I KNEW THAT MY COMING TO GHANA WILL BRING A SHIFT TO MY MINISTRY
I VISITED KENNETH HAGIN’S OFFICE IN TULSA; I TOUCHED HIS SEAT AND MY MINISTRY CHANGED.
KAIROS MOMENTS ARE NOT CAMERA MOMENTS.
I WAS ORDAINED AS AN ORDINARY PASTOR BUT A DAY CAME WHEN HUNGER BEGAN TO ARISE AND EVERYTHING CHANGED.
WHEN I CAME BACK TO THE COUNTRY IN 2022, THEY SAID WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? FIRE HAPPENED.
GOD IS NOT LOOKING FOR NORMAL PEOPLE, GOD IS LOOKING FOR ABNORMAL PEOPLE.
IF YOU KNOW WHERE THE CHURCH IS COMING FROM, YOU WILL HATE WHERE WE ARE.
THE ARCHBISHOP BENSON IDAHOSA LAID HIS HANDS ON ME WHEN I WAS 5 YEARS OLD.
I AM YOUNG BUT I CARRY SOME ANCIENT STUFF. I’M NOT 40 YEARS OLD YET.
IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WERE ORDAINED FOR, YOU WILL BE ANGRY WHERE YOU ARE.
IT IS CHALLENGES THAT SOLIDIFY REMNANTS.
THE REMNANT IS A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF FIRE.
WHEN I WAS PRAYED FOR AND SENT FORTH, I HAD NO SHISHI (MONEY) IN MY POCKET
I’VE WATCHED MY MOTHER GOING TO BED AND NOT SURE WHETHER SHE’LL WAKE UP
I SUFFERED DIABETES, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND OBESITY WHILE IN NEW YORK
WHEN YOU PASS THROUGH CHALLENGES, REJOICE!
FIRE BRANDS MUST HAVE FIRE MOMENTS
REMNANTS ARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN TRIED, TESTED, THEREFORE THEY CAN BE TRUSTED
– Evangelist Isaac Oyedepo on “THE REMNANTS – A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF FIRE” || Awaken Ghana Conference – Day 2 Evening Session || Holy Hill Chapel, Accra, Ghana.
The Lord has released me to tell you this. Listen! I used to be very ordinary. Ask those who knew me before. I couldn’t stand in from of a crowd. Very ordinary! I was ordained an ordinary, normal pastor but then a day came when hunger began to arise. What is happening? I am hearing of what God used Idahosa to do. Church Gist. I am hearing what God has used Oyedepo to do in the 80s. I am hearing of all these things and I said No! I refuse to blend. God is not looking for normal people, God is looking for abnormal people. You are too normal to carry this fire. Too decorated to carry this fire. So something began to happen.
In 2017, some strange mantle dropped. 2018, 2019 and then the pandemic hit. The greatest mistake the devil made to my generation. I began to read and read. When I came back to the country in 2022, they said what happened to you? Fire happened. I left Okay and came back abnormal. If you know where the Church is coming from, you will hate where we are. The problem with our generation is that we are not educated. We just relax and say Church is full. Even beer parlours are full. It is not attendance. There is a fragrance that begins to ooze from the altar, you can’t have service and no testimony. Ah! You call healing service and there is no healing. People come and they are chatting in the service, do you know why? No fire! Look round now, who is sleeping? Anytime you see people sleeping in the congregation, don’t get angry. The challenge is you. When you stand and you are sounding an alarm, how can they sleep? In the days of the old revivalists, as they are preaching people will be scratching the wooden pews. That is what they call “pricked in their heart.” Church Gist. I am talking pricked. Peter began to preach, Peter who was fireless. The difference between Peter at the crucifixion and Peter at Pentecost is fire. The doctrine was the same. It takes fire to be audacious. You are too quiet saying what you are saying, you are saying it without authority. They looked at Jesus, they said “he speaks with authority and his doctrine is different.” Something can happen to you and you step on the altar on Sunday and they say this is not the same Pastor. Somebody says how old is he? It is not the age. Once there is oil and a match stick, no matter how small the match stick is, it can burn down an entire building.
What will happen to Isaac if fire rests on him? Just imagine. Your wife will look at you and say this man is different. Fire is not a new generation thing. It is not. I will show you from the scriptures, you will be shocked. It has been there from the beginning. Church Gist. For our God is a consuming fire. God oh! So who are you to say “I don’t believe in all those fire things.” God is a consuming fire. Someone here will leave with a holy Ghost abnormality. There are things God told you, they are true but without fire, you can’t activate them.
