IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO COZA, IT HAPPENS TO THE BODY OF CHRIST- CAN

*God has set COZA up for our generation.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN ) represented by Rev. Dr Jonah Samson (Chairman CAN, FCT Chapter) and Rev Dr Israel
Akanji (Chairman CAN, North Central) visited the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) on Sunday 14th July, 2019. It was a solidarity visit aimed at encouraging members of the Church.

Below are excerpts from the service.

Rev Dr Israel Akanji:

Well, let me begin by saying that this man talking to you, he loves music alot and in this my head, is loaded with songs upon songs but my head is loaded with hymns. I can sing from one stanza to the end: ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch..’ and I can go on and on. Now, I thought I knew music until I came inside. I have been in here (COZA) just a few minutes, but I have been greatly impressed, and touched and blessed. And I really pray that God will be continuously glorified in this assembly in Jesus name.

Alright, two of us, are here: Rev (Dr) Samson Jonah is the Chairman of CAN in the FCT. Now, it’s good to know a little about what is called ‘CAN’ (Christian Association of Nigeria): it started fully in 1976 and now we have CAN in every state, CAN in every local government and of course we have CAN the national body. We have 6 zones in Nigeria, and so we have 6 zonal leaders of CAN and we have state chairmen. I used to be Chairman of FCT and I was chairman for 6 years and he (Rev Dr Jonah Samson) was one of our top executives at that time. When I rotated from being chairman, he became the chairman and I was appointed the chairman for North Central (that is 6 states and FCT making 7). So, all churches in Abuja fall within both FCT and North Central. And that’s one of the reasons why we decided to come briefly to worship with you this morning.

Rev Dr Jonah Samson:

I want to make a plea, that you allow me to be a member here. The only challenge I have is I don’t know what I will do with my denomination. I’m an associate pastor but it’s a pleasure being here and I assure you that we are with you and we continue to be with you. We are in support of the church, we are in support of your pastor, we stand by him and this church will continue to march forward. I say and I declare that the gates of hell shall not prevail against this church in the mighty name of Jesus. Now, I have a message for you. Hallelujah, now because of time, this is the message I have for you in the book of Colossians 1:3-14 (NIV) ‘We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people; the faith and love that spring up from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world – just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason, since the day, we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you, we continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives; So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience. And giving joyful thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. The Bible says for He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins’.

I am leaving you with 4 basic lessons here:

1. Paul here said ‘since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you’. The Church in Nigeria is praying for you. The Church in FCT is praying for you.
   2) And he (Paul) said, ‘because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus’, the faith of this church will not shrink, come what may, it will not shrink in the name of Jesus Christ.
   3) Verse 5 says ‘the faith and the love that spring up from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel. This gospel we have received and we have been receiving day after day from the servant of God: this gospel will continue to bear fruits in the name of Jesus Christ.
   4) And finally in verse 9, He (Paul) said for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. Our prayers are with this church. I pray that this church will rise from Glory to Glory in the name of Jesus Christ. And the day, the trumpet of God shall sound in heaven, the Bible records that the dead in Christ shall arise and those of us that are left behind we shall be caught up in a twinkle of an eye and we shall meet Christ in the air. That day shall be a glorious day and none shall be missing in the name of Jesus Christ. The Lord bless you in Jesus name.
   I hand over to my father –

Rev Dr Israel Akanji: The Bible says by this shall all men know my disciples, if you have love for one another. Jesus came to the world because of love and nothing pleases Him like love. You all know that in the book of Luke, chapter 10, there is this account that is very popular: the story of the good Samaritan – a man was traveling between Jerusalem and Jericho and fell among thieves and robbers, they stripped him of all he had, they left him wounded, bleeding and dying. Then, there came a Priest going in that direction, as the priest went in that direction,the man probably had some little hope when he looked up and he saw somebody (wearing dress like I am wearing now with stole and everything). He must have felt – O God, what a loving God you are, I didn’t know that I will be rescued so quickly. And so the priest went and when he got near him and the man was expecting a rescue, all of a sudden, the feet (priest) started going and he was gone.
And then a Levite was coming (and if I look like a priest, a Levite is probably like one of the ushers or singers). The man said it’s not too bad, I mean the other man didn’t come, this time around – another church man, I’m sure he will come. And he (Levite) came and saw him and went again.
Then the third man came, when he looked up, he said Wow, I’m finished. I will die now . Oh, those who left me wounded, bleeding and dying; they left me half dead, now this Samaritan will come and finish me up. And he closed his eyes ‘God, into your hands, I commit my spirit, as I die no, Oh God’ and then the man (Samaritan) dropped from the donkey – I am gone. He was surprised, the man (Samaritan) brought out his wine, he brought out his oil and he began to undo all that the thieves and robbers have done in the life of this man, carried him on his donkey (which was his ambulance) and took him to an inn for him to be restored.

And then Jesus said ‘which of them showed love to him’ and they answered: the one who ministered to him
In the journey of life, sometimes we can find ourselves wounded, bleeding and dying. Sometimes, the people we expect to come and help us, they are the very ones who will walk away from us. But Jesus said that what that Samaritan did was the right thing because he showed love at the time of need.

Today, we have come because if anything happens to COZA church, it happens to the Body of Christ in Nigeria. We are all part of the Body of Christ and I thank God and thank God again and again for a church like this. Because this church is not doing things the way some of us are doing things. I just finished preaching about David and goliath and talking about ‘slaying your champion or slaying the giant’.

And I said one of the ways of slaying the giant is you don’t have to use the approach of another person. David – they put the uniform of Saul on him and put the armour of Saul, David could not walk, he said I cannot walk, I cannot even use it. So he took it and threw it away. And then he went and picked 5 smooth stones, he used his own approach. All we needed for David was victory, he had the victory without their uniform, he had the victory without their office. And I believe that

God has set COZA church up for our generation, to do things differently and our goal is to the victory into the kingdom of God. And I pray that nothing will bring this church down in the name of Jesus Christ.

So how can we (FCT CAN Chairman and Chairman of North Central): I could have been living in Nassarawa state or Benue state or Kwara state or Kogi state or Niger state or Plateau state. I could have been living in any of those places. By God’s mercy, I am presently living in Abuja.

• How can I (and then the FCT chairman) hear that one church that God has a plan and purpose for is going through this Jerusalem – Jericho road and then we will walk and walk away. We will not do such a thing.
• We are here to just let you know like he (Rev Dr Jonah Samson) said we are with you in prayer: The Lord will bring you out even stronger. Our pastor here, by the grace of God, will continue to be the voice of God, to proclaim to the whole nations of the world, the mystery of Jesus Christ. So we pray that the Lord will stand by you. And we want you to know that you are not alone, you have many brothers and sisters that are praying for you.
  In conclusion, we just want to have a short prayer with you before we go, don’t worry if it’s ‘those days kind of prayer’, it is still prayer – God answers all of us when we pray.

Let’s us pray: Almighty God, thank you for this church. We thank you for the pastor, we thank you for the associate pastors, we thank you for the elders, we thank you for the leaders.