GOD IS WILLING TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO ANYBODY WHO WILL BE COMMITTED TO A LIFE OF HOLINESS
LIBERIA WAS NOT IN MY PLAN FOR THIS YEAR BUT GOD SAID I SHOULD COME TO LIBERIA AND I OBEYED
HOLINESS IS NOT A DIFFICULT THING. HOLINESS IS SIMPLY OBEDIENCE
I MAKE DECREES AND THEY COME TO PASS
IF GOD GIVES YOU A KISS OF FIRE, WHATEVER YOU SAY WILL COME TO PASS
GOD SENT ME TO LIBERIA BECAUSE HE IS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO WILL TAKE THE REVIVAL TO A NEW LEVEL
MANY HAVE NOT BEEN CALLING ON GOD AND ARE ALREADY SATISFIED WITH WHERE THEY ARE
WHEN GOD SHOWS YOU YOURSELF YOU WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT GOD WANTS YOU TO ACHIEVE
YOU NEED TO CRY TO GOD TO OPEN YOUR EYES SO YOU SEE GOD AND SEE YOURSELF
I WAS ALREADY A PASTOR IN THE REDEEMED CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GOD WHEN GOD SHOWED ME THAT I WAS FILTHY
THE REASON I CANNOT PREACH A SERMON AND NOT ASK YOU TO BE HOLY
MANY OF US THINK WE ARE HOLY MEN AND WOMEN OF GOD BUT OUR RIGHTEOUSNESSES ARE AS FILTHY RAGS
A SISTER, D£AD FOR DAYS AND £MBALM£D, RESURRECTED AFTER BEING PRAYED FOR WITH AN HANDKERCHIEF ANOINTED BY US
TO SEE THE GLORY OF GOD IS TO RECEIVE A MIRACLE BEYOND HUMAN UNDERSTANDING
IF ONLY YOU CAN SEE THE GLORY OF GOD, NOBODY WILL BE BEGGING YOU NOT TO SIN
PASTOR ADEBOYE APPRECIATES SOLDIER WHO STARTED THE REDEEMED CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GOD IN LIBERIA
LET THERE BE LIGHT MEANS LET MY PHYSICAL, SOUL AND SPIRITUAL EYES BE OPENED
- Pastor E. A. Adeboye on “LET THERE BE LIGHT” || LIGHT UP LIBERIA THANKSGIVING SERVICE || 21st July 2024 ||
I go round the world because by the grace of God, Redeemed Christian Church of God is in many nations of the world and I’m sure anybody who knows me they know I have an ear for good music. Church Gist. So we have some fantastic choir all over the world – this is a good one (the Liberia Choir). I will tell them at home that I have a good choir in Liberia and one of these days as the Lord tarries and he makes provision, we will charter a plane and bring you to Nigeria.
I want to pray for one young man, Pastor Pat. He came here as you know very well as a soldier from Nigeria to the ECOMOG and he looked around, “ah! There’s no Church where I can … There’s no Redeemed Church here where I can go and fellowship,” he said well, if there’s no one, why don’t I start one? Church Gist. That’s my kind of boy. I want you to please help me stretch your hands towards him and say, “Almighty God, continue to bless this your son.”
Isaiah 6:1-8. Let there be light can also mean let my eyes be opened because according to Matthew 6:22, the light of the body is the eyes. So when I said, “Lord, let there be light,” it means open my eyes like you did for Isaiah because there are 3 types of eyes. Church Gist. We have physical eyes in Mark 10:46-52, Bartimaeus was blind physically and when Jesus Christ asked him, “what do you want?” and he said, I just want to see, I want your light, his physical eyes were opened. Then there is what is called the eyes of the soul. You know man is a trinity – body, soul and spirit. The eye of the soul is called the eyes of understanding. You know, when somebody has been trying to explain something to you and suddenly you understand, you say I see. That means my eyes of understanding has been opened.
Ephesians 1:18; 2 Chronicles 1:6-12. Then of course there is what we know to be the spiritual eyes. Psalm 119:18. Some people have asked me again and again, how come you will read a passage of the Bible and we have been reading this passage for years and then you begin to bring out some truth out of the passage. Church Gist. How do you do it? I said ah! I prayed and God opened my spiritual eyes. I pray for all of you who are here today, physically God will open your eyes. Soulishly your eyes of understanding will be opened and more than that, your spiritual eyes will be opened.
