WE ARE TO BE AN AMAZEMENT TO THE WORLD AROUND US, NOT A BY-WORD AND A PROVERB. THAT IS GOD’S AGENDA FOR US AS HIS PEOPLE
WE ARE NOT HERE TO STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL, WE ARE REDEEMED TO BE IN COMMAND LIKE ADAM BEFORE THE FALL.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF WHO WE ARE IS WHAT DETERMINES WHAT WE CAN DO.
YOU CAN EXAMINE YOURSELF WHETHER YOU ARE IN THE FAITH OR NOT. THERE IS NO GUESSWORK.
EVERY TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD THAT YOU HAVE NOT APPLIED YOURSELF TO, YOU DO NOT BELIEVE YET.
DON’T BE LOST IN THE CROWD, IT IS NOT SAFE.
YOU WILL FACE YOUR BATTLES INDIVIDUALLY. REFUSE TO BE LOST IN THE CROWD.
‘WE ARE IN THIS CHURCH’ DOESN’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THE IMPORTANT THING IS WHERE DO YOU STAND THERE? WHERE ARE YOU STANDING WITH JESUS?
WHEN WE SAY READ, WE ARE NOT SAYING READ FOR ANYONE’S SAKE BUT FOR YOUR SAKE. THEY DON’T PASS EXAMS IN GROUPS
WHEN ONE IS NOT FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST, WE ARE LIMITED IN UNDERSTANDING.
– Bishop David Oyedepo on UNLOCKING THE SUPERNATURAL at Covenant Day of Open Doors Service || Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland First Sunday Service
Jesus thank you again for bringing us into your presence. We all look up to you, we wait on you. Do something new in our lives today. Every time each one’s word comes through, the supernatural breaks forth. Church Gist. Lord let your word locate each one of us today and let your name be glorified in the precious name of Jesus. So shall it be.
Remember the prophetic focus for the month as read this morning is I AM REDEEMED A WONDER TO MY WORLD. Not a wanderer, not a burden, not a concern. For a man and a woman, a boy and a girl to be wondered at. ‘What manner of boy is this?’ ‘’What manner of man is this’ ‘ What manner of woman is this’. That is where redemption has brought us. Isaiah 8:18. Our anchor scripture for the theme of the month is John 3:8. Church Gist. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit not some special people, not some apostles and prophets but every child of God is born a wonder to your world. You only hear what they say you can’t tell where it is coming from until things begin to happen as they say it. That is the realm God is bringing you into this month.
They wondered at Jesus ‘What manner of man is this?’ and Jesus said ‘As my Father has sent me so have I sent you’ so we are to be wondered at not a by-word and a proverb. Church Gist. An amazement to the world around us. That is God’s agenda for us as His people and you are stepping into the next levels in that realm in the name of Jesus Christ.
Our teaching series for our Sunday Services is captioned UNLOCKING THE SUPERNATURAL which implies it is locked up in you and me. How do I unlock it? What does it take to unlock it? It is within you and me. Christ in you the Hope of glory. He is in there. ‘Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world’. Church Gist. So how do I unlock this greater one in me so I can be a wonder to my world? This is so important and I believe that God is taking us somewhere this time. We shall get there.
We understand from scriptures that the supernatural is the manifestation of the Word we receive, believe and engage with which God confirms into signs and wonders. John 1:11-12. When we receive and believe His word and prove that we believe by applying ourselves to the demands then we are in power to manifest as sons of God. Show me your faith without your action and I will show you my faith by my action. So if you truly believe then put it to work. Faith is not just believing God, faith is obeying God to prove that you believe Him so as to commit Him to confirm His Word. Any truth you don’t obey you have not yet believed. You can examine yourself whether you are in the faith or not. There is no guesswork. Church Gist. Every truth of God’s Word that you have not applied yourself to, you do not believe yet. Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works. As the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:18, 26. He sent them to go forth and they went and He was with them confirming the Word He sent them to preach with signs following. So we can’t command signs without applying ourselves to the truth of God’s Word as revealed to us.
Therefore the supernatural is simply a product of our obedience of faith. They had no wine and Mary told them ‘Whatever He tells you to do, do it’ (John 2:5). They did it and without any struggle, He turned the water to wine. Without any sweat, by simple obedience of faith. Church Gist. A man was born blind and Jesus told him to go to the pool called Siloam and wash. How do I get there? You should know. He went and washed and came back seeing. The supernatural is simply a product of our obedience of faith. John 14:21.
