ABBA FATHER (PART 3) 8th of April, 2017

APRIL HOLY GHOST SERVICE

THEME: ABBA FATHER (PART 3)

7TH APRIL, 2017.

BY: PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE

Let us go ahead and bless the name of the Lord; let us lift hands to the Almighty God.

Let us worship the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Let us bless His holy name.

He is worthy to be praised; He is worthy to be adored.

Magnify His holy name.

Praise the King of kings, the Lord of lords; the Ancient of days.

Worship Him for He is worthy, He is worthy to be praised, worthy to be adored; He is worthy to be magnified.

Praise Him.                                              

Praise the King of kings.

Praise Abba Father; praise the Father of all fathers, the Father of fatherless, the Husband of the widow, the Unchangeable changer, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending; the One who is, the One who was, the One who is to come, bless His holy name.

Give Him glory, give Him glory, give Him honour, give Him adoration.

Thank You Father.

Thank You Almighty God.

Thank You Daddy.

O blessed be Your holy name.

Thank You Daddy.

May Your name forever be glorify.

Thank You Daddy.

In Jesus mighty name we worshipped.

Lift your voice to Him and say: Father, we have come to You tonight as Your children, please carry us in Your arms and bless us.

Go ahead talk to the Almighty God.

We have all come as children Lord, we are all children in Your arms, please, carry us in Your arms Lord and bless us. Carry us in Your arms O Lord and bless us. Thank You Father. All of us have come like children, please carry us in Your arms and bless us Lord. Bless us Lord. Thank You Father.

In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.

I have a Father

Almighty Father

He is King of kings and Lord of lords

I have a Father.

(hallelujah)

 

I have a Father

Almighty Father

He is King of kings and Lord of lords

I have a Father.

(hallelujah)

 

I have a Father

Almighty Father

He is King of kings and Lord of lords

I have a Father.

King of kings and Lord of lords, the original Father, Abba Father, the Father of all fathers, the Father of the fatherless, the Husband of the widow, the Unchangeable changer, the One who lives forever, glory be to Your holy name; Father, glory be to Your holy name. Thank You For January; thank You for February; thank You for what You did last month; thank You for what You are about to do now, accept our worship in Jesus’ name. We have all come to You tonight as children, because in Your hand You the Ancient of days, You who have been before the mountains where brought forth, we are all children, tonight please carry us in Your arms and bless us mightily. Before this night is over my Father and my God let everyone of us know the joy of children. And all over the world where they are listening to us right now my Father and my God please do something new. And Daddy, I am committing into Your hands specially all those who have decided to be our partner in this great work, wherever they maybe tonight all over the world my Father and my God, bless them mightily, support them, strengthen them, provide for them, answer their prayers; each time I hear concerning them, let it be good news.

In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.

Amen.

Let somebody shout hallelujah.

Shake hand with one or two people and tell him or her: God is going to bless you mightily tonight.

And then you may please be seated.

Abba Father Part 3

To become a child of God or to be born-again is different from being somebody who likes Jesus; is different from someone who goes to church; is different from someone who helps Jesus to celebrate His birthday at Christmas…

To be a child of God, to be born-again is actually the same thing as saying to Jesus Christ: I will marry You; I will be Your wife.

Let me explain

In some houses in Lagos, we have what we called – we have rooms that we called - ‘face me, I face you’; some of you know what I am talking about.

So, there could be a man in a house, living in his own room; and there could be several women living in their own rooms still in the same house and they could become very friendly, when the man wants to celebrate his birthday they help him celebrate.

But he cannot say to anyone living in any of those rooms, you cannot go out when they say they want to go out.

They will tell him, we are not your wife.

A person who is born again is somebody who had already said to Jesus Christ - I do.

Will you accept me as your lawful husband?

Yes, I do – I accept You.

Being born again means you have become married to Jesus.

The implication of that is that you will get:

Number one) A new name.

When you marry a man, you will get a new name.

When you get into a church to marry, you can go in a Miss Ojo and come back as Mrs. Dada – you get a new name.

In John chapter 1 verses 11 and 12, the Bible says, He came unto His own and His own received Him not. But to as many as received Him, to as many as said I do, to them gave he power to become the sons of God – you get a new name.

Your former name when your friends are calling you might be ‘Babake’ or some other funny name names but the moment you say I do to Jesus Christ your name changes to ‘Child of God’.

