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LET SOMEBODY SHOUT HALLELUIAH 6th of October, 2000Now, if you are sure that you are the one who will go home walking, leaping and praising God, please shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!) Let’s go before our Maker and worship the only one who can remember us for good, the One who can bring us out of barrenness into fruitfulness, the one who can take a fugitive and turn him to a deliverer, the one who can take from prison and put on the throne! Yes that is our God! Angels are singing You are worthy Lord! You are worthy Lord! You are worthy Lord! … Let’s just go ahead and bless the Name of the Almighty God! Let’s worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Let’s worship the I AM that I AM, the Ancient of Days!! Let’s bless His Holy Name! He’s worthy to be praised! He’s worthy to be adored! He’s worthy to be magnified! Let’s worship Him! Let’s magnify His Holy Name! There’s no one like Him. He’s the Almighty God! You are worthy Lord! You are worthy to be praised! You are worthy to be adored! You are worthy to be magnified! …. Thank You Lord! Thank You Father! Thank You Lord! Blessed be Your Holy Name! We praise You! We adore You! We magnify You! Thank You Jesus! Blessed! Blessed! Blessed be Your Holy Name Lord! Yes we worship You! We adore You! My Lord and my Saviour! Blessed be the Name of the Lord! Thank You Lord! Alleluia! Father Thank You Lord! Amen! Amen! Amen! Thank You Lord! Thank You Jesus! The Lord said there’s someone here tonight, He said in your life He will do a new thing. (Amen!) Thank You! Daddy says there’s someone here tonight, you can trace the major problems of your life to the month of October. He asked me to tell you: they started in October, they will end today! (Amen!) Thank You Lord! Thank You! The Lord said there’s someone here today, you said even before you left home today. Lord, when will you remember me? He said, I will remember you today. (Amen!) Thank You Lord! Father we worship You, we give You glory. The Almighty God said there is a family here, the only fame the family can claim they have known is sorrow. The Lord asked me to tell you, very soon, you’ll be known as the family of joy. (Amen!) Thank You Father! There is none holy as the Lord! There is none beside Him……. Father said there’s someone here today who is beginning to doubt the promises of God. He said He’s a holy God and He can never lie. (Amen!) What He has told you, He will bring it to pass. Thank you my Father! I will praise Him from everlasting to everlasting…. Daddy says there’s someone here, your own is not a problem of sorrow – your own problem is that you are afraid that your joy may not last. The Lord asked me to tell you - you will praise me from everlasting to everlasting. You are worthy to be praised, You are worthy to be adored You are worthy to be glorified, You are the ancient of days, You are the I AM that I AM You are the Unchangeable, all glory be to Your Holy Name. Father Glory be to Your Holy Name! Thank You for Nigeria. Thank You for our government. Thank You for all the Christians in Nigeria. Thank You for Christians all over the world. Thank You for Your children who are here tonight because tonight is our night! Glory be to Your Holy Name Lord! Father, accept our thanks in Jesus’ Name! Bless our nation and bless every one of us. All those who love Nigeria Father, bless them. All those who hate Nigeria Father, surprise them! Tonight Father, do something new Thank You Father! In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! Amen! Let somebody shout ‘Alleluia!’ (Alleluia!) Shake hands with one or two people and say “God Bless You!” and then you may be seated. Tonight is a very special night for Nigeria. The Holy Ghost night tonight is specially for our beloved country Nigeria and of course we can use Nigeria for a point of contact for your own nation too. So as we are praying for Nigeria – pray for your own nation and I’m sure the Almighty God will grant our requests. Our text will be from Proverbs (from verse 6 –12: “Forsake the foolish and live… Glory be to God! God bless my interpreter! … Proverbs.9: 6-12: 6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 7 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame…… …..Thank You Lord! The Lord said there are some people here today who had suffered a stroke. He said they should come forward for prayers. (Amen!) Thank You Jesus! Glory be to God! I will praise Him…… Please let us be obedient to God. He didn’t say those who are sick should cone forward for prayer. He said those who have suffered a stroke – those are the only people that should be in front now. The rest of us let’s stay where we are. God will reach us where we are. Only those who have suffered what? A stroke! He didn’t even say those who were born lame – he said those who have suffered a stroke. That’s the only people who should be in front. Are all these people those who have suffered a stroke? If not please, I beg you don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. I beg you please don’t let us grieve the Holy Spirit, let’s be obedient. Only those who have suffered a stroke….. Please if you are not in that category will you please go. I will explain a little further. If you are not in that category – you came forward.. - as the stroke is leaving one fellow it will jump on you! Because that will be the punishment for being disobedient. So I repeat one more time – the people that have been asked to come forward are those who have suffered a stroke. All right – you can’t say I didn’t tell you now. Please I need some elders to come forward and lay hands on these people. I will praise Him from everlasting to everlasting... I’m sure you’ll be hearing shouts of “Alleluia!” all along as the anointing begins to work. Let somebody shout ‘Alleluia!’ (Alleluia!) Proverbs. 9:6-12 6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 7 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. 8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. 9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. 12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. Nigeria is 40 and it is current to say “A fool at 40 is a fool forever.” In other words 40 is regarded as the age of wisdom. By the time you are 40 years if you are not yet wise there is very little hope for you. That’s why Prov.9: 6 says, “forsake foolishness and live.”. In other words life begins at 40 or whenever you decide to forsake foolishness. Now as we go further Proverbs 9:7 and 8 says be careful who you correct. It said if you correct a scorner, a wicked person, he may give you a blow. But if you correct a wise man he will love you. How many wise people are here tonight? Because some corrections are coming. At the end of the day I will ask – how many people still love me? And by then we will know those who are wise and those who are scorners. And in verse 9 here it says – if you teach a wise man he will become wiser. How many of us want to be wiser today? Let me hear your Amen! (Amen!) Then it said in verse 20 to begin to be wise at all the first thing you must do is you must fear the Lord. And then verse 11 tells us one of the secrets of long life. It said if you are wise your years will be multiplied. In other words – if it had been really determined that you are going to die at 70 and then you become wise. 70 may become hundred. Or if they say you are going to live to be 70 and you refuse to forsake foolishness, 70 can be reduced. And then verse 12 says, the decision to be wise is a personal thing. In other words, if I decide to be wise, my friend may decide not to be. I’ve made up my mind I’m going to be wise! What about you? Wisdom! What has the Bible got to say about wisdom?. Wisdom is so important that the Bible is full of several passages talking about nothing other than wisdom, the wise and the prudent. Proverbs 4:5-7 tells us that wisdom is the principal thing that whatever else you are getting make sure you get wisdom. In Proverbs 8:11 it said you must get wisdom at all cost. It is more important to get wisdom than to get rubies. If you don’t know what rubies are because some of us don’t know, including myself – I’m not sure I’ve seen anything including rubies before. But in Proverbs 16:16 it said it is better to get wisdom than to get silver or gold. At least we know what is gold. And it begins to tell us the reason why wisdom is so important. In Ecclesiastes 7:12 the Bible says, wisdom is a defense – wisdom defends those who have it. And then it went on to say in Ecclesiastes 9:16 it said wisdom is better than strength. I’m