[Inaudible] the author and the finisher of our faith, the One that loves us, the One that calls us, the One that empowers us and the One that carries us. We give You all the glory for all that You have done, we thank You for the journey so far, we thank You because on both sides, Lord Almighty, we have seen Your goodness, Your mercy has been ground, Your love has been unparalleled, You have kept us sustained, You have kept us maintained, well maintained, well strengthened, well encouraged, well sharpened, such that Lord Almighty God we can move, accept our thanks Father in the name of Jesus.
Thank You for January, thank You for February, thank You for the third month, thank You for the fourth, thank You for the fifth, and now thank You for the sixth month, our month of divine visitation; we have no any iota of doubt in our heart that You will visit us in a very special way, accept our thanks in the name of Jesus.
Lord Almighty, much more than You have done in the past, we know You will do for us this month, and so we ask of You, Father, take all the glory in Jesus name; have Your way in every area; demonstrate Your power in the name of Jesus; carry us by Yourself Lord in the mighty name of Jesus, and Lord we ask that You will never allow us to be put to shame in Jesus name.
We pray for all Your children who have been faithful in the payments of their tithes and the giving of the offering, Lord Almighty, that in blessing You will bless them in Jesus name. For those who have not yet received the vision, Lord Almighty, we pray that in Your own supernatural way this month, You will reveal Yourself to them in Jesus name.
And for everyone under the influence of my voice this morning, You will bless us oh Lord, that the magnitude of our blessing will confront our enemies in Jesus name.
Lord Almighty, it is unto You we have come, we have not come to meet with any man, and so Lord, we pray that our encounter with You today will leave pleasant behind for us in Jesus name. Thank You for everything. Speak to us by Yourself and bless everyone, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Good morning church and a very happy new month to you all! Is our month of divine visitation, and my prayer for everyone is that you will experience divine visitation in every area of your life – financially, spiritually, maritally, materially in the name of Jesus. Even in your business endeavors, you will experience and you will testify of divine visitation in Jesus name.
Once again, I would like to say a big thank you to you for choosing Christ the Lord Parish as your family church, the Lord will continue to bless us in Jesus name.
Let me welcome our father and our mother, Pastor and Pastor (Mrs.) Steve Adekunle and Margaret Folake Adegbide; they are the regional evangelist for region 43, Osogbo in Osun state. But I like to say that the two families have been together for many years, as a matter of fact, I think we got to know as far back at 1985/86/87 right at Ebute-Meta then, those were the days we used to call brother and sister and we used to call him brother Kunle then, and mommy we call sister Maggie, I used to jokingly call her sister Maggie. So Sister Maggie, you are welcome in the name of Jesus.
When I got their message yesterday that they would like to worship with us, I said they should feel free, and the truth of the matter is that you will come again, today is a very special day but you will come again. We appreciate the fellowship, we appreciate your sense of love and solidarity always, you are a great people and the Lord will continue to sustain you in the name of Jesus.
You are surrounded, you are fortified and no evil is allowed to come near you in the name of Jesus. You will continue to live the life of victors and overcomers for the rest of your life in Jesus name.
[Birthday celebration]
Isaiah 46: 8- 11, (very quickly before we move on to hear from our father in the Lord) – like I said, our daddy and mommy will come back another time to bless us; “Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, oh ye transgressors. 9Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. 10Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” My prayer for every one of us today is that the counsel of God will stand in your life in Jesus name.
As you’ve been told, today we’ll be talking very briefly on the theme, Divine Providence. The word ‘divine’ as you all know has to do with the supernatural; anything divine suggests something that is beyond the realm of man; while ‘providence’ on its own has to do with God’s sovereign protection, guidance, direction and of course His own miraculous blessing.
So talking about divine providence is talking about God’s purposeful sovereign governance over the universe; it represents His unfailing purposeful orchestration of circumstances to protect, guide and fulfill His ultimate plans for His children. And the whole essence of that is to ensure that all things work together for the good of His children.
Divine providence is premised on sovereign protection. In other words, God is actively involved in our daily lives as His children, shielding and protecting us from the secret and open schemes of the devil.
Divine providence combines the Latin words, pro, which in other words means forward, and vider, which means to see. So when you talk about divine providence, in a simple term, it simply means God sees to it. It is not blind lock of faith, rather, it is the active loving care of the heavenly Father.
Brethren, I have a good news for someone in the house this morning that God sees what you are going through, He knows your challenges and He has what it takes to resolve them in your favor. That scriptures that we read in Isaiah 46 tells us that God declares the end even from the beginning; He said I am God, and there is no one else, declaring the end from the beginning and [skipped] rest is control in our lives.
In Matthew 10: 29, it says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father;” there is another similar word of encouragement in Luke 12:7, it says, but even the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
The first word in Matthew, it says, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? It says ye, not one of them will fall to the ground outside his Father’s care. But in Luke 12:7, it says, “The hair on your head is numbered,” and it says, “Fear not, therefore: ye are more value than many sparrows.” Jesus is trying to illustrate here using these scriptures, how intimately you are known, how intimately He cherishes you and of course He values every one of us.
