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  PATHFINDERS & PACESETTERS 2
  by Gbile Akanni
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Summary: Gbile Akanni emphasizes the importance of standing as spiritual
gatekeepers and pathfinders in various spheres of influence, empowered
by the Holy Spirit to impact society and advance God's kingdom.

Duration: 1:04:22 Topics: "Spiritual Leadership", "Holy Spirit Empowerment"
Scripture References: Esther 4:14, 1 Corinthians 1:25

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DESCRIPTION
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In this teaching sermon, Gbile Akanni explores the vital role of
believers as pathfinders and gatekeepers in their spheres of influence.
Drawing from real-life testimonies and biblical principles, he
highlights how the Holy Spirit empowers Christians to stand firm, lead
effectively, and impact society beyond the church walls. The message
encourages believers to embrace their divine assignments and take bold
steps for kingdom advancement.

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CONTENT
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Living Seed Media brings to you God's Word, which is his comprehensive
equipment for changing lives. May the Lord impact your heart as you
encounter his Word. For further inquiry or counsel, contact Peace House,
PO Box 971, Boko, Benue State, Nigeria.

Telephone numbers 0703 03636 59, 0703 76811 98. Email address
lsmediaatlivingseed.org or visit our website at www.livingseed.org. Let
us sit back and listen as the servant of God brings forth the Word of
Life. Welcome to another session of Peace Setters and Pathfinders.

And quickly, let me bring in those that will be posed together with me
here in the room today. I would like to call on Priscilla Haniff from
Canada. Hi, everybody.

My name is Priscilla Haniff-Stevenson, and I'm from Canada. Just like
you heard, I'm going to be one of the co-hosts today. And I recently
obtained a certificate in economics and finance from Ryerson University.

And I received a certificate in project management from University of
Toronto. Thank you, Priscilla. And next, I would like to call on Fateh
Akua.

Join us from Russia. Hi, brothers and sisters. Good evening.

My name is Fateh. I am originally from Boko. I currently live and work
in Moscow.

My background is in electronics engineering and I work in IT. Thank you.
All right.

So, both of you will now help us bring in our guests. All right. Thank
you so much, sir.

Today, we will continue with the second round of the Peace Setters and
Pathfinders. We'll be privileged to host three wonderful guests today.
The first of them is Mr. E. Oluwa Aboyegi, fondly called E. Aboyegi.

He's the founder and general partner at Future Africa, a fund that
connects investors to mission-driven startups in Africa, currently
managing assets at about $30 million in total. Before Future Africa, he
co-founded two of Africa's unicorn companies. The first of them, an
edtech company called Andela at the age of 23, and then Flutterwave at
the age of 25, which he was also the CEO of until 2018.

He has been featured as one of the Forbes 30 Under 30, and as one of the
top 100 most influential Africans by New African Magazine. Mr. E.
Aboyegi joins us today from Joss, Nigeria. Welcome, sir.

It's so good to have you here. Thank you so much for having me, Patrick.
Over to you, Priscilla.

Thank you. So, our next guest is Professor Charles Aka. He's an
Associate Professor of Economics at the Institute of Statistical,
Social, and Economic Research, based in the prestigious University of
Ghana, Legan.

He was a former head of the Economics Division of that Institute, and
the immediate past director of the Center for Social Policy Studies.
Professor Aka is also an External Research Fellow with the Center for
Research and Economic Development and International Trade, University of
Nottingham, United Kingdom, and Kiel Center of Globalization, Kiel
Institute for the World Economy, Kiel, Germany. And prior to joining the
University of Ghana, he worked as a research analyst and a consultant at
the World Bank, Washington, D.C., USAID.

And he has also accumulated about 15 years of experience in leading
quantitative research and policy engagement on issues of industrial
policy, financial inclusion, and regulation, enterprise development, and
private sector development in Africa, and has over 60 publications to
his credit. He has led the writing of several grant proposals and
successfully attracted over one million U.S. dollars to the University
of Ghana's Appointment in Research Fellow in 2007. He has also consulted
for a number of government agencies and international organizations.

And just to name a few, the World Bank, UNICEF, Canada's IDRC, and UK's
Overseas Development Institute, among others. We want to welcome you,
Professor, and you join us today from Ghana. So welcome, Professor.

Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Fatih and Priscilla.

And our next guest is Dr. Sipokazi Milyeke. She's a medical intern at
Peters Meritsburg Hospital Complex, South Africa. And in 2021, she
obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the
University of KwaZulu-Natal.

And she also has a Bachelor of Clinical Medical Practice from the
University of Walter Sisulu in 2014. In 2015, she worked for a year as a
clinical associate before she felt a compelling call to become a medical
doctor. And in 2016, she enrolled at the Nelson Mandela School of
Medicine.

She aspires to specialize in internal medicine and super specialize in
cardiology or pediatric cardiology or neonatology. And she was chosen
and sponsored to attend SADAC, Christian Medical Fellowship Program in
Zimbabwe, in 2017. And again, to attend the International Christian
Medical and Dental Fellowship in 2018 Conference in India.

And she has passionately served in medical students' Christian
fellowship in various portfolios, including being president in her final
year of medical school. And Dr. Sipokazi joins us today from South
Africa. Welcome.

Thank you very much, Dr. Milyeke. Hi, everyone. And just to start off
today's session, I would like to ask Dr. Charles our first question.

So yesterday, we discussed a little bit about the strategies the Lord
can give us to effectively minister to young people. Can you give us an
example of opportunities he has given you to share Christ in your sphere
of influence? I think this question is to me? Yes. Yes.

Thank you very much. So by God's grace, since my appointment at the
University of Ghana, I was working as a researcher and economist. I
didn't stand for Christ.

