Tonight we will turn our Bible to Psalm 18 v 35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
Tonight we want to talk about MADE GREAT BY GRACE.
The crucial word here is the word MADE. It is the active word; it is the word of action. MADE GREAT BY GRACE!
The passage I read ends by David himself, and the first speaker had already said a lot to us about David.
He spoke about David, the forgotten who was remembered, the unqualified who was qualified by grace.
And when this fellow was talking, he knew what he was talking about; Thy gentleness had made me great.
I was a nobody but your gentleness has made me great, I am where I am today by your grace alone.
Any time David wanted to talk about something very, very crucial to him, he talks in the personal:
"I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth".
Anytime he wants to talk about something crucial, he didn't say:
"We will bless the Lord at all time, he didn't say his praise shall continually be in our mouth"
He said I,
"I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth".
So if tonight as we continue in this service you find me from time to time making reference to me, it is because it is true of me.
God has been merciful unto me.
Is there anybody here who can say God has been merciful unto me?
He made us; that is the first thing.
God made us according to John 1 v 1-3 all things were made by Him, and there was nothing made that was not made by Him.
And according to Revelation 4 v 11, He made all things for His pleasure, He decides what He wants to make for His pleasure alone.
Now, according to Jeremiah 18 v 3-6 God is the potter, we are the clay and the porter is free to make anything that he wants from the clay.
So He could have made you or me a goat, it will still be for his pleasure.
You say, a goat?
Oh! He could have made you something worse.
He could have made you or I a snake or a cockroach.
So that wherever people see us, they want to kill us, but instead he made us human beings.
Thank you Jesus!
And when you consider the fact in Jeremiah 1 v 4 that before He formed us He knew us.
Before He began to put us together at all, He knew what He wanted to do.
You can consider the fact that He could change His mind even before He started forming us, instead, according to Jeremiah 12 v 11, He prepared a good destiny for us.
He said I know the thought, I think towards you, thought of Good not of evil to have an expected end.
Aren't you grateful to God, that He had a great destiny awaiting you. I know some of us will begin to say if that is the case, then how come he made me handicap, how come I am blind.
Because there might be one or two people here who are born blind, if you read John 9 v 1-17, when the disciples saw a man who was blind and have been blind for forty years, and they asked the man, who sinned; this man or his parent? That he was born blind.
Jesus Christ said no! no!
The blindness is not because of his sin, but that the name of God might be gloried.
You know what that means?
It means even if you are blind today, you are not going to die blind. I am confident that anyone who is handicap here today, very soon you will sing a new song.
Even you are blind today, it does not mean you are going to die blind. I am confident that anyone who is handicap here today; very soon you will sing a new song.
I have another proof Act 3 v 1-11 it is the story of a man who was born lame, but his day came and the day of somebody has come tonight.
When he finally got up, what was he doing?
The Bible says he was walking, he was leaping and he was praising God.
Whatever may be your reproach, as long as are still breathing, I have good news that that reproach is going to turn out to be a testimony.
He made us, that is one thing to thank Him for, His grace caused Him to make us in His own image.
But that is not all, He protected us, when we were still in our mother's womb, He was already there protecting us.
According to Isaiah 46-3-4, He protected us even in our mother's womb, otherwise we would not be here today.
If he had not protected you while you were in the womb, you will have probably been aborted or be still birth and I know what I am talking about.
I can tell you story upon story, I can tell you one in my family when one of my sisters was pregnant and all of a sudden a woman has just befriended my mother, I was very young then, I was surprised, who is this woman visiting my mother every day?
Until one day she offered my mother something, she said
"I can see your daughter is pregnant, give her this, so that on the day of delivery everything will be easy".
That baby was still unborn; she gave my sister poison to kill the baby in the womb.
When I think back somebody could have poisoned me while I was in the womb, somebody could have poising you while you are in the womb thank God, God didn't allow it to happen.
While you were still in the womb He protected you.
What about when we were born?
Some of us were born right into the hands of death and I mean some very powerful enemies were waiting.
Some of the older ones will understand; when you were born in the village, you are born in a mud hut, the ground of the mud hut has been painted.
"Painted" with some green leaves, mixed with the feces of cows; you were born right into the hand of tetanus.
And they call a woman to come and cut your umbilical cord and she took a knife that was completely full of germs and uses it to cut the thing.
Ask the elders, they will tell you how many children died before they were seven days old.
And they say witches killed them, no! Not witches, it was other enemies that cannot be seen by ordinary eye and yet you survived, and yet you and I survived.
He protected us.
When we were young; some of you will remember, you younger one, you are more fortunate when you are sick and you are running a temperature, your mother put you at her back and wrap thick cloth around you because you are shaking and she taught that the hotter you are the better.
You are already running a temperature. They ask you to eat; because you are sick you couldn't eat, so they put you on your side, block your nose to compel you to eat and you survived.
They gave you concoctions; medicine that has no dosage and you survived.
Some of us, we are born into families where even the relatives were enemies.
You can ask Joseph he can tell you the kind of brother he had.
Some of you know what I am talking about; some people are like Moses; even before he was born decree had gone out, if this boy is born a boy, kill him.
Exodus 15 v 15-22 and yet by His grace we survived.
Why?
Because He protected us and since then He has been protecting us day and night, He has made a decree that no weapon fashioned against us shall prosper.
He has said He would be a wall of fire round about us.
Zachariah 2 v 5 in fact, He protected us so much so that David could say in Psalm 23 v 5, he said, Thou prepareth a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
At a time when we didn't know the difference between a snake and a worm he protected us.
At a time when we didn't even know the different between a flame and flower, he protected us.
But He did more than that; He didn't just protect us, He defended us and preserved us.
David said in Psalm 27 v 1-3 He said when the enemies rose up against me they stumbled and they fell.
There are some of you here who have never been attacked by enemies before, but I know one or two people like myself who had had to battle enemies from childhood till maybe till yesterday.
Because I believe that the enemies I saw up till yesterday I will see them no more.
What about you?
He protected us against all known evil.
Then He defended us when the enemies attacked and more than that the Bible said in Psalm 127 v 7 it, says the Lord will preserve you from all evil.
He preserved me from all evil; that is why I am standing before you today, He preserved you from all evil, that is why you are able to come tonight.
He preserved you from all evil that is why you are able to listen to me tonight wherever you are listening to me tonight wherever you are listening from.
And because He has preserved us thus far, I am sure tomorrow will be alright.
If you believe that let me hear you shout hallelujah!
When we talked about preservation, when I think about how many close shaves I have had with death, am amazed at the grace of the Almighty God in preservation.
On the mission field, at least on two occasions in the nation of Zambia I had very narrow escape; when the man who decided to drive refused to let the professional driver drive and yet we knew he wasn't good as a driver, but he is the owner of the car, so what am I going to do?
And we missed a head on collision by centimeter, not on one occasion, but at least two occasions.
I could have gone and die over there, but the Almighty God said no, you haven't finished your job yet and some of you can tell similar stories
But then there is a story I remember very well, each time I remember it, I shake.
Even when I wake up in the middle of the night and I remember it, I shake before I say 'God I thank you!'.
Some of you have heard the story before.
I was a very little boy in our village in those days only two lorries came to town and so you can hear the sound of the lorry far away before they arrive.
And in those days the white men ruled us and they were some people digging gold in the surrounding hamlet around my village.
So the white man will come once a while to collect the gold that has been dug and he will come in a jeep.
