Hallelujah! Our Lord and our God, You are a good God; indeed You’re a loving God, a kind God, a powerful God, a God that can do all things, a God that has no limitations, a God that has no barriers; the uncreated Creator, the unchallengeable Challenger, the unconquerable Conqueror; You are my rock, my Shield and my Refuge You are; what a Mighty God You are; we give You all the glory, we give You all the honor, we give You all the adoration; we bless Your Holy name; thank You Father, thank You King of glory, thank You for the opportunity to be alive, thank You for the opportunity to be here this morning; we give You all the glory, we give You all the honor, we give You all the adoration.
This morning Lord, speak expressly to us, this morning oh Lord, let me decrease and You alone increase in the mighty name of Jesus. Open our hearts this morning to receive from You in the name of Jesus. The grace to hear, the grace to be obedient, release upon us in the mighty name of Jesus; take control Lord, in Jesus mighty name.
Father we bless Your holy name; our Lord and our God, we just cry to You this morning that Lord God Almighty, we will not be like that fig tree that did not produce fruits; Lord God Almighty, nothing will cause us to be unfruitful in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord God Almighty, we will not be like that man in Matthew 25 that buried the gift that You gave him, we will not bury our gifts in the name of Jesus; we will not bury that which meant to yield fruit in our lives in the mighty name of Jesus. We shall not be unprofitable in the name of Jesus.
Lord God Almighty, the purpose for which You created us Lord, we shall fulfill in Jesus mighty name. Indeed we’re a chosen generation, we will always be part of that generation in the mighty name of Jesus; and Lord God Almighty, at the end of our journey, You will say unto us that we are faithful, dutiful, and profitable in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You everlasting Father, thank You King of glory, for in Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Praise the Lord! Praise the living Jesus!!
I want you to say to your neighbor before you sit down; I have been chosen, I did not choose myself, I did not choose God, Jesus chose me, I am divinely chosen in Jesus mighty name. God bless you. Brethren before I start, I’d like to appreciate the pastor in charge of the province, the parish pastor and the pastorate for this opportunity, may the Lord bless them; more grace, more anointing upon their heads in the name of Jesus.
Brethren, this message is for you and I, probably myself more than you and the theme is “Divinely Chosen”, and I can tell you that probably over 3 million people or more will be listening to this message today and I pray that God will use each and every one of us to do that which He wants us to do in the mighty name of Jesus. Our passage is John 15: 16 and I read, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: (it’s a prayer as well) that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you”. Amen.
Brethren, like I said the theme is ‘divinely chosen’, you and I have been chosen by God and if you follow the text, this was Jesus talking to His disciples and letting them know that none of them applied to become His disciples, none of them approached Him that they wanted to become His disciples, but that He chose them, He picked them.
Brethren, we are like those disciples; we did not apply, nothing we did, our good works, our frame, our qualifications, our jobs, nothing, but by His grace He chose you, He chose me and we’ll remain chosen in the mighty name of Jesus.
Brethren, to be chosen also means that you have a great responsibility upon your heads, upon my head as well; you’ve been chosen for a purpose, you’ve been chosen so that you will go and bring forth fruits and that those fruits will remain, so that whatever we then pray to God for, He will answer. I pray that God will help us, will order our lives such that we’ll be fruitful in the mighty name of Jesus.
Brethren, God chooses different people as He likes for the assignments that He wants to give them. When He wanted to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, who did He choose? He chose that stammerer, that guy who was not gifted in the gift of the guard, He chose Moses to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.
When He was going to take the children of Israel after Moses death into the Promised Land, who did He pick? He picked Joshua. When God said it was time to spread the good message out of Israel to the uttermost parts of the world, who did He pick? Probably the least qualified man based on his antecedents, a man who persecuted Christians, a man who helped in killing Christians, He chose Paul for that assignment.
Brethren, we also have been chosen to play our own parts and we will not fail in it in the mighty name of Jesus, and many a times some of us wonder who am I? What can I do? Brethren, He who has chosen you will equip you for the task ahead in Jesus name.
I heard a story and I’ve not been able to confirm for the number of years I’ve known it that at the crusade where Billy Graham gave his life to Jesus, that crusade was almost dry, no one surrendered their lives to Jesus at that particular occasion except one man, Billy Graham. Brethren, maybe you’ve been chosen to bring one soul to Christ and that one soul God will use to do great and mighty things.
