BISHOP OYEDEPO’s MINISTRY VISION WAS REJECTED BY A NOTABLE PROPHET (THEN) IN THIS NATION
A PASTOR DISCOURAGED OUR GOD GIVEN VISION FOR THE CITY OF ABUJA, CITING EXCESSIVE CHURCHES ALREADY.
THE STRENGTH OF YOUR VISION DETERMINES THE CERTAINTY OF YOUR DESTINY
A VISION BEYOND CONFUSION AND DISSUASION HAS A DESTINATION THAT IS BEYOND CONTENTION
PAPA OYEDEPO THOUGHT HE WAS TO DO MINISTRY IN JOS UNTIL HE ENCOUNTERED THE WORD AND GOD LED HIM TO KADUNA.
AMID COVID AND TERRORISM, WE HAD A CROWD-PULLING CRUSADE IN JALINGO BECAUSE WE HEARD GOD THROUGH THE WORD.
DON’T LEAVE THE WORD OF GOD TO LOOK FOR HIS VOICE, IT HAS TURNED MANY TO FALSE PROPHETS.
NOTHING SETTLES DESTINY LIKE THE WRITTEN WORD.
LESTER SUMRALL AND MORRIS CERULLO HAD SIMILAR VISIONS THAT ‘RUINED’ THEIR LIVES
GOD GAVE PAPA OYEDEPO AN 18-HOUR VISION THAT BIRTHED HIS MINISTRY
EVERY SITUATION HAS AN INSTRUCTION
PROSPERITY GOSPEL WITHOUT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS LIKE LIVING IN A HOUSE WITHOUT FOUNDATION
- Dr Pastor Paul Enenche on “EXISTENCE AT THE TOP – THE POWER OF VISION” || Destiny Recovery Convention 2024 || Day 1 Evening Session || 28th May, 2024 || The Glory Dome.
We have 32 countries tonight! Give the Lord a big clap and a shout of praise.
I’ll like to welcome everyone to the 2024 Destiny Recovery Convention with the theme, “Existence at the Top” and I declare this officially open in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Church Gist. We have people connected everywhere, I’m sure our media will show us the collaboration both within the FCT and all across the nations of the world. We know and they know that we are all together in one.
Tonight, we will look at the subject of Existence at the Top – The power of Vision. Job 39:27-29.
- Understanding vision power for existence at the top is our objective.
- Also, we shall understand channels of vision.
- Thirdly, we shall understand how to nurture vision.
Well, we dealt extensively with vision last week and we are using the Eagle. Like we know the eagle without doubt is the king of birds. It is the symbol of royalty. The Eagle is on the Coat of Arm of most powerful nations of the Earth – America, Nigeria, Ghana, I’m sure it is on various symbols of various nations of the Earth. Church Gist. The eagle is symbol of power, royalty, strength, speed. The Eagle flies 10,000ft above sea level. The Bible said, it beholds her prey from afar. The Eagle can see almost a 120 miles away from 10,000ft above sea level. The other day I said, “while others see in metres, the eagle sees in miles.” Very alarming speed! The golden eagle flies at a 129 kilometres per hour – that is the speed of the average car. The eagle demonstrates that to see far is to fly fast. Also demonstrates that to see clear is to fly high. Church Gist. The clearer your vision, the higher your flight. The farther your vision, the faster your flight. We are aware that the eagle has concentration of pigment cells in their retina – about 8 times the cells on the eyes of a man.
Five things that we understand from the eagle where vision is concerned:
- Vision affects acceleration
- Vision affects elevation – the height at which you exist
- Vision affects possession: the eyes of the eagle see far. It says from there it beholds its prey. Vision affects provision
- Vision affects destination: your destination is not clear until your vision is there. That is why blind people find it hard to move.
- Vision impacts distinction: one of the things that makes a person stand out is their eyes. Church Gist. If somebody is totally blind, there is a way it affects the whole of their appearance. Distinction, standing out. The eagle stands out among the birds because of distinction.
- I speak to someone here tonight, I don’t know the speed your life had been before you came here in this Conference, but you’re changing speed after this night. I don’t know whether you have been in the pit before today, but you’re moving to the top!
Say after me, “I have acceleration, elevation” and I announce to you today, whatever is your possession, wherever your possession is in this world, I decree, I declare it shall enter into your hands!
Where God has ordained and designed for you to reach in life, no devil shall stop you!
I decree today, you shall stand out!
