IF YOU TAKE GOD OUT OF YOUR LIFE, YOU WILL BE EMPTY.
NO MATTER YOUR REASON UNDER HEAVEN, WHEN YOU SET GOD ASIDE YOU HAVE TRADED OFF YOUR FUTURE.
WHEN GOD IS OUT OF THE EQUATION OF ANY MAN’S LIFE, FRUSTRATION NATURALLY SETS IN, DEPRESSION FOLLOWS AND DEVASTATION IS THE END.
YOU CAN’T WALK WITH GOD ON YOUR TERMS, IT HAS TO BE ON HIS TERMS.
DON’T NEGOTIATE INSTRUCTIONS; IT CAN BE DEVASTATING.
YOU CAN DO NOTHING AGAINST THE TRUTH BUT FOR THE TRUTH, SO WHY WASTE YOUR TIME?
“WHATEVER YOU SAY IS FINAL LORD” BROUGHT US TO WHERE WE ARE.
THIS IS NOT A PLACE TO COME TO. IT WAS CONTRARY TO HUMAN INTELLIGENCE TO SHUT DOWN THE CHURCH IN TOWN AND BUILD A CHURCH THAT PEOPLE WILL BE ATTENDING EVERY SUNDAY INSIDE A FOREST.
YOUR STRONGEST MESSAGE IN YOUR WITNESSING IS WHAT YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED. JUST TELL THEM WHAT JESUS HAS DONE IN YOUR LIFE.
WHEN I SAID YE! I CAN NEVER BE POOR, I HAD FOUND WHAT HE SAYS TO DO AND SIGNED UP FOR IT.
EVERY CHILD OF GOD IS EQUIPPED AS SOON HE ENCOUNTERS CHRIST TO SHARE HIM WITH OTHERS.
THE JOY OF SALVATION IS TANTALIZING. IT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN KEEP.
I DON’T KNOW THE MEANING OF BURNOUT. I DON’T EVEN KNOW JETLAG
– Bishop David Oyedepo on UNDERSTANDING THE BREAKTHROUGH POWER OF KINGDOM STEWARDSHIP at July 2023 Week of Spiritual Emphasis Day One || Youth Chapel, Canaanland || 5th July 2023
Lord Jesus, tonight we are all at your feet looking up to you for our individual encounters. Let tonight be a most memorable night for every one of us. Let your Word chart the path forward for each one. Let it culminate in our dramatic change of story. Church Gist. Let this revival season baptize every one of us into a tireless pursuit of you and the interests of your kingdom. Let it be Lord in the name of Jesus. Thank you heavenly Father in Jesus’ name.
The prophetic focus for the month like we heard last Sunday is Supernatural Breakthrough Is My Heritage. Every child of God is redeemed a light to the world which connotes a pacesetter, one that shows others the way to go, a pathfinder – one that sees what others can’t see with proofs, a trailblazer – one that goes ahead of others to prove that what you are saying is real. The breakthrough of light in the midst of darkness is irresistible, it is unstoppable. Whenever light shows up, darkness clears off. Church Gist. Light shows up and darkness clears off. That is what our life is redeemed to be. That whenever we show up darkness clears off. Whenever we show up, the darkness clears off. There was a horrible famine in the land of Egypt. People went to the extent of offering themselves for sale so as to get food to eat. Genesis 47:15, 27. The Israelites were multiplied exceedingly under the same environmental conditions but distinguished by covenant, exempted by covenant, set apart by covenant. Malachi 3:6. We are not permitted to go through what the world goes through because we are redeemed as a peculiar people. The kings are the last to be affected by situations in their domain. The last!
