RCCG 61st Annual Convention Day 3 Message By Pastor EA Adeboye

RCCG 61st Annual Convention Day 3
Theme: JESUS

Preacher: Pastor EA Adeboye

Message Title: The Great Sanctifier.

Bible Text: 1Thess 5:22-23 “Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

There are some signs that will show you that you are genuinely saved. For example the moment you are genuinely saved, you stop thinking about what Jesus can do for you and start thinking about what you can do for Jesus. When God opens your eyes to see how close you were to hell before Jesus saved you, your question will be ‘God what can I do for you?’. In Acts 9:1-6, the moment Saul was knocked down on his way to Damascus and realised he had met the Lord, his first question was ‘ Lord, what do you want me to do?’

When you are genuinely saved, it’s difficult to just keep quiet; you will be eager and happy to tell everyone who cares to know about the Jesus who saved your soul from hell. Today many people claim to be born-again but instead of asking God what they can do for Him, they keep on bombarding Him with all sorts of requests.

Back in the days when people got saved, they gave their time, talents and money to the work of God but these days, so called born-again Christians go to the extent of billing the church double for different works and projects. 

If you’ve genuinely given your life to Christ, you won’t find it difficult to restitute.. In Luke 19:1-10 as soon as Zacchaeus had an encounter with Jesus, he said “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”. When you are genuinely born-again, you will be willing to restitute and also right all your wrongs

A backslider is worse than a sinner that has never been saved. The bible describes a backslider as a dog who returns to his vomit. Don’t let anybody deceive you that once you are saved you’ll remain saved or that you can never backslide…it is the lie of the devil. In 2Timothy 4:10 Demas who was once fervent in the Lord backslidded and started loving the things of the world. Also Ananias and Sapphira who were once saved, fervent in the Lord and also devoted to the point of selling their things for the church backslidded and started lying(Acts 5). For those of you who are saved, may you never backslide in Jesus name, Amen.

For those of you who think you can toy with sin once in a while, remember David! David committed sin just once and as a result he brought a curse not only on himself but on his generation forever.

Sin and backsliding is such a horrible thing and that is why you need something called “Sanctification” after the salvation experience. We have people who seriously give their life to Christ but with time their hearts begin to drift and they eventually backslide. After giving your life to Christ, for you to remain saved you need to strife for sanctification. Why? The bible says in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Matthew 15:19-20 says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Proverbs 4:23 says “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”. Your entire life is determined by the condition of your heart. If the same heart that controls the issue of your life is desperately wicked then there is a big problem 

God in his mercy has made provision to deal with this desperately wicked heart of yours so you can do his will completely. God can change that terrible heart and give you a heart of flesh if you are really determined to live holy. The bible says in Ezekiel 36:25-27 “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

Every patient who has a heart problem needs to have a heart donor before anything serious can be done by the doctors. For anyone who has a heart of stone, Jesus is a donor with the heart of flesh. The day Jesus hung on the cross, He made a new heart available for everyone who has a bad heart and wants a heart of flesh.

***EVIDENCE OF THE SANCTIFICATION EXPERIENCE***
When a Christian gets sanctified there are several evidences to show for it 
1) The moment Jesus’ heart of flesh replaces your heart of stone, you begin to think the way Jesus thinks (Phil 2:5-8). 
2) When the heart of Jesus is in you, you become humble and you start to forgive those who hurt you.
3) When you have the sanctification experience, like paul you can say Phil 1;21
4) When you get the heart of Jesus you are meek. Mark 11;29. To be meek is different from being weak. To be meek is to have trmedous power but you don’t use it
5) When you become sanctified you will be pure in heart. Matthew 5;8

***PROCEDURE TO GAIN THE SANCTIFICATION EXPERIENCE****

1) You have to admit that it is possible to live holy.1 Peter 1:15- 16. God says be holy, He wouldn’t have said we should be holy if we can’t do it. 

2) Admit that it is possible to be 100% holy. Matthew 5:48 says we should be perfect as our father in heaven is perfect. God is the standard for our holiness, this means we need to make effort to be 100% holy… 75% holiness is not good enough.

3) Admit that you can’t do it on your own. You need to admit that it is impossible to be 100% holy without the help of God. 

