I WENT ON A 3-DAY DRY FAST AS AN 11 YEAR OLD BECAUSE OF MY DEDICATION TO GOD
THOSE WHO SEEK GOD DON’T STRUGGLE TO SEE GOOD
ADDICTION TO GOD IS KEY TO ADDITIONS IN LIFE
IF GOD IS BEFORE YOU, GOOD MUST BE BOTH BEHIND AND AROUND YOU
THE PLACE YOU GIVE TO GOD DETERMINES THE PLACE YOU FIND IN LIFE
UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND THE DEDICATION OF ABRAHAM, YOU’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM
I DIDN’T HAVE A PLAN B WHEN I WAS GOING INTO MINISTRY BECAUSE I KNEW FAILURE WASN’T AN OPTION
WHEN WE NEWLY STEPPED INTO MINISTRY, WE USED TO LIVE IN A ONE ROOM APARTMENT IN A BOYS’ QUARTER WHERE WE SHARED TOILET WITH OTHER PEOPLE
IF DEDICATION HAS NOT TAKEN YOU TO THE POINT WHERE YOU CAN OBEY GOD WITHOUT QUESTION, THEN YOU HAVEN’T STARTED
YOU CANNOT SING “ABRAHAM’S BLESSINGS ARE MINE” UNTIL YOU HAVE PROVED THAT ABRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE IS YOURS
IF YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH GOD IS REAL, YOUR WORLD MUST HEAR, SEE AND FEEL IT
THE TOUCH OF GOD ON YOUR LIFE MUST TRANSLATE TO THE TOUCH OF GOD THROUGH YOUR LIFE TO OTHERS
WHEN YOU WANT TO RECEIVE THINGS FROM GOD WITHOUT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY, IT BECOMES 419 (FRAUD)
DEDICATED PEOPLE HAVE SCHEDULES WITH GOD
MOST PEOPLE WOULD DO FASTING AND PRAYER BECAUSE THERE WAS A PROBLEM
THIS WORLD OF SOCIAL MEDIA IS BOTH A BLESSING AND A GENERATIONAL CURSE. IT HAS DESTROYED THE SPIRITUALITY OF MANY PEOPLE
AS A MEDICAL STUDENT, I NEVER SLEPT OVER IN CLASS BECAUSE IT WOULD AFFECT MY SCHEDULE WITH GOD
– Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche on “THE BLESSING OF DEDICATION” || January 2024 Blessing Sunday || Glory Dome, Abuja.
Hallelujah! I’d like to welcome everyone here this morning in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Church Gist. It’s the Blessing Sunday for the month of January and it is also the Communion Service. Above Only remains our place and this month, we shall be going above only by the power of dedication.
So, this morning, we’ll be looking at “THE BLESSING OF DEDICATION”. Matthew 6:31-33. Our objective is to understand the blessing power of dedication to God. Church Gist.I want to start by saying that the way of dedication to God is confirmed to be the way of the blessing. Matthew 6:33.
I want you to note the following that I’ll speak very quickly;
1. Those who seek God don’t struggle to see good.
2. If your priority is God, your possibilities are great. Church Gist. Because your priorities will determine your possibilities in life. Matthew 6:33.
3. The way to see God is also the way to see good. If you follow the way to see God, you don’t need to look for the way to see good. It’s the same way.
4. Addiction to God is key to additions in life. Matthew 6:33.
5. If God is before you, good must be both behind and around you. Place God in your front, look around you, you’ll see good, look behind, you’ll see good.
6. The place you give to God determines the place you find in life.
We have examples in Scripture. Examples include people like Abraham, which we are going to consider in detail in this study this morning. Church Gist. Abraham was the symbol of the blessing in the Bible but he was also a pattern for dedication. Until you understand the dedication of Abraham, you’ll never be able to access the blessing of Abraham. Second example was Job. Job was tremendously blessed but unquestionably dedicated to God. Job 1:1-3.
