CHRISTIANS ONLY REMEMBER, “BE GENTLE AS A DOVE.” THAT IS NOT WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES!
ONE PART OF GOD IS THE LAMB, THE OTHER PART IS THE LION
JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS SO HE COULD STRETCH OUT THE LEFT HAND GOING TO ETERNITY PAST, THE RIGHT HAND GOING TO ETERNITY TO COME.
HIS EVERLASTING ARMS CAN REACH AS FAR AS YOUR ORIGIN AND PUT THINGS RIGHT THERE
GOD IS EVER PROMOTING STEADILY UPWARD BECAUSE UNDERNEATH ARE HIS EVERLASTING ARMS
WHEN GOD DECIDES TO PROMOTE, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE YOU ARE
TO GET GOD INTERESTED IN YOU, GO TO ALL NATIONS AND PREACH THE GOSPEL, DO HIS WILL
IF YOU WIN SOULS AND PRESERVE THEM, YOUR LIFE WILL BE FROM ONE MIRACLE TO ANOTHER
HIS EVERLASTING ARMS CAN REACH INTO YOUR FUTURE AND DEAL WITH ANYTHING EVIL BEFORE YOU GET THERE
– Pastor E. A. Adeboye on “THE EVERLASTING ARMS OF GOD” at RCCG May 2023 Holy Ghost Service || 6 May, 2023
Tonight we are talking about THE EVERLASTING ARMS. Deuteronomy 33:27. We can look at this topic from the point of view of the meaning of long hands. Like I shared briefly with those of you who came for the Holy Communion Service, when we talk of long arms, when we talk of involvement, we ask you, “have you a hand in the matter?” That’s a way of saying, “are you involved?” Church Gist. So we could look at this topic from the angle of Divine involvement. We could look at it from the angle of the Lord saying, “he will thrust out the enemy before you and ask you to destroy them.” That could cause us to look at the fact that one part of God is the Lamb, the other part is the Lion. One major problem with us Christians is, we only remember that part that says, “Be gentle as a dove.” We seem to forget that when it says, “no weapon fashioned against you shall prosper,” it went on to say, “every tongue that shall rise up against you THOU shall condemn.” We just think that we are to be doves – just little doves, allow every dick and Harry to match over our heads. That’s not what the Bible teaches.
When I was teaching those of you who were in the school of disciples – when I was the teacher, I said, what will you do if you came out at night and you remove your bed cover and you see a very poisonous snake lying there? Well, you’re to be as gentle as a dove now? Church Gist. So you will say to snake, “hey, thou beautiful creature of God, keep on sleeping and if you don’t mind I will just lie down quietly beside you.” Is that what you will do? Anyway, that will be Everlasting Arms part 2. Tonight, I just want to look at the everlasting arms in another dimension very briefly.
When Jesus Christ died, he died on the cross. I don’t know if you have ever wondered, “why the death on the cross?” They could have thrust him through with the sword, after all they still did that with a spear even after he had died. Why the death on the cross? Church Gist. So he could stretch out the left hand going in one direction, the right hand go in the other direction. The left going to eternity past, the right going to eternity to come. Tonight I don’t want to discuss theology. I want to talk about some beautiful things we can get quickly from everlasting arms:
1. Because his arms are everlasting he can reach as far as your origin and put things right there. If there’s anything that went wrong at your very beginning, because his hands are everlasting he can reach there and out things right. For example in 2 Kings 2:19-22. Jericho had a problem the source of which was in Joshua 6:26. Joshua a very mighty man of Gid, highly anointed, pronounced a curse on Jericho and as you know, a curse flows like a river – down hill. Church Gist. If somebody is cursed way back in the generation of a man, may be great grandfather was cursed, grandfather will suffer, the children will suffer, grandchildren will suffer from the same curse. But when somebody with a greater anointing than Joshua came on the scene, he solved the problem from the source.
– I have good news for someone today, the everlasting arms will go to your origin and whatever is wrong there, it will put it right!
