ON THE DAY OF MY CONSECRATION AS BISHOP, (ARCHBISHOP IDAHOSA) SAID HE FORCED ME TO TAKE THE TITLE
WHEN I WAS GOING TO BE MADE A BISHOP I ASKED; I HOPE IT WILL NOT AFFECT MY JUMPING AROUND.
YOUR SUSTENANCE IN THIS HARSH AND HARD TIME IS IN RAW OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS.
IT’S THE SACRIFICE OF STEWARDSHIP THAT DEFINES OUR PLACEMENT WITH GOD.
EVERYONE THAT EXPERIENCED A TURNAROUND HEARD AND DID SOMETHING WITH WHAT THEY HEARD.
GOD’S GREATEST LOVE ON THE EARTH IS THE SALVATION OF THE SOULS OF MEN.
WE DO NOT BEG TO BE FAVOURED IN THE KINGDOM, WE SERVE OUR WAY INTO FAVOUR.
YOU CAN’T HAVE FAVOUR WITH GOD AND LACK FAVOUR WITH MEN.
LONG LIFE IS PART OF THE PACKAGE FOR ANYONE SERVING GOD FAITHFULLY AND FRUITFULLY.
GOD IS NOT LOOKING FOR WHO TO USE. HE IS LOOKING FOR WHOM TO BLESS.
NO SINGLE WINNER WILL BE TAGGED A BEGGAR AS THESE HARD TIMES WILL BE TIMES OF HIGH FAVOUR FROM GOD.
EVERY SOUL HAS EQUAL VALUE WITH GOD.
– Bishop David Oyedepo on “WE DO NOT BEG FOR A TURNAROUND IN THE KINGDOM 6” at Covenant Hour of Prayer (CHoP) || 16th March 2024 || Youth Chapel, Canaanland, Ota ||
Everyone that experienced a turnaround heard something either from the pulpit or from the Lord and did something with what they heard and testimony became the product. Church Gist. They heard something, they did something and something turned. ‘Irrespective of your title, if you don’t engage in this Wonder Double Agenda, you have yourself to blame’ – he heard it, he did something and a turnaround resulted.
– May you hear something again this morning that will open a new chapter to your life!
‘You are crying for money, I am crying for souls’ – okay, I join you. Amazing things turned. Old building had the worth of 20 million then – handed over to you for free. Wardrobe allowance – I have never had that…3 million naira worth of what to wear. Everyone that experienced a turnaround heard something, did something with what they heard and turnaround became the result. Deuteronomy 28:1-2. 5 years barrenness wiped off! ‘I was going to the ghettos (because all souls have equal value in the sight of God) and bringing them to Church. Church Gist. I was using my vehicle as a Church bus and hiring buses to support and then the Heavens opened. He visited me again and again.’ We serve a God of again and again.
– You shall be visited again!
– You have had visitations in the past, you shall be visited again!
—PRAYERS—
WE DO NOT BEG FOR A TURNAROUND IN THE KINGDOM; it’s been the exhortation line since the week began. Mary, the Mother of James and John got it wrong. She was begging God for promotion for her sons, position for her sons. He said “you don’t know what you are asking. There’s a cup to drink, there’s a baptism to be baptized with.” Church Gist. There’s a cup of stewardship to drink, there’s a sacrifice of stewardship to engage with to define one’s placement with God.
“I am in your midst as One that serves” – so He scaled the utmost height. Philippians 2:8-9. It’s the cup of stewardship, the sacrifice of stewardship that defines our placement with God. We do not beg to be favoured in the Kingdom, we serve our way into favour. Joseph never begged Potiphar for favour. Genesis 38:3-4. When you serve the Lord – “lo, I’m with you always even to the end of the age.” When God is with you, you begin to prosper in all that you do. You can’t have favour with God and lack favour with men. So he (Joseph) secured that favour by service. Malachi 3:17. Church Gist. Being a son does not qualify you and me for favour, it’s our service that provokes the favour of God on our lives. By the fear of God, he had favour with God. By value adding service, he had favour with man.
Daniel 1:8-9, Daniel 6:20. Serving God brings people into favour with God. It brings a man into favour with God. You don’t cry for favour, you serve your way acceptably into favour – value adding stewardship not eye service stewardship, not let us go – “they said we should go. You know our Church, we are always doing this thing, let’s go again” and then you are on your way going, you are talking. “How was your week? What of your father? What of your mother? Where are they now really?” Then you see somebody, “excuse me, Jesus loves you” – ‘get out my friend!’ (Laughs) You are not connected. There is no connectivity. Favour will always answer to everyone serving His interest.
