I always insist that they put the lyrics and interpretation of songs on the screen, because songs don’t come anyhow; as he was saying that, I just knew somebody’s head will receive blessing today. So the song says “Ire mi de…”, somebody is receiving blessing today.The second part says “Ayo mi de…”, is there somebody welcoming joy today? Because joy can be floating in the air and you are not desiring it, I ask you to desire today. And then the third one says “Ogo mi de…”
At the regional headquarters, we had declared this month ‘our month of glory’; glory is the opposite of shame, it means that whatever has been bringing shame to your life, the glory of God is going to cover it. So as we sing that song this morning, I want you to sing it as a prophetic song, don’t let anybody sing your own song.
Lift your two hands up and say Father, I thank You that I’m here this morning. King of glory, the God of all blessings, the giver of joy, I am here this morning, I want to receive blessing, I want to receive joy, I want to be enclothed with glory.
Daddy, I am here this morning in Your name, I did not come in my name; Daddy, I welcome Your presence here this morning, and I release myself, that Your power, Your word, Your miracles will flow through me. Now I stand here this morning, on the life of everyone, the blessing according to peculiar need, release now in the name of Jesus; a customized blessing to close the eleventh month, release to somebody saying amen now in the name of Jesus.
Father, there are people who had been weeping; Your word says weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning; this morning, let joy be released into that life in the name of Jesus. Daddy, many had suffered shame in eleven months, let Your glory come now, cover our shame; and Daddy, what You have decided to do this morning, do it perfectly, in Jesus name we prayed.
I bring you very warm greetings from the regional headquarters of Region 11, that is the blessed family, we call it the ‘headquarter of blessing’; you are part of the blessed family and you are already blessed in Jesus name.
I bring you very warm greetings from my wife; she will be here for second service because I had to beg my friend that please, allow her just to do one assignment this morning, so she brings her greetings, hallelujah!
This morning is 35 days to the end of 2023, one more month, hallelujah! This morning, the Lord wants me to tell you or just share with you, “God Wants Witnesses”. I came to share with you a heart need of God as we close the year.
Acts 1: 8 is what will be our scripture this morning and for the few minutes, I want you to be very clear and ready; and this is a scripture you should know by heart by now, it says, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”; so this morning, somebody will receive power. You will see it’s a personal word, it says ‘but you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto Me’, first, in your local surroundings, then, a bit farther till you become a universal witness, praise the name of the Lord!
You see, whenever God has a need, it is so that as you respond to His own need, He will bless you.
Now, we are in a world today where Jesus and His relevance to our world is in the accused box. You know we are talking about witnesses today, now usually you would have somebody prosecuting – God is in need of witnesses because in our world today, in our offices, in the marketplace, in our homes, around our neighborhoods, there are people questioning the authenticity of Jesus and His relevance to our world of today, all over the place you would see that.
If you are one of those given privilege to go to the social media, He’s insulted, people are saying the power is not there, this is some fable; now, every accused wants to call witnesses, so the next word is ‘who is a witness’? If you didn’t hear anything this morning, you need to know that God is saying I need you to be My witness in your home, in your office, in the marketplace, on the aircraft, on the social media, God is looking for people who will be witnesses.
Now, who is a witness? A witness is somebody who simply says I know the fact of this matter; I know this man involved in this; I have an experience, I’m involved; a witness is simply a testifier, praise the name of the Lord!
So, we we’re going into the end of this year, you need to think, how many situations have I been in where the relevance of my God has been called to question? The authenticity of the Jesus that is my life is being questioned, and then you think this is strange; I can tell you, in our everyday lives, in Matthew 26 from verse 69, a very small girl came to Peter, he was the one who was a fisherman and Jesus called him and said, I will make you fisher of men; his life was transformed, he became somebody, relevant, but what’s the end of Jesus’ life (Matthew 26) when Jesus was being dragged here and there, and Peter (like many of us) began to try to just stay in a safe zone, we don’t want wahala, let me just be neutral, I don’t want to be seen as one of these fanatical people.
You know our world today wants to put all of us in the place of the middle; Peter was there trying to just be like every other person, but you cannot have an encounter with Jesus and be just another person. I came to tell somebody this morning – so this young girl came and said you, I know you, you know this Man, you have been following Him everywhere; I used to see you in church, you are one of them; Peter said wahala don come, I beg you, I don’t know the Man at all, young girl, keep quiet.
