HAPPY FATHERS’ DAY TO ALL FATHERS AND WOULD BE FATHERS.
BISHOP OYEDEPO TAKES A DIG AT IRRESPONSIBLE MEN CLAIMING TO BE HEAD OF THE FAMILY AND WOMEN MISBEHAVING UNDER THE GUISE OF WOMEN LIBERATION.
EVEN WHEN I EARNED ₦300 MONTHLY I NEVER MISSED THE BUDGET FOR FAMILY UPKEEP
I AM SOLD OUT TO GOD BUT I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY FAMILY
I DON’T KNOW HOW TO OPERATE A TELEVISION BECAUSE I DID NOT HAVE ONE EARLY. BY THE TIME I HAD ONE, I DIDN’T HAVE THE TIME.
I LEARNT NEVER TO REPLY MY CRITICS FROM KENNETH HAGIN AND OSWALD J. SMITH
DON’T GANG UP AGAINST THOSE WHO ARE GOING FORWARD OTHERWISE YOU STAY BACKWARDS.
NOBODY’S RISING IS THE REASON FOR YOUR FAILURE, THE SKY IS TOO WIDE FOR TWO BIRDS TO COLLIDE
THERE IS NO DIME FROM ANY FOREIGN NATION BEHIND THE THINGS THAT GOD IS GETTING DONE IN THIS PLACE
I LOVE GOD MORE THAN I LOVE MYSELF AND GOD KNOWS
EVERY TRUE LOVER OF GOD IS AN AMAZEMENT TO THEIR WORLD
LACK OF MEEKNESS IS BEHIND THE STAGNATION OF MANY PEOPLE
- Bishop David Oyedepo on TOWARDS MAXIMIZING OUR GLORIOUS DESTINY IN CHRIST 3 at Covenant Family Day Service || Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland|| 16th June 2024 || First Sunday Service ||
Every genuine Word encounter opens a new chapter. May today be another chapter opening day for everyone. Church Gist. Now, to all the fathers in the house and all the would be fathers, Happy Father’s Day.
- Joy and rejoicing will not depart from your home.
- No death of foetus, no death of infants, no death of young adults, no mourning of any kind in your families in the name of Jesus.
- Whatever represents a barrier to God’s agenda in your various families is brought down today.
One more time, to all the fathers and would be fathers congratulations. On this Covenant Family Day which represents a double family platform. May the Wonder Double blessings that trails this Commission come upon every family afresh.
- For every trace of shame in the past, God will restore double honour in its place.
- For every worshipper here, you are leaving with a renewed walk with God.
Lord, speak to every one of us this morning and let your name be glorified in Jesus name.
The Word says speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. “O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms! O how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms! I have peace complete with my Saviour so near, leaning on the everlasting arms! What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.”
These are more like verses of scriptures. 🎶“O how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms”🎶. The path grows from day to day. We have a most elastic destiny in Christ. Every child of God has a most elastic destiny in Christ. The path keeps growing. So you have first degree breakthrough, second degree breakthrough, third degree breakthrough, 100th degree breakthrough and on and on. Church Gist. It keeps growing. In the precious name of Jesus, no life here will suffer stagnation anymore. Every siege of stagnation by this anointing service is destroyed forever in the name of Jesus Christ.
Please do reflect on this, we have them all on the websites around the world. Learn from those hymns, learn from what you sing, don’t just dance to it. God is speaking to us.
Say with me, “I am a child of destiny, I refuse to live like a destitute. I am a child of destiny, I am not a child of circumstance”. If these statements take root inside you, it will change your perspective to life and living. In 1981, I discovered ‘O how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms’. Church Gist. I saw Proverbs 4:18, the path of the just is like a shining light. It shines more and more till Jesus comes on the perfect day. ‘O how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms!’.
Wake up, it is blindness to think that you are rich and have need for nothing not knowing that you are blind, poor, naked and wretched. Come on now, there are heights yet unknown that God has ordained to take His people. ‘O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms!’ It is working in that way that leads us from one realm of glory to another. Church Gist. You are a child of destiny not a child of circumstance. You are not a child of situations and circumstances. Your understanding of your destiny is stronger than all prevailing circumstances. All of them. It is so sweet to walk in this pilgrim’s way, just taking God at His Word and leaning on Him.