Brethren, I’m sure there was just one man or probably one woman who ministered Christ to the General Overseer of this mission and because that person did that assignment, you and I are probably here today. So brethren, it’s not necessarily about the numbers, but just obeying the assignments because in doing what you are doing God will be using you to turn around things in this part of eternity in Jesus name.
So Brethren arise and do your work, the bulk of the teaching today will be around fruitfulness but I just wanted us to talk about the issue of being chosen; we have been chosen and we thank God for that, but you know what, you can be chosen and still miss it, I pray we will not miss it in the mighty name of Jesus.
And there are a number of people in the Bible, God chose them; God chose the man called Saul; lanky, huge guy, towered above many people to be king in Israel, he was chosen. Maybe today, we’ll be talking about Israel as the kingdom of Saul but what happened to him? He failed. You will not fail, I will not fail.
God chose Samson to do a job, but you know what, he’s lusting after women affected him. Yes, his name is in the roll call of Heroes of Faith but probably would have done a lot more if he did not fail in his duty. And there are so many more people like that who God chose but failed; God chose someone to be the choir master in heaven; you know what it means to be the choir master in heaven, to lead praise, to lead worship which is what God wants? Do you know who that person was? Lucifer, he was chosen but he failed, you and I will not fail in the mighty name of Jesus.
So I tell you before we go to speak about fruit bearing which is the reason why we are here today, how are you using the platform that God has given you? Are you mistaking that platform for your purpose? Are you mistaking that platform as the objective for your existence or you’re looking at that platform as a basis for you to do the work God has assigned to you? I pray that God will help you, God will help me in the mighty name of Jesus.
We’ll talk about this later; many of us Christians, (myself inclusive) suffer what I call an ‘identity crisis’. You know how a Christian is really measured? A Christian is measured by his or her fruitfulness, and if a Christian is measured by his or her fruitfulness, it means that there is no such thing as a “Barren Christian”; you will continually be bringing souls to the kingdom, but many of us have a challenge, ‘I do not want people in my network to know that I’m a Christian’.
If I ask many of us here, how many of you have ever changed your DP on your WhatsApp to something that glorifies God other than that your nice TY Bello picture or that beautiful home that you have, or you desire to have? We suffer an identity crisis; we rather seek the acceptance of the world, of our peers, rather than do something that brings joy to God. I am guilty, so don’t feel like you are the accused party, God will help me and God will help you in the mighty name of Jesus.
Brethren, we have been chosen and if we have been chosen, we have a responsibility to carry, and God will help us in Jesus mighty name.
Let’s go to the meat of the message today which is about ‘fruit bearing’; what does it mean to bear fruit? First, what does it mean to be a fruit? For you to be a fruit, it means that you (yourself) have surrendered, you have yielded to Jesus Christ, Jesus is the Bishop of your soul, He’s the owner of your soul and it is only after you’ve done that that you can then go on to produce fruits, and if you are here this morning you’re not even a fruit yet, I pray that the Holy Spirit will touch you, the Holy Spirit will convict you and you will do the needful before the service comes to an end in Jesus name. In fact, this service is primarily for you.
To bear fruit means that we go and save souls. Romans 16: 5, “Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ”. Who are your first fruits? Who are the people that you brought into the Kingdom? Who are the people who will be eternally grateful to you because you shared the gospel with them, that you helped in bringing them out of darkness into light? That is the best gift you can give anyone, do you have any fruits, do you have any first fruits that you’ve produced for the Kingdom?
For us to bear fruits means that we will be deliberate in winning souls for the Kingdom. Romans 1: 13, Paul, this same Paul talking again, such an interesting person; “Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles”. It was all about bearing fruits.
Please take note; Paul was not a full-time pastor, he was a tent maker as well. Just like many of us are here, we have our vocation, we have the jobs we do but as children of God, we also have a responsibility like Paul had to win souls for the Kingdom; and I don’t know if you follow the midweek services, there was a text in the cause of the digging deep that really scared me, it’s in Isaiah 5: 14, praise the Lord!
The objective is not to scare you but to galvanize you into action; “Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it”.
Hell has opened its mouth up to consume the people you and I are meant to be talking to, let me ask a question, do you want anyone you know to go to hell? So if you don’t want them to go to hell what do you need to do? You need to share the gospel with them, God will help us in Jesus mighty name.