My own life as a young man started with a fire of dedication. I don’t know how far I can date it back but one thing I know is that as early as, I believe that will be like age 9 and then with my brother who was like age 7. Church Gist. We went to the Methodist Priest one day and said we want to give special number. That is at that age. Now, I can’t tell what we sang in this world, I wish there was a recording at that time. But, there was just that passion to do something, to be relevant in the House of God. Waiting on the Lord for 3 days at the age of 11, no water. I drank water the second day and vomited it all out. In those days, we broke our fast by 12 midnight of the third day. Age 11. Then, going into villages to preach, all that dedication. Church Gist. When I rededicated back in the year of 1986 in the Higher Institution, I went straight to the Fellowship and started ushering people into the service for the first time. It has been there passionately. Some people see you today, they don’t know where your journey is starting and don’t know where you’re coming from. Dedication. Church Gist. One of the most important books I ever read on evangelism was written by an American multimillionaire. That book touched me, I can’t even remember the title of the book now but this man wasn’t a Pastor. He said that every time he was in his evangelistic drive, business trips around the world, he was also scheduling evangelism and preaching one on one and those kind of times and in most of those times, he’ll receive divine ideas that will explode his business. Church Gist. He was counseling presidents of America at that time. The blessing power of dedication.
This morning, we are going to look at the dedication of Abraham that gave him the platform for the blessing. Church Gist. When you talk about Abraham, what is in the mind of most people is “he was such a blessed man, he was a tither, he was a giver”, that was part of it but there was deeper things about Abraham that qualified him for the blessing he walked in that we are going to see. Church Gist. We are going to look at four of them in this service and then look at another four in the next service.
What did dedication to God cause Abraham to do?
1. Obeying God without question.
That was Abraham’s dedication. Genesis 12:1-5. Obeying God with question. What did that mean to Abraham? He was willing to go where God asked him to go without knowing where it was. Church Gist. He was willing to go where God asked him to go without knowing how long it will take to get there. He was willing to go where God asked him to go without knowing what he will encounter on the way. Finally, He was willing to go where God asked him to go without knowing without conferring with flesh and blood. Church Gist. What God said was sacrosanct, human opinion was immaterial. What God said was final, human feelings were immaterial. He was willing to go where God wanted him to go without it making sense.
Listen to me my brothers and my sisters, if dedication has not taken you to the point where you can obey God without question, then you haven’t started. Church Gist. For many today, what God said must make sense before they make moves. “Is it sensible? How can God be telling me this kind of a thing?” So many of us, our education is the enemy of our revelation; our education is the enemy of His intervention. Many people today, what God said must be subject to mental analysis and material consideration. “How much money is in it for me? What will I gain?” Church Gist. Many have to argue and negotiate with God but not so with Abraham. It was obedience without question.
Somebody asked me, they said, “when you were going into ministry and God asked you to become a Pastor, what did you plan to do if the ministry did not succeed?” Church Gist. I told them, I said, there was no plan. I had no plans B because failure was not an option. “How much were you going to make?” It was not in the consideration. Salary was not in question. Till today, I will travel all the way to Venezuela and forget to carry one naira in my pocket. All the way to South America. Church Gist. They gave me cheque of offering from somewhere after I preached, they were reminding me six months later, “please Sir, you have not deposited the cheque. Please try and deposit the cheque so we can be blessed”. In this country, somebody is forgetting to deposit in cheque in 5 and 6 zeroes? Obeying God without question. Beloved brothers and sisters, I want us to come to the point, because before you can say “Abraham’s blessings are mine”, has Abraham’s obedience been yours? Church Gist. You can’t sing “Abraham’s blessings are mine” until you have proved that Abraham’s obedience is yours. When was the last time you took risk for God?
When we married newly and after we stepped into ministry after a while, my father in-law came to the room in the boys quarter that we lived in Zone 7. Church Gist .He came to that one room that we were lived and toilet we were sharing it with about 7 or 10 people, tears filled his eyes. It’s like “how did this young man, Medical Doctor, take this my daughter, another Medical Doctor, to suffer themselves like this?” Church Gist. But the suffering has imparted millions around the world and this is where the suffering has brought us.
– somebody say a loud Amen!
– lift your right hand and say, “Father, I receive the grace of obedience without question. I receive that grace right now in the name of Jesus!”
2. Evangelizing and discipling his world for God.
Somebody said, “is that true? Is that real?” Yes. Genesis 18:19. There was something Abraham was doing that made to bring to pass His Word in his life. Church Gist. Many people are busy claiming promises without walking in the covenant. Genesis 18:19.
Listen to this and you can note it down:
2a. Every genuinely saved child of God has an experience with God that they can’t keep to themselves. Church Gist. An experience that is too real to keep to themselves.
2b. If your experience with God is real, your world must hear, see and feel it.
Abraham evangelized and discipled his family members, employees and workforce. Church Gist. Don’t forget that last point; If your experience with God is real, your world must hear, see and feel it.