If you want Jesus to perform a heart operation on you, it will require total surrender to Him. You will have to surrender your life, soul, body and all to him. If you are going to call on Him for a sanctification experience, you have to make up your mind to surrender 100%, totally and absolutely to Him. 

In conclusion, before doctors carry out a heart operation on a patient, they clean the person up. For God to carry out a operation on your heart, He has to clean you up first! You cannot get sanctified without being saved so if you are yet to give your life to Christ, ask God for forgiveness now! Ask Him to have mercy on you, wash you clean and save your soul.

PRAYER POINT
----Father I surrender completely to you, please take the heart of stone away from me and give me a heart of flesh. Sanctify me holy… I want to be able to live a life of absolute holiness.

THE ANCHOR HOLDS, I'LL STAND

I've been so bipolar for about 2 months now! One minute I'm excited and the next minute I feel so sad, hurt, disappointed, pained and totally confused. I could be having a fun convo with a friend via bb/facebook/whatsapp and totally sending all the 'LOL' 'LMHO' but at the same time sobbing about random things I've had to deal with lately. How did I get here? How did things get this bad?

I do miss me, I miss the normal jumpy, friendly and happy May! These days I've become so isolated and churchophobic... it is like I've developed a sudden and weird kind of phobia for people, especially fellow Christians. For some weeksssss I've had to attend both mid-week and Sunday church services via the internet in order to keep sane and also re-examine my walk with God.

I miss having dad around too. Sometimes I think my life would have been so much easier if he was here with me. There are a lot of things on mind, so many questions, so many issues I wish to sort out, things I wish I could change and dramas I wish I never saw, heard or experienced.

Through these all, I've learnt to handle friendships with care because sometimes in life, a friendly face can be your enemy's mask. For someone like me who can be very open, straight-forward and non-secretive with close friends, I've had to learn the difference between love and trust and this was a very very very hard lesson to learn. I've learnt to give room for humans to be humans irrespective of how close they are to me or God... Even though I sometimes like to deceive myself, I know not everyone will treat me the way I would treat them given the same circumstance.

The bible actually says love your neighbour as yourself not trust your neighbour as yourself. Since LadyMay will continue be LadyMay and I can't change the way God made me, I have come to a conclusion to keep on loving people and increasing the number of sugarpies, honeypies, brothers and sisters I have BUT to trust God in them instead. That way it won't hurt so much when they display their human tendencies.   ***Thinking out loud*** Talking about brothers and sisters, trust me when I say I have loads of them in different parts of the world, interestingly I have never met some of them before but they've been a HUGE blessing to me.

So back to the main gist, life has been very dramatic and traumatic lately. The devil has really tried using people I love and care about so much to break me but mercy said no...Thank God for Jesus! I'm actually beginning to see more clearly by the day that there is something quite unique and special about me. If I was very ordinary, the devil won't bother trying to frustrate me at every given opportunity but it's not over until God says it's over. My light will shine no matter the darkness around me! No matter the number of rocks life throws at me, I'll keep standing on Christ the solid rock and after these tests, I'll be back to share my testimonies!

Dear friends, life isn't always going to be easy but when our faith seems to be getting weak we have to make effort to keep standing! Bible says in Ephesians 6:10-13  “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,^[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand”

When life upsets you, stand! When you feel disappointed and betrayed, stand! When you feel weary and tired, stand! Keep standing, encourage yourself in the Lord, pray, read the word, sing hymns and keep saying to yourself "The anchor holds", "No power of hell, no scheme of man will ever pluck me from his hand, till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand"

When you don't even get what God is up to and why you are still standing, just stand! Your big tests are bringing you big testimonies in due time, keep standing and all will be well.

With love,

 LadyMay.

The Wonders of Divine Blessings (July 2013 HGS)

RCCG JULY HOLYGHOST SERVICE
THEME: The Wonders of Divine Blessings
MINISTER: Pastor EA Adeboye
TEXT: Genesis 12:1-3

When a man is blessed of God, his friends are blessed and his enemies are in trouble because God says He will bless them that bless him, and curse him that curse him.
Abraham was a blessed man, his servant testified to this in Genesis 24:35 saying “And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.”

