YOU WANT THE HEAVENS TO OPEN FOR YOU THIS YEAR; WERE YOU A SOUL WINNER LAST YEAR?
ARE YOU WILLING NOW TO BECOME A SOUL WINNER?
IF YOU ARE AN ADDICTED SOUL WINNER, THE HEAVENS WILL OPEN FOR YOU AND THIS WILL BE A YEAR OF GLORY FOR YOU
CHRIST IS IN YOU GIVES YOU THE POSSIBILITY OF RECEIVING DIVINE FAVOUR THAT WILL LEAD YOU TO GLORY
THE FEAR OF THE LORD GAVE NOAH FAVOUR AND GRANTED HIM ACCESS INTO THE SECRET OF THE ALMIGHTY
– Pastor E. A. Adeboye on “FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN (Part 1)” || WONDERFUL SERIES || RCCG JANUARY 8th 2023 || SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE
I want to say Happy New Year to all of you and I want to assure you that this year will be a very powerful one for you. Church Gist. It will be a year full of signs and wonders and the glory of God in your lives in Jesus’ name.
We are about to start a new series; a series that will by the grace of God take us from Genesis to Revelation. Church Gist.I don’t mean we will be treating the Bible chapter by chapter.
Our text for today will be 2 Kings 2:9-15.
Several things happened to Elisha the day he got a Double Portion of the Spirit on Elijah. Church Gist.I know we have discussed the Double Portion during the Congress but there’s no possible way that we could finish everything that needed to be said about the Double Portion in just one week.
Several things happened to Elisha the day he got a Double Portion of the Spirit on Elijah. For example: his devotion to his spiritual father was put to the test. He walked through a river without being wet twice. He was called upon to see the invisible – “You have asked a hard thing but if you SEE ME …” He saw that day, chariots of fire and horses of fire that ordinary eyes cannot behold and so on and so on. Church Gist. But there’s something very significant that happened to Elisha that day and that is, the Heavens opened for him. Heavens had to open for the horses of fire, the chariots of fire to come down. The Heaven had to open for Elijah to disappear into Heaven. The Heavens opened for him.
When you go through the Scriptures you discover that he wasn’t the first person for whom the Heaven opened neither was he the last. That is why we are starting a series entitled, “FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN (Part 1). Church Gist. We will study as many of these people as possible so that we might glean some important truths about the lives, character, unique miracles that happened in the lives of these people for whom the Heavens opened. So that by the grace of God, this year in particular, the Heavens may open to all of us.
– I am praying that in this very peculiar year and long before this year is over, you will know that this year is very peculiar, the Heavens will open for you.
We are going to start with the first person for whom the Heavens opened. A man known as Noah. Genesis 6:5-8. The Bible says, “he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” The word, “Grace” there could also be translated favour. He found favour with God. It could also be translated Mercy. Remember God says, “I will be merciful unto whom I will be merciful.” Church Gist. It could also be translated Compassion. “… I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Here we find the situation where the whole world is involved. The whole world is about to be wiped out but a man found favour with God.
We will talk a little bit about favour – Divine favour and discover what exactly it is that caused Noah to find favour with God. If we understand this, it might be a good beginning of the year for us. So that we will pattern our lives after the life of Noah. Church Gist. So that it doesn’t matter what is going to happen this year, our prayer is that only good things will happen this year. But then, this is an unknown year but if you find favour with God then it doesn’t matter what is happening to the world, you will be exempted.
What is the first thing favour will bring to you? What did it bring to Noah and his family?
Psalms 30:5. People all around Noah were dying, drowning – animals, everything. Church Gist. But Noah, his family and some selected animals were secure. They were practically on a cruise while the world was drowning.
Favour can change sure death to life.
Esther 4:10-11 tells us of a certain King to whom Esther was married. He had this very strange rule – if you come into his presence without him calling for you, all he has to do for you to die is to do nothing. Just look at you and not say a word and not make a movement and that will be signal to his guards to take off your head. Church Gist. But in Esther 5:1-3, Esther went to his presence without being summoned and Esther found favour with the King. Not only did the King lift up his sceptre to her which is a sign of say, “Alright, you’re not to die, nobody should touch you,” the King went as far as to say, “Sure death has been changed to life for you and in addition, you can have half of my kingdom.” That tells you how powerful favour can be.
– I pray for every one of you my children, this year you will find favour with God and you will find favour with those who are in authority over you.
– Husband, you will find favour with your wife; Wife, you will find favour with your Husband and those of you who need help of those who are above you, you will find favour with them.
When you want to talk about favour and you want to see how it could influence your career, promotion, success, then probably a very good example will be to look at the story of 2 people: Isaac and Jacob. The issue I am discussing now concerning these 2 people is the issue of their marriage. Genesis 29:15-28. Jacob laboured for 14 years before he could marry the lady he loved – 14 good years without salary. Church Gist. Whereas in the case of Isaac in Genesis 24:1-67, you will discover that Isaac didn’t even know that his father was arranging for a wedding for him. He just went on a stroll and saw a lady coming and asked who the beautiful lady is and they said, “your wife.” One man laboured for 14 years, another went on a stroll. You can see the difference between the 2 – one found favour, the other had to labour.
