Let us worship Jehovah Ebenezer this morning, let us give Him glory, let us give Him praise, He’s the only One that can do all things, He’s our Helper and He has come this morning to help us, give Him glory this morning, give Him all the praise that is due to Him, give Him adoration. He is holy, He is wonderful, He is a reason why we are alive, He is the reason why we move, why we have our being, let’s worship Him, let’s give Him all the praise, let’s give Him all the honor, let’s give Him adoration this morning.
He is worthy of our praise, worthy of honor, worthy of adoration; bless the Lord this morning, Jehovah Ebenezer, give Him praise, He is our helper, the Stone of our help, give Him all praise, honor, it’s because of Him that we are still alive, He came this morning to give us breath in our nostrils and that’s why we are here to worship; let’s all worship Him and praise Him, blessed be Your name oh Lord, worthy are you oh Lord Almighty Father, we give You praise this morning, we give You adoration, we say Adonai Father we worship You, we give You praise, we honor You.
Father we acknowledge You as a sovereign God; the God that is higher than the highest, the God that is bigger than the biggest, our helper, our strength, our Shield, the One that came to wake us up this morning, the One without whom we would not be alive; we return praise, we return glory to Your name oh Lord, accept our worship, accept our praises in the mighty name of Jesus.
As we go into Your word today, speak to us oh Lord, anoint us with power today oh Lord to receive Your word, give us the faith to touch Your garment this morning. Lord, the disillusioned, the discouraged, the weak among us, touch them today in Jesus name; glorify Yourself in our midst, save the lost and let Your name be glorified; anoint the lip that will speak Your word and all the ears that will hear Your word, let us have cause to glorify Your name at the end of it all, in Jesus name we prayed.
Let’s just take these prayer points before we take our seats – some two or three prayer points: Isaiah 26:3, the Bible says you will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you; you are going to say Father, please keep us in Your peace as we put our trust in You, give us the peace that the world cannot understand; Father, give us internal peace, give us external peace, peace within, peace without, Father give us peace oh Lord that the world cannot understand.
Father, as we lean on You, as we trust in You, Father keep us in perfect peace oh Lord; oh as our mind leans on You, as we lean in totally, give us internal peace oh Lord and give us external peace as well, in Jesus name we prayed.
Genesis 26:22, we know the story very well; Isaac in Gerar, dug the wells that his father Abraham had dug before and there are contention with herdsmen of Gerar, but in Genesis 26:22, Isaac finally dug a well that there was no contention with and he gave the name Rehoboth to that well – Isaac dug to Rehoboth. We are going to say Father, please grant me the grace to dig diligently and with perseverance until I have room in the land; grant me grace to be consistent in faith in moving forward, grant me grace to persevere, to be diligent as I dig oh Lord, and so I can find room in the land You have planted me; give me room in the land oh Lord so that I can flourish like Isaac, in Jesus name we prayed.
And finally, Isaiah 48: 17, it says He is the God that teaches us to profit that leads us the way we should go; we’re going to say Father, please let me profit physically, spiritually and mentally as I follow Your footsteps. You are the One that teaches me to profit oh Lord, teach me to profit physically, spiritually, mentally as I follow Your footsteps, Father let me profit in good doing, in Jesus name we prayed.
Welcome to church this morning, God bless you! I want to appreciate the Assistant Pastor in Charge of Region for the opportunity to bring this message this morning, and also the entire pastorate, I pray that God will continue to move them to higher heights in Jesus name.
Our main text is Matthew 9:18 – 25, “While he spoke these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshiped him, saying, my daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. 19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. 20And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
21 For she said within herself, if I may but touch His garment, I shall be made whole. Somebody will be made whole today as you touch the hem of Jesus in Jesus name. 22But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith had made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. 23 And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw minstrels and people making a noise, 24He said unto them, give place: for the maid is not dead but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 25But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. Praise the Lord!