The knowledge of who we are is what determines what we can do. Something turned in the life of Moses, one day God came to him in Exodus 7:1 ‘See I have made you a god unto Pharaoh.’ That turned his entire life Sir. So he approached Pharaoh as a god, not as Moses and you see the effect. Deuteronomy 34:10-12. He just showed him ‘Moses I can’t afford to send you as a Moses to Pharaoh, you will be destroyed. See I have made you a god unto Pharaoh’. Church Gist. That looks so spectacular so listen, Jesus said ‘As my Father has sent you so send I you’ (John 17:18). Same word, Moses received it, would you receive it? Moses believed it, would you believe it? When Jesus landed, ‘What manner of man is this that even the seas and the wind obeys His voice’. So a revelation of who we are is vital I’m determining how much command you can gain of the supernatural.
Let’s look at a few of those scriptures. Who am I in Christ?
1. I have been redeemed as a spirit being in human flesh.
John 3:5. Not spiritual, is spirit. So our dead spirit man came back to life at redemption. We are not here to struggle for survival, we are redeemed to be in command like Adam before the fall. He had practical dominion over all of God’s creation. Do you remember the discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus? John 3:1-5. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Therefore, you must be born again. Concerning Paul and Barnabas they exclaimed ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men’ That is what redemption makes a believer. A believer is not just one struggling for survival, a believer is one who has been made peculiar so as to be in command of the affairs of life.
2. We are not just redeemed as the sheep of His flock, we are also redeemed as lions to prevail in the battles of life.
Revelation 5:5. You can’t prevail as a sheep. A sheep travails in the face of battle. It is helpless in the day of battle but a lion is ordained to prevail. John 20:21. We have been redeemed as lions so as to prevail where others travail.
– Your days of defeat are finally over.
No wolf no matter how terrible can constitute a threat to a lion. The greatest threat to the sheep is the wolf but if the wolf hears the roaring of a lion it flees for its life. So everything you have been running away from will start running away from you. Church Gist. Revelation 5:5. He prevailed as a lion, remember He was taken as a sheep to the slaughter. No! You don’t take a lion to the slaughter, you can’t get there yourself. Every threat to your destiny comes to an end here today.
3. We are redeemed to operate in the realm of unlimited possibilities.
John 14:12. Mark 9:23. Redemption has repositioned us into the realm of unlimited possibilities. As Paul said, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’. Not confidence in self, confidence in Christ. Church Gist. Every limitation on your life, every limitation on your endeavours in life are taken off finally today.
How do I unlock this redemptive supernatural content on my inside?
1. Engaging the Word of God believing is the trigger for unlocking the supernatural.
Signs and wonders are raw confirmations of the Word in the life of who so ever believes. But not just the Word because the Charismatics miss it in this point, they just quote scriptures and conjure them, how forcible are right words? Job 6:23-25. It is not just the Word, it is the right Word. The potency of the Word we engage with is determined by how right, how correct and how key those words are in addressing the situations on hand. Church Gist. Jesus was tempted by the devil and every shot of the Word was accurate. Matthew 4:4. What! The devil shuddered. Direct word and Satan left Him. Direct Word not just words. 2 Timothy 2:15. Matthew 4:1-14. We see Jesus and His accurate, on key responses to every satanic attack and how he prevailed. The Holy Spirit is our access to our right Word. John 16:12-13.
1 Corinthians 2:12-14. We need that Spirit to know the things that are freely given to us in Christ. So we are limited in understanding of our rights in Christ without the help of the Holy Spirit. We are limited. The good news is the Holy Spirit is God’s free gift to every child of God. So if you are not baptized in the Holy Ghost you better review your salvation and ensure that you are truly saved. Acts 2:38. It is automatic. You are not on the queue for it, you don’t have to be matured for it, it is what will mature you. We saw in the house of Cornelius that while Peter yet spake this word, they turned their hearts to God and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. Automatic gifts. One authentic proof of salvation is baptism in the Holy Ghost. Church Gist. Repent and you shall receive the gift. Acts 3:19. A time of refreshing always comes when one is saved and he knows the worth of the Holy Ghost. Can I tell you this? When one is not filled with the Holy Ghost, we are limited in understanding and a man that wanders from the path of understanding shall abide in the congregation of the dead. So many believers are not different from the dead. Because there is no light in the grave. We are all limited in the realm of the supernatural without the Holy Ghost. If you check from Joel 2:28-30. So signs are at the command of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you are limited in your quest to operate in the supernatural. We need the Holy Spirit and it is the free gift of God. If you are here this morning and you are not baptized of the Holy Ghost, as I speaking the Word of God to you now, with a genuine thirst you will be filled with the Holy Ghost.