TOWARDS MAXIMIZING OUR GLORIOUS DESTINY IN CHRIST
It has been established that we have a glorious destiny in Christ. Romans 8:30. Every one justified by the blood of Jesus is justified to be glorified not to be ‘shame-ified’. The days of shame and reproach are over finally in your life. Every child of God is a child of destiny. Everyone justified by the blood is justified to be glorified. That is you. Where anyone of us may be today notwithstanding, your justification is ordained to culminate in glorification. Church Gist. You might be in Potiphar’s house as a slave but the royal blood in you will soon speak. You might be locked up in the prison unjustly but your enthronement will soon emerge. Those who succeed to see the reality of tomorrow are never downcast. Hebrews 12:2.
🎶“I am going higher, yes I am. I am going higher today. Going with Jesus to stay. I am going above the shadows into the presence of God. Into the presence of Jesus, I am going higher today.’🎶 I was celebrating my future in Christ before they began to manifest. You can’t see the reality of it and not behave it. You can’t see it clearly and still doubt it. No one ever doubts what He sees. Church Gist. May the eyes of all be opened today to see your picture from the pages of scriptures. That will settle all your fears and put you on top of life’s situations. I am a child of destiny, I am not a child of circumstance. I am a child of destiny, I refuse to live like a destitute, I refuse to think like a destitute. I refuse to think like a failure.
Interestingly, we all have a common destiny in Christ but spiritual understanding of our destiny is what defines the limits of every believer’s destiny in Christ. One time I saw in Romans 10:12 that there is no difference between the Jews and the Greeks – no difference between the white and the black. Clean, I heard it. For the same Lord is rich unto all that call upon Him. I never saw one attraction with any race or colour. Same God! You know His phone number? Call it, He will answer the same way. Church Gist. The same God is rich unto all that call upon Him. Same God! Is it not a reality today? There is no dime from any foreign nation in getting done the things that God is getting done in this place. Same God! Don’t go and enslave yourself in somebody’s place. One lost local boy in one local village not on the map is called the richest pastor in the world. They are not wrong because I am not under financial stress at all. Any kind! Wake up my friend. It is time to come alive and be humble to see what God has in store for you. It is one thing to know where you are going, it is the real thing to know how to get there. “I am going higher…” Okay, how do you go?
We are looking at two descriptions of our destiny in Christ this morning.
- Every Believer Has A Prosperous Destiny In Christ.
A non begging destiny in Christ. A surplus destiny in Christ. 2 Corinthians 8:9. Jesus came down, to take us up. Jesus was striped naked to cloth us. Jesus was thirsty, He said “I thirst” so we can be free from thirst. He became poor so we can be rich. Revelation 5:12. Riches, honour, glory, blessings… They are factors that decorate destiny. But He obtained for us riches. We have a prosperous destiny in Christ. How do I actualize it? Giving is the anchor law that launches believers into realms of financial fortune. Church Gist. If you are too smart for that, you are too smart to taste it. Any believer that poses to be too smart for that because He has a PhD in Financial Management is too smart to taste it. Living in the White House does not connote wealth. There is no nation of the world without its own share of impoverished people. Poor people are in every nation of the world. There is no immune nation to poverty. Without believing and tasting the giving covenant, no believer can ever taste God’s prosperity agenda. Period! It is not a Church doctrine.
The Lord appeared to me 22nd March 1982, while I was on a three day mission to find God’s plan for my prosperity. There are things you are looking for, you are not sincere about it. I went on a fasting search to discover God’s Kingdom prosperity plan. I took the book of Kenneth Copeland, my revered mentor, ‘The Laws of Prosperity’. I took his wife’s book, ‘God’s Will Is Prosperity’, so in case the husband forgot something, the wife may remember and I took my Bible with me with my heart open. Mind you, I had been preaching prosperity like I heard him preach before I went on this search. I have been reading his books since 1977 but I didn’t understand what he was saying. It hasn’t dawned on me. It hasn’t imparted on me. Church Gist. Many of us who are preachers are just vendors. We don’t know one thing in the newspaper, we are just selling it. I knew I had not found this thing, when I find it I will know. So I went on a search and the Lord said to me from Deuteronomy 8:18, it changed my life forever. “My son David, my prosperity plan is not a promise. It does not answer to prayer and fasting.” For all prayer warriors hear me now, you can’t pray yourself into prosperity. “It is not a promise, it has no respect for fasting.” For all fasting machines in the house, you can’t fast your way into prosperity. “My prosperity plan is a covenant, until your part is played, I am not committed.” You can’t take delivery with prayer and fasting, you have to play your covenant part to take delivery. What is the covenant? While the earth remains, seed time and harvest shall not cease. Genesis 8:22. Giving will always precede receiving, so they call it giving and receiving. Philippians 4:15. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8. Giving is sowing and reaping is harvest. We have a prosperous destiny in Christ that anchors on the covenant demand of giving for release. It is never delivered without it. I found it in 1982, it is still speaking today. Never borrowed once, free forever.