And in those days, if a white man killed your child, if he knocked down your child and the child dies, you pick up the child and run saying thank you, because you don't want to be arrested for what they would call carelessness.
They say you are not careful with your child and they can go and lock you up for that.
They just kill your child!
Ask the elders, they will tell you.
In those days we used to call them ALAPADUPE (after he has killed your child, you will say thank you).
So my elder sister of blessed memory and myself, we were coming from the village farm, walking on the only road leading into the place.
We were having fun, singing, carefree, on our way and all of a sudden we heard the sound of a vehicle coming, before we knew what was happening, a white man has turned the corner in his jeep and was heading straight for us.
My sister grabbed me and jumped out of the road and we landed in a pit, a dry pit where they had dug gold and couldn't find more gold so they left the place.
So we landed in the pit and our hearts were beating fast, thumping because we have narrowly escaped death from Alapadupe.
And we could hear our heart beat, just as our heart was beginning to subside, we heard a sound; the hissing of a snake.
A black very, very poisonous snake was in the pit into which we jumped and it was very angry that we have come to disturb him.
I froze; my heart stopped beating and am sure the heart of my sister stopped beating at the same time.
It looks like hours, but it was only probably a minute when the snake still hissing crawled out of the pit and went away.
That is why I am still standing before you today.
Is there anybody who has ever had a close encounter with death, will you join me in shouting praise the Lord.
Thank you Father!
Daddy says there is someone here tonight, He said your body is my temple and I am coming to clean out everything disturbing my temple.
Thank You, Saviour!
The Lord asks me to tell a woman, He said you will understand, He said this pregnancy is not coming down until fulfillment.
Now, so He made us, He protected us, He defended us and preserved us and then as we grew or shall I say as I grew, He taught me self defense.
Thank you Father!
The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said you don't deserve it, He said, but for My Namesake I will promote you.
Psalm 144 v 1 David said, He taught my hand to war and my fingers to fight.
As I grew particularly in the Lord, He taught me to fight, He taught me to defend myself.
You know in James 4 v 7 He says if you submit yourself to God you can resist even the devil and he will flee from you.
Now not only did He teaches us how to fight and if you are a Christian you should be able to fight.
He supplies the weapons for our warfare.
And the weapons are many, but we just take three of them;
The word of God
He assures us in Numbers 14 v 28 that whatever we say to His hearing that is what He will do.
So if the enemy says you are going to die, what should you say?
Psalm 118 v says I will not die, but live to declare the works of God.
Let me hear you say I will not die, I will live.
He says just let Me hear it and as you say so will I do.
Let me hear you say 'my tomorrow will be alright'.
Let me hear you say 'I shall be head, I shall not be tail'.
I know the circumstances around you may not support what you are saying but it doesn't matter, just say it:
"I shall be head, I shall not be the tail"
He provides the weapon.
The word of God.
And then He provides us with His blood.
Revelation 12 v 11 says they overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimonies.
In other words, if you combine what you are saying with your mouth with the power that is in the blood of the Lamb you will become an over comer.
I can tell you several stories about the use of his blood.
Some of you will remember the story of a couple they just discovered that money was disappearing in the house.
The wife thought it was the husband taking her money and she was wondering what is wrong with this man.
You are the one who gave me housekeeping money and you are coming back to steal part of it.
And the husband was thinking it was the wife stealing part of the money and he was wondering; if this woman asks me for money I will give.
So one day the two of them confronted each other and they realized they had a problem because there was nobody else living with them in the house.
They came and told us, we said it is a simple matter from now on before you go to bed just cover your money with the blood of Jesus and the evil force that have been coming to steal your money will not be able to come near you at all.
Tonight in the name of Jesus, both you and yours, I cover you in the blood of the Lamb.
Thank you Father, the Lord said there is a lady here tonight, doctor has just diagnosed you with cervix cancer, He asked me to tell you go for another test it is gone.
The Lord asked me to tell you a little story and listen carefully because there is a message coming after it.
When I was a child, I go with my father to the farm and there is a river we had to cross on our way back, occasionally the river is in the flood, when it is in the flood it will sweep away the bridge, on one occasion the bridge was gone, the river was in flood.
I was too small to cross, my father did something; he picked me up, put me across his shoulders and walked through the river, he was walking through the river I was playing with the water because I was on his shoulder.
The Lord asks me to tell someone tonight, He said I will carry you through to safety.
This seems to be a special night of grace!
Daddy wants me to tell you another story.
Some of you have heard it before, but there is a message again coming after it different from the one you have probably heard before.
Years ago, I went to the University of Nsuka to mark WAEC papers, on my way back, I had run pretty low money wise, so I stood by the highway in Asaba waving down vehicles coming down to Lagos, in case somebody will give me a lift for free.
Everyone I waved at, just drove on didn't stop.
Volkswagon drove past , little, little cars drove past, then I saw this Mercedes Benz car the one they call OBOKUN, the big 280 of those days fully air-conditioned I saw it coming, I didn't bother to wave because I thought this one won't wait for anybody but after he has gone past a little, I just tentatively raised my hand, and the man has gone past me several meters he stopped and reversed and he said
"you are going to Lagos?".
I said "yes sir".
He said "come in".
So I jumped in,
And he was on the driver side and I jumped into the owner's corner because his friend was seated in the front.
I have told you the story before and I used to say 'every opportunity you have missed will reverse back to you'.
But that is not why God asked me to tell you the story tonight.
The man took me to Lagos and I was in air-conditioned car and he was driving, I don't want to waste your time because I noticed from his language that he has just returned from America.
Because I noticed there were a lot of
'MEN, MEN' in all he was saying.
So we got to Palmgrove and he said 'where are you going?'
I said 'drop me here I will find my way home'
He said 'no, I will drive you all the way home'
And he took me to my doorstep before he dropped me.
The Lord is saying to somebody here, He said I will help you all the way.
And so he taught me to fight, He gave me His word to fight with; He gave me His blood to fight with.
He gave me His name to fight with.
In Philippians 2 v 9-10 tell us that at the mention of the name of Jesus every knee must bow, so when I came face to face with an enemy I can say in the name of Jesus, and the enemy knows at the name of Jesus, they must bow.
I have told you several stories about the Name, because some of you who have never heard any of them, I tell you just one.
One of our brothers belonged to seven secret societies at the time he was a student at Obafemi Awolowo University at that time it was called the University of IFE.
Seven secret societies; some of them real big ones from the town and because he was educated, he was the secretary of many of these really deep ones.,
Then he gave his life to Jesus and he discovered he can no longer be a member of any secret society so he took all their books, because he was the secretary, he was the one keeping all the records of all the evil they have done.
He took their books to them and said am sorry, am out.
And they looked at him and said what are you talking about?
You don't come out, once you are in, you are in.
He said "am out"!
So they said we give you seven days to go and think about it, you know what will happen to you if you opt out; you will die!
You know all our secrets
He said I am out.
They say okay, seven days!
After the seventh day he has gone to class to read.
He came back later around 2am and in the hostel where he was, there were three beds in the room; one bed by the right, one bed on the left and one bed facing the door.
His own bed was the one facing the door.
He got in and was about to sleep, there was light in the corridor so that even though the room was dark, you can still see what was going on.
He was about to sleep and you know the kind of prayer you pray when you are tired; Father thank you for today see you tomorrow.
You are laughing as if you know what I am talking about, may God forgive you.
So he laid down to sleep and the Holy Spirit woke him up and said;
Son, wake up and pray.
He said "am sorry, it's because I didn't pray long enough, I really thank you, you know I really love you, I appreciate you.
