[Worship song]
Father we give You all the glory, we give You all the honor, we give You all the adoration. Thank You for all You’ve done for us in the past, thank You for what You did when we came here for the first time, thank You for what You have been doing since then, thank You for a day of a second touch, thank You because today there will be dramatic changes for the better. Father, accept our thanks in Jesus name.
This very day, Lord, make it a great turning point for Your children, let this day be a day they will never forget. Please answer all their prayers and let their joy overflow. In Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Let someone shout hallelujah!
Like I said in my prayer, I’ve been here before, that’s a long time ago, 2005, glory be to God. I thank God for all that has happened since then and I’m trusting God that – I don’t know if I will ever come back here, but I’m trusting God that today will be a day you will all live to remember.
And please give my love to our honorable speaker, tell him I appreciate the honor and that I won’t stop praying for him, neither will I stop praying for Nigeria. It will be well with Nigeria, whether the devil likes it or not, it’s going to be well in Jesus mighty name.
2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord”. Your pastor told me that the theme you chose for today is Turning Point; he said, “Is that all right with me?” I said, ah, sir, that’s all right, you are in charge, whatever you say, we must obey.
God made the world out of His wisdom to be of mountains and valleys, high and low; He could easily have made the whole world just one flat place, but if He had done it that way, rivers will not flow. So in life, there’s always high and low, mountain top and then valley below; in mathematics, we call the mountain top the upper turning point because that’s the place you get to and then if you go beyond that, you can only be coming down.
And then the valley we call the lower turning point, if you turn from there, you can only go higher; that’s why the elders will tell you that a change is good for the poor because if the poor changes it means they will become rich, but it’s not good for the rich because if the rich begins to come, they can only go lower and lower. I’m praying for all of us who are here today that from this moment onward we’ll be going higher.
The interesting thing is when you go through the scriptures, you will find that every turning point is related to an encounter. If you have an encounter with God, then your valley experience will come to an end, you begin from that moment onward to go higher.
When I was 40 years old, God showed me a vision, knowing that He had trained me to be a mathematician, He showed me two graphs; the first graph was a graph of a valley which in mathematics we will call head down parabola, the other one is the graph of a hill which in mathematics we call headup parabola, and He asked me to choose one of the two. At the turning point of both was 40, and I knew God was asking me to decide where do you want to go from here – upward or downward?
Of course, by His grace and with the training I’ve already had, I chose the head down parabola because it means from this day onward I will be climbing. Then He said to me, all right, if you choose that, then we have to do certain things, you have to remove – because in those days if you come to a Ebute-meta, there’s a name plate on my table, when you come in you will see the name – Reverend Dr. E.A. Adeboye, BSc. MSc. PhD, and He said to me, all right, if you decide to make 40 your real turning point, head down turning point, then we have to get rid of all these titles.
Reverend has to go, Doctor has to go, all these degrees we have to forget them, and your title from now will remain Pastor, we moved from practically zero and begin to climb. Glory be to God, from that moment onward, we are still climbing. I am believing God with you that if you will choose the head down parabola, if you throw aside your pride, throw aside all your big-manism and start from the bottom today, next time I see you, you’ll be higher than this.
Turning point can be very good for someone who is in sorrow because if you are in sorrow and you have an encounter with my Lord, from that day onward you won’t know sorrow again.
In Luke 7: 11-15, we have the story of a widow who had an only son and the only son died, and she was on the way to go and bury that boy when she had an encounter with Jesus. She used to know joy, she was glad the day she got married, she was glad the day she had that boy, but then the devil struck, took away the husband and her sorrow began. Then now went ahead and took the only son, and they were going to bury that only son when her turning point came.
She had an encounter with Jesus Christ, the boy that was dead was brought back to life and from that day onward she never knew sorrow again. I’m praying for someone here today, this is the last time you will weep for sorrow.
When you have this encounter with Jesus Christ, then you can move from failure to success. In Luke 5: 1 – 7, Bible tells us the story of a man who had fished all night and caught nothing. You know his name, Peter; then he had an encounter with Jesus Christ and from that day onward, life changed for him, he caught so much fish, he couldn’t handle the fish alone.
