TO BISHOP AND PASTOR MRS WALE OKE … 40 YEARS AGO I JOINED MY SON AND MY DAUGHTER IN MARRIAGE AND I THANK GOD FOR 40 YEARS OF PEACE AND HARMONY
WHEREVER THERE IS FIRE, THERE IS NOISE BECAUSE THERE IS A LINK BETWEEN FIRE AND POWER
THERE IS A LINK BETWEEN FIRE AND NOISE AND A SONG IS ORGANISED NOISE
ANOINTING IS FIRE; FIRE AND ANOINTING GO TOGETHER
THE LEPER CAME IN CONTACT WITH THE ONE WHO CARRIES FIRE ABOUT – THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, ALL HIS PROBLEMS WERE SOLVED IN A SINGLE DAY
I LOVE MY SON (BISHOP WALE OKE) AND HIS WIFE BUT WHEN YOU GET TO MY AGE, YOU BEGIN TO REALIZE THAT ‘BODY NO BE STONE’, ‘KHAKI NO BE LEATHER’.
THAT I HAVE TO RUN DOWN FROM THE NORTH TO ATTEND THIS PROGRAM AND THEN RUN BACK TO THE NORTH IS BECAUSE SOMEONE’S LIFE IS ABOUT TO CHANGE PERMANENTLY.
I HAVE ALWAYS TOLD MY PEOPLE THAT THE REASON MANY DON’T TAKE ME SERIOUSLY WHEN I GIVE A WORD OF PROPHECY IS THAT I DON’T SHAKE OR DO IT WITH DRAMA.
GOD NEVER SHOOK WHEN HE SAID LET THERE BE LIGHT
IF YOU ARE GOING TO SUCCEED IN LIFE, IT IS NOT GOING TO BE BY YOUR POWER OR YOUR MIGHT, IT IS GOING TO BE BY GOD’S SPIRIT.
GOD MADE IT CLEAR THAT BY STRENGTH SHALL NO MAN PREVAIL.
MANY OF US HAVE TRIED VERY HARD AND WE HAVEN’T MADE THE KIND OF PROGRESS WE WERE EXPECTING.
I HAVE GOOD NEWS FOR YOU, THINGS ARE ABOUT TO CHANGE.
IF THERE IS ONE PROPHET I KNOW, IT IS BISHOP WALE OKE
IN 1979, AS A YOUNG MAN, HE GAVE ME 28 WRITTEN PROPHECIES ABOUT THE FUTURE OF MY MINISTRY
OUT OF THE 28 PROPHECIES, 27 HAVE COME TO PASS AND I’M WAITING FOR THE 28TH
DO NOT JOKE WITH GOD, HE IS GRACIOUS AND ALSO A CONSUMING FIRE
THERE MUST BE A REVIVAL OF YOU BEFORE THERE CAN BE THE REVIVAL OF THE MINISTRY AND REVIVAL OF THE LAND.
– Pastor E. A. Adeboye on “A NEW SONG” at Revival Fire Conference || 15th February 2024 || Day 5 || Christ Life Church – Sword of the Spirit Ministries.
I thank God that I am here today. I thank God because 40 years ago when I was joining the Lord Bishop to the First Lady in marriage, I told the people that I was the happiest man there because I asked them the question, “Who is the happiest person here?” Everybody said “me” I said, you don’t understand. Church Gist. The people from the husband’s part will say, we are the one; the people from the wife’s part said, we are the one. I said I am the happiest because I am joining my son to my daughter so I have double joy. I thank God for 40 years of peace and harmony – it takes God. Just like the Bishop said, before you will start a Church I practically had to say, “look, I am your Father in the Lord. I command you.” “Ehh no no Daddy, I am called to be an itinerant Evangelist.” I said, ha! He talked of Evangelist and me, how many of us can beat Billy Graham? But today when you look round and you look at all the work that that great man of God had done, how many people can you see who will say, “I was born again under his ministration?” The Almighty God is very specific. You’re not only to produce fruits, you must make sure the fruits will abide. The only way you will make sure the fruits will abide is by watching over them yourself. “Oh, well, when I win souls I hand them over to those who have been cooperating with me.” Ah ahn! Church Gist. The Elders have a saying and there are many elders here today, “they said 10 eyes cannot compare to your own.” You give your child to somebody else to look after? You’re not going to get the same results as if you do it yourself. I had to practically say, “Sir, unless you want us to quarrel,” and I happen to be one of those people he didn’t want to quarrel with. Now, look at the Church that God started, look at what God is doing. I mean today we are talking of University, we are talking of several other things. So well, thank God for obedient children. Let’s give the Bishop a big round of applause.