Ezekiel 33: 8, “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand”. You know that our uncle used to say something, he used to say ‘double wahala for dead body;’ you know the double wahala here? The person you did not witness to, you the non-witnesser, you are in trouble, we will not be in trouble in Jesus name.
So let’s be mindful of this responsibility, and I know God has ordained this message for a time like this where we Christians are posting, thinking that we have arrived and it is cruise control; there is no such thing as cruise control for a Christian. They estimate that the population of the world is 7 billion plus; they say believers of Christ 2 billion plus, what happens to the 5 billion? And those 5 billion people are littered in your neighborhood, in my neighborhood, in this area, so we have a responsibility, God will help us in Jesus mighty name. So what are you doing about it? You have to start doing something, God will help us all in Jesus name.
So you’ll ask and I’m sure many people are thinking here, why? Am I a pastor? Am I a General Overseer? Why are you telling me to do all of these? First, we’ll take it from our first reading today in John 15: 16; God has chosen us and ordained us to bear fruits, this is why He chose us; He did not choose us for the sake of chosen, He chose us so that we will bear fruit and by bearing fruits we’re simply living our destiny, that is one of the reasons why we’ve been created, to bear fruits, and I pray God will help us in Jesus mighty name.
Brethren, one of the first instructions that God gave to man, and I want you to take note of this; that instruction or commandment to men and women came before The Ten Commandments that some of us paste in the rooms of our children and we don’t think it’s important to have in our own hearts or in our own rooms, that commandment was in Genesis 1: 26- 28; God told us to go and be fruitful, it’s a commandment, His first set of commandments to us that we should go and be fruitful. So that’s a reason why we must bear fruits and I pray God will help us in Jesus name.
Brethren, when we say Jesus is our Savior and our Lord, we are carrying the Holy Spirit, and when we carry the Holy Spirit in us, we are empowered to be fruitful, so we must be fruitful because we have the Holy Spirit in us.
Why should we bear fruits? You know a number of us Christians are very transactional; let’s face it, many of us seek God for what we can get, I’m guilty as well. Let me ask you, do you seek God for what you can get? Many of us, if we hang a flyer out, ‘miracle, signs and wonders happening tomorrow’, this whole place will be full; well, tell them we want to do Bible study, what you’ll have in your mind is that these people are not serious; but yet again, God is a kind God, because He’s a compassionate God, He also helps us, He does what we want, and if you look at John 15: 11 and even in the text we read today, when we bear fruits He answers our prayers.
In fact, for those of us who did algebra, there’s something called ‘direct relationship and inverse relationship’, here, there’s a direct relationship between going out and bearing fruit and our prayers being answered. In the text we read in John 15: 16, it says that when we are fruitful and our fruits abide, then when you pray your prayers will be answered. Do you want your prayers answered? Then go and bear fruits.
And maybe one of the secrets of our father in the Lord, he prays and God answers is that he’s addicted to soul winning. Most of our programs in this mission are around soul winning, rather than eat jollof rice at Christmas or Easter, eat free junk, what do we do, let’s go-a-fishing. So when you do those things God answers prayers, God will answer our prayers in Jesus name.
I spoke earlier about the identity crisis we have as Christians; when we go bearing fruits, we are identified as Christians because when you are winning souls, you are preaching the gospel, people will say that’s a follower of Christ, I pray that’s the name tag we will bear in Jesus mighty name.
And I know some of us; you know we are Lagos people, what’s in it for me? There’s a lot in it for you; the first point, when you’re a fruit bearer, you access a strange level of wisdom that people will not comprehend. The Bible says in Proverbs 11: 30 that soul winners are wise; you’ve won souls, you are winning souls for God, there is a complex problem. Do you know what brings money? Some people think it’s toil and we had a lesson earlier today, people who make money, do you know what they’re doing? Wisdom to solve a problem.
One man; the population of this country is growing exponentially, they don’t have enough houses, they don’t produce enough cement, I’m going to build a cement factory and he built a cement factory, on account of that he is the richest man in the continent. Wisdom, God will give you wisdom such that you will solve problems that will bring fortunes your way in the mighty name of Jesus; you will produce supernatural results.
I don’t know whether you know about some people; I have some friends back in the days, while some of us struggle to get everything we want, God just does it with ease; they don’t have the connection, they don’t have the aunties and people in high places but you know what, these people have been sold out to Christ when some of us thought it was a strange thing and God will be opening doors for them in places; places of employment where people say that you must be connected, God just opens the doors for them.