There are two basic definition blessings
1) When all needs are met and something extra comes with it. The bible says in Psalm 23:5 “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” When the cup is running over, then we are talking of blessings. 

2) A spiritual definition o f blessing is a summon to all forces on earth, in heaven, underneath the earth to come and assist somebody so that the person will succeed and excel.

In Genesis 27:26- 28 when Isaac was going to bless Jacob he said “Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.”

Isaac first said “God give thee dew from heaven” . What does that mean? According to Zachariah 8:12 when God blesses you with the dew of heaven, your seed will prosper, your vine will be fruitful and your ground shall give increase.

He then went ahead to pray for Fatness of the earth. According to Psalm 36:8, what that means is that you get abundant satisfaction when blessed

What happens when a man is blessed?

Deuteronomy 28:12 says “The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow”
When a man is blessed God sends rain in due season to bless the works of his hands. From today, you will enjoy rain in season in Jesus name. Amen

When a man is blessed, the sun and the moon will co-operate with him. When we say the sun and moon will co-operate with you, it has a deeper meaning which means seasons will co-operate with you. Joshua was a blessed man, in Joshua 10:12-14 , he commanded both the sun and the moon to stand still and they stood still until the people of God had avenged themselves upon their enemies.

When you are blessed, the heavens begin to help you. Heavens include all the beings in heaven e.g angels. For example in Acts 12:5-11, God sent an angel from heaven to go set Peter free the night before he was killed. 

When you are blessed the sun, moon and rain will co-operate with you!

When a man is blessed, forces from heaven will assist him, forces on earth will assist him and even forces underneath the earth will assist him. When God wants to bless you, he can make use of demons. A typical example can be found in 1Samuel 18:14-23. When God was going to announce David, an evil spirit started troubling King Saul, David had to be brought into the palace to play the harp so that the evil spirit could depart from Saul and as a result of this he became the king’s armour bearer.
From today, all your enemies will become a blessing to you in Jesus name. Amen!

Many people don’t know the value of ‘God bless you’. A simple ‘God bless you’ can do great things in your life… When God blesses you, you won’t lack anything because He owns everything.

When God blesses you, you can live long because the bible says in Psalm 91:16
“With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”

When you are blessed of God, He can satisfy you with joy because in his presence there is fullness of joy.

When God blesses you there will be promotion and victory without a fight .Deut 28:7 says “The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways” When you are blessed God will fight your battles for you.

When God blesses you, there is wealth without sorrow because the bible says in Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

One of the greatest wonder to divine blessing is that no man , woman , witch, wizard, or even pastor can reverse the blessings of God upon your life. They can talk about you, envy you or criticise you but they can’t temper with your blessings. Joseph is a classic example of a blessed man. He was destined to be great but was sold into slavery, in Portiphar’s house he was blessed but then Portiphar’s wife lied against him and he ended up in prison. Portiphar’s wife helped him, if she had not told those lies, He wouldn't have gone to the prison and if he didn't go to the prison he won’t have met the butler who introduced him to Pharaoh. The famine in the land also helped him because if the great famine didn't happen his family wouldn't have come all the way to Egypt.

In the name that is above every name, people you know and those you don’t know will bless you! Those like you and those who hate you, those who appreciate you and those who criticise you…God will use all of them to help you in Jesus name. All those who are critising you now will one day celebrate you

Nothing goes for nothing! You need to realise that blessings are earned. Bible says in Malachi 3:10 “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

If you want to be blessed by God, you need to be willing to pay the prize.

When God blesses you , nobody can temper with the blessing and that blessing can only be reversed by God himself. In 1 Samuel 2:30, the LORD said to Eli ”I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. “

Also when Hezekiah was sick, God sent the prophet to tell him he was going to die but when the King Hezekiah prayed, God decided to add more years to his life. 

If God decides to bless you and you mess up, He can change the blessing into a curse. God said in 1 Samuel 2:30 “them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” You cannot continue to live in sin and expect God’s blessings upon your life because He is a holy God not a magician. If you are yet to accept Jesus Christ into your life, do so now! If you claim to be a child of God but you’re still living like the child of the devil, confess your sins now and ask God to restore so his blessings don’t become a curse in your life.