The title of this short exhortation is “Look Up, it is Not Over”; we want to look at this two key words before we go into the message: look (ordinary dictionary meaning) means to direct the eyes towards something, like look at the screen; to search or seek, I looked for you everywhere; to carry out an investigation, let’s look into the case, look into the mystery; then look up, ordinary English dictionary meaning, it says to discover by resorting to a work of reference; look up a dictionary; to have respect for, I’ve always wanted a boss I could look up to, I’ve already wanted a pastor I could look up to, look up to somebody; to visit or make contact with, I will look you up when I am in town, when next I come to Lagos, I will look you up; the way you look up, to increase in quality of value, things are looking up in the economy now, but the look up we are talking about is different from what I’ve been saying, the one we are going to be talking about this morning is different from the various dictionary meanings we have been given here, we’re talking today by the grace of God about refusal to be discouraged, the opposite of looking downcast.
Who do you ask or command to look up? The discouraged, the dying, the defeated, the desolated, I call them the four D’s. Tell somebody again this morning it is time to look up and refuse to be downcast, why? Because it’s not over and it cannot be over until God says it’s so, and our God is not in the business of saying it’s over, He doesn’t count us out, He’s always encouraging and ready to help if you lift your head up, and that song says ‘if you run to Him, He will answer you’, you just need to run to Him, He definitely will answer, He’s our helper, He is our Ebenezer, praise the Lord!
The key to understand is that a bad day does not make you a failure, it doesn’t last, it’s just a bad day, and after you have had one, and all of us we have one at one time or the other, I’m not cursing anybody, bad day will come while you are still alive, after you have had one, you just start back on track again the following day, you don’t quit, life is the sequence of ups and downs, stops and starts, tomorrow is another day – a brand new day, so when you’ve had a bad day, you make the necessary changes in your life and start from where you left off, praise the Lord!
If it’s necessary, seek God’s forgiveness if you need to, forgive yourself as well, and begin to move forward again; focus on your goal and aspirations, not the fact that you failed at the previous attempt; don’t get caught up blaming yourself or others for what has happened, just let it go and move on because it is not over. Realize that the next time you come up again against a difficult situation and you will, and in God’s strength you will handle it better. Sum total is that when you come against that situation again, because you are going to while you are still alive, in God’s strength you will handle it better because of the lessons you’ve learned from a previous attempt.
Why should we look up? I have seven quick reasons why we should look up before we go into the practical from Bible examples; because God in the scripture commands it, Isaiah 41:10 – 11, fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee: I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness, so God commands that we should look up. Isaiah 41:18 – 19, I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and dry land springs of water. 19I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; and I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together, praise God! God commands that we look up all the time.
Another reason we should look up is that one bad day does not foreclose good days ahead. We have the story of Joshua 7:6 – 11, is a story of Ai, we know the story very well, the children of Israel just crossed over Jordan and they attempted to run over a small town called Ai, but they failed because one of them had touched their cursed things. To make the story short, they were told about their faults, repented and went back again, and God gave them victory; they had a bad day but after coming back to God, God gave them victory, Joshua 7:6 – 11, we can check when we get home. One bad day does not foreclose good days ahead.
Number three, misfortunes and bad lucks are not forever, they will come to pass, they have come to pass, praise God! God is speaking to somebody here today that that thing has come to pass.
Number four, pity-parties are for losers and unbelievers, Matthew 9: 20-22 (part of what we read this morning): the woman with the issue of blood was not interested in pity-parties, in her weak state, pressed through the throng and touched the hem of Jesus, she wasn’t going to allow anybody to do pity-party in her house, don’t allow people to do pity-party with you, look up all the time, take the example of the woman with the issue of blood.
Number five, looking down in despondency will not solve the problem, looking down will not solve the problem, the problem will remain. We have the example of David in Ziklag, 1st Samuel 30, I know we know the story so we’re not going to go over that; David and his men were discouraged, they said they were going to stone him, but David encouraged himself (the Bible tells us), so you are the one that will encourage yourself this morning and God is talking to somebody here this morning, you need to encourage yourself, you need to touch the garment of Jesus Christ, looking down will not solve your problem.
Number six, looking down will discourage others around you; if you look down, others around you will also catch the bug and be discouraged. We have the case of the Ten Spies in the Book of Numbers 13, they gave bad report, (we know the story very well) and others were discouraged, they felt like oh we should go back to Egypt, oh this is not good, because they discouraged the other people, if you look down you will discourage other people around you, so you owe them that duty for their sake not to look down, praise God!
