The Rule of Ten Thousand Hours.

The Rule of Ten Thousand Hours.

Give Me Three Years

So with the power of solitude, you can actually take up a decision to invent anything. If you could invest ten thousand hours into discovering anything, if you could invest ten thousand hours into studying and adding value to yourself, If you invest ten thousand hours into anything, you become a master of that thing. If you could convert that amount of time into practising and working on something, whatsoever it is, you will become one of the best in the world in that field. Ten thousand hours converted researching and rehearsing anything will turn you into a world best achiever in that field of endeavour. This has been proven in history. Anybody that dedicates ten thousand hours doing anything, becomes best in that thing. For example the Singapore swimmer, Joseph schooling in the 2016 Olympic Games, who overcame and beat his idol Michael Phelps, only spent eight years rehearsing and practising swimming three hours every day and that made him better than his idol Michael Phelps whom he used to admire.

They have known each other for a long time. They first met in 2008, when the US team stopped off in Singapore for a training camp before the Beijing Games. Schooling was so excited to have met one on one with his hero. Narrating the remarkable incidence, Schooling said “They came to the country club that I trained at. It was early in the morning, and he was working on an essay. Everyone just rushed up and was like “it’s Michael Phelps! It’s Michael Phelps!’ and I really wanted a picture. Phelps obliged. And I was so shell shocked, I couldn’t really open my mouth”.

Joseph schooling did not just stop at admiring and wishing to become like his hero Michael Phelps. He didn’t just live in the world of wishes. He converted his time into becoming what he wished for. He invested his time into becoming great. Joseph understood that through the power of time conversion anyone could become great. He knew that just by applying the principle of time conversion you can become better and greater than your idols and heroes. With this understanding, Joseph disciplined himself to practice swimming three hours every day for eight years. Can you imagine that! Such a discipline; converting three hours every day for eight years into perfecting his swimming skills. Eight years later Joseph schooling met his idol again but this time it is not to ask him for a picture nor an autograph. The 13year old Joseph has become 21year old now. The past eight years did not just vanish into vanity. No! Joseph arrested the time and reproduced it into added value to himself. He converted that passing time into perfecting his swimming skills.

 “The only competition that matters the most, is competing to become better than your best old self.” 
                                                                 ― Edmond Mbiaka

So now he is meeting his idol not as a fan but as a rival. This time Joseph Schooling was meeting his idol {Michael Phelps} on the world stage to compete with him at the 2016 Olympics.

I guess you know how the story ended. This was how the news captured it ” Eight years later, Schooling’s winning time of 50.39sec broke the Olympic record Phelps set at those same Beijing Games” They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes. Schooling beat his. How did it happen? The answer is TIME CONVERSION

If you devote three to six hours of your time every day to practicing anything repeatedly, in the next five years, you will become one of the best in the world. Why? Because the world doesn’t know how to concentrate. The world doesn’t know how to concentrate on working. Most of the people in the world are just distracted and work only on the surface. But if you will be deep enough to concentrate and study or rehearse anything, the world will bow in honor to you. The whole world will stand still to give you the way to the top. The world gives way to the man who knows where he is going.

 If you can take ten thousand hours and divide it by the number of hours you can concentrate and devote to repeatedly doing one single thing in a day, you will be amazed how best you will become in that thing after a given number of years. It is time that produces wealth. It is time that produces results and products. So if you could dedicate six hours, for example, every day, or eight hours every day just practicing one thing repeatedly, or developing one thing or researching and perfecting your act in one thing, I bet you, in the next four to five years you will become the world best in that thing. It doesn’t matter what that thing is; it could be in music, in dancing, in medicine, in engineering, in soccer or in swimming, whatever it is; the rule of ten thousand will make you the world best in three years, in four years or in five years depending on how many hours you spend practising that thing a day. How can you do that? You can only do that through the power of solitude. You can only become great through the power of time conversion.

 Do I have people here who will say, GIVE ME THREE YEARS, and I will become the world best in singing, Give Me Three Years, and I will become the world best in soccer or in swimming? Are there people here today who will challenge the world and say Give me just three years and I will become the world best Olympic athlete, or the best footballer in the world? Can the church raise champions who will become the best in medical research and discoveries in a matter of three years? Can the world best guitarist arise from the church? Can we raise the best software designers from among God's children? Are there truly people who desire to be great in life? Are there people here today who desire to climb the world stage and be reckoned among the world best in any field of endeavour? Do you really want to become great? Then you have to practise the rule of ten thousand hours. You have to learn to convert your time daily in solitude. You have to get rid of every form of distraction and begin to invest your life. You will be amazed to find out how easy it is to become the best in that your area of calling.