And I want to thank the Almighty God for my children who have performed tonight; I have never seen something like this before.

From the little children who performed to that young lady that preached that fantastic sermon; I have never seen anything like this before, I am blessed, glory be to God.

…to them gave he power to become sons of God or daughters of God depending on your sex.

And the new name that you get is recognized in heaven; it is also recognized in hell.

For example, in Acts chapter 16, you can read it from verse 11 to 17 (Acts 16 verse 11 to 17), the Bible says, God was performing special miracles by the hand of Paul and then some people who taught that they can just us the name of Jesus…; after all they say the name is available to all; some said, we saw casting out demons in the name of Jesus, so, they saw a mad man and they said to the devil in him, devil come out.

The devil said, Jesus I know; Paul I know - I know Paul is connected to Jesus, he is married to Jesus, he can use the name of Jesus and it will work for him - and he said, but who are you?

And he gave them thorough beating.

When you go into the church or registry to be married, the moment you said I do to your husband, whether you know it or not from that moment onward you are married and the marriage is recognized all over the world.

If you come out of that church and you said afterall, all I said is I do, it does not mean anything: I have not increase in height; my complexion has not change; it is me who went in that is coming out and therefore you go and marry another person, they will send you to prison.

Because you had already said: I do.

The moment you say I do to Jesus Christ, the colour of your skin my not change, your height may not change but you are already marry to Jesus and you know what, Satan recognizes the fact that you are now married.

We used to sing a song: I am married to Jesus, Satan leave me alone…

How many of you know the song?

You want to sing it for me?

I am married to Jesus Satan leave me alone

I am married to Jesus Satan leave me alone

My husband is coming to take me away

To His…

 

The moment you say I do, you have a new name.

I will tell you a story; some of you have heard it before.

When was I a Lecturer at the University of Lagos, one of my students came to me one day; as matter of fact she told her situation to her roommate and the roommate say to her don’t worry I will take you to my Pastor.

She said, she had a dream; she was given a lift and in the car there were four men; as soon as she entered, all four of them pulled out guns and they wanted to shut her that was when she woke up sweating and she knew this was not an ordinary dream.

So, she ran to someone who was palm-reader and said can you tell me what my dream means.

The Palm reader looked at and said: haa! on the 23rd of March you will die.

Is there anything I can do about it?

The Palm reader said, nothing, it is settled – 23rd of March, you are died.

She said, I think I will try somebody else; so, she ran to Babalawo (a oracle man)

The oracle man checks here and there and said, Haa! what have you done?

She said what do you mean?

He said, on the 23rd of March, you will die.

Haha! What can I do, so that I won’t die?

The Babalawo said, nothing, you will die.

So, she said, maybe these people do not know what they are talking about.

So, she went to the bar beach to one of the so called prophet there and told him the story.

That one rang some bell; roll on the sand and came back and said, on the 23rd of March you will die.

You will say how did the three of them know the same date?

Well, they heard from their own father.

By the time she came back to the campus she was almost mad; that was when the roommate brought her to me and when she began to tell me the story; I was much younger than now; I just began to laugh and that got her more perplexed – she taught I was the one who will execute the judgment.

I told her, you give your life to Jesus, you say I do to my God, you will live and you will not die.

She gave her life to Jesus Christ.

On the 24th of March, she came to see me and say, I am alive.

I said, I told you, you will be alive.

I want to decree to somebody here today, you will live and you will not die.

But then she said something strange happened in the hostel last night: she said, not a single one of the girls in the hostel was able to sleep throughout the night.

She said, could you explain that?

I said, O yes, the spirit of death came looking for you but you have a new name - they were looking for the fellow with the old name.

I decree today, every evil looking for the fellow with your old name, will miss their way.

When you give your life to Jesus, you become married to him and you get a new name.

Number two) Not only will you get a new name, you get a new accommodation.

Before you got married you are living in your father’s house; the day you marry, you go to your husband’s house – there is a change of accommodation.

Colossians chapter 1 verse 12 to 13 says, you are translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear son.

When you say I do to Jesus, you are translated; you change residence.

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 6 says you now become seated in the heavenly places with your husband Jesus Christ

Ephesians 1: 19 to 23 says, you become seated with Him far above principalities and powers.

