GREATNESS IS MEANINGLESS UNLESS IT IS GENERATIONAL.
THERE IS SOMEBODY HERE TODAY; YOU ARE GOING TO ENJOY EXCEEDING ABUNDANT GRACE!
GOVERNOR ORTOM WE ARE PROUD OF YOU NO MATTER WHAT THE ENEMY MAY TRY
-Pastor E. A Adeboye at the 25th Special Anniversary Service.
Dunamis International Gospel Centre.
Combined Service, Glory Dome.
Praise the Lord!
Go ahead and praise the Almighty God. God bless you. You may please be seated; God bless you all. Church Gist.
I said once in a particular gathering when I looked to my right and I saw the crowd; I looked to my left, I saw the crowd and then I said, even if a preacher doesn’t want to preach, if he says praise the Lord and hears the hallelujah of these people, anointing will come. So, let’s somebody shout hallelujah!
As I said during the dedication of this place, I rejoice from the bottom of my heart because this is an answer to my prayer. I rejoice because like my wife said to you, my prayer every day is that my children will be greater than I because greatness is meaningless unless it is generational. Church Gist. Abraham is respected today all over the world in many, many religions because Abraham was great, Issac was very great and Jacob was exceedingly great. I thank God that even in my lifetime, I could see this happening. So rejoice with me, give the Almighty God a great shout of praise.
Praise the Lord!
God bless you.
Don’t worry, the sermon of a mathematician will not be long. So my service will not be long but I mustn’t forget to say to my Governor, my son, that we are proud of you. Church Gist. We are very proud of you and I want you to know that we are constantly praying for you. It doesn’t matter what the enemy may try, you will keep on succeeding. So shall it be in Jesus’ name.
1 Timothy 1:12-15
The theme of your anniversary is: EXCEEDING ABUNDANT GRACE. When they told me the theme for your anniversary, Exceeding Abundant Grace. I said, God have mercy. Only great people like Paul will think of a theme like that. I am not going to try to explain the theology of such a theme. Church Gist. Fortunately, bigger men are coming later. The Bishops will be here, the Archbishops, Apostles, they will be here. Me, I am a pastor. So, I will only speak in the language of a pastor; in the language that common people can understand. When the Theologians come, they will give you the big ones.
WHAT IS GRACE?
When the big men come, they will tell you what grace is from Greek and Hebrew et cetera. But in the language of a mathematician, Grace simply means, ‘chosen for help’. Church Gist. You don’t deserve the help but help comes and in the name that is above every other name, from now on, wherever you go, when God wants to help just one fellow, it will be you!
In Genesis 6:6-8, God decided He wanted to wipe out the whole world but He chose to help Noah. The Bible says, Noah found grace with God. In John 5:2-14, the Bible tells us that there was a pool at Bethesda and there was a multitude there; sick people, people who are hopeless, they were many and an angel would come, once in a year to stir the pool. Church Gist. The first fellow to get in there is going to be made whole. Jesus came there, of all the people there, He chose only one; the one who had been there for 38 years. He went to him, healed him and left the place. Only one fellow chosen for help. That fellow found grace.
- You will find grace!
Then Abundant Grace, that one is not chosen for help ordinarily. That one is chosen for promotion. When you find abundant grace, it means, of the people around, God decides to choose you for promotion. Many a times, it is promotion you do not deserve (Genesis 48). Joseph brought his sons; Ephraim and Manasseh to the father for blessing. Manasseh is the older, Ephraim is the younger and Papa’s eyes were a bit dim at that time. So, Joseph placed Manasseh where the right hand of the father will land and put Ephraim where the left hand will land for blessing. Church Gist . Because for one reason or the other which the elders will teach you; there is more anointing in the right hand than on the left. I can’t tell you why but anytime you see or you have an opportunity, maybe two of you have the opportunity to be prayed for, put your head where the right hand will land. Just collect it first and then we will find out the theological reason later.
All of a sudden, Israel crossed his hand. The right hand, he laid it on the head of the younger. The left hand on the head of the elder. Joseph said; “Papa, no, no, no. This fellow is the elder. Don’t make a mistake”. He said, “I’m not making a mistake”.
