Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 2416 BOCNEWS.com JANUARY 2017 24 Hours A Day Welcome to the New Year of 2017! In this New Year, I want to encourage you today on yet another very important step you must make in order to get to the top. We have talked about the power of your thinking…. as a man thinketh so is he. You are not what people think you are, you are not what you think you are. What you think you are - You are the outward dis- play of your inner self. We talked about our attitude as it relates to our altitude. Our attitude determines our altitude. How high you go in life is determined by your attitude. We also talked about the power of vision. You must have a clear vision of where you want to be. Without vision, you will arrive at any destination. Today I want us to look at a very crucial step; and that is, you must invest your time. If you are ever going to get to the top you must invest your time. Nothing separates successful peo- ple from unsuccessful people more than how they utilize their time. Successful people understand that time is the most precious commodity on earth. As a result, they can give an account of their time. They continually analyze how they are using their time and ask themselves the question, “Am I getting the best use of my time?” You don’t really pay for things with money but rather your time. For instance, if you decide that in five years you’ll have put enough money away to buy the vacation home of your dreams and then you’ll slow down. The truth is the house will cost five years of your time. Time is a gift from God. It is the only gift God gave to man equally. Life is measured by time. The type of life you will eventually live is determined by what you use your time to do. Man, was created into eternity and will return to eternity. In Genesis 1, we see how God created the heav- ens and the earth and everything that is in it. He blessed them and gave them the blessing to multiply, to increase in number. However, there is a signifi- cant truth that was revealed in the account of the fall of man. God said in Gen 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” In Gen 3, man did eat of the forbidden fruit and so man because of sin stepped out of eternity into time. God drove man out of the garden to ensure that man does not return to eternity in a fallen state. Gen 3:22 “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” Man, was not forbidden from eating from the tree of life before the fall. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that they were told not to eat. It is therefore reasonable to conclude both Adam and Eve were eating from the tree of life before and continuation of this fruit would have meant living forever. When man sinned against God, man was placed into time. Time was the consequence of the fall. Time is actually a form of compensation to help man out of the dilemma of rebellion. We thank God for time. Time is a piece of eternity. It was carved out of eternity to create a begin- ning and end. Your present condition has an end. You will not be struggling forever. The end has come to your pain, to your rejection, to your poverty and to your future. It is a time of joy, a time of celebration, a time of promotion, a time provision, and a time of all round peace. The time of your restoration and favor has come in the name Jesus! Imagine if you had been living in eternity, then your toothache would have been forever. Your head- ache in eternity would’ve been an eternal headache. We thank God for time. Time separates our present moment from our past. Time gives us the opportunity to start again. See Luke 19:12-27 Notice He gave ten minas to ten servants, which means one mina to each servant and asked them to “do business until I come”. I know that Luke 19:15 called the minas money. I agree but I also want to suggest to you that the multiplier factor of the mina is time. Each of them has one mina and they had equal time to do business with their minas. You and I have 24 hours a day. The way we use our 24 hours will determine whether we will remain prosperous or not. So, how do you ensure that your time is being properly invested? How can you avoid wasting YOUR time? Eph 5:16 says, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” In order to invest your time properly you must do the fol- lowing: 1. Invest your time in daily prayer before leaving home. Mark 1:35 “Now in the morn- ing, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” If you want to get the most your day, simply start your day with prayer. God will guarantee the result. 2. Invest your time in reading the bible daily – Joshua 1:8. If you want good success and you want to get to the top, then you need to create a goodly habit of reading and meditating on the word of God every single day. You will increase in wisdom, favor and strength. 3. Set priorities in all your tasks. Our greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important things. Unless you learn how to set priori- ties and follow them, you will never be able to get all your jobs done. Jesus set priorities, so that he was able to finish the work the Father committed to Him. John 17:4 “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” Recognize your assignment and stick to it. You are not called to do it all! 4. Invest your time in developing yourself. Time used to develop yourself is the most productive time of your life. If you need to go to school, then go to school. Invest time to develop yourself. It will pay you back! 5. Take time to rest. If you don’t rest, they will lay you to rest. Hebrews 4:11 says “Be diligent to enter that rest”. In Gen 2:2 “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He has done and rested on the seventh day.” Your performance is at the high level after you have rested. Productivity is all time high. Rev. Dr. Ade Ajala is the Senior Pastor of Kingdom Connection Christian Center, located at 1391 Oswego Street, Aurora, CO 80010. He is a prolific teacher of the Word of God. He has traveled to over sixty countries in all the continents of the world declaring the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Dr. Ajala’s “Kingdom Power Conference” has been used by the Lord to set many people free from sicknesses and oppression of the devil all around the world. For more information please call 720-859-1737. Or www.adeajala.com Ade Ajala By Rev. Dr. Ade Ajala SCRIPTURE Time separates our present moment from our past. Time gives us the opportunity to start again. He promises to restore the joy you have lost and give you a new spirit to sustain you. Your broken heart is precious to Him. Some pain is on the outside where others can see, be sympathetic, encouraging, and of some assistance. On the other hand, some pain is on the inside that only the sufferer knows. Sometimes it is so deep that even the sufferer cannot find its source: cannot explain its feelings, cannot seek the needed help, and therefore it resides resident and expressionless. Most people who attempt suicide don’t actually want to die; they want out of their suffering. Their pain is so great that they don’t see any solution to stop it other than death. The devil would have you believe the thoughts of your mind that are filled with depression that tells you that not only is your life hor- rible now, but that it’s always been horrible and that it will never change. It is the depression that’s doing that talking, and distorting reality. A person does not necessarily choose to commit suicide; it happens when pain exceeds their resources for coping with pain. There are many kinds of pain that may lead to suicide. Whether or not the pain is bearable may differ from person to person. What might be bearable to someone else, may not be bear- able to you. The point at which the pain becomes unbearable depends on what kinds of coping resourc- es you have. Individuals vary greatly in their capacity to withstand pain. When pain exceeds pain-coping resources, suicidal feelings are the result. Suicide is simply an imbalance of pain versus coping resources. You can survive suicidal feelings if you do either of two things: ■ ■ (1) find a way to reduce your pain, some meth- ods may be to talk with someone who can be trusted, medication, proper support and life changes. ■ ■ (2) find a way to increase your coping resources. Scripture informs us: We can find forgiveness and a new abundant life in the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 4:13; Hebrews 2:18). Understand, you are not a bad person, or crazy, or weak, or flawed, because you feel suicidal. It doesn't even mean that you really want to die - it only means that you have more pain than you can cope with right now. May God grant grace and the psalmist’s perspective to each one who is facing trials today. Psalm 43:5 encourages us, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” Suicide Rates – Jan. 2014 – Dec. 2015 Black – All Ages Males Females Total 2014 15 3 8 2015 23 7 30 Hispanic 2014 97 23 120 2015 88 26 114 White 2014 794 193 987 2015 795 206 1001 **Data from: http://www.cohid.dphe.state.co.us/deathmenu. SUICIDE ... from page 10