Cultivate spirit of excellence, Adeboye tells academics

[Mirror]

General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, was home to a special prayer session with academics from the length and breadth of the country at the Headquarters Church of the RCCG (Throne of Grace), Ebute-Meta, last weekend.

There, he admonished them to, in spite of their chains of degrees, imbibe the fear of God, so as to acquire the right wisdom to achieve excellence in their various fields of endeavour.

Welcoming the scholars, comprising mostly University vice chancellors, professors, registrars, lecturers, teachers and non-academic staff members of various schools among others to the church auditorium, Daddy G.O., as Pastor Adeboye is fondly called, emphasised that "no man is wise until he fears God.

"This is because as academicians, we tend to pride ourselves on our knowledge among other people and seeing other people as ignorant.

"But the Bible says, 'the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.' So it doesn't matter how many degrees we have. If we don't fear God, we haven't even started introduction to wisdom.

When you give your life to him, your journey to excellence begins. And if academicians must seek God, what about those of us who don't know too much?"

The clergyman asked. According to the G.O, a former university lecturer and Professor of Mathematics- turned-Pastor, if you want to excel, you must be willing to pay the prize. "Some people want to excel in anointing but are you willing to pay the prize? Hebrews 1:9, says, 'Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

So my brothers and sisters, no man is wise until he fears God," he maintained. Pastor Adeboye also pointed out that academicians are his special people because he belongs to them. "Once an academician, forever one.

I have had lecturers say God is dead or there is no God; I have had some say may be He is not dead, but He has lost control. When today I meet professors saying Jesus is Lord, I rejoice."

Going down memory lane, Adeboye recounted, "I still remember the first outreach I had at the University of Ibadan (UI) several years ago in the 80s and we made an altar call and 40 academicians gave their lives to Jesus; we were drunk with joy. We were so full of joy that we could hardly eat.

"Now, when I go once a year to UI, we don't even have enough room to contain the people who come. Things have changed and we thank the Almighty God," he said.

Delivering a sermon titled, 'Excellent Spirit", extracted from the book of Daniel 6:1-3, the G.O. explained that Daniel was a slave in a strange land but there was something in him that kept on propelling him in a kingdom with 120 provinces: a kingdom of 120 nations.

"This slave boy rose until he became one of the best three. Even among the best three, the king said Daniel is the Number One because something was in him called an excellent spirit. There is a spirit called the spirit of excellence.

It has a way of pushing you to the very top. I pray for all of you here today that God will release that spirit to you in Jesus' name. He explained further: "We say something is excellent when it is absolutely good, 100 percent good; so good that it cannot be better.

That is the meaning of excellence. Excellence doesn't mean the best because when we talk about the best, we are comparing three things. If three students fail and one got 10% and another 20% and the third 30%, one is still the best of the three.

So, it is possible to be the best among failures. 'Excellent' means not only good but so good it cannot be better- 100%. But there are degrees of excellence.

For example, a student passes out of primary school, and in the primary school leaving exam, he scores 100% in all subjects, the result will be considered excellent. Then the boy proceeded to secondary school, and when he does his WAEC, he scores 100% in all subjects. The result will be considered excellent. And then he goes to the university and when he sits for his first degree exams, he scores 100% in all subjects. The result will be considered excellent. But the excellence in the university is not the same as the excellence in the secondary school. Surely, it is not as the excellence in the primary school. You can be excellent at a certain level and be completely ignorant at a higher level.

In my days in the university, there were three kinds of degrees. General degrees, combined honours, and special honours. I was a special honour student of Mathematics in my final year. So we special honour students always walk about with our heads in the air. We feel we are superior to others and tend to look down on them. So one day, with my special honours' head in the air, I walked into the library of the lecturers. Then I saw a book: 'Introduction to something' and I picked it up and opened it. I couldn't understand the head or tail of page one. Here I was, special honours, thinking that I already know all the Mathematics there is to know. So, there are degrees of excellence and no matter how excellent you are today, may God take you higher in Jesus name.

The Minister of God, however, explained that to achieve excellence doesn't come cheap. "Nobody excels by casual working: you don't do shoddy work and become excellent. Proverbs 22:29 says, 'Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.' So when we are talking about excellence, we need to add that it is one thing to get to the top because excellence means you are No.1, but it is another thing to stay.

