Esther 5 v 1 -3 Now it came to past on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the kings house, over against the king house and the king sat upon his royal throne in the king's house, over against the gate of the house. And it was so when the King saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in His sight.
Somebody will obtain favor in the sight of the King of kings tonight.
And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand, so Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter. Then said the King said unto her, what will thou Queen Esther and what is thy request, it shall be given to thee to the half of the kingdom.
The first thing we noticed there is that the king saw Esther.
It is my prayer today, that the Almighty God will see you in this crowd.
And just like the preacher before me said; when the time for you to be favored of God comes, the first things is that wherever you are, favor will locate you.
In Genesis 18 v 1 - 5 Abraham was sitting in front of his tent, he was at home and favor located him.
In 1 Samuel 16 v 11- 13 David was in the farm looking after his father's sheep and favor located him there.
In Exodus 3 v 1 - 4 Moses was at the back side of the desert and favor located him there.
In Matthew 9 v 9, Mathew was at the customs; he was collecting customs in the market place and favor located him there.
In Mark 3 v 1-5 there was a man in the synagogue who had a withered hand, he was in the place of worship and favor located Him there.
In Mark 5 v 1-15 the mad man of Gardereans was in the graveyard and favor located him there.
So whether you are at home or in the farm, or in the office, or in the market place, or in the church, the favor of the Almighty God will locate you tonight in Jesus name.
I will tell you a couple of stories quickly, since the preacher before me has done the preaching, maybe I will just tell you true testimonies.
There was a funeral ceremony and there is this sister who had been praying to God for a future partner, and there was this brother who went to attend the funeral and saw this sister whose relative had just died deep in sorrow and looked at her and said;
"If this girl is as beautiful as this when she is sad, how beautiful will she be when she is happy"?
"And said before I leave this place, I must meet this fellow who is going to be my future wife."
Favor can locate you even at the grave yard.
We went to Haiti to conduct a crusade several years ago and as we were preaching they were broadcasting the sermon over their radio.
And the Lord said as I was preaching "there is someone listening to me now who is impotent and the Lord asked me to tell you He has restored your potency."
The man was lying down on his bed from his house far away from where we were, heard that word on the radio and suddenly his manhood jumped to action.
Favor located him at home!
He came running to the crusade ground; we had finished and gone to the hotel room.
Suddenly the door of the hotel burst open and the man ran in. Saying "I am the one!"
There is someone here tonight; the favor of God will locate you.
The first time I travelled outside Nigeria, outside Africa and I went to Canada for the world conference of applied Mathematician.
I knew nobody there. I knew no kind of food I will be eating there. My wife was at home praying. God take care of your son.
And somebody went to see the list of the mathematicians ... for the conference and as he was reading down the name, he saw a name ENOCH ADEBOYE.
He said we never can tell it might be a French name.
Some of you know I have gone to some French countries that they call me by various names, some of them call me ADEBOY some call me Adiboye.
So he located the room where I was to be, he said when I get there I will speak in Yoruba if he answered then I know he must be a Nigerian.
He knocked at the door I said who is that he said "emi ni (It's I)" I said "wole" (come in) before the day was out I was eating pounded yam in Canada.
There is somebody here today the favor of God will locate you.
The second thing was that the king didn't just see Esther; he focused his attention on her.
If you know the king we are talking about here he was a very busy king. Ahasuerus wasn't an ordinary king, he had dominion over a hundred and twenty nations, he was busy, but when he looked in the direction of Esther, it wasn't just a passing glance; it was a glance that becomes a focus.
When the day comes for God to favor you, He will not just see you, He will focus on you.
In John9 v 1 the Bible talked about a man who was born blind, this man had been blind for more than forty years, but when his day of favor came; the Bible says Jesus saw him.
It was not an ordinary seeing it was a focusing; it was God directing the attention of the whole universe in one particular spot.
In John 5v 2-6 the Bible says there was a multitude gathered at the pool of Bethesda and there was a man who been there for 38 years and the Bible say Jesus saw him, it wasn't an ordinary seeing, it was a focusing.
He was singled out of the multitude for attention.
Tonight in the name that is above every other name; God will focus His attention on you.