2 Kings 2:9-15. If only God will open your spiritual eyes today, no matter how hard your request, it will be granted! Open my eyes that’s the meaning of, Let There Be Light. That I may see what? Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord. Church Gist. I pray for everyone of you here, today you will see the glory of God! When we talk about seeing the glory of God, we are talking about God performing for you a miracle that you yourself cannot even believe for! Remember the story when Lazarus died and he had been buried 4 days, so all hope was lost and Jesus said, “take away the stone.” The sister said, eeehhheeehhhh, this miracle is beyond God. If you had been here before he died or when he had just died, ehhhh…but he had been dead 4 days. Jesus said to her, if only you will believe, you will see the glory of God. To see the glory of God, is to receive a miracle beyond human understanding. You know there are miracles and miracles. Church Gist. There are some miracles you can’t even testify about because if you tell them this is what God did, they won’t believe you. I mean, I can give you several examples:
A young man was working in Lagos and then they told him his sister di£d in the East of Nigeria and he told them, please don’t bury her yet; I will get permission from my place of work so I can come and be there. By the time he got permission and was able to arrive, the woman had been dead for 11 days. Church Gist. They have embalmed her, kept her in the house. But he had an handkerchief that had been anointed by us. He entered, carrying the baby of the woman who died because the woman had a little child before she died – entered the room, laid the handkerchief on her, commanded, “I command you in the name of the God of Adeboye, arise!” Nothing happened. He thought well, I just believed, I wasn’t expecting too much anyway and the baby was crying. Get up now, your baby is crying – nothing happened. So he turned and began to go out of the room in sorrow. Church Gist. When he got to the door, he heard a sound behind him and turned and the sister was sitting up.
Now, when you have that kind of testimony, people will think you are joking. They will say, “you fake it. Nobody was there when it happened. How are we sure the woman was actually dead?” So they begin to ask questions. There is a kind of miracle that is called, the glory of God. Church Gist. There is someone here today, as the Lord lives, God will open your eyes and you will see the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 3:18. If only you can see the glory of God, nobody will be begging you not to sin. No no no because God will be transforming you from glory to glory. By the time he had performed one miracle after another in your life, if there’s a temptation to sin you will say, “ah ah! After all that God had done for me?” No way.
You know, I believe very deeply, that there is someone here today who may think he is already great. Before the end of this year you will look back and say, “ah! I didn’t even know the meaning of greatness.” Isaiah got his eyes opened and he saw the glory of God. Church Gist. You know, in Exodus 33:18-23, God gave an opportunity to Moses, “ask for one thing. What do you want me to do for you?” He said, I just want to see your glory. That’s all I want. After he had been serving God for almost 40 years. God said, “okay, now Moses you’re my friend. You have found favour with me, you have been a very good boy. What can I do for you specially?” He said, all I want is to see the glory of God. How many of you will love to see the glory of God today? Let me hear you say, Amen!
But then, when God opened the eyes of Isaiah, he didn’t just see the glory of God, he also saw himself. He saw himself the way God saw him. He has been a prophet for years before this incident happened. He thought everybody else in the nation were all sinners. “Me, I am the prophet. Church Gist. The one telling them, you people are sinners, you must repent.” Then all of a sudden when he saw the glory of God and he looked at himself, he said, “hey, woe is me. You mean this is me? I am a man of unclean lips and I have been prophesying, living among men of unclean lips? I thought they were the only ones with unclean lips.” You know I have always said one thing: if you ask a student to grade his exam papers, he will score 100 per cent because whatever he wrote, he thought it was right that’s why he wrote it down. Church Gist. It’s when you hand over the paper to the examiner, that he will suddenly discover, “ah! I didn’t even score 10 per cent.”
There are many of us here who think we are holy men of God, holy women of God, we win souls, we pay our tithes, give our offerings, we build Churches, we do this. Church Gist. “I mean, if God should come today, if he doesn’t take me with him, who else will he take with him?” Wait till God shows you yourself then you will remember Isaiah 64:6.
