Fear Not!
Somebody shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
That's not bad, but if there's someone here tonight who's going to see
the New Year let the fellow shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!) All right.
Shake hands with someone! Tell the fellow, "Neighbour, you're shaking
hands with a miracle – so you're going to have a testimony tonight" If
you believe that shout, Alleluia! Glory be to God! Thank You Lord!
I
believe that tonight will be a very special night. I believe it will be
an unusual night (Amen!) I believe there's someone here tonight who's
joy will overflow (Amen!) Now if you are the one let me hear you shout
a real Alleluia! Thank You Lord!
Let's
go before the Lord our Maker and worship the King of Kings, the Lord of
Lords, the I AM that I AM…"We are gathering together unto the….)
Go
ahead worship the Almighty God! Bless His Holy Name! He's the King of
Kings! the Lord of Lords!, the I AM that I AM, the Ancient of Days.
Worship Him! Magnify His Holy Name! Oh yes! He's worthy to be praised!
Amen!
Thank You Father! Glory be to Your Holy Name! Father, we want
to bless Your Name! We want to glorify Your Name because we know you
are here already! You are the King of Kings! the Lord of Lords!, the I
AM that I AM! You are the Ancient of Days! You are Jehovah Shalom,
Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah El Shaddai! You are the Almighty!
Glory be to Your Holy Name Lord! Glory be to Your Holy Name Lord!
Father, Glory be to Your Holy Name! Accept our thanks in Jesus' Name!
Tonight Father, surprise us! Visit us! Give us a taste of your power!
By the time everything is over tonight let every one of us have
testimonies and let your name be glorified In Jesus' Mighty Name we
have prayed! Amen! (Amen!) Praise the Lord! Alleluia! (Alleluia!) I
said Praise the Lord! Alleluia! God bless you, you may be seated.
There
is a song which we used to sing when we were younger Christians. I
don't know if you know it. It says, "Greater is he that is in me than
he that is in the world." How many of you know the song? A few of the
old ones "Greater is he that is in me, Greater is He that is in me,
Greater is He that is in me Than he that is in the world."
What is
the meaning of "Fear not!"? Or what are the implications of "Fear
not!"? The first thing we notice when you say "Fear not!" to someone is
that maybe there's nothing to fear actually. I mean, if you think there
is something to fear and there is somebody who knows there is nothing
to fear, he will say to you "Fear not!".
For example, in Luke 1, if you read it from verse 26-33
when an angel appeared to Mary, automatically she was frightened, But
the angel said unto Mary – "Fear not!" because thou hast found favour
with God." I pray that somebody would receive a message of joy today
(Amen!) She was afraid but God had brought her good news.
In Luke 2
from verse 8-14 the Bible tells us that when an angel appeared to the
shepherds at the field, glory shone around. The Bible says the
shepherds were "sore afraid". But the angel said unto them, "No. no.
There's no need to fear! I'm bringing you good news of great joy!" May
God send you good news of great joy today! (Amen!)
And in Matthew 14 from verse 22 to 27
the Bible tells us that Jesus told His disciples to go to the other
side of the lake and He said, "I will join you later!" Then He went to
the mountain to pray. While He was there praying He forgot about time
and so night fell, by the time He remembered - "Oh, I told my disciples
I would join them!" He came to the shore and found all boats had gone.
But you see, once He promised, He had to fulfil His promise, so He
began to walk on the water towards them.
Now, in the meantime,
there was a storm at sea and they were struggling with their boats and
suddenly they saw somebody walking on water. Now there was that
tradition among sailors – that just before a sailor would die, he would
see a ghost. So when they saw Jesus walking on water they thought the
end had come – "Ahh! Now the ghost has come to take us home!" But Jesus
spoke to them and said, "It is I, be not afraid!"
See when in the Book of Isaiah Chapter 43 verse 2,
when the Lord said when you are passing through the fire, I will be
with you so that the fire will not kindle upon you. Normally, anybody
walking through the fire will know that that is a frightening
experience but if the Lord is with you, the fire will be taken care of.
So even if you are passing through fire now God is saying to you –
"Fear not!"
In 2 Chronicles 20,
if you read the entire story there, you will find a certain King called
Jehoshaphat and three other kings came against him, with mighty armies
and they said, "Let's go and swallow him up!" And by the time
Jehoshaphat heard about these kings, they were already at his backyard.
Then somebody came and told him, "Ah! The enemies have arrived!" The
Bible said, Jehoshaphat was sore afraid. But he did something that you
are going to do tonight – he cried unto the Lord – "Lord! I have
nothing to fight with!" And the Lord answered. …..He will answer you
tonight (Amen!) He said, "Don't be afraid. You won't fight this battle.
I will do the fighting!" Somebody's going home victorious (Amen!)
"Fear
not!" could therefore be – ‘Don't carry a burden that is not your own."
There are certain burdens that are too big for you to carry so hand the
burden over to the burden carrier
In Joshua 1 verse 5 to 9
the Lord called on Joshua and said, "Joshua, Moses my servant is dead.
