A LAZY MAN WILL END UP IN WANT NO MATTER WHICH COUNTRY HE LIVES IN.
A FRAUDSTER HAS NO FUTURE. WHETHER IN AMERICA OR INDIA, HE HAS NO FUTURE, HE IS LIKELY TO END UP IN JAIL WHEN HE IS CAUGHT.
NOBODY WILL PROSPER BEYOND HIS SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY.
THERE ARE MANY HARDENED HEARTS IN THE BODY OF CHRIST. THEY HARDENED THEIR HEART WITH THEIR LITTLE KNOWLEDGE, THEIR LITTLE INSIGHTS.
THEY ARE ARGUING WITH GOD ON EVERY ISSUE. IF YOU WIN THE ARGUMENT, WHAT WILL YOU GET OUT OF IT? FOR YOU CAN DO NOTHING AGAINST THE TRUTH BUT FOR THE TRUTH.
WHEN WE CAME INTO MINISTRY, IT WAS LIKE SIGNING UP TO FATE, PEOPLE WILL SAY “THIS ONE IS ALREADY DEAD EVEN THOUGH HE IS WALKING AROUND.”
HE IS ALREADY DEAD BUT WHATSOEVER HE DOETH AS HE STANDS IN THE COVENANT SHALL PROSPER
DON’T BE A ‘WAKA’ ABOUT, GET DIRECTION FOR YOUR LIFE AND FOLLOW THROUGH.
IN THOSE DAYS WHEN I BEGAN TEACHING ON PROSPERITY, PEOPLE SAID THIS IS AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY.
I SAID CHRIST IS NOT AN AMERICAN, IS CHRIST AN AMERICAN? THEY KEPT WALLOWING IN POVERTY, LACK AND WANT.
LET’S STOP PLAYING RELIGION, LET’S STEP INTO KINGDOM REALITIES.
FAMINE IS SYNONYMOUS WITH EVERY GENERATION IN HISTORY, THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN.
EVERY GENERATION OF COVENANT PEOPLE WENT THROUGH FAMINE TRIUMPHANTLY
THE GREATEST NAMES IN THIS HARD TIME IN THE WORLD WILL EMERGE FROM ZION. GOD’S PEOPLE WILL BE SMILING AT THE STORMS.
– Bishop David Oyedepo on ‘FUNDAMENTALS OF KINGDOM WEALTH 6’ at Midweek Communion Service || LFC Canaanland ||
Your time of breaking forth is finally here. Give Him thanks for the privilege of being in His presence tonight. Magnify Him everyone. In Jesus’ precious name we have prayed.
There was a woman described as ‘a seller of purple’ Lydia by name whose heart was opened by God to attend to the things of Paul. Acts 16;14-16.
Prayers: Lord open my heart, take away the stony heart from me and give me a heart of flesh. Let tonight be a turnaround night for me. Let your word find entrance into my life. Go ahead and pray everybody. Lord you opened the heart of Lydia, open my heart to attend to your Word with all intent and purpose. Church Gist. Open my heart tonight, remove from me the heart of stone and give unto me the heart of flesh. Let your word find real entrance into my heart tonight bringing about the changes I desire.
Lord Jesus, speak to every one of us tonight in a unique way. Let your Word spur a change in our lives and take all the glory for it in Jesus’ precious name.
FUNDAMENTALS OF KINGDOM WEALTH has been our teaching series since the month began, Please note that wealth is our birthright in Christ. It is not any individual or group of people’s ambition. He became poor so that we (the redeemed) through his poverty might be made rich. So it is not a worldly ambition, it is knowing one’s birthright. When Jesus rose from the dead, he obtained for us a sevenfold redemptive package listed in Revelation 5:12 which includes power, riches, wisdom, honour, strength, glory, and blessings. Church Gist. If it were evil He wouldn’t obtain it for us. So it is not an ambition, it has nothing to do with profession or career, it has to do with a revelation of your access to it. “whatsoever he doeth, he shall prosper”. Where he is a hairdresser, barber, whatsoever. He is a local preacher, whatsoever he doeth he shall prosper. It is not attached to any country. It operates and delivers wherever the sun shines.