- That kind of blessing that you don’t deserve, the Almighty God will give it to you today.
That is one example in the Old Testament. I will give you one in the New Testament (Matthew 17:1-9). It is the story of what happened on the Mountain of Transfiguration. The Lord brought the twelve disciples to the bottom of the Mountain and then He said to three; Peter, James and John, you come along with me. The rest of you, stay here. He took the three to the top of the mountain and was transfigured before them. They saw what nobody else had seen before. When they finished, He said; “Don’t tell the others”. Church Gist. The first time I was in Israel, when we got to the Mount of Transfiguration, it occurred to me and I told those who went with me; “What is the fault of the nine who were left behind that God chose three and just took them up and showed them what He wanted to show them and told them not tell anyone?” The nine left behind haven’t done anything wrong but abundant grace gave them promotion.
- As the Lord lives, the One I serve; unusual promotion that you don’t even deserve will be your portion from now on!
Let’s come to the real big one, exceeding abundant grace. This is not just ordinary grace; this is not just abundance grace but grace that exceeded the abundant one. Church Gist. This is what happens when someone is already enjoying abundant grace and then he blew it, messed up, did something you can’t even imagine and then God still looks down and say, “alright. You’ve messed up but I will forgive you, I will restore you, I will reinstate you.”
The Bible says where sins abound, grace much more abounds. I will give you some simple examples:
- David. David enjoyed grace, abundant grace. The day God sent someone to go and appoint a king in his father’s house, the father didn’t even present him forward. They father never thought that David could qualify to be a king. Church Gist. The man of God said, we will not sit down until you bring him. They brought him, they anointed him in the presence of his brother and God just kept on promoting him until he became very great. So great that he didn’t have to fight anymore. He had enough people to do his fighting for him.
2 Samuel 11:1-End; while every body were fighting when king should be at war, David was at home enjoying himself. Wealth has come, prosperity has come, power has come and then he woke up in the evening, walked on the roof of his house and saw a woman bathing. Church Gist. Up till today, I don’t know where that woman was bathing and David could see her but he saw her. One problem led to another, you know the story; the woman became pregnant. David tried to cover it up by bringing the husband who was a soldier; faithful soldier, fighting soldier and brought him home and tried to make him drunk but the man remained faithful and so he decided to kill him for being loyal. He killed him and then, to pretend that he was a very good king, he brought the woman in; “This is how I look after the widows of my faithful soldiers”.
2 Samuel 12
When God sent a prophet to him and said, something like this happened in your kingdom. He said whoever did it is dead. God said, “right judgement”. You are the one. But it is amazing, as soon as David said; “Ha! I have sinned”. God said, okay you are forgiven. He hasn’t finish confessing. But God said I have already forgiven you. That is not even the big one there. Church Gist. Later on a child borne as a union of David and that terrible woman who was an adulteress of the highest degree that led to the death of her husband; a child was born and the Bible says, God loved that son. The first time I read that one after I became born again, I asked God a question, I said, “Daddy, I am not querying you. I just can’t understand. An adulterer; a murderer, went into a adulteress of the who killed her husband and they brought forth a child and you love that child?” And then God asked me a question; “Son, your mother; is she the first wife of your father?” I said, “No more questions”
- There is somebody here today, it doesn’t matter how badly you have messed up; you are going to enjoy exceeding abundant grace!
- I will take another example from the New Testament: Peter .
You know the story of Peter; the day Jesus met Peter, they were two boats. Jesus chose the one that was for Peter. Church Gist. He gave him a breakthrough so mighty that he needed the help of the other boat to carry his wealth. I have always said this and I’m saying it again here too because you are all my children; a day will come, you will need somebody to help you carry your money to the bank.
Peter began to walk with God and God did a lot of marvelous things for him. For example, he was one of the three that went to the Mount of Transfiguration. Do you know of all the disciples, only Peter walked on water? I know when they are telling you the story, they will only tell you the story that he took his eyes off Jesus and he began to sink. Church Gist. Before he started sinking, he walked on water. Why don’t you walk a bit and begin to sink and then we will see who you are? Then, he said to the Lord Jesus Christ, “I will never deny You”. He denied Him three times in one night. He blew it full time.
