THE ALMIGHTY GOD DOES NOT PROMOTE LAZY PEOPLE.
INTELLIGENCE IS IMPORTANT BUT DILIGENCE IS MORE IMPORTANT.
IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE ALMIGHTY GOD TO MAKE YOU THE BEST AND THE GREATEST IN ANY AREA OF ENDEAVOUR IF YOU ARE WILLING TO BE DILIGENT.
YOU ARE GOING TO REACH THE TOP MY CHILDREN AND YOU ARE GOING TO STAY THERE, BUT YOU MUST KEEP ON PRESSING ON.
WHEN GOD IS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO TAKE TO THE HIGHEST, MAY HE FIND YOU!
-Pastor E. A Adeboye on ‘ROOM AT THE TOP’
RCCG July Thanksgiving Service.
Let’s lift our hands to the Most High God all over the world and worship the King of kings, worship the Lord of lords, worship the Ancient of days; let Him hear your voice as you praise Him. Give Him glory, honour and adoration for all He has done for you since the beginning of the year, praise Him.
We bless You King of kings and Lord of lords, we bless You ancient of days, we give You all glory, we give You all honour and adoration. Thank You for January, February, March, April, May, June and thank You for July. Thank You for bringing us to the second part of this year, thank You because by Your grace, the second half is going to be better than the first. Church Gist. Thank You because You are a faithful God, thank You because You reserve the best in the last and we know our last will be better than our beginning. Blessed be Your Holy name Lord; thank You, glory be to Your Holy name. We bless You, we magnify Your Holy name, thank You. Be glorified forever Lord.
Thank You for what You’ve done for me, my family and Your church. Thank You ancient of days, receive our thanks, receive all our praises, receive all the glory, honour and adoration; be glorified forever oh Lord, in Jesus Mighty name we have worshipped.
PRAYER:
- Father, for all Your children; students, workers, everybody; that place at the top, take us there.
- Father, I come before You today asking You; please, accelerate my promotion in Jesus Mighty name we have prayed.
🎶 Immortal God, Invisible God
Immortal God, how great thou art🎶
Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Beginning of all beginnings and the End of all ends, the Bright and the Morning Star, the Unchangeable Changer; we worship You. Thank You for January, February, March, April, May, June and Lord, thank You for July. Please accept our worship in Jesus’ name. Church Gist. Today, we are praying for every one of Your children; young and old, students, teachers, ministers of God, workers all over the world; please Lord, take us to the top. That place that You have reserved for us at the top, don’t let the enemy take it away.
Accelerate our promotions Lord and Your children who have been faithful in the payment of their tithes and the giving of the offerings, this particular month Lord, surprise them. In a manner they cannot even explain, prosper them, bless them, assist them, send help to them.
Lord God Almighty, in Your own miraculous way, beginning from now, turn the tide against the enemies of Nigeria. Anyone causing trouble for Your church, particularly in Nigeria, this particular month Lord, show them You are the consuming fire. Let it be well with all of us and let Your name be glorified, in Jesus Mighty name we have prayed!
I am reaching out to you today from Mount Carmel. Wherever God is, it is the headquarters and He promised me when He was calling me to the ministry and I was worried about my future, He made me one single promise: “Wherever you go, I will be with you.” So, right now, He is with me at Mount Carmel and from Mount Carmel, He is sending fire to you wherever you may be in the world.
Why are you on Mount Carmel this particular Sunday? Well, we need the fire of God to fall. We have reached the stage in our history as individuals, families and as nations, the fire of God must fall and that’s one of the reasons why I am on Mount Carmel to come and cry to the Almighty God and I can assure you as the Lord lives, long before this month is over, fire will begin to fall!
- He will be answering your prayers by fire and He will prove to your enemies that He is a consuming fire!
Today, we want to talk about:
“ROOM AT THE TOP”
Our text will be from 1 Samuel 2:6-8
Nothing happens in this world without God; nobody dies without God’s permission. It is appointed unto man once to die; when your time comes, you will go. Church Gist. Until your time comes, nobody can kill you. So, don’t listen to those who say, “Hey, don’t go to church. The enemy is planning something.”
