are cautioned not to take advantage of both, negatively. Of special note in

dealing with simplicity however is the distinction between the wisdom of God, and

the wisdom of men in James, 315, 17

. Recall that science is the search for truth. And

religion is concerned with revealed truth. A science that is not founded in scriptures

would therefore qualify as the wisdom, or basic principles of men. When science

seeks to understand revealed truth however, this would lead to righteousness. Then

compromises would be minimised, as understanding improves. And success or

excellence would be described as a function of the following items:

Marriage

Work

Worship

Salvation

Salvation comes with the gift of the Holy Spirit at baptism; Acts, 238

:

Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be

baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and

you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

This restores in the Christian, the image of God, in which humans were originally

created. Then, the human mind is able to access the mind of God. And the new

creature that emerges becomes capable of making the shift from the preoccupation

with appearances, to the perception of essentials. Essentials are unchanging, like

God, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning; James, 117

.

The natural order, N-O, which outlines God’s Way, is actually a reduction of an

object or purpose, into the five, 5 items; to derive the six, 6 essentials of the series;

as presented above.

It is my hope that every participant in this seminar will go away, challenged to fulfil

this new creation; that is in Christ. This would be in agreement with the new

covenant as revealed in Jeremiah, 3133

following:

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds,

and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be

My people

When we learn, to acquire God’s way, He puts His law in our minds. When we

make decisions to act; that are based on these, we write the law on our hearts, to

store it. Recall that it is from the heart that all actions are directed, according to the

ways that have been stored there in; Proverbs, 423

and Matthew, 1234

.

It is at worship that this kind of learning is facilitated; creating the enabling

environment in which people are motivated to commit themselves to God. Then life

work is discerned, according to talent and gift; which prepares for marriage, so that

the coice of spouse would be determined by finding a help meet, for the work. In this

way families are strengthened, fully prepared to raise the godly offsprings that this

seminar hopes to contribute in building.