The Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo has urged Christians to transform their own sphere of influence by practicing the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Osinbajo stated this while presenting his keynote address at the Great Minds Summit organized by the Redeemed Christian Church of God Region 5, Marine Base in Port Harcourt, last Saturday.
The vice president, who described Christians as the salt of the earth, said “in whatever capacity we find ourselves, God has poured us as a salt in the source of that problem, whether it is in politics, business, entertainment, education or in ministry, we are the salt that has been poured there.”
According to Osinbajo “We are also the light of the earth, you cannot light a candle and put it under a basket but on a lamp stand, our light is supposed to benefit everybody, it must shine for people to see the glory of our Father and glorify Him. When our light shines, God will be glorified”.
The vice president, who said there was no substitute for hard work, frowned at the situation where people no longer work hard to succeed, but expect to get rich through miracles.
“How did you get the money, by what means? Was it honest? Nobody wants to ask these questions. What the Scripture teaches is that we are supposed to build whatever we are doing, value-by-value, and precept-by-precept. Nobody suddenly becomes rich. Ask the person some questions”, Osinbajo stressed.
He said that Nigeria, with its great talents in all fields of endeavour, needed to imbibe the principles that made other nations great.
The vice president said the influence of the gospel, alongside the right virtues, transformed not only Europe and America but also Asia.
“Let me explain how Emperor Meiji in 1871, (within three years of the Meiji restoration) having observed the phenomenal progress of the West decided to send a mission to the UK and America to discover how they did it.
“The mission became known as the Iwakura mission. It was led by Prince Iwakura Tomomi; it was a team of statesmen, scholars, administrators and students totalling 50 to UK and America and find out why these people are great.
“Many left behind to study; they studied the principles that made these nations great and of course, the Japanese copy very well; they copied the principles, and later Chinese copied from Japan too.
“What were those principles? Righteousness, integrity, forthrightness; Proverbs:14:34-righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
“This principle applies to a man or woman; because a nation is first a person; Genesis 12:2, I will make you a great nation; first righteousness is the hallmark of the children of God.
“The second principle of the gospel which we need to practice is service and diligence; the principle of the gospel is that the greatest is the servant; the leader must be prepared to be the servant of all.
“Hard work/planning –the puritanical work ethic; this is the hallmark of the Christian; the puritans were so hardworking; so diligent that hard work was named after them.
“Time consciousness, Ecclesiastes 3:1–to everything there is a season; a time for every purpose under heaven, preparedness; we must be conscious of time.
“All these principles made those countries great because the believers in those countries took their responsibilities seriously,” he said.
The vice president said that righteousness meant integrity, honesty, trustworthiness; meaning ‘No’ for No and ‘Yes’ for Yes.
In his remarks, Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, who spoke through his Deputy, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo, expressed the need for Christian leaders to continue to reach out to the less privileged with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by demonstrating righteousness to enable them have the right mentors.
“Our young ones are lacking mentors right now, and many of them are going astray because the adults they are looking up to who should be giving them the right mentorship have not done enough” the governor stressed.
According to him, his administration was desirous to see young people grow and fulfil their destinies, noting that the Great Mind Summit organized by the church would be very beneficial to the younger generation.
Wike, who noted that God was plenteous in mercy, praise and long suffering, urged Christians to exhibit these traits in their daily dealings with one another.
She said that Osinbajo was passionate about the plight of the common people which he demonstrated in the manner he supervised the implementation of the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs).
“When the General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye was speaking about how we are going to move from great minds to greater minds, and we should use this to help the poor; immediately, I thought about our vice president and all the good work he has been doing in this great nation.
“I remember vividly, the effect of the SIPs all over the country; all over the local government areas.
“I recall on an occasion, I had the privilege of riding with him in Bonny when I also represented the governor at the flag off of the Bonny-Bodo Road.
“We got to a section of the road and there were so many women and men and boys and all his humility, he stopped the convoy.
“He needed to talk to them and to ask them how the programme had impacted on them,’’ she said.
In his sermon, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, who spoke on the theme, “Exercising Kingdom Dominion”, said dominion was in degrees, noting that one cannot have dominion unless he or she was beneficial to the people.
In his welcome address, the convener, Pastor Belemina Obunge, said that there must be proper deployment of the resources God had given one towards helping the poor, for one to experience greatness.