sure many of us know that one very well. We know there’s an African proverb that anyone who has strength and hasn’t got wisdom is the father of the lazy ones. But you may not know this one. There’s another proverb, it said, they asked the wise man, why are you not working – that which the foolish man is doing, who will eat it? That’s a serious one isn’t it and I’ve given an illustration of this before, just to let you know the importance of wisdom. You got a contract, that involves buying cement and all the rest of it but you have no money to execute so you run to your friend who is a bank manager: Please my friend, I need money to execute this contract. He said that’s no problem, that’s why we are friends. Do you have a house? Yes you know my house in V.I.!” “Okay!” and he takes the papers of the house from you. He gives you the money to go and do whatever you want to do with a solid agreement that when they are going to pay you, it must be paid into my bank and so you took the money and you ran up and down sweating, buying cement, buying this, buying that. He sits down in his air-conditioned office, drinking tea and when they finally pay you, he takes 60% of the gain and gives you the rest and you say, “Thank you my friend, oh thank you!” He says, “Come again, come again!” That is why I am saying to you who are here today, God will give you wisdom, (Amen!) I didn’t hear your Amen! Wisdom is better than strength. In Ecclesiastes 9:18 it says wisdom is better than weapons of war. No matter how many weapons of war you have, the wise man will take all of them from you before you know what’s happening. In fact the Bible says, if you are fighting a wise man and he suddenly says, “I surrender!” then you are in greater trouble than before because it means he has devised a better method of finishing you. Proverbs 3:35 says wisdom will bring you glory. He said the wise shall inherit glory but shame shall be the promotion of fools. And then Proverbs 3:13-16 says wisdom will bring you happiness, length of days, riches and honour. In other words, once you have wisdom, happiness is yours, length of days will be yours, riches will be yours, honour will be yours. Now the Bible went on to say in Proverbs 10:21 it said the reason why fools die is because they lack wisdom; So he went on to say in Proverbs 19:8, he said if you love your soul then you must get wisdom. Tell your neighbour this is serious. It means you must get wisdom at all costs. What is wisdom? We said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What is wisdom itself? Wisdom is the correct application of knowledge. If you get an information that gives you knowledge but how do you use that knowledge? It is that which will determine if you are wise or foolish. You may get all the degrees of the world and still be foolish if you don’t use your knowledge in the correct way. For example, we all know that smoking is injurious to your health. So what will a wise person do? A wise fellow will not smoke. But there are doctors who smoke. They know that smoking is injurious to health and yet they smoke. Which means you can be a doctor and still be foolish. Wisdom is the correct application of knowledge and we find examples in the Bible again and again. There’s something God wants to do in your life tonight. Tonight is not just an ordinary night, it is a night when some of us will be completely free forever. (Amen!) Because God said you shall know the truth and the truth shall do what? Set you free!. In John 8:1-11 some people wanted to set a trap for Jesus Christ. They caught a woman in adultery, brought her to Jesus. They said, “The Law of Moses said, anyone so caught we should stone her to death. Now what do you say?” They wanted to put him into trap. But Jesus has an information about all the people. He knows all of them are sinners. So he used the knowledge that he has and said. I’m not asking you not to stone her to death but the one which has no sin among you must be the first one to cast the stone... And all those strong people who were ready to stone the woman to death, wisdom took the weapons of war from their hands. You see the problem with us in this country, Christians in particular, is that we are not wise enough. It is time for wisdom. Tell your neighbour it is time for wisdom! Let me give you an example of how you can use knowledge constructively - how knowledge can help you to act wisely before we go into some other deeper waters. Years ago, we were still extending the first auditorium on the other side. I was in desperate need of money. I needed N17, 000 seriously. At a time when the naira was almost equal to the pound. How many of you believe that those days will come back? When naira will be str9onger than the dollar. You believe that? Let me hear you shout ‘Alleluia’! (Alleluia!) If that is going to happen we need wisdom not noise, not placards, not jumping up and down, not writing editorials in newspapers. What do we need? I can’t hear you? So I needed N17, 000. And I had only N1, 000 and one of the Pastors came – he was building a dormitory for his parish and he needed N1, 000 so he came to me and said Daddy, help me, I need N1, 000 naira. I looked at him. If you don’t get 9out of here… I need 17 you need 1! And you come to disturb me? If you don’t get out of here… As he was going, God spoke to me and said, “Give him the N1, 000.” I said, “What! I am looking for 16 more… Yes Lord.”. The first thing you do when God speaks to you is … what? “Yes, Lord” Before you begin to say, “If you don’t mind can you explain.” And the Lord said to me. “We have 2 problems. You need N16, 000 extra. He needs N1, 000. Let us reduce the problems to one. Give him the N1, 000 you have. His own problem will be solved. And there will be one problem left.” I gave him the N1, 000. He was a classical example of walking and leaping and praising the Lord! I was left alone now to face my problem but then suddenly the Holy Spirit reminded me that the widow of Zarephath had one meal left which was not enough for her anyway and she let it go and her last became her first. Before that day was out my own N17, 000 came! If I had not yielded to God I would have ended up a foolish man holding on to my N1, 000. His problem would have remained. My problem would have remained. Wisdom means whatever you know as knowledge applied correctly. Now lets take Nigeria now. Many, many, many of us are disappointed, disappointed by our government, disappointed by our police force, disappointed by x by y by z…. Why? Because we are not doing the things the way God said they should be done. I’ve told you the story before of one of my fellow teachers years ago, he bought a car and said, oil is oil and he opened the engine of the car and poured groundnut oil… I’m not joking, this is the truth! He said, “I have no money to buy engine oil – oil is oil!” You know what happened to the engine don’t you? The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 7:14 it said, “If my people that are called - 2 Chronicles 7:14 -by my name shall humble themselves and pray and forsake their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and I will heal their land.” If my people! Not “if the government…” “My people!” And to make sure you know who He’s referring to He said, “those who are called by my Name” Who are the people called by the name of Christ? Who are they? I can’t hear you? He didn’t say” if the Commissioners… He didn’t say ‘if the Ministers, He didn’t say “if the President…. “If my people, who are called by my name… " Who are the people of God here today? Let me see your hand. If you belong to Jesus shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!) He said “If my people that are called by my name shall humble themselves and carry placards and complain and grumble and criticize.,.. Is that what He said? My people that are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray…” If Nigeria is not like you want Nigeria to be, the fault is your fault. It is my fault, it is your fault. Now I’m sure you will say, “Why will God do it like that? Why should He put the burden on us, after al that’s why we have governments!” God is wiser than you. God loves you so much He doesn’t want to leave your future in the hand of any government - at all! If your future depends for example on the government of Babangida when Babangida left office your life will be over. If your life had depended on Abacha when Abacha died then your life will finish. He left your future in the hand of Himself, the Alpha and the Omega – tell your neighbour, “My life is not in your hand! My future is in the hands of Alpha