Let’s thank Him for the help He has rendered to us, the ones He has rendered in the past, the ones He’s still rendering now. Let’s bless the name of the Lord, let’s give Him thanks, let’s give Him praise, let’s give Him adoration; what a mighty God we serve, what a wonderful God we serve, what a glorious God we serve, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Almighty God, plenteous in mercy, glorious in holiness, oh, thank You Father, in Jesus mighty name we have given thanks.
Let’s thank God for this month; this is our month of renewal, the Lord will renew everything that concerns us in the mighty name of Jesus. We are going to cry and say Father, for the rest of this month, let my relationship with You be renewed in the mighty name of Jesus; let it be renewed for greater works in the mighty name of Jesus; let it be renewed for signs and wonders to follow me in the mighty name of Jesus. Renew Your relationship with me, Father, I desire a renewal from You, thank You, Father, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
We’re going to cry again and say Father, let this renewal be a turning point in my life, let it be a turning point in my career, let it be a turning point in my business, let it be a turning point in my finances. Cry unto the Lord, cry unto the King of kings, the Lord strong and mighty is here in our midst, talk to Him. Commit the rest of this month into His hands, this week into His hands in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You, Father, glory be to Your holy name, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
We are going to pray again and say Father, today, this week, let me experience a divine visitation in the mighty name of Jesus. Commit today, commit the rest of this week into His hands. Let me experience a divine visitation in the mighty name of Jesus; visit me Father in a particular way in the mighty name of Jesus. Remember my wife, remember the children, remember the grandchildren, visit us in your own special way in the mighty name of Jesus. Oh thank You Father, blessed be the name of the Lord, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Finally, let’s cry and say Father, this week, please do not pass me by, do not pass me by in the mighty name of Jesus. Remember me this week in Your mercy, please do not pass me by in the mighty name of Jesus; You are a God plenteous in mercy, remember me this week, please do not pass me by, do not pass my business by, do not pass my career by, do not pass my family, my loved ones by, remember each and every one of us, thank You Father, blessed be the name of the Lord, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Praise the Lord!
Welcome to church, glory be to God! I just want to bless the King of kings even for the opportunity to stand before you to share the word of God, and also I remember our father in the Lord and of course the pastorate and our mommy here, thank you also for the opportunity for me to stand before you.
This morning, our text is taken from the Book of Luke 19: 5 – 10 and I will read quickly. And it says, “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house. 6And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, that he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. 8And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. 9 And Jesus said unto him, This day, (let somebody repeat that) salvation is come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. (This day salvation is come to you in the mighty name of Jesus) 10For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
That’s why our Lord Jesus Christ came for you and me and that mission shall be accomplished in the mighty name of Jesus.
So this morning we want to talk about a Day of Visitation, today is somebody’s day of visitation in the mighty name of Jesus. We have just read the text for our ministration today and it’s taken from the Book of Luke and it was an encounter between our Lord Jesus Christ and of course Zacchaeus the tax collector. Actually our Lord Jesus was heading to Jericho and then information got to Zacchaeus that look, Jesus is passing this way and he looked at it; he was somebody that had a small stature which means he may not be able to see, he’s not that tall, he may not be able to see people ahead of him, therefore, he decided to climb a tree and then wait for Jesus to pass through so that from that tree he will have a good view of our Lord Jesus Christ.
By the time our Lord Jesus Christ got to that tree, Jesus stopped and looked up and said Zacchaeus, come down today, I’m going to abide in your house today, salvation will come to your house today and of course, we read that earlier, and he followed Jesus to his house. Our Lord Jesus is also giving somebody that promise today that today is your day of salvation in the mighty name of Jesus; whether you climb a tree or whether you are here seated with us, salvation will come to you in the mighty name of Jesus, that is my prayer for you and that is my prayer for myself too. Praise the Lord.
