Father take us back to the place where we first believed; take us back Lord, restore our connection to You Lord; take us back to that place where we are passionate for You Lord, help us Lord, now is the time Lord to reconnect to You in the way we should, in the manner we should, in the name of Jesus.
Father we praise You for Your goodness to us, we praise You for Your compassion towards us that has not failed, we praise You for Your mercy that has not allowed us to be consumed, we praise You for Your eternal salvation agenda for us and mankind, to You be all the glory, all the honor and adoration in Jesus name.
Indeed You are the God of all seasons, You Lord are incomparable in compassion, You are the never shaken God, You are the never overwhelmed God, You are the God that can never be caught unaware, You are the never surprised God, Your power Lord has no expiry date and You are the script writer of my life; Father I adore You, I magnify Your name, to You be all the glory, all the honor and all the adoration in Jesus name.
Father in Your mercy, deliver us from procrastination; in Your mercy, deliver us from the spirit of lethargy in Jesus name. Father, root out stubbornness, root out pride in our lives in the name of Jesus; Father, this morning, let no one hear me, let them hear from Your throne of grace, Lord let them hear from You this morning, and I the speaker, let me also hear from You this morning, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Praise the Lord!
I’m grateful to God for this opportunity and I’d like to specially appreciate our father in the Lord for this opportunity, more grace, more anointing sir, in Jesus name.
Brethren, tomorrow evening by 6:30 p.m., we’ll have prayer chain and the theme is “Nothing Missing, Nothing Broken, Nothing Lost” in the mighty name of Jesus; so come 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, invite others and let them be blessed, praise the Lord!
This morning, our topic or theme is “Now is the Time”, and now is the time for each and every one of us to do one thing or the other that God has been wanting us to do, so I pray that that which you need to do this morning, God will let you know and you will act upon it in Jesus name.
I have three Bible passages to read very quickly, John 2: 10, “And saith unto him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now”, God has kept the best for you until now; Psalm 119: 60, “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments”; brethren, we will make haste and we will not delay in keeping that which God has commanded us to do in the mighty name of Jesus. Matthew 4:18 – 20, “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net in the sea: for they were fishers. 19And he saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20And they straightway (and they now, and they immediately) left their nets, and followed him”. I pray this morning that straight away, immediately, and now, you will follow and obey Christ in that which He has proposed for you to do in Jesus mighty name.
Brethren, I bring you good news from God’s throne of grace, the set time to favor you is now; Psalm 102:13, the set time to favor you is now in Jesus name. Indeed, today is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and we will be glad in it in Jesus name. Brethren, too often we have boxed God in two parts of the three dimensions in which He operates: the dimension of the past, the dimension of now and the dimension of tomorrow; and you can see behind me our byword in the Redeemed Christian Church of God – Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever more.
A lot of us, myself inclusive, we are guilty of wanting to hold on to the past far beyond that we should hold on to; a lot of us are operating using the rearview mirror in life, and a lot of us also are focused on tomorrow, and there’s nothing wrong with focusing on tomorrow, nothing wrong, but we miss out the middle part which says He is a God of today, He is a God of now, and that God of now will intervene in your life, He will intervene in my life in the mighty name of Jesus.
Do not let the thief rob you of the joy of now; you know like Jesus Christ had two thieves at His side – the thief of the past and the thief of the future, and we are then neglecting today, we will no longer neglect today in Jesus mighty name. And for those of us here – when my mother gave birth to me, she didn’t give birth to me in a Redeemed hospital or in CTL, so we have a past and there used to be that song (forgive me that is coming from the altar), and that song is by a group called Shalamar; (you know what that tells me Pastor, very few people waved, it almost appears like only 10% of our people here are in the old school category) but that song by Shalamar was ‘make that move right now’, (I will not conclude the other part, we’re in church).
Brethren, we’re in 2025, our year of Great Expectations, yes we have 12 months but you do not have the luxury of waiting for the 12 months to expire before you do that which you need to do now, you have to make that move right now. It reminds me of the story of the man, the rich man in the Bible who said you know what, oh I’ve had so much, so much wealth, so much I have; oh I will do this tomorrow, I will do that, and the response of God was foolish man, who told you that you have the luxury of tomorrow (I paraphrase), and he got dealt with. Brethren, we have to act now, there’s the need to be urgent and deliberate regarding what we do now, and I pray that God will give you the grace to act now in Jesus name.