Psalm 40:1-3. When the Bishop told me that the program is a Fire Conference and that the topic is, “A New Song,” I had to go and pray because initially I can’t see the difference between fire conference and a new song. But you know Bishops know better than Pastors so, I went to pray and I suddenly saw that, oh, he’s correct. There is a link between fire and noise. Whenever fire is burning, there will be noise. A song is nothing other than organised noise. The Bible made it abundantly clear – Psalm 81:1. There is a link between song and noise. Church Gist. I think God is simply saying that those of you who have beautiful voices like the choir, by the way the choir that’s excellent. There are some of us who cannot sing like the choir. Some of us if we are singing, some people around will probably say, “if you don’t mind, keep quiet for the time being.” But the Almighty God knows, anybody can make a joyful noise.
Now, I have also discovered that wherever there is fire, there is noise because there is a link between fire and power. A bicycle for example is a very good means of transportation but if I am to travel from Redemption Camp to this great city, emm even in my younger years, that will take me almost a day. But if I am to come by motorcycle, within an hour I will arrive. The difference between the motorcycle and the bicycle is fire power. Church Gist. That’s why you find that the motorcycle makes a lot of noise; it will bring me here on time, I will arrive fresh and the man on the bicycle will probably be pouring some water on him by the time he gets here. It takes fire to sing a new song. Everyone you can find in the Scriptures who sang a new song came in contact with fire. I know somebody is going to have contact with fire today and they will go home singing a new song!
John 9:1-7. The Bible said Jesus anointed the blind man and I don’t need to do a lot of theological teaching for you to know that anointing is fire. If you don’t believe me, all you have to do is to ask Samson. When they brought Samson bound to his enemies, the Bible tells us that when the Spirit of God came down mightily on him, the ropes binding him were cut as if by fire. Fire and anointing, they go together. Church Gist. So the anointed one – Jesus Christ – touched this man who was born blind and by the time you got to verses 24 and 25, when some people came and asked the man, “this fellow you said healed you, we know him to be a sinner etc.” He said whether he be a sinner or not, I don’t know but now I can sing a new song. I can tell you, whereas I was blind now, I can see.
– Somebody here today, you’re not going back the way you came! You will be able to sing a new song!
When you take another example in Matthew 8:1-4, it talks about a man who was a leper. A leper had all manners of problems. Not only was he sick, incurably sick. Not only was he poor, he can’t walk. Church Gist. Not only was he lonely, a leper is not allowed to come into the congregation of the people. Not only was he unmarried, nobody marries a leper. Not only was he barren, not only was he sad, he was hopeless. But when he came in contact with the one who carries fire about – the Lord Jesus Christ, all his problems were solved in a single day.
So I don’t know which of all these problems I’ve mentioned might be yours but because the fire is going to fall this afternoon all your problems will be consumed by fire. When the leper got healed, the Lord told him, “keep quiet o, don’t tell anybody what has happened.” Church Gist. He laughed. How can I keep quiet? I have a new song to sing. Everywhere he went he was telling the people, “do you remember me? I was the leper; now I am clean.” That’s a new song.
You take just one more example in Mark 5:2-20, it tells us of a man who was so mad, so hopelessly mad that he knew that if he should die nobody was going to bother to bury him. So he prepared for his final departure by living by the graveyard. Then one day, he saw the fire carrier, the one called Jesus Christ. By the way, the Bible tells us that he is one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Church Gist. He had an encounter with the fire carrier and his story changed. The Bible said he went everywhere telling people about Jesus Christ. Don’t you know me? Can’t you remember who I was, now look at me. I am singing a new song because I came in contact with fire.
You can go a little bit to the spiritual level and consider somebody called Peter. Peter was what you call a total failure. First, he fished all night and caught nothing until Jesus stepped into his boat and all of a sudden things changed and the Lord told him, “From now on you will be singing a new song, you won’t be fishing for fish, you will be fishing for men. Years passed and nothing happened. Church Gist. So much so that by the time you got to John 21, Peter said if I can’t go forward, at least I can go back to where I am coming from. I go a-fishing. Then something happened at a place called The Upper Room in Acts 2:1-4, fire fell on Peter. The man who for the past 3½ years didn’t win a single soul preached a single sermon and won 3,000 souls. The man who was a total failure. The man who was thinking of going back to where he was coming from became a man so powerful that even his shadow began to heal the sick.
