GOD WANTS ME TO ENCOURAGE YOU: AFTER DARKNESS, THERE WILL BE LIGHT
LAZARUS WAS DEAD BEFORE HE WAS RESURRECTED. AT TIMES, DEATH COMES BEFORE RESURRECTION
AFTER THE CONFUSION IN THE LIFE OF THE MAD MAN OF GADERENES, JESUS BROUGHT ORDER
IF YOU ARE IN SORROW NOW, YOUR JOY IS ON THE WAY – THE MORNING COMES AFTER THE EVENING
SILENCE PRECEDES A SHOUT
IT MIGHT BE A PERIOD OF SILENCE IN YOUR LIFE NOW BUT GOD IS WORKING OUT HIS PURPOSE IN YOUR LIFE. A TIME OF SHOUTING WILL SOON COME
IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW TERRIBLE YOUR PAST HAS BEEN, IT DOES NOT STAND IN THE WAY OF A GLORIOUS TOMORROW IF YOU SURRENDER TO GOD
TOTAL SURRENDER TO THE WILL OF GOD COMES BEFORE YOU EXPERIENCE HIS PROMOTION
YOU CAN’T HAVE GOD ON YOUR SIDE AND PERISH – ESTHER DID NOT PERISH
BEFORE YOUR TESTIMONY YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS YOUR TEST
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU’RE GOING THROUGH NOW, WEEPING MAY ENDURE FOR THE NIGHT BUT JOY COMES IN THE MORNING
-Pastor E. A. Adeboye on FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN Part 26 at RCCG Online Sunday Service || 15th October, 2023 ||Â
We are now moving on to part 26 in our series on “FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN” using Joshua as our case study. Joshua 6:10.
We had already looked at the instruction given to Joshua by the representative of the Lord of Host on how the battle was to go. Church Gist. We’ve been told that the people were to go round the wall of Jericho once a day for 6 days and then on the 7th day they were to shout and God had prophesied that the wall would come down that day. We’ve discussed a little bit about the theology of numbers, 1-7 and we have Joshua taking over where we are now.
Joshua 6:10. The Angel had come and had done his own job. The captain of the people, Joshua himself now took over and told the people ‘You are to go round the wall once for 6 days and on the 7th day you are going to shout but on those days when you are going round once a day, shut your mouth, when it is time to shout, I will tell you’.
Again, we have sections of the scripture that are loaded with meanings but today we will just take one aspect of it to bring a word of encouragement to someone. Church Gist. I believe that the sermon of today is for someone in particular. I believe God wants me to tell someone, silence precedes a shout. Whoever that fellow may be, the Almighty God wants you to know that darkness came before light. Genesis 1:1-3. John 9:1-7, 24-25.
-Whoever you are, struggling with the present situation in which you have found yourself, my daddy wants me to encourage you, after darkness, there will be light.
At the very beginning when God created the Heavens and the Earth, the Bible said first, there was confusion, the earth was without form, the earth was confused. Church Gist. The entire creation was in confusion before God said “Let there be light” and then order came. Confusion comes before order. Mark 5:2-20. After the confusion in the life of the mad man of Gadarenes came order. Church Gist. The man ended up becoming an Evangelist for the Lord.
Are you in a confused state right now? This message is for you from the Almighty God that order is on the way.
The Bible tells us that in the beginning when God created the Earth, the Earth was not only without form but it was empty but after God said “Let there be light”, suddenly, everything that you can think of that was created later came in multitudes. Church Gist. Fishes, multitude in the sea. Birds, multitude in the air. Animals, multitude on land.
Emptiness came before fullness. Luke 5:1-7. Peter was empty before, now he overflowed. In 1st Samuel 1 and 2, Hannah was barren, she was empty but by the time we got to the end of the story she had 6 children. Church Gist. She was empty before and became full.
Are you empty physically, materially and maritally? In the name that is above every other name, your emptiness will soon give way to fullness.
The evening comes before morning. Genesis 1:5. God’s day starts in the evening and that’s good news for those of you who might be weeping right now. Psalms 30:5.
If you are in sorrow right now I have good news for you because silence precedes a shout. Your joy is on the way.
Crises precede triumph. Isaiah 43:2. Be encouraged. 2 Kings 4:1-7.
-Are you in a crisis? You’re coming out.
Daniel 3:1-30. Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego came out of the fire to be promoted.
-Are you in a crisis? Very soon you will be shouting for joy.
At times, death comes before resurrection. John 11:1-44.
-Are you going through a period of sorrow? Church Gist. Very soon in your family, there will be a shout of hallelujah.
Loss always comes before gain. John 12:24. God knows what He is doing. Church Gist. He is working His purpose out in your life. It might be a period of silence, a time of shouting will soon come.
-You need to know that total surrender to the will of God comes before you can begin to experience His promotion. Church Gist. You need to study the case of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Philippians 2:5-11. You are admonished to follow His example that He went down steadily in obedience to God till He died on the cross but at the end of it all, He got “a name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee should bow”.
1 Kings 19:19-21. Elisha surrendered all to follow Elijah. He was the son of a wealthy farmer. He was going to inherit a wealthy business but he surrendered all. Church Gist. In 2 Kings 2:1-15, the surrender was total. He was given an opportunity to change his mind 3 times but he refused. At the end of the day, the one who became the servant of a homeless prophet became the father of all the prophets in the land. You have to go down before you can go up.
When you read the story of Esther, read the entire book, it’s a very beautiful book. A good reading for a Sunday afternoon. The situation got to a stage where Esther had to say in Esther 4:16, she said I surrender, “If I perish, I perish”. But she didn’t perish. You can’t have God on your side and perish. Church Gist. At the end of the day in Esther 8:1, she inherited the house of her arch enemy. The Bible is clear, the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. Just make sure your surrender is complete.
Every child of God must know, before any testimony, there will be a test…and some people who tried to play with the word ‘testimony’ and they said, ‘a testimony is a report of the test I had and now here comes my victory”. In 1 Kings 17:8-16, the widow of Zarephath was given a tough test. Church Gist. You have one meal left for you and your son to eat and die a man of God said, “go and cook but give me a bit of it first”. It was a tough test, she passed the test and for the next 3 years plus, she had a daily testimony.
-Silence comes before a shout. Be encouraged. It doesn’t matter what you are going through now. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy is coming in the morning.
The biggest encouragement that I want to give you from this passage today is that it doesn’t matter how terrible your past has been, it does not stand in the way of a glorious tomorrow.
In 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul described himself accurately as someone who used to be a chief among sinners. That was the past. Later on, he was to write in 2 Corinthians 11:5, he said “I am a chief among the apostles”. He had a horrible past but he had a glorious future. Church Gist. Don’t let the devil ever tell you that you have done so many evil that God can never make use of you again. He can use a murderer, He can use even a kidnapper. He can use a 419 man for His glory. All you have to do is hand over your life to the One who controls tomorrow…and your weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the future.
-Today might be a day of silence in your life, tomorrow there will be shouts of hallelujah.
-Salvation call and prayer-
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