A fraudster has no future. Whether in America or India, he has no future, he is likely to end up in jail when caught and he will be caught because he will steal from the wrong person and they will just invoke the vengeance of God. They will catch him. A lazy man will end up in want no matter which country he lives in. Church Gist. This thing works everywhere. The covenant delivers wherever the sun shines. Jeremiah 33:20-21. Until you can run away from yourself, you can’t run away from the covenant. It is the only way to access our inheritance including the inheritance of financial fortune.
So we need this foundation, we need to connect with it before we can experience it. As free as salvation is, if you won’t repent you can’t be saved. Yet it is the free gift of God to all mankind. Church Gist. Repent and be converted, then a time of refreshing will come from the Lord. Many have not experienced any refreshing in their lives because they have never repented for once. They are just lost in the crowd.
It is clear from Revelation 5:12, 2 Corinthians 8:9, it is the clear reserve of God’s children. Church Gist. If he is not in, he will only be hearing the stories, he can’t access the reality of it.
I also have this nudging to share this with you tonight. The Word of God provides four channels of access. From the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:16-23. 16-19 talks about people by the wayside who hear the Word and the devil comes and steals the Word because it is not where it cannot be stolen. It is by the wayside – the mind. “A natural man receives not the things of the spirit because they are foolishness to him”. He can’t know it. He is excited, he is emotionally aroused but he can’t even remember the verse. Church Gist. It is not there. Mark 4:11. So we have informational access, anybody who can read and write can read the Bible. He can read the story. We were all doing that before we got saved. We all knew the story of Noah, the story of Moses but there was no salvation. The story has no impact, it is just a story like a storybook. Then we go to verses 20 and 21, the one that fell on the rock. Spiritually barren heart, he gets offended at every slight opportunity. “No! I can’t take that.” “Nobody should talk to me like that” The word has no root, it is a stony heart. Church Gist. He is born again but his heart is hardened. He receives the word for a while and tries to put it to work but when anything happens that appears to be contrary “No! I don’t believe anything any more. He has no roots. Ezekiel 11:19-20, 36:26-27. There are many hardened hearts in the Body of Christ. They hardened their heart with their little knowledge, their little insights. They are arguing with God on every issue. If you win the argument, what will you get out of it, for you can do nothing against the truth but for the truth.
It takes a spiritual fertile heart to receive the word. Matthew 19:11. You know until the earth receives your seed it abides alone. Your seed will not be turned into a fruit talk less of turning into a tree on your shelf, it has to go into the earth. Church Gist. So until God’s Word enters your heart (and it can’t be a stony heart, it has to be a heart of flesh), it will never change anybody’s story.
Then some were sown among thorns, they are just bugged with the affairs of this word, the deceitfulness of riches, ”Give me God, give me now. I possess, I confess” all their lives. The Word is choked, it couldn’t have expression. It is killed due to the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. They are always in need so whatever God says is too slow for them to comply with. Nobody will prosper beyond his spiritual prosperity. It is a spiritual fact, Sir. 3 John 1:2. I wish above all things that you prosper to the level that your soul prospers. That is why the Word says “to be spiritually minded is life and peace, to be carnally minded is death”. It takes spiritual mindedness to receive the word, have it planted in your heart so it can jeep bringing forth fruit.