Now let’s take a deeper look at the phrase ‘A Day of Visitation’; a day of visitation can also be a day of blessing or it can also be the other way around, a day of judgment, (we all pray that it will be a day of blessing in the mighty name of Jesus); and when that visitation comes, it’s usually for a specific purpose and for a specific time, to meet a specific need. In the case of Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus needed that salvation and there was no other way he felt that he could get it except for him to climb the tree and have a picture of Jesus, and by doing so, he distinguished himself from the crowd, Jesus was able to pick him up and said I’m coming to your house today, let’s go to your house.
There were comments around him, all the people said this man is a sinner, this man is a tax collector, he has been collecting taxes from us illegally and the rest of them. But Jesus said I came for sinners and not for those that have been saved, so Zacchaeus fell very well squarely into that category of our people that our Lord came to see.
Are you still here with us, you’re doubting whether to come to Jesus for Jesus to save you or are you still feeling that yes, let me delay a bit, delay can be dangerous. When the altar call is made, I hope you will make up your mind and come and embrace Jesus here if you’re in that category in the mighty name of Jesus.
Despite the wealth of Zacchaeus, despite he was one of the rich people then, despite his wealth, he didn’t hesitate to accept that gift of salvation, I pray that that will minister more to us in the mighty name of Jesus.
As I said earlier, day of visitation happens for a specific purpose and a specific time; as we are all gathered here we have our needs, just like our faces are different, our needs are also different from one to the other; your own need may not exactly be my own need as the case may be, but I know that God knows each and every one of us, He knows what we need, therefore, He will meet us at our various points of need in the mighty name of Jesus, this day will not pass us by in the mighty name of Jesus, it certainly will not pass us by in the mighty name of Jesus.
Now I want us to move further by taking a look at some of the Bible characters that had their own day of visitation. One way or the other, there were various needs that they had and then Almighty God was able to attend to their needs, just like He attended to their needs, He will also attend to your own, He will also attend to mine in the mighty name of Jesus.
The first case I have here is the case of Abraham and Sarah; we are told that for several years Abraham and Sarah were childless, they didn’t have an issue between them and they were looking onto God to provide a child for them. Much earlier before the child of promise, Isaac, came, we saw that in Genesis 18: 1, it says and the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; that was the Almighty God appearing to Abraham in the tent in Mamre and where he sat down waiting.
Recall that there were three persons that visited Abraham that afternoon in the heat of the day and Abraham did everything to make sure he entertained them and received them; I pray that in that day of visitation we will welcome the King of kings in the mighty name of Jesus; whatever it takes for us to receive Him, we will not miss that in the mighty name of Jesus.
And then what happened in Genesis 18: 10, it says, and he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Sarah heard it, that was a promise of God, a day of visitation for Sarah and Abraham.
We know the story, how the story ended; Isaac came forth when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old, that is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Somebody will give that testimony in the mighty name of Jesus; your expectations shall not be cut short in the mighty name of Jesus, whatever the Lord had promised you on that day of visitation, you will take hold of it in the mighty name of Jesus.
So He visited Abraham and Sarah and of course we have heard their testimonies, and in the morning I also shared my own testimony concerning this issue of childlessness, praise the Lord! I was married to my wife and we had our first baby seamlessly, it went very well smoothly, there were no challenges; for us to have another baby, we had to wait for over 15 years before the next baby came, and at that point in time, as I said earlier in the morning, we were just at the point of adopting a baby, we had already prepared the nursery and made arrangements for the adoption and all of a sudden the Lord showed up in our case. It was our day of visitation, you will not miss your own day in the mighty name of Jesus, the Lord will visit you in the mighty name of Jesus.
And the testimony we had was that He blessed us with a set of triplets, two boys and a girl, praise the Lord. The waiting for 15 years, He blessed us, after 5 years, one child, after 5 years, one and then after that, one. Praise the Lord. Whatever you think you have lost, the Lord will make it up for you in the mighty name of Jesus. It shall be well with you.
Let’s look at another case, another example of the Lord’s visitation; when the Lord arises, all your enemies will be scattered in the mighty name of Jesus. It was the case of the children of Israel, we know the story so I don’t need to repeat that story again; they were in bondage according to the Bible for over 430 years in the land of Egypt; Pharaoh refused to allow them to go, God said let my people go so that they can worship me but Pharaoh felt that probably he can drop shoulders with the Almighty God, well, the Almighty God used him to take glory in that situation.