I didn't represent Christ because I didn't have any guidance. I had not
been discipled. I am one who is like born out of due time.

We did not get the early benefits of discipleship. But once I
encountered discipleship in 2009, 2010, when I came under the ministry
of our father in the Lord, I got to realize that God had positioned me
in the university for a purpose and to possess the gate. And after I'd
undergone through training under the elders and the leaders, I went
through military training.

I had a sense and a burden to lead the work of youth revival as the
battle for the young. And by God's grace, we began to do evangelism. We
started a discipleship center on the campus, and many students have
passed through our hands.

Some of them are pursuing their PhD now. Some have got married. We still
have some students who meet every week to study the word of God.

I also got appointed as a patron of the university Christian fellowship
on the university campus that coordinates all the Christian activities
on campus. So I'm involved in counseling and leadership training for
those leaders. And by God's grace, the university also recognized that
this professor is becoming like a pastor.

So they appointed me to serve on the university chaplaincy board, which
I also served successfully. And that's where we make decisions at the
gate concerning the kingdom of God on campus. That's interesting, Prof.
That's very interesting.

I want to find out now, looking at the matter of processing the gates,
just like you just mentioned, and standing at the gates, and looking at
your position. So what effectively could you say standing there has
given you an opportunity to do in terms of standing at the gates and
making sure things are done for the sake of the gospel at the gates?
Thank you. I think the first thing that happened to me, which God just
woke me up, sometime in 2010, 2011, there began to arise a persecution
on campus against Christianity, particularly against the students on
campus who were Christians.

Over 80% of the students on campus, the 40,000 students are Christians.
And unfortunately, they are not united. So there are several
denominations.

Over 100 of them. And they are occupying all the various lecture rooms
and classrooms. So sometimes, honestly, they become a bit rowdy and a
bit noisy, the Pentecostals and charismatic among them.

And whenever they're having crusades or they're having evening prayer
meetings, some of the noise travels to the lecture rooms and to the
places of residence. So some professors began to be concerned. And their
reaction was quickly to ban all such Christian activities, prayer,
evangelism, everything on campus, because they thought it was a mimicker
to academic work.

So I was aware of the plot. I was aware of the discussion and knew those
who were behind it. I knew those who were not Christians.

There was an atheist, particularly, who was driving the agenda. And I
was in my office one day. I just said, no, you are here in this kingdom
for such a time like this.

You need to write your own. So I wrote a long article to the whole
university. And I took a stand that that was ungodly.

And the forefathers who built the university, they placed God at the
center. Our university anthem has God inside. It's actually an
invocation of the blessing of God.

All the halls had a chapel, which means that over 60 years ago, they
thought that God was center and that students needed to pray. And so we
cannot now ban Christianity. It's just to drive out God, and then Satan
will take the space.

So people heard me. All the Christians began to write an email to say,
you are very bold. You are speaking our mind.

So we began to now rally around and to fight that policy. And I think
God heard us. And we also got involved with the students to try and
control their noise level.

So they said you spoke their mind. They were quiet until you started
talking. I think so, yes.

People were afraid to talk. So there's always a need for somebody to
take the bull by the horn, and then the others that have been quiet will
speak up. That's interesting.

Thank you so much for that, Professor Charles. I have a question that I
would love to ask you. But before that, if you could please give us a
little bit more details on how you have managed to stand for God, let's
say, beyond the four walls of the university.

Feats that God has helped you to accomplish. How have you been able to
affect the society outside the university? Maybe I'll just mention two.
I think I got to realize that God is not just interested in me to raise
funds and to do research.

I realized that as I travel across Africa, there's a lot of poverty and
a lot of underdevelopment. So I began to pray and to seek wisdom from
the Holy Spirit. Our government seems to practice all the orthodox
economic policies and theories, and yet we are not seeing development.

When I come to Nigeria, I see the challenge. I go to Gambia, I go to
Kenya. I come to Ghana, it's the same problem.

So God began to give me some wisdom. And one of the things we do is to
offer policy advice to government. Typically, I'm not a lecturer, so I
don't teach much.

I don't even teach undergraduates. I normally teach PhD and do research.
And the government always listens to us when we offer advice.

So I offered some advice some few years ago, and I realized that when
they implemented it, it worked. And since then, I now began to seek the
face of God. And recently, during the COVID-19, many economies were
going into a halt.

Fiscal space was limited. There were no resources. Countries were
running into financial difficulties.

I was away on retreat in our camp, all the way in the bush, in our front
place. And one afternoon, I was just waiting on God. And the Holy Spirit
was an inspiration in my heart that, look, people are struggling, and I
think this is what they need to do.

The government was at the verge of considering going to the IMF for a
loan. And we know normally when they go to the IMF or the World Bank for
a loan, it comes with conditionalities. You cannot employ people.

You cannot do that. You cannot do that. So I called one of the
ministers, and I said, look, the Holy Spirit just whispered something
into my heart.

Would people consider doing ABCD? And I said, well, this is not popular.
People will criticize us. It will not work.

I said, I think it will work. The vice president of Ghana is an
economist. The governor is an economist.

He's my friend. Take this to the cabinet and say that this is what
Professor Aka says, and I think it should work. When it went, it came
back as well.

When I said it, everybody said, well, I think it will work. Let's try
it. It was from the Holy Spirit.

And they did it, and it worked. And they came back to me and said, wow,
you saved us. I really appreciate both of them.

Yes. It's very interesting to see that you were on a retreat, not just
to get inspiration to go out and preach a message, but to get an
economic solution to a relevant problem in Ghana during the COVID-19
pandemic. It's also inspiring to see that God has granted you influence
beyond the school, even in the style of politics.

