There is a song which we used to sing when we were younger Christians. I don't know if you know it. It says, "Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world." How many of you know the song? A few of the old ones "Greater is he that is in me, Greater is He that is in me, Greater is He that is in me Than he that is in the world."
What is the meaning of "Fear not!"? Or what are the implications of "Fear not!"? The first thing we notice when you say "Fear not!" to someone is that maybe there's nothing to fear actually. I mean, if you think there is something to fear and there is somebody who knows there is nothing to fear, he will say to you "Fear not!".
For example, in Luke 1, if you read it from verse 26-33 when an angel appeared to Mary, automatically she was frightened, But the angel said unto Mary – "Fear not!" because thou hast found favor with God." I pray that somebody would receive a message of joy today (Amen!) She was afraid but God had brought her good news.
In Luke 2 v 8-14 the Bible tells us that when an angel appeared to the shepherds at the field, glory shone around. The Bible says the shepherds were "sore afraid". But the angel said unto them, "No. no. There's no need to fear! I'm bringing you good news of great joy!" May God send you good news of great joy today! (Amen!)
And in Matthew 14 v 22 - 27 the Bible tells us that Jesus told His disciples to go to the other side of the lake and He said, "I will join you later!" Then He went to the mountain to pray. While He was there praying He forgot about time and so night fell, by the time He remembered - "Oh, I told my disciples I would join them!" He came to the shore and found all boats had gone. But you see, once He promised, He had to fulfill His promise, so He began to walk on the water towards them.
Now, in the meantime, there was a storm at sea and they were struggling with their boats and suddenly they saw somebody walking on water. Now there was that tradition among sailors – that just before a sailor would die, he would see a ghost. So when they saw Jesus walking on water they thought the end had come – "Ahh! Now the ghost has come to take us home!" But Jesus spoke to them and said, "It is I, be not afraid!"
See when in the Book of Isaiah 43 v 2, when the Lord said when you are passing through the fire, I will be with you so that the fire will not kindle upon you. Normally, anybody walking through the fire will know that that is a frightening experience but if the Lord is with you, the fire will be taken care of. So even if you are passing through fire now God is saying to you – "Fear not!"
In 2 Chronicles 20, if you read the entire story there, you will find a certain King called Jehoshaphat and three other kings came against him, with mighty armies and they said, "Let's go and swallow him up!" And by the time Jehoshaphat heard about these kings, they were already at his backyard. Then somebody came and told him, "Ah! The enemies have arrived!" The Bible said, Jehoshaphat was sore afraid. But he did something that you are going to do tonight – he cried unto the Lord – "Lord! I have nothing to fight with!" And the Lord answered. …..He will answer you tonight (Amen!) He said, "Don't be afraid. You won't fight this battle. I will do the fighting!" Somebody's going home victorious (Amen!)
"Fear not!" could therefore be – ‘Don't carry a burden that is not your own." There are certain burdens that are too big for you to carry so hand the burden over to the burden carrier
In Joshua 1 v 5 - 9 the Lord called on Joshua and said, "Joshua, Moses my servant is dead. Now you take over! Where Moses failed you will succeed." And Joshua said, "What kind of joke is this? Moses, great man of God, who saw God face to face; saw the fire burning the bush, spent days with God, failed to take these people to the Promised Land and I, his ordinary messenger should come and take over these people?" He said, "No, God, you can't mean it!" But the Lord said, "Don't worry, you are not the one who will fight the battle! The burden is not yours. As I was with Moses, I will be with you - no man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life" I believe God is talking to someone here tonight. If you are the one let me hear you say Amen! (Amen!)
I've told you the story before. 1981. I wasn't 40 years old then and I'd been General Overseer for just a few months. One day I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw gray hair all over my head! "Ha! Lord! How? I'm still a young boy! " But then we had some problems then and the Lord said to me, "It's because you are carrying a burden that is not your own."
"Which burden? It's the burden of the church." He said, "Who's church is it?" What's the name of the church?" I said, "Redeemed Christian Church of God." He said, "Repeat it again." I said it 3 times. He said, "Is it the church of Adeboye? "I said, "No." He said, "Who told you I can't take care of my own? You are carrying a burden that is not yours." "Well Lord if that is the case why do you make me the General Overseer?" He said "I just want to make you a front so that people will see somebody. I am the owner of my church and I will take care of my church." I said, "Glory be to God!" and I relaxed and the hair became black again I saw one or two gray ones some days ago. "Ha! Lord! Am I worrying again?" He said, "No. You are 56 years old!" Let somebody shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!) Tell the fellow next to you -"Fear not!" God can take care of His own!
In Numbers 16 v 1 - 35 three men, Korah, Dathan and Abiram - "Who made you judge over us? Are you the only one who hears from God? You have turned the church to a family business! I mean, you are the prophet, Aaron, your brother is the priest, Miriam your sister is the choir mistress! So the whole nation now belongs to Moses family! We will not accept that!" Moses said, "I didn't call myself! I was busy looking after sheep and then God called me." " Ah, we don't want to hear! We too, we too, we want to be leaders!"
Moses turned to God and said, "God, what shall we do, they are about to stone me?" The Lord said, "Moses, just stand aside, just leave me and these people alone. Just tell the children of Israel, all those who are supporting the rebels, let them go to their side. Those who are on the side of the Lord just come aside. Moses, don't carry a burden that is not yours.. I will show these people that I know how to fight on land. That even as I know how to fight at sea, I can do some little fighting on land!" By the time God finished, the ground opened its mouth and swallowed the rebels! All those things that say you will not reach your goal; the ground will swallow them today. (Amen!)
In Isaiah 41 v 10 - 14, the Lord said, "Don't be afraid!" He said, "Because I will help you; those people who are incensed against you, you will look for them you won't even find them!" So "Fear not!" means - Don't carry a burden that is not your own which is another way of saying, "Don't waste the time you could have used to enjoy yourself. Don't waste it on unnecessary fears. When the Almighty God is on your side it doesn't matter the problems that may be facing you - testimonies will be the result. (Amen!)
Why? Weeping may endure for a night; joy is coming tomorrow morning (Amen!) so why must I waste tonight when there is joy coming tomorrow? Tell the fellow next to you: "By the time the sun rises tomorrow, you will be full of joy!" If you believe that shout: Alleluia!
Now let us back up just a little. Before we come to even "Fear not!" we have "And Jesus said.."Who said? Jesus! You see, who speaks is important because the weight of his statement is determined by who is the one making the statement.
If somebody who is a policeman says to you when they are leading you to court for trial: "Don't worry! By the time we finish today you'll be on your way home!" He's not the judge. He's an ordinary policeman. When you get there and the judge says, "Guilty! 6 months imprisonment!" You can look at the policeman "But you said...!" He will say, "Eheh! "So what?" Or if the judge says, "Guilty! Six months imprisonment!" and the court clerk says, "Don't mind him, you can go home!" There will be two people who will go to prison. So who speaks is important.
I think I've shared this one before. I went home some years ago - some months before Xmas around this time and saw some children playing outside and one of them came to me. "Daddy, I need a pair of shoes for Christmas." So I said, "Which color do you want? Black or brown?" He told me. So I said, "Okay, I'll buy it for you." So he ran out to those who were playing. "I have shoes for Christmas." So they asked him: "How do you know?" Ehe! Lagos Daddy said so!" And then another one said, "I too have shoes for Christmas!" So they asked him, "How do you know?" He said, "My Daddy said so!" They looked at him and they said, "That is joking shoes! Your Daddy said so? Ehe! That is joking shoes!" They knew that when Lagos Daddy says you will get a pair of shoes, it is a settled matter.
“There is somebody here tonight who is trusting the Almighty God and He says, "Fear not!"
Second, He's also the Creator of all of us here, according to John 1v1-3. He's the Creator of all because it said, "By Him were all things made'. So the One who is saying "Fear not!" is the One who created you. And believe me honestly, He has your spare parts!
And then according to Genesis 14 v 18 - 19, the One who is saying "Fear not!" tonight is in possession of Heaven and Earth. In other words He is someone who is rich beyond description. The One who is saying "Fear not!" tonight, according to Psalm 24 v 7 -10 is the LORD, the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle, the LORD who has never lost a battle, the LORD who will never lose a battle. So that's the One who is saying "Fear not!" Glory be to God! Yes, go ahead, you can give Him a big hand - He deserves it! He deserves it! Thank You Jesus!
I remember very well, some years ago, a woman came running, shaking badly, the daughter was pregnant and the enemies came to tell her, "Your daughter is pregnant? We will see where she will deliver - whether on the ground or in the air - we will see!" The woman was frightened and I said to her, "Fear not! Fear not! Your daughter will deliver safely!" She said, "How do you know?" I said, "Because the Lord of Hosts will fight for you!" There is someone who has never lost a battle. He's going to deal with your enemies here tonight!