When you become married to Jesus Christ, you get to a place where principalities and powers cannot reach you, you are far above them; you are translated out of darkness into light.

Many of you will remember the story, I have told you again and again of a woman who was in the city of Ilorin and had this peculiar sickness that whenever you switch on electricity, instead of the appliance working, the current will be flowing through her - You know the story.

You switch on the fan instead of the fan rotating, the woman will be rotating

You switch on electric iron, instead of the iron getting hot, the woman will be getting hot.

That was the situation when they came to call us and I told them…; because in the house she lives you there not put on the light; …give your life to Jesus Christ, you will be translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

She gave her to Jesus; prayed a simple prayer – we switch on the light, the light came up; we switch on the fridge, the fridge began to work; we switch on the electric iron, the electric iron began to work.

When you give you life to Jesus Christ, you are translated.

And to any of you who might still be living under the influence of forces of darkness, I am decreeing to you tonight, you shall be translated.

And then number three) When you get married, you get a new name; you get a new accommodation; and you get new responsibilities.

Your husband has new responsibility to you, he is now your husband.

It is his duty now to provide for your needs.

Philippians 4: 19 tells us that my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

He provides for your body.

1Peter 2 verse 24: once you are married to Him, by His stripes you become heal - you cannot be married to the doctor and remain sick - you cannot be married to the great Physician and he won’t take care of your body.

He takes care of your soul - Mathew 1: 21 says you shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.

He takes care of your spirit because you are made up of body, soul and spirit.

He takes care of spirit because even according to Mathew chapter 3 verse 11 the Bible says He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

Your husband begins to supply all your needs but then you now have a responsibility: you begin to cook his food; you begin to keep the house clean; you begin to do whatever he asked you to do; you have your own responsibilities as a wife.

If he asked you not go out now, you cannot go out because he is now your husband.

That is why Jesus Christ said in Mathew 11 verse 28 to 30, He said, come onto me all ye that labour and heavy laden and I will give you rest – come and marry me and I will take over.

He said, if you are marrying me, you must take my yoke upon you and learn of me.

But you know what He said: He said, My yoke is easy, My burden is light – marry me, I will take over your yoke; I will take over your burden and you take My own: My own is easy; My burden is light.

By refusing to give your life to Jesus Christ, you are cheating yourself and that is why I want to give you opportunity tonight before we go to Abba Father Part Three.

If you have not yet given your life to Jesus Christ, come and do so.

You are not a Christian because your name is Enoch or Mary or Joseph or Elizabeth.

You are not a Christian because you go church.

You are not a Christian because you sing in the choir.

Let me tell you, the original choir master in heaven was Satan before he fell.

Thank God there are no demons among my choir.

But until you say I do to Jesus; until you become married to Him, you cannot get a new; you cannot get the accommodation of light; you cannot get in taking care of all your situations.

But if you say I do to Him, He gives you a new name recognized in heaven, recognized in hell; He translate you from darkness into His own kingdom of light; He begins to take care of you as you begin to obey Him.

So, if you are here and say I did not have understanding like this before but now I do.

 I want to say I do to Jesus Christ; I want Him to become my husband; I want to marry Him; I will obey Him in  all things; I will do whatever He ask me to do and anything He says He does not want me to do according to His word I won’t do.

If you want to give your life to Jesus Christ, I will count from one to ten; before I say ten, come and stand before me so that I can pray for your salvation and then your name will change and you become a child of God; your accommodation will change from darkness to light; your responsibilities will change, you will no longer serve Satan you will be serving Jesus Christ

So, if anybody is here, you want to give your life to Jesus, come now as I begin to count.

One, two,

Come on clap for these new brides of Jesus Christ; the church of God is called the bride of Christ, Jesus is our husband.

Three…,

Come and say I do to Jesus today; let there be a wedding ceremony here tonight as you become a bride of Jesus Christ

Four, five…;

And those of you at the viewing centers just go towards the altar there, go towards the screen, the Pastors there will attend to you, my prayer here will reach you over there.

Six, seven, eight…

Those of you already in front begin to pray; call on him.

And those of you on the way pray as you come: Jesus save my soul, I want to become part of Your bride. Save my soul; become my husband; I will serve You from now on. Forgive all my sins and be my husband from now on and forever – I will serve You. I want a new name, a new name written down in glory; I will serve You.