And I cannot help but ask, do you one day intend to eye the presidency?
I mean, with your great influence, what if you run for president in
Ghana? Well, we are in the hand of the Lord, and we are praying. The
Lord is guiding us. It's not an impossibility.

The Lord desires. All right. Well, by God's grace, if that's ever going
to happen, I'm going to be, I'm not Ghanaian, but I will throw my
support behind you.

Thank you so much. I want to ask, throw some questions now to Mr.
Aboyeji and Dr. Sipokazi. I'm still learning to pronounce her name, so I
might call her Dr. S-P-K sometimes.

So we are talking about the Holy Spirit, receiving the auction of the
Holy Spirit, and there's an emphasis on how it might be applied to the
marketplace. So I want to know, start from Mr. Iye Aboyeji, how do you
apply the power of the Holy Spirit in your day-to-day life? A preacher
would usually use the power of the Holy Spirit to cast out devils and
pray in tongues. Now, you are not a preacher.

You have no copy to preach from. You probably just attended church. So
how do you apply the Holy Spirit? I don't know if there are demons to
cast out in the text space where you are, but maybe there are.

But how do you experience the power of the Holy Spirit? What's it like
for you practically in your day-to-day activities? Absolutely. Thank you
very much for that question, Brother Fatih. Yeah, as you rightly
mentioned, I'm not a preacher, and we don't have many visible demons to
cast out in the text space.

However, the inspiration from the Holy Spirit in particular comes in
very handy when it's time to take a critical look at a problem and how
that problem can be turned into opportunities. One of the things that
has been critical to the success of the companies I've been part of has
been the revelation that comes from the Holy Spirit that allows us to
take some decisions that might in the moment seem very crazy and not
very market-oriented from a business perspective. But over the long
term, we quickly realized that it was those decisions that were inspired
by the Holy Spirit that seemed crazy at the time that actually made the
big difference in the companies becoming billion-dollar companies.

As the Bible would say, the wisdom of God sometimes can be interpreted
as foolishness by mere men, and I've seen that reality. I'll give one
example. When I was at Andela, we were doing a business that many people
would consider very ordinary.

At Andela, we trained young people, and then we helped them get placed
with global technology businesses all over the world. Today, it makes
hundreds of millions of dollars, and it's a billion-dollar business. At
the time, we did something that seemed foolish.

We didn't just offer the training, but we paid our fellows to come to
study, which seemed like a crazy idea at the time. At the time, it was
actually much crazier because we not only offered the training, we also
housed them and fed them, and we also paid them to come and train to be
world-class software developers. You know what actually happened? One
day, as we had started to gather some steam, some men from the
enforcement division of the Polytechnic Licensing Office and the NUC
besieged our office, and they said, why are you training young people
without a license? And we just basically said, well, we are training
young people, but they are our employees.

And that immediately adverted what would have been a very, very
disastrous situation to become something where the enemy couldn't use
that to trap us. And that inspiration could only have come from the Holy
Spirit, the inspiration to pay people because it was a pretty ridiculous
idea at the time. And so in my time, I have seen many other examples of
such miraculous deliverance come from taking the counsel of the Holy
Spirit.

That's very wonderful. It's very wonderful to hear. And I can attest to
the fact that it takes the Holy Spirit to achieve some of the things
that we've seen you do, not just once, not twice.

So it's interesting that there is actually an auction of the Holy Spirit
that can help to identify business opportunities where others see
nothing. Thank you very much for that, sir. As usual, our beloved
audience can participate in this conversation by sending your questions
to menti.com. Simply log on to menti.com. Use the code 99454257.

99454257. And then you can either ask your question or like a question
that has been asked before. So I will now move over to Dr. Sifuokazi to
answer the same question, and then we'll take probably an input from Sis
Priscilla.

So Dr. Sifuokazi, how do you experience the power of the Holy Spirit in
your day-to-day life? And as we are praying for a release of the auction
of the Holy Spirit, what kind of grace or power from the Holy Spirit do
you think you need very desperately to take the gate in the medical
profession in your own spell of influence where you are? Thank you.
Thank you for the question, Inspector. So I think I could start off
accounting for myself as a student because there's quite a number of
years that I can attribute to that.

So just to share, after working for a year and then getting the auction
to go back to school, so the next question was, how are we going to fund
going back to school? Everyone's like, but you work and you already have
a salary, so you could just live life. And at that time, we were
learning trust in God for provision, and that was what I was learning,
that, okay, I can trust God for provision. And it was a bit far-fetched
because then I think, okay, so how is God going to provide monetary
because I need money to pay for my fees.

And so for the first year of varsity, for my second degree now, my
savings that we had over 2015 were used to pay for my fees. And then, so
they ran out, and then I was going into my second year. And I didn't
have money to pay for my fees.

My parents can't pay for my fees. And now it is point of being expelled
from school. So that's when I had to start praying that, okay, Lord, not
a big, bogus prayer, not a long prayer, which I've had others, but this
time around, it's like, Lord, I need money for school right now.

I'm at the verge of being expelled from school because I don't have
money. And that was all. There was nothing more to it than that.

And miraculously, so just to give you some background, when I did my
first degree, I got funding from the government. So the contract that we
signed at the time said that I can't get another funding from the same
government because they have abetted my family, so they should allow
another person to get funding, which makes sense. But now I'm back in
the health sciences, and now I'm studying for something else, and I need
funding again.

So I didn't apply to the department of health, because they already told
me they won't give me funding. Then they come to my university and say
that because it's 2017, and they just want people who are academically
fit, who are at the verge of being excluded, they want to fund those
people. So my name is on the list.