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One who the Bible calls the Almighty. According to Genesis 17 v 1 the Bible calls Him the Almighty, the One who could not possibly fail, the One that we call the All-Sufficient One! The One who said "Fear not!" is the One whose name is the prince of Peace according to Isaiah 9 verse 6 - the One with the ability to still any storm.
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One whose Name is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the One who is, the One who was, the One who is to come; the One who can take care of your present, your past and your future, the One who is the Controller of tomorrow.
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One who according to John 11 v 25 is the One who is the resurrection and the Life; the One who swallowed up death in victory. He is the One who saw death and said; "I know what I will do to you. I will just swallow you!"
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One who is so powerful that whenever He wanted to raise somebody from the dead He never mentioned the word 'death'. All He will say is: "Little girl, I say unto you, "Arise", "Young man, I say unto you arise." "Lazarus, come forth!" We are talking about someone so powerful that He regarded death as so inferior that He never once said "Death loose my friend!" So when He says "Fear not!" He has the authority to say "Fear not!"
And you know that the One who said Fear not sickness is the original surgeon. He's the One who performed the original operation in Genesis 2 v 21 - 23. When God wanted to create woman He caused Adam to sleep. God is the first anesthetics specialist. This fellow just fell asleep. The Bible says a deep sleep fell on him and then the Lord performed the operation, removed the bone, closed the place up again and before He woke him up He had finished all He wanted to do. And when the man woke there was not a single drop of blood that dropped to the ground! Not a scar! Not a little scar where my Father has performed the operation! You see, when we talk about God giving you a miracle and you are thinking, 'How will He do it?' Just go to sleep - by the time you wake up my Daddy would have finished the job! Let somebody shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
We were in Haiti, I'm sure many of you don't know where Haiti is. It's a very long journey - away from here. When you get to New York, you take a plane and fly for 31/2 hours; then you get to Haiti. But why do you have to go to Haiti? Because we have a church there. Church in Haiti? The Bible says we are to cover the whole world.
Anyway we went to Haiti for a crusade and we will tell you more about that later, but there was this particular night during the crusade as we were praying God spoke and said; "There is a man who is impotent." God said He's going to take care of the situation. And the crusade was transmitted on radio and there was a man lying on his bed listening to radio - "Ah! That's my problem! Could it be that God wants to be merciful to me today?" So he began to pray like others were praying. By the time we finished the prayer he checked himself and found that God had performed a miracle. He jumped up from his bed and began to run toward the crusade ground. By the time he got there we had closed, so he began to ask, "I want to see the Pastor, the Pastor who preached. I want to see the Pastor!" Somehow they brought him in around 11pm just as we were about to eat and he came and said, "This is what happened to me: I was lying on my bed and God brought a miracle to me! Pastor what power are you using?" I said, "It is the power of God!" He said, "I want to serve that God! I want to serve that God!" Glory be to God for ever more! He sent His word and did what?" Is the Word of God touching anyone here tonight at all? Let me hear you shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
After we prayed for him and handed him over to the Pastor I made up my own mind too. "God! You who can take a miracle to somebody on his bed, I too will serve you!" Is there anybody here who is going to serve my God? Say it loud and clear! "I too will serve You!"
Now He says "Fear not sickness because I will be your physician! Fear not poverty because I will supply all your needs according to. For my God shall supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He said, "Don't fear poverty. The moment you become my sheep and I become your shepherd then according to Psalm 23 v 1, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." The moment He becomes your shepherd you won't want anymore. As a matter of fact, according to Psalm 23 v 5, when the Almighty God decides to fill your cup He will not stop when the cup is full. He said, "My cup runneth over...” Like I told you some months ago - "And this is the God who owns the whole earth and the fullness thereof. He's the owner of the silver and the owner of the gold so when He says "Fear not poverty!" He has the authority to say so.
"Fear not!" Fear not what? Fear not sickness, Fear not poverty, Fear not enemies! Ah! Because the moment you surrender your life to Him, your enemies become HIS enemies. The day He knocked down Saul of Tarsus and He said, "Why are you persecuting me?" Saul said, "I've not even seen You, how can I persecute You?" Well anybody who's persecuting Adeboye is persecuting Jesus and I can tell you Jesus knows how to deal with His enemies! Don't fear enemies because He says in His Word in Isaiah 59 v19, He said, "When the enemies come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against them!" And He said - "No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper." And He says, "Do you know, I am not just the LORD, strong and mighty, I'm not just the LORD, mighty in battle, I am the LORD of Hosts, the Commander-in-Chief of the Hosts of Heaven. There is nobody strong enough to face Me!"
I'm sure you remember the story of Brother Sam. He was a young man, just born again, full of zeal, the mother was a leader of a secret society and the house was full of all kinds of idols. So Samuel got there and gathered all the idols and burnt them and when the mother came and found that all the idols were gone she reported to the secret society and they said, "Don't worry - we will kill the boy. On this particular night don't stay at home. By the time you return home you will meet him dead." So that night Samuel closed all the doors and knelt down to pray. It was around 12 midnight as he knelt down to pray. Suddenly, a huge dog, very huge dog, covered from head to toe with charms came straight through the door that was locked and was running straight at Brother Sam. There was no time to say, "Our Father which art in heaven." There was no time to say, "Hallowed be Thy name." but there was enough time to shout one name (Jesus!)
Let me hear you shout that name again! (Jesus!) So Brother Sam shouted "Jesus!" I'm sure that if you see a dog like that coming at you, you will forget that you are a gentleman. You will not whisper! You will shout! Brother Sam shouted "Jesus!" and the dog dropped down dead - right there on the spot! So that when the mother returned, ready to bury her son, she met the son burying the dog! Every force that is ganged up against you - one word will take care of all of them! (Amen!) Let me hear you shout that name! (Jesus!)
After all He said, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." "Fear not!" He said. Fear not sickness, Fear not poverty, Fear not enemies, Fear not failure! Why: because I will supply the strength for you to succeed. Because in Philippians 4v13 - Peter said I can do - how many things? All things! "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.
" The Bible says in Isaiah 40 v 28 - 31 that if you will just wait on Him He gives strength to the faint, those who have no abilities at all He will multiply to them strength and then He will give you wings like eagles to fly over your mountains. And so the Bible says in Jeremiah 32 v 16- 17, He says, "I am the God of all flesh is there anything too hard for me?" No! The Bible tells us in Genesis 17 v 1 that He is the All-Sufficient One. So He says "Fear not!" The moment the two of us become partners, because nothing shall be impossible for Me, the Almighty, there will be nothing impossible for you my partner. There's a song we sing. I hope we will always pay attention to some of these songs. He says, "I put my hands in your hands Oh Lord, I put my hands in your hands Oh Lord, I will not fail for Jesus never fails." When you put your hands in His hands, you can't fail because He will not fail.
Fear not sickness because He will be your doctor. Fear not poverty because He will supply all your needs. Fear not enemies because He's the Commander-in-Chief of the Host of Heaven and He has never lost a battle. Fear not failure because the moment you put your hands in His hands there will be no failure for you and Fear not storms. Why?
Because He's the One with the ability to still storms. The Bible tells us in Mark 4 v 35-41 that Jesus was with His disciples in a boat and there arose a storm, very high storm, so terrible that the boat was full of water and when the disciples now woke Him up, because, oh! The Lord was sleeping all the time, He spoke just one sentence - "Peace, be still!" Suddenly everything became calm and the disciples came to Him, frightened, and said, "What manner of man is this, that the wind and sea obey him?"
I told those who were at the Headquarters something last Sunday. Some years ago I was in a ship and there was a very terrible storm, very, very terrible storm, so terrible that the Captains of the ship called all of us together and they said, "Don't worry!" The fellow saying 'Don't worry' himself is worried! He said, "Storms are graded from 1-12, Grade 1 is the very small one, Grade 12 is the most terrible and the one we're in is Grade 9 and he said, "Don't worry!" When I got back to my room I said, "Lord, what am I going to do? I mean, here's a storm Grade 9, Grade 9 storm!" And the Lord answered. He will answer you tonight! (Amen!) He said, "Son, when there was a storm, what did I do?" I said, "You slept" And He said, "You go to sleep!" And I climbed on my bed and slept. When I woke up the storm was over! Glory be to God for ever more!
I told the story to a friend of mine some time ago. He said, "You must be a man of faith!" I said, "Man of faith?" What else could I do? I can't jump out of the ship! And I was blessed to have the advantage of even hearing from Him. Those of you, who are going through any storm right now, go to sleep! By the time you wake up the storm will be over (Amen!) Who says so? The One whose name is Prince of Peace. There will be peace for every one of you in Jesus Name!
Don't fear storms because He will put them to sleep. Don't fear tomorrow...oh! There are many of us who are afraid of tomorrow particularly those of us who are already getting old. "What's going to happen when I can't move around like I used to do anymore? With all those children now scattered all over the world? With the naira that was able to buy a lot ten years ago and can't buy anything now?" Don't fear tomorrow! Why?