and Omega!” He said, “If my people that are called by my name will just humble themselves and link up with me, we will solve the rest of the problem. He says in His Word in Jeremiah 17:5-6 He has a word for those who feel disappointed. He said cursed is the man who puts his trust in man. Tell your neighbour – don’t put your trust in any man. And in verse 7-8 there, He said blessed is the man who puts his trust in the Lord. As far as you are concerned, it doesn’t matter what is happening in the nation, if you are linked up to Jesus, if you are linked up with the Alpha and Omega your tomorrow will be all right. Isaiah 3:10 it said, "Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him." I want you to touch your own chest, mention your name and say “Adeboye it shall be well with you!” The Word of God made it clear. In Romans 8:31 it said if God be for us, who can be against us? In verse 37 there it said we are more than conquerors because of him who loved us. When he says we are more than conquerors that tells us something straight away - that there may be some battles to fight. But then it tells us clearly - all these things are written down in the Word of God… In Ephesians 6:10-13 it said we are not wrestling with flesh and blood. It is not Mr. so-so-so, Chief so-so-so, Alhaji so-so-so, that is your enemy! Nooo… The enemies of Nigeria are principalities and powers; you see they know very well…. The devil knows very well, even if you don’t that Nigeria is a very special country in the heart of God. There is something special that God has planned for Nigeria. Our forefathers didn’t know when they were fixing the day for Independence. They argued right, they argued left. Finally they agreed on October 1 and when they were agreeing on October 1 they didn’t know the Bible they don’t even know what October 1 means at all! They don’t know that October 1 is that day that the Almighty God has set aside for the most important festival in the entire world. They have no idea that the most likely day for Jesus to return is October 1. They don’t know that! They have no idea, they don’t know anything called the Feast of Trumpets (maybe my interpreter himself didn’t even know but now he knows! Glory be to God!) But they chose October 1! They don’t have any idea that the last revival that will bring Jesus Christ back to the world is going to begin in Nigeria! They don’t know! They have no idea! They just chose the date. That’s what they thought. But its God that chose the date because God has a special interest in Nigeria! And because the devil knew that he has been working overtime that before Nigeria will become what God wants it to become, he said he will spoil that nation. But you know it doesn’t matter what the devil may try: we are more than conquerors! But then in 2 Corinthians 10:2-4 it said the weapons of our warfare are not carnal It said okay we walk after the flesh but we do not war after the flesh. We walk after the flesh but we do not war after the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. The problem with us is that while the enemies are busy planning we Christians are busy talking. God gave us a Christian President for example. How many of us are busy praying for him? While the enemies might be calling together all their juju men, making all kinds of juju to make sure that he will make wring decisions – what are we doing? We join them in complaining. But things will change as from tonight. (Amen!) I said things will change as from tonight! (Amen!) I can say it openly because by the grace of God you all know I am not interested in politics – I have never voted, I am never going to vote! You will vote! You have to vote – why? Because we need your votes! You have to vote because in democracy you have to vote to get the man there! But as far as I’m concerned, I will support whom so ever my Father in heaven says – this is the man! Many of us we don’t seem to realize that the Almighty God has put Christ on the throne. You can’t see Christ face to face. He has to put somebody there that you can see. If we let him fail we will whistle. What did I say? I say we will whistle because if he fails… it will be a long time before you ever see a Christian on the throne again. It is time for wisdom not a time for noise-making. I don’t have the time to show you all the Bible passages but one of the characteristics of the wise is that he’s always quiet! Before he opens his mouth to speak. Its like they used to say – make sure the brain is already in gear before you open your mouth. . When you meet wise people you just see them quietly sitting down, they let you talk, they keep quiet. I’m not saying that the President is perfect. I don’t want to go into details on that one because I’m too wise to open my mouth. But if he is there and he is born again, and he is somebody who believes in the power of prayer and he calls the Holy Spirit his friend - we have an assignment to pray that God will keep him there and anytime God wants to remove him He will put another Christian there. (Amen!) So what are we going to do? Don’t worry the second session of the Holy Ghost Service is for you. This first session is for Nigeria. Because we have no other country – anywhere you go home is home. And I’m telling you it doesn’t matter how beautiful other man’s country may be – it is never like your own! And you can carry 3 passports and say you are a Nigerian, you are a British, you are an American – don’t deceive yourself – if you are born in Nigeria you are what? A Nigerian! One Indian man gave me a tough time in London one time. At the immigration when we were about to enter – he was asking me all kinds of unnecessary questions. Finally when he finished and said I can go I said, Ah-ah oga, you come from a third world country like myself and you are now giving me trouble for no reason at all! He said, "I am a British citizen." I looked at him and said you are Indian! Indian! You are Indian! How many people are proud to be Nigerian? Let me hear you shout ‘Alleluia’! (Alleluia!) And if you don’t believe me that there’s nothing you can do about the fact that you are a Nigerian, I’ll tell you one funny story. We traveled abroad. Myself and some friends and we went into a restaurant where they said – eat all you can and I’m telling you all kinds of good food was there! And one of us, looking at all these beautiful things said, “Oh God How I wish there is pounded yam!” I said, “in the midst of all this!” Home is home! And there is nothing you can do about that! What do we do so that Nigeria will become what it ought to be? I will share a few with you. The rest I will keep for now because that is wisdom. The Bible says a foolish man says all that is in his mind – a wise man will reserve some. What can we do so that Nigeria will become what it ought to be? Number one – you can change situations in Nigeria by what you say. In Proverbs 18:21 He said life and death are in the power of the tongue. There is tremendous power in your tongue. In Mark 11:23-24 The Bible says you can have whatsoever you say and it said you can move mountains by speaking to the mountains. It didn’t say you are to describe the mountain – it said, “Command the mountain to move!” Many people have been asking me, “Who is Pharaoh? Who is Pharaoh?” I’ve not told them. All I know is Pharaoh shall drown. (Amen!) I say Pharaoh shall drown! (Amen!) The Bible tells us in Mark 5:25-34 it said the woman with the issue of blood before she left home said, “If I can touch the hem of his garment I shall be made whole.” What she said is what she got. I have seen many people some of them are friends who are where they are today because they kept on saying negative things about themselves. I know one in particular, whenever we are talking about the future he will say, “Ah his own case is different”, he says, “whenever it is the turn of a dog cake will become bone!” When you look at his life today it is exactly as he said it would be. Even before I became born again somehow God had built this thing into me. I’ve told you before – in those days when things were hard and my wife and I will be struggling over cow skin – that one is too thick how can you eat that one alone let’s cut it into two!” I used to tell my wife – tomorrow will be better – we are not going to die like this!” How many of you believe your tomorrow will be better? Say it with your mouth: “My tomorrow will be better!” Today by the grace of God if I stand here and I say, “My friend, I need a cow!” How many cows do you think will arrive here before tonight? And I’ve not started yet – I’m on my way up. How many of you are climbing