And so this is against all rules, against the contract that I signed
with them two years ago. And now they're coming up with, no, we'll
actually fund you for the rest of your course up until you finish, as
long as you continue providing the academic merit. And that was it.

So rules were changed for me to actually get funding as a student.
That's good. How about your practice of medicine? And now in medicine,
now that I work, so I work in an original hospital.

So it's a teaching hospital. Here we have consultants who come in. So
those are the senior people in medicine.

Then we have doctors who are studying to become consultants, who are
specializing. So to say then there's interns who went behind the ears,
just came from school. Then we have students.

So when we have rounds, we have all of these people around them at the
same time. So your consultants are specialists in the field. They've
learned the field for years.

So they tend to ask you questions because we have to go through each
patient. Because when a patient comes to you, they're coming, they're
trusting that you actually know what you're doing and you can offer them
quite a lot. So there's high pressure.

There's high pressure for everyone when you get to that part of being in
the round. Then a consultant will ask questions. So because the original
hospital, at first I used to think that they can't come with simple
cases.

They can't come with simple illnesses. They can't come with simple
diagnosis. I need to think of big things.

And that's what we'd always try to rule out. Then the consultant will
come in and ask a question. And initially the Lord will just tell me,
it's this.

And I'm like, Lord, no, this is too simple. It can't be this. I mean,
this patient is here.

And we've investigated with all these big things. They can't be here for
this. Then the consultant will answer.

And I'm like, oh yeah, that's what I was thinking. Oh Lord. So then I
started learning.

Okay. You know what? This was actually the Lord even telling me at that
time at work in around. That is so pressured because there's so many big
people around me who are looking at me and waiting to see what I answer
correctly or not.

And at the time, I was like, no, it's just this. There's nothing fancy
about this. It's this.

So do this and do that. So I've had those opportunities. And it's
actually very relaxing and very calming when you're actually like, oh
yeah.

Actually, this is true. This is it. That's wonderful.

Thank you. Sorry. And then the last point, what spirit if I get to ask
the Lord for like his power and what would I like? I'd ask for the power
of healing.

I want, I'd like, like just heal everyone, heal. And I know I said this
as a doctor and I serve in healing people, but in complete healing,
Christ only offers complete healing medicine, partial healing, and just
not even, it's just a matter of managing symptoms and doing the little
that we can here and there, but it's only Christ who will offer you
complete healing. So when the Lord can allow me.

So Dr. Supakazi wants the power of healing. Are you sure your hospital
will be excited to have a doctor who can pray for people to be healed? I
think that's going to be an interesting kind of revival. There will be
no need for any hospital anymore.

So, but I guess that's the kind of revival we all pray for. Your case is
very special because you were introduced to discipleship exactly 10
years ago, according to your story, during the student's Congress in
South Africa, I think in 2012. And right now, 10 years after you are
sitting before the world to talk about how much discipleship has done
for your life.

Would you have imagined that 10 years ago? No, actually, no, I wouldn't.
I really wouldn't. Particularly even how I joined discipleship at the
time, it was just an invite from one of the nursing staff at our, at my
training campus at the time.

She just came up and was like, there's a meeting. Would you like to
come? And it was in my hometown. I was like, Oh, okay.

I'd come. And then we attended that meeting. And at the time, because I
wasn't, I wasn't following, I wasn't understanding.

So I didn't even attend all of the sessions. That was my first year.
Then the next year she came and was like, no, there's another, it's
following up.

Would you like to come again? And then we had a mini Bible studies in
our residence at the time. So that's where we actually got to learn more
about it and understand what's it about? What does it mean to be a
disciple? What does it mean to follow Christ? What does it mean to live
your life and to the standards of the Lord? That's when I started
understanding. And then when I went to the second cycle, then I actually
understood.

And so I was committing and now I'm here. I wouldn't have thought of
those things as a goal. I just have, sorry, go ahead.

I have a, just a general question before we ask brother A and a specific
question, but does anyone have a specific instruction that stayed with
you from any of the past Staple sessions and how have you applied it? I
think it's an important question. Yes. Because from, from, from last
year and even yesterday, there is a message that has been recorded from
about 12 of our place setters that's dressed to carry the King, licensed
to carry the King from students Congress of 20, 2008, I think.

Right. And then it's good for young people of today like me to go and
revisit some messages. So I would want to know if there is any
instruction from students Congress or maybe from any other meeting or
from discipleship that has stayed with you that you can pass on to us.

So maybe we'll start with Professor Aka. Yes. Thank you very much.

I think from last year's circle, last year's circle, we were looking at
go in this day and night. And we studied the life of Gideon. It was
very, very challenged to me.

And I think one of the devotional challenges was also looking at the
Holy Spirit. Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy
Spirit. So it affected me very much.

And especially when we looked at the workshop on academic excellence, I
realized that I myself needed to be excellent much more in my profession
and also to raise a new generation of excellent students and youth. So
we quickly went to retreat, to pray and to seek direction from God. And
it brought a significant change in our youth revival in Ghana.

God took me back to my notes that I wrote in one of the MLRs in Boko
detecting to me about the way to harness the youth and to prepare them
to take the gates in Ghana. And they needed to be excellent. So I came
out and discussed with my wife.

We prayed. We met the leadership and disciples in Ghana. And we said we
wanted to rebrand our Battle for the Young work in Ghana and call it the
Excellent Youth Series because we wanted to raise excellent youth.

We had tried to reach out to schools, writing letters to schools to come
and meet the students, to come and teach them the way of discipleship.
And we often met with resistance. But now we saw God repackaging the
same Battle for the Young, the same material.

But when we wrote letters to schools and said we want to raise, help
your students to be excellent academically. And we are talking about
excellent academic, excellent and also moral excellence. We were
surprised that the Lord began to open doors.