Number 4 are those that hear the word and understand it. They went forth and began to produce fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty, to the level of the spiritual understanding of each one. Matthew 13:23. Teach a carnal man from now till next year, he won’t get it. He is without. He can only access the story. He can’t access the mysteries. His note is full but there is no impact. Let’s be awake. There is nothing magical about life in the kingdom, we live in a kingdom of realities. God swore to bless Abraham and the generation after him and he is still doing it till now. Israel, a most blessed nation, an unconquerable nation because God said so. The good news is that anybody can translate from a carnal life to a spiritual life. 1 Corinthians 2:14. He can’t know them no matter how hard he tries. Three PhDs in New Testament won’t help, he can’t. Church Gist. Several people around the world and in the past are flowing in the reality of their heritage of financial fortune. There are quite a number in this church that have no pedigree, there is no background to show that they could be where they are now but the covenant put them there. Let’s stop playing religion, let’s step into kingdom realities. “I don’t believe that. No! I think they are trying to play us”. In those days when I began teaching on prosperity, people said this is American Christianity. I said Christ is not an American, is Christ an American? They kept wallowing in poverty, lack and want. We serve a loving father, God is not a cheat. He only shows us the way to His blessings.
Let’s take note of the following facts on the covenant of financial fortune.
1. The covenant is superior to all prevailing economic circumstances.
Why? It functions according to His riches in glory where the rot and the moth cannot reach. It is the most stable economy under heaven. My God shall supply all your needs, not according to the economy of your nation, according to His riches in glory. There is no blossoming economy that guarantees riches for everybody in the nation. If they show you some pictures of the U.S., you will know that it is not a wealthy nation. The covenant is a guarantee for the blessing that makes rich and adds no sorrow with it. Church Gist. There is no poor nation without some rich people in it, there is no rich nation without poor people. So it is not about race, it is not about region, it is not about travel. It is about taking a stand in the covenant. It is superior to all prevailing circumstances. Genesis 47:15-27. Psalm 37:18-19. Standing upright in the covenant secures a gorgeous future for any child of God and that is you.
– No one in your lineage will be termed a beggar.
– Your children’s children after you in their generations shall not be termed as beggars.
– You yourself, as your days so shall God’s grace be multiplied in your life.
– Your latter end shall be greater than the beginning.
Nothing to fear. Just take a strong stand in the covenant and watch how God will keep on decorating your life.
Famine, we know, is synonymous with every generation in history, there is nothing new under the sun. Famine is the survival of the fittest. Just get enlisted among the covenant fittest people, you won’t know there is famine in town. God who fed the children of Israel for 40 years without planting seeds or reaping harvest? Relax! He will take care of you. Every generation of covenant people went through famine triumphantly. There was a famine in the days of Abraham and we saw how God decorated him. Genesis 12:10, 13:2. There was a famine in the days of Isaac (Genesis 26:1). So it follows every generation, it is not new. Galatians 4:28. There was a famine in the days of Isaac and Isaac exploded in blessings. He became stronger than the nation he lived in. They went to make peace with Isaac so that he would not overrun them. Isaac’s army was stronger than the army of that nation yet there was famine. Church Gist. By illustration, Isaac sowed in that land in the midst of famine and reaped in the same year, a hundredfold. Genesis 26:12-14. The Philistines envied him, they came and said “depart from us, you are mightier than us”. He became the envy of the nation that he lived in. He left and they still saw he was blossoming and commanding territories. They said, “let’s go to him, he can overrun us overnight”. In spite of the famine, the covenant prevailed. The greatest names in this hard time in the world will emerge from Zion. God’s people will be smiling at the storms and you are one of them.
Can I tell you what will help your heart? “whatsoever he doeth”. Don’t jump from career to career, today Geography, tomorrow Chemistry, next tomorrow Engineering. Whatsoever he doeth, don’t be a waka about. Get direction for your life and follow through. When we came to ministry, it is like signing up to faith, “This one is already dead even though he is walking around.” He is already dead but whatsoever he doeth as he stands in the covenant shall prosper. That is you. Somebody said “I, a bus conductor, now has my own company with offices in Europe and America, a man who doesn’t speak English. Is it English we are talking about or covenant? Some of those fellows you are bringing into Christ today, you will be surprised tomorrow how God’s hand will greatly manifest in their lives and you will not be left behind.
