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| President, CAC Nigeria and Overseas, Pastor Samuel O. Oladele |
By Miracle Adeniyi
In an insightful sermon at All Saints Chapel on Sunday, February 23, 2025, President of Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria and Overseas, Pastor Samuel O. Oladele challenged believers to reconsider their perspective on those they may perceive as enemies, highlighting how God often uses unlikely individuals and circumstances to shape His people.
Using Isaiah 42:1-7 as his primary text, Pastor Oladele emphasized that God selects individuals, or servants, to carry out specific tasks on His behalf.
According to him, there are numerous servants of the Lord whose names are not mentioned in the Bible, and some who have remained anonymous.
"These servants have worked out God's assignment willingly or unwillingly, and sometimes consciously or even unconsciously," he noted.
"Some even rendered this service without knowing they were doing it for the Lord, yet they were called servants of God," he added.
Citing Jeremiah 25:9, Pastor Oladele pointed out that even Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was referred to as God's servant, who was used by God to punish the disobedient people of Judah.
Furthermore, he noted that God rewarded Nebuchadnezzar, giving him wages for his army, as seen in Ezekiel 29:19.
Buttressing his point further, Pastor Oladele explained that someone who may seem to pose an inconvenience to us might actually be sent by God to help shape our character or develop tolerance and patience in us.
"At that moment, that individual is God's servant to you, who will be an instrument of reshaping and character reformation to you." He said.
"We would recognize that sometimes, people's behavior towards us may not be the result of enmity, but rather, God's way of helping us develop our character and learn new virtues." He stated.
He then charged the congregation, emphasizing a profound truth that the people and circumstances that challenge us can actually be catalysts for our spiritual growth.
"Unseemly character manifestations around us may not always be enemies, but sometimes, they are servants and instruments of God, helping us to imbibe the needed virtues and mature fully to the stature of the fullness of Christ." He said.
He reiterated that if we possess this mindset, we would less often see people as enemies.