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Seven Core Ministry Commitments
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Last week I shared my ministry values with you. I'm doing this for two key reasons. First, this year I want everyone to develop a 10-year personal plan. Ten years ago, I led our church through a 20-year strategic plan, and we're now halfway through it. As I share my own ministry framework, I encourage you to use it as a template to identify your personal values—what you truly treasure, what makes you who you are, and how you want to plan for your future.
Second, after 40 years as your pastor, new people are constantly joining us. It's important that you understand who I am, what I stand for, why I preach the messages I do, and how my approach differs from other ministries. This clarity helps you know whether God has called you to be part of this journey with me.
Today I'm speaking about ICGC at 40: My Ministry Focus—the seven core commitments that have shaped my preaching and pastoral calling for four decades.
Let me ground this in Scripture. In Luke 4:17-19, Jesus Himself describes His ministry focus:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
Jesus was quoting from Isaiah 61, announcing the work of the Messiah. After reading this, He declared: "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." The people were so offended they nearly killed Him—despite hearing good news.
The lesson is clear: all Christian ministry must flow from and point to Christ's ministry. We can have no other focus outside of what Jesus came to accomplish. Our personal ministry, our personal desires, must always converge in Christ Jesus.
Paul reinforces this in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24:
"For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
Paul refused to give people what they wanted. The Jews demanded signs; the Greeks wanted philosophical wisdom. Instead, Paul offered Christ—the all-in-all. His ministry continued Christ's ministry. Mine does the same.
This is the primary focus of all Christian ministry. Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel to everyone, and He called this proclamation "the acceptable year of the Lord"—the declaration of God's favor.
Imagine a negotiator sent to talk down someone about to jump from a building. Will the negotiator say, "You're about to die"? No. He'll say, "Your mother loves you. Your father loves you. We all love you, and we want to save you. You can have a new life."
That is the gospel. It is good news—not condemnation, but proclamation of God's love to redeem even the most despicable sinner and make them a child of God.
The gospel declares: When you give your life to Christ, you will have new life, and have it abundantly. I am committed to preaching this message.
Notice what this means: I will not stand here condemning sinners for their sins. They are already sinners. Instead, I point them to the Savior who can deliver them. What good is it to tell a bad man, "You are bad"? Yes, you've confirmed what he already knows. But the gospel says, "You can be made righteous. You can be delivered. Your sins can be forgiven through Jesus Christ."
I challenge Christians to live righteously, to pursue holiness and sanctification. But to the unbeliever, I proclaim deliverance, not judgment. Look at Jesus's ministry. He criticized only the religious hypocrites—the Pharisees, the scribes, the teachers of the law. But with sinners like Zacchaeus and the woman caught in adultery, He never condemned them. He encouraged them to experience new life.
That is the ministry of Christ, and it is mine.
This is critical, especially for African Christians. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated all powers of evil and spiritual darkness. The New Testament clearly teaches that Jesus is Lord over all satanic principalities and powers.
Yet many African Christians live as though Jesus is Lord in some areas but not others. They believe the forces of darkness are not fully under His control. They spend their prayer time binding demons, fighting evil spirits, and resisting the devil, as if Christ's victory is incomplete.
This contradicts Scripture. Jesus made a public example of Satan and defeated him. What He has already defeated, we do not continue fighting. The New Testament tells us to trust Him—He has already done that job.
But Africans—we like the hard way. We like to feel we're doing spiritual warfare. However, my ministry focus is to constantly remind Christians, especially African Christians, of the extent of Christ's lordship.
Jesus is Lord over all principalities and powers. He is Lord over all gods, idols, and deities. He is Lord over all demonic manifestations. He is Lord over witchcraft and evil curses. He is Lord over every curse in your bloodline. He is Lord over every man and woman of God. He is Lord over your present and future realities.
Jesus is Lord. And no matter how you feel, He is Lord.
I will never preach a message that diminishes Christ's lordship. I will never preach a message that emphasizes Satan's power. I will never preach a message that shows how terrible the devil is. I will preach a message that shows how powerful Jesus is, how complete His salvation is, how total His deliverance is.