Whatever the enemy is denying you, the Almighty God will use it for His glory in the mighty name of Jesus.
Let’s see what happened in Exodus 3: 7 -8, it says, “And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I’ve heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows. 8And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, and unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Praise the Lord.
That was the Lord’s promise and He kept His word and He fulfilled His word in Exodus 4:31 which says, and the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that He had looked on upon their affliction, then they bowed down their heads and worshiped Him. You will worship the Lord in the mighty name of Jesus; you will exalt His name in the mighty name of Jesus.
So are you in any form of bondage? Is there anything you consider to be a bondage that is afflicting your life? Is it in your business? Is it in your career? Is it in your finance? Is it in your family? Whatever the case may be, a divine visitation awaits you in the mighty name of Jesus. You shall not wait forever, the Lord will show up in your situation, in your case, the Lord will overcome for you in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You, Father.
And if we can extend that further, it also happened to Peter. We know the story of Peter, Apostle Peter, the great fisherman; we can find that story in the Book of Luke 5: 1 – 10. If we go through we’ll see what happened. We know the story, we’ve repeated it here and there; Peter struggled all night as a fisherman, professional fisherman, he couldn’t catch any fish that night and he was wondering what am I going to tell my family? How will I put food on the table today?
He was already washing his net and then suddenly something happened, the Almighty God appeared in the sea, Jesus Himself appeared in that scene and said my friend, let me use your boat to do some ministration, and Peter quickly agreed, conceded his boat to Him, then He went on and ministered. After His ministration, He looked onto him and said, what is your problem? He said, we have toiled all night we couldn’t catch anything. He said, really? So suddenly He asked him, cast that net into that water and he obeyed.
Obedience is key in serving God, and he did, he obeyed fully and we know the rest of the story; a net breaking catch he couldn’t even contain in his boat, he had to beckon on his friends, John and James, to please come and help him and they were able to carry their load. Praise the Lord! Jesus showed up in the case of Peter suddenly and his story changed, he decided to follow Jesus all through and he did.
The next thing we want us to look at is we also have various challenges especially health-wise, these days a lot of issues are coming up you don’t even know where they’re coming from, the devil is trying to rear his head but he will never succeed in the mighty name of Jesus.
We were told this morning that the forthcoming convention is actually The Overcomers, we will overcome in the mighty name of Jesus, even ahead of the convention we are going to overcome in the mighty name of Jesus. The ailment ravaging people this day is the one that starts with C and ends with R, I don’t want to mention that name but it will never be our portion in the mighty name of Jesus. If by any chance any of our relatives is going through that challenge, the Almighty God will visit that person in the mighty name of Jesus. We have a protection here in CTL, we have a banner, our banner says CTL and what’s the meaning of CTL? Christ the Lord.
So how can the enemy have a hold where Christ is it? The enemy will never have a hold on us in the mighty name of Jesus. CTL stands for Christ the Lord and His invisible hands is moving in our midst touching people, healing, sending salvation, sending victory in the mighty name of Jesus. He will have a touch of him in the mighty name of Jesus, He will touch your needs, no matter what your needs is, He will touch you at your points of need in the mighty name of Jesus. Praise the Lord!
He also did the same for Peter’s mother-in-law; He visited her in Matthew 8: 14- 15, it says, And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them; that’s divine visitation, visiting Peter’s mother-in-law and took away that sin, she even got up immediately and started ministering to them. Somebody will testify that the Lord visited him or her today in the mighty name of Jesus. As I said earlier, the invisible hands of God will work for you today in the mighty name of Jesus. Praise the Lord!
We also have the case of Tabitha or Dorcas in the Book of Acts 9: 36 – 43, we may not have time to go through that but it also calls for Bible study and I’m sure apart from that most of us have read that several times, you can refresh your memory by going through it again. The Lord is able to heal every hopeless situation, He’s able to deal with every hopeless situations.
