I HAVE GOOD NEWS FOR YOU: BY THE TIME YOU GET BACK HOME FROM THIS CONGRESS, EVERYBODY WILL BE SAYING, “CERTAINLY THERE’S SOMEBODY BEHIND YOU.”
LIFE IS WAR! TO LOSE IS TO LOSE ALL AND TO WIN IS TO WIN ALL
YOU HAVE BEEN FIGHTING A WAR. LEFT TO THE ENEMY, YOU WON’T REACH THIS AGE IF GOD HAD NOT BEEN THERE WITH YOU
WE HAVE BEEN FIGHTING WARS SINCE THE DAY WE WERE CONCEIVED.
WE ANTICIPATE A CONGRESS WHERE IT WILL BE STRICTLY PRAISE ALL WEEK.
FRESH BATTLES MAY ARISE IMMEDIATELY AFTER A VICTORY.
DO YOU KNOW THAT THE SECRET OF BARTIMAEUS IS NOT HOW LOUD HE SHOUTED WHEN HE WAS ASKING FOR HELP.
WHY IS PRAISE A WEAPON OF WARFARE? IT IS BECAUSE IF YOU DO IT CORRECTLY, THE ALMIGHTY GOD WILL RISE UP FOR YOU.
YOU ARE FIGHTING A BATTLE YOU DARE NOT LOSE. YOU NEED SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER LOST A WAR TO RISE UP AND SUPPORT YOU.
NO MATTER HOW GREAT A POWER MAY SEEM, IT MUST SURRENDER TO GOD.
OFFERING PRAISE THE RIGHT WAY CAUSES GOD TO ARISE.
WHATEVER BATTLES YOU WIN IS NOT BY YOUR MIGHT, RATHER BY THE ONE BACKING YOU.
- Pastor E. A. Adeboye on “PRAISE AS A WEAPON OF WARFARE” || RCCG Holy Ghost Congress 2024 || 9th December 2024 || Day 1 Evening Service
You’re most welcome to the first day of the Congress 2024. I have good news for you: by the time you get back home, everybody will be saying, “certainly there’s somebody behind you.” Church Gist. The worship is not over, it is just a little break so that I can come and encourage you to worship Him the more.
Psalm 68:1-5. Life is war. Many of us didn’t realize this or we do but we don’t quite appreciate it and the war has been there from the very beginning. There’s one very crucial thing that you need to know about war. War is not competition, it’s not like football. There are only two possibilities when you go to war. It’s either you win, or you lose. There is no drawn game. One other thing about war is that winner takes all and the loser loses all. Church Gist. Goliath said to Israel, “send me one man. Let the two of us fight – if I win, all of you become our slaves. If I lose, all of us will become your slaves.” Winner takes all. Yet, you’re fighting a war. To lose is to lose all. To win is to win all. So, my first decree during this Congress is that you will not lose!
The war began from the very beginning – Genesis 1:1-3. The moment God created Heaven and Earth, the war began. In every area of your life, if you will think very well, you will know that you have been fighting a war. When you were in the womb, you will know that if God has not been there with you in the womb, in the darkness of the womb, you would have been aborted. You could have been still born. You could have been born deformed. Church Gist. As we will discover later on, there are enemies in your home that didn’t want you to be born. Then you were born. You were born and many of us know this, those of us who were born in some villages where there are no maternity centres, born into a very dirty floor full of germs. As you were coming out, dirt was waiting – but you survived.
When you were crawling about, at a time when you didn’t know the difference between fire and flower, at a time when you didn’t know the difference between a worm and a snake, the enemy wanted to finish you then but you survived. Church Gist. Even in your childhood, as you were walking about, playing, going to the elementary schools, the enemy was still determined to finish you. I don’t know if you have ever wondered what happened in Mark 10:13-16. Left to the enemy, you won’t reach this age. If you reach this age, you won’t be here today.
There is a war and it is a constant one that you have been fighting from the day you were conceived. Thus far, the Almighty has given you victory. Church Gist. That is why they expect you to praise Him tonight.
Look at what has been happening since the evening. That is, musician upon musician have been leading us to worship God. You see the atmosphere. You feel the presence of the Most High. You see some people shown on the screen and you know these people are already making contact with the Almighty God.
It just occured to me while I was sitting down there. That how I wish a time will come, when we would have a Congress and we would do nothing throughout the week other than praise God. I am sure the miracles will be more than anybody can count. Church Gist. But for the time being, how about you shouting a big hallelujah to God.