Now you take over! Where Moses failed you will succeed." And Joshua
said, "What kind of joke is this? Moses, great man of God, who saw God
face to face; saw the fire burning the bush, spent days with God,
failed to take these people to the Promised Land and I, his ordinary
messenger should come and take over these people?" He said, "No, God,
you can't mean it!" But the Lord said, "Don't worry, you are not the
one who will fight the battle! The burden is not yours. As I was with
Moses, I will be with you - no man will be able to stand before you all
the days of your life" I believe God is talking to someone here
tonight. If you are the one let me hear you say Amen! (Amen!)
I've
told you the story before. 1981. I wasn't 40 years old then and I'd
been General Overseer for just a few months. One day I looked at myself
in the mirror and I saw gray hair all over my head! "Ha! Lord! How? I'm
still a young boy! " But then we had some problems then and the Lord
said to me, "It's because you are carrying a burden that is not your
own." "Which burden? It's the burden of the church." He said, "Who's
church?" What's the name of the church?" I said, "Redeemed Christian
Church of God." He said, "Repeat it again." I said it 3 times. He said,
"Is it the church of Adeboye? "I said, "No." He said, "Who told you I
can't take care of my own? You are carrying a burden that is not
yours." "Well Lord if that is the case why do you make me the General
Overseer?" He said "I just want to make you a front so that people will
see somebody. I am the owner of my church and I will take care of my
church." I said, "Glory be to God!" and I relaxed and the hair became
black again I saw one or two gray ones some days ago. "Ha! Lord! Am I
worrying again?" He said, "No. You are 56 years old!" Let somebody
shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!) Tell the fellow next to you -"Fear not!"
God can take care of His own!
In Numbers 16 verses 1 to 35
three men, Korah, Dathan and Abiram - "Who made you judge over us? Are
you the only one who hears from God? You have turned the church to a
family business! I mean, you are the prophet, Aaron, your brother is
the priest, Miriam your sister is the choir mistress! So the whole
nation now belongs to Moses family! We will not accept that!" Moses
said, "I didn't call myself! I was busy looking after sheep and then
God called me." " Ah, we don't want to hear! We too, we too, we want to
be leaders!"
Moses turned to God and said, "God, what shall we do,
they are about to stone me?" The Lord said, "Moses, just stand aside,
just leave me and these people alone. Just tell the children of Israel,
all those who are supporting the rebels, let them go to their side.
Those who are on the side of the Lord just come aside. Moses, don't
carry a burden that is not yours.. I will show these people that I know
how to fight on land. That even as I know how to fight at sea, I can do
some little fighting on land!" By the time God finished, the ground
opened its mouth and swallowed the rebels! All those things that say
you will not reach your goal; the ground will swallow them today.
(Amen!)
In Isaiah 41 verses 10 to 14,
the Lord said, "Don't be afraid!" He said, "Because I will help you;
those people who are incensed against you, you will look for them you
won't even find them!" So "Fear not!" means - Don't carry a burden that
is not your own which is another way of saying, "Don't waste the time
you could have used to enjoy yourself. Don't waste it on unnecessary
fears. When the Almighty God is on your side it doesn't matter the
problems that may be facing you - testimonies will be the result.
(Amen!)
Why? Weeping may endure for a night, joy is coming
tomorrow morning (Amen!) so why must I waste tonight when there is joy
coming tomorrow? Tell the fellow next to you: "By the time the sun
rises tomorrow, you will be full of joy!" If you believe that shout :
Alleloooyah! (Alleluia!)
Now let us back up just a little. Before we
come to even "Fear not!" we have "And Jesus said.."Who said? Jesus! You
see, who speaks is important because the weight of his statement is
determined by who is the one making the statement.
If somebody who
is a policeman says to you when they are leading you to court for
trial: "Don't worry! By the time we finish today you'll be on your way
home!" He's not the judge. He's an ordinary policeman. When you get
there and the judge says, "Guilty! 6 months imprisonment!" You can look
at the policeman "But you said...!" He will say, "Eheh! "So what?" Or
if the judge says, "Guilty! Six months imprisonment!" and the court
clerk says, "Don't mind him, you can go home!" There will be two people
who will go to prison. So who speaks is important.
I think I've
shared this one before. I went home some years ago - some months before
Xmas around this time and saw some children playing outside and one of
them came to me. "Daddy, I need a pair of shoes for Christmas." So I
said, "Which colour do you want? Black or brown?" He told me. So I
said, "Okay, I'll buy it for you." So he ran out to those who were
playing. "I have shoes for Christmas." So they asked him: "How do you
know?" "heeeh! Lagos Daddy said so!" And then another one said, "I too
have shoes for Christmas!" So they asked him, "How do you know?" He
said, "My Daddy said so!" They looked at him and they said, "That is
joking shoes! Your Daddy said so? Eehehhh! That is joking shoes!" They
knew that when Lagos Daddy says you will get a pair of shoes, it is a
settled matter. But if it is your..." There is somebody here tonight
who is trusting the Almighty God and He says, "Fear not!"
