WHAT YOU BECOME ON EARTH DOES NOT DEPEND ON YOUR EFFORT. IT’S NOT YOUR DEGREES THAT WILL DETERMINE HOW WEALTHY YOU WILL BECOME
GOD CAN PICK UP A BEGGAR FROM THE DUNGHILL AND LIFT HIM UP UNTIL HE BEGINS TO SIT AMONG PRINCES
MY FATHER WAS SO POOR THAT POOR PEOPLE CALLED HIM POOR YET, BY THE SPECIAL GRACE OF GOD, I HAVE VISITED HEADS OF STATES
IN THE NAME OF THE ONE WHO SENT ME, YOU WILL NO LONGER LABOUR IN VAIN!
BIBLE SCHOLARS AND THEOLOGIANS SAY, “YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO FEAR GOD, YOU ARE TO REVERENCE HIM.” I FEAR GOD; HE IS THE CONSUMING FIRE
YOU NEED TO LEARN HUMILITY AND KNOW THAT THERE IS A GOD WHO CAN LIFT UP AND CAN BRING DOWN
CO-OPERATE WITH GOD AND HE WILL GIVE YOU ACCELERATED PROMOTION; RESIST HIM AND HE CAN GIVE YOU ACCELERATED DEMOTION
NEBUCHADNEZZAR BOASTED AGAINST GOD AND GOT ACCELERATED DEMOTION; PETER FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOT ACCELERATED PROMOTION
– Pastor E. A. Adeboye on “ACCELERATED PROMOTION” at November 2023 Thanksgiving Service || RCCG || 5th November 2023 ||
Today we are talking about something very interesting, they call it, “Accelerated Promotion.” 1 Samuel 2:7-9. What you become on Earth does not depend on your effort. The Elders have a saying, “struggling does not make you rich. To work like a slave doesn’t mean anything.” Ask the Elders, that’s what they said. If I put it in Yoruba, “Kira kita o dola; ka sise bi eru o da nkan” (Wealth doesn’t come from hard work; slaving about will not make you rich). Church Gist. If you think that that is not true, go to the wharf and you will see hefty men, strong, with great muscles offloading cement or rice or whatever from the ship from morning till sun down – sweating! At the end of the day, how much are they paid? How many of the labourers you find over there whoever bought a car? All life long, they struggle. Some of them are even rejoicing, “eh, I can carry 2 bags of cement on my left shoulder, another 2 bags on my right shoulder and be strong.” Yet, there is somebody sitting in an office – air conditioned, sipping tea, at the end of the day you just sign some paper and his allowance alone is more than a year’s salary of the man who has been sweating.
– In the name of the One who sent me, you will no longer labour in vain!
The passage we read says, God can pick up a beggar from the dunghill and lift him up until he begins to sit among princes. I know the meaning of that: for the first 18 years of my life, I had no pair of shoes – you know the story. Church Gist. My father was so poor (that) poor people called him poor because he was living among poor people but they themselves looked at him and they said, “ahn ahn, everybody is talking about building a house and you too? You? Poor among the poor!” Yet, by the special grace of God, I have visited heads of states that were supposed to spend 15 minutes and 5 hours later, they were still saying, “please don’t go.”
– In the name of my God, the God who promoted me, you shall be promoted!
There are two words here that we are asked to speak on, I mean the topic – Accelerated Promotion. One – promotion; two – Accelerated. We know what promotion is, simple – lifting up. You’re one place today, you’re somewhere tomorrow. Somebody moved you up. Ecclesiastes 9:11. Church Gist. It’s not your degrees that will determine how wealthy you will become. I remember years ago when I was still a lecturer in the University, anytime they want to raise fund for something anywhere, they say, don’t invite a professor. Why? He has no money to give now. God have mercy on us – I’m talking about those of us who are academicians.
– In a way that men cannot understand, God will promote you!
The crucial word here is the word, “accelerated.” Everybody knows what promotion is; what is the meaning of accelerated? Church Gist. I will put it in the language that every market woman can understand. Accelerated simply means rapid rapid. If you put it in mathematical language you will say, rapid squared, fast squared, fast fast. Scientifically, if I begin to tell you what it is, I will lose you.