Moses hated to see people oppressed. He went ‘extra extra’ mile in his reaction against oppression. He had to flee from the face of Pharaoh and at the well, he ran into favour and that favour brought him to the house of Jethro where God was going to prepare him. Church Gist. He got a wife there and got children. God hates oppression. So Moses hates oppression and so he was in favour with God. At the age of 80, he has not stopped hating oppression. “Now, come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring out my people.” (No – Lord…I can’t go) He took his wife and children, let’s go and die together. You can’t love what God loves and lose out of favour with God and you can’t hate what God hates and not have favour with God.
God’s greatest love on the Earth is the salvation of the souls of men. So when you are in love with that, you are in favour with God. When you engage with that, you are in favour with God. Why was it Peter’s boat that Jesus entered? Say, favour! Why is He speaking to you right now? Come-on say with me, favour! Would you let Him enter your boat? It’s your choice. Peter would’ve said “I have worked all night, I got nothing. How much are you paying me?” Church Gist. He paid him what money can never buy, what skill can never buy, what effort can never buy, what connection can never buy. Peter is still speaking today, other fishermen are dead and forgotten. “Peter said, Peter Said!”
We are saved by grace, so favour found you. “Not of works, lest any man should boast, favour found me.” He said “now, I have entered your boat, you let me stay on, you win favour with me” and at the end of the day, “cast your net to the deep for a draught and they inclosed great multitudes of fishes, the net began to break and the boat began to sink.” Church Gist. We call it here humorously, ‘net breaking, boat sinking order of breakthroughs.’
– That’s what you are entering into by letting Jesus do His work in your boat smiling not grinning!
Now there’s a paradox here. You find…God said “Elijah get down to Zarephath, I have prepared a woman there to sustain thee.” The woman was to be sustained because she was going to cook her last meal to eat and die. “So I am sending you to go and sustain that woman and the woman will access that sustenance in famine through service.” Church Gist. ‘Bring me a little water, she was going to fetch the water (there was no rain, so water was scarce). Now, wait a minute, bring a little bread when you are coming.” Bread? We don’t have bread o but I have a little pot of flour and some little cruse of oil that I may eat and my son…will die (because people die by their last meal). You don’t have to be sick. You eat your last meal and you say bye bye to whosoever goes first between you and your son. And she obeyed and until rain came back, she was eating fat. Your sustenance and my sustenance in this harsh and hard time is in raw obedience. The pot of flour never got emptied, the cruse of oil never failed until the day the Lord sent rain upon the Earth according to the Word of Elijah the Prophet. 1 Kings 17:8-16.
2 Chronicles 16:9. God will find you anywhere if your heart is panting after Him. God will find anybody no matter which corner of the World he is, if your heart is truly panting after Him and the interest of His Kingdom. Church Gist. God will find any man anywhere (boy or girl) wherever he may be. We don’t beg for favour in the Kingdom, we serve our way faithfully and fruitfully into favour with God. Psalm 102:13-15. Fearful favour is the lot of everyone that takes genuine pleasure in advancing the Kingdom.
When I was going to be made a Bishop, I asked them, “Hope it does not affect my jumping around after souls. I don’t need this thing. I don’t need it.” and I’m glad on that day he (Archbishop Benson Idahosa) said, “I forced him to take it.” Church Gist. Anything that robs you from running after God will rob you of your favour, rob you of your destiny. There are no entitlements in titles. Experience does not change people’s position.
My old man, before he went to Heaven, was very experienced. He bought his first vehicle the year I was born but he couldn’t drive forever till he went to Heaven. He was very experienced but never learnt how to drive. Church Gist. So, don’t start counting days, you better learn how to run after God and you will experience His favour in your life. Learn how to run after God to experience His favour in your life.
Psalm 44:3. We didn’t get here by our own strength, never. Will it not interest you that we never raised an offering once to acquire this land? Church Gist. Churches were acquiring the land after we had obtained the C of O (Certificate of Occupancy).
– Come on, give the Lord praise.
It wasn’t 2 plots of 530 acres at the first instance.
– You’re going to see surprises!