Second, He's also the Creator of all of us here, according to John 1:1-3.
He's the Creator of all because it said, "By Him were all things made'.
So the One who is saying "Fear not!" is the One who created you. And
believe me honestly, He has your spare parts!
And then according to Genesis 14 verses 18 and 19,
the One who is saying "Fear not!" tonight is in possession of Heaven
and Earth. In other words He is someone who is rich beyond description.
The One who is saying "Fear not!" tonight, according to Psalm 24 from verse 7 to 10
is the LORD, the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle,
the LORD who has never lost a battle, the LORD who will never lose a
battle. So that's the One who is saying "Fear not!" Glory be to God!
Yes, go ahead, you can give Him a big hand - He deserves it! He
deserves it! Thank You Jesus!
I remember very well, some years ago,
a woman came running, shaking badly, the daughter was pregnant and the
enemies came to tell her, "Your daughter is pregnant? We will see where
she will deliver - whether on the ground or in the air - we will see!"
The woman was frightened and I said to her, "Fear not! Fear not! Your
daughter will deliver safely!" She said, "How do you know?" I said,
"Because the Lord of Hosts will fight for you!" There is someone who
has never lost a battle. He's going to deal with your enemies here
tonight!
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One who the Bible calls the Almighty. According to Genesis 17 verse 1
the Bible calls Him the Almighty, the One who could not possibly fail,
the One that we call the All-Sufficient One! The One who said "Fear
not!" is the One whose name is the prince of Peace according to Isaiah
9 verse 6 - the One with the ability to still any storm.
The One
who said "Fear not!" is the One whose Name is Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, the One who is, the One who was, the One who is
to come; the One who can take care of your present, your past and your
future, the One who is the Controller of tomorrow.
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One who according to John 11 verse 25
is the One who is the resurrection and the Life; the One who swallowed
up death in victory. He is the One who saw death and said; "I know what
I will do to you. I will just swallow you!"
The One who said "Fear
not!" is the One who is so powerful that whenever He wanted to raise
somebody from the dead He never mentioned the word 'death'. All He will
say is: "Little girl, I say unto you, "Arise", "Young man, I say unto
you arise." "Lazarus, come forth!" We are talking about someone so
powerful that He regarded death as so inferior that He never once said
"Death loose my friend!" So when He says "Fear not!" He has the
authority to say "Fear not!"
And you know that the One who said Fear
not sickness is the original surgeon. He's the One who performed the
original operation in Genesis 2 from verse 21 to 23.
When God wanted to create woman He caused Adam to sleep. God is the
first anesthetics specialist. This fellow just fell asleep. The Bible
says a deep sleep fell on him and then the Lord performed the
operation, removed the bone, closed the place up again and before He
woke him up He had finished all He wanted to do. And when the man woke
there was not a single drop of blood that dropped to the ground! Not a
scar! Not a little scar where my Father has performed the operation!
You see, when we talk about God giving you a miracle and you are
thinking, 'How will He do it?' Just go to sleep - by the time you wake
up my Daddy would have finished the job! Let somebody shout Alleluia!
(Alleluia!)
We were in Haiti, I'm sure many of you don't know where
Haiti is. It's a very long journey - away from here. When you get to
New York, you take a plane and fly for 31/2 hours; then you get to
Haiti. But why do you have to go to Haiti? Because we have a church
there. Church in Haiti? The Bible says we are to cover the whole world.
Anyway we went to Haiti for a crusade and we will tell you more
about that later, but there was this particular night during the
crusade as we were praying God spoke and said; "There is a man who is
impotent." God said He's going to take care of the situation. And the
crusade was transmitted on radio and there was a man lying on his bed
listening to radio - "Ah! That's my problem! Could it be that God wants
to be merciful to me today?" So he began to pray like others were
praying. By the time we finished the prayer he checked himself and
found that God had performed a miracle. He jumped up from his bed and
began to run toward the crusade ground. By the time he got there we had
closed, so he began to ask, "I want to see the Pasteur, the Pasteur who
preached. I want to see the Pasteur!" Somehow they brought him in
around 11pm just as we were about to eat and he came and said, "This is
what happened to me: I was lying on my bed and God brought a miracle to
me! Pasteur what power are you using?" I said, "It is the power of
God!" He said, "I want to serve that God! I want to serve that God!"
Glory be to God for ever more! He sent His word and did what?" Is the
Word of God touching anyone here tonight at all? Let me hear you shout
Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
After we prayed for him and handed him over to
the Pastor I made up my own mind too. "God! You who can take a miracle
to somebody on his bed, I too will serve you!" Is there anybody here
who is going to serve my God? Say it loud and clear! "I too will serve
You!"
Now He says "Fear not sickness because I will be your
physician! Fear not poverty because I will supply all your needs
according to Phillipians 4:19.