Number two; a fruit bearer will shine like a star forever, when you’re a fruit bearer, you will shine like a star forever. Daniel 12: 3, “And they that be wise (you know I said wisdom comes from winning souls) shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever”. Do you want to shine? You know when you are shining, people will see you and say I want to be like this person, you will shine for Christ in Jesus name, you will shine in the mighty name of Jesus.
Brethren, I think there are various brands of Christians; there are warrior Christians, their own is ‘I’m in war, I must fight every enemy known and unknown’; they always want to be in battle mode, but even that if you’re a fruit bearer, the demons, devils will be subject to you in the name of Jesus.
And if we look at Luke 10: 17, what had happened? Jesus Christ had sent 70 people out to witness like we have been told to, and they went out sharing the gospel; when they came back to the Master, you know what they told Jesus? Wow even the devils are subject to us through Your name.
Brethren, you know you are going out to win souls for God, you are not going out to fight your enemy though, but because you are doing God’s primary assignment, when they hear your name they start shivering because you’re a soul winner, the devils will be subject to you in the mighty name of Jesus.
So the question is; yes it’s important to be a fruit bearer, I know the blessings of being a fruit bearer but what can I do? Simple me, who am I? They don’t know me, what can I do? Brethren, there’s a lot that you can do and God will help you in the mighty name of Jesus.
The first is that you need to decide here today and be determined that immediately after this service, I will start the task of reaching out and winning souls for the Kingdom, no more delays. 1st Samuel 21: 8 says the King’s business, God’s business requires haste.
Something struck me last night obviously with this service at the back of my mind, I just opened one of the social media pages and saw one popular actor had passed away, I said wow, I hope someone had the opportunity to minister Christ to the person; brethren, we never can tell when the time will be up.
I had a classmate who ran into troubles, mental health challenges, we said we were going to stabilize him – a number of us took him to the hospital and all of that but you know what, in the process nobody had the opportunity to minister Christ to him. Brethren, I think this saying is better in Yoruba, ‘ijafara o l’ewu’, delay is costly, you might think that you have time to reach out to that person but you never can tell, and like the Nike ad goes, just do it, and I add, now, God will help us in Jesus mighty name.
You need to reach out to people in your workplace, in your peer group, in your neighborhood, just reach out and share the message, God will help us in Jesus name.
And very quickly I just probably want to share one or two slides, the ‘power of an invite’, and many of us wonder how can we do this? I’m like Moses, I stammer; I’m like that man with cough; brethren, I’ve had a cough for about a week or two weeks, one of the pastors said you are okay, I take the declaration; I think since I’ve started here today I haven’t coughed, I hope I won’t start now though.
Let’s do something; look at that stuff (media slide), forget all the things above and look at the part on the bottom, this is from the Billy Graham Institute, what initially brought you to church? And I recall my own story; Sunday mornings, myself and another guy we joined an accounting firm, we were young boys; he had a car, I had access to my father’s jalopy, what mattered to us, go out on Saturdays, rock town, then one Sunday we felt a sense of guilt that where are people? I’m sure you know you don’t see people at night clubs on Sunday mornings; let’s go to church, small prompt, and that’s how I got to church. Are you inviting anyone to church?
Look at that; 70% – 85% were invited by a relative or by a friend! What does it take? You get a flyer, just share it with the people, you don’t need to talk to them; you know some people are in the midst of a crisis, they see something and say ‘this is my solution, I’m going’, so what does it take? Just invite, God will help us in the mighty name of Jesus.
How can you bear fruit? In this Tech age you don’t need to be scared, with social media you can reach out to people, you can share the message, you can share the good news; you can have your own Instagram page, you can have your own YouTube channel, you can share the message. You know some people are too shy, I dare say some of the people you see behind the microphone are very shy people, but they find a way of reaching out and I pray that God will help us in Jesus name.
There was a time Nathaniel Bassey had a program; he said everybody go and put Jesus on your DP, some people still have Jesus on their DP today. You know if somebody is trying to decode he’ll say Jesus, let me even engage this, what is this DP you have here and you tell them about Jesus. What about your status on WhatsApp?
