Let somebody shout Halleluyah! How many of you have made up your mind to trust God all through this year regardless of the situations and the circumstances that might come your way? Can you lift those hands for God to see? So that God will mark those hands and give you the corresponding enabling grace to be able to hold on to the word.
I want you to bless Him for yet another opportunity to come to His throne and I want you to ask Him that today, Lord like never before, bless me in Jesus name. Is a simple prayer; Father, like never before, bless me today; reach out to me through Your word and by Your word, let me be blessed; let me life be re-vitalized; let my life undergo a total repackaging this year and beyond, and Lord Almighty God, restore my soul and keep my hope alive. In Jesus wonderful name we have prayed. Amen!
{Prayer}
Good morning to you everyone, happy New Year to you once again and welcome to this glorious service. Like the disciples of old, my prayer for every one of us today is that you will find Jesus. Today in this meeting, you will find Jesus. When you encounter the word of truth, you have encountered Jesus; today, you will find Jesus and Jesus will do what He alone can do that no man can do. If you believe that, say a better amen.
Let me once again appreciate every one of you for showing us love in such an extraordinary manner, both in cash and in kind during the yuletide season. Somebody challenged me and said how many times are you going to thank us? And I said I will thank you as many times as possible, because it’s a privilege and not a right. You don’t owe us, so if you reach out to us on your own volition, then you deserve gratitude. So we want to say a big thank you to all of you for reaching out to us, the Lord will bless you in Jesus name. And like our daddy GO use to pray, ‘next year will be better’ in the name of Jesus.
1st Corinthians 3:10-14; “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward”.
I remember the first preamble I did this morning with respect to these pictures was the fact that life is not about quantity but quality. Your impact is not about crowd but the impact on the reasonable measure of people. You may have a large crowd of followers but they may be half-baked, and by the time they are subjected to the test of fire, they might not be able to pass.
I use to cite an example; you are a pastor over 2000 people and at the end of the day, a test is carried out, out of 2000 congregation, only 500 are good and that is 25%, true or false? But another person superintends over a thousand congregations and when a test is done, he has 600 passed. 600 over 1000 is 60%. So, between the man that has 25% and the one that scored 60%, who has done a better job?
That is why Yoruba will say, ‘eniyan n wo oju, Oluwa n wo okan’ (men look at faces but God looks at the heart). So sometimes, you don’t just get carried away because of crowd, you need to look at quality and effect. If I begin to give out food every Sunday here, this place will not be enough for us, but such attendance can best be described as toxic, because the day you stop giving out food, off they go. If I retain my normal decent service, the crowd of seekers – genuine seekers and am able to disciple 60-70% for the kingdom of God, I would have done a better job.
Every man’s work shall be tested by fire, I pray in the mighty name of Jesus that God will give us that understanding and we will be able to key into it in the mighty name of Jesus.
That does not foreclose the fact that we need to preach the gospel – win souls, that’s not what am saying; we have one soul responsibilities, that is to preach the good news to sinners, bringing them to the knowledge of Christ.
Psalms 127:1-3; “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain”. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Except the Lord watcheth the city, the watchmen are wasting their time.
I’ve told you this story before; when I was living in Ojodu Agboole, I hired a security man, he would come every night and I bought him a very good cutlass – very nice cutlass, sharp, heavy and long and there were occasions the man would call me to come and see that he killed snakes; he killed snakes about two times and I said that’s very good, even though you were not hired to kill snakes, at least if you killed snakes, that’s very good.
Armed robbers came one night, they seized his cutlass because he had already slept; they tied his hands, tied his legs and his mouth; one thing led to the other, they spared us – myself and my wife were at home; it was when we heard gunfire they shot in the other house, they cut off the man’s ear; then the security men came, fired gunshots and they came to knock, ‘hey, they must have wounded pastor’, because they saw the other people. I saw them through the window, my wife said I should not open but I said I would open; they are already here under this condition. When I opened, I found out from the security; hope they did not wound you? I said no; hope everything is okay? I said yes; he said they had rushed your neighbor to the hospital.
What is the point? He asked where my security was, we started looking for him; my security man who we gave cutlass which he had been using to kill snakes, when we saw him, if we had not discovered him within the next five to ten minutes, he would have died. It happened to us – my wife and I, not to someone else. Since that time, whenever I read this scripture, it resonates with me more than any other person because my mind will always go there – ‘except the Lord builds the house…’.
This year, you will not walk alone. Let me tell you, when you have a genuine relationship with God, He will use somebody in exchange for you, is a hard one but is in the scriptures, but that’s not the focus this morning.