Our teaching series for our Midweek Services is captioned UNDERSTANDING THE BREAKTHROUGH POWER OF KINGDOM STEWARDSHIP. One of the vital covenant platforms that confer our exemption right in the midst of all kinds of unthinkable challenges that are hitting the world. Malachi 3:18. Kingdom stewardship is the covenant platform that establishes our exemption right in the midst of woes. Malachi 3:18. Malachi 4:1-2. A day is coming, it is far approaching, close at the door that shall burn like an oven and all the proud and those that do wickedly… People now run to all kinds of places. A time is coming when there will be no place to run to. Church Gist. The heat in every corner of the earth will be burning with the same temperature. There will be nowhere to run to. You run there, you run back on the spot. The earth shall burn like an oven. All the proud, those who say “Forget about God my friend, we know what we are doing. We are new generation”. The day that is coming shall burn them up leaving them with neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:2. You shall be going forth and growing up in the midst of a burning situation.
That is a treatise on the breakthrough power of stewardship. I have told you several times that we are where we are today, Grace made it happen. God made it happen. I would have been surprised if we were not there. I have found the covenant platform of walking with God very early. If you just know what He requires of you and you do it you won’t beg Him to do His part. He is a faithful Father. You can’t walk with God on your terms, it has to be on His terms. Don’t negotiate instructions; it can be devastating. You can do nothing against the truth but for the truth, so why waste your time? Job 36:11. If they obey and serve me, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasure, the economic circumstance on the earth notwithstanding. If they, so they have the choice. When God is out of the equation of any man’s life, frustration naturally sets in, Depression follows through and devastation is the end. If you take God out of your life, you will be empty. Psalm 14:1. No matter your reason under heaven, when you set God aside you have traded off your future. Simple! Proverbs 3:35. When God is out of the equation one becomes a fool and shame becomes his portion. Just like you go from glory to glory by wisdom, you go from shame to shame by foolishness.
Every believer initiates how God responds to him in the Kingdom. Draw near to me, I will draw near to you. Go far from me, I will go far from you. You are the one that determines my response. James 4:8. Zechariah 7:13. You hear me first, it is not the other way round. Until you hear me first I am not committed to hear you, cry till tomorrow. Until we do what God says to do we cannot commit Him to do what He says He will do. You, me, have to do first what He says we will do. Before He commits Himself by His integrity to do what He says He will do. When I said Ye! I can never be poor, I had found what He says to do and signed up for it. He is too faithful, much more faithful than me. Church Gist. His name is called Faithful. I don’t have that capacity. Since I heard what He says to do and I committed to do it, I won’t have to beg Him to do it. That is where the begging of believers begins. Lord, you must do this without doing what He says to do. If I don’t do it, take me to court and let me see the judge who will judge it. A revelation of the covenant is the master key to a fruitful adventure in the kingdom. I am committed to what He says before He can be committed in the kingdom.
Understanding the Breakthrough Power of Stewardship.
He said to me about 39 years now, “My son, there is a place for you on top if you are interested.” I was in Deuteronomy 28:1 and the voice of God sounded from behind that verse. I said Lord I am interested, He said “Whatever I tell you to do, do it. I am committed to set you on high above all nations of the earth provided you continue to hearken diligently to my voice and observe to do not observe to preach.” Not observe to teach, teaching is simple. Observe to do and then leave me, I am the one to set you above all the nations of the earth. I heard that when we were below sea level. I received it, carry on Jesus. Whatever you say is final. Church Gist. Whatever you say is final brought us to where we are. Because this is not a place to come, it didn’t make sense. It is contrary to human intelligence, it is an abuse of human intelligence that you are going to build a church that they will be attending every Sunday inside a forest going nowhere. Then He said you should shut down the one in town. Are you mad? No! Whatever He tells you to do, do it. This is a humourous God. Many of us are victims of negotiation of instruction. Lord wait a minute, let us look at it together. What if they don’t come what happens? He says “Carry on. Your views are okay.” Bye. They won’t go there and they won’t come here. You will just be off course. So wake up. Just do it. Whatever He tells you to do, just do it.
Now this is the big deal. Stewardship is not a gift, stewardship is not a calling. You don’t need vision for stewardship. Stewardship is simply a choice. Joshua 24:15. No I wish I was as gifted as Papa, there is no gifting here, it is “choosing”. Choice! We chose to, it is our choice to engage in stewardship. That is what you will think “If I were gifted I will also be enjoying the rewards of stewardship.” You don’t need to be gifted with the power to choose whom to serve. Church Gist. To serve God or to serve your interest running after money until money kills you. God didn’t make you to sign the deal I signed in 1976, the Holy Ghost didn’t make me, I choose to with this my new way of life based on this truth revealed to me. Don’t wait for God to come and tell you “O serve me” He has told you already.