Now imagine, the person who might be challenging the authenticity of Jesus in your life may just be a person far below your own status, younger than you and all that but you have kept quiet because somehow, and Jesus is asking us today, I need witnesses, I need people who will speak out, I need people who will say ‘I know Jesus, I know He changed my life and He healed me; I’ve been through situations, He has changed my life, if you come to Him, He will change your life’.
Very simple, a testifier only says what he knows about the man, but many of us like Peter decide to stay quiet and all that and when they pushed him further, do you know he denied, he said I don’t know Him. How many times have you denied Jesus this year? You needed a business deal and you needed to say ‘I’m just one of you’; you needed an admission in school, amongst your friends you say it doesn’t matter, it can even be because you want to be friendly, you want to belong, so you don’t want your friends to see you as an extreme person. This morning, God sent me to you that He wants you to speak up, that’s the essence of this today.
And then the big question will be why do we usually not witness or tell people I know Him, I’ve seen His power before, He did this for me, He can do it for you? When situations – sicknesses arise in people, it is expected to say years ago, I had this problem, He did my own, He will do for you; instead, you are the one running and saying please carry him to the doctor while he’s expecting you to say come, He said in His name I can pray and you will be healed, and you will pray your simple prayer and walk away.
The job of the witness is just to say his own and the rest is not his problem, praise God! I thought through just two reasons: one is that there are many of us who attend church, who call ourselves Christians but we have no personal encounter. I ask you this morning, do you know Jesus? Very simple thing, what were they asking Peter, do you know Him?
It may sound simple today, in our various offices, in business places, in our schools, amongst our young friends, even around our community, in the place you live, the question is coming, do you know Jesus? You’ll say no, I’m just one of you. Maybe you’ve never had any encounter with Jesus, you’ve just been coming to church, people think you are a Christian but you’ve not had that, today, first thing, you need to have that encounter, and I pray this morning, that you will be open enough to say I want to have that experience, because you cannot talk about what you’ve not experienced.
1st John 1 says that which you’ve heard, that which you have seen, that which you have touched; have you experienced Jesus? Do you know Him? Do you have a relationship with Him? Has He ever done anything for you? Sometimes we forget, when people are questioning, does Jesus still heal today? Why don’t you say yes, even if you don’t want to agree He heals; He healed me, I know a member of my family He healed, that’s what He’s looking for.
The second thing, for us who had already had an encounter is that many of us lack power, and this service is an empowering service; you have received blessing, you will receive power this morning.
The next few minutes, even as I’m preaching, somebody who will say yes, I think I have just been quiet; many times you want to say something, something tells you shut up, even small people, even your house help, you are unable to tell him about Jesus, you lack the boldness. The Bible says that you will receive power, and how can you ever receive that power? It’s if the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
Now remember the people that Jesus was speaking to that you shall receive power; number one, it was people who had been with Jesus over three and half years, people who had even denied Him, they were now here, He said listen, now you will need to be witnesses, I’m gone to heaven, I need witnesses here on earth and it is you; if you don’t witness, then the world will not be able to hear about Me.
So, He said I understand, you denied Me, you ran away; in John 20, these guys, seven of them ran away, they said let’s go back to our business; but He said, if you receive power, things will change, and that power will come from the Holy Spirit, and on Pentecost day, they received power. I declare to you, this morning is Pentecost, somebody will receive power this morning; that’s why I’m here this morning, because the last month of this year, there are souls that needed to hear about Jesus throughout the year from January to November, but you have not; in the next thirty-five days, as you leave service today, having received power, you’ll tell your friends, yes, I know Jesus, He’s my Savior, He’s the One who transformed my life, I was a thief, I don’t steal again; you see who changed me, He can change your life.
You’ll tell somebody, I go to church in CTL, there I meet Jesus, He blesses me, He heals me; when I have burdens, He lifts them, come with me; is that something you desire? Very important, because how can you receive power? This is very simple way, I’ve come to you this morning, this is not some heavy preaching that you will say regional pastor is coming, he’s going to…no, no, no, this day, I came on an assignment that people in this estate will hear about Jesus; in their office spaces, people will hear about Jesus; in schools, everywhere our children are, we will begin to have our people open their mouths.