The only person to blame where destiny is concerned is not the devil. The strength of your vision determines the certainty of your destiny. If that vision is strong, that destiny is sure. Joseph had such vision that the prison couldn’t take, Potiphar’s wife couldn’t take, adversity couldn’t take, that vision lasted for 13 years and because it was so strong, it was so sure. Why did I say it was so strong? While his dream had not yet been interpreted, he was sure of it enough to keep on interpreting for others. Church Gist. He kept on telling others what will become of them when he had not become what he saw he should become. He kept on telling others what will become of them based on what they saw and he had not yet become what he should become. When you have vision beyond confusion, beyond dissuasion, you have a destination that is beyond contention. When you have vision beyond confusion, beyond dissuasion – you can’t be confused about it, you can’t be advised about it, then you have a destination that is stronger than contention. That is, if the vision is so strong that you’re not confused and you’re not dissuaded, you have a destination that no fight can fight away – it must happen.
There are people who see things and who want things but they don’t want it bad enough. It is not strong, not certain enough, it’s not strong or certain enough in their heart. Church Gist. But I am here to recruit a set of people that no devil can confuse, that no witch can confuse, that no negative circumstance can confuse about what God wants to do with your life, no condition of your country, your community, your surrounding, can confuse you regarding what God wants you to do! Say, “You need vision beyond confusion so you can have a destination that is beyond contention.”
When God’s Servant Bishop David Oyedepo told one man his vision – a notable prophet of God in the nation at that time, he told him what God told him he will do with his life, he said, “I’m not sure, I don’t think so. You’re not called.” Really? “Oh yes Sir you’re not called. Just do something else.” That is the calling that is not called.
When we came to Abuja newly and I travelled to a big city in this country to explain to an older man of God the vision that God has given to us for this city of Abuja, another man of God was there who said, “oh, the city is already overpopulated with Churches.” He began to mention Church by Church and this one has plenty branches in the City. I am talking about 28 years ago. Church Gist. He was mentioning Churches that is, look for another place to go not Abuja, it’s already overpopulated. Until the man of God told him, “is he talking to you?” It’s not you he is talking to, he is talking to me. If he says, God called him, what is your concern? That is the voice of the devil … We were not even one month yet and that man was in Abuja at that time, also a pastor. By the time the Church exploded under 1, 2 years, the same man came and said, “we thank God for what God is doing. Can you tell me the secret of Church growth and Church this and that?” Before I could start talking he began to talk. “Emmm so I know you need to pray, I know you need to fast, I know you need this and that” So I told him “You already know all. You know everything. Church Gist. I don’t have anything to tell you. Go ahead and do what you know” That man existed here for a while and relocated. I don’t know his address now worldwide. The same person who said the vision had no chance, he watched for a while, like Paul the Apostle, those who were watching Paul to swell and die, he changed his mind.
- Very shortly, they’ll change their mind.
- In fact, many people have already changed their minds concerning you.
- If you’re saying Amen, say a louder Amen!
Lift your hands and your voice and say “In the name of Jesus, I will become everything God wants me to become. Church Gist. I will fulfil every assignment of God for my life” Do you believe that? Shout the loudest Amen!
Very, very quickly as we make progress tonight. What are the sources of vision? And this is for the Child of God. Church Gist. What would be your sources of vision? Vision that is authentic, vision that would see the light of day.
1: Revelation from Scripture. The Scripture is calculated to generate for you the picture of your future. The Scripture is designed to generate for you the picture of your future. God uses Scripture to paint pictures of people’s future. Church Gist. Revelations of Scriptures. Habakkuk 2:1-3. What God says is meant to be what man sees. What God says is to be transformed to what man sees. Those who make a lot of impact in life and ministry are those who can translate the saying into seeing. Those who can transform, translate the Scripture into pictures. Jeremiah 2:31. Do you want to affect your generation? You must see the Word of the Lord. Church Gist. One of the most authentic visions you can ever catch is vision that is Word-rooted because nothing settles destiny like the settled Word. Psalm 119:89. Anything that is settled on Word has a settled future.
Papa Oyedepo, after he was ordained into his ministry in the year 1981, he had thought that he was going to go to Jos. He had planned for Jos. Everything was in his heart to go to Jos and he had announced to people that this ordination was sending him into ministry in Jos. He went to God to pray. Church Gist. “Lord, thank you and thank you because we’re getting…” They had already acquired offices in Jos, sent officers there in Jos. He was thanking God and the Lord spoke to him in a voice and He said “As for you, you’re going to your own Jos. I’m not the one you heard. Jos is the vision in your heart. Church Gist. It’s your own ambition. You remember in the year of 1974 when you were playing table tennis in Jenta area of Jos. You said quietly in your heart that if you have a choice as to where to live in the future, Jos will be that place. That is the vision you are hearing. That is what you are hearing, not me. It is that ambition that you had in that thing, remember when you when playing table tennis in Jenta area and you just told yourself, if I have a choice as to where to live in future, Jos will be that place. That was what is leading you, remain here.”
