Forward ever backward never, we move in Him, we breathe in Him, we have our favor in Him; let’s worship God this morning, let’s praise Him, let’s bless His name, let’s adore Him, let’s give Him glory, let’s give Him honor; it is in Him we move, it is in Him we have our being; let’s give praise to Him, let’s give honor to Him, let’s adore Him, let’s worship our Maker, King of glory is who He is, He’s Jehovah Sabaoth, the God that’s always there, He’s God our helper, He’s God our Jehovah Jireh; our Provider, our Protector, our Defender, our Shield, our Buckler, the God that is always there for us, the Jehovah that sees us, the Jehovah our Maker, Creator; let’s bless His name, Jehovah Elohim is His name, let’s worship our God this morning, worthy is our God, worthy to be praised, worthy of honor, worthy of adoration, blessed be the name of the Lord, in Jesus name we have worshipped.
The ever faithful God we worship You; King of glory we adore Your name; You are the Creator oh Lord, the Defender, the Supplier, the glorious God; Father we’ve come before You again today, this 26th day of January, Father we ask oh Lord that You bless us this day mightily. We are alive by Your grace, is because You came this morning to put breathe in our nostril that we are here oh Lord, thank You for saving grace, thank You for provision and protection; as we go into Your words this morning, speak to us Yourself, anoint the lip of clay that will speak Your word and all the hearers that will hear Your word Almighty.
This morning give us understanding, Father let the word we hear be mixed with faith in us and what we’ll receive today, let us run with it in 2025, let us move with it in 2025, and let Your name be glorified. Speak to us today in a very clear way, and let us be better for what we get to hear; we will give glory back to Your name at the end of it all, in Jesus name we prayed. Praise the Lord!
Before we take our seats let’s just take this one prayer point; we are going to say Father, fill me with the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that You gave Moses that he was able to speak and the sea parted, give me that Spirit, Lord Almighty; let me speak this season, let my sea part, let the obstacle in front of me give way, let the Red Sea part way for me this year. As I speak, as I speak Your word, let that Spirit within me, the same way You gave Moses, let it part my Red Sea, let it remove every obstacle in my front this year in the mighty name of Jesus.
You’re going to say Father, give me that same Holy Spirit that You gave Elijah and Elijah spoke and fire came from heaven to consume his enemies; Father, give me that same Spirit today, let me speak let fire come from heaven to consume evil forces around me, all those elements, the valley that people want to draw me down; Father, You put me on top of the mountain, let me speak from the top of the mountain like Elijah and roast all the enemies in Jesus name.
We are going to say Father, give me that same Spirit that You gave Mary that gave her the power to birth the Redeemer of the world; Father give me power today to bring forth children for You this year, spiritual children for You, good ideas for You, that same Spirit, give to me oh Lord.
Father give me that Spirit that You gave Moses, that You gave Elijah, that You gave Mary; make me oh Lord, vessel unto honor this year; oh Lord, let me serve You, use me for Your glory, use me for Your praise, let the Spirit of God within me be used to give glory to Your name, help me Almighty Father, blessed be Your name King of glory, in Jesus name we prayed.
Welcome to church again, God bless you! I want to appreciate our Pastor in charge of Province and APICR Region 11 for this opportunity, and I want to appreciate the pastorate too, for giving me this opportunity to bring the message this morning, I pray that God will continue to uphold him, bless his ministry, and bless them all in Jesus name.
It’s the last Sunday in January; it was just like yesterday that we all said ‘Happy New Year’ to ourselves in this church, suddenly its 26 days, God has been good to us. And if you notice from the crossover service to all the services we’ve been having, especially during the Operation Fresh, it has been one declaration after the other – declarative messages, and so when my sister this morning leading the praise said the ministration is going to be like a declaration, I said God is really working because the message for this morning is a declarative message in line with the declaration that has been made since the beginning of the year and it’s quite fitting and proper that the message for the last Sunday should be emphatic and firm declaratory, and I pray that God Almighty will give you the faith to believe, to expect and receive the promises of God for you in 2025.
I decree that no one will be able to hinder God’s plan for you in this year of great expectation in Jesus name.
The message for this morning, I’ve titled “Hindered but Not Defeated”, praise the Lord! Bible text is from Jeremiah 30: 1 -11, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, write thee all the words that have spoken unto thee in a book. 3For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. (You will possess your possession in Jesus name).
4And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5For thus saith the Lord; we have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 6Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 7Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (He shall be saved out of it in Jesus name).
8For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: 9But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. 10Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid”, in Jesus name, amen!