2 Corinthians 5:17. I’ve told you the story before of a sister who came, 33 years old, married with children, the problem she had was that she was still bed wetting. I said that’s not a problem, all you need is a brand new set of kidneys. She said, before you pray Sir, my mother was a bed wetter before me, all daughters in our family bed wets. Church Gist. So I knew this is not physical, this is not something the doctor can handle – you have to go back to the foundation. A little digging and we discovered that the grandmother fought with somebody who pronounced a curse on her and said that, from this moment onward, every girl born born in the family will bed wet. We settled the problem by asking her, will you give your life to Jesus? She did and everything became new; came back the following day and said, for the first time in 33 years she woke up and the bed was dry. Then she brought all her sisters, they gave their life to Jesus Christ and they stopped bed wetting.
If you want my God to go your history to put everything right, let me hear you shout halleluyah!
2. Because his hands are everlasting, while one is reaching to your past, the other one can reach into your future. If he finds anything waiting for you in the future that is evil, he can deal with it before you get there. Genesis 49:1-7. The father of Levi cursed him on his death bed and if your father curses you on his death bed you’re done for because he has the authority to bless and he has the authority to curse. Church Gist. When your father blesses you God will say, Amen. If your father curses you, it is a settled matter. One of the things the father said concerning Levi is that he will be scattered – he will never amount to anything. But by the time we got to Numbers 3:5-13, Almighty God said to Moses, that boy that the father cursed, I’ve cancelled the curse – bring him near. In fact, I will make him my first born. Exodus 32:25-26.
We are all sitting down here today, we don’t know what the devil has planned for tomorrow. Church Gist. But there is an everlasting arm. It can go to the future and whatever evil it sees there it can wipe it away.
More than 30 years ago, a young man came to me and said Daddy, I am in serious trouble. He was 39 years old and he was approaching 40. He said there is a curse upon their family that no male child will ever reach the age of 40. Church Gist. He was 39 years old and he was the oldest man in the family. He said, 40 years is approaching and that means death is knocking at the door. I said to him, “Are you on the Lord’s side?” He said, yes. Then in that case, that appointment with death is cancelled.
If you want my Father, the One with the everlasting arms to reach into your future and whatever evil he sees there to cancel all of them, let me hear you shout halleluyah!
3. Because today is the child of yesterday, yesterday is the mother of today, the God who can go to your far past and turn things around can take care of whatever is happening in your life now. Why? Because his name is I am that I am. Church Gist. Exodus 3:14; Psalms 46:1. He is the God of the past but he is also the God of the present. So he can go to your past, put things right so that he will be able to handle whatever that is happening in your life now that is as a result of the mistakes you made in the past. Mark 2:1-12.
I’ve told you the story of a young man who came to us, he was one of my students in those days at the University of Lagos. He had a problem that he kept on sweating like nobody’s business. As he sweated, he also smelt. Church Gist. When you sit down by his side within 5 minutes you relocate because he was smelling like a dead body. Doctors have used soap, everything they could, he kept on smelling. He came and I was going to pray for him and God said, “No, don’t pray. He has a restitution to make.” Anyway, we found out what the restitution was, he went and made the restitution, came back and I was about to pray. God said, “No, no need to pray. Just tell him not to drink ice water for 2 weeks.” That was the end of the problem. Church Gist. What was troubling him, what doctors could not handle was a problem of something he did in the past. But the One with the everlasting arms went to the past, changed situations around and all of a sudden good results came in the present.
If you want God, the One with the everlasting arms to touch your life right now after settling whatever is wrong with you in the past so that all your present problems will be over, let me hear you shout halleluyah!
4. The one with the everlasting arms can reach out to your future and bring the miracles waiting for you there to the present. In other words, there are some miracles that are supposed to happen to you may be in 10 years time. Church Gist. The One with the everlasting arms will say, “Why wait? Let him begin to enjoy from tonight onwards.” Matthew 15:21-28. Jesus was telling the woman that the time for Gentiles is yet to come because the time for the Gentiles came only in Acts 10 when God sent Peter to the house of Cornelius. The woman needed help now and out of compassion the everlasting arms went to the future and brought the future to the present. Church Gist. The miracles that were supposed to be available to the woman in the future she got it that day.