I remember I came for holiday one time from the university and I sat with my father and we were discussing and wine was in front of him and he was serving. You know in the village palace, wine flows like water. They come to greet the King with a keg of wine. Church Gist
He looked at me and said, “can you stretch that keg to me there?” Then suddenly, he said, “oh sorry, you’re not meant to touch it”. I said, “thank you Sir”. I didn’t say, “don’t bother, let me touch it”. “Thank you, Sir”. Our discussion continued. If your world can’t feel it, it’s not real. Whether your father or your mother or your wife or your classmates. I was in anatomy laboratory, we were doing dissection, dead bodies and one girl was talking near me, then suddenly she closed her mouth, “sorry, I didn’t know you’re here, I shouldn’t be talking like this where you are”. Church Gist. Beloved brothers and sisters, Abraham’s blessings will be yours, when was the last time your life touched somebody because God has touched you? The touch of God on your life must translate to the touch of God through your life to others. That is what dedication is all about. Abraham did not become the ‘blessest’ person in his generation by chance or because God gave a promise. Church Gist. Abraham was doing things to activate that promise. When was the last time you evangelized a family member, a friend, a colleague at work, a neighbour, an employee, an employer? When was the last time? If these things are not happening, dedication to God is not authentic.
In our university days, we preached in front of hostels, we preached inside university buses, medical consultation, we preached to people on consultation tables. Church Gist. In those days, if I was consulting and somebody came with anything that had to do with liver disease and is alcoholic or bronchitis that has to do with smoking or sexually transmitted disease, that is an automatic pathway to preaching and many were led to Christ. In your world, what efforts do you make to ensure that your life touch your world around you? Church Gist. Or is it dressing to Church and wearing new clothes and letting people know that I belong to so and so Church without the life touching nobody? No, it’s far beyond that.
When I rededicated my life to Christ in 1986, 12th of May, my first target was one of my classmates in secondary school. Very stubborn boy, smoked anything bad, he was a bad boy, very bad boy. Church Gist. That was my number one target, I rushed to him, caught him, preached to him so tey he went on his knees. Do you know what happened to him? He became so saved that he became a missionary at the spot before I became a full time Pastor. Missionary, went to two African countries where the Gospel has not been preached, riding camel to preach. Church Gist. At a point, I was sending him resources in the mission field. That one is there and plenty others.
My dear brothers and sisters, if you want God to be free with you as far as the blessing is concerned, be released to him as far as dedication is concerned.
– I prophesy to somebody here, this year shall be different!
– lift up your right hand and shout, “Lord, I receive the grace to be dedicated to you in Jesus’ precious name”.
I will like you to read Genesis 18:19 again. There are things we do that make God to cause what He said about us to come to pass. Church Gist. The Bible is so clear, it’s so clean. When you want to receive things from God without taking responsibility, it becomes 419. Phillips 4:19, “my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory” without reading what is in front of it.
– I see somebody’s change happening this year. If you’re the one, say a loud Amen.
3. Standing before God habitually at the place of prayer.
Genesis 19:27. Church Gist. There was a place where Abraham normally stood before the Lord. Abraham had a schedule with God.
Dedication demands a spiritual routine, a spiritual schedule. It demands a spiritual appointment with God. Dedicated people have schedules with God. Dedicated people have appointments with God. Dedicated people have their routines with God. Church Gist. He (Abraham) stood, not occasionally, he stood habitually. Dedication makes spiritual exercise to become a habitual practice, not an occasional practice. You do things with God habitually, not what you do for management of crisis. Most people would do fasting and prayer because there was a problem. Most people will pray urgently because there was a problem but Abraham stood before the Lord on a habitual basis. Devotion is the lifestyle of the dedicated, habitual devotion. Church Gist. You’re devoted to God habitually as a lifestyle is the lifestyle of the dedicated.
Listen to this my brothers and sisters, there are many people who have time for many things but they lack for God and with God. They have time for work. Nobody said, “I slept too much, I couldn’t go to work today” even though people will sleep too much and didn’t study the Bible today. Church Gist. They have time for work, school and time to eat, time to bathe, time for friends, time to chat. There are people chatting for one hour on WhatsApp. Some of them, these chats are with strangers that they have never met in this life. This world of social media is both a blessing and a generational curse. It has destroyed the spirituality of many people. Church Gist. Time to chat, time for movies, not necessarily Godly movies, time to plait the hair for 3-6 hours or a whole day but no time for God and it’s a major tragedy of life. Yet, we want to see Abraham’s blessing without having Abraham’s intimacy.