Hindered but not defeated, two key words here – hinder and defeat, and I’ll explain what they mean quickly from ordinary English dictionary; hinder means to delay, to hold back, to prevent the progress of something, to be an obstacle, to obstruct, that’s what it means to be hindered; defeat, it means to beat or win a victory over someone; for example, in a war, a competition, a game or argument, that’s what defeat means, praise the Lord!
So like we said earlier, this is a message of restoration, it’s a message of renewal, (from the passage we read we can see that), and it’s a message of revival; we’ve read from God’s word from time to time, the Bible, that the only one who can stop us from achieving God’s plan for us is us; you are the only one that can stop yourself from achieving God’s plan for you. Romans 8:31 says if God be for us, who can be against us; so we are only one that can be against us; and the devil, using various tricks and human agents would definitely try to stop you from fulfilling your God-given destiny but you are the only one who can allow him to have his way.
How can you help him? At times from your words, we speak negative words at times – a lot of times, ‘ah, I’m doomed, this country is finished, this is too much for me’, negative words from our mouth, helping the devil to fulfill his plan for our for our lives, so watch your words this year, desist from negative words, speak more positively, speak edifying words, let all ‘I’m doomed’ leave your vocabulary, praise God!
There are several promises in the Bible that assures us of God’s constant and awesome support against the whines of the enemy and I want us to look at a few of them quickly in the word of God this morning; Isaiah 41: 10 -13, it says fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee (somebody say amen to that); yes, I will help thee; yes, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 11Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. 12Thou shall seek them, and shall not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. 13For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not; I will help thee.
Let’s also look at Isaiah 43: 1 – 4 to just buttress this, we are talking about God’s promises for us this year; but now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob (you can put your name there), and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 3For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. 4Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore I will give men for thee, and people for thy life. Praise God!
So these are the promises of God contained in the Bible concerning us; James 4:7 says we should submit to God, then resist the devil, he will flee from us; the best he can do is to hinder us, he cannot defeat us, praise God! The best the devil can do is he can hinder but he cannot defeat you in Jesus name. The Bible in Proverbs 24:16 says the righteous man falls seven times, but rises again as many times as he falls, that is the promise of God for somebody here this year in Jesus name.
God does not count us out; if the dried and scattered bones in Ezekiel 37: 1-10 can come together and rise again, then your own dry bones will also rise again in Jesus name. I don’t know which area of your life the enemy has afflicted you, it could be in your marriage, it could be with your children, it could be with your job, it could be with your health, those are your dry bones, it will rise again in Jesus name, you will be restored in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
I said earlier this is a declarative message, I’m declaring with the help of God, and that’s why when we were praying this morning I said ‘use this lip of clay to speak Your word this morning’, so I’m saying again to you, you will be restored in Jesus name. The message for you today is that you will not be defeated, you will overcome, you will be victorious, you will win, even if it takes longer than expected, this football match is not going to pass for 90 minutes, praise God! This football match will last for as long as you are ready to trust God, praise God! The game continues until God wins for you in Jesus name.
We have been told in God’s word that His timing is not like ours, Isaiah 55: 8 – 9, and His way is different from our ways, but the problem with us is that we like to program God, we like to put Him in a box, we want the blessing to be the same way He gave us last year, two years ago, praise God! We like to put God in a package, the package we are used to; we always forget that He’s Sovereign and does not answer to anybody; our God is Sovereign, He does not answer to any man; He chooses the way He appears solely and does not have to be the way He appeared to you the last time He gave you something; it doesn’t have to be the way He appeared to your neighbor; it doesn’t have to be the way that man that gave testimony last Sunday gave his own, God is Sovereign, He can come in any way He likes, and so don’t package Him, He can come in many ways, He can come from the most unexpected way and He reserves the right to do that, that’s why we call him Adonai God.
What we call delay at times may be divine delay, delay orchestrated by heaven; some things we call delay, it can be delay that is good for us, that’s meant to help us, praise the Lord! So if somebody is standing in your way today, be assured that the best he can do is to delay or hinder it, he cannot stop you, you will not be defeated in Jesus name.
We have examples from the Bible, of people that were hindered, people that were obstructed, people that were blocked from becoming what God wanted them to be but God saw them through, God will see you through in Jesus name, and because this is a message of declaration, I want us to look at some of these examples so that we can receive grace that God gave them and then faith to believe God, and then run with that power this year in 2025 in Jesus name.
Within the time we have, I want us to look at maybe three or four examples and the first one I want to use is Joseph, a story we can see in Genesis 37-39, when we get home we can look at that but I know we know these stories, that’s why I picked those three examples, those we can relate with easily, we all know all their stories – popular stories in the Bible.