Because the One who controls tomorrow says in Isaiah 3 v 10, "Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him. " I ask you to say it again and again! "My tomorrow will be all right." (My tomorrow will be all right!) Say it loud and clear! Say it as if you mean it!
I've told you before, years ago, I was a graduate, my wife too had read a little, our salary then was big but the mouths that were consuming the salary were too many so in those days when we cook our food, our meat was 'raincoat', you know 'raincoat'? That is the hide of a cow! And my wife and I we used to struggle among ourselves - "Ah! This one is too thick! You can't eat it alone! Let's cut it into two! Let's cut it into two!" We were eating our 'pomo' with joy because we kept on saying, "This is not how its going to continue. Tomorrow, my tomorrow is going to be all right!" Say it loud and clear! I know I am not going to die in poverty - no, no, no, I'm not going to die defeated! My tomorrow will be all right! And the Almighty God said, "If you don't believe, ask David." David will tell you that God never forsakes His own. Because He said in Psalm 37 v 25, David said, "I was young, now I am old; I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." There is somebody here tonight God is never going to forsake you (Amen!) Your children will never beg for bread!
And then He says "Fear not!" - don't even fear death. Why? Because He has already removed the sting from death. Oh! Once upon a time death was a terror - it was a terror to many of us because we know that if we died we knew where we were going, but thank God we met Jesus. Those of us who were going to Hell now are on our way to Heaven! I knew where I was going eh! if the Lord had not intervened. In fact we used to joke about it in the University - myself and my colleagues - as we're drinking our beer at Staff Club and after we have joked about Jesus for some time and some people will say, "Ah! You people, Jesus will be angry! He will throw you to hell!! And we would say in those days, "Where else can we go? That's where all our friends will be! When I get there I will see you and shake hands with you..eh! eh! You old rascal - you made it!" Of course we didn't know that it's not going to be easy to shake hands in the fiery furnace! Thank God now I am on my way to Heaven. Is there anybody else going to heaven here? Let me hear you shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
Now the Lord says, "Even when the time comes for you to go I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death with you.
" So David said in Psalm 23 v 4, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because though art with me." You know the Lord promised. He said, "In my Father's house there are many mansions - I'm going to reserve a special place for Adeboye and when I've finished preparing the place then I will come and then I will take him to myself."
Now, if you don't fear God and you continue in your sins then Number One your prayers will be hindered and Number Two God's eyes will be turned away from you! Because if you are dwelling in sin He will not be able to look at you because no. no. no! His eyes are too pure to behold iniquity. Now if God turns His eyes away - that will be an invitation for the devil to move in. You see as long as God is on your side, according to Romans 8 v 31, If God be for us who can be against us? But if God now turns His face away it is only then that we are in trouble.
So we don't need to fear sickness - we have the Great Physician! We don't need to fear poverty - we have the Great Provider! We don't need to fear enemies - we have the Great Defender! We don't need to be afraid of storms - we have the Controller of Storms! We don't need to fear tomorrow - we have the One who controls tomorrow! We don't need to fear failure - it is impossible for God to fail! We don't need to fear death - death is a horse that we are going to ride to glory! But we must fear sin because if we continue in sin, the Bible says we cannot continue in sin and expect grace to abound.
Anytime I find that the enemy is about to attack me, the first question I ask myself, "Lord, what have I done wrong? What sin have I committed?" When I go through and by His grace I find that I've done nothing wrong ah! Then I know what to do with the enemy! That's why I want to appeal to us tonight - the Lord has already done extraordinary things but I know He hasn't even started. I want to talk to everyone of us tonight, I want every one of us, every Christian, everyone who says he's born again, we must make up our minds that from now on we will hate sin - like our Father in heaven hates sin because if we can just get away from sin NO enemy can come near us!
There's a prayer that you are going to pray tonight and that prayer is "God, don't ever let me offend you again." But then there are some of us who are not even yet born again - you are still living in sin, your sins are yet to be washed in the blood. I appeal to you tonight: Come and give your life to Jesus. Let Him wash you in His blood. Let Him become your friend. Once He becomes your friend, you can forget the enemies - He will deal with them! So if you are there in the congregation and you want to give your life to Jesus come now, the Lord is calling you! Or even, you are a backslider. You better come quickly, that the Lord may save your soul and take you back to Himself. He will be able to say to you "Fear not!" But if you are living in sin you have a lot to fear but if you come to Him tonight He will receive you. He will take you as one of His own and He will begin to defend you for the rest of your life! Shall we stand on our feet?
Those of you want to give your life to Jesus hurry up now, hurry up, our time is far spent, hurry up now - hurry up! The Lord is calling you tonight. The Lord of Hosts himself is ready to fight your battles for you. But you have to surrender to Him first. So come quickly... I want you to pray for these people who are coming: that the Lord will save their souls; that He will wash them in His blood; that today their names will be written in the Books of Life! Begin to pray for them brethren! Those of you coming - keep coming! Hurry up! Begin to talk to the Almighty God and say, "Lord I come to surrender my life to the Almighty God! I want to surrender completely! I won't struggle anymore. I want you to become my Lord and Savior! I want you to forgive all my sins!" Come on now! Begin to talk to the Almighty God and brethren, please pray for them. This is the greatest miracle of all - the salvation of the souls of men. Let's call on the Almighty God for these people: that the Lord will save their souls! That He will be merciful to them! That He will cleanse them in His blood!
Pray for them brethren! And those of you who are coming - hurry up, hurry up! I know you are coming, some of you are coming from a long distance. Come on now! The Lord is waiting for you! This is the Day of Salvation for you! And as you come begin to call on the Almighty God! Say, "Lord I don't want to be against You anymore! Oh, Lord I want to surrender my life to You! I want You to be merciful to me! I want You to wash me in Your blood!" Oh! Call on Him! Call on Him now! Call on the Lord and keep coming! Those of you, who are coming from afar, keep coming! I will pray for you in a moment - keep coming! Come on now! Ask the Almighty; Ask Him to be merciful to you!
Pray brethren! Just say, "Lord don't let me ever offend You! Never again in my life! Don't let me ever offend You! I know You are a powerful friend! And You can be a very dangerous enemy! I don't want to be Your enemy Oh, Lord! Don't let me ever offend You again! Call on Him now!...In Jesus' Mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Father we Thank You because You are our Friend. Our Healer, our Provider, our Defender, our Supporter, You are our Yesterday, our Today, our Tomorrow! Glory be to Your Holy Name! Lord (Amen!) What You have done for us, we cannot tell it all. Please Lord, don't ever let us annoy You again in Jesus' Name! (Amen!) Once we are friends we know there is nothing to fear. We just don't want to be Your enemy because when You arise Your enemies will scatter and if You are on our side our enemies will scatter too. Please Lord; don't let us ever annoy You again in Jesus' Name! (Amen!) We thank You for what You had already done. We thank You in advance for what You will yet do Glory be to Your Holy Name! In Jesus' Mighty Name we have prayed!
May the Almighty accept your offerings in Jesus' Name (Amen!) Why don't we lift our hands to the Almighty God straight away and bless Him. Thank Him for January, Thank Him for February, thank Him for March, thank Him for April, thank Him for May, thank Him for June, thank Him for July, thank Him for August, thank Him for September, thank Him for October, thank Him for bringing you into the month of November. Let's bless His Holy Name. Say, " Father we thank You! We thank You for every day of the year. We thank You for waking us up. Thank You for hands that can clap Thank You for legs that can move. Thank You for eyes that can see. We bless Your Name! We give You glory! We give You honour! We give You adoration! Yes Father we thank You for all You have done! We Thank You for January, we Thank You for February, we Thank You for March, we Thank You for April, we Thank You for May, we Thank You for June, we Thank You for July, we Thank You for August, we Thank You for September, we Thank You for October, we Thank You for bringing us into November! We magnify Your Holy Name Lord! Oh yes Father we want to bless Your Name. We want to magnify Your Name!
Jesus said to Simon, ""Fear not!"" Now, when we were in primary school or early secondary school, there's a part of the question that we normally come across particularly in Religious Studies. They give a quotation like "Fear not!" and then they will ask the question: Who said it? To whom was it said? When was it said? How many of you remember those days? Let me hear you shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
Now we already know who said it. Of course we know when it was said. The question now is "To whom was it said? Oh, I'm sure you will answer immediately and say, "To Simon." And you think that that's the end of the story. No. No. No, there's a lot to that - all right it is to Simon, but its not to Peter and you know there is a difference between Simon and Peter, even though it is the same man bearing the two names. Simon is the fearful one, Peter is the Rock, so the message went to Simon, to somebody like me, somebody who's faith is not strong, someone who could be frightened if he sees something to frighten him, not like people like you who are great men and women of faith! But to a baby Christian like me, Jesus Christ says, "Fear not!"