This morning, I will be talking to us on the topic; ‘Laying a solid foundation’; and this one becomes very important because we are starting a new year altogether. And like I said in the morning, this New Year opens us a fresh opportunity, a new hope, it gives us a breath of fresh air, an opportunity to start all over again, and of course, when you are starting all over again, it requires that you lay the foundation.
So, what is a foundation? A foundation is the lowest load bearing part of a building. I consulted the dictionary and I found two very critical definitions; number 1 says, ‘a foundation is the lowest load bearing part of a structure’; the whole load of a structure is on it, but is always at the base, typically, below the ground. And secondly, ‘a foundation can be said to be an underlying basis or principle, especially on truthfulness’.
And I use (especially) the teaching of this morning as an example, what is my basis of my reaching out to you? What is the basis of my talking to you today? The basis and principles of talking to you today to establish what I’m saying is the scriptures. The Bible says, let no any other foundation be laid other than the one that has been laid, that is Christ Jesus. And the principle, the basis of reaching out to you today is anchored on that solid foundation.
Of course I went further to tell them in the morning that the foundation determines the height of the building and of course the strength of same. If you put more floors over and above what the foundation can hold, what will happen to the building? It will automatically collapse.
I remember I went for a conference about 13-14 years ago, we were taken to a construction site, I saw the digging and the foundation they were doing, in fact, looking down into the foundation would make your heart pause, and I asked why they were making it like that, (I think they were building about 30 or over 30 floors), they said they wanted to build a skyscraper and because somebody was explaining to me that the height of the building determines the depth of the foundation. This foundation alone was deep enough to build a 2-storey building; if you buried a 2-storey building there, you wouldn’t see the roof, because they have the numbers of the intended floors and for them to achieve without having any structural effect, the foundation has to be deep.
Therefore brethren, as we begin a new year, just as many of us have made several resolutions, or lay so many types of foundations expecting to have a fruitful and a blissful year, our foundation must be taken into cognizance.
In laying a solid foundation for year 2023 and the remaining part of our lives, we must take cognizance of the following;
Number 1; Except the Lord builds the house, they that build it build in vain. What this is simply saying is that in whatever foundation you are building or you want to build, this year, you must carry God along.
Number 2; The foundation we intend to lay must not only have internal values, but also of eternal values. Don’t look at the foundation from your earthly desires alone – your physical desires alone, I want to be this, I want to be that, they are very good but your foundation for instance must also include your plans towards expanding the frontiers of the kingdom of God here on earth. And how do you do that? It is by winning souls.
The Bible says where your treasure is, is where your heart will be, according to Matthew 6:19-21. So we have to be deliberate and of course, we must not lay up treasure for ourselves here in the world of corruption but we must lay treasures (of course) by working on our souls, by working to expand the frontiers of Christ, so that when our works are subjected to the test of fire, we will be able to have something to show.
My prayer in the name of Jesus for every one of us including myself is that we will not labour loss in Jesus name; fire will not destroy our work in Jesus name.
Number 3; Every second, every minute, every day, every week and month is very important and precious. And I told them that a year, the Bible says 1000 years in the eyes of the Lord is like a day, then you can imagine what a month would look like. So what this is simply saying to us is that no moment must be wasted this year, make sure you make the most of year 2023, and this is simply because every second has its own designed event. In other words, there is time for everything, according to Ecclesiastes 3:1; there is time for everything; there is time to be born and there is time to die; there is time to plant and there is time to harvest, amen.
In Genesis 8:22; it says, “As long as the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” They said a man that is always observing the weather will not do anything, ‘go and check it, does rain want to fall? Is the sun up already’? A man that is always examining the weather will not go far and as a matter of fact, the easiest way to identify an irresponsible man is when he starts observing, ‘help me check whether is going to rain; help me check whether it is sunny there’.
, Make sure you make the most of your time. Procrastination, according to the saying those days is a thief of time. Do the right thing at the most appropriate time, and I pray in the name of Jesus that this year, you will reap the benefits of right timing in the name of Jesus.
Number 4; You need to bear in mind that with God, all things are possible. Luke 1:37: “For with God nothing shall be aimpossible”. Brethren, there is nothing too big for you to achieve, have that at the back of your mind, there is nothing that is too big for you to achieve. In other words, you can become what you want to become; no mountain is too high for you to cross. Every mountain, it doesn’t matter how high, it doesn’t matter how exalted, this year, they will be deflated for your sake in the name of Jesus.
In Philippians 4:13, it says we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us; we can do all things through Christ and I put it to them in the morning just as I want to do today that you challenge yourself this year and determine to be a better you in year 2023.