You know, there are many people who have been led by ambition. There are those who have been led by competition and there are those who have been led by contention. “He is doing this, I must do this” They’ve been led by ambition, led by competition, led by contention. Church Gist. So, God told him to remain there. Then one day, after he remained in Ilorin for a while. “Lord, what are you saying?” He was considering, Kaduna began to occur to him gradually but he hadn’t heard anything from God. “What are you saying? and then he said he took the Bible and as if the Bible had literally opened randomly to Acts 22:10. Just like that. The same question he was asking the Lord is the same thing that the Scripture is saying. Church Gist. He said all of a sudden, he knew what God was saying because the North then was the centre…Kaduna was the headquarters of persecution. Damascus is the City of persecution. He told his wife, he said “God has spoken to me, we’re going to Kaduna” Out of the Bible, the vision came. Picture out of Scripture. Many of us are despising the Word looking for His voice. Church Gist. Many are despising the Word looking for His voice. It has turned many people into false prophets, it has even made people to hear the voice of the devils.
In our time, when we were growing up, there were those who were so heavy on “I want to hear God. I want to hear God” until they began to hear all manner of things. Some began to see Angel writing on the wall. Church Gist. Whereas it happened for Daniel once, their own was every day. They will come with their handwriting, one will write, another will read it, it was terrible, very terrible. “Mene Mene, Tekel Upharsin” One other guy came and said he just saw an Angel just now that came to take blood from his external jugular vein. Church Gist. All manner. Most of those people are not in ministry today at all, not serving at all. They kept on following things…they left the Word to look for the voice.
1 Samuel 3:31. That is, God came through the Word to talk to Samuel. Church Gist. There are many of us, God is trying to talk to us from His Word but we are looking for His voice outside His Word.
I believe it was in the year 2021 when COVID, lockdown down and all of those things were happening that we were meant to go for crusade in Jalingo. All of a sudden, when we fixed the crusade, everything was okay, but they said there was a resurgence of the COVID infection and that COVID came with a lot of fraudulent…we’ll talk about that later. Church Gist. A resurgence, so no open air meetings anymore, number one. 2, terrorism attacks exploded in the Northeast. Jalingo, Wukari, those places all the way to Borno and all of that, explosion. 3, we just noticed that the crusade date exactly fell into the holiday of our brethren, the other religion. Just fell into that season and you know that some of those holidays you don’t know it until it is close to the time. Church Gist. When the crusade was fixed, we didn’t know and now, the Bible said in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses, every word is confirmed.
Medically, there is something we call contraindication. Indications and contraindications. Doctors here, you understand what I’m talking about. Alright, somebody is pregnant and you want to make a decision whether she should be delivered or not and you have some indications for the caesarean section. Church Gist. Maybe she has had a cesarean section before and maybe she’s very, very hypertensive or maybe inadequate cervix or something and then you have 2 of those things together. You take a decision and also the Bible says 2 or 3. So, we had 3 reasons why we may not go for that crusade. 3 strong reasons. My wife said, “Are we still going for the crusade?” I said “I’m not sure” That is (was) 48 hours to the crusade. So, I said let me pray. I went into prayer and God took me into Psalm 24:7-9. That may not mean anything to anybody, but to me in that situation, that Scripture, He just whispered to me and said “I’m waiting for you there” That is, the place is open and I have gone. He said “I am already there in the venue for the crusade” Church Gist. Then He said and I heard “I am the Owner of the Universe. I can decide to hold my event anywhere I want and anytime I want” Do you know to confirm that He went ahead of us, the crusade ground was filled with people. Charles, you were there, many of you…the whole place was filled with people before opening prayer. That was the first crusade we ever experienced a thing like that. That is, seats filled, people filled the ground. We haven’t started yet, opening prayer hasn’t happened. By the time we finished, the people of the land said the last time they had anything like that was Reinhard Bonnke’s crusade over 10 years before. Church Gist. The Reinhard Bonnke’s Crusade Director saw it and he said “This is our crusade” Out of Scripture, he just brought it and the vision came and the direction came.
