PREACHED @ THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD ONITSHA BY APOSTLE PETER ODOEMENA THE SON OF MAN “The righteous judge” ON SUNDAY 20TH JANUARY, 2019
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IS NOT THE VOICE OF GOD. IF GOD HAS NOT SPOKEN, NOBODY HAS SPOKEN. If the voice of the people is the Voice of God, will anybody be alive till today? So, you do not die because somebody said you will die. The only Being that can say that you will die and it
will be so is The LORD God Almighty. If the devil proclaims that you will die, you are not going to die. If a human being declares so, it is nonsense. The only One you should be afraid of making such proclamation on you is The LORD God Almighty. If God speaks evil concerning you, do not ever sleep nor let it lie low. Do not ever play until the LORD has cancelled it, otherwise, it will come to pass. The will of God must surely come to pass.
RECEIVE NOT THE GRACE OF GOD IN VAIN VOLUME 1; Preached on Sunday, 20th May, 2018; Pg. 32 vs. 82 – 84
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I DO EVERYTHING AFTER THE COUNSEL OF MY OWN WILL
1. You are welcome to His presence. SONG: [Now the Lord has come to take His saints away on the glorious day, on the glorious day, will you go with Him is a life question for you, answer My dear brethren. Answer, My dear brethren.]
2. Put off this fan, let Me know what is causing this nonsense. There is nothing wrong with the microphone. There is nothing wrong with the PA system. The battery is weak. If you have no battery, order for batteries.
3. Last week, I used My blood to power the microphone and you allowed it without changing it this morning. Now you have remembered you have new batteries.
4. We allow ourselves to be used by the Devil. Any spirit you yield yourself to is the spirit that will control you. We allow many things to take the place of the Word of God in our hearts and we come here as empty barrels to perform miracle that does not exist. Worship starts from your bed; from your home. And if you are a seed of God, you are constantly in worship.
5. Nobody goes for break. There is no break in serving the LORD. Whether you are sleeping, you are serving the LORD. You are eating, you are serving the LORD. That is why the joy of your salvation is always there.
6. But if you are just following us for following sake, maybe because you think it is a new Faith and you are hearing what you have not heard before; or you have seen an orator who can speak eloquently; of all men, you will be the most miserable.
7. Pastor Chizoba! Can you please rush to the pulpit immediately and read your writing, if it is your own? Read! Mention the names of all you wrote there. If you hear your name, if you are here, at the end of the fellowship, go to Brother Chibouk and collect your identity card, duly signed by the Son of Man in His own hand.
8. If you get there and your own is not there but your name appeared here, know that the Son of Man withheld it because you are unworthy to collect it. It may be released with time, that is if I see enough evidence. But where I do not see enough evidence, it will go into oblivion.
9. If your name never appeared at all there, wait for it. It may be in the second batch. After all, no higher institution publishes all admissions at the same time.
10. It is not over until you hear that the admission is over. Even after matriculation, admission continues. But it gives joy for one to see his name in the first list, second list or third list.
11. To go for shopping is not a good thing because what you want to shop for may not be there. You may hear, “It is out of stock.” So, I do not want you to be among those that will be doing shopping. Shopping means try-your-luck, peradventure you will succeed.
12. So, if you hear your name, after the fellowship, go there and collect your ID card. If you hear your name and you get there, only to be told, “It is not with us”, know that the Son of Man withheld it. Yes!
13. There is no examination body that does not withhold results. It does not mean that the student did not pass, but the Board of Examiners are querying something. Sometimes, the papers might be cancelled outrightly.
14. The same way, certificates that are issued in error can be cancelled and withdrawn at any time it is discovered that it was issued fraudulently or the recipient was awarded the certificate in error. It will be cancelled and withdrawn, made public so that it will become a useless paper in the hand of the holder.
15. So, that you are holding the ID card today does not mean eternal life because it can be withdrawn. It can be cancelled because if I have reasons to believe that you were recommended to the Son of Man in error or you used man-know-man or any other means to get your name there in the manifest, definitely I will cancel it.
16. This is because I know your sons and daughters are the people working for Me in the secretariat. And I know that many of them are in sympathy with their parents and with some of their friends because, I have been receiving too many calls from many of you. And I believe that there is no other way you could know about it if not through your children who are working in the secretariat.
17. If there is any microphone open there, switch it off immediately.
18. And to the boys and girls working in the secretariat, let Me tell you, you are infants. From now, take note, if you divulge official information, you will be summarily dismissed. It is a serious crime for you to let out any official information without authorization.
19. If you are not authorized to give out that information, do not ever go there, even if your parents are involved, do your work, close your mouth.
20. Do not go home to ask your parents or to tell them that of all the lists you saw, you never saw their names. Must their names be there?
21. The same way I warn Pastor Thomas to stop entertaining questions on matters he does not have the capacity to handle. I do not know the way brethren are seeing Pastor Thomas.
22. Pastor Thomas is not above any Brother here. He is as common as any other person is common to the Son of Man. I am using him because he is the closest around where I am living. Any other person can be used in different forms.
23. I am equally using him because he is readily available and willing to work, willing to obey and he is equally transparent. But if I notice that he is too open-mouthed and he has started to arrogate to himself powers he does not possess, by entertaining questions that are beyond his capacity, I will remove him straight away.
24. In the office, do you know that you cannot grant any press interview. No matter how vast you are with your office, the routines and everything, it is prohibited.
25. You cannot divulge anything to the public without authorization and the authorization must be in writing. If you dare attempt it, you will be summarily dismissed without benefits.
26. You have no right to entertain any question that is beyond your capacity. You refer it to the appropriate quarters, for I have noticed that some wicked dogs, treacherous men and women here have started misinterpreting the whole thing.
27. If you are of the opinion or you received any information relating to you, to your family or any other, do not run helter-skelter while I am here. Gather courage if you want to clear it with Me. Do not begin to ask silly questions here and there.
28. How is this thing done? Is it true that some people are favoured and some are not favoured? Is there any balloting going on? How do you select people?
29. These are irrelevant questions. Why must you talk to those people when you do not have the capacity? Why should you, as a brother or sister, entertain the question when you do not know what is happening?
30. I asked the Pastor, “Were you consulted by the Son of Man?” You are just seeing things for seeing sake like others. Do you know what prompted them?
31. This is because I do everything after the counsel of My own will. What I have in mind, you do not know. I never consulted you. I never discussed with you as it has always been My manner. I know things I can discuss with human beings. I know things that are My own exclusive reserve.
32. Check if IK Ezindu is there. Withhold it. He does not merit it for now. I was told he made a call and was enquiring about the reason why he was invited and everything.
33. And that he said, “I have heard”, I do not know who told him, “That Son of Man wants to ordain me a Pastor. If that is the case, in that ID card, put my designation, Pastor.” Who are you instructing? He is instructing the person who is chatting with him, and not the Son of Man.
34. The information later came to Me and I said “Ok! No problem. Let Me verify whether his name is actually there. If it is there, withhold it.”