Several schools were calling us, headmasters, headmistresses. We are
struggling with our students. We are teaching them.

They are not excellent. Can you come? And we have been overwhelmed with
invitations. We have now started a monthly Excellent Youth Series that
we do and gathers thousands, sometimes 1,500 students all over the
country.

We have had schools opening their doors. We have been going there. And
we meet a whole school population of about 2,000, 3,000.

And we are speaking that we see thousands of students turning their
lives to Christ. And I thought that this is just what God did in Syrco
2021. And since we decided to obey God, we have seen the power of the
Holy Spirit at work.

Thank you. That's a wonderful one. Thank you so much for that, sir.

There's something that we want to ask Mr. Iyabu Eji. We think you've not
been in discipleship for a very long time and you achieved some measure
of success, significant measure of success even before coming into
discipleship. So can you please tell us what your journey was like?
What's the difference between being successful without discipleship and
being successful as a disciple? Because someone might be watching and
saying, well, if discipleship is all about the millions and the
billions, I can achieve that without coming into this thing.

So what was the journey like for you just in a brief moment? Absolutely.
I think, you know, I was raised in the church. My parents are very
prominent ministers.

And so I was, and I've mostly remained in the faith for much of my life.
So if it was just a question of being a Christian, at least nominally, I
didn't quite have that problem. But what I noticed as I went through
issues of life was that at every new Vista, the Lord was leveraging
situations to directly speak to me about the need to prepare for the
next mountain.

And I remember, you know, when I came back to start Andela, you know, it
was a very, very tough period. And I knew that at that point in time, I
was being prepared for what Andela was going to be. And, you know, after
I left Flottaway, I was also in a similar abyss, right? Because I had
just gone through a very, very challenging business and a lot of pulling
down of the gates, you know, to financial inclusion.

So after that, I was very, very traumatized. And I also took some time
to see God's face. However, you know, I'm very new to discipleship.

But the way I see it, God has been speaking to me about the need to
adopt the life of sacrificial Christ-like leadership. In one of my
lessons, we call it redemptive entrepreneurship, which is
entrepreneurship where your service is not to make money or to fix an
aspect of the world. And that is something that my discipler, Brother
Tokwe, has been extremely helpful in helping me fully understand about
the life of Christ.

So I would say that discipleship has really helped my entrepreneurship
during this particular phase of my entrepreneurship journey. Yes, thank
you very much. There's an aspect of your story that we also feel is
noteworthy.

After your second success, that's with the FinTech company, you had, you
said, after making all the money, after becoming number one in many
areas, you still felt a kind of void. You still felt unfulfilled. And
you actually took a break from entrepreneurship and tech.

You actually left Nigeria to spend a full year somewhere in the United
States in search of meaning, in search of the meaning of life. Now,
that's very difficult for me to imagine. And I believe also for most of
the young people in Nigeria, how can a billionaire not know the meaning
of life? What does it mean to be a billionaire? Who does not know the
meaning of life? Can you give us a picture of that and tell us the
chronicle? Have you found meaning now? How did you find it? Well, it's
an interesting question.

I mean, just to give you some context, when I resigned from Flutterwave,
I was 27. I had achieved some remarkable success well before I turned
30. I had also, I was also the, essentially the Director General, even
though my title was Deputy Director General of a political campaign.

I think I'm still the youngest to ever have done that. And I obviously
failed very woefully and publicly in that task. However, you know, it
was very clear to me at the time that there was more use for me.

But like Jonah, I opted to, I wasn't sure I was ready for what was
required. So I actually left the country and went to the States to
attempt relocating. And God kept pulling me back to Nigeria.

And I wondered why, because I, at that point, I had done enough for the
country, I felt. And I thought I should be allowed to pursue another
path. And I noticed quite a number of people get to this point and then
they start to look for meaning in Maimon or in other achievements.

But I'm glad to say, you know, when I returned back, you know,
prayerfully with my family, I started to discover God's new, renewed
purpose for my life, which was around, you know, being able to be a
catalyst for bringing to birth a future for Africa that allows
prosperity and purpose to be within every human being's reach. And
that's currently the path I'm on. And ever since being introduced into
the Peace House family, it has taken an even renewed significance
because, you know, one finds on this path of following Jesus that it's
not going to be rosy, but so long as you're keeping your eye on the
cross and so long as you're spending time in His Word and abiding in
Him, you would always find not just deliverance, but peace, which is why
we call this place Peace House.

So, you know, one thing is interesting to me in your story and, you
know, finding meaning. I've seen a lot of celebrities and big people
struggle to find meaning. And after they've made a lot of, like Steve
Jobs, I don't know how many people in current times know Steve Jobs.

As a founder of Apple, he was a founder of the biggest, most valuable
company in the world. And he came to that crossroad where he was
searching for meaning. He went all the way to Asia and became a
Buddhist, right? Yes, a monk.

He went to spend time with some Buddhist monks. He became a monk.
Because he came to an end point and he was searching for, should I say
he was searching for the seat and the devil was giving him the other
seat.

Whereas there is the authentic seat that actually gives life meaning. In
the end, he didn't really find meaning from all what was seen from his
life. So you can practically tell us, pre-discipleship and now in
discipleship, there is finding of real meaning for what you're doing.

Absolutely. I mean, it's not even just about the finding of the meaning,
because there are many ways to interpret life. But it's finding peace in
the meaning you discover.

So that you know that your life is not completely useless because you
are towing this path. Because the truth is, building great things does
require significant amounts of sacrifice. Oftentimes people see the
billions, but the conversations and sacrifices behind the scenes are
very well covered by the media.

