February Leadership Empowerment Summit 2023

SERVING GOD IS EVERY BELIEVER’s RESPONSIBILITY!

SERVING GOD IS NEITHER A CALLING OF A GIFT, IT IS SIMPLY A CHOICE!

FERVENCY AND STEADFASTNESS IS REQUIRED FOR PROFITABLE STEWARDSHIP!

OUR BIG BATTLE TO FIGHT IN THIS ENDTIME IS THE BATTLE AGAINST SPIRITUAL REBELLION WHERE INSTRUCTIONS ARE TREATED WITH LEVITY.

CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION IS AN ACCESS TO FRUSTRATION.

GOD’s WORD IS SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT (75%) INSTRUCTION AND ONLY 25 PERCENT (25%) PRINCIPLES.

SOULS ARE BIRTHED AND ESTABLISHED IN THE KINGDOM THROUGH THE ALTAR OF PRAYER!

YOU NEED A KINGDOM DREAM TO ENJOY A FINANCIAL FORTUNE BOOM!

ALWAYS MIND SPIRITUAL INPUTS EVERY TIME YOU REACH OUT TO A NEW CONVERT FOR FOLLOW-UP.

YOU DON’T NEED ANOINTING TO COMPEL AND INVITE PEOPLE TO CHURCH! YOU JUST NEED THE PASSION!

SERVING GOD IS A PLATFORM FOR SECURING DIVINE PRESENCE!

SERVING GOD IS A COVENANT PLATFORM FOR SUPERNATURAL BREAKTHROUGHS.

WE MUST MAKE A CHOICE TO SERVE GOD BEFORE HE SUPPLIES THE GRACE TO SERVE.

-Bishop David Oyedepo at the Leadership Empowerment Summit 2023 || Youth Chapel || 4th February, 2023||

Our big battle to fight in this Endtime is the battle against Spiritual rebellion where instructions are treated with levity, where people think that now I should have my own way of looking at things- I’m a man of myself! It is one of the avenues of great perils of the Endtime. Men shall be heady- You can’t tell me what to do, don’t stress my life, even God Himself wants us to have our own position on issues! Christianity without access to instruction is an access to frustration. Church Gist. You hate instructions on the highway, you are heading for destruction!- ‘Slow down! You are at a sharp bend! ‘No! I’m used to this road! That’s the last bend you may see! Traffic rules! Don’t mind them! You may soon be off the road!

-Grace to embrace instructions!

Proverb 4:13. God’s Word like we have said severally is seventy five percent instruction and only 25 percent principles. Charismatics has been overrun by principles with absolute disregard for instructions! Church Gist. You can do what you feel. That’s how children in the West are now shooting guns against their teachers and themselves in school!- You can do anything you feel! Life without access to instructions or without embracing instructions is an adventure in frustration, devastation and ultimate destruction! Lord enhance my thirst for instructions!

———–PRAYER————

-Heavenly Father! Thank You again for Light in Your Word, receive our thanks! Let this segment add values to our lives, move us forward again in Jesus Precious Name!

I’ll like to take us through some segments in this last session that will help remind us of our responsibilities as stewards and believers in the House of God in general! Remember God’s Word is ordained to empower us! Church Gist. Ezekiel 2:2. So expect to be empowered back upon your feet, doing what is required to make the year a most eventful year for everyone of us in the Name of Jesus!

Serving God is every believer’s responsibility! It is neither a calling of a gift, it is simply a choice! Joshua 24:15, Job 36:11. Serving God entitles believers to rewards that have no comparison on the earth! Exodus 23:25-26. In Galatians 6:7-8…Whatever a man sows that he shall reap! You reap everlasting life through Spiritual engagements. Church Gist. So don’t be weary in sowing to the Spirit for you shall reap it in due season if you faint not.

But fervency and steadfastness is required for profitable stewardship! Fervency and passionate engagement not just casual engagement! And steadfastness that is void of murmurings and complaints 1 Corinthians 15:58, Romans 12:11. So it is not just serving the Lord but how passionate are you? Not having religion! So serving the Lord requires fervently for maximum profit! We have the following examples in Scriptures:

Abraham, a blessed business emperor was a servant of God Psalms 105:42, Genesis 14:14-20. So you don’t have to be a founder or a Pastor or Archbishop to be the servant of God so that you can yield yourself to obey! Church Gist. Servants obey! Romans 6:16. We saw Abraham raise an army that could take on an army of other nations and conquer them! He was a servant of God Genesis 14:14.