35. By withholding I mean, let Me have them at the end of the service. They are going to My house. They will be in My own strong room where no prying eyes can get to.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The secret of abiding with God is abiding in His Love. Abiding in His Love means nothing but obeying His instructions. That is all. You cannot be disobedient and still claim to have the Love of God. Once you are disobedient and rebellious, God will run away from you, because you are living against yourself. Although you will be coming to Church clapping your hands and praising God, your praises are abomination before God. This is because no deception is from God. Anybody that is living in disobedience, not abiding in God’s Love, you are disobeying God’s instructions, you are stubborn and rebellious, though you go to Fellowship every day, sacrificing the sacrifice of your lips, whatever you are doing is useless-nonsense.
NO DECEPTION IS OF THE TRUTH VOLUME 2; Preached On Sunday, 28th January 2001; Pg. 66 vs. 39 – 41
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TRUTH MUST REMAIN TRUTH
1. All of you that went to Umuahia yesterday, let Me say, “Welcome to you.” You went to Umudike to feast with Sister Umezuluike and the family. I appreciate it. You did kindly but you acted stupidly.
2. There are many ways God can try you. There are many ways God can try you. If He had not spoken to you, He will not be trying you.
3. God said, “No matter who the person might be, as long as he uses My name to pass instruction, do not obey until you get clearance from Me.” Is it true? Good.
4. If you do not get clearance and you begin to act, you may not know when you are hanging yourself. It is scriptural.
5. God said He will allow false prophets to prophesy, and allow what they prophesied to come to pass but He will now inspire them to lead you to another god to know whether you are sincere to Me.
6. Do you think Sister could have organized anything in her house without the Son of Man being the first port of call? If she tries it, ignoring Me, of course, you know what I will do. I will scatter everything. Everybody will be on the run.
7. You were My witnesses the day we went to Inland Town to rally round Sister Egbuna when her junior sister was given to marriage. I gave My Word. They begged Me to hold the weather for them.
8. I did everything there on the condition that the moment I arrive there, look at what I will be expecting. Keep Me busy. Let Me be munching something and do not keep Me inside the house, I want to remain outside.
9. I went somewhere with some Brethren. I think that was in Lagos, during the dedication of My granddaughter, the second one. Brethren were anxious, together with everybody because it was during the rainy season, that I should get inside to enable them serve us.
10. I said, “No, I have My reason for staying outside because if I dare go inside to sit down, the rain must surely come down. But I am still outside sitting down. Serve Me drink. Serve Me food there at the corridor. There can never be anything drizzling.”
11. Did it fulfill to the letter? The cloud became dark. Brethren were wondering what was happening. I said, “Panic not. Brother Ojiakor, serve Me wine more. As long as I am here, sitting down at this corridor with one leg up, forget about to rain.”
12. So, when we got to inland town, Sister Egbuna and her people; because the whole of Ikpeazu, they can stand up for Me in life or in death. So I am not a stranger there. They are not strangers to Me.
13. They were rejoicing that I came, but they did not please Me. They never kept Me busy with something. I continued shouting and shouting. The thing became very much over-delayed.
14. I summoned Deacon Vin, “Get your vehicle ready. Brethren! Change your positions. I am scattering this wedding. Both Onitsha and the people that came from Awka, everybody must run now. You see this canopies, I will tear them into shreds.”
15. The whole Brethren were looking at Me. They thought I was joking. I left My seat. Bro Tony Egbuna, the husband, heard about it, rushed to Me and knelt down. I said, “No! It is too late.” I looked up and looked down, waved My hand and a mighty wind came. While the mighty wind came, before their eyes the whole canopies were scattered from left and right.
16. They thought I was kidding. Brethren were on the run. Deacon Vin had already pulled the vehicle around and it was a torrential downpour. The heaviest that year. The whole road got flooded.
17. Hurriedly, they were packing those things they could have given Me under normal condition. They packed all of them inside the booth and I said, “Deacon Vin, carry them home. It is too late. I have scattered everything. Let them sue Me to court.”
18. What am I trying to say? I give God the glory for all of you that went there and came back safely, but be it known to you that you all went there in naked disobedience. Not even one obtained My permission. I permitted Sister to invite as many as she wanted from among us, starting from Umuahia.
19. Two days to the day, I told her I was not coming and my wife was not coming. I gave her reasons.
20. She enquired whether she could continue to extend her invitations and I said, “You are free. I gave you a blank cheque.”
21. I then asked questions that made her to know where I was heading to. “From the day, you went to Umudike became a tenant in a house, you did everything to make Me come to your house to consecrate it or to know the door leading to your house. Did you see My leg?” She said, “No!”
22. You started constructing your house. I stood behind you in all the troubles until you completed it and did everything. You have been inviting Me for over four years. Have you ever seen My legs? Yet I visit Umudike, cross your house and go everywhere because My students are there. Apart from My children, I have others.
23. If I want to know your house, it will be on a clean platform. It cannot be on this. This is another platform altogether.
24. Now, to you that found it convenient, answer Me this question, since you think I am crazy. Did you know that her husband died? Did you hear that her husband died? The chief judge in charge of Enugu State? If the answer is yes, what hindered you from attending his burial?
25. If he was in the Faith and later left, for that reason you did not go, were there no time when the children were in the Faith? Even this one’s that got married, were they now in the Faith? Did Sister remarry? Why did you not go there that time for the sake of Sister since she is a Sister in the Faith? That is number one.
26. Number two: Were you not alive and you are still alive when Pastor Ugo married his wife at Nsukka? Have you forgotten what transpired? When something that has never happened in the history of Igbo land happened, and it has become a reference point?
27. Have you forgotten the trouble I took, although I did not identify with it and that made it easier for Me to control it? Because if I had been there, the matters would have been worse. Everybody would have gone home with the notion that I was behind it.
28. But for the fact that I was conspicuously absent; My wife, absent; for we said, “No!” No marriage can be contracted that way. Although the father was late, there were still people in the village. Even if there is no house, let it be contracted in the open air. And when the people came from Abia State, the father of Brother Ugo stood up against it and walked away.
29. It was during the wedding and during the burial of late Elder Davidson that I corrected that error. Are you not living witnesses? You were all there. How can I condemn it at Nsukka and justify it at Umuahia because Sister is involved? Who is Sister? Is Sister above the truth?
30. I do not care whether the villagers came to Umuahia or not. If they came, they came in error. They came because the power was at Umuahia.
31. REMEMBER WHAT I TOLD YOU AND I STILL MAINTAIN IT THAT GOD WILL FOREVER CONDEMN ANY WOMAN THAT HAS A MASCULINE DISPOSITION. MASCULINE DOMINEERING SPIRIT OR DISPOSITION. NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO, TRUTH MUST REMAIN TRUTH. AND TRUTH MUST SURELY COME OUT AT LAST.
32. It was that marriage that was erroneously contracted at Nsukka that polarized the problem that existed in Ikwuagwu’s family. But I thank God that today, I have become a member of that family.
33. But I did not just walk into it. I first of all, did a ground work by putting things right, bringing everybody to restoration to mercy.
34. I told Sister plainly, “The most important thing is not this your so called marriage and things like that. The most important thing is to turn the hearts of your children to Christ.”
35. This is now your era. The time of your husband is over. If you are only jubilating that you are only their mother when you are protecting them in falsehood, you will be the worse mother in the end. This is your opportunity to give them conditions by which motherhood will now be established, for it is your turn to reign.
36. When you comfort somebody in evil, evil will increase. I hope you are hearing Me. My prodigal child cannot give Me conditions for reconciliation.