Let me leave this one with you. My job is to tell you what the Spirit of God is telling me, you have heard all the teachings and principles all your life. Let’s come on this Prophetic wind. Every child of God is equipped as soon he encounters Christ to share him with others. I will show you 4 instances in scriptures. 1. John told two of his disciples “Behold the lamb of God” and they followed Jesus. John 1:35-37. Andrew first found his brother, Simeon the following morning “We have found the Messiah” and he brought him to Christ. John 1:40-42. John 1:45-50. The second instance: Philip found Nathaniel and told him about the Messiah. They had not seen any miracle they only encountered Christ. Instance 3: The Samaritan woman by the well, Jesus told her all that she ever did. She fled to town and told them to come and see Christ. Many believed in her. Many followed her out of town to meet with Christ and many more believed because of the Word of Christ. That goes to validate John 15:1-2. Every branch, it is not a special gift to any particular branch. John 15:8. Capacity to bear much fruit as soon as you become a branch of the vine. It is inbuilt capacity. Church Gist. Instance 4: 2 Corinthians 5:17-20. He has given to every new creature, the ministry of reconciliation. So don’t let anybody harass you about a ministry. Every child of God has a ministry. If you are a child of God you have the ministry of reconciliation, it came along with your redemption. It is not something you are praying for. In John 9, you remember the man that was born blind, he just blew to town “Come see a man..” He became an instant disciple and began to spread the gospel. Every one of you that is a branch of the vine has inbuilt capacity to bear fruits. So it is not something you are praying or thinking about, it is something you are inbuilt with if you choose to engage with it.
2 Corinthians 5:19. We have the ministry of reconciliation for our ministry of reconciliation. Every child of God is redeemed as an Ambassador for Christ with a ministry of reconciliation, reconciling the dead world back to Christ with a word of reconciliation which is what they have experienced. Your strongest message in your witnessing is what you have experienced. John 4:29. Just tell them what Jesus has done in your life. You say what has He done? Ask yourself “Am I saved?” if you are, the features of redemption are not available in the marketplaces of the earth. Love, Joy, Peace, Godliness, Patience, they don’t buy it in the market. If you are saved, there is the joy of salvation that keeps your destiny lubricated to avoid engine knock. The joy of salvation that keeps you going as if you are not aware of the world in which you live. Church Gist. Somebody asked me years ago “Brother David, do you ever have any problems?” I said maybe it came and I didn’t know. If you have no joy, you better check your salvation. All these up today and down tomorrow, check your salvation position. Are you saved? The joy of salvation is tantalising. It is not something you can keep. People talk about burnout and all that stuff, a number of people in ministry. I don’t know the meaning of burnout. I don’t even know jetlag. That I travelled somewhere and I came back and my leg is lagging, No! As my leg touches down, it starts walking. The joy of the Lord is a fountain of strength. In the precious name of Jesus, everything contesting with your redemptive rights. I curse their hold in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Glory to God.