Job was a renowned business leader and an acclaimed servant of God Job 1:1-3,Job 1:8-9, Job 42:10-14. He was challenged but he came out of it colourfully, gloriously and majestically. God restored everything that the enemy stole and he enjoyed for 140 extra years!

-That is how God will then, many people’s challenges this year as if they never existed! Your everlasting mountain shall be overturned from the root. You will never believe that they were ever there before!

David, the king of Israel was a celebrated servant of God 1 Samuel 17:26, 1 Samuel 17:45-50, Psalms 89:20-24. It was the burning passion for God that drove him against Goliath and brought him down. God said, ‘I have found David my servant not David the King’! Church Gist. There are those in high places of authority today always there at the drinking joints everyday in spite of their level of responsibility. Why can’t you be with your God everyday? And they go there to disrespect themselves and lose dignity, you go after your God to recover your beauty, to enhance your beauty and your glory. David the king was a servant of God, I don’t know how busy you are?

Daniel, a foremost ruler in Babylon, was a renowned servant of God Daniel 6:1-5 and Daniel 6:10-23.

Anna was a widow of 84 years old but serving God with prayer and fasting in the temple Luke 2:37. That means there is a place for everyone in Kingdom stewardship if he cares to. All those examples were not Pastors, they were not preachers but they were accredited servants of God with abundant proofs of how God rewards whosoever that serves him with his positions or professions notwithstanding! Church Gist. There is a place for everyone in Kingdom stewardship!

Stewardship will usually be demanding but the returns are unmatchable. Profitable Kingdom stewardship is Spiritually demanding to everyone who truly cares to engage but you can be sure that engagement in Kingdom advancement endeavors pays the most and highest and then it’s incomparable. Among others, it offers a rest roundabout! It guarantees access to all other things that others are dying to get Matthew 6:33. In all labour, there is profit but in Spiritual labour there is far greater profits. Spiritual labour carries the weight. Church Gist. Sow to the Spirit and you will reap life everlasting! It never stops here, it goes beyond here.

Let’s look at a few of those opportunities:

1. There is a place for everyone on the altar of prayer Matthew 6:6-10. He taught every one of us a pattern of prayer to pray. And everyone who should pray, ‘Give us today our daily bread should first of all pray, ‘Thy Kingdom come! Thy will to see all men saved be done on earth as Your will is done in Heaven’! Church Gist. So there is a place for everyone on the altar of prayer, taking note that souls are birthed and established in the Kingdom through the altar of prayer. So everybody has that opportunity sir, it’s not about, ‘You know? My legs are aching! Your mouth is not aching! No! But your heart is not there!

We have these twelve Prophetic weeks of harvest that means there must be weekly engagement and schedule that everybody engages with not waiting for when we come to Church Jeremiah 5:24. Church Gist. There must be a weekly schedule of engagement to matter in these matters! Souls are birthed and established in the Kingdom through the altar of prayer! Isaiah 66:7-8, Galatians 4:19, Colossians 4:12. Just check your system! I don’t know what to preach but you don’t know what to pray! But He taught us to pray! Now, you are not praying, you are not preaching where are you going?

You ask me, ‘What were you preaching in those days when you were 19 years of age? I can’t tell what I was preaching but they were hearing! Church Gist. My passion is what they were hearing, they were buying into my passion! I mean standing before you this morning, I’m blank about what I preached but my heart was going after them and they were going after the things that I was preaching!- Whatever it meant to them!

2. There is a place for witnessing Christ to the lost. In fact, the purpose of the empowerment of the Holy Ghost is to make believers effective witnesses of Christ- That is the core purpose Sir Acts 1:8. And what that does, is to bring believers into favour with God John 15:8. This is because you have touched My heart, you are pursuing my purpose for sending Jesus! Church Gist. You are pursuing my heart beat and you have won my favour. Every truthful soul winner enjoys favour with God. He is not crying for it, it’s flowing in his direction. Fearful favour that humbles kings Psalm 102:13.

-Many will step into that favour by their tireless passion to see souls saved this time. Favour!

I mean, I was sharing with you sometimes I will get to the airport and they will say, ‘Excuse me sir and I will come into the first class’. I don’t know them and they don’t know me. Church Gist. I didn’t introduce myself, whether they are white, yellow and whatever! And I will say, ‘I didn’t have a first class seat’, and they will say, ‘Please come and sit Sir’! My wife was there on one of those days in New York City, they were all white and I wasn’t wearing a collar… Favour!!! I went to a conference in Maryland and somebody was waiting for me and said, ‘I’m here to serve you Sir’. I mean what? Favour! Now can I tell you this? Nothing flies like favour!