And then number seven, not looking up is an act of faithlessness, 2nd Timothy 2: 11-13, Bible says when we are faithless; God remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself. So the one that looks down is faithless, praise the Lord! The Bible says in Psalm 30: 5 that His anger (I want to use the New Living Translation now) lasts for a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may go all night, but joy comes in the morning; the new KJV says weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. For somebody here this morning, God is saying joy cometh, your joy is around the corner, because I believe God is talking to somebody here that joy is around the corner.
There are apparent times in our lives as believers that we have prayed, we have believed God for something and it looks like the answer is not forthcoming; for some of us it may be fruit of the womb, it may be success in examination, marital situation, relationships with family generally, it’s 51 days to the end of the year, we’ve asked for something in January and we’ve not had answers, God is saying it is not over, the message today is it is not over, Bible says a thousand years is like a one night in God’s presence and I believe we know calendars are made for men, God does not use calendars, so if it is the 12 noon on 31st December and the answer is not answered, the year is ending, January 1 is another day and January 2 and January 3 and another 31 December 2025 and another day, so we are the ones that are using calendars, it’s for our convenience, praise God! While you are still alive, it will always be another day when God can intervene, praise God!
So it is not over, God does not operate by calendars, you may be shaken but you will not be shattered. I’m saying to somebody today that you might be shaken now, but God says you will not be broken.
Let us look at some examples from the Bible of those God says to that it is not over because this is not a motivational speech, it’s from the scripture we want to look at examples, and our first example today is Abraham, Abraham received a promise in Genesis 12: 1-6 to leave his homeland and family, he obeyed partially and he received limited blessings, he was tested before he could testify and without a test, we all know there cannot be any testimony; those who come forward to give testimony is because they’ve gone through a test, it’s when you now survive or overcome the test that you have a testimony.
If you notice Abraham’s story, and I’m assuming we all know the story very well, it was after Ishmael was sent away that God demanded that Isaac should be sacrificed. In Genesis 21: 8-21, Abraham, at the insistence of Sarah sent Ishmael away, and in Genesis 22, God demanded that Isaac be sacrificed, it was Abraham’s obedience that finally gave way to the fulfillment of the promise made back in Genesis 12. So Abraham had a period of 25 years between Genesis 12 and Genesis 22, although of course Isaac was born but the promise to make him father of all nations was established in Genesis 22.
God understands our doubts, what He doesn’t like is for us to make habit of doubting, praise God! I read somewhere that the one who peddles doubt is very not very different from the one who peddles dope (illicit drug); you are as bad in the eyes of God, God doesn’t like doubters but He understand when it comes once in a while, what He doesn’t want is for us to make habits of doubting don’t, make it an habit.
Abraham believed even over 25 years, I don’t know if there’s anybody here that you have had to wait for 25 years for the fruit of the womb, if God can do for Abraham, He will do for you today, He will do for that person you are believing God for this morning in Jesus name. I don’t know whether you are here you are still believing God for the fruit of the womb, God is saying it is not over, praise God! You will still testify to the glory of God.
Another example is Joseph; (I’m picking familiar names so that at least we can move fast) we know his story too, he had to go through the prison dungeon to have the promise of God over his life fulfilled, he almost lost it like Abraham when he requested the cupbearer of Pharaoh to remember him to talk to Pharaoh. Joseph was betrayed by so many people, betrayed by his brothers, he held on to his faith in God – the promise of God for his life, betrayed by Potiphar and his wife whom he served diligently, he still held on to the promise of God.
He was betrayed by the butler he helped, but he held on to promise of God and God came through for him because it was not over, God will come through for you in Jesus name. Whatever challenge you are facing now, whatever betrayals, whatever men has done to you, God is saying today, it is not over for you, just look up, refuse to be downcast.
We have the example of Hannah in 1st Samuel 1; God was looking for a prophet, Hannah was ready to release her child, she had problem with her mate, Peninnah, but nobody knew in the family of Elkanah that God actually wanted the prophet from that family, praise God! The normal line, because we all know the Bible very well that Priests come from the line of Levites, Elkanah was an Ephraimite, so Samuel was not in the line of priests, but God can change anything, He made him one of the foremost Prophets of Israel, So God can do that thing through your family that you think is despised, it doesn’t have to come through the Levites all the time, it can come through the Ephraimite, praise God!
