Brethren, just for a moment, reflect on your life, consider how far God has brought you and just begin to worship Him; let’s just worship Him, let us exalt His holy name, let us magnify Him. Father, we thank You, You have brought us through this year, today is December the 14th to the glory of Your name.
Here we are standing, here we are worshiping, here we are dancing despite all that we have gone through, despite what the enemy had tried, despite all the traps that were set for us, despite all the difficult and challenging times that we went through, Father, we just want to say thank You.
We have come to worship You, we have come to give You thanks, we have come to honor Your name, Father, we acknowledge You. Thank You for Your mercy, thank You Lord, thank You Lord Jesus, Father, we thank You, we are alive today only because of Your mercy, we are here today only because of Your mercy, we are standing today only because of Your mercy, glory be to Your name forever more. Thank You, Lord Jesus, thank You, Father, thank You glorious Father.
[Music]
It’s only by Your mercy that we are here, thank You for Your mercy, thank You for Your compassion, thank You for Your love, thank You for Your faithfulness, thank You Lord for keeping us standing, glory be to Your name forever more.
It’s not because of anything we know how to do, it’s not because we attend church every Sunday, it’s not because of our righteousness, it’s only just because of Your mercy, thank You heavenly Father. We thank You Lord for Your presence in our midst this morning, we thank You Lord for Your word that You have prepared for us today.
Father, we thank You because this morning from this moment You will speak Your word to us, You will give us understanding in Your word in the mighty name of Jesus. And You will help us to do some reflections in our lives, no one and nothing will take Your glory in our lives in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You heavenly Father, glory be your name forever more, in Jesus marvelous name we prayed. Praise the Lord!
Good morning daddies and mommies, thank you, God bless you in the name of Jesus. I want to acknowledge God, He is the reason why I’m standing here and why we are all here this morning; I’d like to also extend that appreciation to my father in the Lord, the APICR of Region 11, Pastor Tunde Netufo and mommy, thank you, God bless you for allowing me to minister this morning.
Brethren, as we have said in the opening prayer, we thank God for the success of thr Holy Ghost convention, titled ‘The God of all Flesh.’ I need to also remind us [inaudible], except for prayer chain tomorrow; ministers and everyone [inaudible], and on Tuesday we’ll start our midweek services.
Turn with me to the Book of Lamentation 3: 22 & 23, it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The choir has actually helped me this morning to introduce [inaudible], and the topic before us is ‘We Are Kept through God’s Mercy’, [inaudible].
You will agree with me that this year is a year of mixed feelings, full of anxiety, we hear series of unpleasant news here and there, kidnappings, [inaudible noise] People got new houses, people bought new vehicles, people had weddings, people had children, so, it’s a year of mixed feelings and God has spoken to us time and time again, [inaudible noise].
2 Corinthians 4: 8-10, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair. 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. 10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also oft Jesus might be made manifest in our body. [inaudible noise].
Psalms 66: 10 – 12, for thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as siver is tried. 11Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. 12Thou hast caused men to ride over our hearts; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. Hallelujah! Irrespective of what it is that we’ve gone through or going through, [inaudible noise]. You can hear me, you can process what I’m saying, you can dress up yourself, why don’t you just say thank You Jesus?
So having done that this morning, brethren, in the cause of the message I would also ask two questions that we need to answer, [inaudible noise]: if there’s anybody here who is alive today because of the money you pay the doctors, please raise your hand, because you have the best doctors, you have the best hospitals, because you are eating healthy, you are doing exercise, that’s why you are alive today, just wave your hand so that we can pray for you because you need deliverance truly. Praise the living Jesus!
So the fact that we do not see any hand is that is the mercy of God that is keeping us; in the first place, that you are living, you have breath in you is God. In Genesis 2:7, the Bible says that after God made man, He put a breath in the man and then the man became a living soul. That you are here today, you can walk, can go about today is the mercy of God, He could have chosen not to put that breath in the first place, that you are living today is the mercy of God.