37. I am the one that will give that prodigal son My conditions, “You want this thing; You want to marry, I am your mother. I know that without me, the villagers will not hear you. Now this is my turn. This is the ground where I can listen to you. Period!”
38. All of you that went, you went because you are being controlled by your appetites which you cannot even subdue. That was the reason, even some that called Me, called Me when they were on the way. They said, “We have decided to go and then, we want to inform you. We are now on the way.” Do you want Me to call you back? Go in peace, finish. I switched off.
39. So, not even one cared to verify whether I was the one that gave the instruction that My Name should be attached to the invitation. They are gluttons. They are people that are controlled by their stomach and I know who they are.
40. Be very careful that you do not become another Esau who, because of a morsel of bread, sold his birthright.
41. MAYBE YOU DO NOT KNOW THAT IT IS AN ABOMINATION FOR YOU TO GIVE HANDSHAKE TO ENEMIES OF THE FAITH. IS IT NOT SCRIPTURAL?
42. I MEAN, IF YOU BID THEM GOD SPEED HANDSHAKE, YOU BECOME A PARTAKER OF THEIR EVIL. IF I AM A DEVIL TO YOU, YOU ARE EQUALLY A DEVIL TO ME.
43. SO, THERE IS NO WAY GOD CAN ATTEND ANY PARTY, ANY CEREMONY WHERE THE DEVIL INVITED HIM TO RIDICULE HIM OR TO FIGHT. NO!
44. YOU ARE A DEVIL BECAUSE OF THE FAITH BUT WHEN IT COMES TO MERRIMENT, EATING AND DRINKING, YOU BECOME GOD. IT THEN MEANS, YOU ARE STUPID. YOU ARE BLIND. YOU ARE POOR. YOU ARE MISERABLE AND YOU KNOW IT NOT.
45. A BLASPHEMER IS A BLASPHEMER. UNTIL A BLASPHEMER REPENTS, THE SON OF MAN HAS NO DEALING WITH A BLASPHEMER. GOD MADE IT CLEAR, “YOU CANNOT MOCK GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT.”
46. Remember what God said through the mouth of William Braham, “If you say you are a child of God, the spirit of God operating in you and you love whatever God hates, you are a blasphemer, and God will never hold you guiltless for blaspheming His name.” Amen.
47. You remember what I told you concerning My family, and you are all witnesses that I have never for one day shrunk from doing it. That if I say I am excluding the heathens, placing them where they belong to, they have no say.
48. If I could not compromise even when My father died and My mother died, I surrendered My whole house into your hand. My people were coming to you to beg food, beg anything and not even one walked into the store or anywhere or to take food anywhere.
49. They were depending on you. You were in control throughout, dictating. And I had peace. Even when they were complaining, I did not even pay attention.
50. How can you stand and see people blaspheming your Faith and then you begin tomorrow to associate with such people? You can associate with them with reasons best known to you. Count Me out.
51. If I should have dealings with Umezulike’s I know where My dealings will stop. I know My limitation.
52. That is why God said in one our Messages, “MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT GO BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES WHERE GOD’S LOVE WILL REACH AND BLESS YOU.” And I also gave you a Message, “BE SURE YOU DO NOT EXCEED THE OLD BOUNDARY MARK.” We have it. True or false? Good!
53. Hear Me very well, as far as I live and God liveth I still maintain that stand, “Have not the Faith of Christ with respect of persons. God is no respecter of persons. Stand up for the truth. Stamp it hard and that is the only way you can save people in this generation. But any day you begin to compromise, you make the Word of God of none effect. No matter how you paint it.”
54. I do not care what you bring to Me, while it is still in your hand, I will tell you, “Hold it and stand there. Hear Me first.” So that if I am collecting it from you, you will know the condition. You will know the ground where I am collecting it.
55. Otherwise, tomorrow you may be bragging that you showed Me favour. Favour how? You must hear Me first. And if I do not speak to you, your sacrifices can hardly be made acceptable. Amen.
56. If you refuse to attend the burial ceremony or even to pay condolence visit simply because you felt he withdrew from the Faith, you called him a blasphemer and this time around, marriage has erased the blasphemy, you are as guilty as guilty can be in the sight of God. If I do not speak My mind which is the mind of Christ on this matter, My Maker will take Me away.
57. THE REASON WHY CORRUPTION CAN HARDLY BE CHECKED IS BECAUSE THOSE THAT ARE IN AUTHORITY TO CHECK CRIMES ARE RESPECTING THEIR COLLEAGUES IN THE IVORY TOWERS WHO ARE THE PEOPLE PERPETRATING IT. IS IT NOT TRUE? THAT IS WHY I AM ALWAYS IN FRONT. IF I MUST USE EXAMPLE, I WILL USE MYSELF.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
It is the Word that Pastors the flock. Apart from the Word of God, you can never feed the flock. TEND, NURTURE, GUARD, GUIDE, AND FEED THE FLOCK. This is your responsibility. For God always has the point He is looking at every Minister. Every Minister has a calling, has a responsibility conferred on him by Almighty God. If he fails, it is because he failed in his responsibility. If he stands, it is because he stands in his responsibility. If any minister wants to stand firmly, he should stand on his responsibility, he should look at the area God wants him to perform. This is the Pastoral work. Every other Minister has his own function, a responsibility, directive, function by God who ordained him. For when God gives a man an office, He gives him a function, He gives him a responsibility. No matter whatever happens, God is looking at us from that point.
ORDINATION OF PASTORS VOLUME 2; Preached on Sunday 1st April 2018; Pg. 104 vs. 7 – 9
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A HOLY AND HIGH CALLING
1. To God be the glory. Listen to your names first. I KNOW THE CLOUD IS HERE. I deliberately invoked the Cloud. I have My reasons. I have My reasons. Go ahead. Be fast. Sister Ogochukwu Ikwuagwu, Apostle Kelechi Uwakwe, Deacon Onyia John, Elder Phinehas, Sister Monday Patience, Brother Oliver Ugwuja, Sister Ngozi Ugwuja, Sister Onyia Obiageri, Sister Ogonna Kelechi. Please all these people that are outside Onitsha, let the Ministers note their names.
2. We will arrange and forward their ID cards to them. And this goes to show you that it is not a light thing for God to neglect somebody who is sitting in His presence and remember somebody who is in Jos or Kaduna, who does not know that something like that is taking place.
3. I know you had ID cards in time past signed by your pastors. It is different from the one I signed. It is different from the one I am issuing. But at the end of the day, I may issue a general ID cards through your pastors. That is, I may.
4. Sister Oleri Folashade. Sister Mary Uwakwe, Sister Comfort James, Evangelist Ben Okezue, Pastor James Gambo, Bishop John Ezemachiri, Pastor Daniel Nwadike.
5. Who is Sister Comfort James? Who could be that person? Who knows that person? You do not know your name? I do not know her with the name Comfort James but comfort Nnachor.
6. However, you did well. Let your husband continue searching [Nnachor]. Apostle Ayuba Abu, Pastor Samuel Mwantu, Pastor Ukpong Joseph, Sister Ozioma Ukaejiofor, Pastor Abel Adams, Sister Ugwu Esther, Deacon Udo Samuel, Dr. (Mrs.) Elizabeth Ngozi, Sister Udo Grace, Elder Dike, Sister Alhatu Sabo, Deacon Sabo Gambo, Elder Godwin Chimaobi, Apostle Odoemena Chukwudi.