There was famine in the days of Jacob, the Bible says it was very sore. Genesis 43:1. He still had double money in the midst of sore farming and could import food for his family. Joseph intentionally put their money in their bags, he returned the money. He gave them double the money. There was a famine and he sent them to another country to go and buy food. Church Gist. Genesis 43:11-12. Money failed, crops failed, and drought everywhere yet God’s people dwelt in Goshen. He that observes the wind shall not sow, he that regards the clouds shall not reap.
Wake up! Stand fast in the covenant, it is our guaranteed coverage against the diverse problems of this world. In spite of the diverse famines in their time, they all prevailed where others travailled. Church Gist. You will be smiling at the sea, the storms will not shake you because you are in the covenant.
Far beyond the now, the covenant of prosperity is ordained to impact on our generations after us. Psalm 112:1-3. No games, no crooked ways. Straight on. He has dispersed, that is how he got there. He has given to the poor, his righteousness endureth forever. Church Gist. Psalm 112:4-5. So it is not about the accumulation of nonsense. Giving out creates a future for your children and children’s children in their respective generations. When you will be looking down from the grandstand of heaven and seeing your children in their generations, you will be smiling. I thank God I heard the Word and I worked with the Word.
So how rich we are towards God will determine the dimension of prosperity we can ever walk in. Luke 12:21. They just cut him short. When God and the interest of His kingdom are behind your giving life, my God! forget about the devil, he will be laid to rest so you can keep rising. The wicked shall see you rising and glance their teeth, their desire shall perish. They want you to perish so they will perish in your place. 1 Corinthians 2:9. Church Gist. The only authentic biblical proof that you love him is to obey him. 1 John 5:3. He that obeys my commandment is the one that loves me not the one that is singing “🎶I love you more than anyone 🎶”. That is good music, it doesn’t change anybody’s story. Obedience is the only valid biblical proof of genuine love. Anyone not working in obedience cannot claim to be working in love. That is the verdict of the scriptures.
Now let’s quickly run through these and round up. How does God bless? Through what means do we access His blessings in return for our covenant walk.
1. Through divine direction as in the case of Abraham.
Allow God to lead you to where He has reserved your blessings for you. Don’t get off your place ordained for your decoration and get out into realms of frustration. Allow God to lead you. Genesis 12:1-4. Abraham departed, following divine direction. Church Gist. Isaiah 48:21. He led them through the desert, they were experiencing gushing of water. Let God lead you. When the Lord is the one leading, only goodness and mercy will be following you. Life is too short to be full of regrets. Look well.
2. God blesses us through the works of our hands as he did Isaac.
He reaped from his labour the same year a hundredfold. He kept engaging. Church Gist. Psalm 1:1-3. “Whatsoever he doeth, he shall prosper”. So he is a doer of things, he is not an onlooker.
3. Through the reign of divine ideas as in the case of Jacob.
Genesis 30:30-33, 37-43. He knew how to raise cattle after the colour of his desire. How did he know it? Divine idea. “I will open the windows of heaven and pour down a blessing,” he pours it among others through divine ideas. Rain connotes the Holy Spirit who makes people of quick understanding. He makes people smart and intelligent. He opens the heavens and pours out the reign of divine ideas. Many will be swimming in that from this month forward. Church Gist. You won’t lack the right approach to any task. You will be inspired to take the right steps at all times. You will begin to experience witty inventions. You know what Laban said to Jacob, “I have learnt by experience that God has blessed me for your sake”. Wherever you are, you will be a blessing, not a burden. By creative ideas, innovative ideas, wherever you step into you will be a blessing.
4. Through the showers of divine favour as in Joseph.
A slave became the custodian of the estate of Potiphar by favour. Genesis 39:5. Now he got to prison and he found favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Favour! Decorating people. Turning frustration into celebration. Church Gist. Favour! Everyone here in pursuit of Operation Hit Your Target, you will hit a strange order of favour.