Challenge yourself; if there is anybody you should compete with this year, it is yourself. Strive to become a better you; don’t spend money on skirt and suit alone, don’t spend money on shoes and wristwatches alone, try as much as possible to update yourself; you can be better; you can deliver better value; you can go higher; you can be relevant. There is no mountain that is too high for you to cross, and by the grace of God, God will take you on the eagle’s wings this year.
This year, you will cross mountains; your valleys will be filled up in the mighty name of Jesus.
Foundation determines the final outlook or duration. The strength, how long a building will last is a function of the foundation. So suffice to say what you sow is what you reap according to Galatians 6:7; what you sow is what you will reap; if you sow corn, you are not going to reap cocoyam, I can assure you of that. If you sow a pumpkin, you are not going to reap cassava; if you sow corn, you will not reap yam there; no miracle will happen and turn cassava to corn or corn to yam. The Bible says whatever you sow is what you will reap.
Now, what are the steps required to laying a solid foundation in the year?
Number 1- Sincere self assessment: the importance of this cannot be overemphasized. We need to first and foremost sincerely assess ourselves to know where we are now; be it in the area of marriage, finances, education, in relation to the intended foundation to be laid for the year.
In the management parlance we call this SWOT – Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. These assessments will avail us the opportunity to decide what next to be done. In 2nd Corinthians 13:5, Apostle Paul was challenging the Corinthians, he said “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates”?
Let our assessments begin with ourselves. If you are assessing others with assessing yourself, you are a reprobate or a hypocrite (at best), so let it begin with us. I cited the story of Elijah; he prayed and discovered his own challenges, and he cried unto the Lord for help and the Lord helped him. You will find that in Isaiah 6:5-8.
My prayer for someone under the influence of my voice is that divine help will come for you this year in Jesus name; help from God will come for you this year in Jesus name.
Number 2- Determine what type of foundation to lay; what next action to take. After self assessment and the intended discovery then arises the need to take corrective actions on the identified problems while we also depend on God.
Your education, growth, marriage, business and the rest covet our attention this year. The Bible says do not be slothful in zeal but fervent in spirit serving the Lord; make sure you press towards a man of the high calling. I said it before, there is no mountain that is too high, there is nothing that is too difficult for you to do and I want to beg us that everything we do this year, we must do it within the level of reasonableness.
I challenged them in the morning that whatever your capacity cannot sustain, don’t go into it. Somebody has been texting me for the past three weeks; ‘my son got admission, I’m looking for money to process visa’, if your son got the admission in Canada and you are still looking for money to process visa, then how are you going to get the school fees paid? I hope that makes meaning to you? Is good to school in Canada, is good to go to school abroad but the question is do you have the means?
As good as it is for children to school abroad, do you know it is not a major determinant of success? Are you aware of that? The fact that somebody schooled in America does not make him better than somebody who schooled in Nigeria. I decree in the mighty name of Jesus, that wherever your children are, whether in Nigeria or abroad, favor will locate them in Jesus name; the seed of greatness in them will grow in the name of Jesus.
When you read the profile of a lot of Managing Directors of banks and big organizations, how many of them actually schooled abroad? That is an understanding for you. Some of them at best, they did their Masters (second degree) there, but first degree, here, go and check UBA, Zenith, GTBank, check them all so that you can calm down and all this ‘I want to belong’ attitude that will make you sell your house, sell your property, sell your stock and go back to penury.
Lay the right foundation’ begin with yourself, be honest, be sincere. Press towards the man and believe that you can do all things through Christ that strengthens you. Be hard working.
I told them in the morning, fasting and prayer are good; they are divine instructions that we should fast and pray but as good as they are, fasting and prayer without work is not going to help you. I said for instance, a woman that cannot cook but can fast and pray; she fasts and prays every day and she refuses to learn how to cook, what will happen to the marriage? When the husband tells her he wants to eat and she starts speaking in tongues, one day the man will tell her to get serious.
And these are some of the problems we are having; they say the man does not understand, ‘ebi o ki n wo inu, ki oro mii wo’(one can’t be hungry and still attend to other issues). Let’s be practical, let’s be sincere, and let’s be honest. Or maybe you are a man, your wife needs money and you tell her she knows you are seeking the face of the Lord; she asks you money for today, you are seeking the face of the Lord; she asks you money tomorrow, you are seeking the face of the Lord; when you get back, she will tell you to get food from the face of the Lord.
Please don’t be deceived, Galatians 6:7, don’t be deceived; whatever a man soweth, the same shall he reap. Touch God by faith, like that woman with the issue of blood.