7. Elder Godwin Chimaobi Onyebuenyi. Who could that person be? Ugoala. What? He changed his name without telling Me? Were they telling you new names over the phone? You used the data they sent. Okay.
8. Sister Mwantu Anita, Deacon Mbah David, Brother Chinedu Udochukwu, Apostle Monday Iyobebe, Apostle Akachukwu Ogueri. Who could be that? What did you write? Apostle Akachukwu Ogueri. You are no longer Okey Oleri?
9. Brother Ezindu Ikechukwu, Deacon Mike Emmanuel, Sister Dickson Charity, Deacon Sunday Samuel Chukwu, Sister Ifejirika Dara, Evangelist Benjamin Elisha, Sister Ojiakor Ijeoma, Sister Mbah Ngozi Ekwutosi, Pastor Chibuzo Victor IKwuagwu, Sister Ikechukwu Happiness, Sister Ojiakor Idimmachineke Joy, Sister Onyia Mary, Sister Alice Onyema Ukpong, Deacon Vincent Chinedu Obidimma, Pastor Rotimi Akintan, Elder Ihejirika Loveday, Elder Ofurum Ferdinand, Brother Ogbuka Joseph, Sister Onuoha Blessing Chiamaka, Sister Isaac Otuok. Is that all? That is the much we have now. Okay. But there are some other names.
10. Like I told you earlier, no higher institution offers and publishes the whole admitted students at the same time. So, periodically, you will be hearing your names. All that heard their names here this morning, go there after fellowship, collect your ID cards.
11. But if get there and you are told that your ID card is not with them, while your name appeared this morning, know that the Son of Man withheld it.
12. Call the following names also. Brother Chizoba come forward. Apostle Kelechi, can you please rush to this place. Apostle Ojiakor follow him immediately. Continue. Brother Chikere from Obingwa.
13. If you hear your name, proceed to this place immediately. Brother Oliver from Enugu Ezike. Brother Joseph Ogbuka from Nsukka. Brother Sunny Chukwu, Nsukka. Brother Ikechukwu Ezindu, Mbaise. Brother David Mbah from Umudike. Brother Emmanuel Innah from Cross River. Deacon Emma Umundu, Nsukka.
14. Enugu Ezike is the only one missing. Maybe he is on his way, though I have never heard from him. Okay. Ordain 1, 2, 3 [Bro Chikere, Bro IK Ezindu and Bro Emmanuel Innah] Pastors over their households. Ordain this two [Brother Joe Ogbuka and Deacon Emma Umundu], Evangelist and Elder.
15. The first and only Elder from Nsukka. I have found him faithful all these years. He has been with us from the very beginning. In his office as a Deacon he never caused trouble for one day. He has never been excommunicated. Very humble, loyal and he has always been taking right decisions. He does not talk much.
16. Ordain these two [Bro Sunny Chukwu and Bro David Mbah], Deacons. As Deacons, you are to protect the Faith. That is the summary. Nobody here is a novice. So, you can never be puffed up with pride.
17. [To Elder Emma] You as an Elder. Continue with your work. [To Evangelist Joe Ogbuka] You love talking, now talking has come. You love writing. Writing has come. Your duty is to carry the Good News to all the ends of the earth. First, preach to yourself.
18. [To the newly ordained Pastors] You are to be the husband man of your Local Assemblies, beginning with your own nuclear families.
19. If you can pastor your wives to obey you, the congregation will obey you. But where you cannot pastor your wives to sit down at your command and stand up at your command, you must lose control of your household. I WISH YOU THE BEST.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
It is because people do not speak the truth again, that is why a sacred institution is being messed up. Young boys rush into marriage without counselling. Our Prophet Branham said that it should be entered advisedly. You must be advised by God. The Word of God must tell you when you are up to a standard, you do not go because others are going; you do not marry because your age grade are marrying. That is the foolishness, all hands are not equal. If your age grade are marrying, and you do not have the capacity to marry, wait, otherwise you mess it up. That is why you see many divorces today….
MARRIAGE – THE OLDEST INSTITUTION ORDAINED BY GOD VOLUME ONE; Preached on 7th November 1993 at Abagana; Pg. 80 vs. 17 – 20
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MARRIAGE: THE OLDEST INSTITUTION ORDAINED OF GOD
1. Now, before I go down, I want you to give Me a little audience. The Cloud will remain here until I am satisfied that I have achieved My aim for today. Any day you see Me here on the first day of a week or any week, I have a target. Once I hit that target, I will recoil and go back to My sit.
2. It dawned on Me that I should talk to you. Everybody, but the young men and young ladies in particular. Parents also, give Me audience.
3. I gave you a Message titled, MARRIAGE: THE OLDEST INSTITUTION ORDAINED OF GOD. As we journeyed along, I made it clear to all and sundry that I will change almost all the Messages except marriage doctrines. They will not be tampered with.
4. I MAY RELAX SOME MEASURES IN SOME AREAS OF LIFE BUT NOT IN MARITAL LIFE, FOR THAT IS WHERE LIFE TOOK OFF.
5. It has become clear to Me that I should help you to know the basic truth that informs marriage and All worth not that is associated with marriage.
6. One thing is to desire to marry, another thing is to have the capacity. Remember I gave you the three Cs and one I: CAPACITY, CAPABILITY, CREDIBILITY AND INTELLIGENCE. If I want to speak on capacity, we will not go today.
7. The reason why we are having problems in marriage in many families is because marriage was entered into without considering these basic four necessary ingredients.
8. People that never had the capacity entered into it. People that were not capable to be husbands or to be wives enrolled into it. People that had no credibility over-flooded it. People without intelligence made matters worse.
9. Hence, the society is in a mess. These four fundamentals have nothing to do with your academic attainment.
10. Let Me tell you, marriage is grossly abused among the academia more than the illiterates. Yes or no? Marriage is grossly abused by the academia. They call themselves the intelligentsia, but they are not intelligent. ANY INTELLIGENCE THAT CANNOT MAKE YOU TO BE GODLY IS FROM THE DEVIL.
11. CAPACITY, CAPABILITY, CREDIBILITY, INTELLIGENCE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR ACADEMIC ATTAINMENT. THE GREATEST NUMBER OF DIVORCE CASES CAN BE TRACED TO THE ACADEMIA.
12. THE GREATEST NUMBER OF POLYGAMISTS ARE FOUND AMONG THE ACADEMIA. PROMINENT AMONG THEM ARE THE SO CALLED LEARNED MEN AND LEARNED WOMEN.
13. I do not want to speak there, but let Me go straight to what I have. IN A NUT SHELL, THE MOST EXPENSIVE PARTNER, THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING MONEY CAN FETCH FOR A MAN IS A WIFE. A WIFE THAT IS UNDERVALUED MUST BE UNDERRATED.
14. An Igbo adage says that when you remove a tick from the body of a dog, you show it to the dog lest, the dog feels you just pinched it.
15. Oftentimes, I hear from people saying, “Some areas collect high bride price for their daughters, and that is the reason why they are not getting married and things like that.” And I laugh. I laugh because it takes an ignorant fellow to make such a silly statement.
16. Let Me say that the cheapest car, no matter how rickety that car is; the cost of that rickety car in terms of money is by far greater than what we pay to collect a wife.