This is a case of somebody who was dead and Apostle Peter came and prayed and
brought back to life, she resurrected from the dead and came back to life; this is somebody who has been a blessing to the brethren around her, to the females, to everybody around her, doing a lot of charity work concerning those people, and when she left, when the God Almighty God called her, the people were weeping and said how can we lose such a fellow? They had to send for Peter, he came and prayed for her under the anointing of the Almighty God and was able to bring her back to life, that’s a miracle that we have never seen before.
Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever; the miracles He did in the past, He can even do it at a greater dimension in the mighty name of Jesus. So what is the challenge that you are facing? It was a day of visitation not only for Tabitha, it was also for those whom she has been helping, the Lord visited each and every one of them and restored their joy. Somebody’s joy will be restored today in the mighty name of Jesus; whatever that is denying your joy, the Lord will take it away today in the mighty name of Jesus; your joy shall be full in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You Lord.
Our Lord promised us, Jesus promised us in John 5: 20 that He was actually sent by the Almighty God to do greater works, so we are going to see a lot of greater works coming from the King of kings in the mighty name of Jesus. John 5:20 says, for the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth; and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
That situation, that condition that you feel that is impossible, the Lord will take it away in the mighty name of Jesus; the word of God says that with God nothing shall be impossible, your own will not be impossible, my own will not be impossible in the mighty name of Jesus; the King of Kings will meet each and every one of us at our points of need in the mighty name of Jesus.
Let’s also flip the coin, let’s look at the other side, the day of visitation, we have talked about some of the blessings that can come from it, it can also be a day of judgment as the case may be, we pray that we will not be found wanting in the mighty name of Jesus, we will do the right thing at the right time in the mighty name of Jesus.
So we want to look at the case of Jonah; Jonah, we know as one of the prophets of the Almighty God and our Lord sent him on an errand to go to Nineveh and minister to the people of Nineveh because they needed to hear the word of God so that they can turn their ways, but he said why should I go there? These people are sinners, they are not following God. He decided on his way to go to Tarshish, another area that the Almighty God had not sent him, it was a case of disobedience, but God showed mercy at the end of the day.
Let’s look at Jonah 1: 17, it says, Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. That was the Lord trying to redirect or teach Jonah some lessons, he boarded a ship to go to Tarshish instead of Nineveh that the Almighty God had directed him to go, but Lord in His mercy, because our Lord is plenteous in mercy showed him mercy, allowed the fish to swallow him and then he was there for three nights and three days as the case may be and eventually He ordered the fish to vomit Jonah on a dry land.
We can see that in Jonah 2: 10, it says and the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land; because our God is a merciful God, He’s also a God of second chance, He decided to give Jonah a second chance to repent from his ways and turn back to the way He has ordered him. Similarly, the Lord is also speaking to somebody here, you need to come back to the King of kings, you need to come back to the Lord, you have swayed away for quite some time and the Lord is extending a hand of fellowship to you. I pray that whoever it is will accept that hand of fellowship in the mighty name of Jesus; you will return to the Lord and it shall be well with you, body, soul, and spirit in the mighty name of Jesus. Praise the Lord!
Now, somebody will ask, how do I prepare for my day of visitation? That’s a genuine question, a question everybody will ask because you want to make amends, you want to look at your ways again and see how we can get closer to your Maker and your Lord.
Now, the first point I have here is prayer; we cannot overlook the power of prayer, by prayer and seeking the Lord. Let’s pray, prayer is talking to God, is a way of communication, ‘Father, I thank You, I praise You, I do this, I want You to do this for me’ and then wait and hear what did God say, did He say wait my child, I will do it for you at so and so time? So prayer is a way of communicating with our Maker.
Matthew 7:7 says ask, and it shall be given to you; (it didn’t say ask and it may be given to you); seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; there’s a finality in this word of God, He said ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you; how do you ask? You ask by communicating to Him through prayers. Jeremiah 29:12 says then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. This is the word of God confirming the need for me and you to always seek Him in prayers and He shall attend to our needs in the mighty name of Jesus.