Listen to what the Lord says: I am raising a remnant from Ghana and this remnant is a breed… My children began to teach me that not every dog is a pure breed. The price of a pure breed German Shepherd is different from a mixed breed. They call it a long-coated German Shepherd. Part of what God wants to do is to refine us. Too many things have mixed in, we are fighting doctrines, we are fighting traditions, we are fighting denomination. God is saying you can’t… Which denomination were they in the Upper Room? God never created denominations, man did. We are arguing this is what this means. When fire comes, argument ceases. I came to Ghana, God is my witness. I knew that my coming to Ghana would bring a shift to my ministry. So in case you have been angry before, the things I have seen in three days in the country, there is a portal here. Remnants know how to seize opportunities. I will give you a few examples. I know some of us are from those churches. This is the first time I will give you publicly.
I knew I had to take a visit to Tulsa when I was pastoring in the U.S. The person who was helping to build the church at the time said “I know the Hagins, they are my friends and so on.” We got there and they said Kenneth Hagin Jnr and his wife had travelled. The man said I know them. He got the key because they knew him personally. They opened Kenneth E. Hagin’s Office for me. Kai! My father said he laid hands on him. I entered the same office. Church Gist. I don’t think he knows, if he is watching now then he is hearing it for the first time. I saw Kenneth Hagin’s table, the last Bible he was reading is still on the table. The book of T.L. Osborn he was reading is still on the table. I was shivering when I entered the office. I laid my hands on the seat he sat on and ministry changed. Don’t play with it oh.
In March 2023, I came to Abuja for something. Some will not know what happened. I couldn’t travel back to Lagos for service on Sunday, so I ended up visiting Lokogoma I preached a message I don’t know the head or the tail, the only thing I know is it was called Kairos. I can’t tell you where the message started or ended. People came to the altar weeping and falling. I was passing to greet Dr Paul Enenche before that service and as I was about to enter, the Holy Ghost said “Kairos moments are not camera moments.” I went there and forgot about it. January this year, I knew by all means I had to be in Port Harcourt, it was tough. The way I am connected to the man there is very strange. I got there Wednesday and on Thursday, he looked at me and he told me about a month ago that if I was coming to Port Harcourt, I should prepare myself. Church Gist. So I prepared myself. As we were worshipping, he told me later that the Holy Ghost told him to turn back and touch me, he was at the peak of his anointing. Kai! This thing works. Carrying big Bible is not the answer. The things you are seeing in the Crusades went to another dimension in January. There was a literal shift. God told him as they were worshipping, Now touch him. They were singing “Holy! Holy! Holy! Are you Lord. The elders and the angels bow.” He just turned back and touched me. It was later on he told me that my spirit was connected.
I am young but I carry some ancient stuff. I’m not 40 oo. I’m not 40 (years old) yet but the kind of… Somebody was telling me recently, he said: When you were 5 years old, Archbishop Benson Idahosa came to the house and you were sleeping. It is this year I heard the story. He said, you were sleeping and suddenly you woke up from your sleep. 5-year-old boy! And ran to the sitting room where Benson Idahosa was and according to the story, I can’t remember anything. Church Gist. According to the story, they said: ‘Do you know Archbishop is here’? They said from the state of slumber that I woke up, I said: ‘Yes, I know’. The Archbishop laid his hands on me, 5-year-old! You see certain things you can tell this is Idahosa. When will Idahosas arise? Who will terrify territories? Who will take risks? It’s one thing for Church to invite you, it’s another thing for nations to invite you. There is a difference! We are still at the level now of Church. When a president calls: ‘We need you in our nation, there is something you carry nobody else carries’.
-May tonight be that night.
There are people that carry very strange healing anointing, they don’t struggle. It’s one thing to struggle, it’s another thing to say: ‘You are healed’! Church Gist. They don’t struggle. Tonight, I don’t know which way He will move but we are ready.
-Holy Spirit! You are here with us, glorify Jesus. Let Your Word come with fire, for all You do, I vow to return all the glory.
It doesn’t matter where you are, here in the Auditorium, in the Gallery, in all the overflows, watching online; this thing is real.
