Stewardship Of Influence At Exponential Conference 2025

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SPEECH DELIVERED BY PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, IMMEDIATE PAST VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA TITLED: “STEWARDSHIP OF INFLUENCE” AT ELEVATION CHURCH’S EXPONENTIAL CONFERENCE 2025 IN LAGOS ON THE 25^TH OF FEBRUARY, 2025

PROTOCOLS

I would like to thank Pastor Godman and Pastor Bola for the very kind invitation to this Exponential Conference 2025. I am deeply grateful. Pastor Godman is a man for whom I have tremendous admiration. He understands the immense responsibility that we, as Christians, as leaders and Christians have to truly be the light in our society and the salt of our part of the earth.

I am to speak on the topic “Stewardship of influence.” I will only speak on a part of the topic as you will see, is a broad topic and we simply will not have enough time to do justice to it. This is a conference of great weight; it is the sort of conference where we leave and go ahead to do things. the large majority of those of us who are here are Ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ or stewards of the gospel. We are meant to be stewards of influence. But the question is why are we stewards of influence? Is it because we are the smartest guys on earth? Or we are the most gifted or the best trained? No, it is because of what we are stewards of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is that gospel that must form the basis or premise of our influence.

But let me say up front that we may not be able to be as influential as we ought to be because the gospel we are carrying may be adulterated or a gospel is not correct. Generation by generation, the devil tries to pervert the gospel, because he knows the power of the real gospel! So, the case I want to make this morning is that to be effective stewards of influence we must fully grasp the true gospel of Jesus Christ, otherwise we will be stewards of a false or adulterated version of the gospel, and our influence will be entirely negative.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is by far the most transformative text ever written or produced for man. It has been responsible for transforming nations and peoples. It is the most powerful force on earth and as scripture says in Romans 1:16 “it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.”

The gospel may sound like foolishness, and we should recognize that it is not necessarily logical. 1 Corinthians 1:21, “For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”

It is not logical, it almost sounds too simple to be true, “believe that Christ died and resurrected again, that he paid in shame and death for our sins, and if we do so, we are saved and we have a guarantee of eternal life.” Sounds too simple.

This gospel of Jesus Christ is so antithetical to human wisdom and understanding that it is said that the gospel is contrarian. Contrary to our flesh, contrary to our own thoughts of how things should be done. It is spiritual, not carnal. So often it does not conform to human logic which is why the gospel says for example, “Humble yourself to be exalted.” Matthew 18:4. That is not the wisdom of man, the wisdom of man is to dress the part, look like a boss, talk like a boss, believe you are a boss and you will be a boss.

The gospel says the greatest is the servant, and we are not talking of a fake servant, we are talking of someone who in his heart, sees himself as a servant. Mark 10:43-45, “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The gospel does not necessarily agree with us and that is why it is the power of God.

If we were to write the gospel without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we would come to different conclusions, and have different approaches and different methods.

Look at the question of acquisition of material things, the gospel’s response is in Matt 6:31-33: “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. But that’s not the way we reason and think.

Also, how do we deal with our enemies? According to this contrarian gospel, are we to rain the curses in the Psalms on them? How does the New Testament Christian otherwise known as a child of God, react to enemies? Jesus told us how in  Matt 5: 44-45: “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Very contrarian. What agrees with our flesh is when we rain curses on our enemies and pray that fire will consume them and that they should die a horrible and ignominious death. If I were to tell you to get up now and pray against your enemies, I can imagine the energy that would feel in this room, but that’s not what the gospel says. The gospel says in Romans 12: 19-21, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you, will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Concerning earthly wealth, the gospel is not interested in how wealthy you are on earth it says: “Lay Up Treasures in Heaven.” Matthew 6:19-21 even warns “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This is crucial, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Where your heart is is what you really worship no matter what you say. Why is this point important? Jesus answered it himself, “Because you cannot serve God and Mammon at the same time, you choose one!” Your heart cannot be on wealth and God at the same time. This is the gospel that Jesus preached and that the early church followed to transform the world. Jesus Christ did not compare God to Satan, He compared God to mammon.

Today there is a different gospel, some call it the prosperity gospel – a transactional gospel that suggests that faith, positive confession, and financial giving lead to material wealth and physical health. A gospel that wholly focuses not on eternal life, but on wealth and well-being here on earth. One that suggests that giving to institutions, and leaders is the way to prosperity. It is a powerless Gospel, it has adulterated the real gospel, and ultimately delivers only frustration. The gospel of Jesus Christ was never about wealth, it is about salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the ultimate reward of eternal life.

Before, during and after Christ, there has been phenomenal wealth, amongst even heathens. God causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the good and the evil alike. Wealth, even physical well-being has never been evidence of His approval. But today, the gospel is preached from the point of view of personal success and well-being, a complete focus on self with the result that most people who come to Christ today focus on breakthroughs, financial in particular, or some other material benefits and they are encouraged to focus on those things because those things are premised on giving to those who preach those messages and their institutions.

