by Pastor Afolabi Oladele

Crises and the servant of God – these two seem to go together; sometimes uninvited and most times trying. You cannot stop crises from coming so you need to know how the people of God should conduct themselves in times of crisis – whether it be political, religious, economic and social.  Paul faced such an extreme situation so much that it seemed it would swallow him up, but he contained it. How? He tendered the citizenship cleanse. We need to learn from him.

The story is found in Acts 22:22-25: “And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?”

In one instance, Paul pulled out of his pocket, the key which many of us hardly know how to use, the key of his citizenship. This stopped the centurion in his tracks and turned the situation in Paul’s favour. If you want to live above the times you need to remember your citizenship. Too many of us consider ourselves citizens of this world and that is our undoing. The Jews to which Paul was related by birth were ready to kill him, the world system was also ready to beat him but he knew that he was of a different citizenship and applied it when it mattered (Acts 23:11-23).

It takes a man who knows his citizenship to survive in these times.  Those who were ready to whip Paul now became his guards.  They set him upon an animal and guarded him because he knew his citizenship and not only did he know his citizenship, he was ready to exercise it.  Knowing and exercising your citizenship will take you to heights. It’s not that many of you don’t know your citizenship, either you never remember when issues come your way, or when you even remember, you cannot exercise or apply the rights of your citizenship. Those that will stand up to take your life, will become the guarantors of your safety when you begin to exercise your citizenship.

When I speak of citizenship, I speak of citizenship that is conferred upon me by the Lord God Almighty.  “For as many as believed on Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God.” “My kingdom is not of this world, if it were, My soldiers would have fought; My kingdom is of heaven.” My citizenship is of a higher order than what you are looking at.  In the day that Zacchaeus, a corrupt rich man, wanted to see Jesus, Jesus said salvation is come to this house because he was a son of Abraham (Luke 19:1-9). There was a restoration of identity and that’s what Satan and the world had robbed this man of because they said he was a sinner and a tax collector but Jesus said, No! he is a son of Abraham and is saved.

So, when I’m speaking about your identity and citizenship, I am speaking about those who recognize that God has brought them back. You will see that Zacchaeus could no longer defend himself from all the opposition of the Pharisee and the religious system but Jesus did and said “He didn’t come to save the righteous.” In the same way, when He called Matthew who had also lost his identity. He was a floater without any citizenship but Jesus came to him and Matthew held a party for Jesus. Of course people just like Matthew will be guests at the party but Jesus was there and when the religious leaders came, they sure were not invited but they came to rub it in that He was perpetuating evil but Jesus answered and this man was restored and brought into the citizenship. This same man, wrote the gospel of Matthew; a book of the bible.

A lot of you do not even know where you belong. The Lord has made me to realize over time that though at this time, the kingdom of the world may seem not to belong to Jesus but God’s word cannot be broken.  The word says “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” Therefore, my hope is not coming from the world not is it based upon the world but it’s based upon the Lord and His covenant which cannot be broken.  As long as God is the owner of this earth, then, nobody can deny me of my rights as a citizen. Let not your citizenship be rooted in the system of this world. 

You may have a dual citizenship but one is higher than the other, you may even  have three but none of them will sustain you in troubled times. If you don’t know of what citizenship you are, the same Jesus that restored the identity of Zacchaeus and Matthew will not only restore your identity but you will also begin to operate in the dimension of those that are of God’s citizenship.

God had called Paul to minister to Gentiles and used this incident in Acts 23 to call him to his original calling.  Now he was opportuned to minister to Gentiles kings, first Agrippa and then Festus (Acts 23:1-26). Not only did he pull out the key, he exercised it. He took his case to the highest authority in the land. Where are you? Those of you that call yourselves sons of God, the highest authority is the Owner of heaven and earth Himself, the Lord God Almighty.

In the exercise of your citizenship, emotion doesn’t come in, it is fact and evidence. When God said plead your case, He didn’t say come and start shedding tears in His presence. So, stop crying and bring forth the evidence.  Tell God what His word says about you; that is what will work for you. Tell Him “that He who knew no sin was made sin that I who was in sin may become the righteousness of God.  I didn’t come because I was sinless, I came because the righteousness of Jesus has been put upon me. So, I know my rights.” Don’t come to God crying, He already made the promise. So, just remind Him of His words. Lord, You said You will give me wisdom, now I want wisdom.” Plead your course, don’t shed tears. If Paul had stayed shedding tears without bringing out the key of his citizenship from his pocket, they would have whipped him to death but he brought out his strong reasons.

Without identifying and recognizing your citizenship, you can’t live above the times. It was the very fact that Paul had elevated his case to the highest authority that made them let go of him. They dared not refused him, after all Agrippa was a king but he was serving at somebody’s pleasure; the pleasure of Caesar himself. So if it gets to Caesar that a Roman citizen had been maltreated, Agrippa’s own position would be threatened.

So, what are those keys? The keys themselves relate to the laws and the principles of the kingdom. The same skills that God has given you, He will use to prosper you.

BENEFITS OF CITIZENSHIP IN TIMES OF CRISIS.

First, you must remember the key. Secondly you must exercise your rights of citizenship. Acts 27 tells us that you have to associate yourself with men of citizenship to secure your life.  In the storm it wasn’t only Paul that was on that boat, there were other people on the boat. But Paul knew his citizenship and those who believed what he said and associated with him were saved. I’m saying that the storms will come and the boat will break but because of my citizenship I should get people to associate with me and get saved. If you are sure of what you have, you’ll stand strong. You should understand what God has given you and stop under-estimating yourself. I know that whosoever has the key has the right of authorization and access to take whatever He has. Because if you don’t want me to take it then you won’t give me the key to it. When you forget your key, the world will whip you and circumstances will keep you under.

Beloved, don’t fret in the midst of crisis, take your passport which is your citizenship, use the authority because it will not fail. Remember lower authority is always subject to higher authority.  In Acts 28, Paul got to Caesar, they set him free and gave him a house which was guarded and that’s where he wrote these things we are reading today.

Matthew 19:16-22 is the story of the rich young man. Here, we see a man who wanted the things of the kingdom but rejected the citizenship of the kingdom.  The prosperity of heaven is based on giving and receiving but this man was self-made and felt his labour brought him to where he was.  He refused to obey God and that ended his desire to become a citizen of God’s kingdom.  It is based on obedience to God; if you can’t obey, you don’t get the citizenship. Disobedience can also cause you to lose it.

You have to understand that generosity is not an outflow of wealth. The widow understood this and gave all she had. The problem with us is either that we don’t understand that the principle of the kingdom is completely different from the things we have learnt. Yes, the same scriptures says if we don’t work, we should not eat but I want you to understand that the basis of God’s prosperity is according to His own laws. The world’s is to take and take but God’s is to give.  What you have will not always be enough to meet your need but you have to give it to God who will in turn supply your needs.

The widow gave the last meal to Elijah and she was replenished.  Finally, Lk. 5:  There people had tried their best and they couldn’t get anything but when Jesus came and said to them launch into the deep, they thought he was just saying what He doesn’t know.  With their principles, they had done all but God’s principle’s not the same with man’s.  So it was that when they obeyed, there was a turn-around.  He is the creator and He knows the way the wind is blowing.