You are not excellent if you don't remain excellent. 'Excellent' requires that you get to the top and stay there-Deuteronomy 28:1&13. So, getting to the top is important but staying at the top is more important. I have said it before that there is nothing as painful as being an ex-champion. In the name that is above every other name, once you reach the top, you will stay there.

The man of God then cautioned that you don't have to study hard if you don't want to be a professor. "If you want to be a messenger, you don't need a university education. You want to be a professor, you will sweat. I know how I sweated before I got my PhD. So, if you want to be excellent, you must be ready to work hard. Excellent people are hard workers. They excel in hard work, that is how they become excellent. I give you some examples from the scripture. Elisha was excellent in service. 2 King 3:11. He also excelled in loyalty (2Kings 2:1-8). That is why Elisha became No.1 among all the sons of the prophets. If you excel in service, God will promote you to a level where others would be compelled to serve you. That is the way God does because He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Take Solomon, for example. 2Chronical 1:6- 15. He excelled in giving. He gave a thousand burnt offerings. Nobody has ever done that before. Those who have gone before him, the maximum they gave were seven. As a result, God replied and rewarded Solomon. The Bible said there had never been any King like Solomon; as rich, before him or after him, because he excelled in giving. Don't think I am spending time on giving. I am not going to take an offering. I am only teaching you a principle because the people who are in church today are my people. I want them to prosper and if there is any problem we really have as academicians, is that we are poor. Nobody makes a professor chairman in fund raising ceremony. It is 'grammar' he is 'going to blow' there. But God has a way of prospering academicians if we do His will.

Take Paul as another example. This man excelled in his hunger for God. Paul was an academician, a professor of law but he was hungry for God. Philippians 3:7-11. When it comes to prayer, he prayed like nobody else. 1Chorithians 14:18. The Bible says God performed special miracles by the hand of Paul. David, more than anyone else, excelled in the praise of God. 2 Samuel 6:14 says David danced before God with all his might. That is one area we as academicians find a little problematic. Because we are so sophisticated that when we dance, we dance academically. When we clap, the fellow next to us must not even hear the sound of the clapping but when you are before the Almighty God, you should forget your degrees. Because, believe me honestly, you remain sane only because God says so. A little twist and the professor will become a mad man. That will never happen to you in Jesus' name.

What the University Dons say about the programme

Professor Isaac Komolafe of the Redeemers University: The service was wonderful, it was wholesome and I give God the glory. There is nothing like sharing experience which Daddy G.O. shared with us today. It helps a lot when you hear the experience of people. It is like a testimony and it encourages us; it empowers and gives us hope that there is nothing God cannot do if we are faithful. Through us, who are partakers of this fellowship, will go out and share the word.

Dr S. O. Olayami, Associate Professor/Consultant Physician, Lagos state University: We bless and thank God for His word and the wisdom that God gave the RCCG GO to minister to us. A lot of people were convinced of their sin and they gave their life to Jesus Christ. I know that as I am going back, I am a changed person. And since most of the youths of our country pass through our university, today's impartation will have a ripple effect in the university system. I am sure by the time we interact with them and with this impartation, they will be changed people and our nation will be better for it. I pray God will help our nation.

Professor Daramola Adedeji, Professor of Architecture, formerly of Bell University, now with Caleb University: It is a privilege for us to be here and I must confess that anything about Pastor Adeboye, the G.O. of RCCG, is excellent. What he has done is to invite his colleagues, we, his children in the academics to benefit from him. And if you look at the sermon, it is quite clear that people who are desirous to be excellent need to be hard working. So today, we have learnt that there are still rooms for us to achieve greater heights and forge ahead. So it is a wonderful opportunity for us to be gathered, all the academia over the world, all over the country to worship God. You cannot impact knowledge you have not acquired. We are going back with the wisdom to discover greater discovery in our chosen profession; it will be easy for us to impact the same knowledge to our students and by extension, the society at large. The vice chancellors present are receiving new wisdom to run their respective universities, the professors are receiving new wisdom to gather more knowledge and to impact that knowledge into their staff and students. It is a very good development and every sector will benefit from the programme

National Mirror

[Folami David]

Exactly...Wisdom and Knowledge are not earned in schools and universities only...The word of God in our heart is more important.