-This year, you are getting on a flight! A flight that one hundred years of labour will never get you into. Position yourself to win the favour of God!

Soul winning is every believer’s responsibility. It is not a calling, it is a choice to engage.

3. There is a place for inviting and compelling people to Church and Midweek service. There is a place for everybody, you don’t need experience to invite people to come to Church, you don’t need anointing! Church Gist. You just need the passion! The Samaritan woman had no experience, she has not done Believers’ Foundation Class before, she has not answered any altar call! She only said, ‘Come and see the man who has told me all things that I ever did’! Many believed her oo for what she said John 4:39.

One of our Yoruba Church members here does not speak in English but she was preaching in Yoruba all over her neighborhood and they began to insult her, ‘Is it because you don’t have children! The same season she became pregnant and brought her first child at 50 years old.

-Somebody’s story is changing!

So for you not to be part of prayer, part of witnessing or part of inviting people, what are you there for? Luke 14:18.

-You are going to see wonders! It’s your turn to be honoured!

He that winneth souls is wise…Proverb 14:28.

-Shame and reproach will never be mentioned again from this season.

So work out your own Salvation, don’t wait for it!

4. There is a place of following up with new converts and we have that opportunity opened here and there. By checking on our converts over and again is one way to keep them in the faith particularly through phone calls, text messages and other social media platforms. Church Gist. They are all available today but in those days we use our legs to go from place to place. Now you can chat with them. Always mind Spiritual input every time you call, ‘Just checking on you, be blessed today! And I pray that this week shall be a week of testimony for you! Nothing will fail in your hand! Did you read your Bible this morning? Where did you read? Very simple and loving and caring calls. Not, ‘How are you? Come to Church tomorrow ‘! That’s not follow-up, that’s follow-away! He that winneth a soul must be wise!
5. Helping the challenged brethren through giving to meet their pressing needs including healthcare, food, shelter, herring their children back to school as so on, as may be enabled is all part of our Spiritual stewardship. Matthew 25:40. We are to do good to all men, especially those in the household of faith Galatians 6:10. We are not philanthropists, we are discretionary investors- First the Church, then others. Yes, it will overflow to others but first to the Church Galatians 6:10. Church Gist. So anything that we do for the saints we have done it for Jesus and He is marking it.

Hear what He said that was beautiful, there was that man that was wounded on his journey by armed robbers, he got there and carried him to the clinic and paid some money, he doesn’t know him Luke 10:30. In Luke 10:36, He said, ‘Go thou and do likewise’! Church Gist. A Priest passed, a Levite passed until a good Samaritan passed that showed real compassion! And what will come out of it? Blessed are those that considered the poor…Psalms 41:1-2. Amazing blessings that money cannot buy!

-It is your turn for a change of story!

6. Giving to the spreading of the Gospel including Church planting endeavours. You need a Kingdom dream to enjoy a Kingdom boom! Zechariah 1:17. You have too many dreams. They are balloon dreams and they don’t have God inside them! You need a Kingdom dream to enjoy a financial fortune boom. Church Gist. I told you several times, that before I had my first bank account! I had in my heart that if I ever get blessed by God I want to be part of building Him Churches! It was in my heart but there was nothing in my hand! But when it is in your heart, He will put it in your hand! Start from where you are not to go and start tomorrow somewhere!

A chair got broken when you were worshipping and then you had the means to buy a chair, why are you reporting about it and travelling all around town? You say, ‘I’m a Pastor’! And so what? I’m I a farmer? Let your heart be in it Sir. Church Gist. I have seen people living in abundance, real fortune all through life and they don’t die young! The more you put today in His Kingdom, the longer your days because He has to lay you everything before He calls you back! God is faithful! It’s your turn!

The silver and gold of the Endtime is reserved for Kingdom promoters! So it is exclusively reserved for Kingdom promoters not Kingdom consumers or accumulators. Church Gist. And you are one of them in Jesus Name! Haggai 2:8.

7. Building places of worship as may be enabled! You can’t build a place of worship without first knowing how to buy a chair! You must know how to buy a bench before thinking of building a Church! It’s all in phases! Start from somewhere! We used to have a fellowship in those days where we used a tilling lamp, how many of you remember that lamp? Church Gist. It has a mantle not the kind of mantle we have now! Mantle and a net that you pour kerosene and lit it on! Now one of the brothers got to me one day and said, ‘Bro David, let’s announce when there is a need to buy a mantle’. I said, ‘Are you blind? When you see holes in the mantle it is getting darker, you should know that it is ready for change. So I bought a pack of mantles so that when I see one hole, I will go and change it! I started (Kingdom service) from changing mantles because God’s people should not be in darkness! Haggai 1:3-13.