I told the story in the course of the week. A young man in 1985, got my book ‘The Miracle Seed’ which came out that year. He read the book and in Chapter 1, he gave his life to Christ on his own on a little hill behind their home. In Chapter 3, he got filled with the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues fluently. Nobody was there. He was saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost, on the same day. Church Gist. Don’t be lost in the crowd, it is not safe. You will face your battles individually. Refuse to be lost in the crowd. If God be God, serve Him, if it is Baal, then follow him. There is no way to flow in the supernatural without the ministry of the Holy Ghost in our lives. We are limited.
One interesting thing is that the Holy Spirit does not only reveal the right word to us but He reminds us whenever we are challenged. He brings it back to us whenever we are challenged. John 14:26. We were on this narrow bridge not by design, I think the devil just planned it to see if he could destroy us. We hit the narrow bridge already then we sighted a truck on the other end of the narrow bridge. There was no way under heaven that the bridge would take two vehicles. So we are either heading for a head-on collision with a Volkswagen Beetle and a truck or you dive into the river, if you survive good luck. If you die, goodbye. On the spot the Word was fired into me, ‘He shall give His angels charge over me to keep me in all my ways. They will bear me up upon their wings when I am on a narrow bridge’. We passed through that place, only heaven can dictate the details. He brings to your remembrance all things. When our last daughter was accosted by the spirit of death, fire! Church Gist. He brings those things in and you have a hold of the rod. That is why we need Him, when we are challenged, there is so much pressure so our mental system is choking. But the Holy Ghost goes through that situation to bring you light from what He has taught you before. So when we say read, we are not saying read for anyone’s sake but for your sake. They don’t pass exams in groups. They don’t pass interviews in groups. If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you scorn, only you will bear it. Nobody passes exams in groups. We are in this Church doesn’t make a difference. Where do you stand there? Where are you standing with Jesus? It is so important. My prayer today is that everyone will be awake to take responsibility. We have what it takes, all we have to do is engage with what it takes. People are in need because they don’t know what they need. We need the Holy Ghost more than we need things. He is the one that will bring us access into the things that belong to us in Christ. We need Him.
The brighter insight we gain of the Word, the higher level of command of the supernatural we have. You can’t gain greater command than how bright the light that is in you is. ‘What seest thou? The rod of an almond tree. Thou has well seen for I will hasten my word to perform it’ (Jeremiah 1:11-12). For example, the Word cures and makes whole but you have to locate the Word that guarantees your cure and guarantees your wholeness before it can work. Church Gist. Job 33:21-24. That messenger is the Holy Ghost, He comes in and unveils the word and brings about supernatural restoration to one’s health. Proverbs 4:20-22. So feeding on the Word as a lifestyle guarantees health and wholeness.
From John 3:8, this truth came to light: Without a sound, you never command a sign. Without a sound, no one qualifies to command a sign. Very important! Mark 11:23. Not just a sound but a sound of faith. When this building was under construction, two months to the time of the proposed dedication we were not done with the roof yet. What? How do you want to manage this? But a word came from the Lord that He created the world in six days and He will not need two months to finish an ordinary building. Two months, too much and that sound went forth. I believe angels came on the line and began to work very strange works, we dedicated it September 18th 1999. No sound, no sign. No matter how anointed anyone may be, a closed mouth equals a closed destiny. Spiritual authority in the kingdom lies in the tongue of the redeemed. Church Gist. Luke 21:15. Your tongue must get to work for your adversaries to turn their backs. Psalm 81:11-15. ‘open your mouth wide’ that is what the Word says. The Word we declare boldly believing is what God confirms openly. Whatever you can’t say boldly believing is not qualified for confirmation. Somebody is here today, today marks the end of the torment of sickness and diseases in your life. Why? Jesus already took your infirmity and He bore your sickness. It is in the past tense, ‘by His stripes you are healed’ so when you say it boldly, you have committed God’s integrity to confirm it openly. The siege on your life, in any area of your life must be over today. David spoke openly against Goliath and every Word that David spoke was confirmed. Church Gist. ‘You came to me with a spear and sword but I come to you in the name of the Lord. Today I will take your head off your neck and I will give the carcasses of the Philistines to the fowls of the air’ Everything that David said was confirmed. 1 Samuel 17:42-50. Everything David said boldly was confirmed openly. Acts 14:3. We say it boldly for God to confirm it openly. Therefore I command your tongue loose today. You will not speak evil into your life anymore.