I had a vision several years ago in Kenya. There was this World Conference of Pentecostals and I went. I was already a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God – big man of God – and then we had one of the programs they call meditation. Church Gist. Everybody will sit down, you close your eyes and begin to think about God and there was a man, a musician who was worshipping God on the guitar – very great man – so that you forget everything about what’s going on outside and you’re either worshipping God with him or you’re praying. The atmosphere was solemn. All of a sudden, I was in a vision and I found myself in a very big hall – just like a Dome. To my right, I saw angels – many of them. To my left, angels – very very huge. So the next time somebody draws an angel like a small baby, know that fellow is drawing demons. Church Gist. Very very huge. I mean much taller than this place – thousands of them. When I turned to the right, the angels moved back. When I turned to the left, they moved away from me because far far far ahead, very far ahead, I saw someone sitting on a throne and I wondered why the angels were moving away from me until I took a look at myself and I saw myself totally naked, I saw myself as somebody who had been plucked from sewers covered with all manners of dirt. Nobody said a Word. The one on the throne didn’t say a word, the angels didn’t say a word, they’ve shown me what they want me to see. When the vision was removed, I made a decision: Almighty God, one way or the other, I’m coming back to this room and then I will not be covered in filth. Church Gist. That’s when holiness became my sing song. That’s why you find that there is no way I can preach a sermon and I will not ask you to be holy.
When God shows you who you are, suddenly you become humble because you know you are not anything near what God expects from you. Isaiah saw himself how filthy! When God shows you yourself, it will be like Joshua 13:1. Church Gist. Joshua you think you have succeeded, you think you have made it, but God said, Joshua you have failed me because when I called you, I told you – you are to divide the whole land to the people but there are still so many lands yet to be possessed. It is when God shows you yourself that you will know whatever you think you have achieved is nothing compared to what God wants you to achieve.
God did not bring you into this world to be small, mmmm mmm, God does not make small things – he’s the Almighty. The African Elders have a saying, “the lion does not give birth to dwarfs – the baby of a lion will be a lion.” Church Gist. The Elephant does not give birth to dwarfs, the baby of an Elephant will be an elephant. A baby elephant many at times is bigger than a cow. God is your father; your father is not small. His plan for you is not small, he expects you to be great.
I was crying when the choir was singing, “Liberia shall be saved.” Why was I crying? Because the original song says, “Africa shall be saved,” and here we are, we are still struggling to see the salvation of Liberia whereas Africa is waiting for us. May God open your eyes today and show you where you are compared to where you are supposed to be. Church Gist. Open my eyes O Lord that I may see the glory of God, that I may see myself as God sees me, that I may cry for help. That’s what Isaiah did when he saw himself, he said, “ah, woe is me.” I’m undone and God heard in Heaven and said, alright, I heard you. He sent an angel from Heaven with a coal of fire and said, “alright, now you’ve seen your lips are dirty with all the pride that you have been operating in, we can take care of that.” Jeremiah 33:3 – the problem is many of us have not even been calling on him and some of us are already satisfied with where we are. So, why do we need to cry for more? Church Gist. He promised in Psalm 50:14-15. When it’s time to pray today, you pray. Cry to God today because as he opened your eyes and you see God and you see yourself, cry to him for help and he will send help. Open my eyes O Lord that I may see your glory, that I may see myself as you see me, that I may cry for help, that you may send help to me, that I might receive a kiss of fire.
That tongue of fire touched the lips of Isaiah. Ask the scientist they will tell you, the most sensitive part of any human being are the lips. I mean, that’s why when you want to say, “I love you,” what do you do? You kiss. Church Gist. When God wants to say to Isaiah, “alright now, we can become friends,” he sent him fire to kiss. You know God himself is a consuming fire. A kiss of fire – that might be a bit painful, well, may be. But you see, God can move you to a level that is similar to that of Moses in Numbers 12:5-8.
The first time I read that passage I thought God was saying, “I talk to him mouth to the ear,” you know when you want to whisper something to somebody, you put your mouth close to the ear and talk so that nobody else will hear. No no, God said, “I talk to him mouth to mouth. I kiss him.” Church Gist. If the Almighty God gives you a kiss of fire, the result is, from that moment onward, whatever you say will come to pass. 1 Samuel 3:19 – that means when Samuel is saying something, before the saliva in his mouth can touch the ground, what he says is already done. There are not too many people like that but you can be one of them.
Sometime ago, a husband and wife came to us and they said, “Daddy pray for us, we want children. We’ve been married for long.” So I said okay, before I pray, tell me what kind of baby do you want? Simultaneously, they answered. Church Gist. The husband said, a boy; the wife said, a girl. So I said, okay, you can have a set of twins. A year later they came. The husband was carrying a boy, the wife was carrying a girl.