Many of us are in the school of ‘someday, I will; someday I will reach out to that friend; someday I will serve in the house of the Lord; someday I will take up the game of golf; someday I will do that’, why not now? I pray that God will help us to act now. Our treasure really is today, that is what we have right now and I pray that we will act.
Permit me to share a short video and is a video that pertains to football but I just wanted to share that video and I’m sure some of you would have seen it on the need to act immediately [plays video]; but if you look at that video, the man had done well, dribbled the player, he should have acted immediately and he did not act immediately, and the consequence was the goal that was scored against him, you might think it’s a football story and that’s happening to a lot of us, we know that we have to do something but we are waiting, we are delaying in carrying out our action and there’s a consequence to do that.
God has asked you to reach out to that soul, God has asked you to encourage that one person but you’ve told yourself let January go, I will do it in February, do you know what February portends? God has told you, He has laid it on your heart to do that business, you are delaying and by the time you start to act the business dynamics have changed; there’s so many things, delay is dangerous, and I pray that God will help us in Jesus name.
A preacher I listened to once said, ‘yesterday is like a cash check; tomorrow is a promissory notes’, and for those of us in finance, there used to be a country that’s our neighbor that issued promissory notes and defaulted on it, they didn’t pay and even this our country Nigeria, at a point in time we promised people we’ll pay our debts, we did not pay, who says that that promissory notes can be cashed? Today however is cash you have in hand, today is the time, the moment and all you require to ask, and I pray that God will help us in Jesus name.
And for those of you who are here and quick to attack me in your mind and say ah, what is this man talking about, he doesn’t have faith in tomorrow, even the passage we refer to – can we see Hebrews 11:1, I believe it says ‘now faith’, so faith is of today, it’s not faith-ing it tomorrow, now is the time we apply that faith, and I pray that God will help us in Jesus mighty name.
Isaiah 43:19c tells us, ‘now it shall spring forth’, now is now, let’s not add any interpretation to it; now, that which God will do for you, that new thing, now it will spring forth and you’ll see it manifest in the mighty name of Jesus.
Brethren, we have to seize the moment; for those of us who know a bit of Latin, it’s called ‘Carpe Diem’, we seize the moment, seize this moment and do that which we need to do; and time permitting, I will talk about some areas where we need to do something, and I pray that God will help us in Jesus mighty name.
There are dangers in delay; procrastination is often a form of disobedience, delayed obedience can lead to missed blessings and opportunities, I pray that that will no longer be our portion in Jesus name. Delay can also hinder our spiritual growth because delayed obedience stunts our spiritual growth, I pray that God will deliver us in Jesus name; and lost opportunities, some of us at the morning dew, we touched on execution and I’d like to encourage you, leave the back bench and become a worker in God’s house, I will talk more about that later.
Waiting for the perfect time, waiting for the perfect person; I speak to the singles, I have a number of cousins I counsel, waiting for the perfect Denzel Washington, who told you Denzel Washington is perfect? Waiting for the perfect job, who says there the perfect job out there? Waiting for the perfect time, just do it (like the Nike slogan says), do it under God’s guidance, it is God that will perfect all things not you, I pray that God will help you to understand in Jesus name.
Our father in the Lord spoke about the power of action last Sunday and indeed there is power in acting, and indeed in acting now. Immediate obedience brings immediate blessings often, and I pray that God will help us that we’ll be able to obey Him immediately in Jesus mighty name. We see an example of that in the passage we read about Peter and Andrew, they were doing their stuff they were experts in fishing, but when Jesus called them, immediately, straight away they obeyed and their lives were transformed, I pray that God will give us the grace to obey immediately in Jesus name.
How do we do it? We need to seek the face of God daily, you need to know what God wants you to do; it’s not enough to come to church and that is what you go away with for the entire week, you need to seek the face of God daily and He will speak to you in the place of prayers, and as we’ve been told here, prayer is not a one-way traffic, it is you talking to God and God talking to you, and I pray that God will talk to you and that your hearts will be receptive to Him in Jesus name.