—-PRAYERS—-
The final session tonight! Three things actually will happen; the Lord has given me three assignments: One, Salvation and rededication. Two, the baptism of fire. And three, the healing of the sick. All tonight! It doesn’t take God time, anybody that can’t stand up just leave them. Church Gist. There are kairos moments. I felt a very strange stirring when Bishop was preaching, very strange. If you watch me, if we were closer I couldn’t write. ‘For he that jumps in first’! Church Gist. What if I wasted 2020, I won’t be here. Tonight, the Lord has asked that I speak on the subject: “THE REMNANT – A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF FIRE”. Everything taught in the sessions I have taught has been on the remnant. First, we looked yesterday at: “The Remnant – A People of His Presence”. In the morning, we looked at: “The Remnant – Rise and Build”. That was for ministers but thank God it’s online so you can go watch it.
Tonight, the final session! We are looking at them (and) we minister to the sick when the time comes. But now we are looking at “THE REMNANTS – A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF FIRE”. Romans 11:3-5. This was the same Elijah that called down fire. ‘I have reserved other firebrands. I have plucked seven thousand people out of fire and they have never bowed their knees to baal, not once’. Zechariah 3:2. If you know what you were ordained for, ah! You will be angry where you are. satan was molesting Zechariah yet he said: ‘Even the Lord has chosen him’. Church Gist. He’s a remnant! God intends to firebrand you tonight! I saw the Scripture maybe ten years ago and it changed my life but not even as I see it now. Is this not a brand plucked out? Is this not a firebrand? The remnant is a brand plucked out of fire. Acts 2:1. The remnants were the ones in the Upper Room and they became the firebrands. The remnant is a brand plucked out of fire! But I want to let you know what others may not tell you. To be a firebrand you must have moments that you walk through the fire. And so the three Hebrew boys who were firebrands had to pass through the fire. I’m teaching something very deep, too simple to miss. Isaiah 43:2. It is challenges that solidify remnants. So, agree tonight that there are things.
Hear me, I look at some other people’s life and I’m wondering, my own looks different. Ah. I’ve passed through some things that I won’t tell you, it’s in the books you’ll read them. Church Gist. So, when you pass through challenges, rejoice. Particularly, there’s a healing mantle you may never be able to carry. Trace people, just watch, just do your trace, this mantle this man is carrying and ask the story. Church Gist. Let me tell you, I’m not saying you can’t carry the healing mantle without being sick before but there’s a kind of compassion that in our human nature, we ordinarily cannot have except helped by the Holy Ghost. When you see somebody and remember your case, there’s how you attend to it. I won’t joke with healing, I know what I’ve passed through, I know what my family (has passed through). I’ve watched my mother going to bed and not sure whether she’ll wake up. Church Gist. I’ve been to the doctor, they said, “how did you survive? You’re a candidate of several heart attacks”. I say, “I know”. I knew a night I was virtually going in the bathroom in New York. Three reports, diabetes, high blood pressure and very obese. I used to pray for the sick before, they get healed but after I passed through that thing, Word of knowledge just went like boom.
“I want to operate in the gifts of the Spirit”. Ah. Are you ready for the temptations of the spirit? ‘For the spirit led Him to the wilderness to be tempted’. Church Gist. These are not messages to be reposting, you carry your own. If you like be standing there and telling, “is it doctrinally correct?” Pass through a fire first. I know where I was this time last year. Don’t tell me God is not real. Put your denomination in your pocket, I’ve met Him. Church Gist. This Scripture I’m reading, it’s not in my note oh. You see the Holy Spirit has a way of bringing things to your remembrance when you pass through.. so, fire brands must have fire moments. You want to be a fire brand? Which fire moment? Because fire brands have been tried and tested before they can be trusted. Church Gist. There are situations you’ll go through, you’ll forget tie. God told me, “if you mess up with Ghana, you have lost something. After morning session, where’s the sleep? How? Why? Somebody here must be mantled.
Remnants are people who have been tried, tested, therefore they can be trusted.