It will also interest you that soul winning as ordinary and harmless as it appears is the platform for the making of stars in the kingdom. You know you can only get at God on His terms, not on your own terms. Every investment of time energy and resources, invested towards seeing souls saved either on the prayer altar or in passionate pursuit to see souls saved and established, everything invested towards seeing souls saved into the kingdom is a covenant platform for the emergence of stars. Daniel 12:3. Proverbs 11:30, 3:35. If you turn men to righteousness you emerge a star. That is why I know there will be an army of stars from this church who don’t look like it. Just like David, the family didn’t think he looked like it. They said Samuel, the one you are talking about is not a candidate, If you see him you too will know. You find that skinny boy who will just be throwing sling and singing, is that a king? He doesn’t look kingly at all. God said that is the king. Nobody will sit down until when he comes. You don’t have to look like it, just do what it takes. Your look is irrelevant, it can’t disqualify you. Somebody’s story is changing. I knew a star that I am always very excited about, his name is R.G. LeTourneau, a French roadside mechanic. He was an addict of Matthew 6:33. This roadside mechanic will sleep in the night and God will be showing him the engines, how to join the wires. He will wake up in the morning and join those wires and the engines will start working. He invented the largest earth-moving equipment in World War II and supplied more than fifty per cent of it. A roadside mechanic. Can you see a star emerging? He founded a University and was teaching there. The schools are still in place today in the U.S. Church Gist. when you choose to serve God in truth and in deed, the star in you emerges. We are redeemed as stars but many stars may never shine until Jesus comes. Jesus is the bright and morning star and as His Father has sent Him so has He sent us. So we have the potential of a star inside each one of us but this is what to do for the star to emerge. As you keep pressing after souls on the field, on the prayer altar, with your financial resources, we are all doing the same thing. God is not second place in your agenda. He is number 1. You wake up in January and you are looking at your budget in December, you have our God there first. You are not trying to see what will happen. What a good God we serve. It is your turn at last.
The end time Church is ordained a breakthrough Church. Micah 4:1. Authority shall be domiciled in the end time Church. Psalm 87:1-7. We are all aware Jesus is coming back for a reigning Church not a hiding in the corner church. Psalm 110:1-3. That is the Church of the end time. That is where we belong. So Supernatural breakthroughs shall become a core identity of the end-time Church before Jesus returns. It won’t be the name of a church or a programme, it will become the identity of God’s people. Church Gist. A new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name. So we have caught the way to it, all we need is required passion to engage. Passion is a vital force that drives soul winning endeavours. These folks are about stepping into eternal fire, rescue them. Jude 1:21-23.
Zeal must be coupled with knowledge for maximum delivery. Romans 10:1-2. The knowledge of how to is key to fruitful soul winning endeavours. Ecclesiastes 10:15. The knowledge of how to is what the Bible refers to as the knowledge of wisdom which will always guarantee a sure outcome. Proverbs 24:14. The knowledge of wisdom is the knowledge of know-how. That is the know-how about any given task. We must get back to that. James 1:5. The prayer platform is a primary platform for accessing the how to about any given task. If any man lacks wisdom let him ask of God. Why is the Church not growing I asked of God and He showed what to make it grow and we chose to engage. Church Gist. He knows all things, He has the answer to all questions. Jeremiah 33:3. No one can be a fruitful soul winner without wisdom. He that ins souls must be wise. Soul winners are described as fishers of men. Natural fishermen must engage with wisdom or they just exert themselves for nothing. You don’t cast a hook into the sea without a bait, you will wait there forever because the fishes are very intelligent. You want me to swallow iron, you are not okay. Church Gist. When you put some earthworm and it is dangling on it, the fish sees fresh food and it swallows the earthworm plus the hook and you have caught a fish. That’s one level. The next level is nets. You must cast your net on the right side and that includes the right time and by your appraisal, the right place where the fishes will be. You make sure the nets are properly mended to draw the fish. You are engaging a fishing boat, there are parameters to observe otherwise you just swim empty. You already know the passage of the kind of fish you are looking for, you know what time they move there, you have some knowledge of it so you put your boat on that tack sweeping them. No wasted energy this time, just go to Him and ask Him “Which way Jesus?”