Many know where they are going but they are not bothered to learn how to get there. They are too smart to learn how to get there. You may have a PhD in Fashion Design, if you have never done Fashion, don’t sew clothes for yourself otherwise dogs will be barking. You go and learn how to handle scissors and all measurements from those who do it. The stagnation of many people is the lack of meekness. The meek shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5. The meeker you are, the larger your coast because you are willing to learn. Psalm 25:9. Every guidance of scriptures is heading for a great future. You can’t follow the guidance of scriptures and not be headed for a great future. Job 22:21-25. Church Gist. The law of giving and receiving is the law. No sidetrack. May you receive the giving grace today that will launch you into the realm of financial fortune particularly in these hard times. The law! Not the law of a Church, not the law of an apostle or a teacher. The covenant law that secures our access to the realm of financial fortune. That is what empowers believers for wealth. The covenant! Not your opinions. Deuteronomy 8:18.
- We have a pacesetting destiny in Christ
We have never seen it in this manner. Pacesetting destiny in Christ. John 14:12. Mark 2:12. Luke 5:26. Church Gist. We are redeemed as pacesetters to our world bringing to pass, bringing to bear things never known or seen. How do I get hold of this? Two ways.
i. Our unfeigned love for God, our unpretentious love for God is the launching pad into realms of things never seen or heard. Every true lover of God is ordained a trailblazer, a pathfinder and a pacesetter. 1 Corinthians 2:9. “And Solomon loved the Lord…” (1 Kings 3:3), he became the king of the earth as long as He maintained his love for God. David, a man after God’s own heart, became a national hero at 17. He became Chief Of Defence Staff for Israel without military training. Eyes have not seen nor ears heard, it hasn’t entered into the heart of any man what God has in store for them that love Him. Don’t pretend your love for God. I said severally, you may have read the few things I have written and published but never claim to have discovered my secret until you discover my heartbeat for God. Church Gist. That is where the secret of my little life lies. My heartbeat for God. I love God more than I love me and God knows. It is not a gift , it is a choice. Jesus asked “Do you love me Simon?” not are you gifted. It is a choice. So when I say I am not surprised that we are where we are. Those are the things I am talking about. You can’t love God and become a dropout. You end up an amazement. Every true lover of God is an amazement. What manner of man is this? What manner of woman is this?
ii. Take delight in Kingdom Advancement Endeavours.
Psalm 102:13-14. Take pleasure, take delight. Proverbs 11:30, 3:35, Daniel 12:3. They live beyond their generation, they live far ahead of their generation. They speak from beyond the grave though they were dead. Stars forever and ever. Church Gist. By taking genuine pleasure not pretentious pleasure. Every true lover of this Jesus ends up a pacesetter. Every genuine Kingdom advancement promoter ends up a wonder to his world. Nothing of value is free.
What makes a child of destiny is salvation. If salvation is what makes one a child of destiny, the question therefore is how do I know if I am saved? Because not everybody is saved now. How do I know if I am saved? By their fruits we shall know them. What are the characteristics of new birth, they call them “the fruit of the Spirit”. Church Gist. There are nine of them listed in Galatians 5:22-23. If those fruits are not in manifestation, then anybody’s salvation is questionable. We have listed there love, joy, peace…. Today we are looking at two of these characteristics which include meekness. I mentioned that earlier.