17. The cost of Keke NAPEP, the cost of a bicycle or motorcycle is by far greater than what we pay to collect a human being that will raise children, raise a family for us.
18. In other words, we rate these things higher than human beings and anything that you rate so cheap, you must never appropriate it.
19. I want parents to open their ears and their eyes so that we begin to see the reality and know the areas where we are making great compromises because we want to. Because we want to.
20. Follow Me as we read this Scriptures GENESIS. Genesis means the beginning. True or false? If we check the man whose marriage was contracted in good fate and that is the man we stand quoting as our ancestor, we will be happy.
21. Follow Me as we to Genesis account, chapter 29 from verse 15 through 31. I may not preach on it. Let me read it and ask you questions and go away. Living Bible.
22. 15Laban said to him one day, “Just because we are relatives is no reason for you to work for me without pay.
23. Brother Ojiakor, pay attention. That we are relations, we are friends does not mean that you will render free service to Me. If I employ you to render services to Me, please feel free and let us discuss the terms and the conditions of service. Is it scriptural? Is it scriptural?
24. Brother, you are now with Me. How do you want us to stay? Tell me your conditions so that if I cannot meet your conditions, you look for somebody else.
25. For you cannot impose yourself on Me. Neither do I impose Myself on you. I will not cheat you. And I will not be happy if you cheat Me.
26. So, may I know the conditions, so that if I flout it, I will know. That we are relations, we are Brethren can never permit Me to allow you to do that free services.
27. Brethren, you can now see that the Son of Man has not been erring by negotiating with you, telling you, “Collect this money. You need it. Do not pretend.” But where you want to render it free with a pure conscience, come openly. Do not pretend that you do not need it when you need it. If I am not capable of hiring your service, I will not embark on that project.
28. I am removing hypocrisy, suppression of feeling from the hearts of everybody, so that when you are making concessions, you make concessions on a clean platform, with a pure conscience before man and before God.
29. Follow Me. 15Laban said to him one day, “Just because we are relatives is no reason for you to work for me without pay. How much do you want?” That is Laban and Jacob who was renamed Israel.
30. 15Laban said to him one day, “Just because we are relatives is no reason for you to work for me without pay. How much do you want?”
31. “How much?” Is it an abomination Brethren? How much do you want from me? How much will I pay you? Brethren, God has come all out to liberate you.
32. The time for suppressing your feelings is over. So that if you have been acting hypocritically, you begin to redress it immediately. Retract your steps and do the right thing. That you charge Brother is not a crime.
33. Then if you are making concession, allow Brother to know the area. This is because if you tell me how much you are going to collect, I will tell you to come the next day. I will go out and begin to price somewhere else because we are doing a work. Good!
34. That we are relations does not mean that you will render free service. Tell Me, “How much do you want?”
35. 16 Now Laban had two daughters, Leah, the older, and her younger sister, Rachel. Attention everybody. 17 Leah had lovely eyes, but Rachel was shapely, and in every way a beauty. 18 Well, Jacob was in love with Rachel. So he told her father, “I’ll work for you seven years if you’ll give me Rachel as my wife.” Amen.
36. Pay attention. Jacob! How much do you want from your services? He was infatuated with love for Rachel. Leah also had lovely eyes but Rachel was a paragon of beauty. Watch what happened there.
37. Jacob voluntarily now told Laban, his own relation, and said, “Now, I love Rachel. I will love Rachel to be my wife. I volunteer my seven years’ salary. Seven years’ wages. Once I serve you seven years, save the whole money, what I need is, give me Rachel.” Seven years pay.
38. How much do you want? He [Jacob] said, “I do not want it in small installmental payments. I have a target. I want to marry, but she is your daughter. And to make it possible, I will serve you for seven years. Gather the whole money together. Whatever it amounts to, that is the bride price I will pay for Rachel.”
39. If you know you have used your seven years’ salary to marry a wife here, show by raising your hand. Even if you are earning hundred naira a month for seven years. Brethren, is it scriptural?
40. Brother, read it again. Maybe they did not understand. Check your own Bible. Use any translation. Is it in your Bible? Often times, you hear people, “It is expensive to marry from Umuahia; expensive to marry from Nsukka; marry from this and that.”
41. THERE IS NOWHERE YOU GO THAT A WIFE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS A CHEAP ARTICLE. IF YOU SEE YOUR WIFE AS A CHEAP ARTICLE, YOU MUST ABUSE YOUR MARRIAGE. BUT IF YOU SEE HER AS THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING, ONLY THAT THE PEOPLE THAT GAVE YOU YOUR WIFE DECIDED TO GIVE THEIR DAUGHTER TO YOU NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU ARE GIVING THEM. YOU WILL KNOW THAT WE GIVE OUR DAUGHTERS FOR WIVES FREE OF CHARGE, BECAUSE WE WANT TO.
42. Seven years pay. Calculate it. If you are doing business, the profit you make for seven years, that is what you use. Pay attention, I am starting o.
43. That is, if the terms were agreed by Laban. As we journey along, you will notice that the terms were not agreed. Jacob was the one that offered to serve for seven years, but you will discover that Laban said fourteen. Go ahead, let us see.
44. 17 Leah had lovely eyes, but Rachel was shapely, and in every way a beauty. 18 Well, Jacob was in love with Rachel. So he told her father, “I’ll work for you seven years if you’ll give me Rachel as my wife.” Conditional!
45. 19 “Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to someone outside the family.” I rather give her to you than to give her to a pagan, a heathen outside the family. Outside the family. I hope you are paying attention.
46. Remember in the case of Isaac, Abraham commanded Eliezer to go to their own kindred for my son [Isaac] will not marry outside my kindred.
47. But today it is very easy to give out our daughters to anybody because we want to be friends. Are human beings offered for the sake of friendship? A mad man can now marry your daughter.
48. Even one that does not know what you believe and even calls you a criminal. One that makes ridiculous remarks and signs about you will now marry your daughter. Are you crazy?
49. MARRIAG – THE OLDEST INSTITUTION ORDAINED OF GOD. I have sited Abraham and Eliezer over Isaac. This is Jacob. I want to use two examples.
50. 20 So Jacob spent the next seven years working to pay for Rachel. Working to do what? …pay for Rachel. Working to do what? …pay for Rachel. THE VALUE OF ANYTHING DETERMINES HOW YOU WILL HANDLE THAT THING.
51. Like our Brother bought a new Toyota PRADO®. If you do not know the cost, go to Oguta road or Awka road. You dare not go and lean on the motor. He will tell you how much he labored to save the money to buy that motor, because he values it. I hope I am making sense?
52. IF YOU LABOUR EXTENSIVELY TO MARRY A WIFE, YOU WILL NOT HANDLE THAT YOUR WIFE ANYHOW, FOR YOU SWEATED IT OUT. Seven years’ salary. Seven years’ pay. Yet, she is yet to handed over to him.
53. 20 So Jacob spent the next seven years working to pay for Rachel. But they seemed to him but a few days,… To him, seven years were like a day because he saw what he desired. For him, no price was too much? Brethren, am I making sense at all?
54. No price was considered too exorbitant because he had seen what he desired. To him, seven years’ pay was like one naira.
55. One must talk after a period of silence. I told you that if I should speak on this matter when I was the only one, it will sound as if it is because I am the only one involved. But now, we are now many in the line. This is truth must manifest. Come what may, the truth must surely come out.
