l TURNED 55 YEARS IN THE FAITH LAST MONDAY!
I DEVOURED THE FOUR GOSPEL SYNOPSIS, MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN, DURING THE FIRST 3 MONTHS OF MY SALVATION.
THE WORD IS THE SURE FOUNDATION FOR ANY BELIEVER IN LIFE.
THE WORD SET ME FREE FROM TUBERCULOSIS THE SAME YEAR I WAS BORN AGAIN.
AT A TENDER AGE, I DISCOVERED I BELONGED TO ROYALTY FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
I WAS 16 YEARS OLD WHEN I PRAYED TO BEAR MY YOKE IN MY YOUTH.
I HEARD THE VOICE OF THE SPIRIT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1976 THROUGH THE MINISTRY OF T. L. OSBORN.
I WAS 22 WHEN GOD SETTLED ME FINALLY WITH MATTHEW 6:33 THROUGH THE MINISTRY OF OSWALD J. SMITH.
YOUNG FOLKS, SETTLE FOR GOD’s PLAN. DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE. YOU HAVE ONLY ONE.
AMAZING THINGS WILL STILL HAPPEN IN SOMEONE’S LIFE BEFORE THIS MONTH IS OVER!
EVERY TESTIMONY IS A CONFIRMATION OF THE WORD RECEIVED, BELIEVED AND APPLIED.
WHATEVER GOD CAN DO, FAITH CAN MAKE HAPPEN.
ONLY STRONG FAITH CAN STAND THE STORMS OF LIFE.
FAITH GROWS PRIMARILY BY THE WORD AND BY PRAYERS.
GET SERIOUS WITH THE WORD. IT DEFINES YOUR WORTH AS A BELIEVER.
JESUS IS THE WAY OUT OF EVERY SITUATION OF LIFE.
I BOUGHT 400 COPIES OF YONGGI CHO’S BOOK AND OUR CELL SYSTEM JUMPED TO 4,000!
TODAY, WE ARE AMONG THE LARGEST CELL CHURCHES IN THE WORLD BY GOD’s GRACE.
I’VE BEEN IN THE SCHOOL OF THE FAITH OF KENNETH HAGIN. TILL NOW, I STILL CHECK HIS BOOKS.
PRIDE KEEPS YOU IN THE SAME SPOT FOR LIFE.
FAITH IS THE SPIRITUAL ASSET NEEDED TO SECURE GOD’s INTERVENING HAND.
– Bishop David Oyedepo on UNDERSTANDING THE DEMANDS OF BUILDING YOUR FAITH 5 at Midweek Communion Service || LFC Canaanland || 21st February 2024 ||
If you check all testimonies being shared here, you’ll discover that somebody had something and did something with what he had and then, God confirmed it. Church Gist. Every testimony is a confirmation of the Word received, believed and applied. They are not happening by chance. Not anything that happens when they will happen. They happen by engaging with encounters with the Word that may come our way.
– May what is coming tonight be met with our readiness to engage accordingly in the name of Jesus.
Matthew 7:26,27. It is action that gives foundation for confirmation of the Word we receive.
– In the name of Jesus, no Word sent your way will be wasted.
– Grace to grab and engage with and tirelessly sow as the Choir sang tonight, receive it now in Jesus name.
— Prayers —
Now, whatever God can do, faith can make happen. Now, let’s come down to our personal levels.
– ‘Whatever God can do, my faith can make happen’. Church Gist. Can I have you say that with me?
– Some amazing things will still happen before this Month is over in someone’s life here!
Whatever God can do, faith can make happen.
“UNDERSTANDING THE DEMANDS OF BUILDING YOUR FAITH”
The importance of building our faith cannot be overemphasized because only strong faith can stand the storms of life, little faith cannot. Matthew 8:26. Little faith cannot stand the storms of life. Proverbs 24:10. So, if you must be strong to conquer in the day of battle, then your faith must be built. We must build strength to our faith. Church Gist. Romans 4:20. So, it’s not a matter of choice, it’s a must. Ephesians 6:12. So, we need strong faith to ward those arrows off. Ephesians 6:16. Putting the whole force that faith carries into work and then you quench all the fiery darts of the devil. So, it’s a must…and interestingly, faith has unlimited capacity for growth. 2 Thessalonians 1:3. So, you have little faith, you have great faith, you have very great faith, then you have supernatural faith which is called the Spirit of faith. It’s in grades. We need to grow up, we need to build up. Church Gist. The things we’re yet to overcome, they’re stronger than the faith we’re operating at, at the level you’re operating. When we get above that level, it will bow. 1 John 5:4. So, let’s build up.
