This Excellent Church - TEC

The Glory of God | Psalm 19:1-6 | Pastor Bayo Opesanya

A wise heart (Part 2) | Growing in wisdom series | Sam Oyeyinka

A Wise Heart (Part 1) | Growing in Wisdom Series | Sam Oyeyinka

Ordination Sermon | John 3:13-21 | Sam Oyeyinka

Growinng in Wisdom | Part 2 | Sam Oyeyinka

How We Can Change Our Lives (Part 2) | Luke 12:22-34 | Samuel Oyeyinka

True life change begins with what we value. Scripture shows that disordered desires lead to ruin, and much of our problem is not a lack of information but a lack of conviction. We do not consistently value truth, and therefore we drift.

Fear is shaped by desire. We fear losing what we treasure. When God is not our highest value, fear governs us. But as God becomes more precious to us, our fears lose their power. This transformation happens through meditation on God’s Word. Christianity is a faith that grows more beautiful the more it is thoughtfully considered. Truth must be actively sought because the enemy’s strategy is distraction. An absent mind easily drifts away from God.

We grow in love for God by thinking about Him. As we behold His glory, our affections are reshaped. Scripture invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” because delight in God produces refuge and blessing. As we behold the Lord’s glory, we are gradually transformed into His likeness.

The more immersed we are in God’s word, we more stirred our hearts are to prayer. The Word reveals God to us, and prayer is our response to what we see. As we dwell on God through Scripture and prayer, our desires are reordered, our fears are weakened, and our lives are changed.

How We Can Change Our Lives (Part 1) | Psalm 1 | Samuel Oyeyinka

We change our lives not by simply trying to avoid suffering, but by redirecting our deepest motivations toward God and His glory. In this fallen world, suffering is unavoidable because creation itself has been subjected to futility. It presses on us as a reminder that this world is not our final home (Romans 8:18-23).

Suffering comes from three main places:

• Nature – the brokenness of creation

• People – persecution or harm from others

• Ourselves – through self-denial and resisting sinful passions

Everyone is running toward something. Some run toward pleasure, comfort, and self-interest (Philippians 2:21; 2 Timothy 3). Others run toward God. These two dispositions have totally different outcomes. What you set your mind on is what you become enslaved to (Romans 8:5).

The true way of change is to love God more than comfort. God answers suffering either by relief or by turning it into good, teaching us His purposes through it. But the heart is changed when the mind is fixed on what is good. That is why Scripture repeatedly commands meditation on God’s Word (Joshua 1:8; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:6-9).

Psalm 1 gives the anchor: the blessed life is not defined by the absence of suffering, but by delight in the law of the Lord, meditating day and night, and being rooted like a tree by streams of water. The more you behold God’s Word, the more you appreciate Him. The more you appreciate Him, the more you love Him. And love for God expels lesser loves.

Beholding the Incarnation | Luke 1 -2:40 | Samuel Oyeyinka

We Need to Celebrate Christmas

To properly appreciate Christmas, we must understand the story behind it. Christmas is not merely a season or a tradition. It is God’s answer to humanity’s greatest problem.

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

The greatest problem of mankind is not poverty, injustice, or suffering. It is sin. Sin has broken our relationship with God and disordered the world we live in. Scripture reminds us that when God’s truth is rejected, the foundations of society are shaken (Psalm 82).

This world is broken because of sin. Every pain, conflict, and injustice traces back to it. Jesus did not come merely to improve our circumstances. He came to deal with the root problem. He came to save us from sin.

His coming has both an immediate and an eternal effect. Even now, He is making people new by forgiving sin and restoring hearts. And a day is coming when He will fully judge evil and renew all things. The broken world will give way to the New Jerusalem, where righteousness dwells.

Luke tells us that Christ came to bring light to those who sit in darkness and to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:70–80).

Because of His coming, we have a living hope. History is not moving toward chaos but toward restoration. A day is coming when Jesus will make all things right.

That is why we need to celebrate Christmas. Not because everything is okay now, but because Christ has come, and because He will come again

We are completely dependent on God in every area of life.

Physically, He sustains us—providing the breath in our lungs, our daily food, and everything necessary for survival. Spiritually, our salvation rests entirely in His hands: initiated by God the Father, secured through the death, resurrection, and glorification of Jesus Christ, and applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

This profound reality—that we are utterly helpless without God—should drive us toward lives marked by intense, unceasing prayer. Recognizing our deep need for Him is not meant to discourage us, but to invite us into constant communion with the One who is our highest good.