56. Somebody might be thinking, “What is Daddy trying to do? Maybe Daddy is trying to climb down on our Brother?” If I climb down on him, it is My right. But he must know My right and know where I am compromising. Amen.
57. …he was so much in love. 21 Finally the time came for him to marry her.
58. He was so much in love. Finally, the D-day came. He had finished serving for seven years. Brother Ifeanyi! Pay attention. Do not run away because of two cows.
59. The talk of wrestling should not hinder a man from going to his maternal home. It is a man-to-man contest. If someone defeats you, there is another person you can equally defeat. I cannot go back because it is wrestling season. I must participate in the wrestling. The space that accommodated others will also accommodate me. If you save money for seven years, you will buy a ranch. You will buy a ranch, no longer two cattle or two cows. Amen.
60. I told you that I will talk to you but not hastily. THE CLOUD IS HERE VINDICATING THE TRUTH.
61. “I have fulfilled my contract,” Jacob said to Laban. What? “I have fulfilled my contract,…” I have fulfilled my seven years’ contract as we agreed. Give me my wife. Pay attention.
62. “I have fulfilled my contract,” Jacob said to Laban. What? “I have fulfilled my contract,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife, so that I can sleep with her.” Pay attention everybody.
63. The contract was fulfilled before appeal was made, for the handover to sleep with her. Not when the contract is not yet fulfilled, you begin to appeal. Please, can you permit her to come and cook for me? I want to be taking her here and there. Let me be holding her hand so that we can master ourselves. Amen.
64. I hope you are not running crazy? Is it truth? MARRIAGE – THE OLDEST INSTITUTION ORDAINED OF GOD FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN. If you are asked where marriage started, tell the person that it started in Eden.
65. I have fulfilled the terms of my contract, now give me my wife that I may go home and then sleep with her. Before the contract was fulfilled, they were not sleeping together and they were not moving together. But agreement had already been reached. Is it not true? The consent had already been obtained, but the contract is yet to be fulfilled.
66. “I have fulfilled my contract,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife, so that I can sleep with her.” 22 So Laban invited all the men of the settlement to celebrate with Jacob at a big party. Wait!
67. Laban did what? …invited all the men of settlement. ALL! For what? Settlement! Does it take just one person for marriage to be contracted? Did he invite outsiders? The same people from the family of faith, household of Faith. They were the people that will partake of it and it is for the settlement.
68. 22 So Laban invited all the men of the settlement to celebrate with Jacob at a big party. 23 Afterwards, that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. 24 (And Laban gave to Leah a servant girl,…
69. Pay attention. He paid for Rachel. He is now given Leah. And not in the day but in the night. This is the origin of marriage being contracted in the night.
70. In every tribe, the woman is handed over to her husband in the night. Marriage lasts from evening to the early hours of the morning of the following day. Brethren is it a lie?
71. There are some communities you will go and they will tell you that they do not give their daughter in marriage in the day time. They will tell you that it must be up to 6 o’clock in the evening that their people start gathering. And that marriage activities lasts till day break.
72. In the night. Because Jacob was living in the house of Laban, marrying his daughter, then Laban presented Leah and they slept together. Jacob never knew because Leah was covered with a veil. But whatever that is covered must finally be unveiled. It must be revealed.
73. 23 Afterwards, that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. 24 (And Laban gave to Leah a servant girl, Zilpah, to be her maid.)
74. 25 But in the morning—it was Leah! In the morning, Jacob discovered it was Leah the first daughter and no longer the second daughter.
75. “What sort of trick is this?” Jacob raged at Laban. What sort of what? “What sort of trick is this?” Jacob raged at Laban.
76. Do not laugh. There was no trickery. There is no community without a tradition. Children of God have their own tradition and it must be the tradition of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Otherwise, it is not God contracting it.
77. “What sort of trick is this?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked for seven years for Rachel. What do you mean by this trickery?” “It’s not our custom to marry off a younger daughter ahead of her sister,” Amen! Amen! Amen!
78. It is not the custom of God’s people to give the junior daughter in marriage before the senior. The custom is, the senior must go out first, then the junior will follow in that order. Then if you are desiring to marry the second, get ready to marry two at a time.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
This is what I have confirmed before. THE NEXT THING GOD GIVES A MAN AFTER HIS SALVATION IS A WIFE. AFTER YOUR SALVATION, THE NEXT VALUABLE THING GOD GIVES A MAN IS A WIFE. Remember, some weeks ago, I told you what a wife is all about: AS EXPENSIVE AS A WIFE; As enjoyable as a Sister; as loving and caring as a mother… Every virtuous wife fulfils these three important roles. Who would not be happy with that type of wife?… If you look around, you could see vehicles or even a ship, but you watch and ask, “What is the most expensive thing I have purchased in life?” I think it is the machine that is raising these children; this machine, this treasure, this is My highest investment. THE HIGHEST TREASURE I HAVE IN MY HOUSE IS MY WIFE. People abuse their marriages because they do know the importance of marriage. They do not know what a wife is all about. Amen.
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE VOLUME 1; Preached on 23rd June 2002; Pg. 64 vs. 26 – 27 & Pg. 29 – 31
5
A WIFE IS A CROWN
1. Pay attention. I have elders here. A young man that wants to take a traditional title when he has seniors, the rule is that he must first of all make sure the seniors are crowned first, then he goes for his own. True or false?
2. If his father has not yet taken that title, he will first of sponsor his father to be crowned, including his most senior Brother.Even if there are four senior brothers ahead of him, if the money he has is not enough to crown them, he will wait.
3. All prospective title candidates in his family that were before him must be crowned first before it gets to him.
4. A WIFE IS A TITLE. I SAY, WIFE IS A TITLE. IF SHE IS NOT A TITLE, THE BIBLE SAID THAT THE CROWN OF A MAN IS THE WIFE. IF THERE IS NO TITLE, THERE SHOULD NOT BE A CROWN. THIS IS BECAUSE THE MOMENT YOU ARE MARRIED, YOUR TITLE CHANGES. True or false?
5. SO YOU NOW WEAR A CROWN. NOBODY WILL BE ADDRESSING YOU ANYHOW. YOUR DESIGNATION CHANGES YOUR STATUS. AMEN.
6. I want everywhere to be calm after a godly sort. ANY DAY WE BEGIN TO SEE MARRIAGE AS A CHEAP THING, DEFINITELY WE WILL PRODUCE ANOTHER SODOM AND GOMORRAH. Let us go further.
7. “It’s not our custom to marry off a younger daughter ahead of her sister,” Laban replied smoothly. 27 “Wait until the bridal week is over and you can have Rachel too—if you promise to work for me another seven years!”
8. If you promise to work for me another seven years. Pay attention. 28 So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. Remember he did not agree because of Leah. He is agreeing because he had his eyes on Rachel.
9. So, he was prepared to serve as long as Laban wanted it, provided at the end, he will go home with Rachel. The paragon of beauty.
10. Now, Jacob has agreed. Nobody tricked him, but tradition must be upheld. Tradition must be upheld especially the tradition of the Jews. The tradition of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose offspring you are and whose Faith you profess.
11. Then Laban gave him Rachel, too. Verse 29: 29 And Laban gave to Rachel a servant girl, Emma Nnachor are you here? Thank you! I hope you are paying attention. Where is your brother Nnamdi Nnachor? Can you hear it again? Did you hear it before? Good!