The allure of the prosperity gospel is simple; it enables a person to see a transactional way of dealing with God; I give to an institution or the man of God and I am assured of prosperity, but the greater allure is that it makes those who preach it and their institution wealthy. Much wealthier in most cases than their congregational members can ever be. What is worse amidst such great wealth, the majority of the congregations of our prosperity preachers are poor or barely making a living.

The third problem is that the prosperity gospel has overshadowed God’s heart about giving, namely giving to the poor. This is the heart of God, giving to the poor. But it is rare to hear much preaching in our prosperity gospel on giving to the poor because it ultimately affects what goes to the institution and its leaders.

Yet it is giving to the poor that is at the heart of the gospel and the New Testament church. The reason I want to emphasize this is because we are talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not some other Gospel, not some other train of thought, not some other disciple of thought. There are loads of disciplines of thought, some similar to the gospel, some close to the Gospel, and some able to deliver results, but not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must stick to the Gospel of Jesus Christ if we want the results of the Gospel. This is the same Gospel that transformed nations, transformed individuals and gave them divine wisdom and intelligence to be able to conquer their societies and their problems. The great inventions of the world were dependent on the intelligence that God gave through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul for example, recounting his visit to Jerusalem to meet with the older apostles, recollects that they gave him only one fundamental guideline Galatians 2:9-10; “They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.”

In James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

No one in the early church lacked or was destitute, why? The Bible says in Acts 4:34-35: “Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.”

So, the purpose of the collection was to ensure that none lacked. If you recall the origin of the Deaconate in Acts 6 in the church was to find Holy Spirit filled men who could ensure a fair process of the distribution of food to widows. It was that important for the church.  Almost everywhere you see giving in the New Testament, it is about giving to the poor, widows or orphans.

Paul said in Romans 15:25-28: “But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there. For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they felt the least they could do in return was to help them financially. As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain.”

Even what has become the Sunday offering or the first day of the week offering that Paul mandated was for the poor not himself or his ministry. Paul said in 1st Corinthians 16:1-2: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, (the poor) as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.”

Indeed, the biblical standard to determine who loves God and who does not is who can give a brother or sister in need, says scripture. In 1 John 3:17: “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”

Indeed, a condition for blessing the works of the hands of a giver established since the Old Testament was given to the poor Deuteronomy 15:7-9, 10-11: “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs.”

“You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’ because there will always be the poor, therefore create safety nets in your nation, create a system to take care of the problem.”

Proverbs 19:17 says: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.”

Isaiah 58:10 says: “If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness.

Almost every scripture that is quoted in our churches to support giving is actually about giving to the poor. One of the all-time popular ones is God loves a cheerful giver, but look at the context, 2 Corinthians 9:7-9: “So, let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.”

Or the often-quoted scripture, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Again, the context is given to the poor. In Acts 20:34-35: “Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way, by labouring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

Indeed, when God said to Cornelius in Acts 10: “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Note your alms (gifts to the poor) God was saying your giving to the poor and your prayers have come up for a memorial before God.

Christ spoke, if you recall, twice in the scriptures about those who will go to hell or heaven. The first are those who did not take care of the poor. The story of Lazarus and the rich man. Luke 16: 19-30. The rich man ended up in hell while Lazarus went to heaven. The only reason that he ended up in hell was because he saw outside his house every day a sick, poor man and he did not extend help. In Matt 25: 31-46 Jesus concluded that those who ignore the poor and needy ignore Him, and that those who help the poor and needy actually give to him.

Matthew 25:40 “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”  So here again we see the actual meaning of giving to God. Whatever you do for the poorest, you do it for God.

Jesus then concluded that those who fail to help the poor will go away into everlasting punishment, but those who do, are the righteous and they will inherit eternal life. It is evident from scripture that Jesus Christ was concerned about how the pursuit of wealth and money could block even our pathway to eternal life. And again, I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

In Matthew 19 – 24, Jesus realises that money is in direct competition with God in the hearts of men. Which is why He said that you cannot serve God and Mammon. He didn’t say you can’t serve God and Satan, no, He said, you can’t serve God and Mammon. Money has the tremendous power to command worship and capture the heart of men, and your heart cannot serve both, so he warned in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

He knew how much money meant to even those who obeyed all the laws faithfully, so He offered Himself or money to the rich young ruler.

In Mark 10:17-27, Jesus encountered a rich young ruler who asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” Jesus told him to sell all he had, give to the poor, and follow Him, choose one: me or money.

The story goes on to say that the rich young ruler walked away sorrowfully. He chose money.