Lift up your heads oh you Jalingo and be thou lifted you Taraba State and let the King of glory come in and who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty in battle. “I have already arrived.” Church Gist. The moment I heard that, I told my wife, I said “We’re going tomorrow. I just heard God” She said “Really?” I said “Oh yes. The road is. clear” How many of you in the village in those days, you people used to go to native doctor to find out if road was clear. Church Gist. “Should I do this journey? Is the road clear?” I told my wife “I just heard Him. The road is clear” and once my wife heard me say that I heard God, she would put her head and leg and hand. “Follow you dey go oh, follow, follow”
When we arrived in the place, the fear that we heard was real. Vehicles were parked by the roadside. We asked what was happening, they said “It’s terrorism” Nobody knows who is who. It was real. They will just park aside. By the time we reached to the Governor, the first and major thing he told us was terrorism attack. He said it has been so bad. He said the last time they attacked people, they overwhelmed the soldiers. Church Gist. That’s our welcome. So, if you’re banking on soldier or security or anything, you’re on your own. But he was saying sincerely because he needed prayer and he believes that he came for solution and true the solution came. Because we anointed that ground on Friday night and by Wednesday, five days later, the head of the other terrorist group, the major one had been killed. Clash. Where we poured the oil. That’s it. The people dug the ground, took the ground and dug the ground and kept on collecting the ground where the oil (poured). It was an oil well.
- somebody give the Lord the praise.
- I don’t know who God is speaking to here today, but out of this Book, out of the Word, God is going to speak a Word to you that will clarify direction and vision!
- shake hands with three people and tell them, get ready to hear His voice from His Word
Psalm 29:3-4. That water is the Word, His voice is right there. So, revelation of Scripture is our first source of vision. Vision for ministry, vision for a particular dimension or business.
- Revelation of the Spirit.
That is where God is opening your eyes to visions and revelations of the spirit. That is, you saw something in the dream, you saw something in a vision, you heard something. Church Gist. That was what happened to Peter concerning the opening of the door of the Gentiles in Acts 10:10-19. Peter was not meant to preach to any Gentile, they were not mixing. Acts 10:10-19. Church Gist. So, God can choose to give you a vision of the night, a revelation, a dream, a trance, a hearing that can become the basis of vision and direction for your life.
Acts 9 shows us the case of Paul the Apostle. On the road to Damascus, Paul the Apostle encountered visions that altered the course of his life. Acts 9:3-7.
- somebody say a loud Amen.
That was the vision that changed Paul’s life. Church Gist. So, God may decide to show you a vision, He may decide to show you a revelation.
God’s servant, Papa Oyedepo had an 18-hour long vision. 18 over 24, that is almost a whole day. When he went to look for his friends in Ilesha, couldn’t find them, checked into a hotel. “Seek a quiet place, I want to speak with you” and that became 18 hours. Church Gist. When he saw people, the voice of people crying and lamenting, all manner of afflicted people. He said, “but from the beginning it was not so. Now, the hour has come to deliver mankind from all oppressions of the devil and I’m sending you to undertake this task”. That vision came with a revelation and a vision, 18-hour long. Church Gist. God may give you such a vision. Right? But I’m putting in the order in which I feel. The Word of God would be the baseline.
T. L. Osborn came from India as a miserable, failed missionary. He did three years in India, not one soul was won. He came and entered into the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Church Gist. He read them three times in one month and while he was reading, then he saw the vision of Jesus, He appeared to him and that vision culminated into several things that became a ministry that impacted the whole of the world.
There were two men that had vision that ruined their lives. When I say ruined, ruined in the positive sense. One of them, Lester Sumrall, the other one, Morris Cerullo and they saw almost the same thing and they never met each other before they saw the vision. Church Gist. He said they saw a troop of humanity or all races – white, black, Asia, Hispanics – and all manner of people. They were all jubilating and just relaxing and living casually, walking in a straight line and just jubilating until something that appears like the end of their lives. These people came to the edge of a cliff and just realized that everything has ended and what is left is a ditch that is literally bottomless and all of them was sinking into the ditch and it was eternal flames of hell. Church Gist. And he said as they were coming, they didn’t know where they were heading off, they were just laughing and joking and living carelessly and anyhow, all of a sudden, they just stepped into the flames of hell and as they stepped in, they began to burn on the spot. He said, some of them, as soon they entered and saw, pulled off their heads and began to curse all manner of blasphemous things from their mouth and they were all lamenting, regretting, crying, groaning but it was too late. God showed that picture to Morris Cerullo and ruined him for life. Church Gist. He was a little boy in a Jewish orphanage under the age of 16. From there, it is from one nation to another, from one place to another, “let me try my best to warn these people that they are heading somewhere that has no return”. Lester Sumrall, from place to place to place. Am I communicating at all? So, it is possible for God to grant vision, to grant you revelation, to grant you a direction. Church Gist. It might be in ministry, it might be in business, it might be in one thing or the other but that can mark your life for the rest of your days. That is, revelation of the spirit.