Now, we also said earlier that faith grows primarily by the Word and by prayers and I want us to know the prayer dimension of it. Psalm 119:18. The prayer dimension is for access to revelation which builds faith. Faith only grows by the Word. Church Gist. What prayer does is to facilitate access by the Word. Jeremiah 33:3. Jude 1:20. So, whenever we are confronted, simple approach. There must be a way out. ‘Jesus, show me the way out’. 1 Corinthians 10:13. So there is always a way out of every predicament of life and when we call on Him, He will answer us and show us from scriptures the way out. Praise God!
Jesus is the Way out of every situation of life. John 14:6…and He is the Living Word and inside the Word is the Way out of every situation of life. When we pray that prayer, what the Holy Ghost does is to bring to remembrance the things He has taught us. Praise God! So, we have to be taught. Church Gist. John 14:26. We have to sit at the feet of Jesus while the Holy Ghost is teaching us and so, when we are challenged, there must be a way out. He pulls out from the things He has taught us to our remembrance so we can deal with the issue.
– Can I hear your Amen?
Otherwise, there will be misapplication of the statement that prayer grows by faith. No, it grows by providing access to the Word that stirs faith. Praise God! John 14:26. He can’t remember you what you have not heard. Church Gist. So, He brings to our remembrance what you have heard of Him. So, we can pray ‘Holy Ghost, please come and show me the way out of this unwanted situation’. Then He steps in and faith comes alive.
I prayed that prayer in 1997 when our last daughter was accosted by the spirit of death. ‘Jesus, there must be a way out’ and the Holy Ghost came and shot four arrows of scriptures from my Word bank, He brought back to life, it was needed for that time and that siege of death was shattered. Church Gist. So, get serious with the Word. It’s what defines the worth of any believer in life. Get serious with the Word of God. Hebrews 4:11,12. Praise God! Let’s labour. So, it’s not about wishing, it’s about working.
Please, understand that faith is a personal spiritual asset. Habakkuk 2:4. Just like your heart and my heart is personal to you and me. So, your faith is personal to you. Church Gist. Matthew 9:29. Hebrews 10:38. So, faith is the only way to secure the hand of God to intervene in our affairs. Where faith stops, God’s hand is withdrawn.
Now, for this evening. To build our faith:
1: We must connect to the ministry of anointed teachers. There are things we may not understand on our own so, He puts these anointed teachers across our way to open up our understanding. Church Gist. Jeremiah 3:15. So, they help to expand our understanding to open us up to what God is saying. Praise God! Jeremiah 3:16. By that understanding, your destiny just begins to flourish. Praise God!
It’s pride to think that you know it all. It keeps you in the same spot for life. You’ll never find a self made man in this World. You can only find many self destroyed people. In every field of human endeavour, it’s somebody’s input here and there that got you where you are. Church Gist. Now, you may be speaking grammar like parrot, but somebody taught you A, B, C, D, E, F and it took time before you got it. Amen. It took time. ‘You know, I am a celebrated mathematician’ Somebody taught you 1 plus 1 equals 2. At times you say it’s 3, they beat you and now you’re an honorary mathematician, you came from somewhere. There’s no one anywhere that is not coming from somewhere.
I always share with my colleagues in ministry. I said the problem with ministry is that everybody appears as a professor even when you’re a graduate assistant because they don’t ask questions in preaching. You just preach and walk away. You can preach any funny thing and walk away. Church Gist. You’ll be speaking with authority on something you don’t know anything about and you say ‘Where did you get it from?’ ‘Directly’ ‘How?’. I’ve been in the School of the Faith of Hagin. Till now, I’m still checking his books. He’s gone to Heaven quite some time, 21 years ago.
Isaiah 30:20,21. Just to see the benefit of connecting to the ministry of anointed teachers that are sent your way. So, we receive guidance through their ministries. Ephesians 4:8-11. Acts 8:30-37. You can’t doubt what you understand. Spiritual understanding is being able to see what God is saying, being able to see. Nobody doubts what he can see. Even if you are Thomas, you can’t doubt what you see. They open you up to see what God is saying. ‘Oh! So, I see’ Then faith comes alive.
Paul, a man of unusual faith was a bookworm. 2 Timothy 4:13. Maybe the person packing for him forgot it (His books). All giants of faith are Word note takers. They take notes of the things God is saying to them. So, it gets engraved in their spirit man. It becomes an asset to them. Church Gist. Acts 24:14. He’s found so many things. It has boosted his faith, believing all things. Philippians 4:13. It takes strong faith, unusual insight in the Word to say such things…and who can believe him any less? Because he was lost in the Sea overnight and he got up, not a diver, he didn’t go to the hospital, came out and went to the next assignment. They stoned him and dragged him out of town for dead and nobody could even pray over him, he rose up by himself. Church Gist. He was unusual. He was toying with death. Unusual faith through unusual insight by labouring in the Word.