For my God shall supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. He said, "Don't fear poverty. The moment you become my
sheep and I become your shepherd then according to Psalm 23 verse 1,
the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." The moment He becomes your
shepherd you won't want anymore. As a matter of fact, according to Psalm 23 verse 5,
when the Almighty God decides to fill your cup He will not stop when
the cup is full. He said, "My cup runneth over.." Like I told you some
months ago - "Daddy, you are too much!" And this is the God who owns
the whole earth and the fullness thereof. He's the owner of the silver
and the owner of the gold so when He says "Fear not poverty!" He has
the authority to say so.
"Fear not!" Fear not what? Fear not
sickness, Fear not poverty, Fear not enemies! Ah! Because the moment
you surrender your life to Him, your enemies become HIS enemies. The
day He knocked down Saul of Tarsus and He said, "Why are you
persecuting me?" Saul said, "I've not even seen You, how can I
persecute You?" Well anybody who's persecuting Adeboye is persecuting
Jesus and I can tell you Jesus knows how to deal with His enemies!
Don't fear enemies because He says in His Word in Isaiah 59 verse 19,
He said, "When the enemies come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord
will raise up a standard against them!" And He said - "No weapon that
is fashioned against you shall prosper." And He says, "Do you know, I
am not just the LORD, strong and mighty, I'm not just the LORD, mighty
in battle, I am the LORD of Hosts, the Commander-in-Chief of the Hosts
of Heaven. There is nobody strong enough to face Me!"
I'm sure you
remember the story of Brother Sam. He was a young man, just born again,
full of zeal, the mother was a leader of a secret society and the house
was full of all kinds of idols. So Samuel got there and gathered all
the idols and burnt them and when the mother came and found that all
the idols were gone she reported to the secret society and they said,
"Don't worry - we will kill the boy. On this particular night don't
stay at home. By the time you return home you will meet him dead." So
that night Samuel closed all the doors and knelt down to pray. It was
around 12 midnight as he knelt down to pray. Suddenly, a huge dog, very
huge dog, covered from head to toe with charms came straight through
the door that was locked and was running straight at Brother Sam. There
was no time to say, "Our Father which art in heaven." There was no time
to say, "Hallowed be Thy name." but there was enough time to shout one
name (Jesus!) Let me hear you shout that name again! (Jesus!) So
Brother Sam shouted "Jesus!" I'm sure that if you see a dog like that
coming at you, you will forget that you are a gentleman. You will not
whisper! You will shout! Brother Sam shouted "Jesus!" and the dog
dropped down dead - right there on the spot! So that when the mother
returned, ready to bury her son, she met the son burying the dog! Every
force that is ganged up against you - one word will take care of all of
them! (Amen!) Let me hear you shout that name! (Jesus!)
After all He
said, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world."
"Fear not!" He said. Fear not sickness, Fear not poverty, Fear not
enemies, Fear not failure! Why?
Because I will supply the strength for you to succeed. Because in Philippians 4:13
- Peter said I can do - how many things? All things! "I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me." The Bible says in Isaiah 40 from verse 28 to verse 31
that if you will just wait on Him He gives strength to the faint, those
who have no abilities at all He will multiply to them strength and then
He will give you wings like eagles to fly over your mountains. And so
the Bible says in Jeremiah 32 from verse 16 to 17,
He says, "I am the God of all flesh is there anything too hard for me?"
No! The Bible tells us in Genesis 17 verse 1 that He is the
All-Sufficient One. So He says "Fear not!" The moment the two of us
become partners, because nothing shall be impossible for Me, the
Almighty, there will be nothing impossible for you my partner. There's
a song we sing. I hope we will always pay attention to some of these
songs. He says, "I put my hands in your hands Oh Lord, I put my hands
in your hands Oh Lord, I will not fail for Jesus never fails." When you
put your hands in His hands, you can't fail because He will not fail.
Fear
not sickness because He will be your doctor. Fear not poverty because
He will supply all your needs. Fear not enemies because He's the
Commander-in-Chief of the Host of Heaven and He has never lost a
battle. Fear not failure because the moment you put your hands in His
hands there will be no failure for you and Fear not storms. Why?
Because He's the One with the ability to still storms. The Bible tells us in Mark 4 verses 35-41
that Jesus was with His disciples in a boat and there arose a storm,
very high storm, so terrible that the boat was full of water and when
the disciples now woke Him up, because, oh! The Lord was sleeping all
the time, He spoke just one sentence - "Peace, be still!" Suddenly
everything became calm and the disciples came to Him, frightened, and
said, "What manner of man is this, that the wind and sea obey him?"
I
told those who were at the Headquarters something last Sunday. Some
years ago I was in a ship and there was a very terrible storm, very,
very terrible storm, so terrible that the Captains of the ship called
all of us together and they said, "Don't worry!" The fellow saying
'Don't worry' himself is worried! He said, "Storms are graded from
1-12, Grade 1 is the very small one, Grade 12 is the most terrible and
the one we're in is Grade 9 and he said, "Don't worry!" When I got back
to my room I said, "Lord, what am I going to do? I mean, here's a storm
Grade 9, Grade 9 storm!" And the Lord answered. He will answer you
tonight! (Amen!) He said, "Son, when there was a storm, what did I do?"