Now, we move further and we go on to:
- Revelations (instructions) from situations.
There are times when God plants a vision in your heart from what he caused you to see, observe and experience. Revelations, instructions from situations. Church Gist. In Proverbs 24:30-34, we see a prophetic parable that Solomon gave how he got revelations and instructions from situations. What everybody was seeing and seeing nothing, he saw and received instruction. Church Gist. In Jeremiah 18:1, God specifically led Jeremiah to the house of the Potter so he can hear something and hear the Word of the Lord. Jeremiah 18:1-6.
People listen, every situation carries an instruction. Whatever situation you find yourself, it has an instruction. Church Gist. There are revelations from situations. There are revelations from conditions. The universe is a university. Even things that hurt instruct. Am I communicating at all? They instruct. I have been around for a while, little while. I look very young but I have been around for a while. Church Gist. God has given me to have the privilege of being in-between, that is, the ancient of revivalists of our country – Papa Adeboye, W. F. Kumuyi and so on, Papa Oyedepo, just in-between. The old and the new, the young and the old. Church Gist. I saw revivals of the ’70s. I saw I was going for fellowship in the ’70s where you have no prayer request. Nobody was asked ‘what is your prayer request?’. You only came to worship God. You don’t leave nothing. We didn’t even know that there’s even benefit in serving God, we only knew that you’re alive to serve God. Church Gist. There are those who came in the middle, what they heard is prosperity gospel, no foundation for righteousness, no foundation for death to self, nothing. They just entered in the centre like a building that has no DPC. So, I have seen just a little and I learned, I saw so many things. Church Gist. I have seen places and ministries where the only thing you learn is ‘this is how not to do ministry’ and many of those people are alive today doing it upside down, seeing zero result. And there are places, what you learnt, ‘this is how to do it’.
- somebody say Amen!
One of the greatest questions you can ask is, “Lord, what am I hearing from what I am seeing? Or what are you saying from what I am seeing?” Because nobody is entitled to an answer who does not ask the right questions. I have asked questions at junctions, traffic jam, “Lord are you saying anything here?” One day at a traffic jam, I was rushing to preach in Law School Bwari then, may be 20 years ago and the traffic light was not working at the area one junction, the policeman…nobody was there. Church Gist. So everybody, every vehicle ran to the center and everybody got established. No matter how much in a hurry you are, no motion. “Lord what are you saying here?” I brought my pen and paper. He said, “in the presence of disorder there is zero progress.” I began to write and I wrote and I wrote. Progress is zero. You see, everything is saying something.
I grew up in a family… and I appreciate God for the family I came from and the kind of father I had. I was telling some of my siblings the other day and said, “I got many good things from my Father.” Somebody heard me many many years ago preaching, he said, “you preach like your father.” I said, does my father preach? “Oh, he preached many years ago far before you were born in the late 40s, in early 50s.” Alright, that’s for another day. But it was a massive family of polygamy – there I learnt how to run a home. The experience I had as a child in a big family, my children can never have it. Church Gist. The experience my mother had, my wife will never have it. So I over loved them – hyperlovemia. Peck on the forehead, peck on the nose, peck on the side, peck on the chin, except that there is too much … on this one (touching his pastor and laughing), peck on the neck, somebody told me and said, “may be that is why they are all singing.” Anytime I am talking they start recording – that is normal. “Daddy can we post?” I say, no it’s not postable. This is normal house work.” The fun and the …is just excess. Anything I wish I received that I didn’t receive psssh (that is to say, he gives it.) No tension, no pressure on nobody. Am I communicating at all?
So, open your eyes around you and ask the Lord, “what are you saying to me from what I am seeing?” Revelation from instructions, observations, your watchings.
I watched a Morris Cerullo video many years ago, in that video a young girl was testifying, it was around Tibet – mountainous areas there. She was about 12 years old. How she was kidnapped by a wicked man and raped brutally serially – captured from her parents. It was a horrible story! Long story made short, after terrible years of captivity she was rescued. Whe she was rescued she was still around 13 or 14 or thereabout – tender young girl. When she shared her testimony, sang with the voice of an angel – she had a singing voice, I wept like I will…I lost control. Church Gist. Wept, nose blocked, my wife came around and said, “what’s going on?” I said look at what I am watching. Why is the devil so wicked? How many people carry such potential globally that the devil has messed up and is destroying? Without any doubt, that experience put a fire passion in my heart. A brutality against the forces of darkness. Atimes when I pray for people, as if I should just catch the devil and kill him at once.