– Thank you, Jesus.
2: and finally, engaging with the testimonies of others are great faith booster. The testimonies of the Lord in the lives of other people are great faith boosters. The testimony of Oswald J. Smith boosted my faith for superiority complex over principalities and powers. I saw the way he disdained it and Ephesians 2:6 came alive in me. Church Gist. I was looking for any devil to show that I had discovered my new position. Ephesians 1:21. His testimony brought that to light. The testimony of Yonggi Cho and Church growth mystery brought our Church growth thing to light. Yes, there was the visionary encounter but there is someone who has proved those things, let’s find out what he did and our pastors know how much we drew from that in our cell replication agenda. We went through his books and then the Cell system just jumped up. Church Gist. The testimonies of others are great boosters of our faith. Don’t mistake those things for chance. They found something we are yet to find that’s why we cannot command the same order of results. When we locate what they found and God is no respecter of persons, He will do the same in our lives.
– Can I hear your Amen?
After doing what we knew to do in pushing cell system, I said, wait a minute, let’s get to the book, Building Successful Home Cells by Yonggi Cho. We had 400 copies, I bought 400 copies and then we sat on it. What are we doing that we should not be doing? What are we doing that we are not doing well enough? Church Gist. What are we doing that we should not be doing? and then by the time we came out of it, the Cell system jumped by almost 4,000 in no time. Isn’t God wonderful? That’s what testimony does. Today, we are among the largest cell Churches in the World, in the entire World by the grace of God. Some fellow’s testimony stirred it.
In the great days of that Church, Yongii Cho said he was spending 75 percent of his time on the Word. 25 percent on other matters of the Ministry. 75 percent on the Word. Church Gist. So, before Sunday morning, everybody is salivating, they are waiting. Sumptuous meal, delicious meal, four courses. Amen. So, it doesn’t grow by just coming and saying ‘Praise God. Shout it. Shout Amen’.
We saw the Woman with the issue of blood, she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. Matthew 9:21-22. By Matthew 14, almost everyone was struggling to touch His garment. Matthew 14:36. Somebody’s faith boosted their faith to connect with their own miracles. Church Gist. So, enjoy testimonies. Isaiah 8:20. Testimonies are illuminators. They illuminate our spirit man to connect with what belongs to us. Psalm 119:111. There is nothing that somebody here has gotten from God that is not available to somebody else. The question is, are you willing to tow the same steps? The Word they heard, does that Word make impact on your life? Do you believe in this at all? That’s what determines what happens.
– It’s your turn!
Lift your right hand to Heaven and give God thanks for light.
— Prayers —
My Adventure In The Faith The Past 55 Years.
If the things stated in scriptures were not written, we can’t follow them. Church Gist. I share with you a bit for the few minutes we have on ‘MY ADVENTURE IN THE FAITH THE PAST 55 YEARS’.
I turned 55 years in the faith last Monday! Amen! So, by reflection, what is it that has kept me on course?
As soon as I got born again, I had such a craving for light. We were given this little, four gospel synopsis. They call it Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. I devoured that thing like a ravenous wolf and it just got my spirit boosted, first 3 months of my salvation. Church Gist. Sir, the Word is the sure foundation for any believer in life, the Word. No matter what you do, without a foundation in the Word, the journey may be rough. We need a strong foundation in the Word.
(In the) same year, some 8 months after, this Word created a reaction in me that set me free from tuberculosis. ‘Jesus, if it is true that you did what you did in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John…’ Why am I saying that? I read it. Church Gist. ‘Do this now!’ and He heard my humble child-like prayer and delivered me from something I was born with. Isn’t God wonderful? Praise God! Settle with the Word. Many have never read one chapter in their life. They are just in Church but they are not in touch.
Here is my reflection: Get serious with God! Do what? (Get serious with God). I call it ‘This is my story’ Get serious with God. I discovered I belonged to royalty from Revelation 5:10. What is a young believer doing in revelation? Not that somebody taught me, I found myself there. You said yes, it’s written to the Church age and now I’m a member of the Church so, let me read what it is. Revelation 5:10. Church Gist. Now, it got a serious hold on me that I would want to go out and I’ll check myself ‘Will a King go out like this? No, go and change’. At that tender age. Get serious with God. It’s not information, it’s a revelation that by redemption you belong to royalty, I belong to royalty. No one belongs there more than any other person.