with me? Let me hear you shout ‘Alleluia’! (Alleluia!) Please stop painting a gloomy picture of Nigeria. Stop painting a gloomy picture – Prophesy that the future of Nigeria will be best! Keep on. When people begin to tell you ” Oh! This country is bad! Everything is spoilt!” Say “No, no, no, no no! Hold it! Tomorrow will be all right!” “Education is spoilt. There is crime, there is this…No, no, no, no no! Hold it! Hold it! That tomorrow is going to be all right!” I am confident that the greatest nation in the whole world is Nigeria. (Amen!) I have said it several times and I’m saying it now. I know many people will look at say, and me “Hey, you must be a dreamer!” Oh, yes I’m like my Father in heaven – He calls things that be not as though they were and what He says they are is what they will become. Now I know right now of you look around there’ll be so many things to depress you but the Bible says we don’t look at the things that are seen, we look at the things that are not seen. The Bible says the just shall live by faith! I know for example that a University is coming that is going to be called Redeemer’s University for Nations. (Amen!) I don’t have a kobo for that University yet but it’s going to be the best university the world has ever seen. It will be beautiful. It will be wonderful –every lecturer there will be filled with the Holy Spirit. That one is coming where you will get the best education and everybody who graduates there will either end up a pastor or an evangelist! (Amen!) I know tomorrow will be all right! The naira is till going to be stronger than the dollar! (Amen!) Prophesy to the future of Nigeria. Don’t let them kill you with hypertension when they begin to tell you, “Oh everything is going from bad to worse!” Say, “No,no, no, no no! I don’t want to hear that!” You hear what I have to say!” Tell them – even begin to set time date now…Say, “Before this time next year you’ll be singing a new song concerning Nigeria. If you believe that say Amen! (Amen!) When you begin to say positive things about Nigeria then you now begin to do certain things. I was praying for Nigeria as we moved towards Independence Day and God spoke to me and said, “Son, do you know the reason why Nigeria is not yet destroyed?” I said, “No sir, I want to know.” Because of people like you.” Look at your neighbour: people like you. It’s because of people like you. In Genesis 18:23-32 the Bible says God said if I find ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah I will spare the city. It is children of God, like you and me that the Almighty God is still looking at saying, “Mmmh, let me withhold my hand. Adeboye is there. That fellow is there. That fellow is there. Let me withhold my hand.” That is why many times you go to bed thinking that by tomorrow morning there’ll be no Nigeria. And you wake up and find that Nigeria is smiling again. So what can we do? Let’s go forward and win more souls. Let us increase the number of righteous people in this land. While those who are talking are talking let’s get busy winning souls. Let them go on talking let them keep on making noise! Proverbs 11:30 says he that winneth souls is wise. How many wise people are here tonight? How many of you will win souls? Let me hear you shout ‘Alleluia’! (Alleluia!) But that is not all. What is the first thing we are supposed to do? Begin to speak positively about Nigeria. Number two, let’s keep on winning souls. Number three, let’s begin to wage spiritual warfare. Jeremiah 1:10 the Bible says God said, I have set you over nations to do certain things over these nations – to root out, to pull down, to build and to plant. Now God has set us over Nigeria – to do what? To root out, to pull down, to build and to plant. What are we to root out? Matthew 15:13 God said every plant that my Father did not plant shall be rooted out. There are many of us we know where problems are but then all we do is talk about the problems. No! God wants you to be wise! He wants you to do something extra now – he wants you to root out that which is not planted by God! There are some people who are in government who should not be there. It’s not God who put them there. I don’t know them but God knows. And every plant my Father did not plant shall be rooted up! Not only in the government – what about in your place of work? Many of you cannot understand why you are not making as much progress in your business as you should. I’ll tell you a story and then you can use wisdom to understand. A pastor discovered that his church was not growing Instead of growing it was diminishing. God! What’s happening? I’m preaching like I ought to preach. I love people. They will come but they won’t stay. What am I going to do? He kept on praying until one day God told him that there are just a few people in the church that they kept coming into the church before the service will start and they will sit on all the benches. Anybody else who comes to sit on those benches will not be able to stay in church. So he said, God what do I do? And God said, if you want to plant you must first of all root out! So God told him what to do. Very early on Sunday morning before anybody wakes up at all, he would get into the church and he began to lay hands on the pews: “Every plant, very plant that my Father did not plant shall be rooted up! Every plant!” Suddenly he discovered, very prominent people in the church stopped coming and within one month the church was overflowing. Go to your office, where your business is, lay hands on those chairs and tables – every worker that should not be in your office, they shall be rooted up. (Amen!) Go to your homes. Lay hands on every object there. Beginning from the step that goes into the house – anyone in that family – any houseboy, any house girl, any relative that is planted there by the enemies – do you want to retain them? I can’t hear you! Any plant that the Almighty God has not planted – in Nigeria, in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, in your business, in your homes and of course in my body – shall be rooted up. (Amen!) Spiritual warfare. The enemy is fighting, they are fighting seriously! There are people who are sitting down on mats and so on and are burning incense and are praying their own kind of wicked prayers..... .and we are sleeping! It’s time to wake up! We have no other nation. We will take this nation from the devil. (Amen!) And the Name of the Lord will be glorified. So Number one we speak positively. Number 2 let’s keep winning souls. A time is coming when everybody in Nigeria will be a Christian. (Amen!) I know you don’t believe that. That’s why your ‘Amen!’ is low. (Amen!) Now I know it sounds very impossible but God said to Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones, He said, ‘Can these bones live?” Ezekiel answered and said: “Thou knowest!” And God said to him, “Whether you believe it or not just do one thing – prophesy!” So I’m saying it one more time – a time is coming soon when every Nigerian will be a Christian. (Amen!) If you believe that shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!) Finally we must pray. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, it said, , “If my people that are called by my name - my people that are called by my name - will humble themselves - that’s one thing we are going to do here tonight. We are going to humble ourselves. Many of us, when we pray to God we pray arrogantly. We are going to humble ourselves. We want to talk to the Almighty. Do you know God can change the fortune of Nigeria overnight? He has done it before. He will do it again. (Amen!) Overnight! If we humble ourselves and pray. But before even we begin to pray he said we must turn from our wicked ways. The reason why many of us find our prayer hindered is because we know we are doing what is wrong and we are not changing. He said we must turn from our wicked ways. He is not talking about the people out there changing – He is talking about we, His own people changing! We have to restitute our ways – whatever we have been doing that we know is wrong and contrary to the will of God – we must change! I’ve told you this story before – I’m telling you once more. If something is wrong and you don’t put it right – then don’t expect God to move! I went to University of Ibadan. When I got to Ibadan we branched to fill our tank because I will be leaving the camp – very early the following morning. The following morning we started off and I found that the car will move a little bit and then it will stop. And the car was new so there’s nothing wrong with the engine. Finally we called the Professor