The depth of God’s providence is actually grounded in the followings;
Number one, God preserves and rules. In Psalm 103: 19, it says, the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all; and in Psalm 145:9, it says, “The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” Brethren, God preserves and rules, He rules in the affairs of men.
Number two, creation (that is you and I and everything) is constantly sustained. God does not just create and abandon the world, He upholds it every seconds, 24/7 like we say, He has the whole world in His hands. In Psalm 24:1, the Bible says the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
God has the whole world in His hands; creation – yourself, myself, we are constantly sustained, protected, enhanced, and of course defended.
Number three, He orchestrates the details of our lives. There is no detail about your life that God does not know; there is nothing about you that is hidden to God. That scripture says He declares the end from the beginning, from ancient times the things that are not yet done, suffice to say that God knows about your future, how you are going to end it. And guess what? He has a super plan in place for you to ensure that you achieve His purpose for your life.
In Jeremiah 29:11, He says, “For I know the thoughts that I have towards you, the thoughts of peace, and not of evil, but for you to have an expected end.” I pray for you today that it doesn’t matter what the devil tries, you will fulfill your divine purpose in life.
So God’s providence extends to both the grand sweep of history and the minute daily details of our lives; He knows your past, He said but joy cometh in the morning, God knows it. The current challenges you are going through, He knows; what you’ve been through in the past, He knows; your current travail, He knows, and of course, He’s got your future in His hands.
And the future that He has in store for every one of us is a good one, is that of fulfillment, is that of accomplishment, is that of you reaching your goal and testifying to the goodness of God. If you believe you will achieve that, shout a better amen!
Your story is not yet concluded, glorious days are ahead; things may not be working out the way you plan it, but the truth of the matter is that the Bible says the steps of the righteous are ordered by God. A man’s heart deviseth his way: it says but the Lord directs his steps; you know there is this saying in the secular world, they say man proposes but God disposes, [skipped] troubled, He said that fear not.
And the message I want to pass across this morning of providence is simply to [skipped] final say, according to Lamentation 3: 37, God has the final say, and He has a way of bringing good out of evil; God is a specialist in bringing good out of evil. Today in the Sunday school, the Yaya edition, he talked about Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute, but God decided to turn things around and Rahab became the great grandmother of Jesus. God decided to bring good out of evil.
I pray for someone under the influence of my voice this morning that all those evil going on around you, God will bring good out of them for you in Jesus name.
God has a way of bringing redemption out of tragedy. He has done it before, and that’s why you have to be focused on your God because He has that unique power and ability to convert or change human mistakes, suffering and even intentional evil into a beautiful journey of life for His ultimate purpose.
You know the example of the betrayal of Joseph by his own brothers, but you know the end result; even Joseph himself said that though you meant it for evil, he said but God has done it for my good so that we can save people. And that reminds me of a song that ‘what the enemies meant for evil…’ [skipped]. Job 42: 12, it says the latter end of Job was better and greater than his beginning; it says, “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had 14,000 sheep,’ and all the rest.
Brethren, what I’m trying to say to you today is that don’t throw in the towel because of your experiences today. You may be going through hardship, you may be going through difficult times, but I can assure you it’s just a phase. For every book there are chapters, the chapter you are today is not the same chapter you will remain tomorrow, and I trust God that [skipped] trust His work turns out to be springboard of breakthroughs and testimonies.
Time will not permit, there are lots of testimonies, but He’s capable of changing your story. There are those who were tenants for so many years, and when it was time for God to do His wonders, they became landlords and landladies. I pray for as many of you who thought you are already at the dead end, today you will see God in action in Jesus name.
Romans 8:28, it says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” One thing you need to ensure and that thing is to ensure that you are called according to His purpose, therefore, I urge you all not to throw in the towel yet because it is not yet time for you to draw any conclusion about what will be or not, because God has not changed.
In Malachi 3:6, God testified Himself, He said, “for I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye souls of Jacob are not consumed’;” Matthew 6: 32, it says, “For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for his trust.” In Philippians 4:19, it says, “For my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory;” and in Romans 8:31, it says, “What then shall we say in response to this? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Number three, embrace the peace of God. We can approach the future with confidence, knowing our lives are securely in His hand. Praise the Lord!
A songwriter, William and Gloria Gatther wrote a hymn some years back, it says because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Shall we rise on our feet [music]. Brethren, I just want you to tell God this morning, I surrender my life to You, my life, my time, my past, my present, and my future; I know because You live, I can face tomorrow. And if you are here, you have not given your life to Christ, our father in the Lord is coming very soon, when he finishes his own exaltation, we’ll come back to make a general altar call.
So I need you to resolve to give your life to Christ today because those who God will back up, those who God will support are those who are called according to His purpose. You need to examine your life this morning and ask yourself that pertinent question, am I called according to His purpose? But if you are not, you can resolve it today.
And for the rest of us, please tell God, I have no power of my own, Holy Spirit, I look up onto You, please help me in the name of Jesus. The Lord will help you, the Lord will answer you and He will bless you in Jesus name.