So I didn’t want to be guilty of not acting, so yesterday what did I do? I took the flyer for today’s service and blast it through my status, different kinds of responses; one person responded ‘funny’. I grew up a Seventh-day Adventist; you know when they go to church? So one person said happy Sabbath, meaning go back to your former way, I said God forbid, I have moved on. Some people said ‘one day soon I will come’, that’s a status.
I probably have 16 000 people on my phone, it doesn’t take you anything; ‘Jesus saves, Jesus heals’, just put it on your status, post in groups that you belong to that allow it, even the ones that don’t allow it, when they suspend you they’ll bring you back another day. Brethren, be audacious for Christ; bring yourself to a place of no repute; some of us are too concerned, what would they say about me? Me, ah, professional, erudite finance person, counts for nothing, some of these things are tough but do it.
People have their birthdays; when I’m sending birthday, even if you’re an Imam, I’ll greet you happy birthday, I will throw…and do you know what they say? Is there anybody that doesn’t like prayers? They say ‘amen’, in fact their amen is more vibrant than the amen of my fellow Christians, God will help us in Jesus mighty name.
What happens when you’ve witnessed to someone? So you’ve witnessed to someone, you’ve reached out and God will do the work for you, don’t worry about the words you need to say, God will help you. You know there’s something about conversation – harmless conversations, it can be somebody wearing a Chelsea T-shirt, oh my God, you will not lose here and lose there; it can be Arsenal, there is hope, with God nothing is impossible.
So you’ve witnessed to the person; you know some easy, read to them, let’s read together Romans 10: 9 & 10, with the heart you believe, with the mouth you confess unto salvation; simple, no rigmarole. So what next, what do you do? It’s not complex, it doesn’t need Pastor to help you; keep praying for the person, have a contact or group list for the people who you lead to Christ, keep praying for them that they abide.
You know in that scripture we read we said they must abide; keep praying for them, invite them to CTL or a Bible believing church around them, share faith materials that you get with them, then you know what? They say ‘two heads are better than one’, as you as you’re following up with them, throw them into the pool of our evangelists in the church, they do follow up. What’s our objective? That they abide, and after they abide, God will answer your prayer, He will answer my prayers in the mighty name of Jesus.
Brethren we must start today, there are (maybe) 600 of us here, if we say that this coming week we will invite someone to church; this coming week, I will minister to two people in my workplace, two people in my work group, two people in my Alumni Association, these souls must be won to Christ, and it’s not your job to do the conviction, the Holy Spirit will do it, just do your own bit; if it’s all you say is ‘Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you, yield to Him’, the Holy Spirit can use that to help the person, God will help us in Jesus name.
But brethren, if you are here and you are not even a fruit, yet you have not surrendered to Jesus, this is the opportunity for you to come and surrender to Him and I pray that you will yield your life to Him. So if you are here this morning, you haven’t surrendered to Him, you haven’t started the journey, please I appeal to you, no one knows timings, please surrender to Jesus; so if you are here please wave your hands and come forward; I will not compel you but I really do desire that you heed to the call, to surrender to Jesus, that is the best decision you can make.
Brethren it’s not too late for you, God will help you as you do so in the mighty name of Jesus. I want the rest of us to rise to our feet very quickly and let’s cry unto God and say Father, I will not be an unprofitable servant in the name of Jesus; Lord help me, do not let me be an unprofitable servant in the mighty name of Jesus.
Next I want us to say Father, as I engage in fruit bearing, from now, I access supernatural wisdom and I produce extraordinary results in the name of Jesus.
Next, I want us to pray and say Father, as I begin to bear fruits today, I enter into stardom, I will never be obscure again, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Brethren, Abraham was a man that obeyed God; Abraham was a man that ensured that his household and everybody with him followed God, and you know what happened? He became someone of global phenomenon; I want us to cry unto God and say Father, Father, I become a person of global acclaim in the name of Jesus, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Next, we’ll cry unto God and say Father, from today, because I am a fruit bearer, I decree that all demons are subject to me in the name of Jesus. Those demons tormenting me from my father’s house, my mother’s house, my in-laws house, they are subject to me in the mighty name of Jesus, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Father we just want to say thank You; Father please make us incurable soul winners in the name of Jesus. Father, the boldness, the courage, I require to carry out this mandate of Yours, release unto me in the name of Jesus. Everything that has inhibited me before now, Lord God Almighty take away in Jesus mighty name, and Father, by the time I come back next week Sunday, Lord God Almighty let my fruits be evident in Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Praise the Lord!