I was staying with. He took me to the University mechanic. When they opened up the car, they found inside the carburetor – water. So where I bought fuel they had mixed a little bit of water. And the engineer said – “Only one way out. The tank must come down. We must drain the oil. Separate water from the tank and then put fuel back.” “But I’m in a hurry!” He said, “if you want to go in this car, the tank will come down, we will drain it. Put it right and then you can be on your way.” Tonight we are going to pray. The first prayer we Christians are going to pray is a prayer of repentance. It is we who have been failing God. We had not prayed when we ought to pray. Instead of commanding mountains to move, we have been describing mountains. Many of us are even living in sin anyway. We are going to humble ourselves tonight. It is time for wisdom. It is time for freedom. Now there are some people that are not even yet born again. They are even living in sin as if it is the normal way of life. Tonight is your night! This is a very serious night indeed. You can go home tomorrow morning walking, leaping and praising God but you have to come to Jesus Christ first because let me tell you one thing for sure. After tonight the Almighty God is going to put a demarcation between those who serve him and those who do not. Some of us from now on we are going to begin to enjoy! You know the Bible says the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. Very, very soon now things will begin to change hands. (Amen!) That’s part of the thing we are going to learn before we go because it is time for wisdom so if you want to be part of those people that God will favour you have to be born again. God made it clear: I cannot give the bread of children to dogs! If you want to become a child of God begin to come now! I’m not begging you. The choice is yours. If you like come and surrender to Jesus. If you like stay there. Within one year the world will know that there are Christians in Nigeria and that God is on their side. So if you are not yet born again and you want to give your life to Jesus come now! God is expecting you. The rest of us. Let’s stand on our feet. First and foremost, as we stand on our feet, let’s begin to pray for those who are coming forward to give their life to Jesus. That the Almighty God will save their souls tonight; that God will be merciful to them; that He will forgive their sins. Let’s begin to pray for them. But those of you who want to give your life to Jesus, from far and near, begin to come now! Hurry up this is your day! And I have a short time to give you! You have less than three minutes to get here! If you want to give your life to Jesus Christ come now! He will forgive you! He will save you! He will wash you in His blood and then you will become one of His children. And the blessings that He normally gives to His children you too will begin to enjoy them. But first and foremost, come and confess your sins to Him and ask Him to save your soul! Ask Him unto be merciful to you. Call on Him now! Those of you who are already in front, begin to pray! Begin to call on the Almighty God! Those of you who are yet coming, even as you are coming, begin to call on the Almighty God and say, “Lord, I am going forward to surrender my life to You. Save my soul! Have mercy on me! Have mercy on m e!” Let’s begin to pray now! The rest of us let’s begin to intercede for these people – that the Almighty God will have mercy on them! That He will save their souls; that He will wash them in His blood! Let’s begin to intercede for them!. And those of you who are coming forward begin to call on the Almighty God. Say, “Father, have mercy on me! Save my soul! Wash me in Your blood! Be merciful unto me tonight!” Pray now! Open your mouth and begin to pray! And those of you who are still coming – hurry up! I’m about to pray for those whop have come for salvation but I appreciate the fact that there are some of you who might be coming from a long distance. Keep coming. Provided you get here before I finish praying – it is okay. Father in the mighty Name of Jesus! Father we want to thank You for Your Word. Your Word says no man can come unto me unless my Father draws him. Thank You for drawing these people. And now that You have drawn them, please receive them. (Amen!) Forgive them. (Amen!) Save their souls. (Amen!) Cleanse them in Your blood. (Amen!) Everything in their lives that will not qualify them for heaven remove with Your blood today. (Amen!) Write their names in the Book of Life. (Amen!) From tonight Father let them become true children of God. (Amen!) I pray Lord that all the other miracles You are going to perform tonight, You will give them their own too. (Amen!) Thank You Father! And when You have done all things for them – don’t let them ever backslide. (Amen!) In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Amen! We are sorry for our pride. We are sorry that we have not prayed as we ought to pray. We have joined others in painting a terrible picture of our country instead of speaking Your word over our nation. We have not prayed for our government as we ought to. While the enemy had been busy, we had been sleeping. Father forgive us. While the enemy had been busy we had been sleeping. Father forgive us. Let’s talk to the Almighty God. Brethren let’s open our mouth and talk to the Almighty God. Say, Father , we humble ourselves before You today. We’re sorry for all the ways we have failed You. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Father, Have mercy on us. Please forgive us. We had not prayed as we ought to. We have been talking instead of praying. We have been sleeping instead of praying. You said, if we, Your people will humble ourselves… and You are a faithful God. Father have mercy on us. We humble ourselves before You today. Please forgive us. Forgive every one of us. Forgive the Pastors. Forgive the evangelists. Forgive the Bishops. Forgive all of us. Lord, forgive us. We humble ourselves before You today. We admit that we are guilty. We know You are a just God. We know that You are a faithful God. We know that You are a holy God. We know when you promise, You will fulfill Your promise. Forgive us O Lord. Have mercy on us today. Please have mercy on us. Look down from heaven O Lord and just see all of us as we fall on our faces before You and say “Lord, Please be merciful! Lord be merciful! Be merciful! Be merciful! O Lord! Be merciful O Lord! Be merciful O Lord! Be merciful O Lord! Forgive us tonight! Forgive us tonight! Forgive us tonight! Lord , Please heal our land. Heal our land. Heal our land O Lord! Heal our economy. Father heal our security. Heal our educational system. Heal our judiciary. Heal our families O Lord. Heal our homes. Heal our businesses. Father, heal our nation. Heal our nation. Almighty God heal our nation! We beg tonight our Father and our God. We ask that You please heal our nation. Have mercy on Nigeria. Have mercy on every nation that is represented here tonight. Put an end to violence. Put an end to all forms of robberies; all forms of killings. Father heal our land. O Lord heal our land. Please heal our land. We appeal to You tonight please heal our land!. Young and old Lord God Almighty we are on our faces before You – heal our land! Let things begin to change rapidly for the better. My Father and, my God, Let things begin to change rapidly for the better. Glorify Your Name Lord! Heal our land! We have no other country Lord! This is a special nation Lord! We know You have a special love for us. Please heal our land Lord. Heal our land! Heal our land! Heal our land! Father take control of all our governments. Take control of everyone in our Government. When You took control of an ass he spoke like a man. Take control of the life of the President. Take control of all his ministers, of all the people in the Senate; of all the House of Representatives members. Father, take control of the lives of all the Governors; of all the Commissioners; all the Counselors; every member of the House of Assembly; any one who is in one way or another involved with Governors. We humble ourselves before You tonight Father and we say, ‘Father, Take control. Take control of their lives. We will praise You!” Thank You Father! Blessed be Your Name Lord! Thank You Jesus Christ In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Now I want you to stand on your feet. Now we are going to pray like warriors. We are going to prophesy to Nigeria. We are going to say, “Nigeria in the mighty Name of Jesus, it shall be well with you. Nigeria whether the devil likes it or not you will