Keep coming those of you on the way;

Nine…

And the rest of us please let us stretch our hands towards them and pray for them that the Almighty God will save their souls; that He will forgive all their sins; that they will become part and parcel of the bride of Christ. Intercede for them brethren for about two minutes. Those of you on the way keep coming you are not late yet just make sure you get here before I finish praying. Keep coming. Keep coming and pray as you come: Jesus I have come to surrender my life to You, save my soul and I will serve You, I will serve You for the rest of my life. I will take Your yoke upon me Lord; I will learn of You; I will obey You, be my Saviour and be my Lord and I will serve You for the rest of my life. Those of you on the way hurry up now because I am about to pray for salvation. Make sure you get here before I finish praying. And brethren let us intercede for one more minute that the One who saved our souls will save their own souls; that the Almighty God will begin to take care of them from now on; that He will forgive their sins; He will become their Saviour and become their Lord. Thank You Jesus. Those of you still on the way hurry up, I am about to pray now.

And Counselors could you please come here and attend to them here, there are quite a number of them now. Counselors please move smartly and come even as I pray. And if you are coming to give your life to Jesus just keep coming, get here before I finish praying.

In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.

Our Father and our God we just want to say thank You for Your word, thank You for an opportunity to have a brand new name; thank You for the opportunity to have a brand new accommodation; thank You for the opportunity to have someone who will now be carry our responsibilities, please accept our worship in Jesus’ name. I commit all these Your children into Your hands please receive them in Jesus’ name; save their souls; let Your blood wash away their sins; write their new name in the Book of Life; and Lord God Almighty, don’t let them ever go back into sin; and from now on any time they call upon You answer them by fire; and let them serve You till the end and I pray that in Your kingdom none of them will be missing.

In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.

Amen.

Those of you who have come forward tonight to surrender your life to Jesus Christ: welcome to part of the bride of Christ - congratulations.

Let me hear you shout hallelujah.

Now, because of you according to the word of God, Jesus is dancing in heaven because you have increase in number of His bride and I rejoicing with you because from now on I will be praying for you. So, I am going to need your names, your address and your prayer requests.

Counselors will give you a card and you will fill that card very quickly and as soon as you finish filling the card, you give it back to them and you can go back to your seat.

I will wait for you; we will wait for you till you finish before we continue.

Congratulations.

…join the Counselors, it seems they are bit overwhelmed.

Could you please go ahead and help the Counselors, as many of you as possible God bless you Pastors.

Softly so that the Counselors can hear them when they need their help in writing down names.

Please don’t go away with your cards; make sure you submit your card.

God bless you Pastors.

You can go back to your seat.

Thank You Lord.

I think we should give Lord Jesus a big round over applaud for that heavy harvest of souls. That is wonderful.

Thank You Lord.

Romans chapter 8 verse 15:

‘For ye have not received the spirit of bondage to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father.’

Father is a title not a name; it means several things.

It has a lot of things implied in that title – Father.

It is just like when you say someone is president: you also call him Head of State; you also call him Commander-in-Chief; you also call him First Gentleman.

And so because we have children among us we will try and be very brief tonight so that we will come to anointing them with oil before it is too late.

But Father means:

Number one) Sources or Origin

Isaiah 51 verses 1 and 2: God was talking to the children of Israel and He said remember Abraham your father, remember the rock from which you are hewn; remember your origin; remember your source.

When you call me Pastor Adeboye, my name is not Adeboye – Adeboye is the name of my father.

Mine is Enoch Adejare and one or two or other names, Adeboye is my father.

The interesting thing is my children bear Adeboye; their children bear Adeboye - we have a source, an origin.

So, the father is the source from which your blessings flow.

Genesis 28 verse 10 to 16 – Jacob has just grab the blessing that belong to Esau and he was running away and he fell asleep at a particular spot and God spoke to him and said I AM the God of Abraham your father; God jumped Isaac in between; He went all the way to the source – ‘I AM the God of Abraham your father’ and because of that I will bless you.

In the same manner, curses can flow from the sources – from the father to the son.

For example, 2Kings 5 verse 20 to 27 - the Bible tells us that when Gehazi lied against Elisha, he pronounced a curse on him and said, the leprosy of Naaman will cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever.

Anyone born in the family of Gahazi will end up a leper; they cannot escape it.