He dozed off again, but the spirit of God said "son wake up and pray".
The third time he said "alright, I will do a vigil".
As he knelt down to begin to pray, all of a sudden a huge figure in the shape of a man, BIG, came right through the door that was locked.
I know some of you don't believe that kind of thing, it doesn't matter; I pray you don't experience it.
He came in through the door that was locked and was coming straight at him; fortunately because he was on his knees now, he was able to shout Jesus.
And when he shouted the name Jesus, that thing stopped.
Because it stopped, he picked up courage and he began to say
"in Jesus name I rebuke you; in Jesus name I rebuke you".
And the thing began to move backwards until it finally went through the door and disappears.
When he was telling me the story I said "my brother, are sure you are not dreaming?
He said I would have thought it was a dream, except that when I was saying in Jesus name I rebuke you, one of the students who was sleeping on the bed on the side, rolled over and his leg moved out of the bed and as the thing was going backwards the hand of the thing touched that leg.
By the time they woke up the following morning, the leg was as big as a huge log of wood.
That boy spends the whole session out of campus nursing that leg.
The hand was coming to touch the head of my brother, but because of a name that is above every other name.
He taught us to fight and gave us weapons to fight with.
The word of God, the blood of Jesus and the name of Jesus.
Then all along He provided for all our needs or let me say he provided for all my needs because many of us don't believe He has provided for all our needs because we have not travelled.
We have not seen people suffer, so when we see ourselves, we compare ourselves to ourselves, but if you go out, if you visit some nations of the world you will see that suffering passes sufferings.
It is my prayer that none of you will ever know suffering for the rest of your life.
He provided salvation through His blood.
1John 1 v 7, He provided healings by His stripes.
1Peter 2 v 24, He provided prosperity through his poverty.
2 Corinthians 8 v 9 He said he became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich, and on and on.
Thank you Father,
The Lord said when I said He has met all our needs, one girl said "except that He didn't give me a husband".
He asked me to tell you He heard that, He will give you a husband and the fruit of the womb immediately after.
Be careful of what you are saying, He is listening!
He provided for all our needs, salvation, healing, deliverance, joy, the hope of heaven, He provided.
And then the topic of tonight, all that is introduction.
Glory be to God, don't worry am a mathematician, when you think am introducing I may be very close to concluding.
Then He chose me for greatness, He chose you for greatness, otherwise you won't be here tonight, tell your neighbor, I am going to be great you know!
The Bible says in Psalm 115 v 3 it said our God is in the heaven and He does as He pleases and according to Romans 9 v 10-11 He can choose you for greatness even before you were born.
There were twins in the womb of a woman and God decided before they were born, that the elder will serve the younger.
It is written, because He is God, He does as He pleases, nobody can query Him.
He chose you for greatness whether your neighbor likes it or not, it doesn't matter, He is not going to ask them to vote, He has made up His mind you are going to be great anyway.
Do you know that all those who think you are going die small; they are going to be disappointed?
Those who thought they have already cursed you are going to bow down before you.
Because, as we were told by the one who spoke before me, it is not because of qualification, or what you have done, no! It is because of grace, by his grace.
He chose me for greatness.
The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said I have done what you asked for why are you delaying your vow?.
That means there is someone who has made a vow to God that if you will do this, I will do this,
He said, I have done what you asked for, why are you delaying your vow?
It is between you and God.
Now, He normally, according to the word of God, He will normally choose the first born for greatness that is what He said.
He said "the first born is Mine"
And when you go through the Scriptures you will find a lot of first born chosen by God for greatness.
Take Samuel for example, in 1 Samuel 1 v 1-20 Samuel was the first born of the mother.
Or Take John the Baptist in Luke 1 v 1-17 John the Baptist was the first born of his mother, but then Moses was not the first born, according to Exodus 2 v 1-10 in fact he already had a sister that was grown.
David was the number eight, according to 1Samuel 16 v 1-19, Joseph was number eleven in the family according to Genesis 37 v 1-8.
He does as He pleases, I am the last born of my mother, am the second to the last born of my father and yet He chose me.
It doesn't matter whether you are the first born or the last born, or the middle born; if God says you are going to be great, you are going to be great, period.
He chooses whomever He wants.
As for Paul in Galatians 1 v 13 -16 he said He chose me from my mother's womb.
No wonder he said in 1Corithians 15 v 9-10 he said "I am what I am by the grace of God",
He said "I shouldn't even be what I am because how can I possibly be an Apostle considering that I persecuted the church".
That was the Apostle Paul talking.
Some of you know my testimony, I shouldn't be a pastor, I shouldn't be the one standing here talking to you because I was rotten, but the Lord saved my soul and washed me clean and gave me a brand new beginning and i knew he is going to do the same for someone here tonight.
So let me conclude, whether or not I end up great it is up to me.
God by His grace has chosen me to be great, but whether or not I end up great is up to me.
I am going to prove it to you in a moment.
The preacher who preached before me quoted Titus 2 v 11 where it is written
'The grace of God that brings salvation as appear to all men'.
But are men saved?
No!
The grace for salvation is available to all, but will all men end up in heaven?
Why?
Because according to 2 Corinthians 6 v1
The Lord said before I go to the conclusion, He still wants to talk to one or two people, He said there is someone here tonight, He said everything that is slowing down the work of My grace in your life shall be flushed out this month.
The Lord says I have told you that this year before one hallelujah ends in your home another one will begin.
Now grace as appeared to all, grace is available to all but some may receive grace in vain 2corthiasn 6...
And then, according to Hebrew 10 v 29-30 the Bible says some people may do despise.
Other words, some people may say " who wants grace?
Who cares?
E.g Esau in Genesis 25 v 29-34 because he was the first born; the double portion blessings of his father was supposed to belong to him, but one day he was hungry and his brother brought portage and he said
'Give me food to eat'
The brother said, 'if you want my food give me your birthright'.
You know what he said?
I thought a man would have said because of food?
Let your food perish with you, you want my birthright?
He said, "no, no, who cares about birthright!"
So you remember the story when the father wants to bless him and he had to go out to look for an animal before he returns.
The brother who had already purchased the birthright of the firstborn came in and took the double portion of the blessing.
By the time he came back he said
"My father have you not one blessings"
The father said
" But I have already made your brother your Lord and you will serve him".
Some people may despise grace; the opportunity to be great may be there some people may say, who cares.
And then the Bible says some people due to lack of diligence may fail to utilize grace.
Hebrew 12 v 15. How many people go to university from very rich homes and never come out with a degree.
Everything they needed were supplied; the teachers were there, the parents were ready to pay any amount and yet because they refuse to work hard, they fail to utilize the grace and they come out with nothing.
I mean I still remembered when I was at the University of Lagos as a postgraduate student, there was a student who has been there for eight years, kept on changing from one department to another, because when everybody is studying you can hear his radiogram.
In those days there was something called radiogram, he had a radiogram in his room because his parents were rich, while the rest of us who came from poor background were struggling to make it, he was enjoying and he never got a degree.
There are people who will not utilize grace and according to Galatians 2 v 21 some people may frustrate grace in other words, God may decide that I want to be gracious and the fellow will say "God, don't bother me" and God will say "let's try again".
And they keep on doing what God said they shouldn't do until finally God will say alright, let's leave him alone.
I preached a sermon years ago called SEEING THE INVICIBLE and I gave an illustration; that many people will look at a log of wood and see nothing but a log of wood.