12. Then Laban gave him Rachel, too. 29 And Laban gave to Rachel a servant girl, Bilhah, to be her maid. 30 So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her more than Leah, and stayed and worked the additional seven years.
13. Stayed and worked what? …the additional seven years. Making it how many years? Twenty-one! Rewind it again.
14. “What sort of trick is this?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked for seven years for Rachel. What do you mean by this trickery?” “It’s not our custom to marry off a younger daughter ahead of her sister,” Laban replied smoothly.
15. 27 “Wait until the bridal week is over and you can have Rachel too—if you promise to work for me another seven years!” 28 So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. Then Laban gave him Rachel, too.
16. 29 And Laban gave to Rachel a servant girl, Bilhah, to be her maid. 30 So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her more than Leah, and stayed and worked the additional seven years. How many years? Twenty-one. Amen.
17. Attention. Even if it is fourteen, who has ever used fourteen years’ earnings, fourteen years’ pay to marry a wife, even twenty wives?
18. 31But because Jacob was slighting Leah, Jehovah let her have a child, while Rachel was barren. Have you heard it? You can read it in another translation. Read King James Version, verse 31. Jacob hated Leah. 31And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. KJV. Did you notice what happened there? Fear God. I say, fear God. God opened the womb of the first and closed the closed the womb of the second so that the gap will still remain there.
19. We have seen the expensive bride price which nobody has ever paid in our midst. I do not believe that Rachel and Leah were more beautiful than our daughters or that they obtained more education than our daughters. Do you believe that? Never! Never! Never! Amen.
20. 1 Samuel chapter 18 verse 20 through 27. Be fast, I want to come down. I have many Scriptures but I want to read these two.
21. 20In the meantime Saul’s daughter Michal had fallen in love with David, and Saul was delighted when he heard about it. Michal felled in love with David in the King’s palace.
22. 21 “Here’s another opportunity to see him killed by the Philistines!” Saul said to himself. But to David he said, “You can be my son-in-law after all, for I will give you my youngest daughter.”
23. 22 Then Saul instructed his men to say confidentially to David that the king really liked him a lot, and that they all loved him and thought he should accept the king’s proposition and become his son-in-law.
24. 23 But David replied, “How can a poor man like me from an unknown family find enough dowry to marry the daughter of a king?” Find what? …enough dowry to marry the daughter of a king?”
25. David lamented, “How can a poor man like me?” Remember, this time, the king was soliciting David to marry his youngest daughter as a trap to kill David.
26. David now came to the realization that he never had the wherewithal to be a son in-law to the king, “How can a poor man like me from a poor family marry your daughter? Where will I get the money to pay the dowry?”
27. WHAT CAN YOU DRAW AS YOUR INFERENCE THERE? PAYMENT OF DOWRY HAS NEVER BEEN AN EASY THING. IT GAVE DAVID A NIGHTMARE AS TO WHAT HE WILL DO TO REALIZE THE MONEY, FOR HE KNEW WHAT WAS INVOLVED ACCORDING TO THE TRADITIONS OF THE JEWS.
28. This man who had no money labored for twenty-one years to marry. David who had nothing is now being persuaded to come and marry the king’s daughter. And the fear is, “How will I get the money?”
29. 24 When Saul’s men reported this back to him, 25 he told them, “Tell David that the only dowry I need is one hundred dead Philistines!
30. If you read it in another translation, it said, “Go and tell David that what I want as dowry should not frighten him. Give me one hundred penises of the Philistines. Go out there and kill one hundred men from Philistines and get their Penises in a plate and bring it to me.” This one and that of Jacob, which one is much more cumbersome.
31. IT HAS NEVER BEEN AN EASY THING TO PAY DOWRY TO MARRY A WIFE. SO DO NOT EVER BELITTLE MARRIAGE AGAIN. MARRIAGE IS THE COSTLIEST THING A MAN CAN EMBARK ON. SO, IF YOU RECEIVE FAVOUR FROM YOUR IN-LAWS, DO NOT ABUSE IT.
32. When our parents never knew this truth about the grace of God that bringeth salvation, they were doing it to the extreme. They were observing all these things even in our own day.
33. I am a living witnessed that father Abraham paid the dowry for his wife for nine years at Opi. Yet, the Sister was not given to him, until we had to wade in.
34. Look at Brother IK Ezindu. He paid the dowry for Nkwachi for over seven years. Yet, she was not handed over to him. In my place, people used to pay until the wife will get children, the children will continue to pay, because agreement is agreement.
35. SO, STOP DEVALUING WOMEN BECAUSE THEY WERE GIVEN TO YOU FREE. ARE YOU GETTING WHAT I AM SAYING? STOP BELITTLING YOUR WIFE SIMPLY BECAUSE SHE WAS GIVEN TO YOU FREE OF CHARGE.
36. One that caught rabbit with a trap, does he know what that other person experienced, who dug through the burrows to get the rabbit.
37. If I notice that you are abusing marriages because we allowed you to marry our daughters by giving you all of them free of charge; If I discover it, I will invoke all these things again, so that you labour to marry and then begin to value marriage.
38. You will never treat your wife with disdain anymore. Your wife will earn your respect, your honour and everything because you will remember how you laboured to save money to marry her and not getting a wife just for the asking.
39. Now, look at what happened. “You do not need to pay Me a dime”, Saul said. “Go and kill hundred young men in the Philistine and with a tray, present their manhoods. If you can do that, I will give you my daughter for a wife.”
40. Who can be given this? Do you want my daughter for a wife? You say, “Yes.” Do you know I am a king? You say, “Yes.” What David was afraid of has now befallen him. David said, “Where will I get the money to pay the dowry, to enable me marry the king’s daughter?” Amen.
41. SO, IF I AM THE KING OF KINGS, IT THEN MEANS YOU ARE ALL KINGS. IT WILL TAKE A PRINCE TO MARRY A PRINCESS. AND FOR A PRINCE TO THINK OF LIFTING A PRINCESS, HE MUST THINK OF PAYING THE DOWRY.
42. It is not your condition, but the condition of the King. It was Laban’s condition which agreed with the tradition of his people. Now, it is Saul’s condition, which is not negotiable.
43. David weighed his capacity. He weighed his capability. He weighed his credibility. He weighed his intelligence. He girded up his loins, “Okay, I will surprise the king. Thank God he did not require money. I will annihilate the Philistines this time.”
44. Remember, it was not what he [Saul] had in mind. He had in mind that the philistines will kill David and that in the attempt to kill hundred, David must surely be killed, which was the trap he set using his daughter.
45. “Tell David that the only dowry I need is one hundred dead Philistines![ Vengeance on my enemies is all I want.” But what Saul had in mind was that David would be killed in the fight. Have you heard it? Yes!
46. 26 David was delighted to accept the offer. He was delighted. So, before the time limit expired,… Before the time limit expired. You see, marriage has a time limit, because if you waste much time, the lady will be given in marriage to another man.
47. It has a time limit. You do not tell them to keep her for you until you are prepared. You do not book down the woman you want to marry. Are you getting what I am saying? “Hold it for me. I will come after, when I am ready.” It is not a wife. An Igbo adage says that the contender that has yam seedlings will keep on planting even on the same land that is under contention.