I said, "You slept" And He said, "You go to sleep!" And I climbed on my
bed and slept. When I woke up the storm was over! Glory be to God for
ever more!
I told the story to a friend of mine some time ago. He
said, "You must be a man of faith!" I said, "Man of faith?" What else
could I do? I can't jump out of the ship! And I was blessed to have the
advantage of even hearing from Him. Those of you, who are going through
any storm right now, go to sleep! By the time you wake up the storm
will be over (Amen!) Who says so? The One whose name is Prince of
Peace. There will be peace for every one of you in Jesus Name!
Don't
fear storms because He will put them to sleep. Don't fear
tomorrow...oh! There are many of us who are afraid of tomorrow
particularly those of us who are already getting old. "What's going to
happen when I can't move around like I used to do anymore? With all
those children now scattered all over the world? With the naira that
was able to buy a lot ten years ago and can't buy anything now?" Don't
fear tomorrow! Why?
Because the One who controls tomorrow says in Isaiah Chapter 3 verse 10,
"Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him. " I ask you to say
it again and again! "My tomorrow will be all right." (My tomorrow will
be all right!) Say it loud and clear! Say it as if you mean it!
I've
told you before, years ago, I was a graduate, my wife too had read a
little, our salary then was big but the mouths that were consuming the
salary were too many so in those days when we cook our food, our meat
was 'raincoat', you know 'raincoat'? That is the hide of a cow! And my
wife and I we used to struggle among ourselves - "Ah! This one is too
thick! You can't eat it alone! Let's cut it into two! Let's cut it into
two!" We were eating our 'pomo' with joy because we kept on saying,
"This is not how its going to continue. Tomorrow, my tomorrow is going
to be all right!" Say it loud and clear! I know I am not going to die
in poverty - no, no, no, I'm not going to die defeated! My tomorrow
will be all right! And the Almighty God said, "If you don't believe,
ask David." David will tell you that God never forsakes His own.
Because He said in Psalm 37 verse 25,
David said, "I was young, now I am old; I have never seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." There is somebody here tonight
God is never going to forsake you (Amen!) Your children will never beg
for bread!
And then He says "Fear not!" - don't even fear death.
Why? Because He has already removed the sting from death. Oh! Once upon
a time death was a terror - it was a terror to many of us because we
know that if we died we knew where we were going but thank God we met
Jesus. Those of us who were going to Hell now are on our way to Heaven!
I knew where I was going eh! if the Lord had not intervened. In fact we
used to joke about it in the University - myself and my colleagues - as
we're drinking our beer at Staff Club and after we have joked about
Jesus for some time and some people will say, "Ah! You people, Jesus
will be angry! He will throw you to hell!! And we would say in those
days, "Where else can we go? That's where all our friends will be! When
I get there I will see you and shake hands with you..eh! eh! You old
rascal - you made it!" Of course we didn't know that it's not going to
be easy to shake hands in the fiery furnace! Thank God now I am on my
way to Heaven. Is there anybody else going to heaven here? Let me hear
you shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
Now the Lord says, "Even when the
time comes for you to go I will walk through the valley of the shadow
of death with you." So David said in Psalm 23 verse 4, "Yea, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil
because though art with me." You know the Lord promised. He said, "In
my Father's house there are many mansions - I'm going to reserve a
special place for Adeboye and when I've finished preparing the place
then I will come and then I will take him to myself."
Now, if you
don't fear God and you continue in your sins then Number One your
prayers will be hindered and Number Two God's eyes will be turned away
from you! Because if you are dwelling in sin He will not be able to
look at you because no. no. no! His eyes are too pure to behold
iniquity. Now if God turns His eyes away - that will be an invitation
for the devil to move in. You see as long as God is on your side,
according to Romans 8:31, If God be for us who can be against us? But
if God now turns His face away it is only then that we are in trouble.
So
we don't need to fear sickness - we have the Great Physician! We don't
need to fear poverty - we have the Great Provider! We don't need to
fear enemies - we have the Great Defender! We don't need to be afraid
of storms - we have the Controller of Storms! We don't need to fear
tomorrow - we have the One who controls tomorrow! We don't need to fear
failure - it is impossible for God to fail! We don't need to fear death
- death is a horse that we are going to ride to glory! But we must fear
sin because if we continue in sin, the Bible says we cannot continue in
sin and expect grace to abound.
Anytime I find that the enemy is
about to attack me, the first question I ask myself, "Lord, what have I
done wrong? What sin have I committed?" When I go through and by His
grace I find that I've done nothing wrong ahhh! Then I know what to do
with the enemy! That's why I want to appeal to us tonight - the Lord
has already done extraordinary things but I know He hasn't even
started. I want to talk to everyone of us tonight, I want every one of
us, every Christian, every one who says he's born again, we must make
up our minds that from now on we will hate sin - like our Father in
heaven hates sin because if we can just get away from sin NO enemy can
come near us!