Sorry to cut you short. A follow-up there. Are you saying from your
experience in discipleship now and before, starting Andela, starting
Flutterwave and all that, there are things you would have been able to
do better if you had been in discipleship as at the time you were
starting those things? Absolutely.

There would definitely have been a lot of things that I would have
definitely handled a lot better if I had discipleship. But you know, at
the same time, God is leading us on a journey. And I feel like at that
time, there were different forms of discipleship that were given to me
at the time.

And they worked for that moment. But you know, I remember the message
from last night, you know, where, you know, as God, one of the things
that the preacher had mentioned was that as God continues to give you a
new assignment, right? You know, he prepares you for it. He prepares you
to meet the man at the gates.

And I feel like, you know, that is what discipleship is doing for me
now. The scale of challenges have obviously grown. The complexity of the
relationships have definitely grown.

There are situations that I am facing now or may have even faced in the
recent past that without discipleship, I might have handled differently
and much more poorly, right? So it's very, very helpful. You know, I
would still be following this path. But the most important thing is
peace.

I can tell you that one has a lot of peace about the choices that one
has chosen to make. Because I think there's an element of when you're
coming up, you're asking yourself, have you made the right decision?
Have you not thrown away opportunity by toeing this specific path? And
now, because of the confidence that discipleship gives one, you don't
even ask those questions again. You are willing to walk through fire
like Daniel and his three friends because you know the God that you
serve.

Yes, wonderful. Thank you for that. It's a good illustration of the
verse that says a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the
things he has.

The deep peace that comes from being at the center of the will of God is
something that money cannot buy. Thank you. That's a great verse from
Mr. E. Abueji.

By the grace of God, there's more that will come in Jesus' name. There's
a question from menti.com directed to Professor Charles. It says, what
could be the reason for the underperformance of Christian students in
the academia? I think, yeah, what could be the reason for the
underperformance of Christian students in the academia? Yesterday, we
had Professor Olubenga tell us about the Exodus spirit and how it sets
people apart.

there are not Christians in their numbers who are doing horribly
academically. Many of them give their spiritual activities, cite their
spiritual activities as an excuse. So what would you say to such
students, sir? Yeah, thank you.

So I think several factors, but the most important is having the life,
the seed that wins, the seed that overcomes. And that is what many
Christians or so-called Christians don't realize. But my own story,
which is a very popular story with many students, I answered somebody
yesterday in this circle who thinks she's a student and want to be a
disciple, but she's not born again.

She doesn't have the seed. So, and she did not go for any of the other
course to receive the seed. And it was like that with me as well.

I was born into the church. I was an organist, went to the church. I was
a chorister all the way to the university, but I did not have the seed.

I was not born again. So struggling with the, I mean, sinful desires,
wasting time, I mean, watching crazy things, pornography, you know,
drinking, all of those things. These are not compatible with excellence.

You don't have the spirit, you don't have the life. So there are many
people who actually claim to be Christians, but they are living a life
of sin, which is not compatible with excellence. So they need to repent.

They need to have the seed of God, which is the seed that we are talking
about that they can cultivate. They need to receive the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, which brings the inspiration and opens their understanding
and give them the wisdom to be able to excel. Then once that is
happening, you see that most of the things that many students get
themselves involved in, you will be delivered from it because many
students are given to movies, to soccer, to betting, to many, many
things, and they don't know how to manage their time effectively.

So those things will go. I mean, I don't have time for all of these
things anymore. If you're a student, you're focused with your Bible,
you're focused on your academics, you're doing your quiet time, you are
in the library, you are learning, you have the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, you are managing your time effectively.

In discipleship, many students are not under guidance, so they don't
have anybody who is guiding them properly to make the right choices as
student. And some of them have entered into relationship as a student,
19-year-old, 21-year-old, you're already living as a wife or as a
husband, you are dating. I mean, so that's already an encumbrance, the
extra load is a waste that needs to be put aside.

So there are several factors that we cannot just deal in this short
time. All right, thank you so much for that, sir. It's necessary not
just to have the nominal title of a Christian, but to have the real
experience of that life of Christ, that delivers you from the power of
sin and that sets things in order.

And then the excellent spirit, based on what I've gathered and what
professor has said, would be a natural role on that. There's a question
that we want to ask, and we'll take a couple of more questions from
menti.com. We have roughly 20 minutes left. But before that, there's an
interesting question.

Before that, before menti, we'll ask one question to Dr. Tsipokazi. It's
with regards to a stand you took four years ago against the LGBT
movement in your university, which you, I can say, paid dearly for. You
had to face a legal process because of that.

And then you had to wear the hat of a lawyer, even though you were
training to be a medical doctor. Could you please tell us what that
story was like and how God saw you through it? Thank you, Pat. So it was
in 2018, 2019.

So the year 2018, to be more exact. I was serving as Deputy President of
our Christian Fellowship on campus. Which is medical school.

So for our campus, medical students have their own campus and the other
campuses are divided amongst the other courses that the university
offers. So we, at the time, we were going through our inheritance as
Christians and that happened to be Christ himself. And then as we were
going through the series, one of the speakers came and started touching
on the issue of how we are robbing ourselves of actual experience in
Christ.

And this is done so by us introducing foreign things into the house of
God, including the LGBTI. That was when all hell broke loose. From that
statement, it was actually just a move even amongst ourselves, because
we were like, okay, actually, we've been very quiet about quite a number
of things.

We've had people serving in the worship team of Fellowship that we
weren't certain of, who actually came out and that the members of the
LGBTI community, of which we had to come back and be like, okay, you
can't serve in a Christian standing and yet you don't agree with the
fundamental basis of who Christ is, because now you're demeaning God and
his creativity, creating man and female. And then that went on. And then
we had revivals and house to house.