See You At The Top!

Racing against Time

Racing against Time

We are in a race my dear. Life is a race. You are racing against time. Your race is such that you are diminishing life. Whether you like it or not your life is passing. Even if you don’t do anything, your life is still reducing, and it keeps diminishing. Your life is disappearing. Whether you are aware of it or not, your life is still disappearing. It’s pouring out; it keeps diminishing. So the race we are in is racing against the disappearing life. Instead of it just being disappearing or being wasted or spent, you are racing to make sure that it is being converted, making sure that it is being actually invested. Making sure that every minute that is passing, every second that is passing is being converted and been invested. That is the race you are in. You are in a race against time. You are in a race against seconds. You are in a race against minutes and you are in a race against every hour not being lost. You are fighting. You are in a race of fight, that no hour is lost, that every hour is invested somewhere either in value added to yourself or in value added to others or in products that you are producing that must change the world or promote the kingdom of God. You are racing to create physical products that you could show and that are tangible products that you could show to other people and to the world. So you are in a race against your diminishing life, your diminishing seconds, your diminishing minute and your disappearing hours. You are fighting to make sure that your life does not just disappear into thin air. It is a battle of not allowing those your seconds, those your minutes to just disappear into thin air. Not allowing your life not to just fly out of your own hands. Not allowing your life to just disappear into some abstract mirage. You are in a race of converting it into value provided for yourself, into value provided to others and into a product form. You are in a race against your disappearing life. And the thing is that that race must be yielding if you win. You win when you are able to convert all these disappearing time or the disappearing life into a product. You win when you are able to convert that into an investment, into seeds or fruits or products of tilling your own land or products in other people’s lives. When you are able to create values in yourself or in others then you have won the race. When you succeed in showing the real products that this disappeared life has produced. Then you are said to be a winner; then you could be called a great man but only thanks to the power of conversion.

You must develop the ability not to waste that time because I know so much pressure is on all of us to waste that time and for you to just trivialize it. For you not to even know and for you not to even be told and for you not to even think about it that your life is disappearing gradually and that you are left only with very little life and time. It’s a pity that you are not being told this truth. Nobody is telling you this reality. 

TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY PST CLEMENT OGEDEGBE

TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

At this juncture, I deem it fit to state that there are two kinds of righteousness, one is a reward; the other is a gift. I am going to explain the both of them with examples of people who got the reward or the gift.

The first kind of righteousness I want to explain is the reward kind of righteousness or what I will call “our righteousness”. This righteousness is gotten as a reward of a work done. It is the wages paid for labour. It is credited into our accounts when we are able to do righteous works. It is something you deserve because you’ve worked for it.

⁷ Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. {1 John 3:7}

You may want to ask: Does it mean if I do righteous works, I will be righteous? Well yes you will but you need to know that it is temporary. You are only paid for that work just as workers are paid monthly only for the work of that month. It is temporary because, you need to keep working to keep getting the reward of righteousness. The day you cannot work because of the weakness of your flesh, you will not be paid and you become unrighteous for that day. And if the trumpet sounds on the day of your unrighteousness, you are heading straight up in Hell.

Again, the day you become unrighteous because your short comings led you to fall into sin, you lose your confidence. A sense of condemnation overwhelms you due to your guilty conscience and fear sets in. Once the spirit of bondage to fear takes over you, you become handicapped and can’t do anything for the kingdom. You become useless and unqualified. You can’t even pray for a sick person, neither can you go out to preach because you feel God will not answer your prayers. You shrink away from God’s presence in fear until the guilt gradually disappears.

You bounce back again when you are able to resume work by keeping rules and regulations. Of course you get paid and you feel righteous once again. Now you feel qualified to pray for the sick and preach the gospel. You can now go for choir rehearsals and sing on Sundays without the fear of “thus says the Lord”. Your confidence is back. You see, the truth is that you are putting confidence in the flesh. You think that you can heal the sick by yourself because of righteous works. It is no longer about God but about you. Your belief is in yourself not in God. This reward righteousness is unstable. One day you are up, the next day you are down. Righteous today, unrighteous the following day.

The reward righteousness is yours if and only if you are able to keep God’s commandments.

²⁵ And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. {Deuteronomy 6:25}

Notice from the above verse that the children of Israel will be righteous only if they will do ALL the commandments. What! Are you kidding me? Is it possible to keep all the commandments? The answer is NO, if you want to obey all by yourself. No man ever did, not even Moses who brought the law. He broke it no sooner than he received it. He slashed the tablets of stones on the ground and they broke into pieces. The children of Israel broke the commandments even before Moses could come down from the mountain. To depend on adherence to the laws of Moses for righteousness is to come under a curse.