🎵🎶 All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so so good…🎶🎵
Bishop, listen, when I was prayed for and sent forth, I had no shishi (money) in my pocket, not one. Ah. I’ve seen God. From renting a house to every step. Church Gist. I heard a song here, I’ve never heard it, that He’s never early but He’s also never late. So, when you see people singing and they are weeping and misbehaving and it looks like they don’t have structure…
🎵🎶 All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so so good…🎶🎵
As I sing that song, I’m remembering so many things. My first missionary trip in South Africa, some people may know I was once there. Church Gist. I got to a point, I couldn’t afford gasoline for my car but we have been taught not to beg, not even your parents. What a doctrine. I drove the car, that is, I’ve learnt how to drive on empty, it’s a grace. There’s no fuel level that makes me afraid, I’ve driven empty and I got home and I know I got home on wings. I couldn’t afford gasoline. When you see a man up, ask when he was down, what he did. I drove to the point where in a foreign country, fuel finished, phone died, combination, on a dark road and I looked at the sky and said, “Lord, even if this is how ministry will be, I will not give up”. Church Gist. I remember where, if I go to South Africa now, I will remember that road. You know Kathryn Kuhlman said, “I know where I died”. There are things you can’t pass through that you’ll forget. I remember the first time I saw miracles of crutches dropping. From where we come from, you just pray for the sick, if you’re healed, that’s fine. Church Gist. The Lord told me, I heard His voice, in Alexandria somewhere called San kopano in South Africa, Johannesburg and God said, tell those women that everybody that has crutches, He will heal them. I had an interpreter. I said, “God said He will heal you”. I’ve not seen that kind of miracle before. What if they didn’t walk? Church Gist. One by one, we carried six crutches to the office. There are times you need to learn how to take risks.
🎵🎶 All my life you have been faithful. All my life you have been so so good…🎶🎵
Let me tell you the truth so that you can have a balanced perspective. Many of you think that Bishop Oyedepo gave me money. Church Gist. Ask him when you see him, not one dime, (he) did not ask ‘How will you survive? If you’ve learnt faith, go and put it to work’.
All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so, so good…
—Singing—
You claim you are a remnant, you say ‘Yes, I believe. I’ve been plucked out of fire’ then, note the following:
– The remnant that will carry the glory must have a story.
– The remnant that will end up as Kingdom stars must have Kingdom scars. Church Gist. There are things God will brand you with. I told my wife (about) one of those brands today.
Now, if I call you…(Talking to the cameraman) If you have a camera, look at my hand, look here, you see this place? Come close.
I was 5 years old and I was electrocuted. I’m almost 40, the scar is still there. So, I don’t play with…35 year old scar. I was riding a bicycle in Kaduna where you shouldn’t ride (a) bicycle, behind the chair and we had naked wires. Church Gist. Those were the days of poverty and I’ve always loved taking risks from childhood. I remember riding (a) bicycle and closing my eyes. So, we are not normal. It’s been long. I’ve been a remnant for long. I will ride and say ‘I remember that if you ride small, you turn left’, till I hit my head.
Do you know what this scar does? No matter how far I go, I’ll remember where I came from and so, when God met and wrestled with Jacob, He hit the hollow of his thigh and so, every time Jacob did like this (limps), he remembered ‘I fought an Angel’ and the Angel looked and said ‘Thou art a prince, for thou hast power with God and hath prevailed’. Church Gist. Kingdom stars have Kingdom scars. They don’t always tell you. There is no Kingdom star without a Kingdom scar.
– The remnants who will command amazing testimonies must go through terrifying tests. Church Gist. The test is not because God doesn’t love you. The test is because you must change class. The Lord said ‘Skip all that’ So, ‘I’ll skip’.
A brand plucked out of fire is one that encounters fire, the fire of the Lord and there are maybe 5 things. We’ll try and close with that. Thank you, Lord!
The Fire of God has 5 assignments:
1: It purges and purifies. Psalm 51:7. Matthew 3:11-12. Malachi 3:2. Gold doesn’t look like gold until it is purified, until it is refined. Church Gist. You’ll never know how beautiful and valuable you are until you submit yourself for the purifying and refining fire to work on you. ‘Fire of the Lord, work on Isaac. Work on me’. Ah! We have a long way to go. ‘Work on me, that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will be acceptable’.
Smith Wigglesworth had this fire work on him and history has it that when Smith Wigglesworth will enter a train, people will run out. Church Gist. You, somebody is smoking beside you and can’t feel that you are anything.
The fire worked on Moses and Moses would go to the Mountain and come down and they will not be able to look at his face. This fire of the Lord is not just for gymnastics, it’s for purification. Holiness is current, it’s not old school. Church Gist. ‘I refuse to be a normal pastor doing normal things, having girlfriends, stealing money. For what?’ When this fire works on you, there are even some jokes you can’t crack. They become too heavy to be cracked. I’m not telling you something for you, I’m telling you something for me. It is my cry.