So God was waiting for when Eli’s cup will be full before He released the womb of Hannah, praise God! That, well, may be your case, so don’t lose it, don’t be downcast, maybe what you are coming up with is a prophet, is a renowned child. I read somewhere that gestation period for an elephant’s pregnancy is about 2 years and dogs, for those of us who have dogs, I think our dogs give birth within few months.
There was this dog and this elephant, the dog had a baby after 4 months, had another baby another four months; the dog was looking at the elephant, shebi they said you are pregnant, when are you going to deliver? The elephant looked at the dog and said when my child comes out, everybody will see an elephant, they will not be puppies like your own puppies, they will see a big huge thing coming out, praise God! That your testimony is delayed because it’s going to be a wonderful one, so look up, praise the Lord!
We have the example of Rachel; Rachel also had a problem very similar to that of Hannah, a mate that was also despising, but she had to wait for Joseph to come and we all know who Joseph turned out to be, praise God! So there are some of these children that are delayed because God is working to make them to what He wants them to be; I don’t know why I keep going back to this, I didn’t mean to spend so long on this issue of fruit of the womb, but maybe God is talking to somebody, that delay is because something is coming, something is cooking (as they say), wait for it, praise the Lord!
Of course we know the story of Ruth as well; Ruth and Naomi were like losers, both widows, they came back to Bethlehem like losers but God turned things around for them, He connected with Boaz and we know the story very well, how Ruth became the wife of Boaz and had a baby, and their lineage was part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. For Ruth, it was not over, it is not over for you in Jesus name.
Then we have the story of Job, we know the story of Job very well; his friends, his wife said curse God and die, it is over for you, you’ve lost your children, you’ve lost everything, you are down, you’re out, but Job refused to lose faith in God. It’s about faith this morning, somebody needs to hold on to his faith in God; Job had double for his trouble in Job 42:10 which we can see when we get home, praise God!
Nehemiah, people tried to discourage him when he was trying to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem but he encouraged himself, he refused to be discouraged; as they were working, they were defending themselves against opposition, that’s an example of somebody who looked up and refused to be downcast, he worked, he attempted and they were able to complete the work. That work you are doing, God will enable you to complete in Jesus name.
The passage we read in Matthew 9, the version of Mark and Luke gave us the name of that person that it was Jairus, synagogue leader; Matthew did not mention his name, but Mark and Luke said it was Jairus; so in the example, Jairus daughter came back to life because the father had enough faith to believe it was not over, he said the baby was dead but you can do something God. I don’t know what is dead in your life, what is dying in your life, that passage is telling you that God can still do something about it, praise God!
And if you look up at the story very well, you notice that when Jesus got to the house of Jairus, there were (professional) mourners, doubters, and they are always around us, people doing pity-party with us, Jesus Christ had to send them away, please let’s look at the story when we get home again (maybe you’ve seen it before, look at it again), He had to send them away, He had to send doubts away before He can perform; so you have to send doubt away from your mind before God can reach you this morning, you have to remove doubts, you have to physically or spiritually send doubt away before God can move in and help you.
I believe God is talking to somebody here today that that doubt is what is causing your problem, remove doubt first, remove all the doubters around you and if you cannot remove them, move away from them because it’s not over, praise the Lord!
And in that case too, we have the woman with the issue of blood; she, as it were, gate crashed; Jesus was going to Jairus’ house, that was His next assignment but this woman was not going to allow Him to go just like that, she gate crashed, she jumped the queue, it’s okay to jump the queue at times spiritually, don’t say it’s not my turn yet, God has not even answered this person yet, there’s nothing about turn, jump the queue if you have to, crash if you have to, touch the garment, press until you get to your Rehoboth in Jesus name.