But a sculptor will look at the log of wood and see a lion inside the log of wood, and so he will take a hammer and a chisel and he will begin to cut away a little here, a little there, very soon you will see a head of lion in what used to be a log of wood.
It looks like a lion is coming out of this and he kept on going and going.
But then occasionally he will strike the chisel with the hammer and there is a fault inside the log of wood that he couldn't see and the log of wood will just split into two.
And the sculptor will say, oh! With all the efforts I have already expended over this log of wood, he said alright, I know what I would do, if I can't make a lion I can make a cat, after all a cat is a cat, one is a lion, the other is a cat.
So he begins to work again and again, and suddenly the wood split another way and he says ah, this thing is no longer big enough to make a cat, well let me try maybe I can make out a rat, and he will try and try and again the wood will split.
Frustrated, he will say I wanted to make a lion out of you, now you go and become firewood.
I pray for every one of you here today, whatever is in your life that can terminate the destiny God has for you, may the Almighty God deal with it tonight in Jesus name.
Galatians 5 v 4 says some people may even fall completely from grace, on the other hand, according to 2 Peter 3 v 18 some people may grow in grace.
God gives them the grace, they began to utilize the grace and they begin to grow in the grace
2 Peter 1 v 2 the Bible says some people may even cause the grace to multiply.
Grace can become multiplied for example, you know the story of the talent in Matthew 25 v 14-30 it tells us the story of how God gave one man five talents, He gave another two talents, He gave one, one talent.
He said according to their abilities, the one who got five says I am going to multiply it, he applied himself the five became ten; and the one with two applied himself the two became four.
The one who got only one says I will bury that one.
They finally took it from him and gave it to the one who had five originally so his own became eleven.
The one who made heaven and earth will let the grace of God in your life be multiplied.
So what will you do with his grace?
The choice is yours, the grace of God is available, what will you do with it?
I will tell you two stories in closing; I am telling it for the benefit of those who have never heard them,
I was invited to a town near here by the traditional ruler to come and preach at his thanksgiving service.
He was thanking God for several things so he asked me to come.
So I came with my wife and son in my Toyota Crown car and as we are getting ready for service the usher ran to me and said I should come and see what is happening.
The high chief and the traditional ruler were coming to church, and they were all members of one society or the other, they were all coming in their uniform in their regalia.
And the usher ran to me and said we are going to allow all these people in church?
I said "of course"
"Put them on the front row where Jesus will be able to see them quickly".
I was very young then, I changed my sermon quickly, I was going to preach on "oh that man should praise the Lord!" but I changed the sermon to "what happened to mount Carmel" because this was a confrontation between my God and their own.
Like I said, I was very young then this was more than thirty years ago, I preached a very though sermon, at a stage in the sermon I challenge the people, all of you serving all other gods, I said I came here with my wife and my son, my car is number so and so; I want you to use all of your power to make one of my tyre to go flat, if you can do that I will serve your God, if you cannot do that you must serve my God.
Then I gave the altar call and the second in command to the traditional ruler, the head to all the secret society was the first to come forward and as he was coming forward all the other chiefs followed him.
After the service the traditional ruler said to me "E. A, lets follow up this man, maybe he didn't understand the meaning of the altar call"
We went to visit him.
When we got there the traditional asked him
"did you understand what happened when they asked you to come and give your life to Jesus?"
He said "of course I do",
"Why did you do that?"
The man said
"You see a small boy like this challenging all of us, who does not know there must be Somebody behind him"
He said "it is the One who is behind him that I surrender to".
But the beauty of that story was within a month he died, he was an old man, within a month he died.
All his life he had served Satan, less than thirty days before his death, grace came, he grabbed it and now he is in heaven.
What will you do with grace?.
Tell you another story, I was sitting down in my office at the university of Lagos, Department of Mathematics, I was trying to write a paper, I have defined the problem, I have defined the method of solution, I was about to begin when God said
"Son, write to the chief so, so, so. Tell him I love him, I want him to surrender his life to Me so that he can live with me in heaven.
Of course the moment when God begins to talk, I started writing, I have finished writing before I said
"Daddy, I have heard the name before, but I don't know his address.
Daddy said "it doesn't matter, just put the address in an envelope address it to the chief so, so, so, chief so, so's house, so, so town.
So go and go and post it.
You all know very well when you address the letter correctly in Nigeria you have to pray for it to arrive at all. Not when you say chef so so so, so, so's house.
Within three days the letter arrived and he sent his driver because I have written in the letter, if you think this is from hungry prophet tear the letter, but if you think this is from God, send for me, I will come and explain.
He sent his driver, he said wait in your office for me tomorrow, don't come I will come.
I was happy I thought salvation is already available now.
He came, I explained salvation to him and I said, sir, will you now give your life to Jesus?
He said I will think about it, then he left.
For two years, every two weeks, I visited this man for two years.
Anytime I came to him, he will take me to his bedroom so we can talk without disturbing, after I finish talking, I will say
"Sir, will you now give your life to Jesus Christ?
He will say I will think about it.
Then one day he had a stroke, massive stroke that made him unconscious, before he lapse into unconsciousness, he told the people around send for Pastor Adeboye.
They sent for me, I ran down, and cry to God,
"God, give him just one more chance, let him recover enough to be able to decide and brethren".
Less than one hour, he was completely whole, there was no sign that he was ill at all.
So I said, sir, do you see what God has done for you now?
Will you please surrender your life to Jesus?
He said "I will think about it, of course the next time I heard about him, he has died.
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men so what will you do with the grace?.
Those of you who are here and those of you who are listening to me on the Internet, the decision is yours.
The God of grace has made grace available unto you, will you decide for him tonight?
Or will you reject his offer of salvation?.
If you want to give your life, come now talk to Jesus to save your soul, ask him to be merciful unto you, today is the day of salvation don't miss this opportunity it is God that is calling you.
Ask him to forgive you your sin, promise him that you will serve him from now on, ask him to become your Lord and your Savior,
And the rest of us, lets intercede towards these people, lets pray that the Almighty God will save their souls that God will forgive all their sins tonight and give them a brand new beginning.
.. . In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Savior, I want to thank you for your word and I want to thank you for your grace, I want to thank you that by grace we are saved, that is not by any work we have done, I want to thank you because your blood cleanses from all sins, I want to thank you because you said whosoever will come unto you, you will in no wise cast out; these people have come now.
Father, please receive them in Jesus name, forgive them in Jesus name, wash them clean in your blood in Jesus name.
Write their names in the book of life in Jesus and please Lord don't let go back into the world in Jesus name.
Father, I pray that from now on 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.
Prayer points
1. Father, every obstacle to this your child that am holding by your grace wipe it out completely... in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
2. Father every enemy of grace in the life of my neighbor, Father destroys... in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Remember the law of harvest whatever you sow, you will reap, so whatever you wish your neighbor, you are getting it back.
Lift your voice to the Almighty God and say Father, don't let my neighbor die small,
3. From now on, let my neighbor enjoy divine favor. ... In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
The Almighty God will answer your prayers.
You will not fall from grace, the greatness that God has ordained for you shall be achieved.
The grace God in your life shall be multiplied, the grace of God in your life shall overflow to all your friends, you will not die small, every obstacle to your greatness shall be destroyed.
Every enemy of grace in your life shall be destroyed.
The Almighty God Himself will promote you, He will make you great, He will protect you, He will defend you, He will preserve you, He will make you very, very great and with the grace that He has given you.
You will serve Him abundantly, so shall it be, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
If you receive that let me hear you shout hallelujah!
Pastor Adeboye E.A.