When do we need to spend time thanking Him?
Because praise is a weapon of warfare.
If you thank God for what He had done, we are sure he will do more. In 1 Samuel 7:10-13. Church Gist. The Almighty God fought for Israel and Samuel raised up an Altar and the people praised God and the Bible said, God responded by making sure that throughout the life of Samuel, the Philistines never bothered Samuel again.
Let me be bold to say that because somebody is going to be bold to praise God like never before here tonight, the enemy will never bother you again.
But another reason why you need to praise God is that from the little we find in the Bible, one battle may come almost immediately after one victory. Church Gist. So if we don’t praise Him for one victory, who are you going to run to when the second battle comes?
The elders have a saying, they say… talking about those of us who are bush boys, children of farmers. When you are in the jungle and suddenly it began to rain, then you run to the nearest hut that you can find to escape the rain. Church Gist. When it is time for you to leave, when the rain has stopped, you forgot to say thank you to the owner of the hut.
They won’t quarrel, but they will tell you, the rain can send you to the same hut more than once. In other words, if you don’t show gratitude now, when next you need help, where will the help come from? Church Gist. When you read Exodus chapter 15, and you read it from verse 1 to 21, Exodus 15:1- 21, the Bible tells us that after God gave a great victory to Israel in Exodus 14, and they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, and the enemy pursuing them drowned, the children of Israel danced, they praised God, they sang.
Three days later, they came across a different kind of enemy.
They were thirsty, and they came to a river called Mara. And now, the water was bitter. Church Gist. The enemy that they just got delivered from was an army of Pharaoh.
The enemy that was about to kill them now is an enemy called Thirst, and the water was bitter. But because they praised God for yesterday, He was at hand to help them in the future. Church Gist. Is there anybody here today who had received any help from God in the past? Let me hear you shout Hallelujah.
Is there anybody here who is expecting that if the enemy comes against him or her in the future, the same God that helped yesterday will be there to help again? Is there anybody like that here? Church Gist. If you are that one, let me hear you shout Hallelujah.
You know, when you read Mark 10:46-52, that’s the story of Bartimaeus
It’s a story you know very well. Oh, anytime you read that story, you say, He got his miracle because he knew how to pray. Church Gist. He prayed non-stop.
Do you know that the secret of Bartimaeus is not how loud he shouted when he was asking for help. There were too many people ready to silence him. Church Gist. There was something in what he said that caused Jesus to arise for him. Something he said that caused Jesus Christ to stand still. Something he said that caused the one who controls the earth and the Heavens to suspend his journey, to attend to a beggar.
He said, Jesus, thou son of David. He said, Jesus, I know you. You are the son of the giant killer. You are the son of the greatest king of Israel.
You are the son of your father. Church Gist. If your father were around, he would help me. Do like your father would do.
You know, many a times, when you hear the language of the one who is singing, and they get to a stage where they begin to eulogize Jesus Christ, in Yoruba, you begin to hear who He is. Church Gist. In Igbo, you begin to hear who He is and who His forefathers were.
In other languages… when you begin to hear something about Him being the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the ancient of days, the unchangeable changer, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the one who spoke and it is done, the one who reigns supreme. Church Gist. When you begin to hear that, even your own head will begin to rise.
Why is praise a weapon of warfare? It is because if you do it correctly, the Almighty God will rise up for you. Church Gist. You are fighting a battle you dare not lose. You need someone who has never lost a war to rise up and support you. That’s why the text we read said, let God arise and what will happen? His enemies will scatter.
If the enemy looks at you, who will look at you? Who are you? How can you defeat Satan? He’s been around for thousands of years. He has destroyed mighty people before. Church Gist. And now you are a little boy or a little girl, and you want to confront him? No, no, he will look at you and say, you are a small fry. But when he looks behind you and he sees the Lord, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, the Lord of all hosts, when he sees Him standing behind you, he gets out of the way.
When you look at the story of the man with a thousand demons, or a legion of demons rather, the Bible said he saw Jesus coming and he fell on his feet.
All the demons recognized the Lord of hosts and they knew that at the name of Jesus, all knees must bow. Church Gist. I’m happy the Almighty God has already sent a message to you. By the time you get home, people will say, there is someone behind you.
