Pastor Nkechi Ene of Carpenter’s church Portharcourt speaks for the first time at the WAFBEC meeting. Being the first speaker for the afternoon session on Day 3 at Wafbec 2022, she started by defining generosity in the context of Gods mercy; “Generosity means ready to give out more than you need. The mercy of God withholds from you what you deserve and the grace of God gives to you what you don’t deserve”. She emphasized that God is generous in His mercy and He is looking for opportunities to show his mercy.
Next, she mentioned three characteristics about the generous mercy of God which are as follows:
Using the verses of scripture in Ephesians 2:2 and Ephesians 2:5, she illustrated how God’s mercy can change and turn around negative circumstances in spite of how hopeless it is. She told the story of how David made a mistake and acknowledged his wrongdoing. Rather than justify himself or avoid God, he asked God for mercy Ps 51:1-4
“We should come with boldness and audacity to the throne of grace and obtain mercy. We are sons and no more slaves. David understood and was confident that God’s mercy is in abundance, God’s mercy never goes out of stock.” Ephesians 2:4
Moving on, she spoke of how God’s generous mercy is luxurious; “God is plousios (Greek word for ‘rich’), God is rich in mercy and He spends the ‘currency of mercy’ to bring us to His side. You rob yourself when you don’t allow Him to lavish mercy on you”.
She urged that Christians should personalize mercy rather than over-spiritualize it 1 Peter 1:1-3.
Referring to the Mercy Seat in Exodus 25:17-21, she stated that “Mercy is free but not cheap. It was on that Mercy Seat that the blood was shed. The word ‘atonement’ and Mercy Seat came from the same root word. The price was paid”. She explained further saying that ‘propitiation’ in Romans 3:23-25 comes from the Greek word ‘hilasterion’ which means an expiatory place/thing, an atoning victim, the lid of the ark in the temple, Mercy Seat.
She explained further that being born again means we are holding hands with Christ. We are carrying the mercy seat (which is Christ) in us as opposed to people going physically to it as we had in the Old Testament. Christ Jesus has become our Mercy Seat. The mercy seat which was previously symbolic is no longer inanimate.
“The only thing that can help you is the revelation of God’s mercy. The mercy of God is not a license to sin but it is a license to freedom”, she said.
She also mentioned that compassion which is another word for mercy shows the force of mercy. “Mercy does not mean pity and sympathy; unlike pity and sympathy, mercy moves and comes to get you out of that situation”.
In conclusion, She taught that as the mercy of God changes your situation, God uses the currency of mercy to influence us into three basic things namely Righteousness, Fellowship and Productivity.
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Pictures from the 
afternoon session.