- May I decree to your life today, that your joy will be doubled!
If he gives you a kiss of fire, whatever you decree shall be established. “Lord open my eyes, I want to see your glory. I want to see myself as you see me. Church Gist. I want to be able to cry to you for help and I know you will send help and I don’t mind a kiss of fire.” Then, what follows? God now said to Isaiah, who shall I send? Who will go for me? Isaiah said, I volunteer.
You know, I believe God sent me to Liberia because he is looking for someone to send. He is looking for someone who will be his ambassador, someone who will take the revival to a new level. He’s looking for someone who will not need to lay hands on people before they get healed. He’s looking for someone that he can talk to mouth to mouth. Church Gist. He’s looking for someone who will be preaching and suddenly God will speak to him and he will stop the preaching and say, “hey there’s someone here” and as soon as he finishes talking, the miracle happens. God is looking for someone like that. Is there any volunteer here today? Is there anyone who will say, “God send me.” Are you the one?
Isaiah had been a great man of God. He is the one who had prophesied in Isaiah 1:19-20; Isaiah 3:10-11. He has been prophesying but now, after that encounter, he was the one who said in Isaiah 7:14, “behold a virgin shall conceive…” Church Gist. If you’re not a prophet that knows your stuff, in Israel in those days, you prophesy a lie, they stone you to death. But because this man had had a kiss of fire, when he said a virgin conceive, they said, we believe, because he had received a new commissioning.
Today the Almighty God is going to find a representative among you. He’s going to empower you so that the work of the Ministry will become easy for you.
Let me conclude: how can I see God? Hebrews 12:14. The Almighty God is willing to reveal himself to anybody. Anybody who will be committed to a life of holiness. Church Gist. It doesn’t matter what other preachers may be saying, this fellow said, thank you very much, all I know is God said, be ye holy for I am holy. If only you can make up your mind for whatever may be happening, it doesn’t matter what anybody else may be doing, that’s none of my business. My God asked me to be holy, I will be holy. Like I have said it before, holiness is not a difficult thing, it’s not a complicated theology. Holiness is simply obedience. The original sin was disobedience when God said, “don’t eat this fruit” and Adam and Eve ate, that’s what caused sin. What is holiness? God says, sit down – yes Lord, stand up – yes Lord, you’re not going to eat tomorrow because I want you to fast over all that you have heard, over this weekend – yes Lord. Don’t commit adultery – yes Lord. Don’t steal – yes Lord. Church Gist. I want you to pray throughout tonight – yes Lord. No no, I don’t want you to pray at all I just want you to sleep – yes Lord. That’s holiness. It’s as simple as that – as simple as that.
Liberia was not in my plan for this year. I always finish my plan for the coming year by end of June. 2025 now, concluded. When I was finishing my plan for this year, Liberia wasn’t even in my thought at all. But then, a couple of months ago, two pastors here came to my office, “ehhhn Daddy may be one of these days you will come to Liberia.” Church Gist. Ehhh, I looked at them I laughed. You’re talking to me when I’m already concluding the plan for 2025 and you’re now talking of…” I just laughed. But after they left my office, God said you’re going to Liberia. I said, yes Lord. So the next time I saw them, I said, I’m going. You don’t believe me? You know a lot of work that had been done at the Headquarter Church. Why do you think they started hurrying to do the work? They themselves didn’t know I was coming, nobody knew, but God knew. Church Gist. Once he said, go I go. Don’t go, I won’t go. Stand, I stand. Sit down, I sit down. That’s holiness. It’s not difficult.
How many of you are ready for a life of holiness? How many of you obey God completely without any argument? Without listening to your theologians? Let them use all their theology to say what is… My own is, whatever God asked me to do, I will do it. Church Gist. So today, you’re going to pray and your prayer is going to be, God open my eyes. Show me your glory, perform your miracle in my life that I won’t be able to share it openly. Let me see your glory and let me see myself. Let me stop deceiving myself that I am what I am not. Help me to cry to you for help and then, send help to me and give me a kiss of fire and recommission me, move me to a higher level of ministry.
You can’t be talking of holiness if you have not even given your life to Jesus Christ. I mean, when we are talking about holiness it’s as if we are asking you to put body lotion on you. Church Gist. How do you put body lotion on a body that has not been washed? You’ll be wasting your time, you will be sinking.
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