We went for Otukpo Crusade, young lady sent me a text message. She said, “please, don’t allow me to die of breast cancer.” She’s 15 years old. I cried my eyes out and I was going to preach. My wife tapped and said, “what’s going on?” I said somebody just sent me a message. Why? These things inflame as we see and we hear, it inflames the passion. It imprints the vision. Church Gist. But it’s very very crucial, “Lord what are you saying? Lord from what I am seeing what are you saying?” My wife was patting me …I cried to the crusade ground. “Lord whatever you want me to do, help me with more power. I am not trying to make any show, I am not trying to use it to achieve nothing but to help my generation.” When people see things and see results, they don’t know the depth of passion from where it comes. When they see us dance when things happen, they don’t know. They think it’s play.
An American went to India in the 60s, I can’t remember his name, I tried to look for his name just now and he saw the Indians on their feet, all of them barefooted. He went for an excursion. Church Gist. He returned back to America with the vision of manufacturing shoes that are cheap enough like plastic or whatever kind of footwear that the Indians can buy. A real passion to deliver them from walking barefooted. That passion turned into a global shoe manufacturing organisation that raked in millions.
One young man was going to the stream one day in Nigeria, in the Eastern part of this country and he saw a wretched house with water pouring in the rain – poor family. He said, Lord I will like to have money. If I have money, these are the kind of people I like to help. Church Gist. He’s a multi billionaire today with a mega charity organisation. It came from observation of situations as a young child.
- I prophesy to somebody here today, God will grant you the vision that you will use to change, impact your generation!
Finally, vision can come from inspiration from godly visionaries. Concerning John the Baptist, John 5:35. We can acquire light from the light of light bearers. It is possible to acquire light from the light of bearers of light. Church Gist. You come in the vicinity of people who carry light, people who have vision, people who are going somewhere, in that climate you acquire something. That’s why I am sure that nobody will come here and return to where you have come from the same way you have come.
Elisha stood in front of the River Jordan in 2 Kings 2:14 after acquiring light from Elijah his father, he was doing something that he saw from his father. He saw it and it answered. He was walking in the realm of vision, whose light came to him from his father. Peter – Acts 4:13. If you look at the life of Peter, there were things that Peter did that was a replica of what Jesus did. “Master, if you are the one walking on water tell me to come.” Peter walked on the water like the Master walked. If you saw how Peter raised Dorcas back to life, it was exactly the same way that Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter. Church Gist. He put the people out and he said, “daughter arise.” – the same way. He was just reproducing what he saw in his father. That is why I believe that everyone that is connected to this mantle, you shall reproduce whether it is in the ministry or in business, you shall reproduce the results of this altar. You believe that, shout the loudest Amen!
When you look at Church history, many of our people in our generation, they have no value for history, so they just get stunted after a while. You look at Church history, you will see a lot of visions reproduced. Church Gist. Asa Alonso Allen, A. A. Allen was born to a family where the mother was a brewer, alcohol brewing. Yes, so they gave him alcoholic drinks from 3 years. The way a child cries and you want to pacify him, they give him alcohol and then he’s drunk and falls asleep. That was how he was raised. Inside feeding bottle. Church Gist. You see, don’t ever criticize anybody until you know where they are coming from, until you know what they had to contend with, until you know the battles. That was how Allen grew up and then became an alcoholic. Then Jesus arrested him and then Jesus used him and then he went into prayer and fasting.
Then one day, he was invited to a crusade and sat in Oral Roberts crusade and all of a sudden, he saw the move of God in Oral Roberts’s meeting, all manner of manifestations and the voice of the Lord told him right in that meeting “You are going to function like this. You will operate like this. You will operate, you will function” From the inspiration of what he saw in Oral Roberts’s ministry, Allen did not just function like Oral Roberts. Church Gist. Allen went too radical, Allen began to pray for amputated legs, for legs to grow out and they grew out. If I begin to tell you about A. A. Allen today, we won’t leave here. Some of the most rugged ministration. He prayed for a woman that was about 400 pounds weight that became overweight because of a metabolic condition and this woman shrank in size on the spot in front of the people. Church Gist. I won’t tell you what happened because it was very embarrassing. What she was wearing, everything became oversized. There are people oh! Maybe I will leave some of it till tomorrow. But that man got fired up by sitting in Oral Roberts’s meeting once.