Some of you will probably remember this man and some of you knew him personally; I think he's had two PhDs and couldn't get a job for more than six years.
Then when they brought him for prayers, he was looking almost like a madman, you won't belief he ever went to school because he had suffered a lot, we introduced him to Jesus, he gave his life to Jesus Christ.
Before he travelled between here and a town called Kishi, the people in his local government had been looking for him to offer him a job.
Suddenly they became interested in this man who had written several applications and never got a reply.
Today am talking to someone; that answer you are expecting will be a good one in Jesus name.
You will remember the story of a sister, I have told this story several times before.
She came to one of the Holy Ghost services and the word of God came and said that there is someone here, there is a girl here, if your mother didn't allow you to marry, she will die within a week so you can marry.
She said amen. She got home, told the mother and the mother came angrily to my office.
"You are the people teaching these people wrong things saying that I am going to die."
I said "when did I say that?
She said "my daughter came home and told me I am going to die".
I said "daughter, did I mention your name?
I said don't mind her mama, that is how they claim what doesn't belong to them".
Mama said I didn't know that is the way it is.
She said alright daughter gets out, so the daughter left and mama turned to me and said
"Pastor is it true that the mother will die if ...?
I said "mama it is not you but what God said will come to pass.
The person concerned not you, the person concerned if she will not let her daughter marry she will die within seven days.
She said "it is not that I don't want her to marry but the problem is if she marries, who will take care of me?
She is the one taking care of me now."
I said mama that is no problem, I will tell her husband that whatever she has been doing for you before she gets married, she can continue to do so, they will look after you.
She said okay "she can marry".
Within a week this sister who has been in the church only for so many years, within a week the man to marry her suddenly looked in her direction and said this fellow here should be the one I will marry.
Whatever had been blocking the eyes of those who will help you, the Almighty God will remove it today in Jesus name.
Number three when the time comes for God to favor you; you will suddenly see that the King of kings will become involved with your case.
The king saw Esther standing, saw her, he could have said maybe the queen should just have some time but the king decided to suspend all that he was doing so that he can be involved in the affairs of the queen.
You see it is one thing to notice you; it is another thing to go further and decide I want to be involved.
In the story mentioned earlier on in John 9 v 2 -7 Jesus saw this blind man, but He didn't stop at seeing him, He went further, He got involved; He spat on the ground, made some mud, anointed the eyes of the man, told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam.
He went and washed and came back seeing.
In the story of John 5 v 6-14, the man who had been sick for thirty eight years. Jesus got involved; He went to him and said will you be made whole?
When the man began to tell the story, Jesus said alright just getup. Jesus got involved!
In fact Jesus came back again the second time to meet him at the temple and said go and sin no more, so that something worse may not happen to you.
He got involved!
In Act 3 v 1-8 when Peter and John were on their way to the temple and they saw this man who was born lame asking for alms.
If you read that story very well, under normal circumstances Peter should have just gone on, because he had no money to give this man, he said
"Silver and gold I have none."
But he decided to get involved; he told the man to rise up and walk, when the man didn't get up he grabbed him by the hand. He got involved!
Tonight the Almighty God will get involved with your situation.
Several years ago, I was travelling to Ilorin and I got to the city, my driver was driving and I looked to my right and I saw a girl sobbing, weeping terribly and I was wondering why is this girl weeping.
I could have gone on and say well it's not none of my business.
But the day to favor the girl has come, so I told my driver please stop let's reverse, and find out why this girl is crying.
I pray for someone here today the Almighty God will get involved with your situation.
I beckon to the girl, why are you crying?
She said my mother sent me on an errand and I lost the money,
She said she will kill me today.
How much was the money? Fifty kobo!
It was none of my business but because God decided to favor her, I put my hand into my pocket and gave her the money and I could see her flying away in Joy.
You see when God gets involved with your situation he wipes tears away from your eye, he replaces your sorrow with joy.
I prophesy to someone here today before the end of this month you will have something to sing about.
Number four, when the kings saw Esther he raised a scepter towards her.
Now raising the scepter towards here is an invitation Com'on here my queen.,
He beckoned to her, he is saying come.
You see when the day of favor comes for you the Almighty God will beckon to you and say; my son come here, my daughter come here.