Tonight we want to talk about MADE GREAT BY GRACE.
The crucial word here is the word MADE. It is the active word; it is the word of action. MADE GREAT BY GRACE!
The passage I read ends by David himself, and the first speaker had already said a lot to us about David.
He spoke about David, the forgotten who was remembered, the unqualified who was qualified by grace.
And when this fellow was talking, he knew what he was talking about; Thy gentleness had made me great.
I was a nobody but your gentleness has made me great, I am where I am today by your grace alone.
Any time David wanted to talk about something very, very crucial to him, he talks in the personal:
"I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth".
Anytime he wants to talk about something crucial, he didn't say:
"We will bless the Lord at all time, he didn't say his praise shall continually be in our mouth"
He said I,
"I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth".
So if tonight as we continue in this service you find me from time to time making reference to me, it is because it is true of me.
God has been merciful unto me.
Is there anybody here who can say God has been merciful unto me?
He made us; that is the first thing.
God made us according to John 1 v 1-3 all things were made by Him, and there was nothing made that was not made by Him.
And according to Revelation 4 v 11, He made all things for His pleasure, He decides what He wants to make for His pleasure alone.
Now, according to Jeremiah 18 v 3-6 God is the potter, we are the clay and the porter is free to make anything that he wants from the clay.
So He could have made you or me a goat, it will still be for his pleasure.
You say, a goat?
Oh! He could have made you something worse.
He could have made you or I a snake or a cockroach.
So that wherever people see us, they want to kill us, but instead he made us human beings.
Thank you Jesus!
And when you consider the fact in Jeremiah 1 v 4 that before He formed us He knew us.
Before He began to put us together at all, He knew what He wanted to do.
You can consider the fact that He could change His mind even before He started forming us, instead, according to Jeremiah 12 v 11, He prepared a good destiny for us.
He said I know the thought, I think towards you, thought of Good not of evil to have an expected end.
Aren't you grateful to God, that He had a great destiny awaiting you. I know some of us will begin to say if that is the case, then how come he made me handicap, how come I am blind.
Because there might be one or two people here who are born blind, if you read John 9 v 1-17, when the disciples saw a man who was blind and have been blind for forty years, and they asked the man, who sinned; this man or his parent? That he was born blind.
Jesus Christ said no! no!
The blindness is not because of his sin, but that the name of God might be gloried.
You know what that means?
It means even if you are blind today, you are not going to die blind. I am confident that anyone who is handicap here today, very soon you will sing a new song.
Even you are blind today, it does not mean you are going to die blind. I am confident that anyone who is handicap here today; very soon you will sing a new song.
I have another proof Act 3 v 1-11 it is the story of a man who was born lame, but his day came and the day of somebody has come tonight.
When he finally got up, what was he doing?
The Bible says he was walking, he was leaping and he was praising God.
Whatever may be your reproach, as long as are still breathing, I have good news that that reproach is going to turn out to be a testimony.
He made us, that is one thing to thank Him for, His grace caused Him to make us in His own image.
But that is not all, He protected us, when we were still in our mother's womb, He was already there protecting us.
According to Isaiah 46-3-4, He protected us even in our mother's womb, otherwise we would not be here today.
If he had not protected you while you were in the womb, you will have probably been aborted or be still birth and I know what I am talking about.
I can tell you story upon story, I can tell you one in my family when one of my sisters was pregnant and all of a sudden a woman has just befriended my mother, I was very young then, I was surprised, who is this woman visiting my mother every day?
Until one day she offered my mother something, she said
"I can see your daughter is pregnant, give her this, so that on the day of delivery everything will be easy".
That baby was still unborn; she gave my sister poison to kill the baby in the womb.
When I think back somebody could have poisoned me while I was in the womb, somebody could have poising you while you are in the womb thank God, God didn't allow it to happen.
While you were still in the womb He protected you.
What about when we were born?
Some of us were born right into the hands of death and I mean some very powerful enemies were waiting.
Some of the older ones will understand; when you were born in the village, you are born in a mud hut, the ground of the mud hut has been painted.
"Painted" with some green leaves, mixed with the feces of cows; you were born right into the hand of tetanus.
And they call a woman to come and cut your umbilical cord and she took a knife that was completely full of germs and uses it to cut the thing.
Ask the elders, they will tell you how many children died before they were seven days old.
And they say witches killed them, no! Not witches, it was other enemies that cannot be seen by ordinary eye and yet you survived, and yet you and I survived.
He protected us.
When we were young; some of you will remember, you younger one, you are more fortunate when you are sick and you are running a temperature, your mother put you at her back and wrap thick cloth around you because you are shaking and she taught that the hotter you are the better.
You are already running a temperature. They ask you to eat; because you are sick you couldn't eat, so they put you on your side, block your nose to compel you to eat and you survived.
They gave you concoctions; medicine that has no dosage and you survived.
Some of us, we are born into families where even the relatives were enemies.
You can ask Joseph he can tell you the kind of brother he had.
Some of you know what I am talking about; some people are like Moses; even before he was born decree had gone out, if this boy is born a boy, kill him.
Exodus 15 v 15-22 and yet by His grace we survived.
Why?
Because He protected us and since then He has been protecting us day and night, He has made a decree that no weapon fashioned against us shall prosper.
He has said He would be a wall of fire round about us.
Zachariah 2 v 5 in fact, He protected us so much so that David could say in Psalm 23 v 5, he said, Thou prepareth a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
At a time when we didn't know the difference between a snake and a worm he protected us.
At a time when we didn't even know the different between a flame and flower, he protected us.
But He did more than that; He didn't just protect us, He defended us and preserved us.
David said in Psalm 27 v 1-3 He said when the enemies rose up against me they stumbled and they fell.
There are some of you here who have never been attacked by enemies before, but I know one or two people like myself who had had to battle enemies from childhood till maybe till yesterday.
Because I believe that the enemies I saw up till yesterday I will see them no more.
What about you?
He protected us against all known evil.
Then He defended us when the enemies attacked and more than that the Bible said in Psalm 127 v 7 it, says the Lord will preserve you from all evil.
He preserved me from all evil; that is why I am standing before you today, He preserved you from all evil, that is why you are able to come tonight.
He preserved you from all evil that is why you are able to listen to me tonight wherever you are listening to me tonight wherever you are listening from.
And because He has preserved us thus far, I am sure tomorrow will be alright.
If you believe that let me hear you shout hallelujah!
When we talked about preservation, when I think about how many close shaves I have had with death, am amazed at the grace of the Almighty God in preservation.
On the mission field, at least on two occasions in the nation of Zambia I had very narrow escape; when the man who decided to drive refused to let the professional driver drive and yet we knew he wasn't good as a driver, but he is the owner of the car, so what am I going to do?
And we missed a head on collision by centimeter, not on one occasion, but at least two occasions.
I could have gone and die over there, but the Almighty God said no, you haven't finished your job yet and some of you can tell similar stories
But then there is a story I remember very well, each time I remember it, I shake.
Even when I wake up in the middle of the night and I remember it, I shake before I say 'God I thank you!'.
Some of you have heard the story before.
I was a very little boy in our village in those days only two lorries came to town and so you can hear the sound of the lorry far away before they arrive.
And in those days the white men ruled us and they were some people digging gold in the surrounding hamlet around my village.
So the white man will come once a while to collect the gold that has been dug and he will come in a jeep.
And in those days, if a white man killed your child, if he knocked down your child and the child dies, you pick up the child and run saying thank you, because you don't want to be arrested for what they would call carelessness.