Number 3 – Identify the things needed for the foundation. I spoke about the need for personal development, change your attitude; your attitude determines your altitude. I told them in the morning, how far you are able to go in life maritally and otherwise ease a lot of your attitude.
A man once said that a bad attitude is like a flat tyre that won’t take you anywhere. If you have a bad attitude, is like when you have a flat tyre; if you drive it further, it destroys the rim, and if you continue to drive it, it spoils the vehicle altogether. Get rid of your bad attitude and habit.
If you are the type that sleeps all the time, you better forget about it, it doesn’t matter the level of miracle God will throw down this year, if you are not well positioned – strategically positioned in terms of having the right attitude, having the right mentality, nothing will happen.
As a man, get rid of bad attitude. You are a night crawler, think about it. You have a habit that feeds fast on your finances, work on it, look at it and the Lord will help us in Jesus name.
Education is key; develop your key competencies. I shared with them in the morning; I said embark on mandatory continuous professional trainings where necessary and keep yourself updated.
Nothing can be very annoying when you are watching television with somebody and they are asking what they are saying as if they are not there. We got to the office and we are talking about the situation of the economy somebody will come and ask what is FX? What are they talking about? Then you ask, are you in this country?
You told somebody about climate change and he said climate change is like a church rat that fell on a poisoned holy communion, then you ask yourself, what relationship has that gotten to do with each other? Please be updated.
Be mindful of your health, health is wealth. As much as possible, take necessary precautions and do the necessary tests. A stitch in time saves nine.
3rd John 2 says, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth”. Do you know that it doesn’t matter how much money you have, if your health does not support you, you know you will not enjoy it? And that’s why I sympathize with those of you, you have money in your account, when it is your health matter, you will say you are drinking anointing oil and others; you better pray , fine, I believe in prayer, prayer heals, don’t misunderstand me, but in addition to that, do the basic tests.
And some of you that drink anointing oil, assuming you also do it with a very clean heart and with a very rugged faith in the Almighty God; you don’t commit sin, it will work. You need to get it right, but you are a sinner and you are drinking anointing oil, you are eating Holy Communion, is a matter of time.
If you are clean, you have a genuine relationship with God, you can do those things and it will work. Even you may not go as far as that, it will work but your relationship with God is a major determinant, that foundation must be right.
Somebody sent something to a platform yesterday – four tests; lipid, blood count, prostate (for men above 40) and for women, mammogram, and sugar level. Do them; many of you will keep money, when it comes to your health, you will be going to different herbal mixture sellers because you know that will not cost you much, at the end of the day when you break down, the money you would have spent on health, identified the problems – because a problem identified is a problem half-solved, and what you don’t know is you own money and some other people will spend it when you pack up.
Somebody told me a story yesterday of a man that died, he has stock worth about 200 million, the children shared it in less than 24 hours and meanwhile the man is dead.
I know one in my estate, when the man died; they sold 2 plots of land housing his house, set aside money for his burial and they shared the remaining one. Be wise, the boys out there, the girls out there are strong-faced. There are tough guys out there, you see, as you are sick, they are looking at you and thinking ‘God catch’ this man if he dies.
As you are sick and it is getting worse, they will start asking each other to find out which bank you use for your account, so the money you are guiding jealously, you are trying to look at bank statement every month; they will help you to spend it. Since you can’t spend it, they will help you. It seems to be like nonsense but I know what I’m saying.
Serve God with gladness – is also very important and create a community of joyful people. Hezekiah did that and is on record, when you read 2nd Chronicles 31, but for this one, 2nd Chronicles 31:20 & 21; the way he stirred up the people, encouraged the people, let’s build a community of happy people.
That’s one of the reasons when I talk to you, I bring in some sense of humor. You see, it is a church of God, it must create gladness, happiness; if you come to church with problems biting you underground and I come in here, I ‘hit’ you, whether you are frowning or not, at the end of the day, is like coming to church and having your problems complicated. We must serve God with gladness; we must build a community of joyful people and of course wisdom is needed to excel in this place. God gives to all that asks for it genuinely, James 1:5.
Number 4 – Develop a plan to achieve; failure to plan is equivalent to planning to fail. There is therefore a very great need to ask God for wisdom to develop a principled plan that would lead to the desired results.
Number 5 – Maintain the plan and sustain your vision. Habakkuk 2:3 tells us that vision is for the appointed time; it says “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry”.
Be focused on your vision, please; don’t be double minded, no double minded fellow will receive anything from God, according to James 1:6-8. My prayer this year for you is that God will surprise you.