The same with T. L. Osborn. After T. L. Osborn came back from India, 3 years of failure, he never won one soul. After he prayed, he heard that there was a man called William Branham who was ministering. Tommy Lee Osborn. Church Gist. He went into the meeting, sat down at the back and then was looking at Branham ministering. A young girl with cross eyes, eyes crossed like this, came. Branham ministered on the spot, the eyes straightened on the spot. Then T. L. Osborn said he heard like a thousand voices “You can do this. This is what Jesus did. This is what the Apostles did. This was what the prophets did. This is what He died for. You can work in this kind of miracle. You can work in this” He went back and fasted. Church Gist. From there, he returned back to India. It’s like a revenge mission. Not one person had been healed. He now came and printed handbills, “Jesus heals, saves and delivers. Bring the blind, bring the deaf, bring the dumb. Jesus will heal them” When he placed the handbill, about 50,000 Indians arrived with the worst of afflictions. He said, “Can you present me the worst case you want me to pray for?” They brought a 60-something year old man, deaf and dumb from birth. He laid hands on him, his ears opened, tongue loosed, spoke plain. For 3 years, he couldn’t win one soul, but today, he said “How many of you want to give your life” All 50,000 people lifted up 2 hands and they said they would give their lives to Christ. Church Gist. That was the beginning of a global ministry. T. L. Osborn is the one who introduced us to open air evangelism. He was the first one that did a crusade in a field. Most of the Evangelists, the Oral Roberts and all of them, they were all in America. It was tent meetings, it was in colosseums, it was in all of that. Church Gist. But he took it from America to the World. T. L. Osborn laboured in Nigeria, Uyo, Aba, everywhere you can think of, he went. Are you following what I’m saying here today? That was how the inspiration from William Branham affected T. L. Osborn.
Then T. L. Osborn located a man from Nigeria called Archbishop Benson Idahosa and Archbishop B. A. Idahosa, the lion, he was maximally impacted by T. L. Osborn. T. L. Osborn took him around, impacted him and the lion Idahosa came to Nigeria and everywhere he went…dead people that were raised in his ministry, many of them. Church Gist. That is, directly raising them from the dead along with other forms of very, very drastic miracles. In the days of his life, he preached to more whites than any black on the Earth and preached to more blacks than any white on the Earth. That was the impact of his ministry. He went everywhere. Inspiration! He had an impartation from both Oral Roberts and also T. L. Osborn but T. L. Osborn was the major imparter in the realms of the supernatural.
Do you understand? We have a lot of people today who want to become something without anybody influencing them, without anybody inspiring them, who are authorities all of a sudden. Church Gist. No! In order to be in authority, you must be under authority somehow.
- Somebody, say a loud Amen!
Benny Hinn sang in Kathryn Kuhlman’s choir and watched her operations and drew inspiration and then became more like a continuity of Katherine Kuhlman’s ministry especially in the early days of his ministry.
J. C. Penny of the J. C. Penny stores became more like a role model to Sam Walton of the Walmart Stores. He saw that man and drew massive inspiration that turned him into what he became. Church Gist. There are about 4 or 5 billionaires from the Walton family alone including Alice Walton, Sam Walton, all of them. 4 or 5 billionaires from that family all drawing (James Carr Walton, there is Alice Walton, there is Samuel Robson Walton, all of them from one family) inspiration from one Christian tither, J. C. Penny who went bankrupt when he stopped tithing. God wants to use somebody to blaze the trail.
If you look at Redemption Camp, inspiration came, inspiration for Canaanland, massive inspiration came from Redemption Camp and if you see this place massive inspiration came from Canaanland. Am I communicating? I saw Faith Tabernacle foundation laying in the year of 1998. Church Gist. I was there, we laid the foundation, we drove round when there was no building, it was bush. We worshipped under it when the roof was not complete. Rain beat us inside there, August 1999. So it was not hard to dare because if you have seen it, you can dare it especially if you saw it from the right source.
I round off with this. Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke strolled to Wales, young Evangelist in the 60s, trusting God for power. Church Gist. God had placed a vision in his heart that Africa should be saved and he was trusting God for help and he was strolling somewhere in Wales and suddenly, he saw a street to the house of one of the Jefferey brothers, George Jefferys. Steve and George Jefferys. Wow. The road pointed and he went. And he said, “I just saw that one of the Jeffreys live here”. Church Gist. For those of you who don’t know of the Jefferey brothers, they’re brothers of the same mother a father, Steve Jeffereys and George Jefferys. They ministered together at some point and where they say, “The Master is here”, then eyeballs will start forming in people that have no eyes. Cripples will rise out of wheelchair, all manner of those kind of things will happen. The Jefferey brothers jammed every auditorium in the UK, Bingley hall in Birmingham, everywhere jammed to capacity, morning till night. Church Gist. The kind of miracles that tingles the ear. So, Bonnke heard and went, was an old man now, not too well but an old man. Bonnke said, “I want to see that man”. They said, “no, you can’t see him. He’s not available, you can’t see him. He’s not receiving visitors now”. The man overheard their discussion from the room where he was and said, “allow they boy to come in. Allow him to come”. Bonnke went inside, “Sir, I’m an Evangelist called to Africa and trusting God for His help”. “Kneel down”. Church Gist. He laid fire, laid power, the stream was connected, He connected an Evangelistic, revivalist stream and Bonnke received it. Before then, no miracles, no signs, no wonders. He was trying his best but no results until when the power came. At one point, Bonnke stood, I don’t know if it was Zimbabwe or somewhere, when he said “receive”, about 10,000 people on the floor at once. He had to reduce in that dimension, just to relax a bit so that nobody falls and dies. Church Gist. It came from a stream. He had heard of the man, he had watched him and something dropped.