¹⁰ But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”^[d] 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”^[e] 12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” {Galatians 3:10-12 NLT}

Can’t you see that you are under a curse if you want to be righteous by depending on works? The reward-righteousness is only available if you can obey all the commandments. If you fail one you have failed all. The man who keeps nine and fails one is as guilty and unrighteous as the man who keeps one and fails nine.

¹⁰ For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. ¹¹ For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.”^[e] So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law. {James 2:10 NLT}

In fact you are doomed to failure and utterly cursed if you depend on self- righteousness. There is an obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program and no man can become righteous by this plan. You can’t have life by rule keeping because you will always break them. Sin is a transgression of the law and once you transgress a law you die. The wages of sin is death. The children of Israel died in their numbers in the wilderness because they transgressed God’s laws. If they couldn’t keep the laws, then you also cannot keep the law.

It is obvious now that the reward-righteousness leads to death because it is unstable and short-lived. Everyone who depends on it is under a curse. It is self-centred and not God-focused. It is practically impossible to achieve, no matter how hard we try.

                                                                                                              

The second kind of righteousness is the gift-righteousness. You don’t labour for it. It is not a reward of what you’ve done neither is it credited into your account because you deserve it. This gift righteousness is imputed into us simply by having faith in Christ Jesus. It is an undeserved righteousness and abides with us even when we fail to keep the commandments. It is simply unmerited.

³ For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”^[a]

⁴ When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. ⁵ But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. ⁶ David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:

⁷ “Oh, what joy for those
    whose disobedience is forgiven,
    whose sins are put out of sight.
⁸ Yes, what joy for those
    whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”^[b {Romans 4:3-8 NLT}

The gift-righteousness looks beyond our sins. It is not diminished by sin. Even when one transgresses the law, one is still righteous. This is because the gift-righteousness is not a reward for obeying the laws. It is imputed into us only by faith in Christ Jesus. It is Jesus focus and not self-centred. We cannot feel confident one day and feel fearful the next day. Our confidence is steadfast and we are always useful to the kingdom. We don’t walk around with guilt and condemnation. We are confident always because whenever we disobey out of our shortcomings, we are forgiven and our sins are taken out of sight. God doesn’t keep record of our wrongs because we have faith in Christ Jesus as our righteousness-Gift.

 ²² And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. ²³ And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded ²⁴ for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. {Romans 4:22-25 NLT}.

We are certain that whenever the trumpet sounds we are heading straight for heaven. We are always righteous. We don’t become righteous one day and unrighteous the following day. This righteousness has nothing to do with our works of keeping the law. It is exclusively God’s gift to us. Anyone who will dare to believe God will also be counted as righteous.

 Everyone who believes is freed from the penalty of their sins because Christ Jesus took the penalty of our sins when He became the scape goat for our sins. When He resurrected, we were all declared righteous and no longer guilty of sin as long as we have faith in Him.

²¹ But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses^[i] and the prophets long ago. ²² We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

²³ For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. ²⁴ Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. ²⁵ For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, ²⁶ for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.{Romans 3:21-26 NLT}

This righteousness-gift is ours not because of our obedience but because of Christ’s obedience. His obedience was all that God needed to declare us righteous because we always disobey. Now we have life because of His obedience. Even though we are guilty of many sins, He still declares us righteous. He gives us this righteousness-gift though we don’t deserve it. Is this not wonderful? It makes us want to love God more and more.

¹⁵ But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. ¹⁶ And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. ¹⁷ For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.¹⁹ Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. {Romans 5:15-19 NLT}

Having seen the two kinds of righteousness, you will now have to choose which one you want. Do you prefer to labour like the children of Israel and be paid the reward righteousness or you want to have faith like father Abraham and receive the gift-righteousness? Do you really want to struggle to obey God’s laws or you want to rest on Jesus’ obedience and be declared righteous? The choice is yours to make. As for me and my house, we will keep having faith in Jesus Christ and enjoy His righteousness gift to us.

I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’srighteousness.{Philipians 3:9} 

THE POWER OF SOLITUDE

THE POWER OF SOLITUDE 

The greatest wealth in the world is the wealth of time. There is nothing more precious than the wealth of time. If you could realize that everything is made out of time, then you can convert your free time into anything you want. If you know what the treasure of time worth, if you know that time is a resource, then you will actually be able to convert your time into any product you want. You will be able to convert your time into anything. Time can be converted to anything. It is from time that everything is made. One of the things you could do with your time is to convert it into a treasure, a greater treasure. And that treasure is called solitude.