That my son got a building, freshly constructed, 20 million worth at that time for free. Church Gist. He got not the land by his own strength.
– You are going to hit favour!
– It’s your year of fortune.
So, engage in practical favour with pleasures in the matters of the Kingdom.
Finally, we do not beg for long life in the Kingdom, we serve to enjoy long life. A good old age is part of the package for anyone serving God faithfully and fruitfully. Exodus 23:25,26. Stop thinking death, think life. Proverbs 23:7. Church Gist. Stop thinking the nonsense things that they tell you in the hospital, think life. A good old age is the entitlement of everyone serving God faithfully and fruitfully. Luke 13:7. Proverbs 28:20. Fruitfully for longevity. Isaiah 65:20-24. So, see life in the things you’re doing and take delight in it. Psalm 91:14-16. So, expect this.
So, we say in conclusion, God is not looking for who to use. He is simply looking for whom to bless and He has found you. People have struggled a lot to get at anything, there are others who don’t know the meaning of struggle, they are just simply soaring. They are being borne by the wind, they are going in the direction of the Holy Spirit. Church Gist. He’s leading them into what God wants them to do, what God instructs them to do and they’re doing it, so, He’s bearing them up.
– That’s your new realm.
– The days of flapping against the storms, swimming against the tide, they’re over.
Raw obedience, simple obedience, delightsome obedience, pleasurable obedience change people’s stories.
There are many men and women in this Commission worldwide that are embodiments of divine favour without human hand. You can’t have favour with God and miss out on favour with men. Church Gist. Luke 2:40,52. So, stop looking for favour with man, secure favour with God. Secure favour with God and favour from men will flow naturally. Secure favour with God and you have automatic favour with man.
—Prayers—
We are going out this morning to market Jesus and marketers have to carry a marketable outlook. “This product will bless you. I mean, it works anywhere. It works everywhere.” You are doing it like somebody who has experienced it. Church Gist. How many have experienced Christ here? Okay, go and share your experience with Christ and present yourself as somebody who has experienced Jesus.
-Can I hear your Amen?
One of my fellows in those days said in Kaduna, he just came back from the US, he said “Sir, when you speak it looks as if you woke up from the same bed with Christ” He said, “The intimacy is so real from what you say.” Go and show the World that you have experienced Jesus. He’s real. Jesus is real. So, that they mock you, they mock Jesus. Church Gist. Before you are made, you are first mocked. Mark 5:39-43. They laughed Him to scorn before Heaven smiled on Him. Let them do it. Don’t ignore the poor, the Gospel is sent to the meek, reach out to them.
-Can I hear your Amen?
Every soul has equal value with God. The soul of a president of a great nation and the soul of someone by the roadside who does not know what to eat next, they weigh the same with God. Church Gist. Can I hear your Amen? The souls of children and of the aged, they weigh the same with God, so, go out with joy this morning.
– Nobody will return empty!
– There is no one you invite to Jesus who will not respond.
– Everyone that gives you audience will be convicted.
– Every saved soul will be preserved.
– They shall be gathered in Church tomorrow.
– They shall be in the Midweek Service in the week.
– They shall be at WSF (Winners Satellite Fellowship) meeting in the name of Jesus.
— Prayers—
We’ll be given details tomorrow on the Kingdom Care Centres where we’ll be moving our items and people will be told when to come for distribution of their needs. It shall be awesome. So, get ready, prepare all of those items that God is putting in your heart that you are in a position to supply and be a part of it. Church Gist. Those who cannot afford to move their stock, just put your seed together, we’ll be told appropriately how to do it. It will go to a separate account of taking care of the brethren. Can I hear your Amen?…and then, we can help get those things in the areas and stock them as people need them.
– But, no single Winner will be tagged a beggar.
– This hard time will be times of high favour from God.
– From those who are bringing things in, to those who are receiving them, stories will be changing like never before in the name of Jesus.
– The outreach this morning is declared blessed.
– Every place you are going to is declared sanctified by the blood of Jesus, sanctified by the Spirit of the Lord.
– Everyone on the go, receive divine utterance. Church Gist. Be clothed with passion. Passion for God, passion to see souls saved in the name of Jesus.
– I decree, the boldness required to see souls saved, receive it in the name of Jesus.
– The going is declared safe. No assault. No accident in the name of Jesus.
– Every soul saved shall be established in Jesus name.
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