But don't let us even go into theology there: to whom was this message addressed? One thing is clear - this message was sent to a man on his knees, looking up to somebody who was standing. Let's look at that aspect alone tonight because the Bible said, "Simon fell on his knees at the feet of Jesus" And if you are on your knees at the feet of someone and that someone is standing, surely you are on your knees but your eyes are looking where? Upward!
"Fear not!" is a message that would come to anyone who would humble himself, who is constantly found on his knees. In 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14 the Bible says, "If my people that are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and forsake their evil ways, I will hear from heaven and I will heal their land." I believe that somebody's home is going to be healed tonight! (Amen!)
"Fear not!" will come to someone who knows how to kneel; in prayer, in surrender to God, in humility and it will come to someone who knows how to look up! In Psalm 121 verses 1 and 2 David said, "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth." Those who will hear "Fear not!" are not people who look down because when you look down you will see problems. You will see the waves; you will see the storms. Those who will hear "Fear not!" they don't even look to their front! They don't look around, they don't look back or else they become like Lot's wife and become a pillar of salt! Those who will hear "Fear not!" they don't look around otherwise they may see oh, all kind of resources they can turn to - they may see Commissioners, they may see ministers, people of the same height like themselves that they could say, "Ah! Maybe if I talk to my uncle, the Minister, help will come." Forgetting that the minister is here today and gone tomorrow.
But those who will hear "Fear not!" are those who look up to the Almighty; people who, according to Psalm 123 verses 1 and 2, The people who look unto the Almighty God as a servant will look to the hands of His master - because they know that the Almighty God, not only can He meet all needs is there forever! Those who look up and see the Author and Finisher of our Faith are the people who will hear "Fear not!"
So the word or the message "Fear not!" is for people who are willing now to fix their gaze on the Almighty because the Bible says in Psalm 34 v 5, it said, "They look unto Him and they were not ashamed." And somebody's going to look unto Jesus tonight and he will never be ashamed again! When You look unto Him it doesn't matter how deep down you are He will pull you out!
When you read Daniel 4 v 34, you find something astonishing here. Here is the story of Nebuchadnezzar. He was a king. He became an animal. For 7 years he was completely mad - if you're talking about mad - he was mad, mad. When a king becomes an animal eating grass - that is madness of the highest degree! But it says here in Daniel 4 v 34 that the day Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes to heaven - that was the day his breakthrough came! Tonight somebody's going to lift up his or her eyes to the Almighty God and suddenly you're going to hear - "Fear not!" (Amen!) Because the Bible says in Psalm 40 v 1-3: no matter how deep the pit, no matter how slippery the miry clay surrounding your feet, no matter how hard the enemy is trying to keep you down, if you can just look up He will bring you out of the miry clay. He will set your feet on the rock to stay; He will put a new song in your mouth! Somebody's going to sing a new song here tonight! (Amen!)
I have discovered that when a man needs a very big miracle, then he has to look up to a very big God. As a matter of fact if you read John 11 v 41, you will learn a good example from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He wanted to perform the biggest miracle of His ministry, I mean, He had raised the dead before. He raised Jairus' daughter but then there were some very deep theologians and academicians there - so when He raised the girl, they all said, "Ah, what happened? He himself told us that the girl was not dead, the girl was sleeping! So what is the miracle in waking up someone who is sleeping?" So Jesus said, "All right, I will let the next one really die!"
Oh, this time round it was a very young boy - the only son of a widow. This one had not just died - he was going to be buried! And then Jesus met them on the way and raised the boy up! Oh! But the academician said – "Well, I think the boy was in a coma and as they were taking him to the burial ground fresh air was blowing on him. Just as he was about to come up, that's when Jesus arrived on the scene so it wasn't really a miracle!"
So when it came to the turn of Lazarus Jesus allowed him to die, be buried and he had been there for four days! Then He came back and said, "I will show you that I'm the Resurrection and the Life! This one has not just died! This one is not in a coma! This one is already stinking but I'm going to bring him out! But to bring him out even I will need to look up to heaven! Even I, I have to look up to heaven! I have to say to my Daddy, "Daddy, this one is extraordinary! I thank You because I know that you have heard me - I know You always hear me! But this one is special" He looked up to heaven and Daddy sent down everything that was needed. I am confident that the life of somebody is going to change tonight (Amen!) I am confident that the sorrows that have been holding you down, pulling down your head, will be removed tonight because you are going to look up! (Amen!)
I've told you the story of a woman before, a wonderful child of God and she had a son and the son was epileptic and the problem of this woman was, when she gets into a house she'll be well received but within two weeks the child will have an attack and everybody will say, "Oh-oh! This is what you have with you? You are good, but you can't stay on in this house!"
So she had to move from that house to another house, to another house to another house and she was praying, looking at the problem and praying: "When will God do this thing, God, eh? And I'm following You? When will You do my own?" Then one day she was going to the market with the son and right in the centre, at the biggest junction in town where nobody can hide - the child had an attack and of course everybody ran and they were all watching from a distance.
Shall we go on our knees, individually, and look up to Him, look up to Him and just talk to Him? Pour out your heart to Him; tell Him you have no one else! You know all things. You know everything - if I have something else at home - You know Lord! Then don't answer me today! But if I have nothing else but You - then tonight O Lord! I'm on my knees at your feet and I'm looking up to You O Lord! Today, today, today I must hear Your voice! I must hear You say to me - "Fear not!" I am looking unto You now! I know that if I look unto You I will not be put to shame! I lift up my eyes unto You O Lord! And I am expecting to hear from You. You are the only one who can solve my problem! So I look up to You NOW, my Lord and my Saviour. You are the only one who can heal me! You are the only one who can provide for my needs! You are the only one who can defeat all the enemies in my life! You are the only one who can change my failure to success. You are the only one who can break every yoke in my life.
You are the only one and I look up to You now! You are the Almighty, help me! Help me tonight! Help me like never before because I have no one else. Where will I go O Lord, where will I go? Where else can I go? I have already come to You! You are the Alpha! You are the Omega! You are the source! You are my beginning, You are my ending, You are the Author and Finisher of my faith! I look up to You tonight. Don't let me be put to shame! The enemies are already laughing - silence them O Lord! Answer me like never before! You know what I need O Lord! Grant my request tonight! I am at your feet O Lord! I'm looking up to You Father! Oh! Please help me - change my sorrow to joy today! Every reproach in my life - remove it today! All those things, which are causing people to say, "Where is my God?" Remove them today! I look up to You now - I have nowhere else to go! I have tried other gods, I know they are false and I've come to You, the only living God! Now, if You don't help me, who else is going to? Who else will? I come to you Father and I look up to You. I humble myself before You - I'm on my knees! I'm crying to You tonight - Help me O Lord! Help me! Pull me out of the miry clay! Put my feet on the Rock to stay! Put a new song in my mouth tonight! I want to go home singing a new song. A new song of victory, a new song of joy! I am before You Oh, Lord God Almighty! there is nowhere else I can go. If You don't help me, I am finished! If You don't help me, then I am lost! If You don't help me Lord God Almighty! what will I do? What will I do?
He said first of all I should ask you - while you are still on your knees - that you should praise Him! Just praise Him! Magnify His Holy Name! Tell Him He's good! Tell Him He's kind! Tell Him He's wonderful! Tell Him He's powerful! Tell Him He's mighty! Tell Him there's no one like Him! Tell Him He's the King of Kings! the Lord of Lords!, the King of Glory, the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle, the Lord of Hosts, Jehovah El Shaddai, oh! The Lamb of God, the Way, the Truth, the Light, oh! The Resurrection and the Life! You are wonderful; You are wonderful! You are wonderful! You are glorious Daddy! Blessed be Your Holy Name! We just praise, we just magnify Your Holy Name!
Thank You Daddy! Oh yes! We will praise You, we will thank You, we will dance, we will rejoice, we will magnify Your Name - Blessed be Your Holy Name! Thank You Father! Thank You Lord God Almighty! Thank You Savior Glory be to Your Holy Name Lord! Alleluia! Father! Blessed be Your Name! Thank You Jesus! Glory be to Your Holy Name! Thank You Father! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! Thank You so much Lord Thank You Almighty God! Oh Blessed be Your Holy Name! Lord Thank You Father! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! In Jesus' Mighty Name we have worshipped. In an attitude of worship, quietly just get up and sit down. Keep your eyes closed and remain silent. I believe the Almighty God wants to speak to someone here right now...............Let's go ahead now and just praise Him, lets bless His name. Bless His Name. Thank Him for what He's done. If we praise Him maybe He will do more. I know He has healed several people. I know He has done marvelous things in lives. In fact, if you check your bodies now you will know He has done some spectacular healings. Ohh! Praise Him! Magnify His Holy Name! Thank You Father! Blessed be Your Holy Name! Lord Thank You for listening to us! Thank You for reaching out to touch us. Blessed be Your Holy Name Lord! Glory be to God! Thank You Lord! In Jesus' Mighty Name we worship!