I don’t want to take more time. I want to give you an opportunity to praise Him. Church Gist. Because in praising Him tonight, the foundation for your victory for the rest of your life will already be laid.
Several years ago, I went to minister in a town not far from here because the Traditional ruler was having a program. He was a Christian and I went to minister. And all his high chiefs, who are deeply connected to the devil came to the program dressed in their special regalia. Church Gist. The ushers saw them coming and ran to me and said, “Sir, are we going to allow this people into the house of the Lord?” I said, “Of course, bring them in. Put them in the front row.”
And I changed my sermon. Church Gist. I was younger. I am talking of more than 40 years ago. I had a lot of zeal, not as much wisdom. I changed my sermon and it became warfare. I was going to talk about ‘Oh that one should praise the Lord.’ I changed the topic to ‘The Competition on Mount Carmel.’ When I finished, I challenged all those agents of the devil. I told them I came here with my wife, my son in my car and the number of the car is so and so. I told them, “I want you to use all your powers to make one of my tyres go flat, just one. If you do so, I will surrender to your God. If you cannot do so, you must surrender to my God.”
Then I made the Altar call and the second in command to the traditional ruler was the first to come forward to receive Jesus. Church Gist. And when the others saw their leaders going forward, they followed him.
At the end of the service, the Tradition leader said to me, “E.A (that is my initial) let us go and visit Chief so so. Maybe he didn’t know what you said. Maybe he thought you are asking people to come forward for healing.” We got to his house, the traditional leader asked him, ” Why did you go forward when they made the Altar call for surrendering to Jesus?” He said, “You see this small boy challenging all of us. Church Gist. Who does not know there is somebody behind him? It is the person behind him that I surrendered to.”
When you praise God the way you should praise God, He will arise. When he arises, all your enemies will scatter. Because they know it is not you they will be fighting. It is the Lord of Host Himself. Church Gist. The one who controls all forces on earth, all forces underneath the earth. I have the assurance that somebody is going to praise God the way He should be praised tonight. And from now, when the enemy sees you coming, they will run. If you are that one, let me hear you shout Hallelujah.
Let me just point out one more point and then release you to praise God. David, a war champion. He fought a lion and won. He fought a bear and won. He fought Goliath and won. And as we would hear tomorrow, he fought a lion and won. Let’s learn the secret of this War Champion.
What did he say in Psalm 34:1. He said, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Somebody who says I will praise God at all times is somebody who is saying I will be victorious at all times. It was not the fist of a small boy that killed the lion. There was somebody behind him. Church Gist. It was not the punch of a small boy that killed a bear, there was somebody behind him. When he faced Goliath, what did he say? I come against you in the Name of the Lord. If you will just praise God tonight like you have never done before, I can guarantee you that by tomorrow morning, your story would have changed.
I know you are not going to die before tomorrow, so I am going to give you an opportunity to praise God. By tomorrow, we will go a little step further. I share with you the secret of absolute victory. I will tell you that tomorrow. But tonight, at the instruction of the Most High God himself, everyone of you here will be ministered to while the choir will continue with their praising God. Church Gist. The Pastors will come down and lay hands on you and while they are laying hands on you, the only prayer they will be praying for you is, “Oh Lord, arise for this child.” And even before you sleep, you will know that the one who has never lost a battle is now on your side. If you believe that, let me hear you shout a loud Hallelujah.
Oh Daddy, aren’t you going to make an Altar call? Don’t worry, you are not dying before tomorrow. The touch of God that you are going to receive tonight. Any false strength to hold you back from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, we have released you.
So, I am going to ask that the Pastors should please go down now and line up to attend to this precious people who can ethe very first day. Church Gist. I am going to ask the choir to please help me. You have done a very wonderful job tonight, but the songs I want you to sing for the rest of the night are songs that we can dance to because when you notice that war champion called David, he didn’t only say I will bless the name of the Lord at all times. When he was dancing before God, the Bible said he danced with all his might. I want the kind of song that will cause the people down there to dance with all their might, so that as soon as they lay hands on you, you dance back to your seat and continue to dance and to worship God. I guarantee you, by the time the sun rises tomorrow, you will be singing a song of victory . God bless you Pastors. Will you kindly go down and line up to attend to these people. Over to you band. You continue to minister to the Lord and by the time we meet tomorrow, somebody will have a testimony. If you are that one, let your Amen be louder. Over to you band.
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