– I pray for you in the name that is above every other name, this year you will find favour with God and you won’t have to labour in vain.
When you have favour you will still work hard but you will get good results for your working hard. Church Gist. Without favour, you will labour very hard before you can ever reach your goal.
When you read 1 Samuel 16:11-22, you will see again what favour can do in the life of a man. You can call it favour of God. David didn’t work for it; he was busy in the farm and got a message, “come.” He came and before you knew it, a new king has been anointed. But the important point is this that the rejected king became a mad man. Then somebody said to the King, “Sir, an evil spirit from the Lord is troubling you. Church Gist. We feel that you need a musician to help you.” He said, “find me such a musician.” They found David and the King sent for David and David began to play and the King saw that when he was playing, things got better. He sent to his father, Jesse, “Please, your son has found favour with me. Let him come and live with me in the palace.”
Now, David was a shepherd boy; he is now going to be a king. He doesn’t know how to behave like a king, he had never lived in the palace, but favour brought him in to prepare him for his destiny. There’s somebody listening to me now, your destiny is already set but this year by the favour of God, you will be located to where you will begin to learn how to fulfill destiny! Church Gist. This will be one of the wonders that God will do for you this year. That is not to be interpreted to mean you will ‘japa.’ No, David didn’t go outside his country. God arranged this one; it is not going to have anything to do with your arrangement.
When David found favour first with God, his talent that had been hidden suddenly became transparent and then the King needed him and he moved to the palace. Church Gist. The King didn’t know he has brought in his successor.
When we talk about favour, let’s take another example. Daniel 1:1-20. The Bible said Daniel had found favour with the man in charge of slaves and because he had found favour, that favour which was extended to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego allowed these 4 boys to live in purity before the Almighty God. Church Gist. As you continue the story in the book of Daniel you will see that these boys who were slaves became rulers even in the nation where they were supposed to be slaves. As for Daniel who found favour with the controller of slaves, you know he ended up in Daniel 6 as one of the top 3 in the whole land and he was even on the way to becoming the number one man next to the King.
Favour will grant you exceptions. Favour will enable you to serve God the way you want to serve him. Church Gist. Favour would lead to specific promotions meant for those who remain pure unto God.
– I pray this year you will find favour with God!
Let’s quickly consider the case of Noah. As a result of finding favour with God, Noah suddenly was able to find out what is God planning to do. He gained access into the secret of the Almighty. God told him what he was going to do. Genesis 6:12-22. The Bible says in Psalm 25:14 that the secret of the Lord is for those who fear him. Church Gist. Now we see what is special about Noah. Hebrews 11:7. It is the fear of God that moves Noah to obey God, to do what God said do, which led to the salvation of his entire family. The Almighty God looked down from Heaven, saw a man who feared him and decided, “I will show this one favour.”
That leads you to a big question, “Do you fear God?” In other words, are you a wise man or woman? Psalm 111:10. I am not asking you, “Are you highly educated?” Because there are people who are highly educated f00ls (sorry to use that language but that’s just the truth). Church Gist. I mean a fellow could be a medical doctor and yet he could be smoking. Highly educated and doing what he knows could kill him. A man could be a highly educated lawyer and still be a criminal. He knows the penalty for committing crimes but he could still be practicing crimes even as he is practicing law. So I am not asking are you highly educated; I am saying, “are you wise? Do you fear God?” This is because if you are wise, if you fear God, there are certain things you should be doing that could cause the heavens to open for you. Proverbs 11:30. Ask yourself the question. We are entering into the New Year. How many souls did you win in the year that has gone past? Church Gist. You want the heavens to open for you this year; were you a soul winner last year? Are you willing now to become a soul winner? Daniel 12:3 made it clear: if you are turning people to the way if righteousness, you will shine. God will pick you out of the crowd, your sun will shine bright. Proverbs 3:35 made it clear: the wide shall inherit glory but shame shall be the promotion of fools. Are you wise? Will you be a soul winner this year? Because if you are an addicted soul winner, I can guarantee you the Heavens will open for you and this will be a year of glory for you. Several things will happen that only the favour of God can bring to you.
As for those of you who are yet to give your life to Jesus Christ, you can’t be talking about glory unless Christ is in you. Colossians 1:27. It is only when Christ is in you that you can have the hope of glory. Church Gist. If you want the Heavens to open for you this year the best thing you should do is straight away, invite Jesus Christ into your heart. Once Christ is in you, the possibility of you being singled out for divine favour that will lead you to glory – the kind you’ve never known before will be Christ in you.
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