Let somebody shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
Pastor E. A. Adeboye
What is the meaning of "Fear not!"? Or what are the implications of "Fear not!"? The first thing we notice when you say "Fear not!" to someone is that maybe there's nothing to fear actually. I mean, if you think there is something to fear and there is somebody who knows there is nothing to fear, he will say to you "Fear not!".
For example, in Luke 1, if you read it from verse 26-33 when an angel appeared to Mary, automatically she was frightened, But the angel said unto Mary – "Fear not!" because thou hast found favor with God." I pray that somebody would receive a message of joy today (Amen!) She was afraid but God had brought her good news.
In Luke 2 v 8-14 the Bible tells us that when an angel appeared to the shepherds at the field, glory shone around. The Bible says the shepherds were "sore afraid". But the angel said unto them, "No. no. There's no need to fear! I'm bringing you good news of great joy!" May God send you good news of great joy today! (Amen!)
And in Matthew 14 v 22 - 27 the Bible tells us that Jesus told His disciples to go to the other side of the lake and He said, "I will join you later!" Then He went to the mountain to pray. While He was there praying He forgot about time and so night fell, by the time He remembered - "Oh, I told my disciples I would join them!" He came to the shore and found all boats had gone. But you see, once He promised, He had to fulfill His promise, so He began to walk on the water towards them.
Now, in the meantime, there was a storm at sea and they were struggling with their boats and suddenly they saw somebody walking on water. Now there was that tradition among sailors – that just before a sailor would die, he would see a ghost. So when they saw Jesus walking on water they thought the end had come – "Ahh! Now the ghost has come to take us home!" But Jesus spoke to them and said, "It is I, be not afraid!"
See when in the Book of Isaiah 43 v 2, when the Lord said when you are passing through the fire, I will be with you so that the fire will not kindle upon you. Normally, anybody walking through the fire will know that that is a frightening experience but if the Lord is with you, the fire will be taken care of. So even if you are passing through fire now God is saying to you – "Fear not!"
In 2 Chronicles 20, if you read the entire story there, you will find a certain King called Jehoshaphat and three other kings came against him, with mighty armies and they said, "Let's go and swallow him up!" And by the time Jehoshaphat heard about these kings, they were already at his backyard. Then somebody came and told him, "Ah! The enemies have arrived!" The Bible said, Jehoshaphat was sore afraid. But he did something that you are going to do tonight – he cried unto the Lord – "Lord! I have nothing to fight with!" And the Lord answered. …..He will answer you tonight (Amen!) He said, "Don't be afraid. You won't fight this battle. I will do the fighting!" Somebody's going home victorious (Amen!)
"Fear not!" could therefore be – ‘Don't carry a burden that is not your own." There are certain burdens that are too big for you to carry so hand the burden over to the burden carrier
In Joshua 1 v 5 - 9 the Lord called on Joshua and said, "Joshua, Moses my servant is dead. Now you take over! Where Moses failed you will succeed." And Joshua said, "What kind of joke is this? Moses, great man of God, who saw God face to face; saw the fire burning the bush, spent days with God, failed to take these people to the Promised Land and I, his ordinary messenger should come and take over these people?" He said, "No, God, you can't mean it!" But the Lord said, "Don't worry, you are not the one who will fight the battle! The burden is not yours. As I was with Moses, I will be with you - no man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life" I believe God is talking to someone here tonight. If you are the one let me hear you say Amen! (Amen!)
I've told you the story before. 1981. I wasn't 40 years old then and I'd been General Overseer for just a few months. One day I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw gray hair all over my head! "Ha! Lord! How? I'm still a young boy! " But then we had some problems then and the Lord said to me, "It's because you are carrying a burden that is not your own."
"Which burden? It's the burden of the church." He said, "Who's church is it?" What's the name of the church?" I said, "Redeemed Christian Church of God." He said, "Repeat it again." I said it 3 times. He said, "Is it the church of Adeboye? "I said, "No." He said, "Who told you I can't take care of my own? You are carrying a burden that is not yours." "Well Lord if that is the case why do you make me the General Overseer?" He said "I just want to make you a front so that people will see somebody. I am the owner of my church and I will take care of my church." I said, "Glory be to God!" and I relaxed and the hair became black again I saw one or two gray ones some days ago. "Ha! Lord! Am I worrying again?" He said, "No. You are 56 years old!" Let somebody shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!) Tell the fellow next to you -"Fear not!" God can take care of His own!
In Numbers 16 v 1 - 35 three men, Korah, Dathan and Abiram - "Who made you judge over us? Are you the only one who hears from God? You have turned the church to a family business! I mean, you are the prophet, Aaron, your brother is the priest, Miriam your sister is the choir mistress! So the whole nation now belongs to Moses family! We will not accept that!" Moses said, "I didn't call myself! I was busy looking after sheep and then God called me." " Ah, we don't want to hear! We too, we too, we want to be leaders!"
Moses turned to God and said, "God, what shall we do, they are about to stone me?" The Lord said, "Moses, just stand aside, just leave me and these people alone. Just tell the children of Israel, all those who are supporting the rebels, let them go to their side. Those who are on the side of the Lord just come aside. Moses, don't carry a burden that is not yours.. I will show these people that I know how to fight on land. That even as I know how to fight at sea, I can do some little fighting on land!" By the time God finished, the ground opened its mouth and swallowed the rebels! All those things that say you will not reach your goal; the ground will swallow them today. (Amen!)
In Isaiah 41 v 10 - 14, the Lord said, "Don't be afraid!" He said, "Because I will help you; those people who are incensed against you, you will look for them you won't even find them!" So "Fear not!" means - Don't carry a burden that is not your own which is another way of saying, "Don't waste the time you could have used to enjoy yourself. Don't waste it on unnecessary fears. When the Almighty God is on your side it doesn't matter the problems that may be facing you - testimonies will be the result. (Amen!)
Why? Weeping may endure for a night; joy is coming tomorrow morning (Amen!) so why must I waste tonight when there is joy coming tomorrow? Tell the fellow next to you: "By the time the sun rises tomorrow, you will be full of joy!" If you believe that shout: Alleluia!
Now let us back up just a little. Before we come to even "Fear not!" we have "And Jesus said.."Who said? Jesus! You see, who speaks is important because the weight of his statement is determined by who is the one making the statement.
If somebody who is a policeman says to you when they are leading you to court for trial: "Don't worry! By the time we finish today you'll be on your way home!" He's not the judge. He's an ordinary policeman. When you get there and the judge says, "Guilty! 6 months imprisonment!" You can look at the policeman "But you said...!" He will say, "Eheh! "So what?" Or if the judge says, "Guilty! Six months imprisonment!" and the court clerk says, "Don't mind him, you can go home!" There will be two people who will go to prison. So who speaks is important.
I think I've shared this one before. I went home some years ago - some months before Xmas around this time and saw some children playing outside and one of them came to me. "Daddy, I need a pair of shoes for Christmas." So I said, "Which color do you want? Black or brown?" He told me. So I said, "Okay, I'll buy it for you." So he ran out to those who were playing. "I have shoes for Christmas." So they asked him: "How do you know?" Ehe! Lagos Daddy said so!" And then another one said, "I too have shoes for Christmas!" So they asked him, "How do you know?" He said, "My Daddy said so!" They looked at him and they said, "That is joking shoes! Your Daddy said so? Ehe! That is joking shoes!" They knew that when Lagos Daddy says you will get a pair of shoes, it is a settled matter.
“There is somebody here tonight who is trusting the Almighty God and He says, "Fear not!"
Second, He's also the Creator of all of us here, according to John 1v1-3. He's the Creator of all because it said, "By Him were all things made'. So the One who is saying "Fear not!" is the One who created you. And believe me honestly, He has your spare parts!
And then according to Genesis 14 v 18 - 19, the One who is saying "Fear not!" tonight is in possession of Heaven and Earth. In other words He is someone who is rich beyond description. The One who is saying "Fear not!" tonight, according to Psalm 24 v 7 -10 is the LORD, the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle, the LORD who has never lost a battle, the LORD who will never lose a battle. So that's the One who is saying "Fear not!" Glory be to God! Yes, go ahead, you can give Him a big hand - He deserves it! He deserves it! Thank You Jesus!
I remember very well, some years ago, a woman came running, shaking badly, the daughter was pregnant and the enemies came to tell her, "Your daughter is pregnant? We will see where she will deliver - whether on the ground or in the air - we will see!" The woman was frightened and I said to her, "Fear not! Fear not! Your daughter will deliver safely!" She said, "How do you know?" I said, "Because the Lord of Hosts will fight for you!" There is someone who has never lost a battle. He's going to deal with your enemies here tonight!
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One who the Bible calls the Almighty. According to Genesis 17 v 1 the Bible calls Him the Almighty, the One who could not possibly fail, the One that we call the All-Sufficient One! The One who said "Fear not!" is the One whose name is the prince of Peace according to Isaiah 9 verse 6 - the One with the ability to still any storm.