She held on to Jesus in faith and sickness had to bow, and I’m praying for you this morning that you’ll find the faith to touch His garments, as you make that contact, that disease, that sickness will disappear in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
You need the God kind of faith to touch the Lord; I read somewhere that when men say is over, God takes over, and when God takes over, the problem is over, praise God! For you, the problem will be over in Jesus name. What you need is a God kind of faith to touch God and receive your blessing because it is not over, that woman with the issue of blood looked up, she refused to look down.
We have the example of Peter; Peter, we know him very well, brash but lily-livered fisherman that turned a disciple: he denied Jesus at the house of the chief priest but what we want to talk about Peter today is how God re-commissioned him in John 21: 15-21 (we can look at that when we get home); God re-commissioned Peter and Peter became a new person entirely, it was a new Peter that came up after that re-commissioning to the extent that at the day of Pentecost, he preached and thousands gave their lives to Christ, the story we can see in Acts 2.
In Acts 4, against the warnings of the powers that be, Peter preached in the temple and more gave their lives to Christ; by the time we get to Acts 12, Peter had been totally transformed; Herod had just killed James and then he arrested Peter to be killed after the Passover, and the Bible tells us that Peter was kept, chained to two soldiers, (story we can see in Acts 12: 6-10) and there were sixteen others watching over him, it shows the type of respect they have for him now, that this man must not escape, and what was Peter doing? Peter was asleep, he slept off, he was so changed that he wasn’t somebody that was threatened again. I cannot imagine two soldiers looking after me and I will fall sleep, I won’t be able to sleep, praise God! But Peter was at rest, at peace, he slept because God had re-commissioned him, God said to him it was not over, and I’m praying for somebody today that God will re-commission you and you will be transformed from Peter 1 to Peter 2 in Jesus name; you will move from fearful to fearless in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
As we begin to close, we have the example of Apostle Paul; Paul faced a lot of challenges but we’re going to look at just the one he faced on the way to Rome in Acts 27 &28, there was a tempest at Sea, there was a shipwreck and there was a snake bite, but God said to Paul it is not over, and Paul made it to Rome. There was a shipwreck, there was tempest at Sea, even when he had escaped that, Bible says a cobra (or whatever snake) wrapped on him and he was beaten, and he still did not die because God said it was not over. I’m saying to somebody today that you will get to that place of destiny in Jesus name.
The last example I’m going to use for this session is David: David was anointed as King in 1st Samuel 16, but had to go through several obstacles to the throne, we know his story, I’m not going to repeat them, but my prayer for you this morning is that you will still get to that throne in Jesus name; they can only delay but they cannot deny you that throne in Jesus name.
So as we begin to close this morning, we have the example of the bones in Ezekiel 37, dry dead bones scattered, but because God said it was not over for them, Ezekiel was asked to breathe on them. I don’t know what your situation is today, I don’t know the thing that has died, that is dying, is about to die in your life, God is saying to you today that that bone will live again; the dry bone will live; the scattered will be gathered and you shall have life again in Jesus name. The broken shall be put together, the rose shall bloom again in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
As we bow our heads to pray this morning, I don’t know what it is, I don’t know why this message is for you in particular, you are discouraged, you are downcast, you felt the world has passed you over, but Jesus is saying to you this morning that it is not over, and it cannot be over because God says it’s not over yet. When Mery is over God takes over, God will take over that situation in Jesus name; and when He takes over the problem is over. Ask God to touch that situation, ask Him to revive you, and if you are here you need to have a renewal of your mind with Christ, God is calling someone here today that is not over, look up, it does not matter what mess you have made of your life, this is a message to take you out of the mess, praise God!
[Altar call]
Heavenly Father, King of glory we surrender all to You this morning, because You say it’s not over, we accept Lord that it’s certainly not over in Jesus name. Jabez refused to answer the name of sorrow, Father, You changed his name by the power of the Holy Spirit, he rejected that name as he grew older, Father we know that You are telling somebody here today it is never too late to change that name, Father change their names, change their circumstances, change their entire story for good.
Thank You because You do not count us out, it’s only man that count us out; thank You for bringing our children here today to hear from You, thank You for all that have prayed this morning, Father touch them and turn their situation around oh Lord. Give them grace to look up to You and when they look up let them find help in their time of need; thank You our Helper, thank You Ebenezer Jehovah, blessed be Your name, King of glory, in Jesus name we prayed.
