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| CAC Youth Officer, Pastor Samson O. Gbuyiro |
By 'Gbenga Bankole
The Youth Officer of Christ Apostolic Church, Worldwide, Pastor Samson O. Gbuyiro has told students at the ongoing Academic Summit that their future is secured, insured and assured when it is structured in line with the scriptures.
He told them that it is their choice to secure a glorious future for themselves by investing quality time, youthful energy and exuberance into the pursuit of excellence in both spiritual and academic matters while on campus.
According to him, the scripture is full of young men and women who lived exemplary lives and the world attested to this truth about them, adding that among such are Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon.
He added that: "These were vibrant, highly intelligent, skilful and good-looking youths who took the advantage of training and learning periods to secure a great future for themselves and their generation."
Pastor Gbuyiro stated this on Wednesday July 22, 2021 while delivering the welcome address at the opening service of the ongoing 2021 Academic Summit at Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Akakeji, Osun State.
"Joseph by divine providence gained admission into a training school in Egypt under Potiphar and Daniel in Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar. They both came out with distinction and excellent performance in wisdom, skills and morals without being defiled. This qualified them to serve as chief advisers to kings on good governance and economic matters, he said.
Quoting Daniel 1:5 which says "and the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies, and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king", the Cleric stressed that Daniel and his friends went through the process necessary prerequisite training and equipping with relevant skills and literature in the king’s college to be enlisted and admitted to serve in the government of Babylon.
Pastor further added that the same opportunity and privilege are now made available to every citizen of the heavenly kingdom on campus to be made competent by training and equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to become fit for God's purpose after graduation.
"Brethren, while on campus, don't forget the dream that brought you out of your parents' comfort zone to a strange land like Joseph in Egypt. If Joseph had forgotten his dreams, he would have been wasted away in Potiphar's house on the lap of a useless woman. Therefore, you being on campus is God's deliberate act to prepare you for your dream's fulfilment as it is in God's nature to first prepare a vessel before use. Your desire to be relevant beyond campus is best expressed by being captured, captivated and cultured by God to fit into His purpose.
"The campus is designed for your formation and intellectual growth so that your spiritual endowment or gift will not only find expression in religious activities limited to church meetings or church halls like Joseph who brought divine wisdom into the management of the economy of Egypt. He became an important figure in government business.
"However, those who give themselves to immediate pleasures of sin and lusts on campus never rise to become anything serious in their generation for God because they were short-sighted and completely blind to what lies ahead of them. Unlike Daniel and his three Hebrew friends, on the completion of the three years of thorough training in the king's court, they came out fit in all ramifications for both secular and spiritual assignments for which they were enlisted and admitted. What a challenging and godly template of campus life for the youths of this generation!" he concluded.