You know, I’ve always prophesied to my children that a day will come when you want to take your money to the bank, in those days, of course, everything was cash, not POS, I said, “You will need somebody to help you”. I’ve always prophesied to my children that a time will come, if you tell a bank manager that you want to withdraw all your money, he will run to the toilet, and as I am saying that today, somebody’s already catching that.
Now, of course, you will begin to say how can that be? When God says He’s going to do something, I warn you, don’t use your brain to try to understand how can it happen, because once God has spoken, He will bring all the forces in heaven and on earth into action.
Let me put it this way, there is someone here listening to me today, very soon the whole nation will be envious of you. When I became General Overseer, we were very rich as a church, I mean very rich, and then there was one of us who was a tailor, he came to me and said I want to serve God but I don’t have money.
If you can just get the material anytime you are able to get material, I will sew suits for you, I have the ability, you get the material and leave the rest to me. And I said to him, son, because you have decided to do this, a day will come when you take your money to the bank, the bank manager will call you and say where did you get this money from? What kind of job do you say you are doing?
Like I said, in those days they pay you in cash, and then he began to do it. Of course, he said, “Amen,” you know the kind of amen some people say to say, “All right o, go on amusing us;” and then somehow he got connected to someone and Nigeria was going (I think either) to the Olympics or whatever and they gave him the assignment to sew the dress for all those who were going and he sewed the dress and they paid him.
When he took his money to the bank, the bank manager said, “I want to see this young man, I know him, ask him to see me.” Sir, I thought you say you are a Christian, he said ah, you know that for sure; ehn how come, where did you get this money from? And then he remembered daddy prophesied. I’m prophesying to someone today, financially speaking, today will be your turning point.
When you have an encounter with God, it can give you a turning point from sickness to health. You can read maybe just Mark 5: 25-34 would do, it tells us the story of a woman who had what they call the issue of blood; and when you are looking for somebody who had been really sick, that woman was a good example because the Bible says she was referred from one doctor to the other until she had spent everything.
Then she had an encounter with the only Doctor who does not refer a case and from that moment onward, health came. I don’t know who I’m talking to, but it’s possible there’s someone who has been battling with one sickness or the other for a long time, today your turning point has come.
There was this very wealthy woman at Ebute-meta in those days, anything she ate, she will vomit; they’ve tried everything, doctors have examined, they’ve done all the rays they can do, X-rays and so on, and they found nothing wrong. Then she came to church that day because she has come to the end of her rope and suddenly as I got up, as my usual habit, I said let somebody shout hallelujah! And as she shouted she vomited a worm and that was the end of her problem.
Now the worm didn’t appear on X-ray because the worm had no bones and this attack wasn’t physical, it was spiritual. I am saying to somebody here today, not too far from now, we will hear your testimony.
Well, I can go on and on, but the reason we were hurrying you not allowing your wonderful choir to sing as many songs as they wanted and the little I heard, that’s very good, very good, is because we squeezed this day in for you, but I believe I have said enough to let you know that if you are in bondage, you can have a turning point that will take you to absolute freedom.
If you are in darkness, you can have a turning point that will bring you to total light; if you are on your way to hell, you can have a turning point that will move you on your way to heaven. And I can tell you that when we are talking about turning point, I know what I’m talking about because I’m an example of almost everything I have been telling you.
Before I met the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, I thought I was doing very well. I mean, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, from the very beginning, the University of Lagos had always been tough, so to be a lecturer at that place at my age was something great. But I had so many problems; problem number one, sickness, because I happened to be a sportsman, I got involved in sports all the way, but every two weeks I must be knocked down by malaria.
Then I met the Lord Jesus Christ, He saved my soul, now I work harder at 84 than I used to worked when I was 30 something, and people keep on asking where does he get the strength from? I had an encounter with Jesus.
Oh, as a lecturer in the university and coming from up country, I was afraid of driving in Lagos, so I got a driver..I would pay my driver his salary, but by the middle of the month, I’d be.borrowing money from him to buy petrol. Then I met the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m not claiming to be the richest pastor in the world, but I’m not borrowing money from my driver anymore and I know I will never borrow again.
When we talk of being in darkness, because of the village where I come from, things have changed, so when I talk of the village where I’m from, I have people who can say we know what we are talking about. When you were going to my village in those days, when you get to Ife, you will remove your beautiful clothes, put it in your car, wear something just to pass by and then you go home.