Sir, one hundred days of prayer and fasting will not make a star of any believer. Don’t waste your energy. I am going to pray it through. Pray it through to where? To disobedience? No! This is why the knowledge of how to is key concerning the delivery of any given task such as soul winning. Proverbs 21:22. Wisdom is better than strength, wisdom is better than weapons of war. Let’s ask Him, the only wise God, “Show me the way of speedy delivery of my desired target this time. Show me where the fishes are so I don’t keep labouring in vain”. We just beware of wasted labour in this season of revival. None of our labours will be wasted. Let’s seek a better and faster way of getting it done. Church Gist. Every soul loving character in scriptures emerged as a star. Abraham stood to intercede for Sodom. He is a symbol of generational blessings. Christ died to bring us under the blessings of Abraham. Moses could not stand the affliction of the people of Israel. Even though he was on exile, his heart was still there which is why God could reach out to him. He might have been saying “Lord, I must see them delivered before I die. Send whosoever you will send, deliver them”. Job was feet to the lame, eyes to the blind and the ears to the deaf. He was so passionate, he became the biggest businessman of his day. It is not all these accumulation mentality, possession mentality. That does not take you far. Every genuinely soul concerned person ends up a star in the kingdom. Paul the Apostle, Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 9:16. Acts 26:22. Church Gist. He was a soul passionate apostle, he stood head and shoulders above all the others. God never lies. Daniel 12:3. There are many here today, if Jesus tarries at 120 your star is still shining. No one will end his life as a byword and a proverb. Everyone has a place across all ages as long as you can eat, you can pray. Give us today our daily bread began with thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth. Everybody has a place in this spiritual awakening that Jesus will meet. Jesus will meet a very vibrant, reigning Church. You better get set for it.
Can I conclude? God is not looking for who to use but who to bless. He is not looking for who to embarrass but who to enthrone, He is not looking for who to stress but who to make whole. Church Gist. Serving God is what secures God’s change from glory to glory in the life of a believer.
Prophetic Encounter Night 2023 is this Friday. God’s agenda is in details, those who don’t mind details don’t go far. If we ever put one leg in Capernaum and one leg here, nothing will work. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways, let him not expect anything from God. You can’t treat His word with levity and expect Him to treat you with dignity. Caution! Without a genuine panting, no one qualifies for an Impartation. We can only keep an appointment with God on His own terms, not on our own. “Go to the potter’s house and I will make my word known to you”. Church Gist. Don’t go to the blacksmith’s house, you go to the potter’s house. Jeremiah 18:1-10. The instructions of scriptures are non-negotiable, take it or lose it. 2 Corinthians 13:8. Impartation is accessible only to as many as genuinely crave for it following scriptural protocols as we saw in the case of Elisha and Elijah. Remember every instruction is a test that you must have to pass if you are to change class. Abraham jumped from blessing in Genesis 12 to sworn blessing in Genesis 22. Get ready against Friday. No transmission across Lagos and Ota, one spot as instructed. It is big enough to take a day off and camp with Jesus. One genuine encounter… Listen to me, beware of distractions. When I was on my way to Tulsa for the mantle of Hagin, the crave of soul. My driver was bringing the car in from the mechanic after servicing, the car caught fire in the hand of the mechanic on the road and got burnt to a standstill. Two days more to go, Nonsense! He said Sir won’t you see the car? I said I have seen many burnt cars in my life. I never had time to see that burnt car forever. I never saw the picture. I took off for my trip and I returned with the baton, the word of faith that is impacting on the world today. Lay aside your challenges, lay aside the mockeries, step into the new phase of your life. When I was in Tulsa, I never knew who sat on my left or right. Concentration! Suddenly I saw his face changed, Kenneth E. Hagin. It was turned to that of a little baby, with my eyes opened I saw oil dripping from his head down his cheeks and down to his coat. Then something electric was fired into me. I began sobbing like a baby in public, in a convention. Church Gist. In the midst of the sobbing, the Lord said to me “My son David, the baton has been passed to you”. If the little passion in me gets into you and the little insights that He granted me get into you, we will turn the world upside down. Get ready, don’t toy with it. You will return with the catalyst of destiny. You will find things working at a frequency you least imagine. Don’t miss that God given opportunity. The devil will tell you “Don’t go that far.” Do you know why? The harder you go, the higher you soar. We went far away from town and we soared into heaven. We never had a global identity until we got to a place where there should be no identity. Allow God to lead you. Get ready for it. I never bought a pin from that trip. I didn’t go to buy anything. I went to carry whatever Hagin carried and I returned with it. You will return with it.
The Coming to Canaanland of your Church is obedience unto death. There is no physical parameter that guarantees that it will work. Church Gist. There is no church growth parameter that validates it. Obedience is stronger than any factor of consideration.
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