- Meekness
Galatians 5:23. No true child of God walks in pride. Jesus the first begotten said “I am meek and lowly.” We share the same DNA with Christ by redemption, so pride is an anti redemption behaviour. It is alright to make our boast in God, to demonstrate our confidence in God. But it is all wrong and deadly to make your boast in your accomplishments, to make your boast in your skill and possession. You find David saying “God who gave me the lion and bear, will give me this one.” God! God! “you came to me with …., I come to you in the name of the Lord God of Israel.” He was making his boast in God. He was bragging on God. You can’t tell how many homes have been shattered by pride. A man that won’t take responsibility and will be harassing the wife. For what? Where is food? You don’t have food. Where is water? You don’t have water. “Where is my food?” Go and collect it. People just do all kinds of weird things. Church Gist. I have never missed the budget for family upkeep in my life. Even at ₦300 a month in this ministry as President and Founder. Yes, I am sold out to God but I am responsible for my family. “I am the head of this home” that means you are not the head because there is no point announcing it. Have you ever come down to see me saying “I am the pastor of this Church.” That means I have a problem. You have not debated it, so what is my wahala for? Some women nobody can speak to them, not even God. Modern day! Women Liberation! Not Liberation Hour, Women Liberation. Then you scatter your own home by yourself and you start praying, “Oh God where are you?” “I have always been there. I saw when you were misbehaving, so carry on.” There is a case that we are handling and one of us said that person needs to be answering altar calls everyday until when he is saved. She will be answering altar calls everyday, maybe one day she will be saved. - Goodness
Do good to all men, especially those that are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10. Doing good is what they call goodness. Goodness is part of the characteristics of a regenerated spirit. Not wishing good, doing good. What does it do? 1 Peter 3:13. It protects, it shields, it keeps you alive. Psalm 41:1. That is the blessedness of goodness. Doing good. Goodness is part of the characteristics of the newborn spirit. Jesus went about doing good. It is our turn to go about doing good. A time will come when everyone here will take delight in taking care of the challenged ones among us. That there will not be a need for any central arrangement anymore. You send your neighbour’s children to school, you do it with joy and excitement. You settle them in their housing challenges. You are just out there doing good like our master Jesus. He went about doing good, healing all them that were oppressed by the devil because God was with Him. Church Gist. He gave a parable of the man that fell among the thieves. The good Samaritan picked him up, took him to the hospital and paid the bill. You are doing that. What it does is to keep evil from your tabernacle. What you sow is what you reap. You can’t be sowing good and be seeing evil. Those who sow good, don’t see evil. Galatians 6:7. Get excited about doing good, it is the way up. It creates a protective shield around our lives. Don’t miss that for anything.
The second way to know whether one is saved or not is through our liberties from the works of the flesh, which include carnal comparisons. ‘See he has that, I must have it.’ It has started. Now you don’t have the wherewithal to have that, so you must steal to have it, cut corners to have it, cheat to have it. For by comparing themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 2 Corinthians 10:12. Therefore, let everyone abide in the calling where he is called. Settle down, let God be the one that lifts you up. Don’t go to live in a place because your friends are living there. You don’t have the means that they have. What are you doing there? I told you before that we could not afford a ₦45,000 per annum house in this Lagos. I asked if it was for sale. No! I will not sleep in a house that will take sleep from my eyes. No! I have never prayed for house rent when I was a renter. Church Gist. The houses I live in don’t need prayer, they are within my reach. Do you know why I don’t know how to use television? I didn’t have one on time in the days of black and white. By the time I had, I had no time again. My time had been utilized by other valuable things.
Somebody said “Brother David, did I hear you got a car?” I said yes, God gave me a fantastic car. “Did I hear it is a Volkswagen Beetle?” I said yes and he said God forbid. People become too big in their sight that they lose their future. I made a vow against borrowing 4th October 1981. A car is passing and you are saying God forbid. Why? Do you want to collect it from the owner? It was Beetle then, it is flight today. Somebody’s story is taking a new turn. Church Gist. Keep wishing everyone going ahead well, you will soon arrive there. Don’t gang up against those who are going forward otherwise you stay backwards. You can’t pull people that are up, down unless you are down. Stop pulling people that are up down, you never leave the ground. Nobody’s rising is the reason for your failure, the sky is too wide for two birds to collide. Carnal comparisons.
Jeremiah 3:15-16. You open up to teaching resources that will help you maximize your destiny. Hebrews 13:7. Hagin said many years ago, “God told me never to answer my critics: Keep doing what I have called you to do.” Oswald J. Smith said “I heard from the Lord: No attack, no defence. Keep going.” Church Gist. Those are life long lessons that kept some of us on course. So your critics are considered as mere opinions to which they are entitled. That should not disconnect me from my goal. That’s your view. I am in pursuit of heaven’s view, your view notwithstanding. Those are things we draw from those who have gone ahead. Commit to learning more and more. When you stop learning, you start dying. Osborn said when you stop learning, you start dying. There are no finish lines in the school of wisdom. A wise man shall hear and increase in learning. Proverbs 1:5.
- Engage in prayer and fasting for spiritual enlightenment regarding any issue of concern or interest in your life.
Psalm 119:18. If something is missing, light a candle, sweep thoroughly until you find it. You are sure to find it, if you engage your heart in seeking for it. Isaiah 58:6. Fasting and prayer is a platform for breaking forth of light in our areas of concern and interest.