It is today in our generation that you’ll hear of ministers falling here and there. How did Evan Roberts fall? People like (that), how? ‘Purifying fire, refine me’. Anywhere you are in the overflow, wherever, online, submit yourself. Very soon, the Altar will be open. Church Gist. You see, meetings like these are not ‘I don’t come to Church, I’m a new convert’. No, we are talking about being converted to where you should be. These are not meetings where…now, this is not a crusade, so, understand it. This is not a normal Church service, so, understand it. We’re not saying you’ve never given your life to Christ. No, we’re saying, no, no, no…
Restore unto me the joy of my salvation…
—Singing—
Not create in me a clean act but create in me a clean heart. ‘For it is not he that commendeth himself that is approved but he whom the Lord commendeth’. Church Gist. If God doesn’t stamp you, if you like, let your denomination stamp you, you are nothing before Him and if God stamps you and anybody writes you off, forget it, you are something with Him.
I want us to begin to get comfortable with what is called the beauty of repentance. Repentance doesn’t mean you are a bad person, repentance means you need to be converted. Church Gist. Instead of repenting, our generation is repainting. Everybody is doing it, I didn’t mean it. It is not what you meant, it is what you did. This is a Clarion call even to the one preaching.
2. The fire of God enlightens and illuminates
I am now showing you what a brand plucked out of fire will subject themselves to. John 1:5. If you have a lamp giving light, behind the lamp is the fire. Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning. If there is oil in your lamp, you will be able to see. John 3:35. Behind the shining light is a burning light. When the fire of the Lord descends and you allow the fire to do its work, it will not only enlighten you, it will illuminate you. John 1:9. The fire of God enlightens you but it also makes you light. Church Gist. You are the light of the world, a city that is set upon a hill and cannot be hidden. When the fire of God does this second assignment, He doesn’t just show you light. He makes you light. This fire doesn’t just illuminate you, it makes you an illuminant. You get to the point where you contact fireless people and something begins to burn in you. There is something coming upon somebody, when people meet with you, they will say “Any time I hear that man, I can’t tell but something is sparked.” It is because the fire has worked and is working in you. What happens when you touch fire? You catch fire.
3. The fire of God emboldens.
Fire has a sound. When you hear people that carry fire, you will know this one carries fire. You can’t hear Reinhard Bonnke and think he is ordinary. Even in the natural, if you are burning something there will be a sound. Fire has a sound. One of the traces of those who carry fire and have allowed this fire of the Lord to deal with them is that they become fearlessly bold. There are things God will never do until you take the first step. I am not teaching you doctrine now, I am telling you the truth. Until you take the first step, Hear this! It is not just taking the first step ‘I just heard him.’ It is how you take it. I am speaking very strangely. People have taken steps but they took it in timidity. There is a way you walk out of one level to another and you threaten the new level. Church Gist. There is how you walk fearfully and the new level knows you are not ready. One of the traces of the fire that came upon the Apostles is that they began to speak. When they saw the boldness of Peter, they took knowledge of them that they had been with Christ.
4. The fire of God revives and awakens.
Awake thou that sleeps and Christ shall give thee light. We now know that the fire at its root is light. Church Gist. This was a burning and shining light.
5. The fire of God gives access and grants acceleration.
There are doors that will never open until you become a remnant plucked out of fire. People don’t want to invite people who will kill their congregation but awaken their congregation. Luke 24:49. Suddenly, the access they couldn’t have to the Jews was granted. Church Gist. Not only that, they gained speed. What was their attendance in the Upper Room? What was their attendance after the fire? Acceleration. If you want the hand of God to come upon your life for speed, let His fire fall first.
From March to December, 10 months! The first time the Lord spoke these words through my mouth it was very strange. He said, “Tell them 10 months – a decade.” I am hearing it in my spirit again.
– What you didn’t think was possible in 10 years, between now and the end of the year, you will see it happen in your life.
– What you never imagined possible in 10 years, for when the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, he outran the chariot, I am here to announce to somebody who it looks like you have been left behind, you will not only catch up, you will overtake. Church Gist.
– Wherever you seem to have had a delay, within the next 10 months your results will look like ten years.
When fire falls, ask them in Texas, ask them in California, you will see the fire from a cigarette consuming hectares and hectares without boundaries. Church Gist. What happens when the fire of God comes upon a man? It opens doors but not only that, it gives you speed.
– In this night of the fan and the fire, I prophesy gain speed and overtake them.
– I prophesy again, ten months a decade for you again in Ghana.
I leave you with this word: The remnant must not only be a brand plucked out of fire but must remain a brand on fire.
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