prosper! There’ll be a rapid change for the better from now on. Open your mouths and begin to prophesy to Nigeria! Say it loud and clear!. Nigeria, oh, it’s going to be well with you. Nigeria shall be saved! Nigeria shall be saved! There’ll be a rapid improvement from now on. In every facet in the life of this nation – economically, educationally… in every area of life things will change for the better ….. we decree in the mighty Name of Jesus! Rapid progress, peace, security, joy …. Oh yes, Nigeria, it will be well with you. We are all of one accord tonight and we decree that Nigeria it shall be well with you! You shall move forward! You shall do marvelously well. You shall become the toast of all nations of the world! Oh, yes it’s going to be well with you Nigeria. You are going to be the best country in the whole world! You shall serve the Lord! Oh yes, you shall serve the Lord! You shall serve the Lord! Nigeria You shall serve the Lord! Your glory shall be restored! The Golden Ages shall come again! The Golden Ages shall come again! It shall be well with you Nigeria! It shall be well with you all the days. From now on - it shall be well with you! Yes, All those who love you shall prosper. And all those who hate you shall be disappointed! Nigeria, it shall be well with you! it shall be well with you! it shall be well with you! it shall be well with you! In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prophesied! One quick prayer for yourselves. Later on you’ll be praying more for yourselves but I want you to pray that when it will be well with Nigeria I will be part of that prosperity. Go ahead, talk to God about that. When it will be well with Nigeria, I will be part of it! It will be in my lifetime that the prosperity of this nation will be fully restored and I will be partaker of it! I will not only see it but I will eat of it. In the mighty Name of Jesus! I will eat of the good of this land! I will prosper along with this nation. When the Golden Ages come again I will be part and parcel of it. So shall it be! So shall it be! Thank You! my Father Glory be to God! In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Father I want to thank you for Nigeria. Thank You for the age of wisdom. Thank You because it’s going to be well with this nation! Glory be to Your Holy Name! Father beginning from now – that process of restoration that will make Nigeria the toast of all the nations of the world, begin now, in Jesus’ Name! (Amen!) Father take control (Amen!) from the Head of State to the smallest person in this land – take control! (Amen!) Your Word says, no weapon fashioned against us shall prosper. Every weapon that is being fashioned against Your representative my Father and my God – nullify in Jesus’ Name! (Amen!) And when Nigeria begins to prosper very soon, all of us who are here tonight let us be part of the enjoyment. (Amen!) Thank You Father! Glory be to your Name! In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Let them become testimonies. Let every request become a testimony very, very soon so that Nigeria will be ruled according to Your will; so that corruption will be rooted out of this nation; so that Nigeria will become a very prosperous, a very honest country. And please protect all our leaders Lord. All those who are Your choice, Father protect them from evil. Let them succeed, Father. Don’t let them fail. Don’t let them fail. Don’t let them fail. Put right everything that is wrong in their own life. Let them rule us according to Your will, that Your Name might be glorified. Thank You Father! In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Father, Your Word says, if we have faith and we doubt not we shall ask mountains to move and they shall obey us. Father, tonight, we Your children, are of one accord and we hereby decree that all the requests of our President shall become testimonies. Father we pray that they shall become testimonies this month! This very month O l, let the testimonies begin! In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) … during the break today, because we have chosen to become wise He will heal more people than He had ever done before! (Amen!) So even as you go on break, check your bodies – you are in for a surprise. Just bless His holy Name. Let’s thank Him for what He has done. Let’s thank Him for what He will yet do. Let’s open our mouth and begin to praise the Lord. Say, Father we want to thank You for Your presence in our midst tonight. Thank You! for what You had already done. We thank You for what You will yet do. We give You glory. We give You honour. We give You adoration. We say may Your Name forever be glorified! Oh, yes let’s praise Him! He’s worthy to be praised! He’s worthy to be adored! He’s worthy to be magnified! Let’s praise Him! let’s magnify His Name! There’s no-one like Him! He is the King of Kings! He’s the Lord of Lords! He’s the I AM that I AM! There’s no-one like Him. He’s our Lord! He’s our Maker! He’s our Saviour! He’s our Deliverer! He is truly the King! And He is the I AM that I AM! Let’s praise Him! Let’s tell Him we love Him! That we appreciate Him! That we just forever will be glorifying His Name! Let’s praise Him! He’s worthy to be praised! He’s worthy to be magnified! He’s worthy to be adored! There’s no-one like Him. Oh yes let’s praise Him! He’s worthy He’s worthy He’s worthy! Tell Him how wonderful He is; how great; how glorious; how powerful; how majestic; how holy; how kind; how good! Let’s bless the Name of the Lord! let’s bless the Name of the Lord! He’s worthy to be praised! He’s worthy to be praised. Thank You Jesus! Blessed be Your Holy Name! Father You are worthy! You are worthy! You are worthy! Oh, there’s no-one like You Lord! Blessed be the Name of the Lord! Glory be to Your Holy Name Lord! Glory be to your Name! Thank You Father! Alleluia! Lord In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Now I want you to talk to the Almighty God and say, Father, in my life, get glory today! Get glory! Get glory! Get glory! Get glory in my life today. Get glory O Lord! In my life in particular – get glory today! Even as I am praying, Father, Get glory today! In every facet of my life, get glory tonight. Father, get glory! Get glory! Get glory! Get glory tonight! In my life, in particular, get glory Lord! Get glory Lord! O my Father and my God get glory! In my life tonight get glory! Do something special! Something that will bring glory to Your Name. Get glory tonight Father! In my life – get glory! In everything pertaining to me Father, get glory tonight! ….. Almighty God …. say, after 40 years the day of that lame man came. Let my day come now! Let my own day come now! Right now! Even now as I’m praying Lord, let my own day come! Let my day come now! Ancient of Days! let my day come now! I AM that I AM let my day come now! (Amen!) The next prayer – if you like you can pray it, if you like keep your mouth shut. If there’s a friend of yours that is sleeping you better wake the fellow. And say, Father, all those who are plotting against my progress – give them an assignment! Talk to the Almighty God All those who are plotting against my progress, Father, give them an assignment, give them something that will keep them so occupied that they will never have time for me at all! Give them an assignment! All those who are plotting against peace in my home; all those who are plotting against my joy; all those who are plotting against my promotion; all those who are plotting against my prosperity – Father give them an assignment. Keep them busy O Lord! Keep them busy! Give them something to keep them busy! give them an assignment! give them an assignment! Father, give them an assignment! One final prayer and you are going to say, Father! I know Your Word is forever settled. You said, Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemy. Beginning from now Father, prepare the table – in the presence of my enemies! Prepare the table before me O Lord- the table of joy! The table of blessing! O LGA the table of prosperity, the table of victory, the table of promotion – prepare the table, O Lord, before me, in the presence of my enemies! O Lord God Almighty, prepare the table before me, now! Your Word is forever settled O Lord. Prepare a table Lord, before me, in the presence of my enemies! This is the time to ask God. Go ahead talk to the Almighty – tell Him what you want. Is it power? Anointing? Victory? Promotion? A closer walk with God? Go ahead talk to Him now. This is the time! … In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Father, we bless Your Name because we know You are the God who can always answer prayers. Accept our thanks in Jesus’ Name! All the prayers of Your children let them become testimonies. Father visit us today in Jesus’ Name! (Amen!). Let this be our day in Jesus’ Name! (Amen!) And all those who had been plotting against our progress, plotting against our joy; all those who are trying to cause confusion in our homes, in our churches, in our towns, in our country – Father give them an assignment! (Amen!) An assignment so big that they will never have time for us again! Father, give them an assignment! And Lord, that table that You had prepared before us, the grace to feast therein because we are tired of managing, merely surviving – we are tired of it Lord, we want to dwell in Your abundance – let that begin today in Jesus’ Name! (Amen!) Thank You Father! Glory be to Your Name! In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Let somebody shout ‘Alleluia!’ (Alleluia!) God Bless You! You may be seated! Now I want you to tell your neighbour – “If you want to sleep you are free to do so now because what remains is for me! So if you want to sleep you are free to do so now. What remains is for me!” John 9:1-7 This is going to be brief but I trust the Almighty God that as it has changed lives before it will change your life also. This is not the passage that I prepared for this morning but while I was going God said , “This is the one for this morning. ”That is why I am sure there is one person here, one person or maybe two – me and somebody – that this, somebody that God wants to do something special in his or her life. 1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. There was a man who was born blind. His problem started before he was born. He came into the world without eyes. He had never known what is called light. He had been in darkness all the days of his life. That is why all of you who had always known sorrow all the days of your life today is the beginning of your joy! (Amen!) And then Jesus was walking by and saw this man and then the disciples saw the man too. I’m sure it’s not the first time they have been seeing him. And then the disciples began to talk. They didn’t say, “Lord, why don’t you heal this man?” They didn’t say, “Lord, “Please help him!” No they began one way or another to lay accusation on his parents. “Lord! We are sure sin is here! This boy is in the problem because of sin. It must be the sin of his parents. Not only that he himself must have sinned before he was born!” All those who are accusing you falsely, today God will shut their mouth! (Amen!) How could this man sin in the womb? He was born blind? But the people who were supposed to say, “Lord help him!” they were saying, “You must be a sinner, let him keep on suffering.” Those of you who have nobody to help you, Jesus will help you today! (Amen!) And Jesus turned and said: “It is not matter of sin now. No this is something special”. The summary of what Jesus Christ said is – this man is a miracle waiting to happen. Somebody that God designed for a miracle and the miracle is merely waiting to happen. Now if your neighbour is not yet asleep, tell him, “I told you. I told you. I am the miracle that is waiting to happen and it is going to happen today!” If you believe that shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!) The Lord said, “This man is a miracle waiting to happen.” God wants to get glory in His life. God wants to show the world that He is the only one who can do the impossible. And I know somebody’s going home today and when he gets home people will look at the fellow and say, “May the Lord be glorified!” They will look at the fellow and say – “Are you the one? Are you or are you not?” It is me only God has done something. Only three things you need for your miracle to happen today. How many things? I can’t hear you. Ah, this is not the time to be silent. How many things remain? 3 things. Number 1 – Jesus Christ Jesus was the one passing by. He saw this man whose day came. He saw this man – the miracle that was waiting to happen. He saw the keg of gunpowder that was waiting for just something from God. And you know why, why Jesus is the number one person you need tonight? In Isaiah 9:6 the Bible said, “His Name shall be called Wonderful.” And I’ve told some of us before; the word ‘wonderful’ there actually means ‘miracles’. The people who were translating it to English said, “How do you call somebody miracles? So they said, let’s call Him ‘Wonderful’” Tonight, whether they call His Name “Miracles” or they call His Name “Wonderful”, something wonderful is going to happen in your life. (Amen!) And I am sure that Jesus is already here so number one is already settled. How do I know He’s here? He said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my Name I will be there.” How many of you know that Jesus is here? So say number one is settled then. Number 2 that you need for your miracle to happen today is anointing. You see the Bible said Jesus spat on the ground and made mud out of the clay. Now I would have thought that when they want to write it in the Bible they would say He covered his face with mud. No they said He anointed his eyes. You may think it is mud but once the hand of Jesus Christ had touched it it becomes anointing. The second thing you need tonight therefore is anointing. Isaiah 10:27 says, “the anointing destroys the yoke.” Every yoke you were born with. The yoke you picked up in your place of work. The yoke you picked up during your marriage. The yoke you picked up in school. They shall all be destroyed tonight in Jesus’ Name! (Amen!). Ohh, and number two is settled because I know many of you have been touched by the anointed man of God. And when they were touching you you didn’t know what was coming. You didn’t know that the Almighty God was positioning you for a special miracle tonight so you thought that was an ordinary touch – no it was anointed touch. Jesus is here. Anointing has touched you. If it hasn’t touched you, even as I wave my hand now it will touch you in Jesus’ Name! (Amen!)! And the third thing that you need, that’s the serious one now – is one word – obedience. What do I call it? I didn’t hear you? How come? Jesus saw the man and I’m sure He has already seen you tonight. He spat on the ground. Anointed the man with mud then told the man “Go to the Pool of Siloam and wash.” The man could have lost his miracle right there. He could have said, “What are you talking about? Can’t you see that I’m blind? How am I going to get to the pool of Siloam. If I can see to the Pool of Siloam do you think I’ll be around here? Who are you anyway? I was minding my business. I didn’t ask for anything and instead of helping me you began to put mud on my face! Leave me alone my friend!” If he had said that he would have died a blind man but when Jesus Christ said, “Go and wash.” He said, “Yes Lord.” He just went straight. I don’t know how he managed to get to the pool, but somehow he got there – it must have been quite a struggle because he couldn’t see. In spite the anointing on his eyes he couldn’t see! But he kept on struggling and then finally he got to the water. I’m sure the moment he touched the water he knew that the devil had lost the battle. And the devil has lost the battle over somebody here tonight. He obeyed. Isaiah 1:19 said if you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land. If you are willing and obedient then you shall eat the good of the land. You see this is where wisdom comes in. In the passage we read earlier on, the Bible says, Proverbs 9:12 if you are wise you’ll be wise unto yourself. If only you make up your mind from now on that I will constantly obey God, suddenly your day will come. (Amen!) I say, your day will come. (Amen!) Let’s take a look quickly. In Luke 6:38 the Bible says, give and you shall be given. Now, that’s a statement - from God. We know that forever O Lord, thy word is settled but what do we do about it? Those who are wise, they grabbed that, and began to give and as God promised they were also receiving but those people who knew this and said, “Rubbish!” They discovered the truth but they never applied it. That’s why they remain poor. Look at the people of the world. The Bible said something; it said the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. Do you know there are some people who are not Christians at all and they know all the principles in the Bible and they keep on using it and they keep on getting the results. I’ve told you the story of a child of God in one town in Nigeria. He just told the brethren in the full-gospel there. He said, every programme you are going to have this year., I will pay for it. Everybody clapped. Ah thank you very much, you take the burden away from us. When they saw what the man has become after one year and then the following year he said, “Gentlemen, what I did last year I want to continue” they said, “No!, are you the only one who must be blessed?” I’ve told you the story. I’m just giving you an illustration because there are some people here now who came here with very old cars. By this time next year, their car will be the newest in the camp. (Amen!) Because their day will come now. Because the day that that man’s eyes were opened, his eyes were not opened physically alone, his eyes were opened mentally too. Spiritually his eyes were opened too. You are surrounded with opportunities, surrounded with so many opportunities – all that you are waiting for is a touch from God. No doubt in my mind about that you are a miracle waiting to happen. I told you we went to America, 1979, I think And there were about 17,000 of us at a meeting and we wanted to take an offering for the Bible College and then one man got up and said, “Everybody please listen to me – whatever all of you will give tonight, is what I will give. So I want to beg you give as much as you can.” And everybody said, this man is done for today. 