I went to University of Jos. The hostel is somewhere. We have the Naraguta hostel, the Students’ village hostel and the class room area in the Bauchi Road area. Church Gist. So, most medical students will go overnight, especially in preclinical years and sleep over in the main campus where the lessons holf and then return back to the hostel in the morning. I never did it once, for only one reason. I said, so when I read from night till morning there, how do I organize my prayer? How will I do my quiet time? Church Gist. For the fact that it will interfere with my time for God, I couldn’t follow the bandwagon for that reading routine. So, I organized my schedule comfortably. Now, if you’re not able to do that, don’t follow it. Sat in my room, worship was on deeply in the background, Hosanna integrity, Maranatha worship vineyard, all playing deep, Bible is on the side. I will read for hours, interrupt it with the Bible reading. Church Gist. When it was time for prayers, I prayed it comfortably and go to class in the morning, smashed the courses. I had not one resit. Are you following what I’m saying here today? The only reason why I didn’t do what others were doing was not pride, it was the fact that it would tamper with my prayer life and my devotion.
Beloved brothers and sisters, I want you to make up your mind that you’re going to give God that priority of time in 2024. Church Gist. That if the phone is going to destroy your life, you park that phone aside for days. You’re the one who bought the phone, the phone didn’t buy you and you don’t have an employment as a telephone operator. Church Gist. Some of the calls are liability calls, annoying text messages.
– lift your right hand and say, “Father, I receive the grace and the help to give you the time that belongs to you”.
How many of you have ever seen anybody sitting with the President of a country and they’re talking and he’s dozing on the President? Is it possible? Or the Governor of a State or even Councilor? Church Gist. What makes a person sit in Church and sleep on God? Unseriousness of life, lack of the priority of what really matters. Talk that we are talking now, you’re struggling to keep eye open. What will you do with the rest of the year if you’re sleeping in January? God have mercy. The most annoying is when a Pastor who himself is meant to be a Preacher is sitting in Church and dozing. That Pastor will have a sleepy congregation. Church Gist. Have you ever seen somebody eating and sleeping? Except babies. Only babies will have feeding bottles in their mouths (and be sleeping). It’s not possible for important things of life to be carried out and you’re too sleepy to face it. It’s not possible. Unseriousness of life.
You go to military training, they will train them from night till morning and they’ll be in the class in the morning. You want to doze, no way. Church Gist. They said you can sleep, just ensure your eyes are open. Sleep with your eyes open.
– somebody here today, I see your spiritual life and fire shifting levels!
– you believe that, shout the loudest Amen!
– look at your neighbour, say, “it is time to get serious with God!”
4. Holding nothing back from God.
Abraham’s dedication was to the point where he held nothing back from God. Genesis 22:1-3. Church Gist. Nothing was too big for God to ask Abraham to give up. He started by asking him to give up his father’s house. Whatever transaction went between between AbrahAm and God, Abraham was giving 10 percent of his income to God and went all the way to where he gave his only son, Isaac. Church Gist. Nothing was too big for Abraham to give. Nothing could come between him and God. This was Abraham. What Abraham could not give to God is what God has not given him. If Abraham can’t give it to God, it means it’s not in his hand yet. If God has given it to Abraham, giving it back to God, there was no negotiation. Church Gist. This is not so with many today. I see people talk about, “why should they ask me to give my money to God?” First of all, it can’t be your money, the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, “the silver is mine, the gold is mine”. Everything under Heaven belongs to God, everybody is a mere caretaker, nobody owns anything. Church Gist. What is worse? The energy you used to do the work that brought the money, who gave it? “I slept and I awaked”, who woke you up in the morning? When was the last time you slept and woke yourself up? There are people who set alarm clock, the alarm rang, they couldn’t wake, they have reported in eternity. Your heart that is beating, the oxygen in your nostrils that made you to get anything, who gave it to you? That is my mentality. Church Gist. I own nothing, nothing belongs to me, everything belongs to God. I owe everything to God. This is real dedication.