And when you get a beckoning from the Almighty God, you will know yourself that things are about to change.
The Lord said there is someone here tonight, he said from all indications are that you are cornered; He said I will get you out.
Daddy asked me to tell someone, He said I have told you before and I am telling you again, that abandon project shall resurrect.
In Exodus 3 v 3-4 The Bible said Moses was at the back side of the desert, he has been going there regularly for forty years, looking after the sheep of his father in law.
But on the day that his destiny was going to be turned; a fire was burning and the bush was not consumed then Moses looked at and said what a great site.
I will turn aside and see and the Almighty God called to him and said Moses, from that moment onward the history of Moses was never the same again.
In 1 Samuel 16 v 11-13 I could imagine what happened when David was in the bush looking after his father's sheep.
And suddenly somebody came from home and said David, David.
He said "yes, what is it?" 'You are wanted at home'.
"What for?"
'I don't know but there is one prophet that came to our house, I don't know what he has been discussing, but they say I should go and bring you and bring you horridly'.
When your day of favor comes, God gives you a beckoning.
In Mark 10 v 46-52 the bible tells us the story of Bartimeaus the blind beggar.
He has been crying for a while, some of the people asked him to shut up, he heard the good news, be of good cheer he calleth thee.
I am praying for someone here today, in a way that you have not heard from God before, you will hear from him today.
Several years ago, when I was a postgraduate student at the University of Lagos 1969 to be precise.
My friend was doing postgraduate in Geography as I was doing in mathematics.
And he was doing his research on the coast line of Lagos.
So he was collecting sand samples from all the coastline and he wanted to go to Ebute metta to collect some samples.
Since we were friends and I was free, I decided to escort him.
When we got to Ebute metta, We saw a big signboard in front of a very little church.
The church was made with boardoff. The signed board was big;
The Redeem Christian Church of God. I looked at the signboard, I looked at the church. I turned to my friend and said big name kills small dog and we all laughed and we left.
I didn't know God was already giving me a beckon; four years later when somebody invited me to come to The Redeemed Christian Church of God for the first time,
He said there is a little church in Ebute metta, God is performing miracles there.
I said "what is the name of the church?"
He said "The Redeemed Christian Church of God",
I said "I know that church; the church with the big signed board with the boardoff.
He said "yes". I said glory be to God. I will go and see.
You never can tell how God is going to beckon to you, but He is already beckoning that is why you are here tonight.
He is already saying to you your day of favor has come.
I know there is someone here particularly who is coming for the first time, they have been inviting you but you have refused to come.
But all of a sudden, somehow you said I think I will go tonight.
Is anybody like that here? If you are coming for the first time, wave your hand let me see;
Alright, let me hear you shout halleluiah! Because you are about to get a first time miracle in Jesus name.
And when God beckons you it is to bring you close to His power.
The scepter that the king stretched towards Esther was the symbol of the king's power.
And the Bible says Esther went close to the king and touched the scepter.
When you touched the scepter of the King of kings, not only will your own history begin to change, the history of your entire family, the history of your entire people will begin to change.
At the same time, I am believing God because you are here tonight not only will your history as an individual change; the history of your family will change, the history of Nigeria will change and the history of any nation that you represent will change also in Jesus name.
According to Esther 4 v 11 if you go before the king uninvited and he does not lift that scepter towards you, you will die.
The fact that he lifted the scepter to Esther changed death to life for Esther.
And there is someone here tonight, listen to me very carefully; very soon you are going to testify that God disappointed those who thought you are going to die.
I can tell you a story on that God just reminded me; we were in the very first auditorium in a Holy Ghost night like this and the word of God says
There is someone here the plan of the enemy is to kill you but because you came tonight death has been cancelled.
Of course everybody said amen But nobody knew who we were talking about.
But there was a woman there; as she was going home there were those people who owe her money.
They owed her a lot of money and they knew they couldn't pay. They arranged for her to be kidnapped and killed.
And they grabbed her, bound her, gag her and threw her into the back of a car and began to drive her towards Badagry so that they can go and kill her there.
On the way they came to a police checkpoint.
And of course they knew what is expected so they already got the money ready.
But because God said death had been cancelled, the police man there said
"No! I don't want your money; I want to see what is in your booth?"