They say you are not careful with your child and they can go and lock you up for that.
They just kill your child!
Ask the elders, they will tell you.
In those days we used to call them ALAPADUPE (after he has killed your child, you will say thank you).
So my elder sister of blessed memory and myself, we were coming from the village farm, walking on the only road leading into the place.
We were having fun, singing, carefree, on our way and all of a sudden we heard the sound of a vehicle coming, before we knew what was happening, a white man has turned the corner in his jeep and was heading straight for us.
My sister grabbed me and jumped out of the road and we landed in a pit, a dry pit where they had dug gold and couldn't find more gold so they left the place.
So we landed in the pit and our hearts were beating fast, thumping because we have narrowly escaped death from Alapadupe.
And we could hear our heart beat, just as our heart was beginning to subside, we heard a sound; the hissing of a snake.
A black very, very poisonous snake was in the pit into which we jumped and it was very angry that we have come to disturb him.
I froze; my heart stopped beating and am sure the heart of my sister stopped beating at the same time.
It looks like hours, but it was only probably a minute when the snake still hissing crawled out of the pit and went away.
That is why I am still standing before you today.
Is there anybody who has ever had a close encounter with death, will you join me in shouting praise the Lord.
Thank you Father!
Daddy says there is someone here tonight, He said your body is my temple and I am coming to clean out everything disturbing my temple.
Thank You, Saviour!
The Lord asks me to tell a woman, He said you will understand, He said this pregnancy is not coming down until fulfillment.
Now, so He made us, He protected us, He defended us and preserved us and then as we grew or shall I say as I grew, He taught me self defense.
Thank you Father!
The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said you don't deserve it, He said, but for My Namesake I will promote you.
Psalm 144 v 1 David said, He taught my hand to war and my fingers to fight.
As I grew particularly in the Lord, He taught me to fight, He taught me to defend myself.
You know in James 4 v 7 He says if you submit yourself to God you can resist even the devil and he will flee from you.
Now not only did He teaches us how to fight and if you are a Christian you should be able to fight.
He supplies the weapons for our warfare.
And the weapons are many, but we just take three of them;
The word of God
He assures us in Numbers 14 v 28 that whatever we say to His hearing that is what He will do.
So if the enemy says you are going to die, what should you say?
Psalm 118 v says I will not die, but live to declare the works of God.
Let me hear you say I will not die, I will live.
He says just let Me hear it and as you say so will I do.
Let me hear you say 'my tomorrow will be alright'.
Let me hear you say 'I shall be head, I shall not be tail'.
I know the circumstances around you may not support what you are saying but it doesn't matter, just say it:
"I shall be head, I shall not be the tail"
He provides the weapon.
The word of God.
And then He provides us with His blood.
Revelation 12 v 11 says they overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimonies.
In other words, if you combine what you are saying with your mouth with the power that is in the blood of the Lamb you will become an over comer.
I can tell you several stories about the use of his blood.
Some of you will remember the story of a couple they just discovered that money was disappearing in the house.
The wife thought it was the husband taking her money and she was wondering what is wrong with this man.
You are the one who gave me housekeeping money and you are coming back to steal part of it.
And the husband was thinking it was the wife stealing part of the money and he was wondering; if this woman asks me for money I will give.
So one day the two of them confronted each other and they realized they had a problem because there was nobody else living with them in the house.
They came and told us, we said it is a simple matter from now on before you go to bed just cover your money with the blood of Jesus and the evil force that have been coming to steal your money will not be able to come near you at all.
Tonight in the name of Jesus, both you and yours, I cover you in the blood of the Lamb.
Thank you Father, the Lord said there is a lady here tonight, doctor has just diagnosed you with cervix cancer, He asked me to tell you go for another test it is gone.
The Lord asked me to tell you a little story and listen carefully because there is a message coming after it.
When I was a child, I go with my father to the farm and there is a river we had to cross on our way back, occasionally the river is in the flood, when it is in the flood it will sweep away the bridge, on one occasion the bridge was gone, the river was in flood.
I was too small to cross, my father did something; he picked me up, put me across his shoulders and walked through the river, he was walking through the river I was playing with the water because I was on his shoulder.
The Lord asks me to tell someone tonight, He said I will carry you through to safety.
This seems to be a special night of grace!
Daddy wants me to tell you another story.
Some of you have heard it before, but there is a message again coming after it different from the one you have probably heard before.
Years ago, I went to the University of Nsuka to mark WAEC papers, on my way back, I had run pretty low money wise, so I stood by the highway in Asaba waving down vehicles coming down to Lagos, in case somebody will give me a lift for free.
Everyone I waved at, just drove on didn't stop.
Volkswagon drove past , little, little cars drove past, then I saw this Mercedes Benz car the one they call OBOKUN, the big 280 of those days fully air-conditioned I saw it coming, I didn't bother to wave because I thought this one won't wait for anybody but after he has gone past a little, I just tentatively raised my hand, and the man has gone past me several meters he stopped and reversed and he said
"you are going to Lagos?".
I said "yes sir".
He said "come in".
So I jumped in,
And he was on the driver side and I jumped into the owner's corner because his friend was seated in the front.
I have told you the story before and I used to say 'every opportunity you have missed will reverse back to you'.
But that is not why God asked me to tell you the story tonight.
The man took me to Lagos and I was in air-conditioned car and he was driving, I don't want to waste your time because I noticed from his language that he has just returned from America.
Because I noticed there were a lot of
'MEN, MEN' in all he was saying.
So we got to Palmgrove and he said 'where are you going?'
I said 'drop me here I will find my way home'
He said 'no, I will drive you all the way home'
And he took me to my doorstep before he dropped me.
The Lord is saying to somebody here, He said I will help you all the way.
And so he taught me to fight, He gave me His word to fight with; He gave me His blood to fight with.
He gave me His name to fight with.
In Philippians 2 v 9-10 tell us that at the mention of the name of Jesus every knee must bow, so when I came face to face with an enemy I can say in the name of Jesus, and the enemy knows at the name of Jesus, they must bow.
I have told you several stories about the Name, because some of you who have never heard any of them, I tell you just one.
One of our brothers belonged to seven secret societies at the time he was a student at Obafemi Awolowo University at that time it was called the University of IFE.
Seven secret societies; some of them real big ones from the town and because he was educated, he was the secretary of many of these really deep ones.,
Then he gave his life to Jesus and he discovered he can no longer be a member of any secret society so he took all their books, because he was the secretary, he was the one keeping all the records of all the evil they have done.
He took their books to them and said am sorry, am out.
And they looked at him and said what are you talking about?
You don't come out, once you are in, you are in.
He said "am out"!
So they said we give you seven days to go and think about it, you know what will happen to you if you opt out; you will die!
You know all our secrets
He said I am out.
They say okay, seven days!
After the seventh day he has gone to class to read.
He came back later around 2am and in the hostel where he was, there were three beds in the room; one bed by the right, one bed on the left and one bed facing the door.
His own bed was the one facing the door.
He got in and was about to sleep, there was light in the corridor so that even though the room was dark, you can still see what was going on.
He was about to sleep and you know the kind of prayer you pray when you are tired; Father thank you for today see you tomorrow.
You are laughing as if you know what I am talking about, may God forgive you.
So he laid down to sleep and the Holy Spirit woke him up and said;
Son, wake up and pray.
He said "am sorry, it's because I didn't pray long enough, I really thank you, you know I really love you, I appreciate you.
He dozed off again, but the spirit of God said "son wake up and pray".