Pray without ceasing; pray until your vision is accomplished. There is a program my pastor taught sometimes ago; Pray Until Something Happens. Pray until your vision is accomplished, and I trust God that this year, there will be no carry over; everything you lay your hands on, you will succeed with it in the mighty name of Jesus.
Give yourself to creative thinking, innovations and hardwork. They said ideas choose the work; most of the successful people, the likes of Jack-man, Bill Gates, Elon Musk; I’m not sure they are first class materials, in fact Bill Gates in his own case did not finish university education, but today, history has a place for them in the world. Thank God for the likes of Dangote; you are praying ‘God bless me, God bless me’, a man of God said for God to bless you, two things are needed; you must have either a product or a service. You must have a product or a service. Yahoo will not pay you because one day you will be caught; one chance will not pay you, one day you will be caught.
We’ve seen those who are flagging dollars, ‘go and hustle, go and hustle’, when they were caught, they will now realize where dollars was coming from. Ojo gbogbo ni t’ole…(everyday is for the thief…). Work, invest in the dignity of labor; whether it is groundnut, whatever you are doing, labor is labor, dignify it and God will bless it in the mighty name of Jesus.
Proverbs 22:29 says, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; He shall not stand before mean men”. This year, you will not stand before mean men in the mighty name of Jesus. Proverbs 6:4-11; “Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise”, go to the ant, (what would you do?) learn, be wise, and consider her ways. They have no rule as small as they are, you will not see them during rainy season because flood will wash them away, because of that, this summer season, you will see them packing food, they have their storage where they will pack food that will last them during rainy season, because they know if they come out, off they are gone. Go and learn from ant, they are wise.
Forgiveness must be a way of life. Forgive those that may offend you so that our Father in heaven will also forgive you. Matthew 11:25 & 26 and I said in the morning that the road to success is lined up with enemies and you must forgive them all, otherwise they won’t allow you to reach your goals. I pray in the mighty name of Jesus that the humility we need and that rugged heart to forgive, may we all receive today in Jesus name.
Trust in the Lord that He can do all things, like Psalms 125:1; it says, “They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever”. I pray that this year, God will establish you. It doesn’t matter the level of storm, nothing will be able to remove you in the name of Jesus. Trust Him that He can do all things.
Maintain your Christian life, remain faithful and fear the Lord, Psalms 128:1-4. Always praise Him and give Him thanks, He deserves our thanks, He deserves gratitude; and let me tell you, gratitude always leads to recovery and it makes what is not enough to become more than enough. Cultivate the habit of thanksgiving; you will see that God will flood your life with miracles.
Evaluate yourself regularly to know whether you are still in line with your vision. I pray in the name of Jesus that this year will be your best year ever. Shall we rise up as we pray {Music}.
The conclusion of the matter according to Psalms 37:5, it says, “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass”. I want you to pray to God this morning; Father, have Your way in my life; have Your way in my life this year, lead me oh Lord almighty God in the journey of this year; let Your hands be upon me, let Your hands be upon all that I do; let Your mighty hands be upon my children, let it be upon my marriage in the mighty name of Jesus.
Pray to God very fervently; pray to God from the depth of your heart, the Bible says by strength shall no man prevail; the Bible also says it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy; ask God.please have Your way in my life, have your way in my life, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
I pray that the Lord will be with you this year in the mighty name of Jesus; He will go with you all the way; He will supply all your needs in the mighty name of Jesus. He will lift you up above your mountains in the mighty name of Jesus. It will be a very successful year for you and your loved ones in Jesus name.
John 3:18 says, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God”. (All eyes closed, all heads bowed) if this scripture applies to you and you have not believed, you have not made that decision at any point in time maybe in year 2022 or even now in year 2023 that Jesus Christ is the begotten Son of God, I want you to raise up your hand wherever you are because that is the first foundation you can lay, that is the first foundation God wants you to lay, raise up your hand; you want God to come into your life; you want to embrace Christ, please raise up your hands wherever you are.
The only way you can reap the full blessings, inherent, in year 2023 is by building the right foundation first and that right foundation is salvation. How do you go about it? Is just by coming to Him and say God, I confess my unrighteousness; I invite You into my life, forgive my sins, overlook my past, take my life from this moment and let it be; I consecrate it unto You; I cannot help myself; Father, help me, Father, help me. And I have a good wish for you this morning; the Bible says mercy triumph over judgment; wherever there is condemnation, mercy will cancel it; mercy is always out to deal with condemnation but you must take a deliberate step.
If you are there, you know you have not confessed Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, come out, the gate of mercy will not be closed against you; mercy will speak for you from today in the mighty name of Jesus and it shall be well with you.
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