There's a prayer that you are going to pray tonight
and that prayer is "God, don't ever let me offend you again." But then
there are some of us who are not even yet born again - you are still
living in sin, your sins are yet to be washed in the blood. I appeal to
you tonight: Come and give your life to Jesus. Let Him wash you in His
blood. Let Him become your friend. Once He becomes your friend, you can
forget the enemies - He will deal with them! So if you are there in the
congregation and you want to give your life to Jesus come now, the Lord
is calling you! Or even, you are a backslider. You better come quickly,
that the Lord may save your soul and take you back to Himself. He will
be able to say to you "Fear not!" But if you are living in sin you have
a lot to fear but if you come to Him tonight He will receive you. He
will take you as one of His own and He will begin to defend you for the
rest of your life! Shall we stand on our feet?
Those of you want
to give your life to Jesus hurry up now, hurry up, our time is far
spent, hurry up now - hurry up! The Lord is calling you tonight. The
Lord of Hosts himself is ready to fight your battles for you. But you
have to surrender to Him first. So come quickly... I want you to pray
for these people who are coming: that the Lord will save their souls;
that He will wash them in His blood; that today their names will be
written in the Books of Life! Begin to pray for them brethren! Those of
you coming - keep coming! Hurry up! Begin to talk to the Almighty God
and say, "Lord I come to surrender my life to the Almighty God! I want
to surrender completely! I won't struggle anymore. I want you to become
my Lord and Saviour! I want you to forgive all my sins!" Come on now!
Begin to talk to the Almighty God and brethren, please pray for them.
This is the greatest miracle of all - the salvation of the souls of
men. Let's call on the Almighty God for these people: that the Lord
will save their souls! That He will be merciful to them! That He will
cleanse them in His blood!
Pray for them brethren! And those of
you who are coming - hurry up, hurry up! I know you are coming, some of
you are coming from a long distance. Come on now! The Lord is waiting
for you! This is the Day of Salvation for you! And as you come begin to
call on the Almighty God! Say, "Lord I don't want to be against You
anymore! Oh, Lord I want to surrender my life to You! I want You to be
merciful to me! I want You to wash me in Your blood!" Oh! Call on Him!
Call on Him now! Call on the Lord and keep coming! Those of you, who
are coming from afar, keep coming! I will pray for you in a moment -
keep coming! Come on now! Ask the Almighty; Ask Him to be merciful to
you!
Pray brethren! Just say, "Lord don't let me ever offend You!
Never again in my life! Don't let me ever offend You! I know You are a
powerful friend! And You can be a very dangerous enemy! I don't want to
be Your enemy Oh, Lord! Don't let me ever offend You again! Call on Him
now!...In Jesus' Mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Father we Thank
You because You are our Friend. Our Healer, our Provider, our Defender,
our Supporter, You are our Yesterday, our Today, our Tomorrow! Glory be
to Your Holy Name! Lord (Amen!) What You have done for us, we cannot
tell it all. Please Lord, don't ever let us annoy You again in Jesus'
Name! (Amen!) Once we are friends we know there is nothing to fear. We
just don't want to be Your enemy because when You arise Your enemies
will scatter and if You are on our side our enemies will scatter too.
Please Lord; don't let us ever annoy You again in Jesus' Name! (Amen!)
We thank You for what You had already done. We thank You in advance for
what You will yet do Glory be to Your Holy Name! In Jesus' Mighty Name
we have prayed!
May the Almighty accept your offerings in Jesus'
Name (Amen!) Why don't we lift our hands to the Almighty God straight
away and bless Him. Thank Him for January, Thank Him for February,
thank Him for March, thank Him for April, thank Him for May, thank Him
for June, thank Him for July, thank Him for August, thank Him for
September, thank Him for October, thank Him for bringing you into the
month of November. Let's bless His Holy Name. Say, " Father we thank
You! We thank You for every day of the year. We thank You for waking us
up. Thank You for hands that can clap Thank You for legs that can move.
Thank You for eyes that can see. We bless Your Name! We give You glory!
We give You honour! We give You adoration! Yes Father we thank You for
all You have done! We Thank You for January, we Thank You for February,
we Thank You for March, we Thank You for April, we Thank You for May,
we Thank You for June, we Thank You for July, we Thank You for August,
we Thank You for September, we Thank You for October, we Thank You for
bringing us into November! We magnify Your Holy Name Lord! Oh yes
Father we want to bless Your Name. We want to magnify Your Name!
Jesus
said to Simon, ""Fear not!"" Now, when we were in primary school or
early secondary school, there's a part of the question that we normally
come across particularly in Religious Studies. They give a quotation
like "Fear not!" and then they will ask the question: Who said it? To
whom was it said? When was it said? How many of you remember those
days? Let me hear you shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
Now we already
know who said it. Of course we know when it was said. The question now
is "To whom was it said? Oh, I'm sure you will answer immediately and
say, "To Simon." And you think that that's the end of the story. No.