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One whose Name is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the One who is, the One who was, the One who is to come; the One who can take care of your present, your past and your future, the One who is the Controller of tomorrow.
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One who according to John 11 v 25 is the One who is the resurrection and the Life; the One who swallowed up death in victory. He is the One who saw death and said; "I know what I will do to you. I will just swallow you!"
The One who said "Fear not!" is the One who is so powerful that whenever He wanted to raise somebody from the dead He never mentioned the word 'death'. All He will say is: "Little girl, I say unto you, "Arise", "Young man, I say unto you arise." "Lazarus, come forth!" We are talking about someone so powerful that He regarded death as so inferior that He never once said "Death loose my friend!" So when He says "Fear not!" He has the authority to say "Fear not!"
And you know that the One who said Fear not sickness is the original surgeon. He's the One who performed the original operation in Genesis 2 v 21 - 23. When God wanted to create woman He caused Adam to sleep. God is the first anesthetics specialist. This fellow just fell asleep. The Bible says a deep sleep fell on him and then the Lord performed the operation, removed the bone, closed the place up again and before He woke him up He had finished all He wanted to do. And when the man woke there was not a single drop of blood that dropped to the ground! Not a scar! Not a little scar where my Father has performed the operation! You see, when we talk about God giving you a miracle and you are thinking, 'How will He do it?' Just go to sleep - by the time you wake up my Daddy would have finished the job! Let somebody shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
We were in Haiti, I'm sure many of you don't know where Haiti is. It's a very long journey - away from here. When you get to New York, you take a plane and fly for 31/2 hours; then you get to Haiti. But why do you have to go to Haiti? Because we have a church there. Church in Haiti? The Bible says we are to cover the whole world.
Anyway we went to Haiti for a crusade and we will tell you more about that later, but there was this particular night during the crusade as we were praying God spoke and said; "There is a man who is impotent." God said He's going to take care of the situation. And the crusade was transmitted on radio and there was a man lying on his bed listening to radio - "Ah! That's my problem! Could it be that God wants to be merciful to me today?" So he began to pray like others were praying. By the time we finished the prayer he checked himself and found that God had performed a miracle. He jumped up from his bed and began to run toward the crusade ground. By the time he got there we had closed, so he began to ask, "I want to see the Pastor, the Pastor who preached. I want to see the Pastor!" Somehow they brought him in around 11pm just as we were about to eat and he came and said, "This is what happened to me: I was lying on my bed and God brought a miracle to me! Pastor what power are you using?" I said, "It is the power of God!" He said, "I want to serve that God! I want to serve that God!" Glory be to God for ever more! He sent His word and did what?" Is the Word of God touching anyone here tonight at all? Let me hear you shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
After we prayed for him and handed him over to the Pastor I made up my own mind too. "God! You who can take a miracle to somebody on his bed, I too will serve you!" Is there anybody here who is going to serve my God? Say it loud and clear! "I too will serve You!"
Now He says "Fear not sickness because I will be your physician! Fear not poverty because I will supply all your needs according to. For my God shall supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He said, "Don't fear poverty. The moment you become my sheep and I become your shepherd then according to Psalm 23 v 1, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." The moment He becomes your shepherd you won't want anymore. As a matter of fact, according to Psalm 23 v 5, when the Almighty God decides to fill your cup He will not stop when the cup is full. He said, "My cup runneth over...” Like I told you some months ago - "And this is the God who owns the whole earth and the fullness thereof. He's the owner of the silver and the owner of the gold so when He says "Fear not poverty!" He has the authority to say so.
"Fear not!" Fear not what? Fear not sickness, Fear not poverty, Fear not enemies! Ah! Because the moment you surrender your life to Him, your enemies become HIS enemies. The day He knocked down Saul of Tarsus and He said, "Why are you persecuting me?" Saul said, "I've not even seen You, how can I persecute You?" Well anybody who's persecuting Adeboye is persecuting Jesus and I can tell you Jesus knows how to deal with His enemies! Don't fear enemies because He says in His Word in Isaiah 59 v19, He said, "When the enemies come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against them!" And He said - "No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper." And He says, "Do you know, I am not just the LORD, strong and mighty, I'm not just the LORD, mighty in battle, I am the LORD of Hosts, the Commander-in-Chief of the Hosts of Heaven. There is nobody strong enough to face Me!"
I'm sure you remember the story of Brother Sam. He was a young man, just born again, full of zeal, the mother was a leader of a secret society and the house was full of all kinds of idols. So Samuel got there and gathered all the idols and burnt them and when the mother came and found that all the idols were gone she reported to the secret society and they said, "Don't worry - we will kill the boy. On this particular night don't stay at home. By the time you return home you will meet him dead." So that night Samuel closed all the doors and knelt down to pray. It was around 12 midnight as he knelt down to pray. Suddenly, a huge dog, very huge dog, covered from head to toe with charms came straight through the door that was locked and was running straight at Brother Sam. There was no time to say, "Our Father which art in heaven." There was no time to say, "Hallowed be Thy name." but there was enough time to shout one name (Jesus!)
Let me hear you shout that name again! (Jesus!) So Brother Sam shouted "Jesus!" I'm sure that if you see a dog like that coming at you, you will forget that you are a gentleman. You will not whisper! You will shout! Brother Sam shouted "Jesus!" and the dog dropped down dead - right there on the spot! So that when the mother returned, ready to bury her son, she met the son burying the dog! Every force that is ganged up against you - one word will take care of all of them! (Amen!) Let me hear you shout that name! (Jesus!)
After all He said, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." "Fear not!" He said. Fear not sickness, Fear not poverty, Fear not enemies, Fear not failure! Why: because I will supply the strength for you to succeed. Because in Philippians 4v13 - Peter said I can do - how many things? All things! "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.
" The Bible says in Isaiah 40 v 28 - 31 that if you will just wait on Him He gives strength to the faint, those who have no abilities at all He will multiply to them strength and then He will give you wings like eagles to fly over your mountains. And so the Bible says in Jeremiah 32 v 16- 17, He says, "I am the God of all flesh is there anything too hard for me?" No! The Bible tells us in Genesis 17 v 1 that He is the All-Sufficient One. So He says "Fear not!" The moment the two of us become partners, because nothing shall be impossible for Me, the Almighty, there will be nothing impossible for you my partner. There's a song we sing. I hope we will always pay attention to some of these songs. He says, "I put my hands in your hands Oh Lord, I put my hands in your hands Oh Lord, I will not fail for Jesus never fails." When you put your hands in His hands, you can't fail because He will not fail.
Fear not sickness because He will be your doctor. Fear not poverty because He will supply all your needs. Fear not enemies because He's the Commander-in-Chief of the Host of Heaven and He has never lost a battle. Fear not failure because the moment you put your hands in His hands there will be no failure for you and Fear not storms. Why?
Because He's the One with the ability to still storms. The Bible tells us in Mark 4 v 35-41 that Jesus was with His disciples in a boat and there arose a storm, very high storm, so terrible that the boat was full of water and when the disciples now woke Him up, because, oh! The Lord was sleeping all the time, He spoke just one sentence - "Peace, be still!" Suddenly everything became calm and the disciples came to Him, frightened, and said, "What manner of man is this, that the wind and sea obey him?"
I told those who were at the Headquarters something last Sunday. Some years ago I was in a ship and there was a very terrible storm, very, very terrible storm, so terrible that the Captains of the ship called all of us together and they said, "Don't worry!" The fellow saying 'Don't worry' himself is worried! He said, "Storms are graded from 1-12, Grade 1 is the very small one, Grade 12 is the most terrible and the one we're in is Grade 9 and he said, "Don't worry!" When I got back to my room I said, "Lord, what am I going to do? I mean, here's a storm Grade 9, Grade 9 storm!" And the Lord answered. He will answer you tonight! (Amen!) He said, "Son, when there was a storm, what did I do?" I said, "You slept" And He said, "You go to sleep!" And I climbed on my bed and slept. When I woke up the storm was over! Glory be to God for ever more!
I told the story to a friend of mine some time ago. He said, "You must be a man of faith!" I said, "Man of faith?" What else could I do? I can't jump out of the ship! And I was blessed to have the advantage of even hearing from Him. Those of you, who are going through any storm right now, go to sleep! By the time you wake up the storm will be over (Amen!) Who says so? The One whose name is Prince of Peace. There will be peace for every one of you in Jesus Name!
Don't fear storms because He will put them to sleep. Don't fear tomorrow...oh! There are many of us who are afraid of tomorrow particularly those of us who are already getting old. "What's going to happen when I can't move around like I used to do anymore? With all those children now scattered all over the world? With the naira that was able to buy a lot ten years ago and can't buy anything now?" Don't fear tomorrow! Why?
Because the One who controls tomorrow says in Isaiah 3 v 10, "Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him. " I ask you to say it again and again! "My tomorrow will be all right." (My tomorrow will be all right!) Say it loud and clear! Say it as if you mean it!