Our victory in the battle of life resides in our tongue. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Ecclesiastes 5:6. Many are destroyed because of their mouths without knowing. ‘It is not working, nothing is working. It never works. I have tried it before, it can never work’. They just begin to de-work their life without knowing. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Stop killing your efforts. Stop destroying your destiny. According to scriptures, you shall have whatever we say and not just what we say and believe. Church Gist. It has gone beyond what we pray and believe, we must openly say it and then we shall have it. We saw that whatever Moses declared all through his confrontation with Pharaoh was what God confirmed. Pharaoh, stop there! This time tomorrow you will see this and God confirmed it.
Today is our Covenant Day of Open Doors. I pray that every closed door to anyone here in this great month of signs and wonders will be opened back to you. God’s presence is the master key to a world of open doors. Psalm 24:7. You can’t stop the way, no door can be shut against God so when you carry God’s presence every door opens to you on their own accord. If God be for us, who can be against us? When Israel came out of Egypt, the sea saw them and fled. Church Gist. Jordan was driven back, the mountain skipped like ram. What is happening here? Tremble thou at the presence of God. Everything troubling your life hitherto will start trembling from now. God’s presence is the master key to a world of open doors. You can’t carry His presence and still have doors shut against you. Every door the enemy has shut against you hitherto must open up for you.
Also, whatever door Jesus opens no devil can shut. He has the key of David, He opens and no one shuts and He shuts and no one opens. Revelation 3:7-8. Philippians 32:9-10.
What does it take for me to enjoy a life of open doors?
1. Be born again.
Whatever is born of God overcomes the world, conquers the harassment of closed doors. 1 John 5:14. Be born again and remain so. Church Gist. Don’t be a social member of a church, church is not a club. Be born again and remain so.
2. Continue to walk in the fear of God like Joseph.
Joseph said but I fear God. The wickedness of his brethren could not shut down his destiny. I fear God (Genesis 42:18). The fear of God is to hate evil. Develop hatred for evil. Passionate hatred for evil. Proverbs 9:13. Develop passionate hatred for evil like Joseph did. We saw how God began to open new doors for him from place to place. Church Gist. They put him out of slavery into imprisonment, God opened doors to him and took him from there to the palace. You don’t get stranded being committed to walk in the fear of God.
3. Lay hold on the right word concerning the doors you desire open.
Not every key opens every door. Jesus said to Peter “I give to you the keys of the kingdom”. These keys are revelations. Church Gist. Matthew 16:19. Luke 11:52. Locate the appropriate key to the door you want to see open and then you will find it open to you.
4. Ensure to keep serving God and the interest of His kingdom as a lifestyle.
He will give you rest roundabout. Every door will keep opening on to you when you commit yourself to serve God. 2 Chronicles 15:12-15. Church Gist. As they entered into a covenant to serve God, He gave them rest roundabout. Matthew 6:33. This is the mystery behind a life of open doors. I pray that today will mark a new dawn in your life.
Lift your hands and thank God for your heritage of open doors. You can’t have God on your side and still be grounded. Church Gist. Thank God for your heritage of open doors.
I like you to see yourself by the fact of new birth being authorized to overcome and by faith in the finished work of Christ.
– From today, no one will ask you again ‘Where is your God?’.
Now if you notice any closed doors around your life. Lift your two hands, I want you to command those doors opened because the Greater One lives in you and no one can shut the door against Him. Church Gist. Christ who opens and no man can shut is in you. Marital doors open, doors of fruitfulness open. Doors of miracle jobs open. Doors of peace and harmony open.
– Every door you declared open today is declared open.
– This week shall be a week of open doors for you. Open doors for your family. Church Gist. Open doors for your business and career. A week of open doors for your destiny.
– This week shall be a week of open doors for you in all areas and it is starting from after this service.
Welcome to your era of open doors. You shall testify in the name of Jesus Christ.
Good news!
The International Ministers Conference tagged Next Levels holds between 9th – 12th May 2023 here in Canaanland. Church Gist. Ministers of the Gospel from around the world will be gathering here.
Now take command of the week and take command of the month.
Please take note of these recommended books of the month:
1. Walking in the Miraculous
2. Commanding the Supernatural
3. Operating the Supernatural
In the name of Jesus, it shall be a month of months in your life. Church Gist. The month of May shall be a month of months in your life.
#BishopDavidOyedepo
#CovenantDayofOpenDoors
#SupersonicSunday
#LFCWorldwide
#OnCovenantHighways
#7thMay2023
#SupersonicSunday
#ChurchGist