17,000 of us. You said whatever we give collectively, that’s what you alone will give? We will show you. That day we gave more than we wanted to give because we wanted him to be in trouble. When they counted the money it was 3.5 million dollars. Everybody said “eh-eh now!” And the man came forward and said brethren, is that all you can do?” the programme I said, I must know the secret of this man. And I found out. 5 years before he started a business with 500 dollars and searched the Bible and found that God said, if you give me one I will give you 100. He said there’s no better business principle than this one. So he told God, “every gain I make, I won’t give you 10% like You say, I will give you 90% I will keep 10%! Within 5 years his business had become 50 million dollars. We are talking about the ‘Almighty God So what this man was doing was - he was calculating – “If I give 3.5, 3.5 X 100 that’s small! God help me so that these people will give more! “ Wisdom! The rest of us thought that he was stupid. He was thinking that we were the stupid ones! Obedience that’s the third thing you need. That’s the only thing that is holding you now between your final breakthrough! Someone came to us sometime, and said, “There’s a curse on my family. I want you to break the curse.” I was ready to pray and God spoke to me and said, “Can you bless someone that I have cursed?” I said, Lord God Almighty, I’m ready to face the whole world. Not you.” I said to him, “I’m sorry sir, I can’t pray.” “ah! I have come to the highest authority in the church and you say you can’t pray!” I said, “I’m sorry. God said, who can bless whomsoever God has cursed? He said what have I done?” I said, “Well, search your heart.” After some time he cooled down . He said, “Please help me ask him what have I done?” God said, open to him Malachi3:8-10. The Lord said if you rob him you are under a curse. We are talking about obedience. We are talking about wisdom. That man is probably somewhere in the congregation today and he’s listening to me. He said, “I will go home and I will restitute my ways. He went , he restituted his ways. He came back. He said, “Bless me. “ And the Almighty God said, “No need. He’s already blessed.” Is there anybody here who wants to be blessed? Are you ready to obey God? Do I hear your yes? (Yes!) Do you know that you can live in divine health from now on? I mean for the rest of your life never to be sick again? I’m talking of no headache, no cold. No fever, nothing at all for the rest of your life? If only you are willing to obey. Exodus 15:26 he said if you will hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord…. Not only just to listen, to hearken diligently, to observe and to do all that I command you this day. And the Almighty God said, “I won’t even allow any sickness to come near you at all.” You are looking at somebody who will never be sick again. Is anybody else like that here too? Let ear you shout ‘Alleluia!’ He said, the Bible says, Jesus saw him -and I can assure you He has seen you – He anointed him, He commanded him and he obeyed. As many of us as are willing to begin to obey God completely from now on, today is our day (Amen!) I say today is our day! And so we are going to do something for just 2-3 minutes. Don’t do it if you have not made up your mind to obey. If you have made up your mind to obey God completely -from now on, you’re going to obey… Ohhh! Some of you think maybe he wants to take an offering – no-no-no that’s not the obedience I’m talking about now. He said in His Word, every tongue that rises against you in judgment, thou shall rebuke. That’s what you are going to do. You are going to obey that now! You are going to stand on your feet, like a soldier of the Cross and you will say, “Everything contrary to the will of God – in my body, in my soul, in my spirit, in my home, in my church, in my town, in my nation – because I have decided to obey God, I rebuke you in Jesus’ Name!! Open your mouths and pray! Open your mouths and call on the Almighty God! In the mighty Name of Jesus! Because I’ve decided that from now on I will be totally obedient to God, everything contrary to the will of God – in my body, in my soul, in my spirit, in my home, in my family, in my business, in my church, in the house of God, in my town, in my country – I rebuke you In the mighty Name of Jesus! It is a command from the – you shall condemn them. Now go ahead and say it with all your strength! And your miracle will happen now. Thank You Father! Secondly He said, and this is applicable again to only those who are willing to obey Him. He said thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee. Brethren, decree! Decree joy into your life, decree success, decree breakthrough, decree promotion, decree anointing, decree power in God, decree! Open your mouth and decree! Blessed be Your Holy Name! So shall it be In Jesus’ mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Finally, He said, love your neighbour like yourself. Hold your neighbour by your hand now and decree into their lives and say, “Brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so I decree in the name of Jesus, it shall be well with you, you shall succeed, you will not fail, you will go from power to power, you will go from glory to glory, your joy shall be full, all your enemies shall fail because of you, every mountain shall become stepping stone to testimonies in your life – I decree, it will be will with you, it will be well with your family, it will be well with your children, it will be well with you all the days of your life in the mighty Name of Jesus! Christ I decree that this will be a new beginning in your life, a new beginning of joy, a new beginning of success, a new beginning of prosperity, it will be well with you in the mighty Name of Jesus! I decree now that it will continue to be well with you! From now on you will only go higher, you will never go lower, you will be head, you will not be tail, you will be above only, you will lend to nations in the mighty Name of Jesus! So shall it be! So shall it be! In Jesus’ mighty Name we pray! (Amen!) Father I thank You! I thank You for this morning because at long last the day of Your children had come! Accept our thanks in Jesus’ Name! (Amen!) Now I decree into their lives blessings (Amen!) joy (Amen!) victory (Amen!) promotions (Amen!) advancement (Amen!) I decree Lord that all those who say they will not reach their goal will become stepping-stones for them. (Amen!) I decree that the barren shall be fruitful (Amen!) I decree that the single shall be married. (Amen!) I decree that the students will be more than successful. (Amen!) I decree health into your bodies! (Amen!) I decree peace into your homes! (Amen!) I decree progress into your ministries. (Amen!) So shall it be! (Amen!) You will not fail. (Amen!) You will not fall. (Amen!) Your joy will always be full (Amen!) So shall it be! And you will serve the Lord. In Jesus’ mighty Name we have decreed (Amen!) Let’s give the Lord a big hand Thank You Lord! Blessed be the Name of the Lord! Come on give the Lord a big hand. Thank You Father! In Jesus’ mighty Name we pray! (Amen!) God Bless You! You may be seated! Tell your neighbour I told you, I’m the one they want to talk about!” God Bless You! GOD BLESS YOU Pastor E. A. Adeboye
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