John 21:7-17
Jesus still went after him, restored him and told him; “I know you have failed badly but you will still be my senior pastor”. This same Peter ended up with his shadow healing the sick. That is; exceeding abundant grace. That kind of grace, nobody can really explain. Church Gist. I told some of my children long ago, there are three ways of doing things; the right way, the wrong way and God’s way. When God wants to do something, nobody checks, it is not a question of right or wrong, it is just God because God is sovereign (Psalm 115:3).
- May it please the Almighty God to give you exceeding abundant grace.
There is one thing quite interesting about grace: grace, abundant grace or exceeding abundant grace; God does it as He pleases; you don’t earn it. It is just like salvation. By grace we are saved, not of works. But you know what? There are certain things you must do if you are going to enjoy this thing called exceeding abundant grace. You may say, “Daddy, hold it there. I thought you said grace is unmerited favour”. Church Gist. That is true (Romans 9:15-16) but as a small boy who have been walking with God since 1973, I discovered something, whenever God says “this is the way it is; this is what I am going to do”. If you are close enough to hear Him whisper, He will say “however if you do this, you will commit me”. For example, He said, “I will show mercy unto whom I will show mercy. That is my prerogative”. But then He whispered and said in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy”. But if you’ll go quietly and show mercy yourself, whether I like it or not, I will show mercy unto you.
What can I do to so that if God wants to show exceeding abundant mercy to only one fellow, i will be the one?
Whenever I have a meeting, Holy Ghost service particularly outside the Country where I have ever been before, I always ask people to pray a prayer: “God if you are going to bless only one person here tonight, let me be the one”.
I think you should take a look at David and learn from him. When he blew it and they told him he blew it, his repentance was genuine. Church Gist. When you get home, read Psalm 51. He prayed a prayer of repentance and he never offended God again, I mean never again.
Consider Peter, who blew it full time like I said, the Bible tells us that when he denied Jesus Christ the third time and Jesus looked at him and their eyes met, the Bible says, Peter went out and wept bitterly. His repentance was genuine. At the time when I got born again, around the time when Paul got born again, when people come to the altar to receive Jesus Christ, they come crying, genuine repentance. Church Gist. When Paul the Apostle who wrote the text, when he met Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus, as soon as he realized that he was wrong, as he hits the ground, his next question is; “What do you want me to do Lord?” You can read many of his epistles (Galatians 2:20-21).
I’m sure you will hear a lot of teachings on grace now. Like I said, I am a pastor; I am not a theologian. You will hear people tell you once you are born again, you can keep on living like a child of the devil, grace will cover it all. Church Gist. I know grace can be frustrated. (Philippians 1:21). God is sovereign but He knows all things; He knows the end from the beginning. He knows your heart just as He knows mine.
I have finished, I told you the sermon will be brief. I believe without any doubt that God has given you this theme for your very special Anniversary because God knows that there might be some of us who are just following the crowd to the Church and He wants you to change. He wants a commitment from you, a commitment that you will say; “If I live, I will live for Christ. If I die, I will die for Christ. Church Gist. A commitment that you will say bye-bye to sin, thank God I am saved. I am not going back. I have already prayed for you and thank God with all humility, I can say this; He’ll answer my prayers. You are not going to leave here without an anniversary gift. But my concern is not just today, my concern is your tomorrow, your future. Where do we go from here?
So I’m going to make an altar call; two in one. If you are church today and you know you are backsliding. You know those things you said you will never do again. You back to doing them, you need to come back to the foot of the cross for the Almighty God to restore you, to cleanse you afresh and then to reinstate you. Or you are in church, you are not even born again and you are listening to me; this is your day. I know there are many of you outside, I saw a bit when I was coming but for those of you who are here, I appeal to you in the name of the sovereign God, come and surrender your life to Jesus Christ now.
PRAYER:
Shall we stand on our feet and shout a big hallelujah to God. I want you to forget everybody else and focus on God for just five minutes and ask God for an anniversary gift. A miracle that only God can give you.
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