Have a God’s House dream! These are all opportunities for everyone of us as we begin to change levels!

-We are changing levels! You are changing levels!

But how not to be crushed by your change of levels is what I am telling you now! I mean Solomon gave to his greatness and he crashed under his greatness! You need plenty of money to marry three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines- one man! He built for all his wives so he had a thousand, what? Church Gist. He doesn’t know how to put the riches together! Vanity upon vanity! He lost his brain and system!

-No one will lose it!

Now as we round up,

Kingdom stewardship empowers a believer for dominion. We discovered from Scriptures that access to all things that makes for godliness including Supernatural breakthrough come cheaply through dedication to Kingdom advancement endeavours! Psalms 34:10. Go back there to Mathew 6:31-33, whatever the gentiles are running after are available through one medium that I will show you now!- Seek ye first! And everything is covered about your life and my life! Dominion! Church Gist.

Now, this is how it happens,

1. Serving God is a platform for securing Divine Presence! Matthew 28:20. You are on His mission? He is with you all the days! Can any door be shut against God? Can any fiery furnace resist His Presence? His Presence went before them to the fiery furnace, they walked without any smell of fire in their bodies. Dominion! Daniel 6:20. His Presence went forth to the fire! His Presence equals dominion any day, any time and in any field! Daniel 3:17. His Presence dominated the den and the lions became pets.
2. Serving God is a platform for accessing engracement. It is a choice to make before God supplies the grace 1 Corinthians 9:20-21, Acts 26:22. What is your choice in these twelve Prophetic Weeks of Harvest? Do you see it as a burden or as a privilege? Have you made any choice that places a definite demand on you? Is there anything sacrificial in your choice? Or just jolly-go-well? Choice first! I sat down here and I said, ‘Jesus! Church Gist. Give me a thousand souls this month’! And He did! Second and third months, He did it! And then I said, ‘Lord! Give me a thousand souls this week and He did’! You make the choice and God supplies the grace! If you don’t make a choice, nothing will happen, you will just come here and clap your hands and sing and there is nothing coming out of it! Choice first and grace after!
3. Serving God is a platform for securing Supernatural breakthroughs! We saw that in Mark 3:14, Mark 10:28-34. It is a covenant platform for Supernatural breakthroughs. Just serve Him! Peter laboured all night and caught nothing but offered his life to serve Jesus with his boat and after he was done, Jesus asked him to cast the net into the deep! And they drew massive fishes! Church Gist. They beckoned on people to come and help them, the boat was filled and the nets were breaking! Luke 5:6.

-Many are getting into that realm this month where our boats shall be overfilled! We will need helpers to help us as the net will be breaking! Luke 5:6.

-What you don’t consider worthy will happen to you this year as you offer yourself and your wherewithal to serve God. Not minding your present status, frustration or setback.

Peter was a blatant failure all the night but he had the privilege of serving Jesus and everything turned! Everything will turn around for you! There is one of us here, who entered the new year with a hundred naira and four or three children to cater to their needs. They were living in an uncompleted building but they were praying Kingdom advancement prayer consistently! Church Gist. The children were out of school and they continued to pray! Heaven opened up! The same year, they had a car, furnished apartment and children back to school, all like a dream of the night! God is not looking for who to use, He is looking for who to bless and you are the one that He is looking for!

4. Engaging our hearts in serving God is ordained for our continuous change of level and all round rest! Jeremiah 30;19-21. He changes the story of anyone serving Him and changes their levels Supernaturally to the amazement of the world around them and He has not stopped doing that. Church Gist. Something happened in that Covenant of Stewardship in 2 Chronicles 15:12-15, He didn’t only give them rest roundabout, but there was no more war.

-Many Winners will step into the war-free zone of life the mind that your Church is living in!

The enemy is more afraid of us oo than we know because of the majestic ever abiding Presence of God! Just maintain your partnership with Jesus, the enemy can’t stand you, they won’t dare you! Would they put those three boys again to the fiery furnace? Never! Church Gist. They cancelled the furnace on the spot sir! If they see anybody again saying, ‘The God of Abraham’, they will say, ‘Leave him oo, he’s another Daniel’! You saw how we were tormented as a Church in the world or ritualists and kidnappers? You find kidnappers giving money when they see somebody stronger than them!

5. Serving God is a platform for procuring Supernatural favour! Psalm 35:27. Favour pertains to those who are serving God.

-You are going to start flowing in favour like never before in the Name of Jesus Christ.