This tiny boy here (himself), one day was asked to go and pick Bonnke from the Airport. Church Gist. My sister was the protocol chair for Reinhard Bonnke crusade in Makurdi and she said, “please, Pastor, can you help me pick Reinhard Bonnke from the airport? I’m the protocol chairman of this crusade and have been asked to pick him, will you help me pick him?” I said “help? The same Bonnke that I have put his pictures everywhere and crusade picture everywhere, you’re asking me to help? I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity”. Church Gist. We took vehicles to the airport, went there, received him, took him straight to the Hilton, booked the biggest chalet we could get, took care of him, fed him. He was meant to go to Makurdi straight but ‘pass one night in Abuja here’. I don’t know how God worked it out, he slept. By the time everything was through, the next day before he left for Makurdi, came with an offering, foreign currency and a wristwatch. Church Gist. I said, “Sir, I want to put this in your hand. I see that you’re on time, you’re on schedule with God, I want to be on time, I don’t want to miss time and I put this in your hand”. “What do you want?” “I need help from God to fulfill my life’s assignment”. He said, “go on your knees”. He laid his hands on me, he said, “Lord, put in his heart what you felt before you decided to send your son, Jesus, to die. Give him a little of it. Jesus, whatever you felt in the Cross of Calvary before you decided to die, while you were dying, give him a little feeling of it”. Gbam! I’ll be lying if I tell you I didn’t feel anything, raw rush of power. I was meant to go to Makurdi with them but I said, “no, please proceed, I’m coming tomorrow”. Church Gist. I told the hotel, please, no house keeper should near there”. In fact, I went with the key, “don’t change the bed, don’t change nothing”. Came back after escorting them, dived into the bed, (spoke in tongues) hours upon hours. 2 hours, 3,4,5,6, 7,8,10 hours, I was praying and blasting in tongues, “whatever this man carries, I am looking for it”. Church Gist. I fell asleep in the course of praying, many hours, then I saw a vision. All manner of manifestations right in that dream. When I woke up in the morning, I was fully aware that things are no longer the same. The next day, I followed them to Makurdi, long story made short, we continued like that. He came to Abuja, we organized a crusade. On Abuja crusade platform, I was the Prayer Coordinator. He looked at me, said, “come”. I went to him. Church Gist. He said, “look at my hand, see, I’m wearing your watch”. I appealed to them to go to Otukpo for crusade. I went with them to Otukpo. Last crusade he came to Nigeria, I went there to meet him again in Lagos. Went into the Potter Cabin, me and you (pointing to his wife), I think I said a word or two at the crusade ground and then prayed. By the time he was going to pass, he called his crusade Director, he was coming for the Glory Dome dedication, what we were looking for was a plane to bring him. Church Gist. If it was today, we would have sent three planes. He said, “Paul, I want to be there”. So, when he came for that last crusade, we met and he left. When his crusade Director went to see him in Florida, maybe a few months before he died, he said, “John, a big man of God was praying for me and said that God gave Bonnke more years to fulfill assignment but that is not what I see. The chariots of fire, they are all here. Everytime I close my eyes, I see all of them, they’re around here, the chariot is here. I won’t be here much longer”. Church Gist. You know what sent chills into my body? He brought out his hand and said, “you see this watch? Do you know who gave it to me?” He said, “many people give you things all over the world, how will you remember who gave you what?” He said, “Paul gave me this. How is he doing? Send my regards to him”. The Director of the crusade was meant to be here tonight. He said, “what? How? Why would he still be remembering such a thing at such a time?” Church Gist. I don’t know the price of the watch, I can’t even remember what kind of watch it is but when we went to Kaduna, they told us, “the last time we had anything like this was when Bonnke came and that was Murtala Square”. They said, “if this crowd enters Murtala Square, it will overwhelm it almost twice.
- Stand up on your feet people.
I have some clips I would have shown you from Bonnke crusades. Can you show me just even if it’s 2 minutes or three from that crusade.
—PRAYERS
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