I have good news for someone here, it doesn’t matter how many problems, how many situations in your life that have caused you to begin to think of leaving Jesus Christ. Today you will sing a new song. Church Gist. It doesn’t matter how many prophecies that have come your way and you knew that you knew that those prophecies are yours and yet nothing happened. Today you are going to catch fire and once you catch fire things change.
I don’t want to preach a long sermon because I want you to spend quite some time praying. Zechariah 4:6. He said if you are going to succeed in life, it is not going to be by your power, it is not going to be by your might, it is going to be by My Spirit. 1 Samuel 2:9. He made it clear that by strength shall no man prevail. Many of us have tried very hard and we haven’t made the kind of progress we were expecting. Well, I have good news for you, things are about to change. Church Gist. You thought you were just coming here to celebrate with Bishop and his wife, No! You are here to keep an appointment with destiny. I have always told my people that the reason why many of them don’t take me seriously when I give a word of prophecy is because I don’t shake. If I jerk a little and add a little drama, probably they will pay attention. God never shook when He said let there be light. I am saying to somebody here today, things are about to change for good.
It has to be so, otherwise there is no way I could have been here. I love my son and I love his wife but when you get to my age, you begin to realize that body no be stone, khaki no be leather. That I have to run down from the North to attend a program and then run back to the North. I have a very good excuse to say Sorry oh my son, I will be praying for you. Or let me record a greeting which you can play. The almighty God knows there is somebody here today whose life is going to change permanently.
Let’s begin to round up, you know when we talk about a new song. A new song can be positive – I was poor now I am rich. That’s a new song. I was poor but now I am rich. That’s another new song. I was healthy but now I am sick. It is a new song too. There are positive songs, there are negative songs. Which one would you like to sing? As young as I am I have seen a lot of people who sang negative songs. Church Gist. Way back in 1957, that was a long time ago, before some of us were born. A man won a lottery. Maybe the old ones will remember. €75,000! In 1957, you could buy a flat in London for €25. This man won €75,000. So if you are talking about a man who was poor and became rich overnight, that is a classical example. Years ago, I was travelling through his town. One elderly man in the town was the one driving me in the car and we saw a man sitting in rags in a house that was broken down and I just looked at the man and asked what is wrong with that man? Maybe we should go and invite him to the program. Is he sick or something? He said No! That is the man who won €75,000. In the name that is above every other name, you will never sing a negative song.
I have seen, in the little time I’ve been in ministry, I’ve seen people who were incurably sick, came to the Lord and the Lord intervened. Church Gist. I will just give one example: there was this man, I don’t know what the doctors will call his case, they probably will call it arthritis. But his case was such that his hands were stiff, so stiff that he can’t bend it, the legs, the same thing. He can’t bend down. He came, “will you give your life to Jesus Christ?” He said, “of course”. “If you give your life to Him, He will heal you”. He said, “I surrender”. We prayed a simple prayer, immediately, he was able to kneel down and bend. Church Gist. For two two weeks, he will come and his hallelujah was the loudest. After some time, we couldn’t see him in Church anymore, so we decided to do a followup. “Oga, what’s the problem? We are not seeing you again”. He said, “ah, ah. If you were sick and you go to the hospital amd you’re healed, do you stay in the hospital?” I said, “No Sir”. “Is it your church that healed me?” I said, “No, Sir”. He said, “thank you very much, I appreciate your concern”. But three months later, I saw him, I was coming from the University of Lagos then where I was still… and I saw this same man, it’s not only that the legs and the hands were stiff as before, even his mouth can’t close. Church Gist. He was sick, then he became well and then he became sick again. I’m begging you today because we are going to pray some very serious prayer in a moment. You have to make up your mind, it doesn’t matter all the theories you might be hearing. Church Gist. This God who is able to give you a brand new song, one of his names is the Consuming Fire. You don’t joke with Him oh. He is a holy God.