In Lamentation 3:22 and Psalm 103: 15 – 17, the Bible says our days are like the grass, we are sitting but God ensures that every day – the Bible says His mercies are new every morning; every time when you sleep, He breathes into you again, you wake up again, that is the mercy that is new every morning, you’ve received it this morning that’s why you are here, thank You Jesus.
Do you know how many times God has delivered you out of the mouth of the lions? In Daniel 6 (we know the story), Daniel was thrown into the den of lions, but before Daniel got there, this is my own addition now, God would have gone to the lions and said somebody is coming, he’s your senior brother, so you people should just be playing with him and nothing should happen to him and that was what happened.
But when Daniel went out, they said oh, maybe those lions have become dogs, so they put other set of people there, and the lions said ‘thank You, Jesus,’ before the people came in, they tore them. Brethren, then do you know how many of such lions in the world today that would have tore you apart? But God said to them, ‘this is my child, touch him not; this is my anointed, touch him not.’ Hallelujah!
Do you know how many times this year, brethren, God has given another person as ransom in your place? In Isaiah 43:3, the Bible says, “I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee“; do you know how many people God has given for us as ransom? People wanted to sift you as wheat to make you the sacrifice and God said that’s my son, you can’t use him, you can’t use her.
We heard many testimonies this year, people will come and say, “Oh, they said this one is a child of God, drop him, you can’t use him,” and those people, do you think they just go alone? They go and look for another person, they use another person, that’s the ransom, that’s the replacement. Do you know how many times this year God has saved us from that? Do you know how many times God has stirred us away from calamity, something that would have become big problems for us.
In Hosea 13:14, the Bible says, I will ransom them from the power of the grave and I will redeem them from death; He says He will ransom from the power of the grave. Hallelujah! I will share one; sometime last year I was going to go out for an event. I was sick but I wanted to force myself to go, so I went early in the morning to the doctor so that I could get medication to just brace myself up, then I was asked to come back about 2 hours for the results of the test and then medication.
I dressed up for the occasion so that from there I would just go for the event, I dressed up, agbada in the car, but when I got to the hospital I was not the same person that came, I was the one begging, please take me to emergency. Before you know it, I slept in the hospital that day until the second day with my Agbada and all that; now, if I had decided that day that I would go first and then on my way come back to the hospital, something calamitous could have happened.
How many of such has God directed you to ensure that you did the right thing so that something calamitous will not happen to you? Is somebody here going to say thank You Jesus?
There were times that men rose up against you, they want to swallow you, they say is it him alone? They ganged up against you but God did not allow it. Psalm 124: 1 – 8 talks about if the Lord had not been for us, what may Israel say? If it is not the Lord that has kept us, men would have used us but every time they gathered together, every time they wanted to take those decisions, God said it’s either the person that would decide finally did not come or the meeting did not hold or for some reason they could not agree, they would tear apart and say no, not for him, not for her, and then you are released. Many of us do not see these things happen but God has done them only because of His mercy.
Brethren, so we are alive this morning, we are here this morning, we are who we are this morning only because of the mercy of God. That takes me to the second reflection, if indeed it is the mercy of God that has kept us, that has sustained us and continues to sustain us, then there’s this golden question, how well are we using the mercy? How well are you using God’s mercy?
There’s no one that is left in doubt anymore after the first five minutes that we are here because of God’s mercy. From Genesis to Revelation, there’s something that is about God that is very clear to all of us and that thing is that God is a God of purpose. In Psalm 90:1 & 2, the Bible tells us that even before the mountains came to being, God has been God, and in Genesis 1: 1-3, the Bible tells us that in the beginning, God created heaven and earth. So the mountains were part of the creation and the mountains came after Genesis 1, it means God existed before that time.