How else do we prepare for our visitation? Faith, without faith, it is impossible to please God. We know that, we have that in our Bible in the Book of Hebrews 11:6. Romans 10:17 says, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; as we are here is the word of God that we are sharing, we are hearing the word of God, and in most of our programs, not just in CTL, in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, we have digging deep on a Tuesday and we study the word of God; on Thursday, we have faith clinic, we pray.
We have been told that there’s need for us to pray, to communicate with our Lord and our God, and even we have additional prayer sessions, you can find that in our prayer chain which holds on Monday, the next one is actually coming up tomorrow, let’s take advantage of these programs, whether you want to come here physically or whether you want to join us online, there’s no restriction in the realm of the Spirit, wherever you are, whether you are in USA, God will hear your prayers in the mighty name of Jesus. So let’s take advantage of these programs and talk to the King of kings and He will bless us in the mighty name of Jesus.
Another one is humility and the need for us to surrender all. In Matthew 23: 12, it says, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. Humble yourself under the mighty hands of God, that’s what 1st Peter 5:6 tells us, it says, humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. That is what we expect as believers, humble yourself and the Lord will lift you up at His own time in the mighty name of Jesus.
The Book of Philippians 2:8 talks about how our Lord Jesus humbled Himself even up to the point of death, praise the Lord!
And another area we also need to focus on for us to be able to make our day of visitation come speedily, we need to study and meditate on the word of God, we need to know the word of God, it’s not just sufficient for you to come to church, even these programs I listed earlier, yes, but you also need to have your personal Bible study, you need to have that relationship with the King of kings, the Holy Spirit, as you study the word of God when you don’t understand, the Holy Spirit will minister to you.
He will say my son this is the way to go; remember it happened to the Ethiopian and the Almighty God had to send Philip to go and minister to him as the case may be; he was reading the Bible, he couldn’t understand but God sent somebody to minister to him and he was able to give him a better understanding. To study the word of God, meditate on it, pray into your own situation, and your day of visitation shall come speedily in the mighty name of Jesus.
2nd Timothy 3: 16-17, it says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. I believe we all want perfection, so let’s do the right thing, let’s make our time to study the word of God.
And then another reason, repentance and obedience without holiness, no man shall see God, praise the Lord! 1st John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All you need to do is to confess your sin, come before him and say Father, I’m sorry, this sin, I will not go back to it again, I will not go back to my vomit again, and He will forgive and then you march forward, then all these blessings we are talking about will even overtake you in the mighty name of Jesus.
John 14:15 says, if you love me, keep my commandments, very simple. Is there anything hard about that? If you love me, keep my commandments, and we know these commandments, even when you go against these commandments, the Holy Spirit will minister to you, ‘my son, my daughter, what you are about doing now, don’t do it, it’s a sin’; He will minister to you so far as you are carrying the Spirit of God in you. Praise the Lord!
So at this point, I want to give somebody an opportunity to renew your relationship with the King of kings. Are you here, you are no longer sure of your relationship with the King of kings, with your Maker, you feel that probably you are not standing right with Him, this is not the time to be ashamed, this is the time to take a bold step towards your salvation.
[Altar call]
Let’s cry and say Father, on my day of visitation, may I never be found wanting. Let’s call upon Him, let’s cry to Him; my Father and my God, on the day of my visitation, may I never be found wanting in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You Father, blessed be the name of the Lord, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
We will pray again and say Father, in any area of my life that I’ve been found wanting, please turn around that situation in the mighty name of Jesus. In any area of my life that I have been found wanting, Father, please turn around that situation, turn it around for good in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You Father, blessed be the name of the Lord, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
We will pray again and say Father, because of Your love and mercy towards me, I declare, I decree, this week shall be an excellent one for me, I shall be victorious, I will excel, doors of blessings will open unto me in the mighty name of Jesus. It shall be one level of progress to a higher one in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You Father, blessed be the name of the Lord, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed. So shall it be for you, so shall it be for me in Jesus mighty name.