(1) Solitude is a Greater Treasure Than Money

Solitude is a greater treasure than money. Solitude is a greater treasure than wealth. Solitude is the measure through which you could concentrate on using your time. It is through solitude that you can convert your time into something of value.


(2)Solitude Helps You Overcome Distraction

 Solitude is a way of overcoming distraction so that you can convert your time into something of worth. When you are able to overcome distractions, then you will be able to do something more specific, something more precise and definite with the time that you have. Therefore the time of solitude is the greatest treasure you could ever think about. Solitude is a wonderful treasure the world is still yet to discover.

(3) Solitude Helps You Convert Time into Products

Solitude is a purposeful and intentional time when you put yourself away alone with time and with the properties you need to convert that time into the product that you want to produce. Solitude is a time when you go into a determined time of making the best of that time. You are converting that time. You are in solitude with the sole aim of getting the best out of that time


 
 When you can go somewhere to go and think or use that time to study or read in the library, when you can take that time to go work in the laboratory, you are actually converting that time. You are taking advantage of every minute and you are converting it to a product. You are producing something every minute. So, that time that is pouring out, every minute and second, that time that is diminishing, you are taking advantage of it. You are converting it into a product, into an invention, into a discovery, you are producing a product from it. So because you are converting it, you are actually conserving it. You are reproducing your life that way. You are not only reproducing it, you are winning back your time. You are grabbing back your life. So, instead of allowing your time to fly away, you can use it productively. 

Solitude is what makes time conversion almost automatic. You must have an idea of what you want to do in solitude.

(4) Solitude Helps You Block Time From Flying Away

 So through solitude you are actually blocking the way of that time that is flying away. In solitude, you are standing in the way of time. What you are saying is NO! I am not going to allow my life and my time just to while away and go away like that. I am going to be battling with this time and I am going to be converting it. Whatever your decision is and whatever you decide to do in that solitude, is what you are converting that time into. 


What are you going to do with your life? Will you allow it keep flying away like that? Can’t you see your life is diminishing per time? Do you really want to waste your life on earth like that? Why don’t you convert your time into the treasure called solitude? Why don’t you convert your time into products?

 A Man Who Converted His Time

Michelangelo, the great artistic painter. When he goes into his studio and starts to work on his project, he remains in solitude in that studio for two months, for three months, for six months. Just painting. What was he doing? He didn’t want to lose any time. He didn’t want to give room for any distractions. He was taking advantage of time. He was taking the bull of time by the horns and he converted that time into the products that he wanted to see. That is why he is one of the greatest artistic painters right now………..Salvador Dali, all those great names you know, they go into a time of solitude and they sit there in solitude for six months. Sometimes one year, two years and three years in solitude.

Have you heard about the saint Basilica church in Vatican city in Rome, I heard that some of these great people were in that saint Basilica for three years, four years, or six years in solitude. They just bring them food to eat and they go to the restroom. They remained in solitude for six years, seven years, but not just in solitude meditating or just wasting away life again. They were fulfilling destiny. They were in solitude producing, converting time into products.

Assignment:
 1.practise solitude at least once a month.
 2. Study the life of Michelangelo and write down 5 principles that helped him succeed in life.
3. Study the life of Salvador Dali and list 3 of his achievements and how he succeeded.

AN EXPOSITION ON ROMANS CHAPTER 5

                        AN EXPOSITION ON ROMANS CHAPTER 5

Romans 5:1-5King James Version (KJV)

5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 5:6-11Living Bible (TLB) 6 When we were utterly helpless, with no way of escape, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners who had no use for him.7 Even if we were good, we really wouldn’t expect anyone to die for us, though, of course, that might be barely possible. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since by his blood he did all this for us as sinners, how much more will he do for us now that he has declared us not guilty? Now he will save us from all of God’s wrath to come. 10 And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of his Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his friends and he is living within us! 11 Now we rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done in dying for our sins—making us friends of God. Romans 5:12-17Good News Translation (GNT) Adam and Christ 12 Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned. 13 There was sin in the world before the Law was given; but where there is no law, no account is kept of sins. 14 But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, death ruled over all human beings, even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam did when he disobeyed God's command. Adam was a figure of the one who was to come. 15 But the two are not the same, because God's free gift is not like Adam's sin. It is true that many people died because of the sin of that one man. But God's grace is much greater, and so is his free gift to so many people through the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. 16 And there is a difference between God's gift and the sin of one man. After the one sin, came the judgment of “Guilty”; but after so many sins, comes the undeserved gift of “Not guilty!” 17 It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God's abundant grace and are freely put right with him will rule in life through Christ.

Romans 5:18-19New International Version (NIV)

18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:20-21The Message (MSG)

20-21 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.