And the Bible tells us also in that passage, verses 1 & 2, saying that the earth was without form and everywhere was dark. So God was there, everything was dark but it was only after a time He decided that He wanted to create the world and He decided that because there was a purpose. God does not do anything if there is no purpose for it, that’s the point I’m trying to make, God is a God of purpose, and whenever God does anything because He’s a God of purpose, He also expects reactions, He expects us to elicit certain responses to his purpose in our lives.
I’ll give you a few examples; in Matthew 25, a man was traveling to a far country, he called his servants and gave them gifts, the Bible says according to their several abilities and after they got the gifts, the man went immediately. He didn’t tell them any other thing in that passage, he just gave them gifts and left. I’m traveling. When will you come back? He didn’t say, “How will you come back?” He didn’t say, “What should we do with the gifts?” He didn’t say.
But when he came back, the Bible tells us the first thing he did was he called them to say, tell me what you did with the gifts; the implication of that is that he may not say it but God has expectations of the gifts and the mercy and the grace and all the totality of the blessings He has given to us. God has expectations, so the question we must answer is how are we using them?
There’s also another parable of the gift of the fig tree in Luke 13; there was a man, owner of a vineyard who employed a keeper to keep the fig tree. After one year he came, no fruit; two years, he came, no fruit; three years, he came, no fruit, he said cut it down, is wasting resources. But I thought the fig was just there to beautify the place and give shade and all of that, but he was expecting something from the fig tree. So the purpose of God, if He’s not finding the response that He expects, He cuts down the tree.
Brethren, this morning, the mercy God has given to us, God expects a response from us- certain response from us for His mercy, and by the grace of God, we’ll not be like that fig tree in the mighty name of Jesus. As a matter of fact, the keeper of that fig tree then begged and said please give us one more year and let us see, if it does not improve then you can cut it. The keeper in this case is Jesus Christ interceding before the Father for us, saying please give another time. Brethren, God has given us extension of time many years, again saying give another time, but are we benefiting from His mercy?
So, how do we benefit? How do we use this mercy? First, you must live a life of purpose. Because there is a purpose behind keeping you today, there is something God has in mind while you are still alive, there’s something God expects each and every one of us to do and it is not just our secular job going to the office and coming back, it’s not getting promoted, it’s not just building houses, it’s not just traveling all over the world, we must therefore seek the face of God and say God please, I am alive today, I know You are a God of purpose, please why have You kept me? Because He will ask one day, so we need to go and ask Him why have You kept me so that I can do what I need to do.
God can help you to find that purpose if you go to Him. There’s a story of Saul in Acts 7 & 8, the Bible says when they were killing Stephen, it was Paul that they gathered all the clothes to, so he was actively in support, he was an apprentice then. But by the time we got to Acts 8, Saul had become the leader of a gang, the Bible says he was going from house to house bringing out Christian men and women and destroying them, persecuting the church.
Then he was going on another mission in Acts 9 and God called him and said oga, the reason I created you was not to destroy the church but to build it. There’s someone here this morning, God will reveal to you the purpose of your life in the mighty name of Jesus.
The other thing brethren, is that when you are living God’s purpose for your life, you will attract mercy. When you are living in purpose, the mercy of God will come to you. Moses in Exodus 2, something witnessed to him that he was to be a deliverer, so when he saw an Egyptian maltreating an Israelite, he went, came in between and killed the Egyptian. Yes, you are meant to be a deliverer but not a killer, so he ran away, he went to Midian, the Bible says he fled Egypt.
I asked a question, is it that Pharaoh did not have machinery to go and retrieve Moses from where he was? No. But God kept him for a purpose because God knew this guy was zealous, only that he didn’t know what he should do. But the same Moses, God brought him back and he became the deliverer.
Brethren, if you are already in the purpose of God but maybe you are not doing it well, God can give you mercy so that the people who are looking to hack you, they will not be able to in the mighty name of Jesus.
Abuse of purpose is one way to incure God’s wrath; if however when you know the purpose and you abuse it, it can only attract the wrath of God. In Luke 12:3-21, there’s a story of a man who had an abundance, overflowing blessing. And the man said yes, I’ll go to town, it’s almost Christmas, I’ll buy new cars, buy new vehicles, build new houses, travel all over the place, this is my plan.