- Any enemy that comes near your church will meet God at the gate!
There are one or two things I said during the Holy Ghost Services that I believe some people might want to misrepresent: I never ask Christians to go and buy guns, you didn’t hear that from me. You don’t need guns; Samson never bought AK47, he fought with the jaw bone of an ass. So, don’t go and buy guns. Church Gist. In any case, they won’t give you permission. But you don’t need permission to buy the jaw bone of a cow and I have always wondered, how do you demonstrate to children in Sunday School, how Samson won a victory? I believe a very good way of illustrating the theme is to get the jaw bone of a cow and then, show the children this is how to use it. Don’t buy guns, we don’t want to kill anyone right? We just want to make sure that unwanted visitors don’t come to our churches and if the police come to church and they find the jaw bones of cows in the class, it is for demonstrating to children. I think half a word is enough for the wise.
Life is like a mountain; broad at the bottom and very narrow at the top. Life is like a pyramid or an inverted cone. You will discover in the Scriptures that, that is the way it is in the Old Testament (Daniel 6:1-3). The Bible talked about a king who had a very vast empire and then, he selected 120 princes out of the millions of his members to help oversee the kingdom and then, out of the 120, he selected presidents; you can see that, as you go to the top, the thing is getting narrower and then, out of the three presidents, he wanted to make Daniel number one.
- In the name that is above every other name, in every sphere of your life, you will be number one!
If we get into the New Testament, the Bible teaches us that when the Lord Jesus Christ was departing this world, He left behind 500 brethren (1 Corinthians 15:6). Out of these 500 brethren, He appointed 70 ambassadors (Luke 10:1-17), He sent them to go and represent Him. Out of the 70 ambassadors, He ordained 12 disciples (Mark 3:13-15) and out of these 12 disciples, there were 3 you could call inner circle; Peter, James and John. Church Gist. If you want to know the impact of these 3, how they become superiors as it were to the others, you remember the story on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17), He brought all the 12 to the bottom of the Mountain and told 9 to wait and took 3 to the top of the Mountain. Out of these 3, there was one called John the Beloveth.
As you go higher, the crowd become thinner. When God is looking for someone to take to the highest, may He find you!
So, there is room at the top and some people are meant for the very top. All I want to share briefly this morning is, what do I need to be the one meant for the very top?
1). Diligence. You must be ready for hard work. The Almighty God does not promote lazy people (Proverbs 22:29).
- There are people called the masses, you are coming out of that category today!
Genesis 26:12-14
There was a young boy called Isaac, no doubt about it, he was blessed of God.
- I stand in my position as a representative of God to you my children, God bless you!
Isaac was blessed of God, but he wasn’t lazy. The Bible says, he sowed in the land, he was a farmer and he sowed in the land and in one year, he has a hundred-fold returns. He did not sit down and say, “Okay, I have made it.” No, the Bible says, he went forward. Church Gist. In other words, he kept on doing what he was doing more vigorously; “If this thing is working, I will work it.” He went forward and grew, he didn’t just go forward, he went upward and he didn’t stop until he became very great, so great that a whole nation envied him. It doesn’t matter where you are now, in the text that I read to you, God can pick a beggar from the dunghill and keep on promoting him everlastingly, until he begins to sit among princes.
This boy kept on working harder and harder until he became the envy of a nation. A day is coming when somebody is going to say to you; “My son, my daughter, how are you doing it? Are you the only one worshipping God?” And you will say, “Come and learn, come and see me working while you are sleeping. Come and see me fasting when you are feeding fat. Come and see me praying at night, come and see me busy while you are taking holidays, almost every day.”