6. Serving God is a platform for accessing Supernatural wisdom 1 Timothy 1:17. And for everyone serving Him, you are a co-labourer with God. Church Gist. You are in partnership with Him Proverbs 13:20. Serving God makes a believer wiser by the day, we are walking with the only wise God and we can only get wiser when you maintain that consistency Mark 16:20, Luke 10:1. You get wiser by the day by serving God in truth and indeed and you will begin to experience His lifting in your life!
7. Serving God is a platform for Supernatural enthronement both now and eternity Luke 22:25-27. Church Gist. Luke 22:28-30, that is reigning in eternity through Spiritual stewardship. He called them to send them forth to preach and He said, ‘You have followed through all the hassle… therefore, I will appoint to you a throne’!

-You won’t miss your throne!

I conclude from 2 Timothy 4:5-8, He won’t appear until we are part of the preaching of the Gospel to all nations! What fight has he fought? Acts 26:22, I kept the faith and I can see a crown laid for me not only for me but for everyone who will follow that approach.

-You are the one that God is talking about! It’s your turn. The good news is that your genuine sacrificial engagement in these three months will change the course of your destiny!

So we have great names in Scriptures who commanded exploits through stewardship. Abraham, my servant, a generational success! Moses, the greatest Prophet in Bible History. Moses was a servant at heart, he was pursuing the liberty of the people with all his life, he put his life on the line for their rescue! David a most celebrated king of Israel, holding the key of David in Heaven- Jesus. They just outlived their generations.

Nehemiah, a man with unusual passion for the wellbeing of God’s people, you saw how God lifted him from being a cupbearer to a governor. Church Gist. Job, the greatest business man of his days faced a challenge without being disconnected from God and bounced back to fullness of life. Elijah, a most passionate Prophet. You saw what God made out of him? He carried him into Heaven by a spacecraft. Peter, a leading Apostle, was the only one left after Christ was arrested! Everybody has fled including James and John. Peter remained and he became the rock on the day of Pentecost. They will be carrying people on the street and the shadow of Peter will be healing them! Tell a lie to Peter and you die! Not go and come!

-You must be added to that list! The list of men and women of exploits! It’s your turn at last oo

——–PRAYER—–

-May your passion for God enjoy the power backup for speedy delivery!

The oil in my lamp won’t light your lamp, the charge of the battery on my phone cannot run your phone Matthew 25:9. You need your personal empowerment for your personal delivery.

—–PRAYER——

There is one thing that we have always left behind and that is the place of wisdom in reaping the harvest. Church Gist. Fishermen must be wise, else they won’t catch the fish and we are the fishers of men and so we need the fishermen’s wisdom to get across to them (souls) Ecclesiastes 9:14-16. Wisdom is power when it comes to reaping the harvest of the field Proverb 21:22.

—–PRAYER——

-I decree that everyone’s engagement will lead to Supernatural advancement, fearful order of favour and Supernatural change of story.

-The days of shame, reproach and struggles for survival are finally over!

-I decree that the giant in each one will rise this time in the Name of Jesus!

-By your partnership with Jesus, breakthroughs become your new identity.

-Whatever door that can’t be shut against God will never be shut against you!

-Every assault on anyone’s health among us and the membership at large comes to an end right now.

-Every concern for your health, spouse’s health and your children and grandchildren is buried forever.

-May your leadership position be revalidated this time.

-I pray for grace on all our Pastors and Cell Ministers to lead the way.

-Every Cell Fellowship shall replicate with speed in this Prophetic season.

-I decree the endowment of the wisdom required for maximum results. Receive it in the Name of Jesus!

-No distractions! No evil reports! In the Name of Jesus!

Now, all our senior citizens (aged people) just settle down and engage the prayer altar. Don’t be found trying to cross the road somewhere. Be on the altar in your house! And pray your heart out! Jesus will hear, we are doing the same job. Some people are reaping, some others are watering.

Somebody is physically challenged but you are going to come out of it. Pray your heart out into your total restoration of health. All the young men, over to you, we are all together, we are getting in there to rescue this soul from perishing and we are sure to return with testimonies in the Name of Jesus!

-In twelve weeks, every Assembly beginning from Faith Tabernacle as the Lord lives shall be a minimum of four times what they used to be. All our Mission fields across the nations of the earth shall be a minimum of four times of their present number.

-Tomorrow’s Service is declared blessed!

-Your open doors begin this time!

-Wherever you turn to with God is declared blessed, with God on your side, no door can be shut against you!

-Every closed door is hitherto declared open!

Praise the Lord, I’m finally on the Covenant Highways of life!

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