Then, I read in Lamentations. I mean, you see all those strange books, (Lamentations) 3:27 and I went and knelt down under a shrub behind the dormitory and said ‘Jesus, whatever yoke I will bear when I’m old, let me bear it now because you said it is good. I know you want good things for me’. Church Gist. I didn’t just say ‘Oh, what is He talking about? I don’t want any yoke’. He said it is good to bear your yoke. Amen? If you don’t go to school on time, you’ll suffer it. Amen? Life is all about time and season. I knelt down and prayed that prayer over my life. Get serious with God! I said, get serious with God. I was sixteen years old. Get serious with God.
I heard the voice of the Spirit for the first time through the ministry of T. L. Osborn. I saw the person of the Holy Ghost, 1976 and I had that opportunity to see Him show Himself. I wanted to share that good news with some of my friends and I couldn’t find them where they were living. Church Gist. I said ‘Holy Spirit, if you are truly a Person, now, lead me to where they are. I don’t want to ask anybody. Somebody says ‘Word received, believed and engaged’. I just finished finding this out now, so, why not? I must prove it and I heard Him say to me ‘Go forward, make a left, make a left’. He led me without asking a human being under the sun, Sir to where they were living.
Come on, give the Lord a big hand of praise!
Now, what if I only found it and believed it but would not apply myself to it, it would be blackout now. I hear from God distinctly on every major issue. When there is silence, I know God has not spoken so, I keep quiet. Church Gist. He said, “Don’t mistake my silence for go ahead. It means, stay where you are until you hear from me”. I had not been called to ministry. I was just loving Jesus and loving His Word. Please, get serious with God. Psalm 119:97. Get serious with God.
– and then, the big bang! Matthew 6:33, through the ministry of Oswald J. Smith. Come and see reading. Let me hear you say it (reading). It’s dangerous to be empty, Sir. Seek after God, want to know more of God, crave to know more of God. I was reading that book ‘The Man God Uses’. Now, it’s a BOY reading the book, ‘The MAN God Uses’. This struck a chord in the course of my reading. Church Gist. The Holy Ghost just came ‘You seek first my Kingdom and all these things that others are dying to get shall be added to you’. Matthew 6:33. It settles my life finally. I call it the ‘Jackpot of life’. I was 22. Get serious with God. Don’t hang around for what is taught only in Church. Sit down, ‘Lord, I want to encounter you, I want a Word from you’.
Now 1977, in my studies. Jeremiah 29:11. He said ‘My son, your future is in my plan not in your plan’. Young folks jumping up and down, settle down for His plan, don’t waste your life, you have only one, you don’t have a spare. I caught it that day. It was like (a) thunderbolt from Heaven. ‘My son, your future is not in your plan, your future is in my plan’. I settled down ‘Lord, I want to remain in the center of your plan’ and He’s been faithful in guiding my steps. Church Gist. Can you imagine if I missed my step to America and began to stay there for life? Maybe I have given testimony that I got a job. You don’t know what you miss when you miss God, Sir. Proverbs 16:25. It can destroy a whole destiny, Sir. Begging, grounded, then you go anyhow. Isaiah 48:21. I think Canaaland explains that. Amen. This is a wilderness. But because He led us here, see what He’s doing?
– You won’t miss your steps.
Then in 1977, I got from A. W. Tozer ‘The Pursuit Of God’. Church Gist. That’s the title of the Book and He said to me from Psalm 63:8, He said ‘My son, the harder you follow me, the higher you fly’.
– Thank you, Jesus.
There are too many Jelenke (unserious) people all around the World. They just, you know, ‘I don’t like, you know, I don’t like anything to stress me’. If you are a sportsman that must win the prize, you’ll be stressed. Church Gist. You’ll wake up when you don’t want to wake up otherwise you’ll lose the race. 5 am, you are already jumping. You can’t say because your wife gave birth to children, that doesn’t stop that. ‘The harder you follow me, the higher you fly’.
Young people, we are in a doing Kingdom, not just hearing Kingdom. Matthew 7:24. My story again, get serious with God. When a child fails in school, you say ‘Sit up, my friend. You have what it takes but you are not serious’. Only a serious approach guarantees a glorious result. Church Gist. Get serious with God. You find me reading out dates and dates. I don’t have to write them, they are engraved in my spirit. I could tell precisely where He told me, how He told me, what I felt when He told me. Get serious with God. When He said ‘But thou shall not borrow’. I entered into (a) covenant the same day, borrow? Never! Not knowing what was ahead of me. Church Gist. If I were a borrowing addict, I’d be so indebted now that I would just say, ‘God, take me home because there is no way to pay for all these things’. Praise God. Simple things, He just walks into your life and you open up, you engage with it and then, destiny opens up.