The third time he said "alright, I will do a vigil".
As he knelt down to begin to pray, all of a sudden a huge figure in the shape of a man, BIG, came right through the door that was locked.
I know some of you don't believe that kind of thing, it doesn't matter; I pray you don't experience it.
He came in through the door that was locked and was coming straight at him; fortunately because he was on his knees now, he was able to shout Jesus.
And when he shouted the name Jesus, that thing stopped.
Because it stopped, he picked up courage and he began to say
"in Jesus name I rebuke you; in Jesus name I rebuke you".
And the thing began to move backwards until it finally went through the door and disappears.
When he was telling me the story I said "my brother, are sure you are not dreaming?
He said I would have thought it was a dream, except that when I was saying in Jesus name I rebuke you, one of the students who was sleeping on the bed on the side, rolled over and his leg moved out of the bed and as the thing was going backwards the hand of the thing touched that leg.
By the time they woke up the following morning, the leg was as big as a huge log of wood.
That boy spends the whole session out of campus nursing that leg.
The hand was coming to touch the head of my brother, but because of a name that is above every other name.
He taught us to fight and gave us weapons to fight with.
The word of God, the blood of Jesus and the name of Jesus.
Then all along He provided for all our needs or let me say he provided for all my needs because many of us don't believe He has provided for all our needs because we have not travelled.
We have not seen people suffer, so when we see ourselves, we compare ourselves to ourselves, but if you go out, if you visit some nations of the world you will see that suffering passes sufferings.
It is my prayer that none of you will ever know suffering for the rest of your life.
He provided salvation through His blood.
1John 1 v 7, He provided healings by His stripes.
1Peter 2 v 24, He provided prosperity through his poverty.
2 Corinthians 8 v 9 He said he became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich, and on and on.
Thank you Father,
The Lord said when I said He has met all our needs, one girl said "except that He didn't give me a husband".
He asked me to tell you He heard that, He will give you a husband and the fruit of the womb immediately after.
Be careful of what you are saying, He is listening!
He provided for all our needs, salvation, healing, deliverance, joy, the hope of heaven, He provided.
And then the topic of tonight, all that is introduction.
Glory be to God, don't worry am a mathematician, when you think am introducing I may be very close to concluding.
Then He chose me for greatness, He chose you for greatness, otherwise you won't be here tonight, tell your neighbor, I am going to be great you know!
The Bible says in Psalm 115 v 3 it said our God is in the heaven and He does as He pleases and according to Romans 9 v 10-11 He can choose you for greatness even before you were born.
There were twins in the womb of a woman and God decided before they were born, that the elder will serve the younger.
It is written, because He is God, He does as He pleases, nobody can query Him.
He chose you for greatness whether your neighbor likes it or not, it doesn't matter, He is not going to ask them to vote, He has made up His mind you are going to be great anyway.
Do you know that all those who think you are going die small; they are going to be disappointed?
Those who thought they have already cursed you are going to bow down before you.
Because, as we were told by the one who spoke before me, it is not because of qualification, or what you have done, no! It is because of grace, by his grace.
He chose me for greatness.
The Lord said there is someone here tonight, He said I have done what you asked for why are you delaying your vow?.
That means there is someone who has made a vow to God that if you will do this, I will do this,
He said, I have done what you asked for, why are you delaying your vow?
It is between you and God.
Now, He normally, according to the word of God, He will normally choose the first born for greatness that is what He said.
He said "the first born is Mine"
And when you go through the Scriptures you will find a lot of first born chosen by God for greatness.
Take Samuel for example, in 1 Samuel 1 v 1-20 Samuel was the first born of the mother.
Or Take John the Baptist in Luke 1 v 1-17 John the Baptist was the first born of his mother, but then Moses was not the first born, according to Exodus 2 v 1-10 in fact he already had a sister that was grown.
David was the number eight, according to 1Samuel 16 v 1-19, Joseph was number eleven in the family according to Genesis 37 v 1-8.
He does as He pleases, I am the last born of my mother, am the second to the last born of my father and yet He chose me.
It doesn't matter whether you are the first born or the last born, or the middle born; if God says you are going to be great, you are going to be great, period.
He chooses whomever He wants.
As for Paul in Galatians 1 v 13 -16 he said He chose me from my mother's womb.
No wonder he said in 1Corithians 15 v 9-10 he said "I am what I am by the grace of God",
He said "I shouldn't even be what I am because how can I possibly be an Apostle considering that I persecuted the church".
That was the Apostle Paul talking.
Some of you know my testimony, I shouldn't be a pastor, I shouldn't be the one standing here talking to you because I was rotten, but the Lord saved my soul and washed me clean and gave me a brand new beginning and i knew he is going to do the same for someone here tonight.
So let me conclude, whether or not I end up great it is up to me.
God by His grace has chosen me to be great, but whether or not I end up great is up to me.
I am going to prove it to you in a moment.
The preacher who preached before me quoted Titus 2 v 11 where it is written
'The grace of God that brings salvation as appear to all men'.
But are men saved?
No!
The grace for salvation is available to all, but will all men end up in heaven?
Why?
Because according to 2 Corinthians 6 v1
The Lord said before I go to the conclusion, He still wants to talk to one or two people, He said there is someone here tonight, He said everything that is slowing down the work of My grace in your life shall be flushed out this month.
The Lord says I have told you that this year before one hallelujah ends in your home another one will begin.
Now grace as appeared to all, grace is available to all but some may receive grace in vain 2corthiasn 6...
And then, according to Hebrew 10 v 29-30 the Bible says some people may do despise.
Other words, some people may say " who wants grace?
Who cares?
E.g Esau in Genesis 25 v 29-34 because he was the first born; the double portion blessings of his father was supposed to belong to him, but one day he was hungry and his brother brought portage and he said
'Give me food to eat'
The brother said, 'if you want my food give me your birthright'.
You know what he said?
I thought a man would have said because of food?
Let your food perish with you, you want my birthright?
He said, "no, no, who cares about birthright!"
So you remember the story when the father wants to bless him and he had to go out to look for an animal before he returns.
The brother who had already purchased the birthright of the firstborn came in and took the double portion of the blessing.
By the time he came back he said
"My father have you not one blessings"
The father said
" But I have already made your brother your Lord and you will serve him".
Some people may despise grace; the opportunity to be great may be there some people may say, who cares.
And then the Bible says some people due to lack of diligence may fail to utilize grace.
Hebrew 12 v 15. How many people go to university from very rich homes and never come out with a degree.
Everything they needed were supplied; the teachers were there, the parents were ready to pay any amount and yet because they refuse to work hard, they fail to utilize the grace and they come out with nothing.
I mean I still remembered when I was at the University of Lagos as a postgraduate student, there was a student who has been there for eight years, kept on changing from one department to another, because when everybody is studying you can hear his radiogram.
In those days there was something called radiogram, he had a radiogram in his room because his parents were rich, while the rest of us who came from poor background were struggling to make it, he was enjoying and he never got a degree.
There are people who will not utilize grace and according to Galatians 2 v 21 some people may frustrate grace in other words, God may decide that I want to be gracious and the fellow will say "God, don't bother me" and God will say "let's try again".
And they keep on doing what God said they shouldn't do until finally God will say alright, let's leave him alone.
I preached a sermon years ago called SEEING THE INVICIBLE and I gave an illustration; that many people will look at a log of wood and see nothing but a log of wood.