So Joseph is our first case study, right from his youth there was something special about him; apart from the fact that he was his father’s favorite child, I believe from the love that the father had for his mother, Rachel, we know the story very well, he transferred that love to Joseph but he appeared to be God’s favorite child as well, not just Jacob’s favorite child, he was God’s favorite as well. He was given insight by God into what will happen in the future, he received insight from what is going happen to the future, he was shown by heaven that he was going to be an important figure in (at least) his father’s household because God told him that his brothers will bow to him, his father and mother will bow to him; so I saw that insight that you are going to be great in your father’s house.
And as a typical young man, and some of us behave like that too, it might not be due to physical age, may be due to spiritual age, we don’t know we should keep some revelations to ourselves, we tell our revelations to dream killers; Joseph gave his revelation to dream killers and they went to work, they did all they could do to destroy that dream but the thing with dream killers is that they cannot stop your dream if it’s God- given, they can only at worst hinder or delay, God will still make a way for you in Jesus name.
So they thought they were going to kill this Joseph’s dream by selling him to slavery; their thought was that so if we don’t live in the same house again, let’s see how you will rule over us; they actually wanted to kill him, we know the story very well but God intervened to ensure that that dream is not killed, your dream will not be killed in Jesus name. So it was divine intervention that did not allow them to kill him as they initially planned to do; it was divine intervention that did not allow President Olusegun Obasanjo to be killed between 1993 and 1998 because he had a destiny with God, your destiny will not be quenched in Jesus name.
It was because he had a date with destiny that he was not killed, and I’m saying to you today in the name of Jesus Christ, you will have a date also with destiny, you will not be killed or defeated by that current problem you are suffering; that problem, that situation will not kill you in Jesus name; you will still fulfill destiny in Jesus name. It is a message of revival, you’ll be revived in Jesus name; you will be restored in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Joseph, by divine arrangement was bought by an official of Pharaoh, and I want to believe that if another person had bought Joseph he might not have ended in prison where he met the butler of Pharaoh; and it looks to me that he was kept in a special place, he was not really a prison, it was like a detention center because I don’t know where a prisoner is allowed to serve other prisoners like Joseph was said to to work with the Butler of Pharaoh. So it was like God placing him in a detention center where he will meet his destiny helpers, God will place you where you will meet your destiny helpers in Jesus name.
So Joseph was moved there (for those of us who know the story very well) not because of Mrs Potiphar, but that is the surface story, that’s what we hear, that’s what we see on the surface, but he was moved there because it was time for his promotion, it was time for him to move from the house of a senior officer of the king into the palace itself; he has completed his tour of duty in Potiphar’s house, that was why he was moved there, it was not because the woman lied against him alone, it was just that time was up there it’s not now time to move elsewhere. That obstacle that you are facing now, it may be your stepping stone to your destiny, Joseph was hindered all the way but he was not defeated, you will not be defeated in Jesus name.
He was not defeated because he did not at any time lose faith and confidence in the ability of God to see him through, the momentary lapse that made him turn to man notwithstanding, Joseph (as we know) reached his destiny, his brothers and parents truly bowed to him after he became Prime Minister of Egypt in Genesis 50: 16 – 21; they actually bowed, they all bowed to him as God said, God will fulfill His promises concerning you in Jesus name; you will fulfill destiny in Jesus name.
I have a little testimony concerning this issue of us thinking that people who are doing evil to us are hurting us or are trying to hurt us or even thinking at times that God’s way of taking us to place of destiny is like blocking our way or hindering us; exactly 40 years ago, 1985 to precise, I was working in a Merchant bank, I was an assistant manager and I was sent on a course abroad – summer course, I worked in the legal department I was sent on this course training to make me a better person.
I came back to meet on my table a letter of transfer, I thought they sent me to train further position and they transferred me to a different department altogether. For those who know a bit about banking, I was in a legal department, I was sent to corporate finance department, proper banking, when they had just spent money to train me on legal matters, I was devastated because I was in my comfort zone, that was my training and I thought I was already making progress there. I had a boss that I shared the same room with and it was like a good relationship and I thought oh, here I am, but they sent me out; they not only sent me out, they sent me out to a different building, we were in the Bishop house at Broad street at that time, they sent me to the stock exchange house, out of the head office where we had just moved to, so I felt bad, I felt devastated, I felt unloved, praise God!
