A Note To All FirstBorns

Several ministers of the gospel simply don't understand the basics of the gospel message.
Many of them are seriously unexposed and some tailor their messages only to fit into the mold of their primary audience within their closed environment

I ask myself several questions whenever I have to preach the gospel to the people of God
Can this message apply to an American? A European? An Asian? A Jew? A Greek? A South American? An Australian? An African? A man? A woman? regardless of class, gender, age, language, or creed.

If your gospel is tailored to meet the needs of the members of your congregation after you have done due research and decided to guide them according to that research, then it is inappropriate to publish such on social media as if the message is for the general public.

A preacher ministering in the slum will most likely not preach the same message he prepared for them when he has the opportunity to minister to those who are from the elite class.

A pastor in Nigeria can tell those who are in his church to sow seeds in faith so that they can become car owners, if he preached the same message in the USA, most members of the church would not respond to it because they can pick up cars on credit and at will in that nation.

The problem is usually with many of us who have itchy ears and listen to messages from pastors whose messages clearly cannot be of benefit to us because it was not tailored to meet our needs
NOT ALL MESSAGES ARE FOR YOU!

I have no problem with those who jump from one pastor's message to the other in the hope that they will hear something different or new that can change their lives. The issue is in their ability not to filter what they hear through the lens of the gospel.

My attention was drawn to the sermons of pastors who preach for example about The Travails of the First Born or First Achiever in a family.Many preachers in Nigeria hold services regarding this and there are so many messages about it indicating that the biological firstborn child of a family is carrying a spiritual burden that requires some special spiritual anointing or grace to bear.
THIS IS A LIE!

A biological firstborn child from a poverty-ridden family in Africa does not share the same struggles as a biological firstborn child from a very affluent family in Africa, a biological firstborn child from a poverty-ridden family in America does not share the same struggles as a biological firstborn son from a biological firstborn child from an average family in Africa.

Biblically, the fate of Esau and that of Jesus were as different as the day is different from the night
It is not an all-size-fits-all reality and such sermons and services should naturally not be a thing in the church of Jesus Christ. To tell anyone that because he or she is a child that opened the womb means automatic struggle in life is an anti-gospel reality.The gospel clearly explains that Jesus is the spiritual firstborn of all believers.

Colossians 1:15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

The passage above is the gospel.Anyone quoting from the Old Testament and building a sermon on the premise of the reality of the likes of CAIN, ESAU, NOAH , REUBEN, and many more are simply amplifying what was obtainable in the Old Testament and projecting such on those who have given their lives to Jesus.

This posits that the finished work of Jesus on the cross is of no consequence to the reality of the New Testament believer.Jesus changed the game completely as the biological firstborn child who ransomed all men (dead, living, and yet to be born from the yoke of sin and death and all forms of curses).

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! Read this Scripture carefully from the book of Romans 8
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Jesus is The Firstborn of my family, the firstborn of the family of all believers. To preach any message, share human experiences, or tell stories that take a negative position on this reality is doing the born-again Christians in your congregation who are supposed to be growing in the knowledge of Christ a disservice.

We are tasked with teaching the new believer Christ and instilling in them the need to grow in the knowledge of Christ every day.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

This is the only way believers will live in the full consciousness of Christ in them.

Of course, many ministers do not adhere to this they teach believers eloquently the opposite of this so that they can take advantage of them by asking them to sow seeds of redemption for the firstborn, do special prayers and fast to break the yoke of the firstborn curse or burden or tap anointing from the preacher to be free of the spiritual bondage that comes with being a biological firstborn child.

These teachings are false and we should stop teaching believers this if indeed we are committed to their spiritual growth and not aiming to keep binding them to us like toddlers to their mother's skirts.

Even though we came to this world biologically in the order of the first Adam, the day we gave our lives to Jesus we became born again and the troubles that came with the first Adam's nature were taken away from us.

We came into the reality of the last Adam, we received eternal life and we became members of the order of the life-giving spirit.1 Corinthians 15:45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

In Africa, many parents place the responsibility for the other children on the firstborn child unduly,
I know a minister of the gospel who invested all his money in his firstborn son to the point of sending him to study in the UK at the detriment of his three other children, when his second child gained admission into the University he refused to allow her to take up the admission insisting that as soon as the firstborn graduates and starts working he will send his sister to school abroad too.

We were all attending the same church at this time and I found the man's mindset distasteful, the firstborn in question graduated, got a job, and got married without looking back. He had spent twenty years in London and saw no reason to burden himself with what ought to be his father's responsibility. The other children today loathe their father for taking a position that has put them at a disadvantage in life.

We must all learn from this, If that firstborn took up his father's instruction and began to train the young ones as expected, he would have spent his life fending for his younger ones at the detriment of building up his own life.

In a sane society, children are not meant to take up the responsibility of their parents. Being a biological firstborn comes with some natural responsibilities, but it has no spiritual relevance or connotation.

We should all learn to divide the word of truth rightly

-GSW-