1 Kings 1:1-49. Solomon became King when his father was still alive. Solomon was a prince. One day he will be king but that one day will be when the father had died. Church Gist. But the Everlasting Arms went to the future and said, “Boy, you don’t have to wait any longer; become King now.”
Once upon a time there was a man in a particular nation (I won’t mention names) who was a lieutenant colonel in the Army. If you’re a lieutenant Colonel in the Army, in the future you can become a Colonel and after colonel, you become Brigadier general. Church Gist. After Brigadier general you become Major General to Lieutenant General to Full General. But a coup happened and the man who was a lieutenant Colonel became head of state. If you are head of state you don’t say, “Yes Sir” to anybody. So the lieutenant colonel became a General over night. He jumped colonel, brigadier, major general, lieutenant general and became general in one day. May I decree?
– Some miracles that are supposed to become yours several years from now, receive it right now!
If you can just obey him, if you’re willing to do whatever he says without argument, as it happened in John 2:1-11, I decree one more time: every blessing that God has in store for you, begin to enjoy them from now on!
5. The text we read says, “Underneath are the everlasting arms.” It means God can make sure that you never hit the ground. One of the verses in the special song that we sang said, if I stumble and I am about to fall, underneath me are his outstretched arms. Church Gist. The Elders have a saying. They said before the last tadpole in the River will die, rain will fall (I am sorry that is the best translation I can give it in English). But have you ever wondered that a River may dry completely during the dry season and you will think all the fish are dead and then rain will fall and the River begins to flow again. Before you know it, fish will begin to swim in the River. Did the fish drop from heaven?
1 Kings 17:8-16. The day the widow of Zarephath and her son were to die, help came. God is never too late. Church Gist. The One with the everlasting arms will not let you reach the bottom. Before too late, help will come!
2 Kings 4:1-7. It talks about another widow of one of the sons of the prophet. The day before they came to take her sons into bondage to sell, help came. Church Gist. She was able to pay off the debt, never to borrow again. I don’t know who God is talking to tonight, before it is too late the one with the everlasting arms will stretch out his arm towards you!
I’ve told you the story before: we were having convention, the crowd had come. At least what we call the crowd in those days, about 8,000 people. As usual then we said we will feed them. As the Elders will say, “When one legged man is causing trouble, he is causing it for the one who has 2 legs.” Church Gist. When I asked the people to come we will feed you, I didn’t have money to do it. I was causing the trouble for my father in heaven. One morning my wife came and said, Sir, to feed the people today we need an extra 5,000 Naira. Naira was powerful in those days – God will have mercy on our Naira. You better say, Amen. Because some of you young ones cannot believe that once upon a time, one Naira is equal to at least 1.5 Dollars. Those glorious days will return!
She said we need 5,000. I said to her, “Darling, when do you need the money – today or now?” She said, what’s the difference? A lot of difference. She said, today. I said in that case, “go; when I have the money I will give you” because at the time she came I didn’t have a Kobo. Church Gist. But I know there is a God in Heaven who is called the Ever present help in time of trouble. She left and I turned to him, “well, the people have come. They are your people. You can’t allow them to starve.”
It wasn’t long after that one man drove in with flowing agbada. He was not a member of the Church; he was just passing by. We were by the express way there in the first auditorium. He said, what’s going on here? I said we are having a convention. He said, what a beautiful idea. Here in this place? I said yes Sir. He said next year I will be part of it. Church Gist. I am talking of today and you’re talking of next year. Then he put his hand in his pocket and brought out an envelope and said, “in the meantime…” I said, “ehen now you’re speaking.” He gave me an envelope. I prayed for him he left, I opened the envelope, 1,000 Naira. I said, Thank God! One down, 4 to go.
It wasn’t long after that for one reason or the other the youths gathered themselves together and they came led by one of our pastors and an envelope in their hand. They began to preach to me. “Daddy we appreciate you, we see all the good work you’re doing, et cetera. Church Gist. You should not be the one feeding us we should …” “Hey! Give me the envelope; after that you can preach.” Finally he gave me the envelope. I prayed for them, they left. I opened the envelope, 2,000 Naira. I said, “haa! 3 down, 2 to go.”