PRAYER POINTS.
1) Thank God and praise Him for previous blessings
2) Father, please command your blessings on my family tonight
3) Father please send help to me from heaven above
4) Father please send help to me from the four corners of the world, from the east, west, north and south
5) Father all those trying to temper with your blessings in my life, frustrate them
6) Father please bless me irreversibly
7) Father please empower me to obey you completely
 Father please turn me to a mighty blessing
9) Father let my children be more blessed than I am
10) Father bless my neighbour, bless my nation and bless your church
11) Personal prayer request

Do I have to kill myself just to follow peace?

Hmmmmm...life and its never ending drama!

Ok, so weeks ago I put up a post about knowing your God, being strong and all that, only for me to get all weak a few days later.  Ever gotten so upset to the point of wanting to use needle and thread to do some running stitches right through someone's mouth? I was that upset! Even though I tried to be calm, the level of anger deep within made me realise how much I needed Jesus in my life!

Anyways, the whole drama got me thinking about Hebrews 12:14 which says "Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God"

In a world filled with people with different beliefs, behaviour and temperament, is it really possible to follow peace with all men? What exactly does God mean when He says we should follow peace with all men?

Is following peace about making sure you don't step on anybody's toes or is it about making sure you are in everyone's good books?

How does one really follow peace in an environment where drama just never ends?  Is it by keeping quiet irrespective of what people do to you or by addressing issues in a godly, fair and open manner?

Is it by turning the other cheek when you've just been given a dirty hot resounding slap or by taking to your heels after the first slap in order to avoid getting slapped again?

In my quest to follow peace with people, I tried doing all sorts in the past but sadly enough nothing seems to have worked 100%. In many cases it was more like I got into bigger trouble after each peace-making strategy!  

At some point I started thinking "Do I have to kill myself just to follow peace or please people?"

The question is how far do we have to go in inconveniencing ourselves just to follow peace? Following peace with everyone isn't always easy, I think it's one of the hardest thing God requires of us. People will get on your nerves, frustrate and disappoint you from time to time but you have to aggressively pursue peace because contrary to popular believe, the christian race isn't just about our relationship with God, our relationship with others matter a lot! For example, the bible says in Matthew 5:23-24 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift." 

Like me, I'm sure at some point in your life you've read that bible text murmuring something close to " why can't I give my nicely packaged offering just because somebody somewhere is upset with me for no good reason? or why should I be the one to go say sorry first?".  

Following peace with others can be difficult . There will be times  you have to apologise to people not because you are wrong but because you just want peace to reign. Sometimes following peace with others will hurt you terribly, you might have to do things your natural self won't like but you see, it's really not about what you feel, it's more about what God thinks.   It's impossible to pursue holiness without pursuing peace  and without holiness you can't see God. In other words, if you cannot follow peace with all men you cannot make it to heaven!

On this issue "follow peace with all men", I really can do with some grace and more of those fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23...It is my prayer that God will give us the grace to follow peace with all in Jesus name. Amen.

Because I KNOW MY God, I'm Strong, Doing Exploits & Amazing Myself.

If you know a little bit about me, then you would have noticed that I like to plan ahead. I love dreaming and creating mental pictures of where I'll like to be in the future, what I'll like to do and goals I'll love to have achieved. With these dreams comes questions, worse case scenarios and 'what ifs'...What if this doesn't happen? What if that happens?

You see, in life things don't necessarily go the way we plan even after series of preparation and marathon prayers. For me, some of the things I dreaded most, my worst case scenarios actually happened. I never thought I would have been able to face or survive these challenges but here I am today basking in God's glory. In those very places where I was despised, He has made me beautiful and now I'm called sought out, desirable and not forsaken (Isaiah 62:12).

Sometimes God lets us go through certain things just so we can get to know Him better. In the words of Sarah Goebel, "God is revealed in the devastations and challenges of life. Without them, how would we know God? These events are a necessary part of life’s journey in order for us to know our God and do mighty exploits".

In Daniel 11:32b, the bible says "But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits". Like you, I've had my fair share of ups and downs but because I know my God, I'm strong, doing exploits & amazing myself! How well do you know your God? Do you really have a relationship with Him? Selah!

Have a blessed day
With love,
LadyMay