But a sculptor will look at the log of wood and see a lion inside the log of wood, and so he will take a hammer and a chisel and he will begin to cut away a little here, a little there, very soon you will see a head of lion in what used to be a log of wood.
It looks like a lion is coming out of this and he kept on going and going.
But then occasionally he will strike the chisel with the hammer and there is a fault inside the log of wood that he couldn't see and the log of wood will just split into two.
And the sculptor will say, oh! With all the efforts I have already expended over this log of wood, he said alright, I know what I would do, if I can't make a lion I can make a cat, after all a cat is a cat, one is a lion, the other is a cat.
So he begins to work again and again, and suddenly the wood split another way and he says ah, this thing is no longer big enough to make a cat, well let me try maybe I can make out a rat, and he will try and try and again the wood will split.
Frustrated, he will say I wanted to make a lion out of you, now you go and become firewood.
I pray for every one of you here today, whatever is in your life that can terminate the destiny God has for you, may the Almighty God deal with it tonight in Jesus name.
Galatians 5 v 4 says some people may even fall completely from grace, on the other hand, according to 2 Peter 3 v 18 some people may grow in grace.
God gives them the grace, they began to utilize the grace and they begin to grow in the grace
2 Peter 1 v 2 the Bible says some people may even cause the grace to multiply.
Grace can become multiplied for example, you know the story of the talent in Matthew 25 v 14-30 it tells us the story of how God gave one man five talents, He gave another two talents, He gave one, one talent.
He said according to their abilities, the one who got five says I am going to multiply it, he applied himself the five became ten; and the one with two applied himself the two became four.
The one who got only one says I will bury that one.
They finally took it from him and gave it to the one who had five originally so his own became eleven.
The one who made heaven and earth will let the grace of God in your life be multiplied.
So what will you do with his grace?
The choice is yours, the grace of God is available, what will you do with it?
I will tell you two stories in closing; I am telling it for the benefit of those who have never heard them,
I was invited to a town near here by the traditional ruler to come and preach at his thanksgiving service.
He was thanking God for several things so he asked me to come.
So I came with my wife and son in my Toyota Crown car and as we are getting ready for service the usher ran to me and said I should come and see what is happening.
The high chief and the traditional ruler were coming to church, and they were all members of one society or the other, they were all coming in their uniform in their regalia.
And the usher ran to me and said we are going to allow all these people in church?
I said "of course"
"Put them on the front row where Jesus will be able to see them quickly".
I was very young then, I changed my sermon quickly, I was going to preach on "oh that man should praise the Lord!" but I changed the sermon to "what happened to mount Carmel" because this was a confrontation between my God and their own.
Like I said, I was very young then this was more than thirty years ago, I preached a very though sermon, at a stage in the sermon I challenge the people, all of you serving all other gods, I said I came here with my wife and my son, my car is number so and so; I want you to use all of your power to make one of my tyre to go flat, if you can do that I will serve your God, if you cannot do that you must serve my God.
Then I gave the altar call and the second in command to the traditional ruler, the head to all the secret society was the first to come forward and as he was coming forward all the other chiefs followed him.
After the service the traditional ruler said to me "E. A, lets follow up this man, maybe he didn't understand the meaning of the altar call"
We went to visit him.
When we got there the traditional asked him
"did you understand what happened when they asked you to come and give your life to Jesus?"
He said "of course I do",
"Why did you do that?"
The man said
"You see a small boy like this challenging all of us, who does not know there must be Somebody behind him"
He said "it is the One who is behind him that I surrender to".
But the beauty of that story was within a month he died, he was an old man, within a month he died.
All his life he had served Satan, less than thirty days before his death, grace came, he grabbed it and now he is in heaven.
What will you do with grace?.
Tell you another story, I was sitting down in my office at the university of Lagos, Department of Mathematics, I was trying to write a paper, I have defined the problem, I have defined the method of solution, I was about to begin when God said
"Son, write to the chief so, so, so. Tell him I love him, I want him to surrender his life to Me so that he can live with me in heaven.
Of course the moment when God begins to talk, I started writing, I have finished writing before I said
"Daddy, I have heard the name before, but I don't know his address.
Daddy said "it doesn't matter, just put the address in an envelope address it to the chief so, so, so, chief so, so's house, so, so town.
So go and go and post it.
You all know very well when you address the letter correctly in Nigeria you have to pray for it to arrive at all. Not when you say chef so so so, so, so's house.
Within three days the letter arrived and he sent his driver because I have written in the letter, if you think this is from hungry prophet tear the letter, but if you think this is from God, send for me, I will come and explain.
He sent his driver, he said wait in your office for me tomorrow, don't come I will come.
I was happy I thought salvation is already available now.
He came, I explained salvation to him and I said, sir, will you now give your life to Jesus?
He said I will think about it, then he left.
For two years, every two weeks, I visited this man for two years.
Anytime I came to him, he will take me to his bedroom so we can talk without disturbing, after I finish talking, I will say
"Sir, will you now give your life to Jesus Christ?
He will say I will think about it.
Then one day he had a stroke, massive stroke that made him unconscious, before he lapse into unconsciousness, he told the people around send for Pastor Adeboye.
They sent for me, I ran down, and cry to God,
"God, give him just one more chance, let him recover enough to be able to decide and brethren".
Less than one hour, he was completely whole, there was no sign that he was ill at all.
So I said, sir, do you see what God has done for you now?
Will you please surrender your life to Jesus?
He said "I will think about it, of course the next time I heard about him, he has died.
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men so what will you do with the grace?.
Those of you who are here and those of you who are listening to me on the Internet, the decision is yours.
The God of grace has made grace available unto you, will you decide for him tonight?
Or will you reject his offer of salvation?.
If you want to give your life, come now talk to Jesus to save your soul, ask him to be merciful unto you, today is the day of salvation don't miss this opportunity it is God that is calling you.
Ask him to forgive you your sin, promise him that you will serve him from now on, ask him to become your Lord and your Savior,
And the rest of us, lets intercede towards these people, lets pray that the Almighty God will save their souls that God will forgive all their sins tonight and give them a brand new beginning.
.. . In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Savior, I want to thank you for your word and I want to thank you for your grace, I want to thank you that by grace we are saved, that is not by any work we have done, I want to thank you because your blood cleanses from all sins, I want to thank you because you said whosoever will come unto you, you will in no wise cast out; these people have come now.
Father, please receive them in Jesus name, forgive them in Jesus name, wash them clean in your blood in Jesus name.
Write their names in the book of life in Jesus and please Lord don't let go back into the world in Jesus name.
Father, I pray that from now on 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.
Prayer points
1. Father, every obstacle to this your child that am holding by your grace wipe it out completely... in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
2. Father every enemy of grace in the life of my neighbor, Father destroys... in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Remember the law of harvest whatever you sow, you will reap, so whatever you wish your neighbor, you are getting it back.
Lift your voice to the Almighty God and say Father, don't let my neighbor die small,
3. From now on, let my neighbor enjoy divine favor. ... In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
The Almighty God will answer your prayers.
You will not fall from grace, the greatness that God has ordained for you shall be achieved.
The grace God in your life shall be multiplied, the grace of God in your life shall overflow to all your friends, you will not die small, every obstacle to your greatness shall be destroyed.
Every enemy of grace in your life shall be destroyed.
The Almighty God Himself will promote you, He will make you great, He will protect you, He will defend you, He will preserve you, He will make you very, very great and with the grace that He has given you.
You will serve Him abundantly, so shall it be, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
If you receive that let me hear you shout hallelujah!
Pastor Adeboye E.A.
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