You also need to recognize the urgency, you need to understand that time is limited; there’s a pidgin song that says ‘time na money eh’, time is actually more valuable than money, so time is a precious item, so whatever you have to do, do it now and God will help you in Jesus name.
You have to trust in God’s timing, God makes everything beautiful in His time, and if He tells you that the time is now, now is the time, and I pray that you will act in Jesus mighty name. As I speak to you I speak to myself, I pray that God will help me in Jesus name.
So let’s go into a bit of details: now is the time to free ourselves from all forms of bondages and self-imposed prison, [displays an image on the screen]; a lot of us have caged ourselves in prisons that really don’t exist but exist in our mind, if you look at that image that man is actually free but you know what, there’s a prison around him that he has erected in his mind; now is the time to set yourself free because indeed he who the Son has set free is free indeed, please break the barriers, bring down the chains, God has cut the iron bars asunder and release yourself please, nothing should hinder you, nothing should hold you back, set yourself free from every form of imaginary bondage or prison, I pray that God will help you in Jesus name.
I’ve spoken about this earlier on, now is the time to take action, not tomorrow, can we see James 1:22, but be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves; God is talking to us directly, it is not enough to hear this message and not act on it, now is the time to act and I pray that God will engrace us to do so in Jesus name.
Now is the time to be more prayerful, we can’t do anything without God; a number of us wait for prayers in church or when we tune in to the YouTube stations of some preachers, no, pray yourself, pray to God, seek God’s face and He would attend to you in Jesus name.
Now is the time to be determined to grow spiritually, and I know some of us when we come to church and we hear those announcements, oh have you been in church for a while, it’s time to graduate from where you are, it’s time for you to know God better, it’s time for you to dig deeper into the word of God; oh the church has Bible College, the church has school of disciples, the church has school of missions and you say that’s not for me, I don’t want to be a pastor, who told you the programs are only for people who want to become pastors, what will it cost you to do those programs? I’m a living testimony to the benefits of those programs, I took those programs in the middle of the (I don’t want to say) most traumatic times of my life or the most intense periods of my career but God helped me and I’ve not regretted it.
It’s time for you step out; I used to be like many of you, probably I’m still like you, I used to stay at the back of the church, the back, in fact if any usher tries to disturb me from sitting at the back there might be trouble, but you need to make that decision and now is the time to say no more to being a back-sitter or a bench warmer, God will help you in Jesus name.
Now is the time to reconcile; I don’t know about you but in recent times, I don’t know whether it’s because of my age or my faith in life, I’ve seen a lot of marriages become challenged and when you go into the root of it, couples now decide that ‘I probably don’t need that man, I don’t need the woman’, and I’m talking about people who used to be (please permit me to use the word) spirikoko, Christians, they then get to a phase in their lives and decide that do I need that person, and marriages have been challenged, in fact, what’s happening now is that the moment the children get educated, the woman probably say what I need from the man he has done it, I don’t need him anymore, but brethren, this is the time to reconcile with our partners and it doesn’t matter who takes the first step, apologies if you find this annoying to you, but please this is a time to reconcile.
Ephesians 4:32, and be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you; if God can forgive you, why would it be so difficult for you to forgive your spouse? And even like I’m preaching this message yesterday I went out with my wife yesterday, we went somewhere, hinterlands of Lagos, we got somewhere my wife told me we are missing the road, as you know I’m from Ekiti, Ekiti men are stubborn, in my heart I made up my mind that no way, I am correct, I am right and we went on for 15 minutes on a wrong path and I was looking at what I would do, and because I knew that I was going to be preaching this morning, I turned back and said I am truly sorry, forgive me, and we might laugh about it but that happens a lot to many of us, so it’s time to reconcile with our spouses, some of us need to reconcile with our children, some of us need to reconcile with our friends, that’s what God is telling us, now is the time, if you are in that situation you can reach out, some of you might even be seated together, reach out, I am sorry, I pray that God will give you the grace to do so in Jesus name.
Related to that is the fact that this is the time to make peace, Matthew 5: 9, this is the time to make peace with people where peace has disappeared; blessed are the peacemakers, if you’re a child of God shout hallelujah! But you are only a child of God to the extent that you are a peacemaker; yet again, yesterday, knowing that I needed to make peace, I reached out to one of my classmates, I belonged to a very troublesome Secondary School class, in fact the president of my secondary school set is a member of this church, (I won’t tell you his name), so I said let me reach out to one of these troublesome people, we’ve been making trouble since we were in secondary school and we haven’t stopped, so I said let me be a peacemaker and I called, the person didn’t pick the call, we’re both Christians by the way but God will help us in Jesus name. But what is the message – reach out and make peace, blessed are the peacemakers, God will help us in Jesus name.