I've told you before, years ago, I was a graduate, my wife too had read a little, our salary then was big but the mouths that were consuming the salary were too many so in those days when we cook our food, our meat was 'raincoat', you know 'raincoat'? That is the hide of a cow! And my wife and I we used to struggle among ourselves - "Ah! This one is too thick! You can't eat it alone! Let's cut it into two! Let's cut it into two!" We were eating our 'pomo' with joy because we kept on saying, "This is not how its going to continue. Tomorrow, my tomorrow is going to be all right!" Say it loud and clear! I know I am not going to die in poverty - no, no, no, I'm not going to die defeated! My tomorrow will be all right! And the Almighty God said, "If you don't believe, ask David." David will tell you that God never forsakes His own. Because He said in Psalm 37 v 25, David said, "I was young, now I am old; I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." There is somebody here tonight God is never going to forsake you (Amen!) Your children will never beg for bread!
And then He says "Fear not!" - don't even fear death. Why? Because He has already removed the sting from death. Oh! Once upon a time death was a terror - it was a terror to many of us because we know that if we died we knew where we were going, but thank God we met Jesus. Those of us who were going to Hell now are on our way to Heaven! I knew where I was going eh! if the Lord had not intervened. In fact we used to joke about it in the University - myself and my colleagues - as we're drinking our beer at Staff Club and after we have joked about Jesus for some time and some people will say, "Ah! You people, Jesus will be angry! He will throw you to hell!! And we would say in those days, "Where else can we go? That's where all our friends will be! When I get there I will see you and shake hands with you..eh! eh! You old rascal - you made it!" Of course we didn't know that it's not going to be easy to shake hands in the fiery furnace! Thank God now I am on my way to Heaven. Is there anybody else going to heaven here? Let me hear you shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
Now the Lord says, "Even when the time comes for you to go I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death with you.
" So David said in Psalm 23 v 4, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because though art with me." You know the Lord promised. He said, "In my Father's house there are many mansions - I'm going to reserve a special place for Adeboye and when I've finished preparing the place then I will come and then I will take him to myself."
Now, if you don't fear God and you continue in your sins then Number One your prayers will be hindered and Number Two God's eyes will be turned away from you! Because if you are dwelling in sin He will not be able to look at you because no. no. no! His eyes are too pure to behold iniquity. Now if God turns His eyes away - that will be an invitation for the devil to move in. You see as long as God is on your side, according to Romans 8 v 31, If God be for us who can be against us? But if God now turns His face away it is only then that we are in trouble.
So we don't need to fear sickness - we have the Great Physician! We don't need to fear poverty - we have the Great Provider! We don't need to fear enemies - we have the Great Defender! We don't need to be afraid of storms - we have the Controller of Storms! We don't need to fear tomorrow - we have the One who controls tomorrow! We don't need to fear failure - it is impossible for God to fail! We don't need to fear death - death is a horse that we are going to ride to glory! But we must fear sin because if we continue in sin, the Bible says we cannot continue in sin and expect grace to abound.
Anytime I find that the enemy is about to attack me, the first question I ask myself, "Lord, what have I done wrong? What sin have I committed?" When I go through and by His grace I find that I've done nothing wrong ah! Then I know what to do with the enemy! That's why I want to appeal to us tonight - the Lord has already done extraordinary things but I know He hasn't even started. I want to talk to everyone of us tonight, I want every one of us, every Christian, everyone who says he's born again, we must make up our minds that from now on we will hate sin - like our Father in heaven hates sin because if we can just get away from sin NO enemy can come near us!
There's a prayer that you are going to pray tonight and that prayer is "God, don't ever let me offend you again." But then there are some of us who are not even yet born again - you are still living in sin, your sins are yet to be washed in the blood. I appeal to you tonight: Come and give your life to Jesus. Let Him wash you in His blood. Let Him become your friend. Once He becomes your friend, you can forget the enemies - He will deal with them! So if you are there in the congregation and you want to give your life to Jesus come now, the Lord is calling you! Or even, you are a backslider. You better come quickly, that the Lord may save your soul and take you back to Himself. He will be able to say to you "Fear not!" But if you are living in sin you have a lot to fear but if you come to Him tonight He will receive you. He will take you as one of His own and He will begin to defend you for the rest of your life! Shall we stand on our feet?
Those of you want to give your life to Jesus hurry up now, hurry up, our time is far spent, hurry up now - hurry up! The Lord is calling you tonight. The Lord of Hosts himself is ready to fight your battles for you. But you have to surrender to Him first. So come quickly... I want you to pray for these people who are coming: that the Lord will save their souls; that He will wash them in His blood; that today their names will be written in the Books of Life! Begin to pray for them brethren! Those of you coming - keep coming! Hurry up! Begin to talk to the Almighty God and say, "Lord I come to surrender my life to the Almighty God! I want to surrender completely! I won't struggle anymore. I want you to become my Lord and Savior! I want you to forgive all my sins!" Come on now! Begin to talk to the Almighty God and brethren, please pray for them. This is the greatest miracle of all - the salvation of the souls of men. Let's call on the Almighty God for these people: that the Lord will save their souls! That He will be merciful to them! That He will cleanse them in His blood!
Pray for them brethren! And those of you who are coming - hurry up, hurry up! I know you are coming, some of you are coming from a long distance. Come on now! The Lord is waiting for you! This is the Day of Salvation for you! And as you come begin to call on the Almighty God! Say, "Lord I don't want to be against You anymore! Oh, Lord I want to surrender my life to You! I want You to be merciful to me! I want You to wash me in Your blood!" Oh! Call on Him! Call on Him now! Call on the Lord and keep coming! Those of you, who are coming from afar, keep coming! I will pray for you in a moment - keep coming! Come on now! Ask the Almighty; Ask Him to be merciful to you!
Pray brethren! Just say, "Lord don't let me ever offend You! Never again in my life! Don't let me ever offend You! I know You are a powerful friend! And You can be a very dangerous enemy! I don't want to be Your enemy Oh, Lord! Don't let me ever offend You again! Call on Him now!...In Jesus' Mighty Name we have prayed! (Amen!) Father we Thank You because You are our Friend. Our Healer, our Provider, our Defender, our Supporter, You are our Yesterday, our Today, our Tomorrow! Glory be to Your Holy Name! Lord (Amen!) What You have done for us, we cannot tell it all. Please Lord, don't ever let us annoy You again in Jesus' Name! (Amen!) Once we are friends we know there is nothing to fear. We just don't want to be Your enemy because when You arise Your enemies will scatter and if You are on our side our enemies will scatter too. Please Lord; don't let us ever annoy You again in Jesus' Name! (Amen!) We thank You for what You had already done. We thank You in advance for what You will yet do Glory be to Your Holy Name! In Jesus' Mighty Name we have prayed!
May the Almighty accept your offerings in Jesus' Name (Amen!) Why don't we lift our hands to the Almighty God straight away and bless Him. Thank Him for January, Thank Him for February, thank Him for March, thank Him for April, thank Him for May, thank Him for June, thank Him for July, thank Him for August, thank Him for September, thank Him for October, thank Him for bringing you into the month of November. Let's bless His Holy Name. Say, " Father we thank You! We thank You for every day of the year. We thank You for waking us up. Thank You for hands that can clap Thank You for legs that can move. Thank You for eyes that can see. We bless Your Name! We give You glory! We give You honour! We give You adoration! Yes Father we thank You for all You have done! We Thank You for January, we Thank You for February, we Thank You for March, we Thank You for April, we Thank You for May, we Thank You for June, we Thank You for July, we Thank You for August, we Thank You for September, we Thank You for October, we Thank You for bringing us into November! We magnify Your Holy Name Lord! Oh yes Father we want to bless Your Name. We want to magnify Your Name!
Jesus said to Simon, ""Fear not!"" Now, when we were in primary school or early secondary school, there's a part of the question that we normally come across particularly in Religious Studies. They give a quotation like "Fear not!" and then they will ask the question: Who said it? To whom was it said? When was it said? How many of you remember those days? Let me hear you shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
Now we already know who said it. Of course we know when it was said. The question now is "To whom was it said? Oh, I'm sure you will answer immediately and say, "To Simon." And you think that that's the end of the story. No. No. No, there's a lot to that - all right it is to Simon, but its not to Peter and you know there is a difference between Simon and Peter, even though it is the same man bearing the two names. Simon is the fearful one, Peter is the Rock, so the message went to Simon, to somebody like me, somebody who's faith is not strong, someone who could be frightened if he sees something to frighten him, not like people like you who are great men and women of faith! But to a baby Christian like me, Jesus Christ says, "Fear not!"
But don't let us even go into theology there: to whom was this message addressed? One thing is clear - this message was sent to a man on his knees, looking up to somebody who was standing. Let's look at that aspect alone tonight because the Bible said, "Simon fell on his knees at the feet of Jesus" And if you are on your knees at the feet of someone and that someone is standing, surely you are on your knees but your eyes are looking where? Upward!