The gospel has always warned about our relationship with money, which is why it is surprising that somehow a variant of the gospel that emphasizes wealth as the hallmark of God’s acceptance and blessing is regarded as correct.

1 Timothy 6:9 says: “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

The desire to be rich is planted in the hearts of the believer today, it has almost become a hallmark of God’s favour. When today we say a man is blessed, it almost means he is wealthy or powerful, when a person struggles to make ends meet, even if it is not spoken of, he or she is not regarded as a blessed man or woman, at best it may be said that he is awaiting a breakthrough.

People are constantly reminded that they are not giving enough, maybe it’s the devourer because you may have skipped a tithe payment or maybe it is the first fruit that you have failed to pay. The pervasive doctrine is that you will be wealthy, successful and healthy if you give.

The notion of seed faith is also a prominent doctrine, you will not lack if you plant a seed on fertile ground, but there are two issues to clarify; one is that giving to the work of ministry is important and cannot be gainsaid. This is particularly important. The reason why giving to ministry is important is because that is the way to spread the Gospel, evangelism, and church planting, etc.

Everyone is told that to get out of poverty is to give to the ministry no matter how poor you may be.  But the scriptures record that the reason why none lacked in the early church was because what was collected was shared amongst the believers in accordance with need. We see that in Acts 4. 34. The theology today is different; give all you can but don’t expect to be given support to prevent lack. So the vast majority of members reflect the poverty of society, the safety net that the early church provided for its members is non-existent. There is something wrong with the theology that says we need not make those provisions.

The other error of the transactional gospel is that today many who come to Christ have heard a sermon that suggests that accepting Christ means material abundance and well-being. Or that it is an escape from the misery and difficulties of his or her life. But that is not the gospel. How can a gospel of prosperity convert a person who is comfortable or wealthy? Can you persuade the citizens of Dubai or Saudi Arabia that they should accept Christ as Lord and Saviour so as to become comfortable in life? UAE’s GDP per capita is almost $53,000 per person. That is why the Gospel lacks power where it ought to have power because it is meant to convert the people of other faiths to see the light.

Also, the emphasis on the miraculous acquisition of wealth often conflicts with the truth that productivity and hard work, diligence, building business or professional excellence is day by day, building block by building block, is the God-ordained pathway to wealth. Many would ask but shouldn’t men and women of God make money from the Gospel? How did Paul handle this issue of men and women of God being financially compensated from the resources of the church or the gathering of the saints? First, he believed it was the right of men and women of God to be so compensated. He even said that they were commanded by the Lord that those who preach the Gospel should live from the Gospel.

Also, we have abstained so that it would not even appear that the gospel is being preached for reward or that the man of God is being enriched by the gospel. He felt that it should be evident that the gospel is being preached without charge so that the authority of the man of God in the Gospel is not abused.

The late Pa Elton is regarded in Pentecostal circles as the father of Pentecostalism in Nigeria. Almost every Pentecostal leader from Bishop Ben Idahosa to Pastor E.A. Adeboye, was greatly influenced by his teachings. But in the early 80s, especially on account of the influence of the American Pentecostal church on Nigerian Pentecostals, he warned that the prosperity gospel, its focus on wealth, materialism and personal popularity would hamper the spread of the true gospel in Nigeria.

He observed in 1983, “For years now I have been disgusted with the level at which evangelism has become a commercial project. God is not in the promotion business.” Pa Elton speaking of many in the Pentecostal church who God had used mightily to transform lives, said some of these men are becoming involved in the things of the world, the things of the flesh, overambitious for money, and position and property cars and houses. What’s gone wrong?!” That was 1983, if Pa Elton were to see today the manipulation of the Gospel to raise money and build empires, I wonder what he would say.

What shall we do then?

The stewardship of influence is an immense responsibility, one that requires an unwavering commitment to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not a call to power, material wealth, or self-glorification, but to servanthood, sacrifice, and the relentless pursuit of God’s will. As stewards, we are entrusted with a message that is radical, contrarian to worldly wisdom, and yet more powerful than any force on earth, the Gospel that transforms lives, and nations, and guarantees eternity.

In a time when many have replaced the gospel of Christ with a transactional message centred on wealth and personal success, we must return to the foundational truth; the gospel is about salvation, not material gain. It calls us to humility, generosity, and love for the poor and the oppressed, not the pursuit of riches at the expense of the flock. Jesus Himself warned about the deceptive grip of money, reminding us that we cannot serve both God and mammon. The early church thrived not because of wealth accumulation, but because of radical generosity, community, and a shared commitment to meet the needs of all.

If we are to truly steward influence in a way that honours God, we must remain faithful to the Gospel as it was given to us. The call today is clear, return to the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of salvation, service, and sacrifice. In doing so, we will not only be faithful stewards of influence but also bear witness to the enduring power of God’s kingdom on earth.

Thank you very much.