They increased the amount of money, the police said "No, I want to see what is in your booth"
Then they began to run away And then he opened the booth and found the woman there bound and gagged and they released her.
There is someone here tonight the grave will wait a long time for you in Jesus name.
Let me say it one more time, all those who are expecting your burial shall be disappointed in Jesus name.
In Mark 5 v 35-42 when Jarius came in contact with the scepter of the most high God the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
The sorrow in her family changed to joy.
By the time Jesus arrived the people were wailing.
By the time Jesus entered into that house suddenly weeping became joy.
I pray for someone here today, there will be no gathering for weeping for a long time.
When you come in contact with the scepter of the most high God, dramatic changes will come because the scepter represent the power of God.
In 2 king 2 v 9-22, the city of Jericho had known sorrow, they had known bareness, they are known curses, they had known death, they had known everything that was evil.
Until the Almighty God said well the time to favor has come.
And He sent a prophet to them and suddenly the whole nation began to have tremendous joy because they had contact with the power of God.
When I finally found myself in The Redeemed Christian Church of God I was like a fish out of water because all my life I had either worship in the cathedral or the chapel at the university.
That is if ever went to Church, and everything to that point had already been done quietly, decently and in order.
I got to The Redeemed Christian Church of God everything was alright until they began to pray.
When the man who started the prayer said in the name of Jesus, the man next to me said amen so loudly I nearly ran out of the place.
But something timed me and very soon I gave my life to Jesus.
Very soon I began to hear about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, very soon I began to learn about the gift of the Holy Spirit, very soon I began to know more and more about the power of the Most High God and very soon that power began to operate through me.
I am praying for everybody here tonight, as you leave here, you will go with the power of the Most High God.
When the power of God begins to operate through you, it is not for you alone; it is for your people.
It is for the needy, it is to help others who might need deliverance, who might need healing, who might need all kinds of miracles.
I'll tell you one or two cases;
I went to Port Harcourt at the invitation of the full gospel business men international and we had a wonderful program.
I think they asked me to speak on 'The New Anointing'.
I told them what the anointing can do in the life of a man.
That night they had to smuggle me out of the back door because everybody wanted to touch the man of God.
I managed to get into the car, but as I was driving away there was a woman who was desperate, she ran towards the car, took her handkerchief and rubbed it against the car and took it home and said there is power here now.
When she got home, she discovered that while she was away one of her sisters had gone mad, completely mad.
It took six men to hold her down.
When she got there, she said move out of the way, I have power in my hand now;
You know it will be unto you according to your faith
She laid the handkerchief on the girl and immediately she became normal again.
When you are leaving here, you will not leave empty handed, I say you will leave here with power in your hand.
But it gets more beautiful when Esther got to the king.
The king said Esther, What is your request?
I thought when you go to a big man, you should be the one who should say please sir, this is what I have come for.
But here we find the king volunteering to help.
When your day of favor comes the Almighty God will volunteer to help you.
Esther, what is your request even to the half of the kingdom.
The king volunteered help.
Like in the case of John 5 v 2-9 that we mentioned earlier on; Jesus went there to that man who was by the pool of Bethesda for thirty eight years and said
Would you be made whole? It was a volunteered help.
When God decides to help you and you are not even the one asking for help then you will know that your day of joy has come.
The Lord says I should tell someone here tonight; simply, that your sun is about to rise.
In Luke 7 v 11-15 tells us the story of the widow of Nain whose son was dead and they were going towards the burial ground.
They were not praying, they were not asking anybody for help.
What help do you want to ask for somebody who is already dead?.
But Jesus came and stopped the procession.
The woman didn't know who was there, but Jesus knew her. Jesus said to her weep not.
I am going to do something about your case;
Jesus volunteered help and very, very soon after that the boy that was dead was back to life.
The woman who was drowning in sorrow was now leaping for joy because God volunteered help.
You know occasionally you get to a stage in your situation that you don't even know how to pray anymore.
I don't know if there is anybody like that here but I know situations when you have prayed and prayed and you said God over to you.
If you want to do anything do it, if you don't want it over to you.
And God volunteered help.
I will tell you two stories very quickly at least one of it will be appropriate for someone here tonight.