That is why in the olden days, at least in Yoruba land, when somebody come to you and he says he want to marry your daughter, you will ask him to go away and come back; you go and investigate his family because if there had been a leper before in that family, sooner or later, leprosy is coming back.

If there had been a mad man before in that family, madness is coming back.

Today now, science is beginning to talk of sickness and disease that they say are of genetical nature.

Father AS; mother AS; it is most likely they will produce an SS; Unless God intervenes like He did in the case of that my beautiful daughter and I rejoice with her.

That is why I am saying tonight in the mighty name of Jesus Christ if there is any curse in your generation may it be terminated tonight.

I have told you before the story of two men who fought…; and I will try and be brief as possible so that as soon as I feel like I will just stop the sermon so we can continue with what we want to do, after all, Abba Father part four is still coming. Who knows maybe part five will still come.

Two men fought and one said to the other: by the time I finish with you nobody will remember you ever came to this world.

Two weeks later, the man he fought with died.

His children came home to bury him, the first son had just return from Germany with a brand new car; they finish the celebration, the burial, and on their way back, the first son had an accident in his car and died.

 They gave the news to the mother; the mother broke down and died.

The other children came home to bury their mother, on their way back the next fellow, the oldest among them had an accident and died.

These children did not know why they were dying; they were not there when the two fathers were fighting.

You have heard the story before, so I don’t need to continue with the story.

But you are going to pray a prayer right now; you will stand on your feet and lift your voice to the Almighty God loud and clear and say: Abba Father, I am a member of Your family now and there is no curse in Your family, let there be no more curse in my generation.

Open your mouth and cry to the Almighty God.

I am a member of Your family now, I am child of God and there is no curse in Your family Abba Father, no curse in Your family, let there be no more curse, no more curses in my generation; let there be no more curses in my generation. No more curses Lord in my generation because I am a member of Your family now, let there be no more curses in my own generation. I belong to Your family; I belong to Your family now, no curses in Your generation Daddy, let there be none in my generation from now on. Thank You Father.

In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.

And so shall it be in Jesus’ name.

Father…; please be seated, God bless you; …means Bread Winner, Provider – the one who provides for the family.

That is why in my village, I don’t know of other places, at least in the olden days, when some come to you and says he want to marry your daughter, you give him a test – an interesting test.

You give him a big bowl of pounded yam and see how much of it he can eat.

If he does not eat too much, you don’t give him your daughter.

Why?

Because you are not sure you will be able to provide.

You think those elders are foolish, they know what they are doing.

1Timothy chapter 5 verse 8 says if anyone does not provide for his family, he is worse than an infidel – the father, the Bread winner is to provide for his family.

In Mathew chapter 6 verse 9 to 11 – when Jesus Christ was teaching the Disciple to pray, He said, this is how you should pray: our Father which art in heaven…; and as I told those of you who came to holy communion last night, God is a family man, He is a Father.

After He said hallowed be thy name, He said, give us this days our daily bread…

 Papa, fulfill your role! Aren’t you happy God is your father?

Because Philippians 4:19 says my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Believe me honestly, if you allow Him to do it, it is the duty of the father to produce a wife for his son. It is that now, sons have become far far sophisticated than their father.

But in Genesis chapter 24 verse 1 to the end, it was Abraham who said, it is time Isaac should have a wife and he make the arrangements.

The only thing Isaac did was that he went for a stroll, saw a woman the servant of a servant was bringing, grab the woman, move into his father’s tent and that was the end of the story.

And if you read Judges chapter 14 verse 1 to 3 you will see that Samson said to his father, I have seen a woman that I like get her for me.

It is the duty of the father to even provide his son a wife.

The beautiful thing about our heavenly Father, Abba Father, is that He is more than enough to meet all your needs.

Genesis 17 verse 1 calls Him Jehovah El-shaddai, the God who is more than enough.

I tell you a story very quickly.

A woman was having a problem paying her rent and her old mother was living with her blind (the old woman was blind) and the Landlord came and say I give you three days to pay my rent or you and your old mama will be thrown to the street.

The lady turned to the Almighty God and said, you are my Father, there is no way I can get this money within now and three days; even if You are not going to think of me, think of my blind mother; I commit everything to You.

The money of the third day came.

She had prayed all night so she fell asleep.

When she woke up she started smelling food being prepared in the kitchen.

Who is cooking in my kitchen?

She got up and saw mama.