5. Through priestly blessing like Abraham received from Melchizedek.
Genesis 14:18- 20. Hebrews 7:1-8. “I am the Lord that confirms the word of my messengers” so He confirms priestly blessings. Church Gist. When priests proclaim blessings, God confirms it by blessing the people.
6. Through parental blessing.
Genesis 49:22-26. That is the blessing of fathers, the blessing of mothers. They always cause men to prevail. You get into it, it shall be well with you. Church Gist. You shall prolong your days on the earth. No breakdown, no crash down, the blessings of God just speaking on your life. Remember it is the blessing that maketh rich and adds no sorrow with it.
Demands of guaranteed returns on our seed sown?
1. Sow in righteousness.
Can you imagine a son giving his father a seed and telling him “that was from the raid of our armed robbery gang yesterday”. If the father is not a robber won’t he shout? “Eh? Eh? Eh? You went on a raid? Ha! Mogbe oh”. He can’t stand it. God doesn’t need you to tell him. Church Gist. If you steal He knows. He will purge them thoroughly that they may offer unto God, offerings in righteousness. Malachi 3:3-4. It is time to sow in righteousness so we can reap in joy. Hosea 10:12.
2. Sow honourably according to his blessings upon your life. Don’t throw trash at God. Don’t throw trash at people that are in need, be a blessing to the level of God’s blessings on your life. Proverbs 3:9-10. Church Gist. “Take this to your governor, will they take it from your hand? Don’t tempt me with your trash. I am not a beggar.” Every time we give to God, it is to honour Him for his blessings in our lives. Remember “he that honours me, I will honour”.
3. Sow tirelessly. In the morning, in the evening, every time you have the opportunity. Galatians 6:9.
4. Continue to water your seed with thanksgiving. Most people know how to give but they let their seed rot through murmuring and complaining, offences. Proverbs 12:14. Your harvest is not guaranteed without the fruit of your lips. Proverbs 13:2. What is the fruit of the lips? In Hebrews 13:15, we saw that very clearly. I can’t see it but God never lies, let God be true and all men be liars. I thank you Jesus because you are not a covenant breaker, you are a covenant keeper. The cheapest way to mess up your seed is to murmur and live with complaints and be offended with God and talk trash. Ecclesiastes 5:6. Those who walk in abundance, they talk abundance in the days of lack. They celebrate the God of abundance in spite of their state and God begins to cause the seed that was sown which is now being properly watered to grow.
The value of revelation is in application. It holds no water without application. Every word we truly receive and believe usually reflects in one’s life before they become testimonies. John 1:5. Revelation enlightens, application illuminates, so you look it before it begins to happen. The reality of the light you are walking in is reflecting in your life. I wish they could get some of the tapes of those days. You won’t believe that we were in that kind of place where we were blowing that kind of things we were blowing. Because of the tangibility of your reception and faith, obedience of faith to what is revealed. It reflects, you move from revelation to illumination. Church Gist. So I see wealth showing in every step of the way of your journey, showing in your thoughts. Enjoy the mockery, it always precedes the glory. One of our deaconesses in those days was crying because people were talking all kinds of stuff against me in Kaduna. She said “Sir, please stop saying I will be rich” Ah! You are touching my sensitive part. So we were at service that day and I said “one of you was crying, why? She was crying for me”. I said I am not just going to be rich, I will be the richest. I am a seed of Abraham. So when they say I am the richest pastor, it is not surprising. I have been the richest, they didn’t see it but I saw it. Be thankful, let complains get off your life. Let the cares of this world be laid to rest. God is more than anything we will ever need. God is not a cheat, He is a covenant keeping God. You can’t count on His word anytime, any day and anywhere.
Be blessed as you go.
– Be blessed in the work of your hands.
– Be blessed in your heart.
– I declare all that dwell under your roof blessed. There shall be no mourning in your family.
– The wicked shall not know the way to where you live.
– No loss all through this year.
– May you never be found on the street corner again, remain on the covenant highways forever.
– May your strength be renewed.
– No one will miss heaven. We shall be there.
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