It wasn’t long after that I sent for my wife because another 2,000 came. Church Gist. When she came I said, “By the way what time do you say you need the money?”
– In the name that is above every other name, before it is too late the Everlasting Arms will reach out to you!
6. “Underneath are His everlasting arms” means that God is ever promoting. Psalm 75:5-7; 1 Samuel 2:8. Church Gist. God can pick up a beggar from the dunghill and continue to raise him up until he has reached the top sitting down with princes.
Take the case of David in 1 Samuel 16:11-13. He started by being the King among his brethren. Then in 2 Samuel 2 he became the King of Judah. 2 Samuel 5 he became the King of Israel. Church Gist. By the time we hear of him in Mark 10, Bartimaeus was calling him the Father of the Lord Jesus. When God is promoting you, it is steadily upward.
An incident happened years ago. We have a place we call ‘International Office.’ It was our international office then. It was big in our eyes and every NGO had a room to himself. Church Gist. Then there was a friend of mine who was with us in Nigeria several years before they traveled to America and then came back and came to the International Office. Then he was watching the names on the doors. Then he came to a door and stopped; he saw the name on the door and he opened his mouth wide. He said, “Am I reading correctly?” I said yes. “You mean …” He couldn’t mention the name. I said yes. “…he’s now an NGO?” I said yes. This is because when he was leaving, the fellow at whose door he stopped was a worker, an interpreter. Church Gist. Later on, he became my secretary; later on he became something else. Later on, he became NGO. Some of you already know who I am talking about. He stood by the door of Pastor Akindele – “you mean Pastor Akindele is now an NGO?” I said, underneath are the everlasting arms. When God decides to promote, it doesn’t matter where you are. The moment he picks you up, you just keep going and going.
– I can see some NGOs here tonight!
If you want the One whose everlasting arms are underneath to pick you from where you are and keep on promoting you to a place where people won’t even believe let me hear you shout halleluyah!
7. How do I get the One with the everlasting arms to be interested in me? Because you see, God is sovereign. Church Gist. Psalm 115:3. He is never arbitrary; he has a reason for whatsoever he is doing.
A man’s greatest desire is always what he says that he wants done after his death. That is why they say, “the man wrote a will.” A Will is “this is what I want. I am going now, this is what I want.” Church Gist. Then he will tell you what is most important to him. The most important thing to the one with the everlasting arms as stated by the Lord Jesus Christ before he left is in Mark 16:15-20:
– Go to all nations and preach the gospel. In Mark 16:15-20 it will tell you that when the disciples obeyed him and they went everywhere preaching the Gospel, he kept on working with them.
– John 15:14,16. Do God’s will. That’s why you hear me hammering, “win souls; build Churches.” Win souls, build Churches so that the souls you win can be preserved in the Churches. Do those two; Jesus said, “leave the rest to me, I will take care.” Church Gist. That’s why you find somebody like me at the age of 81 not resting, jumping from one nation to the other, going from one village to the other preaching the Gospel, dedicating Churches because I know if I can just do these, my future is settled.
Is there anybody here who wants to go to bed happy knowing that it doesn’t matter what is happening now my future is going to be alright? Are you sure you want the One with the everlasting arms to just carry you for the rest of your life? You want him to get involved with you? Get involved with him; do his will. Church Gist. When he was going to pick a beggar, bush boy, shepherd boy from the bush to make him king he said, “I have found a man who will do all my will.” God is looking for somebody today. You’ve just heard the secret. Make up your mind right now that for the rest of your life you will be a soul winner. You will win souls, you will preserve the souls. I guarantee you, the rest of your life will be from one miracle to another.
– The next time I hear concerning you it will be good news!
Salvation Call:
If you want the everlasting arms to be involved with you, you have to give your life to Jesus first.
Ask the Lord to have mercy on you, wash you clean with His blood, save your soul, come into your life, and carry you in His everlasting arms.
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