With these things in your hands, your great tomorrow is in place and you shall not miss it. It is our Covenant Family Day and the blessings proclaimed on anyone’s family today will keep speaking for life. Please note that God is a family loving Father. He is the creator of the family institution upon which He bestowed His blessings. Male and female created He them and blessed them. Genesis 1:27-28. God has a blessing for families and may His blessings come upon every family represented here and connected online today. May the Father God blessings from heaven come upon every family afresh. “I have received a commandment to bless” That is what Balaam said, “He, God has blessed and I cannot reverse it.” Numbers 23:20. May the irreversible blessings of God descend on every family represented under the sound of my voice today.
When God blesses, curses are averted. Whatever seems like a curse upon any family, I decree them averted today. How shall I curse whom God has not cursed and how shall I defile whom God has not defiled? No one can curse who God has blessed.
- May the blessings today put every family above every curse of the wicked in the name of Jesus. Watch out, it is a good day.
When God blesses struggles are terminated. Proverbs 10:22.
- I therefore decree every form of struggle in every family is declared terminated.
The life of Joseph is a proof of the potency of parental blessings. That blessing won’t let them kill him, in spite of their hatred and bitterness. That blessing won’t let Potiphar shoot him for attempting to “rape” his wife, which never happened. Church Gist. That blessing won’t let him suffer the plague of imprisonment by favour. That blessing saw him to the palace. “The blessings of thy fathers have prevailed above the blessings of thy progenitors.” No one saw it in your generations. Genesis 49:22-26. Psalm 105:17-22.
- May the blessings of today be that order of blessings.
How do we secure the blessings of God upon our families? Please remember:
- God wants us saved and our household.
The way it happened in the house of Cornelius. All of his kinsmen were gathered today, heavens came down and brought them into the Kingdom. Church Gist. Acts 10:24, 44. They were brought into the Kingdom in one sweep. Acts 16:30-33. God desires that we are not only saved but along with our household. - We should take our position as Joseph and Esther in our families.
Every child of God is a blessed citizen of the earth. When you become a child of God, you become a blessed child. The more people you get saved in the family, the more channels of blessings opened in the family. Every believer should step out as the Josephs and the Esthers of their families. Church Gist. Joseph became the preserver of the destiny of his family. Esther became the rescue agent for all the Jews in the land. Step out in faith and pray them on who are yet to be saved. Target them for salvation, show them the love of Christ.
- May every family here become a channel of blessings forever in the precious name of Jesus.
We are talking about how to sustain the blessings of God on our families. The more people get saved, the more blessings begin to get released into our families. Church Gist. Joseph (Genesis 45:5-7), Esther (Esther 4:14-15), he came into the Kingdom for such a time as this. You are saved for such a time as this. To rescue all the members of your household into the Kingdom.
- We should plead for our various families to break the curses associated with serving other gods among others.
Whatever curses have been attracted to that family in the previous generations that is still ravaging there, Lord have mercy. Whatever affects anyone that could affect you, needs your attention. Church Gist. Therefore in the name of Jesus, before this prophetic season is over, any more will get saved in your household. The sorrow of them that hasten after another god shall be multiplied. No more sorrow in your household. - We should enter into a covenant as individuals so as to bring an end to all satanic siege of afflictions on our families.
He gave them rest roundabout by entering into a covenant to serve God with all their heart and with all their desires. Concerning your family, God will give you rest roundabout. Church Gist. There was a family here that testified that a neighbour said “Is it only burial you do in your family?” Somebody is dead again, we are going.
- From now, no negative thing will be identified with anyone’s family anymore.
- The days of pity on your family are declared over.
- The days of ups and down in your family are declared over.
Enter into a covenant to serve God with all your heart and He will give you rest roundabout including on your families. That shall be your experience.
In conclusion, we must recognize that by redemption we are now members of the family of God and any generational spell or curses on your biological lineage has no more hold on our lives. No matter what has been on anyone’s biological lineage, it is no longer your portion. You have changed lineage. According to Ephesians 2:19, you are now members of the family of God. Jesus is the firstborn in that family, we are the borns after Him. Church Gist. We are members of God’s own family, only what pertains to that family is allowed in our lives. So every negative thing that has buffeted anyone’s family hitherto, the good news is that you are not permitted to be part of it and I decree your freedom today. 2 Corinthians 5:17. It is your turn.
Everyone should cry out today for the rescue of our various families from every form of assault from hell and God who heard Esther will hear us. Church Gist. How many want to see their family delivered, rescued, set free from all satanic assaults? In the name of Jesus, so shall it be.
The going is getting tougher by the day and it is just the beginning of biblical prophecies. Church Gist. It is time to take cover under Christ.
Isaiah 10:25-27.
By this anointing today, every satanic yoke sitting on your life and that of your family shall be destroyed.
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