So, how can I receive this power?
First, like I said, you must have a relationship with Jesus, so we need to check that one. First thing I’m going to do is to give opportunity to some people who need to have that relationship, this morning is your own day.
Now, immediately you have a relationship with Him, from that moment, you can receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Please note, there are a number of people who see the Holy Spirit as some external extra, ‘well, I can be a believer, I don’t really need this Holy Spirit’, you see, you will be very powerless.
In the Book of Acts 19, Paul met a set of people, have you received the Holy Spirit? They said, we don’t as much as know anything about the Holy Spirit; because you have neglected, you said I don’t like some shaky shaky, no, Holy Spirit is not some shaky shaky, the Holy Spirit is the power of God in the life of a man that gives him boldness, that makes him to be able to do the things that God only can do, that makes him a miracle worker, that makes him a testifier of the power that healeth, the power that blesses, in Jesus name, you will receive power this morning.
Luke 11 from verse 11, it says which of you as a father will your child come to ask for bread, it says will you give him stone? He asks for fish, will you give him serpent? He asks for egg, will you give him scorpion? Then he says something, if you who are evil know how to give good gifts, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to those who ask Him.
So this morning you are going to ask the Lord, I need the Holy Ghost, I don’t want to continue this powerless life, this disappointing life when I cannot say I know Jesus,; when I cannot pray for the sick; I cannot tell a sorrowful person, Jesus is the giver of joy and the world is troubled, the world is deficient of the purpose for which Jesus came, the world is taunting and mocking the authenticity of God.
You are going to ask Him and as you ask Him, this morning, you will receive power, you will receive boldness, you are coming out of this place totally empowered, that is today, you will be a witness.
How many of us are ready to receive power? Think about it because you are going to begin to talk to the Lord; I say how many of us genuinely in the heart want to receive power this morning? Put the two hands up so that you are sure you did it consciously and begin to talk to God this morning because even as I’m talking, power is being released and I’ll be praying for you this morning, maybe there are a few persons I may decide to lay hands on if you’ve never been baptized. Some of us have received the Holy Spirit and this morning you are going to say Lord, fill me afresh.
If you are here this morning and you want to say Pastor, I want to receive Jesus, the One who is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit; you are not sure that you have an encounter, I beg you, just come to the altar, you are the first persons I want to pray for, something is already changed in this place, your life cannot be the same again.
[Altar call]
Say Lord Jesus, I come to You, I am a sinner, please have mercy on me; forgive me my sins, wash me today, make me a child of God. I surrender my heart, I surrender my life to You, change me today and use me, and bless me, and take me to heaven; thank You Lord Jesus for saving me, I am now a child of God, old things are passed away, I am a new person, thank You Jesus.
Father, I want to thank You for these Your children, oh, what a day of mercy; thank You for forgiving them, thank You for touching them, thank You for transforming them, today, fill them with Your spirit, give them power to live as children of God; from today, let their change be genuine and total.
As You are releasing Your power to every other person in church this morning, please let them receive power, let them begin to speak in tongues, let them become witnesses; thank You Father, in Jesus name we prayed.
Something is going to come upon you and it’s the power of God. You know God has stopped giving people things they don’t ask for; lift your hands up, lift your voice and say my Father, as I stand here today, baptize me afresh with the Holy Ghost. Say Lord, I want Your Holy Ghost, I want to receive power afresh; oh Lord, baptize me in this room, make this morning like Pentecost day, in Jesus name we prayed.
[Praying in the Holy Ghost]
Wind of God, like the day of Pentecost, blow over this auditorium, let everyone receive the Holy Ghost now in the name of Jesus; receive power in the name of Jesus; receive boldness in the name of Jesus. I release you out of this room as active witnesses for Jesus; I release you out of this room, your hands shall be for signs and wonders; you are for miracles from now on; when you speak, people will respond; and this last one month, you will have result to show, and the name of the Lord will be glorified, so shall it be in Jesus name.
Why don’t you wave your hands and say ‘I have received power, I am going out as a witness’, and give God a shout of halleluiah! God bless you!