The Word of God is clear, He said the diligent hand shall bear root, but the slothful shall be under tribute. If you are slothful, lazy; if you won’t study and you want to get first class, if they give you first class for laziness, then your university is useless (Proverbs 12:24). Church Gist. It is possible for the Almighty God to make you the best, the greatest in any area of endeavour if you are willing to be diligent. “Oh, but I am a child of God, I worship God day and night, I am always singing and shouting hallelujah. How come I fail my exam?”
Did you study?
Response: “Ah, but what about the Holy Spirit?”
Bible says the Holy Spirit will remind you of things “I have taught you.” You will study, when you get to the exam hall, you won’t forget. The Holy Spirit will remind you of what you have already studied and like I told some of my children years ago when they said they were busy worshipping; during examination, they were still there midnight singing praises. It is good to praise the Lord, but you must study.
“But Daddy, what about the Holy Spirit?”
When you fail, the Holy Spirit will comfort you. He will say, “My dear boy, my dear girl, when there is life, there is hope. Next year, study harder.”
My professor of mathematics told us way back in 1964, he got his PhD in 1928and he was always boasting that the head of the department in the University of London was my student, the head of department in Harvard, was my student.” He was always boasting. Church Gist. He told us, for you to remember something, you have to read it ten times. That is what he said; You want to retain everything, you have to go over it ten times. He said, intelligence is important but diligence is more important. So, you need diligence.
2). You need the Spirit. It is not enough just to be hardworking; you need the Spirit of God to guide you.
Genesis 41
A king had two dreams that troubled him, so they were looking for someone who could interpret the dreams. Finally, somebody mentioned Joseph and they brought Joseph, he interpreted the dream and gave a solution to the problem. Church Gist. The king said, “Can we find a better man than this in whom the Spirit of God is?” An idol worshipping king, when he saw a man who had the Spirit of God, the Living God, he recognized him and promoted him. He said, “the only way I can say I am higher than you, so that it won’t be as if I promoted you above myself, is only in the throne. Every other thing, I give to you Joseph.”
We prayed a prayer earlier on, that God will accelerate our promotions. This boy woke up one morning a prisoner, he went to bed a prime minister.
- God will accelerate your promotion!
In Daniel 6:3, the reason they wanted to make Daniel number one of all the officers is because an excellent Spirit was found in him. When the whole of Israel was marching to the promised land and God was looking for someone to replace Moses, he got Joshua. Church Gist. You know about Joshua, he wasn’t a lazy fellow, when it comes to war, he will be there leading the battle. When nobody else was around with Moses on the mountain, he was there; diligent boy. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 34:9, Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the Spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hand on him. You want to lead? You have to have the Spirit of God, the Spirit of wisdom.
3). You have to be pure, because the Spirit of God is holy. He is called, Holy Spirit. We have God the Father, the angels are always crying; “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.” But when we want to talk about God the Father, we simply say, “God.” We have the Lord Jesus Christ, born without sin, tempted in every way possible, yet without sin but we don’t go about saying, “Holy Jesus,” we just say, Jesus. But when it comes to the Spirit, He said “there are many spirits, so you have to make my own clear.” Every time you talk about that Spirit of God, you attach the Word Holy.
Consider Joseph, Genesis 39, he was brought in as a slave, he was a diligent slave, so diligent that the master handed over everything to him and then, temptation came, the wife of the master said, “Come and lie with me.” He wasn’t the one saying, “Wife of the master, how now?” It was the wife of the master who offered herself. What was the reply of Joseph?
“How can I do this evil and sin against my God?” The Bible says that, the wife of the master tried to corner him; he ran. Church Gist. I used to tell my children, my girls years ago, “Anybody trying to lure you into sin, slap him, kick him, do everything you can to get away.”
“I am supposed to be as harmless as a dove.”
Somebody wants to destroy your destiny; you are talking of being harmless as a dove. He also said, be wise as a serpent.
“Oh, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God.”
He is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He knows when to roar. When it comes into somebody contaminating you, don’t be gentle. Come out as a lion, slap, kick, bite and run. Not only my girls ooo, I have always talk to my boys too; you’ve heard me say that again and again, when you see one sister smiling at you in a funny way, run! There are some battles you don’t wait to fight, you run.