And when you get home, everybody will see you and you greet them, how are you? They look at you, they say, well, he’s not doing very well, and then they ask you when are you going? Ah, I’ve just arrived, but you’re going to leave within an hour because you have just come to see your mom. And then when you are going back to Ife, the garage is somewhere here or the motor park is to the right, you will go in the direction of the left and go and make a circle. That was the situation that I was in, darkness all around.
I mean I had to go to one babalawo in Oshogbo who said I will fortify you, nobody will be able to touch you, but he looked at me, he saw that I came in a car and he decided to torture me a little bit, he asked me to bring a goat but the goat must not be brought in the car, I must lead the goat from the market to his house and I’m telling you, the goat gave me a big fight and then he gave me a charm – three of them.
He said, you are to tie one by the steering of your car, put one in the boot and sit on one; he said, the one in front will make sure you never collide with anybody in front, the one in the boot will make sure nobody will collide with you from behind, the third one, he said just in case. I came to Lagos, I tied the thing where he said they should be tied, within two weeks I had three accidents, that’s when I got angry and I took the three and threw into the lagoon.
But today I can go anywhere on land, in the air, by the sea, because I had an encounter with Jesus. And the turning point came that now by His grace I’m healthy, I may get tired but by tomorrow morning I’ll be bouncing again; now I have enough to feed on, if I don’t eat is because I choose to fast. Now I’m not afraid of the devil, if I’m going home now, I announce that I’ll be coming, so the witches that I was fearing, I give them notice so that if they want to run away, they can.
Today, God wants to give you a breakthrough that will be an allround turn around, that’s why I’m inviting those of you who have not had an encounter with Jesus Christ, come to Him today. This is not a joking matter, this is not just a sermon, this is a message sent to you from heaven above.
So if you have not surrendered your life to Jesus Christ…
[Altar call]
Those of you are in front, talk to Jesus, tell Him I’m not joking, oh, I’ve come to surrender my life to You completely, I want to have an encounter with You so that today will be the great turning point day that I’ve been waiting for. Go ahead, talk to Him, ask Him to please save your soul, tell Him you will serve Him for the rest of your life.
And the rest of us, please stretch your hands towards these people, intercede for them, pray that the One who saved your soul will save their own souls also. Thank You, Father, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
My Father and my God, I want to bless Your holy name for Your word; I want to thank You for these precious people who have come forward today, I’m asking that You please have mercy on them, save their souls, forgive all their sins, become their Lord and Savior, and please Lord, with this encounter with You, turn the tide for them, let this day be their own day too.
Just as You turned the tide for me, turn the tide for them, and let them serve You to the end. In Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Praise the Lord!
I rejoice with those of you who have come forward today, I want to promise you as a man of God that from now on I’ll be praying for you, so I’m going to need your names, your address, and your prayer request. Some counselors will come and attend to you and then they will pass the information to me and I promise you I’ll be praying for you, very soon you too will be testifying, you’ll be telling people ah things have changed for the better.
But before you go, I want you to join the rest of us, I’m going to pray for all of us first and then I will ask you individually to pray. Shall we please stand? If you believe that today is really your day, let me hear you shout hallelujah!
My Father and my God, I want to thank You, I want to thank You as I remember the day You saved my life, I want to thank You because of all You’ve done for me since then, and I’m asking Lord God Almighty that what You did for me when You saved my soul, please do for this Your people.
Everyone here today, Father, give them a turning point, a turning point for the better. Father, I know that at least from the literal I learned from mathematics, there is what is called a point of inflection, when someone is climbing and has reached a certain point and instead of turning and going down, he will turn and continue to go higher.
For all those who are already high today, from glory to glory take them, take them higher; for those who are already rich, make them richer; for those who are already great, make them greater; for those who are already healthy, make them healthier; for those who are already powerful, make them more powerful.
Everybody here today, my Father and my God, give them a great turning point; as a result of today’s service, Lord God Almighty, let the world hear their testimonies. They’ll be praying in a moment, Lord, whatever they ask of You today, before the sun sets, Father, give unto them, let it be well with them, and let them serve You till the end. In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Now you go to the Almighty God and cry to Him, Father, I want a turning point, a turning point that will take me higher and higher and higher every day of my life. Go ahead, talk to the Almighty.