Mama said, when you are sleeping God opened my eyes.

The woman said, God open your eyes!

Yeah

If He can open your eyes, He will pay the rent.

She went to collect her mail and found that a relative died somewhere – a relative they have not heard about for a long time and has sent a check more than enough even to buy the house.

There is a God who can heal, who can provide, who can set free.

Stand on your feet and cry unto Him and say: Abba Father, there is no poverty in Your family, don’t let me lack.

Go ahead talk to the Almighty God.

Abba Father, You are the All sufficient God, there is no poverty in Your family, I am a member of Your family now, don’t let me lack, don’t let me lack; don’t let me lack; don’t let me lack. O Father, there is no poverty in Your family and I am a member of Your family Lord, don’t let me lack, don’t let me lack; don’t let me lack. Abba Father, don’t let me lack. Don’t let me every lack again. Don’t let me lack for health; don’t let me lack for joy; don’t let me lack for peace; don’t let me lack for money; don’t let me lack there is no lack in Your family, no poverty in Your family and I am a member of Your family; I am a member of Your family, don’t let me ever lack again; don’t let me ever lack again. Thank You Father. Glory be to Your holy name Lord.

In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.

And so shall it be in Jesus’ name.

Please be seated.

Father also means Teacher.

Father is the teacher; particularly if you are a son you will understand that.

Most of the things I learnt about life, I learnt from my daddy - he taught me several things.

He is the one for example who told me that once a lion wakes up in the morning, he prays a prayer to God: God, show me the animal I will eat today and leave the two of us alone - don’t help me; don’t help the animal.

Now that I became a Christian I realize that if the devil ever prays, he will probably say God, show me the Christian I will destroy today and leave the two of us alone.

I pray that God will never leave you alone.     

Genesis 18 verse 17 to 19 …

Thank You Father.

The Lord ask me to tell you a story; some of you probably heard the story several years ago; it was about a man who went with his wife and his daughter on a boat cruse  - I mean they went in their little boat – sailing

In the middle of the sea they had an accident, the boat capsized and the man was the only one who could swim.

So he held the wife on one hand, the daughter on another hand and he was swimming to the shore.

After sometimes he became tired because he was swimming only with his leg and he concluded – saw clearly – if he is ever to get to the shore he has to drop somebody.

He dropped the daughter and swam to shore with his wife.

But for the rest of his life the cry of the daughter kept on agonizing him.

The Lord asks me to tell somebody here today, He said, I will carry you and carry your children.

Genesis 18 verse 17 to 19 – the Almighty God said, I know Abraham that he will teach his children to follow in his footsteps – ‘I know Abraham, I know he will teach his children’

You know, Proverbs 22 verse 6 says: train up a child in the way he should go, when is old he won’t depart from it.

It is the duty of you parents to train your children particularly in the way of the Lord.

The teachers in the school have their own role, probably to teach them A, B, C; you are the one to teach them morals, teach them the way of the Lord.

Ask my children they will tell you when will go and fishing whether in December or in April and take these children along, the purpose of my taking them along is to teach them because as we go on the way I begin to teach them proverbs, big proverbs of our fathers.

Train up a child; the role of a father is to teach the children.

In Psalm 32 verse 8, the Almighty God said I will instruct you, I will teach you.

In Psalm 18 verse 34, David said, he taught my hand to war – he taught me how to fight.

Let me assure you of one thing, no matter how clever you are, it is when God begins to teach you that you begin to excel.

When God teaches you, you have wisdom that will excel that of your Professors, your Instructors.

When you have God as your Father, as your Teacher you will excel.

Again I have told you several time before, I think it was way back in 1976 when I attended World Conference of Applied Mathematicians; we came all from all over the world; there were only two people from Nigeria that went to represent the country.

I was a very small boy; of course you know how old I will be in 1976.

On the opening day, the man who gave the first talk had written more than one hundred and fifty publications and when he began to talk to us, he began to talk about mathematics of the rain.

I looked at myself I said God what am I doing here – at that time I have probably written about twelve or so publications.

So I prayed to God throughout the night: God when it is time to present my paper, don’t let this man come.

When I got there, he was the first fellow seating right in front of me because he wanted to know what is this small boy going to say.

But God spoke through me.

By the time I finish presenting my paper they all got up and clapped because Daddy taught me.