“Daddy, you mean you are still running at your old age?”
“Ha, faster than before.”
The closer you get to your finishing line, the more careful you should be. Keep yourself pure. In Daniel 1, the king said they should be feeding some slaves with the King’s food. Daniel said, “I am not going to defile my body; my body belongs to God.” No wonder he got to the top (Hebrews 1:9). If you really mean it that you want to reach the top, keep yourself pure.
The summary of it can be found in one fellow that got to the top, his name was David. He was a shepherd boy who became a king, then he messed up, he did what he shouldn’t have done. He was sleeping at a time when kings were supposed to go to war (2 Samuel 11). So, he woke up in the evening and saw a woman bathing, the elders have a saying, “When the devil wants to set his trap, he makes it very easy to fall into.”
- You will never fall!
What is that woman doing? Bathing in the open, David fell.
- In the name that is above every other name, you won’t fall!
Don’t be slothful, I told some of my children some time ago, 2018, I was going out, ‘Go out Fishing,’ the roads were all full, we have to travel some ten kilometers, it took us an hour. I have been traveling that kind of road, for three days, my body said, “I can’t take it anymore.” So I broke down and then for the first time in my life, I had to spend Christmas Day in bed. Church Gist. After I recovered, some of my children came to me and say, “Daddy, you’ve done your bit. You’ve been going out fishing now since way back 1977, go and rest. The rest of us will do whatever remains to be done.” I said, thank you. So, during Christmas time, when people are going out fishing, I should stay at home eating turkey and then fall asleep and wake up and see a woman bathing?
How many of you will press on till you reach the goal?
- So shall it be in Jesus’ name!
So, David messed up and God was angry with Him and he prayed a prayer (Psalm 51:11-12). What do you need to reach the top?
Three things:
1). If you are not a child of God, repent. You need salvation, you need the blood of Jesus Christ to wash you clean.
2) . You need to be baptized by water, by immersion.
3). You need baptism in the Holy Spirit. When you have these three, just add diligence to it, you will reach the top (Acts 2:37-38). Peter preached a sermon and the people who heard him said, “Okay Sir, what should we do?” Church Gist. He said, repent, be baptized in water for the remission of your sins, then you will receive the Holy Spirit.
Get saved, if you are backslider, come back to the Lord. Get baptized in water by immersion and then cry to God for the Holy Spirit and make up your mind from now on, I know the doctors, wonderful people said that you need eight hours of sleeping a day, they know what they are talking about, they are well trained. But I have explained to them that, they should please forgive me, I can’t imagine myself sleeping four months a year, because if I sleep eight hours a day, that is one-third of the whole day. One third of the year is four. Church Gist. There was a poem I learnt in 1957 and I am going to close with that. 1957, I was in year Two in Ilesha Grammar School: “There is a certain height that some people, the rich are kept. Why? Because while their companions were sleeping, they were pressing upward in the night. There is a height that you can reach, not only reach it, keep it, stay there. But while your companions are sleeping, you must be toiling upward in the day and night. The plan of the Almighty God for every child of God is that, you be the head and not the tail. He said, you will be above only, you know the meaning of ‘only’ there? You will reach the top and stay there.
I used to be a boxer, I don’t look like one now, but I used to be amateur, not professional and if there’s anything you learn from boxing, it is that, it takes a lot of preparation before you become champion because the champion is not going to allow you to take his crown easily, but the moment you become a champion, then you discover you have just started work, because everybody now will want to take away your crown. Church Gist. So, the champion works harder than the challenger. You are going to reach the top my children and you are going to stay there, but you must keep on pressing on. So, those of you who are listening to me all over the world and you are not yet a child of God, you need salvation first. As soon as you are saved, you need water baptism and then, you can cry to God for the Holy Spirit. Combine that with diligence, I will soon see you at the top.
(Altar Call)
PRAYER:
- Father, I want to be praising You at the very top, take me there quickly.
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