If you come to church expecting me to tell you, "Although you're born again and saved, there is a family curse only I can break," you are in the wrong church. I will never tell you that. There is no curse that Christ has not already broken. There is no victory I can preach that Christ has not already provided.
Listen to me: Whether your grandfather was a fetish priest, your grandmother was a priestess, they had seventy idols in your house, and all the witches of Ghana congregated at your porch—I don't care about that. It is insignificant.
What I care about is this: Two thousand years ago, on a hill called Calvary, God became man. He hung on a tree. He died. He was buried. He rose again. And when He rose, He said, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given unto me."
How dare you diminish that? How dare you belittle that? How dare you think that your little family from some tiny village has so many demons that God Himself, who died for you, cannot deliver you? Are you thinking as a Christian? Have you read the Bible? Have you read the New Testament?
Somebody says, "Pastor, I feel it. I know it's real." But feelings are not reality. The reality is the Word of God. Your experience is the pretension; God's Word is the reality.
Jesus is Lord.
I don't pay attention when someone testifies about being a fetish priest and describing how things were done in darkness. Do I care? No. He was demon-possessed, living in spiritual darkness. But I know One who went to the underworld and came out from there. He destroyed that power. He is the One I trust, and He is Lord.
The Bible is not merely a book that contains God's Word—it is the Word of God. It is complete and sufficient for all our instruction in righteousness.
The scriptures reveal God to us. They reveal God's will. They reveal why God created us. They reveal what God expects of us. They reveal the state of humanity. They reveal how God relates to us. They reveal what God has done to Satan. They reveal what God has done for us in Christ. They reveal the final state of all human beings—those who believe and those who do not.
The Bible is food for our souls and spirits. Everything in my belief system is rooted in Scripture. If it is not affirmed by rightly interpreted scriptural provision, I do not believe it. As Paul says, "Let God be true, and every man a liar."
We do not walk by what we see; we walk by what God says. Jesus taught: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
The Bible is sufficient, efficient, and proficient for every question you have. It is your enabler, your wisdom, your life, your instructor, your motivator, your encourager.
Of course, the Bible won't tell you who stole the yam in your village. But it will show you the character of thieves, and you can make your own deduction. For every important life question, the Bible has the answer.
The Christian life is a triumphant life. It is a victorious life. Christ died and rose from the dead to give us victory.
Christians experience suffering, pain, and challenges. But we have the assurance that in Christ we are more than conquerors. We may not have freedom from every pain or disadvantage, but in all of them, we are more than conquerors. We can go through difficulty and still conquer. We can go through pain and still win. We can cry and experience joy simultaneously.
The Christian life does not exempt us from suffering, but it gives us victory through our suffering. In all things, we come out victorious through Christ Jesus. In all things.
The Christian life is not mediocre. It is not a life running away from demons, principalities, and wizards. Yet most of us—almost all of us—pray runaway prayers. We pray to escape some dark force. But that is not the Christian story.
The African worldview is deeply spirituist. We see a cockroach on the wall and say it's a demon. A frog jumps into our bedroom and we bind it in Jesus's name. An owl perches on our tree and we rebuke it. Meanwhile, we forget the victory Christ has already won.
Thanks be to God who causes us to triumph always in all things through Christ.
I don't know what you're going through. But you will triumph over it. I don't know what life has come against you with. But you will triumph over it. You may be weeping today, but you will overcome it. You may be down, but you will be up.
That is the Christian story: triumph in Christ Jesus.
Ultimately, even in death we win. Some people die and die. But we die and live. The Christian life is triumphant, and it is my commitment to keep your attention on that reality.
If you want me to talk about how defeated you are, you're in the wrong place. In Christ, we triumph over sin, over the desires of the flesh, over the old Adamic nature, over adversity, and over all powers of darkness.
I am African. I am a black person, a black African man. I am aware of the challenges that come with being African and black. But I believe God called me as an African to speak to the culture I was born out of.