– It’s a new day for you!
The story is simple, get serious with God. You can’t tell how much your redemption is worth until you get serious with God. Church Gist. Get serious with God. It always culminates in a glorious destiny. Get serious with God. No assumption, no procrastination. Get serious.
‘Himself took my infirmity’. I got it. My God! August 30th, 1980 and like I saw Jesus carrying it on His head, He never returned it. So, I can’t carry it anymore through the Book, ‘Seven Keys To Divine Healing’ by Kenneth E. Hagin. ‘Where you sick?’ No, I’m learning how to overcome sickness in case it comes. Praise God. Get serious.
I read 8 books on marriage before we were married. ‘How? Are you doing research on marriage?’ No, I’d be married. I need to know what it is and how it works. Get serious. Some don’t even go for counseling because they are children of pastors. Church Gist. You are wasting your life. You better settle down and let them teach you what it takes not to start beating somebody when you get married. Amen. What it takes to enjoy your life, raise your children and live a happy life. Nobody outgrows knowledge, nobody. There is nothing I can do about this machine if it’s not working, this piece of equipment. I don’t know it. So, wearing short knickers and (a) T-shirt won’t change it. I don’t know it. I don’t take delight in opening the bonnet of my car, I don’t know anything inside there. I don’t know anything. Church Gist. If it stops I just come out and take a taxi and go to where I am going. Praise God. But you now wear short knickers, wear tracksuit, carry spanner. What are you going to open? So much guesswork. There is no way to know anything you don’t learn. There is no way to know it.
– Thank you, Jesus.
Spiritual carelessness can be devastating. Judges 18:7-10,26-29. Careless believers trouble their lives without knowing. Church Gist. Isaiah 32:9-11. Trouble through carelessness. Ezekiel 39:6. Carelessness is costly. Let’s get serious with God.
-Can I hear your Amen?
Spiritual carelessness can be very devastating. He sent Adam out of the Garden of Eden. Just eat one fruit that they said you shouldn’t eat, that’s it and brought (a) generational curse upon humanity. Church Gist. Thank God for Jesus who came to avert it. We would have been sweating forever, carelessness. It stripped him naked. The glory departed, carelessness.
Some pay with their lives like Samson and Judas Iscariot. Some with Leprosy like Mariam, Gehazi and Uzziah. Some with battles all through their lives like Solomon. Spiritual carelessness can be costly. Let’s get serious with God. The journey can be most exciting, most fulfilling if we only get serious with God.
– Thank you, Jesus.
– Lift up your right hand and ask God for grace to remain serious in your walk with God.
— Prayers —
Can I say to all the young men and young ladies here? This is your season. Get serious with God. 1 John 2:14-16. Get serious with God. Daniel 11:32. You know the covenants of God, you’ll be strong and you’ll do exploits. Church Gist. You don’t have to travel around the World to do exploits. Just get to know the truth of Heaven’s covenants with man and line up with it. There’s no corner in the World you are in that God’s hand will not be seen upon your life.
– It’s your turn!
Don’t follow the vogue. Follow God’s vision for your life. Church Gist. Don’t follow your feelings, follow His leading.
– It’s your turn.
No shortcuts. Get down and be serious with God. Church Gist. Get down to His Word and be serious in your quest to know more of God and the future will be glorious.
– Thank you, Jesus.
Lift up your right hand everyone and one more time, ask the Lord, ‘Grace to remain serious in my walk with you, I receive it tonight’.
— Prayers —
— Altar Call —
Thank you, Lord.
From the age of 12, Christ was on key. Luke 2:49.
—Prayers—
Now, the race is on. A great start is required for everyone who desires the prize. So, get started. That woman and her child said ‘We must bring a soul this week’ and God brought someone their way, they brought him to Church and himself and the person that came with him, gave their lives to Christ. That was midweek and came again on Sunday.
– God will give you your soul this week.
Now:
– Receive the wisdom required.
– Receive the leading required to deliver.
– In the name of Jesus, your own Fortune 2024 package shall not be lost.
– Everyone will know that God has visited you.
– Everyone will see God’s favour in your life.
– It’s your year of fearful favour. Church Gist. You have not seen anything yet.
– It shall be an awesome year. A most humbling year in all respects.
– Sickness is banned.
– Disease is banned.
– Concerns are banned in the name of Jesus.
– So shall it be!
– May your obedience bring you to realms of noiseless breakthroughs. Church Gist. So shall it be.
– and grace to remain serious in your work with God, receive it now.
– Thank you, Jesus.
Lift up those two hands and give God thanks.
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