I still remember the time like yesterday because after we finished and we were drinking tea and one of the big Professors came to me and say: oh, that was a wonderful job you have done.

I said yes sir.

He said, don’t you think you could have arrived at the result faster if you use vector analysis instead of complex analysis?

I said, O yes, O yes, I was thinking about that too.

Stand on your feet and lift your voice to the Almighty God and say: Abba Father, teach me and my children to excel.

Open and talk to the Almighty God.

Teach us to excel Lord, teach us to excel. Teach me to excel; teach my children to excel. Teach us to excel in the mighty name of Jesus. Teach us to excel. Teach us to excel. Teach us to excel. Thank You Father. Teach me and my children to excel in everything; teach us to excel; teach us to excel; teach us to excel; teach us to excel. Let us excel at home, excel in the church, excel in office, excel in our studies, excel in our career, teach us to excel. Father, teach us to excel.

In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.

And so shall it be in Jesus’ name.

Please be seated.

The word Father also means Friend – Friend of the child of course; it does not mean friend of everybody – friend of the child.

As a matter of fact, it is when you are close to your father that you call him Abba, Daddy, Popsy, or any other name just to show affection.

In Genesis 37 verse 3 to 4 you see what we are talking about.

The father of Joseph loved him; he gave him coat of many colours.

Father - loving

In Genesis 22 verse 1 to 2…

Haa! thank You Father.

I feel like jumping

Hallelujah

I feel like jumping

The Lord asks me to tell you within the next three months he will open many wombs.

Hallelujah Father.

He said so that there will be many more children here next year.

Thank You Daddy.      

Genesis 22 verses 1 and 2 – God said to Abraham take your son Isaac, your only son Isaac whom thou lovest

A true father is a friend of the children.

In Mathew chapter 3 verse 17, the Father in heaven spoke and said concerning Jesus: this is my beloveth son in whom I am well pleased

Father is a friend, a friend of his child.

Now, if your father loves you that one has some serious implications:

Implication number one) Romans 8:31 – if God be for us who can be against us?

That is why a father is also a Defender

I don’t have the time to look into that one in detail.

But a father, a father will defend his child against anything or anybody; he will risk his own life to protect a child.

However, because we don’t have much time; …in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5 to 11, tells you: whatsoever the Father loves, He chastens.

If your father is really your friend, he will keep on correcting you - at times by force – so that you may turn out right.

I thank the Almighty God today that by His grace my children have turn out right. But they will tell you in private that this father is very loving but he can be tough; he can be tough.

Why?

Because the desire of the father is that…; a good father, the desire of a good father is at least the child will be like himself if not better.

My prayer for all of you is that your children will be greater than you.

The Bible says in Proverbs 29 verse 15, said, a child left to himself will bring shame.

If you leave your to himself, say, do whatever you like and you are not going to correct the child; haha, shame is coming.

So, many of you parents now who have become more sophisticated that you don’t want to correct your children any more – Oh oh! Wait and see.

And the more the father loves you and the more he corrects you – the more closely he monitors you.

Some of you think your parents are too strict, you little children you think your parents are too strict, they seem to be hindering your freedom - it is because they don’t want you to get burnt.

I have told you the story before.

We were going to dig some pit in our first camp ground - two pits - one for women, one for the elder.

 And we hired one huge Hausa man to help us do digging and you know these people who can dig, their hands can be as tough as iron.

We reach an agreement with the Surveyor: it was in the day of feet and yards and we agreed on 60feets by 6feets which is approximately 20meters by 2meters.

We got to the first place and he began to measure instead of measuring in feet he was measuring in meters.

I saw it, my Father in heaven spoke to me and said, correct him.

I said, no Lord – if he does not know the different between meter and feet, let him pay for it.

God kept quite.

We got to the second place, he began to measure in meter again and God said correct him

I said no Lord; I don’t know what school of Survey he went to.

If he does not know the different between meter and feet let him pay for it and God kept quite.

As soon as he finished measuring and I turn to go, this huge Hausa man who was going to dig smiled at me and said, megida and stretch forth his hand to shake my hands and I wanted to equalize so I took his hand.

As soon as I took his hand he began to squeeze my hand – I mean his hand was like iron.

(You can laugh because it is not your hand that was being squeezed)

It was as if he was going to break my bone…

Lord, help me.

And God said, I told you to correct him

I will! I will! I will! And the hausa man release my hand.