If you listen to me, there is always an African component to what I say. That doesn't mean I don't believe in Europe or Asia or that I think Africans are superior. All I'm saying is that when God calls you out of a people, He sends you back to them with answers.
The questions I address are African questions: fear, subservience, inferiority complex, dependency, and our inability to take hold of our own lives.
We always wish somebody else would pick up our lives and run them for us. Simple decisions are very difficult. Should I travel? Should I not? Should I do this? Should I not? We're constantly unsure of ourselves. That's an African thing.
Most people in other parts of the world have learned to make decisions and bear the consequences. But we constantly want somebody else to decide for us. There's a history to it—it's bound up in idolatry, slavery, and colonialism. These forces have left deep marks on our psyche.
But in Christ, we are called to think clearly, to make decisions wisely, and to trust God with the outcomes.
I believe God wants us to do well. He wants us to live our lives in dignity and honor. At the heart of human dignity is work.
After the fall, God told Adam: "By the sweat of your brow, you will eat." Hard work is honorable. It is through sweat and toil that we become productive, and prosperity comes from productivity.
We must aim for the highest level of performance in all that we do. We must pursue excellence.
I believe in sweat-and-toil prosperity, not magical prosperity. You must labor, work hard, and trust God to bless the work of your hands. That's how we prosper. That's how we do well.
God told Adam: "The earth will produce stones and thistles. It's cursed. But if you labor and toil, you will eat." In other words, even in a cursed environment, through toil and labor, you will live a dignified life.
I'm not going to tell you that everything will change overnight. Miracles happen sometimes. God provides miracles when we're in hard places. But the pattern of life is this: wake up and work. Work until you are tired—real tired, the kind of tired that has labor infused into it.
Hard work is not a curse. Labor is not a curse. Standing by the roadside and selling is not a curse. Working at your workshop is not a curse. Working as a seamstress, as a hairdresser, as a sanitation worker—none of these are curses.
Some of us work as doctors, some as pastors. I work hard. I study hard. I have to study languages I don't want to study. I have to study Greek and Hebrew. I have to understand a document that is 4,000 years old and make it relevant in 2024. Then I come here and preach, and afterward people come with their problems: "Pastor, this and Pastor that." That's hard work.
You cannot say, "God will bless me if I don't work hard." You have to work hard, and you have to rejoice in your labor.
Don't complain about work. I never complain about work. Never. Everybody's work is hard—whether you're carrying something on your head, boxing, playing football, or preaching. Everybody's work is hard. The point is to do it well and to find fulfillment in it.
We say it always at ICGC: Raising Leaders. Shaping Vision. Influencing Society Through Christ.
When I talk about leadership, I'm not talking about a position or a title. I'm talking about an attitude and a responsibility.
Christians must step up when they are needed. We must enter the world and be salt and light. We cannot hide from the world or run away from it. Wherever you go, remember: You are an ambassador of Christ.
You're the ambassador of Christ in the fitting workshop. You're the ambassador of Christ in the operating theater. You're the ambassador of Christ in the hospital as a nurse. Nurses at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, hear me: You are an ambassador of Christ.
That's what true leadership is: knowing that Christ has placed you where you are, and you're going to make Him known. You're going to be salt. You're going to be light. You're going to showcase Jesus Christ.
You may not get a certificate for that. You may not be given a title. But when your light is shining, everybody follows you. You may be the lowest paid officer in your office, but everybody looks up to you. People honor you, respect you, come to you for advice. Because you show Christ wherever you are.
That is what true leadership is all about.
These seven commitments represent the thrust of my ministry—what I've been trying to achieve for 40 years. If you've listened to me over the decades, you'll notice that in every message, somewhere, these seven themes play out. That's because this is what I believe God has called me to focus on.
Other pastors focus on other things, and I have no problem with that. But you need to know what I stand for. Peter said, "Such as I have, I give." This is what I give.
If any of these seven commitments resonate with you and are part of your aspiration for who you want to become, then you are in the right place. Listen to the person God has appointed to help you become the person He wants you to be.