Brethren, the Bible says to us, before that day was over God said his soul shall be requested of him and God took him. Why? Because he abused the purpose of why God gave him that privilege. That will not be our testimony in the name of Jesus. So the Lord Almighty will reveal to us the purpose of our lives, He will give us mercy to enter and walk in purpose in the mighty name of Jesus.
When your purpose is fulfilled, when purpose is fulfilled, then you don’t have need for mercy again and I will explain that; the mercy keeps us every day, every now and then, but when somebody is here for a purpose and your purpose is completed, God doesn’t need you here again, so the mercy that we need is while we are here on this side of the divide, once we fulfill our purpose in life, God says yes, now you can come and then there’s no more need for mercy. But until then, as long as we are here, we all need the mercy of God and that mercy you will find in the mighty name of Jesus.
I’d like to ask a few questions, how are we using the mercy that God has given to us, we surely need mercy and God will give us that mercy.
There are a few things that we can do that will help us to sustain and maximize this mercy of God; we must be merciful to the people around us. In Luke 6:32-36 and Matthew 5:7, the Bible says, blessed are the merciful because they shall receive mercy; then Luke 6 says, if you are only good to those who are good to you, of what use is that? Let us spread mercy particularly in this time to those people who are needy, to those people who are less privileged, to those people who need support and help. Let’s show the mercy of the Lord Almighty.
Number two, you must position yourself in such a way that you are available to receive God’s mercy. What do I mean? Hebrews.1:9, the Bible says, “God has loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, he has clothed and anointed you with all of gladness above your fellows. If you are doing what God likes, which is righteousness, and you stay away from what He hates, which is iniquity, His mercy will be available.
So, how do you do what God likes? Don’t let sin reign in your bodies, Romans 6:12-13; don’t let sin reign in your mortal body. Don’t say yes to sin, say no to sin at all times, although you are under the grace, don’t abuse the grace of God. Romans 6: 1 & 2, shall we say because there is grace, sin shall abound? The Bible says no. Because you have grace, because you have mercy, should you continue to live in sin? No.
You are a servant of righteousness, God has bought us with a price and that price is the blood of Jesus, so we become His servant by reason of that purchase, so let us live in righteousness so that we are positioned to attract God’s mercy.
And I put here also, pay your vows. Something witness to me there are many people who make vows to God, if you keep me to the end of this year, if you keep me to December, if I see another birthday, if I receive this contract, if I do this, I will do that, but as soon as those things happen, we start negotiating with God, God, I didn’t really mean it when I said it. Brethren, if you make a vow with God, please pay your vows.
Psalm 66: 13 & 14, the Bible says, I will go into your house with burnt offerings: I will pay you my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth has spoken, when I was in trouble. If you make any vow to God, please make sure you pay those vows so that His mercy will continually abound with us in the mighty name of Jesus. Praise the living Jesus!
Now, there are people who will say, “I don’t necessarily need God’s mercy,” is that true? If there is no mercy, the following things will happen; there will be no forgiveness of sins, and if there’s no forgiveness of sins, judgment is due, and if judgment is due, James 2:13 says if there’s no mercy, then is judgment,” and in Psalm 130:3, the Bible tells us, “If the Lord should mark iniquity, who can stand?”
So if there’s no mercy and there’s no forgiveness of sins and the wrath of God comes, who can stand His wrath. So we all need God’s mercy. Hallelujah!1 Let us not entertain the fact that oh, it’s not mercy, it is mercy that has kept us and it is mercy that continues to hold us in the mighty name of Jesus. No woman, no man ideally can live without God’s mercy.
In summary, I would like to conclude with the lyrics of a hymn; another year has rolled by, brethren, it’s just 17 days to the end of year 2025 and if the Lord tarries, I’m trusting God that all of us will be here together for crossover night in the mighty name of Jesus. The time flies so quickly, when did we start January 1? This year which is to pass by, it may be the last for some, but you will continue to enjoy His mercy.