"Fear not!" is a message that would come to anyone who would humble himself, who is constantly found on his knees. In 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14 the Bible says, "If my people that are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and forsake their evil ways, I will hear from heaven and I will heal their land." I believe that somebody's home is going to be healed tonight! (Amen!)
"Fear not!" will come to someone who knows how to kneel; in prayer, in surrender to God, in humility and it will come to someone who knows how to look up! In Psalm 121 verses 1 and 2 David said, "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth." Those who will hear "Fear not!" are not people who look down because when you look down you will see problems. You will see the waves; you will see the storms. Those who will hear "Fear not!" they don't even look to their front! They don't look around, they don't look back or else they become like Lot's wife and become a pillar of salt! Those who will hear "Fear not!" they don't look around otherwise they may see oh, all kind of resources they can turn to - they may see Commissioners, they may see ministers, people of the same height like themselves that they could say, "Ah! Maybe if I talk to my uncle, the Minister, help will come." Forgetting that the minister is here today and gone tomorrow.
But those who will hear "Fear not!" are those who look up to the Almighty; people who, according to Psalm 123 verses 1 and 2, The people who look unto the Almighty God as a servant will look to the hands of His master - because they know that the Almighty God, not only can He meet all needs is there forever! Those who look up and see the Author and Finisher of our Faith are the people who will hear "Fear not!"
So the word or the message "Fear not!" is for people who are willing now to fix their gaze on the Almighty because the Bible says in Psalm 34 v 5, it said, "They look unto Him and they were not ashamed." And somebody's going to look unto Jesus tonight and he will never be ashamed again! When You look unto Him it doesn't matter how deep down you are He will pull you out!
When you read Daniel 4 v 34, you find something astonishing here. Here is the story of Nebuchadnezzar. He was a king. He became an animal. For 7 years he was completely mad - if you're talking about mad - he was mad, mad. When a king becomes an animal eating grass - that is madness of the highest degree! But it says here in Daniel 4 v 34 that the day Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes to heaven - that was the day his breakthrough came! Tonight somebody's going to lift up his or her eyes to the Almighty God and suddenly you're going to hear - "Fear not!" (Amen!) Because the Bible says in Psalm 40 v 1-3: no matter how deep the pit, no matter how slippery the miry clay surrounding your feet, no matter how hard the enemy is trying to keep you down, if you can just look up He will bring you out of the miry clay. He will set your feet on the rock to stay; He will put a new song in your mouth! Somebody's going to sing a new song here tonight! (Amen!)
I have discovered that when a man needs a very big miracle, then he has to look up to a very big God. As a matter of fact if you read John 11 v 41, you will learn a good example from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He wanted to perform the biggest miracle of His ministry, I mean, He had raised the dead before. He raised Jairus' daughter but then there were some very deep theologians and academicians there - so when He raised the girl, they all said, "Ah, what happened? He himself told us that the girl was not dead, the girl was sleeping! So what is the miracle in waking up someone who is sleeping?" So Jesus said, "All right, I will let the next one really die!"
Oh, this time round it was a very young boy - the only son of a widow. This one had not just died - he was going to be buried! And then Jesus met them on the way and raised the boy up! Oh! But the academician said – "Well, I think the boy was in a coma and as they were taking him to the burial ground fresh air was blowing on him. Just as he was about to come up, that's when Jesus arrived on the scene so it wasn't really a miracle!"
So when it came to the turn of Lazarus Jesus allowed him to die, be buried and he had been there for four days! Then He came back and said, "I will show you that I'm the Resurrection and the Life! This one has not just died! This one is not in a coma! This one is already stinking but I'm going to bring him out! But to bring him out even I will need to look up to heaven! Even I, I have to look up to heaven! I have to say to my Daddy, "Daddy, this one is extraordinary! I thank You because I know that you have heard me - I know You always hear me! But this one is special" He looked up to heaven and Daddy sent down everything that was needed. I am confident that the life of somebody is going to change tonight (Amen!) I am confident that the sorrows that have been holding you down, pulling down your head, will be removed tonight because you are going to look up! (Amen!)
I've told you the story of a woman before, a wonderful child of God and she had a son and the son was epileptic and the problem of this woman was, when she gets into a house she'll be well received but within two weeks the child will have an attack and everybody will say, "Oh-oh! This is what you have with you? You are good, but you can't stay on in this house!"
So she had to move from that house to another house, to another house to another house and she was praying, looking at the problem and praying: "When will God do this thing, God, eh? And I'm following You? When will You do my own?" Then one day she was going to the market with the son and right in the centre, at the biggest junction in town where nobody can hide - the child had an attack and of course everybody ran and they were all watching from a distance.
Shall we go on our knees, individually, and look up to Him, look up to Him and just talk to Him? Pour out your heart to Him; tell Him you have no one else! You know all things. You know everything - if I have something else at home - You know Lord! Then don't answer me today! But if I have nothing else but You - then tonight O Lord! I'm on my knees at your feet and I'm looking up to You O Lord! Today, today, today I must hear Your voice! I must hear You say to me - "Fear not!" I am looking unto You now! I know that if I look unto You I will not be put to shame! I lift up my eyes unto You O Lord! And I am expecting to hear from You. You are the only one who can solve my problem! So I look up to You NOW, my Lord and my Saviour. You are the only one who can heal me! You are the only one who can provide for my needs! You are the only one who can defeat all the enemies in my life! You are the only one who can change my failure to success. You are the only one who can break every yoke in my life.
You are the only one and I look up to You now! You are the Almighty, help me! Help me tonight! Help me like never before because I have no one else. Where will I go O Lord, where will I go? Where else can I go? I have already come to You! You are the Alpha! You are the Omega! You are the source! You are my beginning, You are my ending, You are the Author and Finisher of my faith! I look up to You tonight. Don't let me be put to shame! The enemies are already laughing - silence them O Lord! Answer me like never before! You know what I need O Lord! Grant my request tonight! I am at your feet O Lord! I'm looking up to You Father! Oh! Please help me - change my sorrow to joy today! Every reproach in my life - remove it today! All those things, which are causing people to say, "Where is my God?" Remove them today! I look up to You now - I have nowhere else to go! I have tried other gods, I know they are false and I've come to You, the only living God! Now, if You don't help me, who else is going to? Who else will? I come to you Father and I look up to You. I humble myself before You - I'm on my knees! I'm crying to You tonight - Help me O Lord! Help me! Pull me out of the miry clay! Put my feet on the Rock to stay! Put a new song in my mouth tonight! I want to go home singing a new song. A new song of victory, a new song of joy! I am before You Oh, Lord God Almighty! there is nowhere else I can go. If You don't help me, I am finished! If You don't help me, then I am lost! If You don't help me Lord God Almighty! what will I do? What will I do?
He said first of all I should ask you - while you are still on your knees - that you should praise Him! Just praise Him! Magnify His Holy Name! Tell Him He's good! Tell Him He's kind! Tell Him He's wonderful! Tell Him He's powerful! Tell Him He's mighty! Tell Him there's no one like Him! Tell Him He's the King of Kings! the Lord of Lords!, the King of Glory, the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle, the Lord of Hosts, Jehovah El Shaddai, oh! The Lamb of God, the Way, the Truth, the Light, oh! The Resurrection and the Life! You are wonderful; You are wonderful! You are wonderful! You are glorious Daddy! Blessed be Your Holy Name! We just praise, we just magnify Your Holy Name!
Thank You Daddy! Oh yes! We will praise You, we will thank You, we will dance, we will rejoice, we will magnify Your Name - Blessed be Your Holy Name! Thank You Father! Thank You Lord God Almighty! Thank You Savior Glory be to Your Holy Name Lord! Alleluia! Father! Blessed be Your Name! Thank You Jesus! Glory be to Your Holy Name! Thank You Father! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! Thank You so much Lord Thank You Almighty God! Oh Blessed be Your Holy Name! Lord Thank You Father! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! Thank You Lord! In Jesus' Mighty Name we have worshipped. In an attitude of worship, quietly just get up and sit down. Keep your eyes closed and remain silent. I believe the Almighty God wants to speak to someone here right now...............Let's go ahead now and just praise Him, lets bless His name. Bless His Name. Thank Him for what He's done. If we praise Him maybe He will do more. I know He has healed several people. I know He has done marvelous things in lives. In fact, if you check your bodies now you will know He has done some spectacular healings. Ohh! Praise Him! Magnify His Holy Name! Thank You Father! Blessed be Your Holy Name! Lord Thank You for listening to us! Thank You for reaching out to touch us. Blessed be Your Holy Name Lord! Glory be to God! Thank You Lord! In Jesus' Mighty Name we worship!
Let somebody shout Alleluia! (Alleluia!)
Pastor E. A. Adeboye
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