You have heard the story before, we held a program at Tafa Balewa square and as we were about to round up the Almighty God impressed upon me to ask everybody to ask for something special.
And there was this lady there who had been praying for a husband for years until she past the age of child bearing.
So when I said, pray for anything you want.
She said to God I won't bother you; when I thought if I get a husband it will have any meaning, that time is past, so if you want do anything, if you don't that's alright,
I will worship you till I die.
Two weeks later somebody came up and said thus says the Lord you are to be my wife,
She looked at the man and said you better go and pray again The man said what do you mean?
The woman said don't you want children? The man said what do you mean by that?
She said because she has past child bearing age.
The man said glory be to God you must be the one, How can it be me?
The man said I am a widower I already got children, I don't want more children; all I want is somebody who will be a mother to my children, so you must be the one.
To cut a long story short, they got married, the month they got married, the woman became pregnant; when she was going to deliver she gave birth to a set of twins; two boys.
Because God volunteered help!
There is somebody here today God will volunteer help for you.
In that journey to Canada that I was talking about, after we have had our conference, they decide that we should relax at least, so they took us to government farm, incidentally it was the month of May. They took us to a government house and there they prepared a banquet for us.
All manners of food were there and there was a section there the grass was very green and we were eating outside.
So I took my food and walked away from the crowd and wanted to sit on the grass.
So I can have a picnic all by myself and as I was moving away one white man followed me, he must have been there when I presented my paper.
As I touched the ground it was very cold so I quickly decided against sitting down,
And the white man said you want to sit down? I said yes but it is cold,
He removed his jacket spread it on the floor. And said sit down.
I said no sir, and I heard God speak clearly; seat down you are the son of the King of king.
There is somebody here today, the one God will use to make your joy to be full will volunteer help this week.
I sat on the jacket and I enjoyed my meal because the Almighty God decided that someone should volunteer help.
Number seven, before Esther asked, the king already said the answer is settled.
When God decides to favor you, it guarantees an answer to all your prayers. When the time of favor comes all prayers will be answered.
The Lord said there is someone here tonight; He said the anointing that will take you to the next level has been released.
You know in Isaiah 65 v 24 the first time I read this passage, I could hardly believe it.
God said before they call I will answer. I said this must be big.
Do you know God is saying to someone here tonight that before you pray the answer will come?
And the king did not say I will grant your request, he is saying I will give more than your request, even up to half of my kingdom.
In 2Cornicle 1 v 6-15 when Solomon found favor with God and God said ask anything you want.
Do you know after Solomon had asked for wisdom and understanding, God said is that all? He said what you didn't ask for I will add.
In 2 King 4 v 1-7 all that the widow of the son of the prophet asked for was enough money to pay all her debt, but the Almighty God provided so much for her that after she paid her debt she had enough to live on for the rest of her life.
God can do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.
When you read 1 Samuel 2 v 21 it will amaze you that all that Hannah asked for was a son.
God gives me a son and I will give him back to you.
But at the end of the day after God gave her Samuel and she handed him back to God.
God gave him five additional children. She asked for one, she got six.
It doesn't matter what you asked for tonight, the Almighty God will give you much more than you are asking for.
I have always told this funny story, some years ago we were going A-fishing in December as we normally do.
And on the way we saw a signboard that says Turkey for sale.
And I turned to my children; do you know that your dad never had turkey for Christmas?
And they all laughed, It was in those days when things were still very beautiful.
Things will get better. And we forgot about it because in those days if you get a chicken for Christmas, that is good enough but Turkey!
Where is it coming from?
So we went for Go A fishing, by the time we returned there were three turkeys waiting for me at home, I was amazed!
So when I went to church the following Sunday, I told the congregation the story.
I said I didn't pray, I was just saying I never had turkey for Christmas before but now I had three turkeys at home and I told them this is not an invitation to lunch.
Am not asking you to come home and eat my turkey, before I returned from the church the number of Turkey had increased to seven.
I decree to somebody today, you will knock on one door, seven will open.
Let me conclude, because tonight is a night when God will answer prayer,
So the sermon will not be long so that we can have a long time to pray,
The kings said I am willing to give you half of my kingdom.
When you find favor with God, He makes the kingdom of heaven available to you.