It tells us straight away that promotion can be in categories. We have what we call steady promotion. That’s if nothing goes wrong and you’re working very hard in your place of work, after so many years, you move on to the next stage. Church Gist. After another set of years, you move on to the next stage – that’s steady. A very good example of steady promotion we find in the case of Isaac in Genesis 26:1-14. He kept on moving on and on and on.
When we talk about rapid, it means we are not talking about steady. It is steady alright but steady at a speed. A good example will be David in 1 Samuel 16:11-13. He was in the bush when God sent for him and anointed him. He said, “hey, you’re my new king.” That was among his brothers, nobody was there except his relatives. But then you could say, “at least he had been promoted. Church Gist. He used to be a shepherd boy, now he is a potential king” … because it took another 13 years before he moved from being king among the brothers to becoming King of Judah. 2 Samuel 2:1-4. At the beginning, he became tomorrow king – (Obalola) – potential king, but then he moved on and he became King of Judah. It’s looks as if the promises are coming to pass at long last. Now, it didn’t take another 13 years before he became king over the whole of Israel. 2 Samuel 5:1-5 – rapid promotion.
That means, like you became chairman of a local government and then after some years, you became governor of a state and then, after being governor for may be just one term, you become president – that’s rapid promotion. But that’s not the one they asked us to talk about, they asked us to talk about the accelerated promotion, the one who is rapid rapid. There are many examples in the Bible. Let me take Joshua 1:1-9. The Bible calls Joshua, minister. But a minister in those days is not Federal Government minister. Church Gist. A minister is the fellow who will wash your clothes, iron them, you know in those days when a big man wants to sleep, they have a pot that they put in the bedroom where he could ease himself at night. The minister is the one who will take the pot with all the smelly something, go and empty it and wash it clean. That’s the meaning of minister in those days not the one who is coming today and they have to close the road. So one day now, God spoke and said, “Joshua, my Servant Moses is dead – the one who has been Head of state for 40 years. You, carrier of chamber pot, you will now become, Head of state.” Read the passage very well, Joshua began to shake. “What? You want to move me from messenger to head of state?” He was badly shaking that’s why God had to say it 3 times – “Be strong and of good courage, I am the one talking to you”… because the promotion was so sudden and so great.
– The kind of promotion that will frighten you, get ready for it in Jesus’ name!
I will consider Solomon – 1 Kings 1:1-49. Solomon didn’t know what was going on, he was a spoilt boy. He doesn’t know much about right or left. That’s why when he had a dream and God said, what do you want? He said, “wisdom; I am a dullard.” To take somebody who himself doesn’t even know much about his right from his left and suddenly make him king? Church Gist. That is accelerated promotion. The kind of promotion you don’t qualify for, when the Almighty God gives it to you suddenly, that is called accelerated promotion and that’s coming the way of somebody!
But may be, one that you will really understand, without much explanation is found in Genesis 41:1-44. It’s about a boy called Joseph. He had dreams, God has shown him dreams but the dreams almost got him killed because he didn’t keep his mouth shut, he told the dreams to his brothers. The brothers said, “you? You will reign over us? We will kill you and then see what will come of your dreams.” They threw him into a pit but God said, “no, the pit must be dry, you will not die in the pit.” Church Gist. They sold him into slavery, God said, “no problem, I am the Alpha and the Omega, let them do what they want.” He became a chief among the slaves and the Wife of the Chief owner lied against him and he landed in prison. He got there and became chief prisoner. But in a single day, the Almighty God moved him from prison to become actually the ruler of Egypt in one single move of God. If we are talking about accelerated promotion, that’s a good example.
He was in prison, he was supposed to die there. When they send you to the King’s prison, you normally don’t come out. But you’re not in prison, your case is better than that of Joseph. So if it is possible for God to move a condemned prisoner and move him until he becomes ruler, move him to such an extent that he says, “all knees must bow to him”? Church Gist. You know I’ve always said if I were Joseph, when that thing happened and Pharaoh said, “look, I take off my ring, wear it. This is my chariot, ride in it. Whenever you arrive, people must bow,” the first place I would have gone to is Potiphar’s house. I will stand out there and say, bring me Potiphar’s wife, tell her Joseph is here. I would have enjoyed seeing Potiphar’s wife bowing down.