Now is the time for us to possess our mountain, now is the time to take hold of that which God has given us, Joshua 14:10 -12, Caleb, even at his old age of 85 decided that this has been promised me and I will go and take it, what is it that God is telling you to do, what is that business, what is that idea that God has given to you, now is the time to conquer that mountain and you will conquer it in Jesus name. That business territory you will conquer, but you need to act now and God will help you in Jesus name.
Now is the time for us to be like Esther, to stand up for something that is bigger than us, to stand up for something that goes beyond the ministry of me, mine and I, and all that pertains to you alone. Now is the time to say what can I do for my environment, what can I do for my community, what can I do for my country, enough of selfishness, enough of self-centered living, let us be like Esther, she stood up for something; let us be like Nehemiah, he stood up for something, he was comfortable as a cupbearer in the king’s Palace but he decided I needed to do something beyond me and he went to build the walls of Jerusalem. So brethren, introspect, what is that one thing you can do, how can you affect mankind, how can you be a light to the world, now is the time for you to start reflecting that in Jesus mighty name.
And let’s speak to ourselves, the church, now is the time for the church to chase darkness away, Matthew 5:14 -16, ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven; and I know the moment I said that the church should chase away darkness all of you just set your eye on the ministers on the altar, I know that’s what you did, the church [music] transformed; if my people, He didn’t say if Nigeria, if my people shall humble themselves and pray, He’s able to heal this nation and indeed Nigeria will be healed, Nigeria will be transformed because we will play our role in Jesus mighty name.
Let me go to the side of those who are working; now is the time to have that courageous discussion with your boss, it’s not enough that we come to church and [music] Genesis 30: 27-34, Jacob had been [Music].
Proverbs 21: 1, the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will; [inaudible due to music]
Now is also the time for you to be of service in the house of God and to work on the kingdom assignment; God has only one reason for filling you with the word, it’s so that you can pour out that which you’ve received, but if God fills you and all you do is to sit on it and do nothing with it, it has danger, it’s like eating and eating and you’re not passing out what you’ve had, I’m sure those of us who are aligned with the medical practice know that that is dangerous, so if God is filling you with the word, you are blessed with the word that comes out from here, from the words you read in the Bible, it’s time to start pouring it out to others and I pray that God will help you and help me in the mighty name of Jesus.
But the most important one is now is the time to surrender to Jesus if you have been sitting on the fence; 2Corinthians 6:2, for he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. If you have been sitting on the fence, if you have been saying when I turn 30 I will give my life to Jesus, when I turn 40 – I pray you live a long life like the Bible promised, but there’s no assurance of tomorrow, so this is the time.
[Altar call]
Can we rise to our feet as we take these prayers; let us pray to God, Psalm 70: 1, we will cry to God and say Father, Father, please make haste to deliver me from everything hindering me from moving forward; Father please make haste, make haste to deliver me from everything that is hindering my progress, make haste Lord to deliver me from anything and everything that is hindering me in the name of Jesus.
Let’s also cry to God and say Father, please make haste to help me and my loved ones; oh Father please make haste to help me, to help my loved ones in the mighty name of Jesus, in Jesus name we have prayed.
Next we’ll pray according to Joshua 1:9 and we’ll say Father, we pray for boldness to step into that which You have called me to do; Father we pray for boldness to step into what you have called me to do in the mighty name of Jesus; I pray for boldness Lord, grant me boldness Lord, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Finally we’ll pray unto God and say Father, we pray for strength and perseverance to start the task You have set for me now and to complete them in Jesus name.
Father we just want to say thank You; we thank You Lord for Your word this morning, we pray Lord that we will not just be hearers but we’ll be doers of Your word in Jesus name. Where we need to act now, Father the grace, the courage, the boldness we require to act now, Father release unto us in the name of Jesus; help us Lord not to delay in making those decisions that we have to make in Jesus name, in Jesus name we have prayed.