If you have not come to the point where God could make a demand on you and there’s no problem, you haven’t started your journey yet. Church Gist. There are people, when it’s time to give, they look for retired naira notes, retired and tired. My father was an ancient Preacher before he became a Chief, he planted Methodist Church. As business man and traditional ruler that he was then, he said in his mouth, there’s a money denomination he cannot give to God. How can he give God such level of money. Church Gist. He can’t give God a battered note. Many of us, we just treat God like, “let me get the best of my life and give the rest to God”. You know what happened to me one day? This should be almost 20 years ago. They brought me a shoe and they said the shoe was costing 7,000 naira. And I said, “shoe for 7,000? Does the shoe have tyres so that if you wear it you don’t walk again?” It’s a long time ago. Just look for somebody else to sell the shoe to. Church Gist. That same week under 7 days, I spent 50,000 buying Bibles, spiritual materials and investing in my Spiritual life. I said, “I haven’t given God such an amount at once, why will I use it to buy shoe?” That was my reasoning. When I had given God that amount, I could buy anything. Church Gist. I think now I can actually buy anything because there’s nothing that I have not been able to give to God by His mercies.
When there was enough money to build a house, we didn’t build a house, we built Church first. Church Gist. We lived in a rented house for 13 years and 3 months. At that time, Church buildings of this Church were everywhere already, we forgot that we didn’t have a house. The first time 500,000 entered my hand, I remember what happened. Church Gist. Somebody came and said, “I have this offering for you”. When I saw the amount, I said, “take it to Church, this must belong to Church”. He said, “No. The one that is for Church, I have already given it to Church. This one is personally for you”. I said, “really? 500,000 naira?” I was calculating how to give my tithe and how to do with the rest and then the Lord spoke to me and he said, “this is not your harvest, it is your seed” Ohho. “The whole of it?” “The whole of it” and He even instructed me to add money that I had already to it to release. “Praise the Lord, take Lord”. Before I could calm down from that one, 1 million (naira) came for the first time, the same story. Church Gist. “This is not your harvest yet, this is your giving”. Eeleeh. That was how I released it. Boom! You know I shared a story sometime, somebody said, “that is the problem of hearing God”. (Laughs). Church Gist. He said, “if you didn’t hear God, will anybody tell you to give?” (Laughs). Can you see the way people are thinking?
– Look at your neighbour, say, “it’s not a problem to hear God, it’s a blessing to hear God”.
– Give the Lord a shout of victory.
Beloved brothers and sisters, God is not looking for what to take from you, He’s looking for what to give to you. When God took the rib from Adam, it’s not that he wanted to chop bone or looking for human bone to eat, it’s because of what he wanted to give to Adam. Church Gist. He only took the rib to use it to manufacture the Eve and to return it back to Adam, not for His benefit, but for the benefit of Adam. When He said they should bring water in the wedding in Cana of Galilee, it’s not that He wanted to drink 6 pots of water at once. Church Gist. It’s not what He wants to get from you, it’s what He wants to get to you.
– somebody is blessed this morning. If you’re that person, shout a loud Amen!
– lift your right hand, say, “Father, I shall receive Abraham’s blessings and I shall also receive Abraham’s dedication. I receive the grace to function in Abraham’s dedication in Jesus’ precious name.
In the second service, we are going to look at 4 more. My counsel is to pick up the message in the second service so you can have the conclusion of the messages.
Now, let us go to the Blessing of Abraham and then we are rounding up. Church Gist. So after Abraham had this dedication, the outcome was the blessing. What blessing did he have?
1. The Blessing of Divine Guidance.
Abraham was guided, He heard God. Genesis 12:1-3 for a start. Divine guidance which is an asset of life. Direction is key to destination.
2. The Blessing of Supernatural Supplies.
Genesis 13:2.
3. The Blessing of Strength and Health.
Abraham was a man who went to war at an age heading towards 100 years. Genesis 14:14. Church Gist. He was strong enough to go to battle himself to pursue the enemy of 5 nations. He was strong enough to walk 3 days to mountain of Moriah. Genesis 22:1-3. At an age of almost 120 years, walking uphill on the mountains. What a strength, what a health.
Your dedication will facilitate Divine guidance, supernatural supply, the blessing of strength and health.
4. The Blessing of Preservation – Divine Defence.
To be dedicated to God is to be defended by God. Genesis 20:3.
5. The Blessing of Divine Life – Longevity.
The fulfilment of days. Genesis 25:7-8.
Beloved, I welcome you to this highway of dedication that is going to guarantee for you blessings you don’t need to beg or ask for.
– I want to say again, for somebody here, this year shall be the best year of your life so far!
– You believe that, jump up on your feet with a shout of Amen!
—Prayers
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