Now, as for those who already got the fire because I know some of you here by the grace of God are born again, sanctified, baptized in the Holy Spirit and so on and so forth, there’s a big warning. Church Gist. In Leviticus 6:12-13, God warned us, He said, the fire must never go out. So, if we have started losing our fire, we should be the ones who will cry to God the loudest. My beloved children then were singing, they said they want to sing songs of revival. I said, “wonderful. You’re talking about going to the whole world and telling the whole world about God. Wonderful. Church Gist. What about your own fire? Is your fire still burning?”
I will give one illustration from my life and then it will be time to pray. One day I was driving between Lagos and Ibadan and Daddy began to speak to me. I’ve told you I’m not a Prophet, one Prophet that I know without any doubt that is in the house today is your Bishop. You will say, “what do you mean?” In 1979, at Abusi Edumare Grammar School, Ijebu-Igbo, he was my little boy but the little boy came to me at 2 p.m. in the afternoon shaking a little bit and gave me some written documents. It contains 28 prophecies. Of course, he just wrote everything together, it’s me as a mathematician that took the something and began to write it down; prophecy number 1,2, 28 of them talking about unbelievable things about the future of my ministry. Of the 28 eh, 27 have come to pass. So, you know there are Prophets and there are prophets. There are prophets who will tell you it will rain in June. (Laughs). We all know it will rain in June if we have not offended God. 1979, one by one by one, incredible things, 27 of them have come to pass. I’m waiting for the 28th. So, if I’m looking for a Prophet, I know where to turn. I know. But I’m not a Prophet but occasionally, I too do hear from God. Church Gist. That’s the point I’m trying to make. So, I was driving, suddenly God began to speak to me and said, “son, do you remember one convention you had and a woman from Ijebu’gbo came to the Church and all of a sudden, she ran out of the Church and began to call on the fellow who brought her and said, ‘mama Lagbaja, I want to go home, bring my bag’ and the friend said, ‘why do you want to go’? ‘eh, I want to go’. ‘even if you want to go, come and take your bag yourself’. Church Gist. She said, ‘no, I can’t come in’. She said, ‘why?’ She said there’s fire there”. Then God said, “do you remember a situation when you were preaching in Ilorin and there was a woman who ran out of the Church, the ushers followed and said, ‘what’s the problem?’ She had been demon possessed, she’s been looking for a way to be free and then she came to the Church and while the Pastor was preaching, her dress caught fire”. I said, “I remember” and God said to me, “son, when was the last time you saw that kind of raw manifestation of the power of God”. Church Gist. I said, “ah. Lord, you know we are big na. There are all manners of testimonies. You know, big ones, dead people rising, etcetera”. He said, “son, you’re not answering my question. When was the last time you saw fire, naked fire?” I said, “Daddy, I’m sorry, it’s been quite a while”. He said, “do you want your fire back?” I said, “I will do anything, I will pay any price”. I believe God is talking to someone. He told me what to do and I did it. It wasn’t long after that, I was ministering at the Camp, I’ve made the altar call and people were rushing forward when all of a sudden, there was fire at the very top of my head on the roof, the fire was burning. It’s on tape. Church Gist. And people expected me to move out of the way so that firefighters can do something. I just stood calm and allowed the people who were coming forward to come and funny enough, those people too didn’t run. Church Gist. They saw the fire but they came and we finished all the procedure and handed them over to the counselors before I moved out of the way and then, the firefighters very quickly got a ladder, climbed up to put off the fire, when they got there, there was no fire.
Do you want your fire back? I’m speaking particularly to those of you who are ministers of God. Are you where you used to be? Because the fire must fall today oo. There must be a revival of you before there can be the revival of the Ministry. Before you can be talking about revival of the Land. Let me give those of you who are not yet born again an opportunity to give your life to Jesus Christ because you cannot catch that fire if you are living in sin, it’s not possible. No! You have to be dry, you have to be hungry, you have to be thirsty for God, for that fire to come on you. Church Gist. The Holy Spirit is not going to come on you if you are living in sin, it’s not possible. ‘Oh! Sir, I might be living in sin but I’m still performing miracles’. ‘No!!! You are not performing miracles you are doing magic; the God we are talking about is a holy God, the Spirit who is going to bring the fire is the Holy Spirit. The qualifying word there is: ‘Holy’. So, if there is anyone here, you might be the only one and you know yourself that you are not living according to the will of God even though you claim to be born again or you’ve never been born again you want to, I’m going to count from one to ten, before I say ten. Come and stand with me here so we can pray together for your Salvation and if you have backslidden and you want to return to the Almighty God, come also.
—-PRAYERS—-
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