I turned to the surveyor, I corrected him.

By now, my hand was burning like fire.

As I was going back to my car, I was grumbling: Lord, the punishment is too much for the offence.

He said, son, I have told you, you are special to me, I will tolerate no nonsense from you.

Stand on your feet, cry onto the Almighty God and say: Abba Father, if I offend You, correct me but please don’t leave me alone.

Go ahead talk to the Almighty God.

If I offend You Abba Father correct me, correct me, don’t leave me alone; don’t leave me alone. Don’t leave alone, don’t leave me alone at all, I know you love me; so, if I offend You correct me, correct me, don’t leave me alone, I don’t want to become a son that will bring shame, don’t leave me alone to myself. If I offend You, correct me Lord. I want to be special to You, I don’t want You to tolerate any nonsense with me, if I offend You, correct me but please don’t leave me alone; don’t leave me alone.

In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.

And so shall it be in Jesus’ name.

Please be seated.

I will take just one more and then I will round up.

Father also means Adviser - the one who counsels; the one who can tell his child this is what to do when there is need for direction.

If you read 1Kings chapter 2 verse 1 to 4 before David died he called Solomon and began to advice.

As a matter of fact, you can read the whole chapter; read the whole chapter, you will find it very interesting.

He said, David that the promises of God for me may be fulfilled through you, follow my footstep: serve the Lord; obey Him – good advice.

One of the names of our heavenly Father is Counselor.

Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6: ‘…and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor’.

Counselor is someone who gives advice; who counsels; who guides.

And in Daniel chapter 2 verse 20 to 22…

Haa! thank You Father.

I know this will be a night to remember.

The Lord asks me to reconfirm that this year there will be many weddings.

You know why?

Because many weddings will lead to many children

Glory be to God.

Daniel 2 verse 20 to 22 says God give wisdom to the wise.

And in James chapter 1 verse 5, the Bible says, if anybody lack wisdom, he should ask God – ask Your Father, His wisdom is superior to your own wisdom

According to 1Corithians chapter 1 verse 19 to 25, he made it clear to us: the foolishness of God is even wiser than the wisdom of men.

Father, Adviser: when you need advice, ask Him; when you don’t know what to do, turn to Abba Father.

I have told you a story.

I was invited to Maiduguri several years ago to come and preach at the University by the few Christian that were there then.

I went; I prepared very hard; I preached with all my heart; I made the altar call; only one fellow came forward.

One!

I was very sad because I know what happen in the side

I travelled all the way here!

I fasted!

I prayed!

I studied Your word!

One fellow!

That night I turned to the Almighty God, I turned to my Counselor, my Adviser.

What should I do?

What was it that I should have done that I did wrong?

How do I continue?

Fortunately we still have the following date – two more days

And my Counselor gave me an advice that had nothing to do with the Bible at all.

He said when you wake up in the morning go and get good Babariga…; you know I went like this, dress like my normal something; …go and get a good Babariga and when you want to preach tomorrow, wear babariga.

So I woke up, I asked the people who invited me: how can we get a Babariga?

They said, there are people who can do it in two hours.

So, we went to a market we got Babariga.

The following evening I wore Babariga.

As I was climbing the altar to preach and they saw me in Babariga  they all began to shout.

The student who were outside were wondering what are they shouting about, so, they came to the window; they did not come in, they stood by the window and they saw this man preaching in Babariga .

When I made the altar from the outside, eight-nine people came to give their life to Jesus.

What has Babariga got to do with the gospel?

Eh en, don’t use your brain when you are trying to understand things of God, He knows best; far far better than you can know.

So, you are going to stand up, you are going to pray…; maybe the last prayer before we go to the anointing

Lift your voice to the Almighty God and say: Father, guide me into my breakthrough.

Go ahead talk to the Almighty God.

Guide me; guide me, guide me, You are my Adviser, guide me. Guide me Almighty God; guide me into my breakthrough; tell me what to do so that I will succeed. Tell me, tell me what to do; tell me what to do; tell me what to do; Almighty God tell me what to do; guide me for the rest of my life; guide me step by step, step by step what I am to do. Guide me to my breakthrough. You guided Peter so he knew where to fish, guide me; guide me step by step; tell me what to do to succeed. You know all things, You know what I don’t know, guide me, guide me, guide me, guide me. Thank You Father.

In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.