No. No, there's a lot to that - all right it is to Simon, but its not
to Peter and you know there is a difference between Simon and Peter,
even though it is the same man bearing the two names. Simon is the
fearful one, Peter is the Rock, so the message went to Simon, to
somebody like me, somebody who's faith is not strong, someone who could
be frightened if he sees something to frighten him, not like people
like you who are great men and women of faith! But to a baby Christian
like me, Jesus Christ says, "Fear not!"
But don't let us even go
into theology there: to whom was this message addressed? One thing is
clear - this message was sent to a man on his knees, looking up to
somebody who was standing. Let's look at that aspect alone tonight
because the Bible said, "Simon fell on his knees at the feet of Jesus"
And if you are on your knees at the feet of someone and that someone is
standing, surely you are on your knees but your eyes are looking where?
Upward!
"Fear not!" is a message that would come to anyone who would humble himself, who is constantly found on his knees. In 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14
the Bible says, "If my people that are called by my name will humble
themselves and pray and forsake their evil ways, I will hear from
heaven and I will heal their land." I believe that somebody's home is
going to be healed tonight! (Amen!)
"Fear not!" will come to
someone who knows how to kneel; in prayer, in surrender to God, in
humility and it will come to someone who knows how to look up! In Psalm
121 verses 1 and 2 David said, "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills
from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord who made
heaven and earth." Those who will hear "Fear not!" are not people who
look down because when you look down you will see problems. You will
see the waves; you will see the storms. Those who will hear "Fear not!"
they don't even look to their front! They don't look around, they don't
look back or else they become like Lot's wife and become a pillar of
salt! Those who will hear "Fear not!" they don't look around otherwise
they may see oh, all kind of resources they can turn to - they may see
Commissioners, they may see ministers, people of the same height like
themselves that they could say, "Ah! Maybe if I talk to my uncle, the
Minister, help will come." Forgetting that the minister is here today
and gone tomorrow.
But those who will hear "Fear not!" are those who look up to the Almighty; people who, according to Psalm 123 verses 1 and 2,
The people who look unto the Almighty God as a servant will look to the
hands of His master - because they know that the Almighty God, not only
can He meet all needs is there forever! Those who look up and see the
Author and Finisher of our Faith are the people who will hear "Fear
not!"
So the word or the message "Fear not!" is for people who are
willing now to fix their gaze on the Almighty because the Bible says in
Psalm 34 verse 5, it said,
"They look unto Him and they were not ashamed." And somebody's going to
look unto Jesus tonight and he will never be ashamed again! When You
look unto Him it doesn't matter how deep down you are He will pull you
out!
When you read Daniel 4 verse 34,
you find something astonishing here. Here is the story of
Nebuchadnezzar. He was a king. He became an animal. For 7 years he was
completely mad - if you're talking about mad - he was mad, mad. When a
king becomes an animal eating grass - that is madness of the highest
degree! But it says here in Daniel 4 verse 34
that the day Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes to heaven - that was the
day his breakthrough came! Tonight somebody's going to lift up his or
her eyes to the Almighty God and suddenly you're going to hear - "Fear
not!" (Amen!) Because the Bible says in Psalm 40:1-3:
no matter how deep the pit, no matter how slippery the miry clay
surrounding your feet, no matter how hard the enemy is trying to keep
you down, if you can just look up He will bring you out of the miry
clay. He will set your feet on the rock to stay; He will put a new song
in your mouth! Somebody's going to sing a new song here tonight! (Amen!)
I
have discovered that when a man needs a very big miracle, then he has
to look up to a very big God. As a matter of fact if you read John 11 verse 41,
you will learn a good example from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He
wanted to perform the biggest miracle of His ministry, I mean, He had
raised the dead before. He raised Jairus' daughter but then there were
some very deep theologians and academicians there - so when He raised
the girl, they all said, "Ah, what happened? He himself told us that
the girl was not dead, the girl was sleeping! So what is the miracle in
waking up someone who is sleeping?" So Jesus said, "All right, I will
let the next one really die!"
Oh, this time round it was a very
young boy - the only son of a widow. This one had not just died - he
was going to be buried! And then Jesus met them on the way and raised
the boy up! Oh! But the academician said – "Well, I think the boy was
in a coma and as they were taking him to the burial ground fresh air
was blowing on him. Just as he was about to come up, that's when Jesus
arrived on the scene so it wasn't really a miracle!"
So when it came
to the turn of Lazarus Jesus allowed him to die, be buried and he had
been there for four days! Then He came back and said, "I will show you
that I'm the Resurrection and the Life! This one has not just died!
This one is not in a coma! This one is already stinking but I'm going
to bring him out! But to bring him out even I will need to look up to
heaven! Even I, I have to look up to heaven! I have to say to my Daddy,
"Daddy, this one is extraordinary! I thank You because I know that you
have heard me - I know You always hear me! But this one is special" He
looked up to heaven and Daddy sent down everything that was needed. I
am confident that the life of somebody is going to change tonight
(Amen!) I am confident that the sorrows that have been holding you
down, pulling down your head, will be removed tonight because you are
going to look up! (Amen!)