And so we just went out into campus trying to get more people to
understand and preach. And then the LGBTI community felt that we were
infringing against their rights with this, because we are going against
their right to freedom of choice and also safety. And, but we're just
basically infringing against their basic rights.

And the university, so then they laid a complaint against us with the
university. University then released a statement in support of them,
saying that as a university, they support all people and they stand for
the safety of all people and they stand against discrimination. And so
that's the report that they released.

And so we had to be suspended so that we would attend a hearing. So- How
were you suspended? You were doing your own Christian thing. That's more
like the Philistines coming to Judah.

And telling us how to worship the Lord. So that was the basis of the
argument that we came from. So that first, honestly speaking, at first
we thought that maybe we were wrong.

Maybe we shouldn't have had open air revivals and actually preached
against. Maybe we should have called them in and spoken to them slowly.
Then I went and spoke to one of my brothers.

So I'm from discipleship. And he was like, no, it doesn't work like
that. We are Christians.

They came to our setting and we will teach them the truth. When they
come to our setting, we'll teach them the truth. That's when we got, I
said, no, actually, no, we are being fooled somehow by the devil there.

Because we want to come in a calm way and come and be accepting and
understanding and tolerating. But they, on the other hand, are very
robust in pushing us to a corner of not speaking against what they want
to stand and what they want to choose. So then that's when we started to
think, okay, we can't, we cannot come now and tolerate this.

We actually have to just make a clear stand that as a Christian
organization on this campus, we don't support, we don't tolerate, and we
stand on the basis of the Bible. If you want to come and learn, more
than welcome. So then it went into a hearing.

Then, so when it came into a hearing, they had a lawyer. You mean it
went to a court, you had to go to- Yes, we had to go- A court to write.
Yes, it was a court.

So it had to be an SRC hearing. So the student representative council
sat with five members. And then it was the LGBTI community versus the
medical school Christian fellowship community.

So at first we had guidance from some lawyers from the International
Christian Fellowship. And then they said that we can't have such because
they're not employed by the university. So only people who are employed
by the university can stand in such a hearing.

So then we couldn't have lawyers now and big people to come and stand on
our case. They, on the other hand- So what about the LGBT people? They
had a lawyer from the university because no staff member's gonna want to
stand against the university. They want to protect their jobs.

So people would want to stand with them because the university already
said that they're standing with the LGBTI community. And then this
hearing took three days or so. So in these three days, I remember we'd
come back.

So we could only have two representatives for our community, same
applies for them. And one of the representatives was already a lawyer.
So for us, it was myself as deputy president and our president at the
time.

Remember coming back from studying- Well, you are a medical doctor. I'm
a medical student in my clinical years, my first year of clinical years.
So I have to attend hospitals.

You have to become a lawyer. I have to attend lectures and I have to
come back and learn the constitution of South Africa. I have to come
back and learn the constitution of the university.

I have to come back and learn laws and learn arguments so that I could
stand there and actually argue the case. So it was really, a lot was
demanded out of us at that time. And even how we were able to stand
there day after day and actually argue those cases.

Today, it's interesting. It's like, okay, Lord, you came through for us
today. We see you now.

Like, really, you really came through for us and you protected us and
you protected your word and you're thankful. But at the time, it was
scary because you're like, how am I, a medical student, arguing against
a qualified lawyer employed by you? That's David Angoliant, I think.
That's more like David Angoliant in Judah.

And it's me, it actually was. But even then, the Lord gave us what to
say at the time. The Lord gave us terms to argue.

He gave us things to stand. He gave us points to stand on at the time.
And then the case was acquitted.

We were not found guilty of the charges that they had against us. And
we've been serving the Lord in fellowship on campus. So you stood
against a lawyer and you won.

And we won. Not having a law degree. I will say that I can do all that
in Christ which strengthens me.

Amen. Professor Aka had a similar experience in Ghana. Professor, could
you please tell us about that in a few moments? Yeah, thank you.

As I was listening to this story, I was quite excited because I think
it's a battle that we're all facing. And we all need to stand at the
gate. I mean, a few years ago, we began to see an attack on our
education system.

They were trying to introduce what they call the comprehensive sexuality
education. It's an attempt to adulterate our curriculum and introduce
young children early in their ages to LGBTQ principles and concepts.
Pornography and many, many things that are contrary to the Bible and
contrary to even our culture and history.

So we began to first to pray and get the hand of God to stand at the
gate in intercession. So we met almost on a daily basis. We had a team
that we were praying about it.

And beyond the prayer, we got to seek the face of God. And God took us
to Esther and he said, well, you must also write your own. So we started
a publications committee and that publications committee was to be able
to write things because these people were writing.

So then that policy was withdrawn by the Minister of Education because
several churches stood against it. Then just last year, we heard that
the LGBT people in our open offices in Ghana, they were trying to get
married and social media, they were doing several things. The police
went and ransacked them.

And then the embassies and the presidential committee were totally angry
and they were putting pressure on the government basically to protect
them and if possible to legalize it in the country. Then it became a
very particular and public issue. People were writing, colleague
professors, lawyers from my university, they wrote articles and wrote
memoranda in support of the LGBT.

They think it's human right. And at that time, I was not hearing
anything from Christian colleagues. Even the church was quite silent.

So I went to pray and I felt that God will have me to write something. I
spoke to my disciples, brother Shitu and the wife. They gave me the go-
ahead.

I've never done such a thing before. Normally, my papers are published
in economics. It takes you about three months to six months to write one
paper of 7,000 to 8,000 words, normally 50 pages.

Now, over a period of a few days, I wrote about 32-page memoranda to
parliament circulated to all the arms of government making strong
argument, read the question of Ghana from cover to cover, making legal
arguments. Basically saying that Ghana is not a secular institution.
What they are saying is that Ghana is a secular country.