(Next line) It is His mercy that has kept us true, it is the mercy that we enjoy. How have we been benefited? How have we used that mercy? Is a question that’s before us this morning, if you have not been using the mercy, you have not been living in purpose, it is the time to go before God even as everybody now at this point of time in the year, you are planning for the next year, can you also plan your life with God and begin to seek His face? Why are You keeping me? Why have You kept me? What do You need me to do for You? And we should ask Him, are we prepared? Paradventure we are called home this year, paradventure He says your work is done, paradventure He says that the purpose is completed, are we prepared for it?
Brethren, the challenge before us this morning is find purpose, live in purpose and walk with God in righteousness and the Lord will uphold you in the mighty name of Jesus.
So as people and organizations are planning for the end of the year, it is important that we also bring our spiritual lives into perspective. The mercy that you receive every day, how well are you using it? The saints of old, where are they today? Because a time will come when we complete our jobs, mercy will not be available again and then we go.
Where is John the Baptist? Where is Abraham? God’s mercy is available to all mankind, there’s a level of mercy that’s available to all; Matthew 5:45 tells us the sun shines on everybody, both the wicked and the righteous; when it rains, it doesn’t spare anyone, both the wicked and the righteous, but there’s a deeper level of mercy that’s only available to His children.
For example, in Matthew 15: 25- 26, there was a woman that went to Jesus Christ and said, ‘please give me bread for my children, my daughter is ill, please come and help.’ And Jesus Christ said this that you are asking for is only for the children, is not for dogs. So brethren, what that says is that there are levels of mercy, there’s a mercy that’s for everybody. Yes, we are alive, but there’s a deeper level of mercy that is only kept for the children of God.
So by the grace of God before we pray, I’d like to call on people this morning; you want to benefit from this extra special mercy of the Lord, apart from just living, waking and sleeping every day, you want to experience God in a different way, you want to live a life of purpose, you want to do the will of God and make Him happy, you want to accept Him as Lord and Savior, if you didn’t know Him before now…
Don’t forget it is the mercy of God and it is only God that has a prerogative to give that mercy, what if He takes the mercy away? You want to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you want to surrender your life to Him this morning…
[Altar call]
Let’s begin to give thanks to God, let us thank God for His faithfulness, let us thank God for His mercy, let us thank God for His grace upon our lives. Let us thank God for the promise of a better tomorrow, let us thank the Lord Almighty for He will help us to find purpose and fulfill purpose in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You heavenly Father, in Jesus mighty name we have given thanks.
So I want us to pray again and say Father, according to Your word, it is Your mercy that sustains me and there’s a purpose why You have kept me, please reveal to me Your purpose for my life. The reason why You have kept me alive, the reason why You have kept me to today, Father please reveal it to me and give me the grace to live in me in purpose in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You heavenly Father, in Jesus mighty name we prayed.
We’re going to pray again and say Father, please open my eyes, show me where I fit into Your plan, give me the grace to do it, give me the grace to plug in into Your plan for my life in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You heavenly Father, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
There are many occasions brethren, without a doubt that some of us, if not all of us at one time or the other have abused the mercy, something God has done or something God wants to do but we do not act or we do not key in abusing His mercy, but this day by the mercy of God, God will forgive us in the name of Jesus.
So we’re going to ask and say Father, in any way that I have abused Your mercy in the past, please forgive me. Forgive me, oh Lord, every way that I have abused Your mercy in the past, please forgive me in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You heavenly Father, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Finally, we’ve heard this word this morning, it is His mercy that keeps us, it’s by His mercy that we are alive. How are we using this mercy? I propose in my heart that from today I will use Your mercy to fulfill Your purpose for my life, what about you? So, we are going to say to the Lord, Father, from today I purpose in my heart, I will use this mercy to fulfill Your purpose for my life in the mighty name of Jesus.