I've told you the story of a woman before,
a wonderful child of God and she had a son and the son was epileptic
and the problem of this woman was, when she gets into a house she'll be
well received but within two weeks the child will have an attack and
everybody will say, "Oh-oh! This is what you have with you? You are
good, but you can't stay on in this house!"
So she had to move
from that house to another house, to another house to another house and
she was praying, looking at the problem and praying: "When will God do
this thing, God, eh? And I'm following You? When will You do my own?"
Then one day she was going to the market with the son and right in the
centre, at the biggest junction in town where nobody can hide - the
child had an attack and of course everybody ran and they were all
watching from a distance.
Shall we go on our knees, individually,
and look up to Him, look up to Him and just talk to Him? Pour out your
heart to Him; tell Him you have no one else! You know all things. You
know everything - if I have something else at home - You know Lord!
Then don't answer me today! But if I have nothing else but You - then
tonight O Lord! I'm on my knees at your feet and I'm looking up to You
O Lord! Today, today, today I must hear Your voice! I must hear You say
to me - "Fear not!" I am looking unto You now! I know that if I look
unto You I will not be put to shame! I lift up my eyes unto You O Lord!
And I am expecting to hear from You. You are the only one who can solve
my problem! So I look up to You NOW, my Lord and my Saviour. You are
the only one who can heal me! You are the only one who can provide for
my needs! You are the only one who can defeat all the enemies in my
life! You are the only one who can change my failure to success. You
are the only one who can break every yoke in my life. You are the only
one and I look up to You now! You are the Almighty, help me! Help me
tonight! Help me like never before because I have no one else. Where
will I go O Lord, where will I go? Where else can I go? I have already
come to You! You are the Alpha! You are the Omega! You are the source!
You are my beginning, You are my ending, You are the Author and
Finisher of my faith! I look up to You tonight. Don't let me be put to
shame! The enemies are already laughing - silence them O Lord! Answer
me like never before! You know what I need O Lord! Grant my request
tonight! I am at your feet O Lord! I'm looking up to You Father! Oh!
Please help me - change my sorrow to joy today! Every reproach in my
life - remove it today! All those things, which are causing people to
say, "Where is my God?" Remove them today! I look up to You now - I
have nowhere else to go! I have tried other gods, I know they are false
and I've come to You, the only living God! Now, if You don't help me,
who else is going to? Who else will? I come to you Father and I look up
to You. I humble myself before You - I'm on my knees! I'm crying to You
tonight - Help me O Lord! Help me! Pull me out of the miry clay! Put my
feet on the Rock to stay! Put a new song in my mouth tonight! I want to
go home singing a new song. A new song of victory, a new song of joy! I
am before You Oh, Lord God Almighty! there is nowhere else I can go. If
You don't help me, I am finished! If You don't help me, then I am lost!
If You don't help me Lord God Almighty! what will I do? What will I do?
He
said first of all I should ask you - while you are still on your knees
- that you should praise Him! Just praise Him! Magnify His Holy Name!
Tell Him He's good! Tell Him He's kind! Tell Him He's wonderful! Tell
Him He's powerful! Tell Him He's mighty! Tell Him there's no one like
Him! Tell Him He's the King of Kings! the Lord of Lords!, the King of
Glory, the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle, the Lord
of Hosts, Jehovah El Shaddai, oh! The Lamb of God, the Way, the Truth,
the Light, oh! The Resurrection and the Life! You are wonderful; You
are wonderful! You are wonderful! You are glorious Daddy! Blessed be
Your Holy Name! We just praise, we just magnify Your Holy Name! Thank
You Daddy! Oh yes! We will praise You, we will thank You, we will
dance, we will rejoice, we will magnify Your Name - Blessed be Your
Holy Name! Thank You Father! Thank You Lord God Almighty! Thank You
Saviour Glory be to Your Holy Name Lord! Alleluia! Father! Blessed be
Your Name! Thank You Jesus! Glory be to Your Holy Name! Thank You
Father! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! Thank You so
much Lord Thank You Almighty God! Oh Blessed be Your Holy Name! Lord
Thank You Father! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! In
Jesus' Mighty Name we have worshipped. In an attitude of worship,
quietly just get up and sit down. Keep your eyes closed and remain
silent. I believe the Almighty God wants to speak to someone here right
now...............Let's go ahead now and just praise Him, lets bless
His name. Bless His Name. Thank Him for what He's done. If we praise
Him maybe He will do more. I know He has healed several people. I know
He has done marvelous things in lives. In fact, if you check your
bodies now you will know He has done some spectacular healings. Ohh!
Praise Him! Magnify His Holy Name! Thank You Father! Blessed be Your
Holy Name! Lord Thank You for listening to us! Thank You for reaching
out to touch us. Blessed be Your Holy Name Lord! Glory be to God! Thank
You Lord! In Jesus' Mighty Name we worship!
Let somebody shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)