Ephesians 2 v 5-8 makes it clear it by grace that you are saved.
John 6 v 44 says no man can come to Jesus except God the father draws him.
If you don't find favor with God, no matter the preaching....
In John 15 v 16 Jesus Christ said clearly that you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, if you are chosen by God, it is act of favor.....
Mark 22v 40 says many are called but few are chosen.
Do you know that when an altar call is given for salvation and something within you says go forward go and surrender your life to Jesus Christ.
It can only mean one thing; God has decided to favor you.
When I look at my own life for example, by the time I look at my situation when they were making altar calls, I mean I didn't give my life to Jesus Christ the very first day I was in church.
In fact for quite a while I was just laughing at them;
What did they know, I have a problem, tell me how much I will pay you, pray let the problem be solved and let me go.
But one day the Almighty God spoke to me and said They are not asking you to surrender to them, they are asking you to surrender to your Maker, with all your degrees, you don't have what they have and that is true,
When I looked at the faces of the few of us then I could see peace, I could see the joy of the Lord, they didn't have money but they had the peace of the Almighty God.
They had the peace of God that passes understanding.
Something within me said 'forget your pride go forward, surrender your life to Jesus Christ'.
Today I'm grateful to the Almighty God that He pulled me forward, that He brought me out of my rottenness.
And brought me to Jesus Christ, when I looked back and look at where am I now, I know that I must be favored of the Lord.
When we give the altar call and you say am not coming, maybe you are not one of those that God has chosen to favor, but if He has chosen to favor you, when you hear the word there is something within you that says go, surrender your life to Jesus.
After all, all the years you have been living in sin what have you achieved?
You may have money but let me tell you the truth; money can buy a bed it can't buy a sleep.
If it buys you drug to sleep, it can't buy you sweet dreams.
It can buy you a house but the house can be hot so that coming in and going out becomes a nightmare.
But when you come to Jesus Christ, you have the peace of God that passes all understanding.
Only those who are favored by the Lord are drawn Jesus Christ salvation.
He said no man can come unto me except my father draws Him.
And I know there are some people here tonight that the Almighty God is already drawing
Saying, come give your life to Jesus, come and taste how good he is.
If you are one of them, come forward and I can pray for you and then you will begin to enjoy the favor of the most High God.
So if you want to give your life to Jesus begin to come now.
And as you come begin to pray to the Almighty God, ask Him to have mercy on you, ask Him to please save your soul, ask Him to please become your Lord and savior,
Promise Him that you will serve Him for the rest of your life.
The rest of us let's stretch our hands towards these people, and pray for them and intercede for them that the Almighty God will have mercy on them, that He will save their soul, that He will forgive them their sins and that He will clean them in His blood.
That He will give them a brand new beginning today. ...In Jesus mighty name we have prayed,
Father Almighty I want to thank you for your word, I want to thank you for all these your children who have come forward tonight.
Father please remember your promise that whosoever come unto you, you will in no wise cast out, they have come unto you now, Father, please receive them in Jesus name.
Please forgive them tonight in Jesus name, let your blood wash away all their sins tonight in Jesus name.
Even as you are saving their souls tonight, please write their names into the book of life in Jesus name.
And please don't let them ever go back into the world again in Jesus name.
From this moment onward please anytime they call on you please answer them by fire in Jesus name.
Thank you my father and my God in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Now I want to rejoice with those of you who have come forward tonight, because from now by the grace of God I will be praying for you and very soon you will be receiving all manners of miracles and you will know there is somebody somewhere praying for you. That somebody will be me I promise you, so I am going to need your names, am going to need your address and your prayer request
at: Send your Prayer Request
PRAYER POINTS FOR THE NIGHT:
1. Praise God; His grace has kept you alive till today.
2. Father, please just have mercy on me.
3. Father, please let your favor locate me right now.
4. Father, please treat my case as special tonight.
5. Father, please get involved in my case right now.
6. Father, don't pass me by tonight, draw me nearer to yourself
7. Father please let me have the taste of your awesome power tonight
8. Father, help me!
9. Father, answer all my prayers; grant all my request tonight.
10. Do more Father, than i can ever ask for.
11. Your own Personal request.
PASTOR ADEBOYE E.A
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