I got there, fish out of water, but I was humble enough to learn under somebody that was like my junior because we shared the same room when we got to that place too; I learned under him because I knew nothing about calculation, ratios and all those things, I was a lawyer, don’t know any of those such things. So he taught me and I learned under him and I was able to pick some few things here and there, but long story short, 3 years later they brought me back to my own department after I’ve gotten all this training, I was involved in mergers and all those things, full banking work, I didn’t know God was preparing me for a future, praise God!
I was brought back to same department, promoted and everything, but later I left that bank about two years after in 1990, went to another bank where I was thrown into banking fully without anybody bothering to train me because they knew somebody had trained me earlier and I was sent for courses abroad. What I’m trying to say from this testimony is that at times when you think people are doing evil to you, God is planning a future for you; by the time I got to that bank, I was already a senior person, nobody would start training me at that time again but I had already gotten that training; at a time I felt it was because they didn’t like me, and one of us that was moved like that too, he was also in Operations but sent to the Corporate Finance department.
In fact, he actually was the one that was trying to train me, we met recently, he finally left banking as an executive director in one of the top banks, he told me that he went to see the managing director (because he was his uncle’s friend) that why did you just post me out, and the man said I’ve noticed some two or three of you young people, you are in your comfort zone, you need to be pushed out, I can see that you would get to places but you are too comfortable where you are. I said did he say that, he said yes, that the man is now deceased, our MD at that time, Late Chief Adeosun, he said I needed to push you guys out because you were too comfortable in your environment.
So at times God pushes us out for our good, so it’s not every of this hindrance that is meant – well, they may mean it for evil, but at times not everything, it might be meant for our good, praise the Lord!
David is another example we have, of somebody that God helped despite hindrances; he was anointed to be king by Prophet Samuel in 1st Samuel 16: 1-13 and nothing happened thereafter; when kings are anointed, they move to the Palace and begin to rule, that’s the normal thing, but in the case of David, the newly appointed king had to go back to his duty in the back waters of Bethlehem looking after sheep, he did not go to any Palace, nobody called him king, he had to go back to his Shepherd’s work to look after sheep, and I thought that maybe if they had sent him to go and be looking after goats he might look like preparation to become a king because human beings are more like goats than sheep, stubborn, unruly, uncontrollable, sheep are too decent and everything, but they sent him back to the back waters, then somebody introduced him to the Palace but you will think that he is on his way to now becoming a king, but he now went there to go and meet an insane king, one that was on how to kill him, murderous king.
He went to meet Saul who saw him as a threat especially in the unhelpful songs that these women raised when he killed Goliath, he envied him and he wanted to kill him; several assassination attempts were made but none succeeded against David; Philistines tried, Amalekites tried, even his own son, Absalom, chased him out of the palace and he was not satisfied, he chased him out of Jerusalem completely but God brought David back, God will bring you back in Jesus name; the plots of those Absalom in your family, household enemies, they will fail in Jesus name. The Philistines, the Amalekites of your time cannot kill you in Jesus name; you will still overcome them and fulfill destiny as David did.
The God of restoration restored David to the throne, the God of second chances gave him another chance, you will be renewed in this New Year in Jesus name, you will be given another chance in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
The third example I want us to use and I think probably the last one is Apostle Paul; Apostle Paul was told by the Lord through Ananias in Acts 9: 10-19
that he will be God’s representative to the Gentile world; let’s look at Acts 9: 15- 16, (10-19 is the full story) but to be specific, it says but the Lord said unto him (Ananias), go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake, praise God!
As God was speaking this word concerning Paul, the host of hell heard and they said no, this is not going to happen; they heard the story and said it was not going to happen, so they hindered him in many ways but he was not defeated; disciples failed to accept him initially but it took Barnabas to take him back to them, he encouraged him, God will send your Barnabas to you in Jesus name; where men refuse to accept you, God will send helper to you to make them accept you in Jesus name. They finally accepted Paul and God will raise somebody to help you too in Jesus name.
Right from Acts 9, attempts were made to kill Paul; I read one book, one preacher in America said anytime he went to another country to preach, they always welcome him with open hands, tea parties and everything, but in the case of Paul, anywhere he went, riots broke out, they didn’t want to see him, they didn’t want to – in Athens, in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra, in Philippi, they were all hostile to Paul but God took him to a place of destiny; they can only delay you but will not be able to stop you.
If you, like Paul, are facing persecution today especially because of your faith in Christ, know this, the persecutors can only Ender, they cannot defeat you; if they don’t allow you to practice your faith openly or are depriving you of some benefits as a result of your faith, maybe in that office, because of your faith they are depriving you of certain benefits, this will come to an end soon in Jesus name.