– All those who said you won’t reach your goal, as a result of today’s service, very soon they will come and bow before you!
But I can go on and on, there are so many examples in the Bible. You can take the example of Peter, a fisherman. He followed Jesus for a while, then Jesus left and he didn’t get the power he thought he will get. Church Gist. He told his people, “well, if I can’t go forward at least I can go back to my fishing.” You know the story of Peter. All of a sudden, because the Holy Spirit fell, the failed fisherman suddenly became a man whose shadow was healing the sick. That’s accelerated promotion mehn!
But for you to really appreciate the meaning of accelerated promotion, you need to have a rough idea of the opposite and the opposite of accelerated promotion is accelerated demotion. I will take only one example to illustrate that just to let you know, “thank God, at least if I am not already promoted at least I am not demoted.” Church Gist. You find the illustration in Daniel 4. Nebuchadnezzar was a great king. When you talk of great we mean great among great. He was so great that he thought that he should be God. This man said that, “even my image alone must be worshipped not to talk of myself.” Then, God gave him an advice, “be careful; I’m the King of Kings, I control everything. Humble yourself or else you get into trouble.” He heard but he didn’t understand, he didn’t take the advice. So he woke up one morning (as) king and began to boast, “hey, look at my city, my head quarters that I built, look at how great my strength has brought me and my wisdom, understanding.” God said, “is that so? Alright, oh king, go and join the animals for 7 years, eat with them, look like them, for 7 years then we will know who is in charge” – within a day, the King got down from the throne, went to the flower pot and began to eat flowers. He saw that he finished that one and saw plenty of flowers on the field. He removed his dress and joined the animals. That’s what is called accelerated demotion. But after 7 years because God is merciful, his senses came back – “hey, what have I done? I kicked against the Most High. Almighty God, I’m sorry.” Church Gist. Suddenly, all his chiefs who have been watching him walking about as a mad man, came to him, “your majesty, please come.” Quickly, they covered his nakedness, took him to the Palace, bathed him, removed everything that needed to be removed, dressed him again and he was back on the throne – accelerated promotion.
I have seen God in action. Believe me honestly, I love him and I’ll tell you the truth, I fear him. I know there are Bible scholars, theologians, they say, “but you’re not supposed to fear God, you’re to reverence him.” I say, thank you. One of the names of God is the Consuming fire. Church Gist. The Elders say, even a mad dog will recognise fire. Show me one example of a mad man who got burnt – you’ll never find one. If somebody is raving mad, all clothes gone, walking about the street naked and then, you say to him, “hey, put your hand in fire,” he will tell you, “my madness does not reach that stage. Do you think I’m that far gone?”
Bible says, God is a Consuming fire. You don’t toy with fire no matter your anointing because if you touch fire, fire will burn. I’ll give you just one illustration: I had a friend (he’s gone now), highly qualified man, brilliant; not just a brilliant lawyer but a brilliant judge. We were very close, we sat together, eat pounded yam on my table. That’s how close we were. Church Gist. Then, I was travelling to Abuja and I saw him coming out of the plane that I was going to board. “Hey, my friend, what happened? You’re welcome. But I saw 2 people standing by his side, one on the right, one on the left.” He just looked at me as if, “who is this?” Hello? It’s me. Then one of them whispered to me, “he has lost his memory.” He couldn’t even remember who he was, he couldn’t recognise any of the children, everything gone just like that!
You need to learn humility. You need to know that there is a God who can lift up and he can bring down. You need to realize it’s not by strength that any man prevails. It’s not by your ability that you’re still alive today. Church Gist. If you know how many enemies will not want you to wake up when you went to bed last night …the Bible says it is of the mercy of the Lord that we are not consumed. It is because his mercy was renewed over you, over me, that’s why we are still here. Cooperate with God and he will give you accelerated promotion; resist him and he can give you accelerated demotion.
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