So therefore, government has no role to play in religion and to try to
protect the Bible and Christianity. And I saw that our constitution was
not secular. The constitution starts by saying that in the name of the
almighty God, do we swear, we the people of Ghana have made an oath to
have a self-government country under God.

And the Bible says that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. And
all the oaths of offices from the president to the minister, they swear
with the Bible and they swear under God. Our national anthem says God
bless our homeland, Ghana.

So I made an argument to the parliament that how could we consider a
country like Ghana as secular, a country that invokes the blessing of
God in our national anthem and play in our constitution. And if we don't
want God's blessing, then we need to obey the word of God. And LGBTQ
homosexuality is an abomination, is outlawed.

I made an economic argument that this is going to send the country back
in terms of debt because it had a serious cost on our health sector
because the kind of challenges that these LGBTQ people have and it will
increase our fight against HIV is we'll be going backward. I make
argument on several points, about eight different arguments. And then I
now came to the Bible and I sent it to parliament.

I was invited from radio station to TV station. I was talking, they put
me face to face with a... Oh, it seems professor has been caught off
right at the middle of his testimony, but it's a very inspiring one.
What I can see is that he was able to put together a document.

He did not just go to the parliament and say, the word of God says this,
this is against the principle of God, but he brought in a very logical
argument from an economic point of view, based on what it would cost the
country. And so it added a stronger punch to his argument. I pray that
God will raise more people like that to stand at the gates in Jesus
name.

Sister Priscilla will now help us with the final question from
menti.com. All right, so the final question is, since discipleship is a
progressive process, at what point did you feel that you can begin to
raise others since even when you're under someone, at what point should
we also begin to raise others? And that would be for professor. Oh,
okay, so I have a question for brother Ayan. If you can speak to the
young people and let them know how walking with the Lord will cause you
to be successful in your future endeavors.

Absolutely, I think when you, one thing I've learned from my own career
is actually an interesting verse of scripture that I think God used to
minister to me when I was just starting, just before I started Mandela.
I'll give you some context about that time. What had happened was, I had
actually had the privilege of studying abroad, but then when I came
back, I had a burden to start business.

Unfortunately for me, sadly, very, very sadly, it turns out that the
businesses I wanted to start were not, the Nigerian environment was not
yet ready for them. But I was very insistent that rather than go and get
a job like everybody else I knew was doing, I would go and build these
businesses. But then I had to suffer to do that.

And I temporarily fell out with my parents. I had to live on my own for
a while, learned a lot of independence because I felt very strongly
about this burden. And, but things got very bad in December of 2013.

As I recall, it was very bad. The business was not going well. We had
been waiting for some approvals from the government that never came and
so on and so forth.

And I remember that January, I decided I was going to do, our
denomination has a fasting and prayer to kick off the year. So that
January, I decided I was going to do the fasting and prayer and seek the
face of God on the issues with the business. And I will tell you that
encounter completely transformed my life.

And the verse that God gave me from the word of prophecy from the man of
God was from Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31, where he's saying that those
who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up
with wings and they shall run. They shall not be weary and they shall
walk or they shall not faint.

But I think the verse that actually particularly ministered to me was
where it actually spoke very clearly to what young people face. When he
says in verse 30, even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young
men shall utterly fall. And that was the verse that I took with me into
2014.

And if you know the story very well, that was when I got an investment
that I wasn't expecting. As part of that investment, I was flown abroad
to meet with the investor. While I was meeting with the investor, I met
with Jeremy who became my co-founder at Andela and that set me on the
path.

So I don't know how other people achieve swift success when they are
young, because I have not experienced any of that. I can tell you that
God's way is the only way. There's a verse of scripture where it says,
no one can do these things except God be with him.

And that has absolutely, absolutely been my testimony. So I think for
the young people, I'll tell you, look, there are many ways to success,
but if you're looking for success that comes with peace, God's is the
only way. Amen, amen.

Thank you so much for sharing. Just before we wrap up, can I ask
Professor Charles, do you have any last words you would like to leave
with us? Yes, I think I would like to encourage the young people in this
circle that they are blessed, they are most fortunate to be hearing the
things they are hearing at this early age. And if they will put that
into practice, until the day the word of God is coming on obedience,
obedience, so the blessing is in the obeying.

Some of us would not have the opportunities that they had. We had to
struggle through life. It's just the mercy of God, amazing grace that
reached out to lift us up.

I'm very grateful that I did not die young and I lived to see the grace
of God in my life. But some of the things we went through, some of my
friends are not alive, they perished. Some of my friends are still
struggling with drugs, they're still struggling with alcoholism,
immorality here and there, they are way behind me.

Anytime I go to my village, I see my classmates, sometimes I shed tears,
they are beggars now because they did not have opportunity to change.
Thank God that later in my years, I met the Lord and I surrendered my
life to God and I benefited from discipleship that have guided me now to
where I am now and I'm eternally grateful to God. But they are hearing
this early and this is a good time to lay a solid foundation for their
future.

So I pray that they will attach their heart to this and obey the
instructions that are coming to them and they shall be blessed, thank
you. And then I think we're gonna round up for today. I don't think we
have any time left, but we wanna thank our guests so much for joining
us.

Thank you, every single one of you. I know you've imparted so much
wisdom and you will receive exactly what you said, that word will be
planted on fertile soil in the name of Jesus. So thank you so much.

Thank you to our guests and our audience as well. And I hope you guys
have a great day and we will see you tomorrow by God's grace. ♪ Jesus
Christ is born ♪

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/gbile-akanni/pathfinders-pacesetters-2/
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