Apostle Paul, in spite of all the odds finished well, he finished strong, he was able to say in 2nd Timothy 4:7 that I have fought a good fight, I’ve finished my course, that will be your story at the end of your sojourn here on earth in Jesus name. He said I’m waiting for the crown of righteousness to be placed upon me, that will be your story too in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Every hostility, every hindrance will not be able to stop you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ; the God Almighty who took Paul through the stormy waters, through the snake bite, through the shipwreck, will overcome for you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
You may be shaken but you are not shattered; you may be knocked down but you are not knocked out, you will rise again in Jesus name; you will rise to accomplish your God-given destiny in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Well, we said earlier that if God be for us who can be against us, but if it’s God that’s hindering you then you are in big trouble, I pray that God is not the One hindering you because if it’s God that’s hindering you then you need to come to Him like David after he committed adultery to seek peace with Him because nobody can help you if God is hindering you and nobody can help you if you’re the one hindering yourselves, those are the two tactics that you need to know; if it’s man, forget man, God will help you in Jesus name.
So as we bow our heads to pray this morning, ask for forgiveness if it’s God that is hindering you, in this New Year you need to make peace with God because He’s the only One that can hinder and nobody can help you. How can God hinder you? If you are not working in His line, if you are not walking in righteousness; Bible says in Isaiah 3: 10, say to the righteous it shall be well with him, it is the righteous that it will be well with, and there’s a passage also in Isaiah 3:11 that we don’t usually read, it says woe unto the wicked! It shall be healed with him; it’s in the Bible, are you the wicked? Can you be counted as part of the wicked? What is the opposite of righteousness, wickedness (from this passage), so the unrighteous are the wicked, it’s not because you only like to give young children knocks on their head, every child in the neighborhood says that wicked man always give me a knock, no, that’s not only the definition of wickedness, wickedness is unrighteousness, praise God!
So God can hinder you if you’re unrighteous, ask for forgiveness this morning as we bow our heads to pray; ask Him so that it will be well with you, are you righteous? It’s a new year, so many things have been declared today, you cannot be defeated, you will win, you will do that, it will not happen for you if you are not righteous and I’m not curing anybody, I’m here to um decree goodness, not any curse but ask yourself this morning and then make peace with God, am I walking in righteousness? Ask God to give you peace, it’s a new year, it’s just 26 days of the year, that is we still have over 300 days of this year, many days ahead, ask that you will make peace with God.
If you are not sure of your position, about your peace with God, if you are not sure that you even know this God we are talking about…
[Altar call]
Let’s ask that God will help us; it’s a new year, don’t let the same thing that happened last year to you, in the previous year happen to you, let it be a clear break this year from that trouble, from that hindrance, from that blockage, from that obstruction, ask God to help you, ask for forgiveness of sins, He’s willing to forgive, He’s willing to help, ask Him to help you, ask Him to help you.
Pray to God this morning; for those of us who are living righteously with God, let’s ask that God will help us this year, that we shall be clear, clean in our walk with Him. After righteousness, after salvation, let’s just move to sanctification, that God sanctify me, use me for your glory, make me a vessel unto honor in this new year, help me Lord Almighty that no man will be able to hinder me, no man will be able to obstruct me, no man will be able to stop Your plan for me.
Pray this morning, ask God for help, ask Him for assistance, in every area of life where men are obstructing you, where circumstances are working against you, ask God for help, ask Him that He will renew you, He will restore you, He will give you back that position of authority that men have pushed you out of; let’s pray unto Him that He will return that property that has been stolen from you, that position that has been stolen from you, like He did for David, He will return you to the Palace.
Pray to Him this morning; ask for help that God will return you to that favor, to that grace, to that mercy that they gave you at the beginning of time; pray to God for renewal, pray to God for refreshing, pray to God this morning that yes, even though you are knocked down you will not be knocked out, pray that you will not be knocked out, that you will rise again; righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, pray that God will make you rise again.
Father, make me rise again, take me up again, help me oh Lord, speak from the top of the mountain to valley bound people, let me not come down to come and wallow in the mud with them, let me stay afloat above the phrase of the enemy, help me Lord Jesus, blessed be Your name Almighty, in Jesus name we prayed.
Eternal Father, we thank You; King of glory, we’ve come back to give glory to Your name; Father, You said in Your word that the devil cannot stop us, that if God be for us no one can be against us, Father, we take Your word to heart this morning, we mix it with faith and we run with it for 2025 that nobody, no man will be able to stop us in Jesus name.
Father, I declare concerning Your children that no one can stop them this year, they will achieve destiny, they will fulfill purpose, they will have a renewal, a refreshing, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. So shall it be, for we have declared in Jesus name.