48. Before the time limit expired. In other words, David was working with time. Before the time limit expired, 27 he and his men went out… He David and his men. …and killed two hundred Philistines They killed how many? …two hundred Philistines and presented their foreskins to King Saul.
49. The king demanded hundred. The son-in-law gave two hundred because he was capable. He had the capacity. He was credible. He had the intelligence. Oooh No! To him, no price was too much. “Okay, you needed hundred, take two.” That ends the discussion.
50. THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN GIVE OR DO TO YOUR IN-LAWS TO RECIPROCATE THEIR KIND GESTURE BY GIVING YOU THEIR DAUGHTER THAT IS CONSIDERED TOO MUCH. Amen.
51. So Saul gave Michal to him. LB. So Saul did what? …gave Micah to him. He had no other choice.
52. [Speaking to Brother Ifeanyi Enemmuo] So, if they say two cows, give them ten. ONE WOMAN IS GREATER THAN ONE MILLION COWS. Let Me tell you. It is even a shameful thing and ridiculous thing to exchange a wife for cow(s) in this modern times. Amen.
53. So please, it is not compulsory that all of you must marry from this Bridal Faith. You may receive or have your eyes on the people you really want to marry or you want them to marry you, who may not be members of this Faith.
54. The truth is, whatever they will tell you to do, you must do it, if you really want to go with their daughter. Where you are not ready to do it, please keep still until you have the capacity. Did you get the Message?
55. This is where I rest My case for now as I invite the Sunday School teacher this morning. It is no other person than the person that hinted to Me that he will like to handle Sunday school, even if it is for ten minutes. And that is our little son and our Brother, Chukwudi Odoemena. A WIFE IS EXPENSIVE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.
EXHORTATION
BY
APOSTLE CHUKWUDI ODOEMENA
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
THUS, THE ONLY WAY TO RUN AWAY FROM DESTRUCTION IS TO LINE UP BEHIND HIM. STAND BEHIND HIM. IF YOU GO IN FRONT, YOU DESTROY YOURSELF BECAUSE THE MOMENT YOU GO IN FRONT YOU LEAVE HIM BEHIND. YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. WHEN YOU GO BEYOND THE WORD OF GOD THAT IS REVEALED IN YOUR DAY, YOU ARE IN FRONT, GOD IS BEHIND, MAN AND WOMAN ALIKE. PASS THIS INFORMATION TO YOUR CHILDREN. YOU WILL ALL BE SAVED IF YOU ABIDE IN ME AND I ABIDE IN YOU. BUT IF YOU HAVE REASON TO DOUBT WHETHER I AM ABLE TO SAVE YOU, YOU ARE ALREADY LOST. BECAUSE I AM THE PERFECT GUIDE ASSIGNED TO BRING GOD’S PEOPLE HOME IN THIS GENERATION. HENCE, I SIGNED MY LIFE IN. SO MY LIFE IS THERE….
OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF GOD COUNTS MORE; Preached on
10TH JUNE, 2018; Pg. 42 vs. 9 – 11
6
DO NOT RELEGATE THE WORD OF GOD
1. Brethren! You are blessed. We are happy to gather in His presence today and more especially in His Name. Just like the Word we have heard from God now that we should not devalue our wives for no reason. You do not have any good reason to devalue your wife.
2. AND ALSO YOU SHOULD NOT DEVALUE THE WORD OF GOD THAT WE ARE HEARING BECAUSE IT IS FREELY GIVEN TO US. WE ARE NOT PAYING ANYTHING TO GET IT.
3. Liken yourself to someone outside Nigeria. Liken yourself to some people in Nigeria too that have not come to this place and who have not heard Him live speaking to them directly.
4. Do you know what it takes to subscribe to read a Message or to read Messages online? It is not easy. But we are here, may be boarding a bus for one thousand naira, two thousand naira to be here.
5. And then you are given a simple instruction, you are given His Word, and all that is required from you is obedience, then it becomes very hard for you to obey.
6. DO NOT RELEGATE THE WORD OF GOD, NO MATTER WHERE IT IS COMING FROM. NO MATTER WHO IT IS COMING FROM, DO NOT RELEGATE THE WORD OF GOD.
7. You must know the reason why you are coming here. You must know the reason why you are here. Any reason or the purpose why you come here is the same thing that you will get.
8. Anything that you have in mind while coming here is what you are going to get. If you come here making up your mind that you are going to resist the Word of God, do not worry. You will get the Message that will make you resist the Word of God.
9. And funny enough, it might come from the person you least expected. Maybe your worst enemy. God will make you to resist His Word.
10. MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF OR PUT YOURSELF IN A POSITION WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO ALLOW A VERY FALSE ANOINTING TO LEAD YOU OR TO CONTROL YOU.
11. THIS IS BECAUSE ANY SPIRIT THAT YOU YIELD YOURSELF TO IS THE SPIRIT THAT WILL CONTROL YOU. AND IT IS THAT SAME SPIRIT THAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO HIS WILL, BE IT GOOD OR BAD.
12. If you allow your spirit to be possessed by evil things, you are going to do the will of the Devil. Evil things will control you. That is why we must be careful. Do not see it that you are coming to church because most people are now seeing it like that.
13. “Yes, Sundays are meant for fellowship.” They are just seeing it as a normal gathering. This is what you do. We go to church every Sunday. No! You must know why you are coming here.
14. You must pray before you come here. You must prepare ahead of time before you come here, because we come here to mean business.
15. You must know why you are coming here. If you do not have that in mind, you will not even pray. You are not going to even follow up in anything we are going to do here today. And as you come here empty and you are leaving here empty too.
16. That is why when you come here, if you know the reason why you come here, you settle down, you pray before coming so that the spirit of God is going to order your life, order the way you behave and also prepare your mind and your heart to receive His blessings and His mercies.
17. You can imagine a Minister coming here to lead in songs and people are not singing. Some people are just sitting down closing their mouths. It is because you do not know why you are here.
18. You come here and you do not pray before coming. When you come to lead in songs, you sing anyhow and do things anyhow. If you do the things of God anyhow, God will bless you anyhow. That is just it. The measure you give to God is the measure He will give back to you. It is simple.
19. So, let us try our best to know the purpose why we are here. Let us know who we are, so that we will not make mistakes in anything we are doing.
20. So, we should be happy that we are here today to hear from God live and to partake of His blessings.
21. THE ONLY PLACE GOD IS WAITING FOR US IS ONE PLACE: OBEDIENCE. OBEDIENCE. IN ANYTHING HE [GOD] SAYS, WHERE HE IS WAITING FOR US IS IN OBEYING HIS WORD. OBEYING HIS WORD. THAT IS WHERE HE IS WAITING FOR ALL OF US.
22. If He gives an instruction, He does not want to see the way you accepted His instruction. He does not want to see the way you accept the instruction, whether you were jumping up, whether you were clapping your hands. That is not what is moving God. What is going to move Him is how you obey the Word.
23. Are you obeying or are you complying? Because if you are being forced to obey, you are complying with the Word of God and the Word of God cannot have an effect in your life.
24. Let us take for example: We are here and normally there are some people that help in enforcing the Word of God, for example, parents. Parents in the home are there to enforce the Word of God and to train their children to fear the Lord. So now, you that is training and enforcing the Word of God, if you do not obey, you are already waiting for the judgment of God.
25. So, I want us to start by reading one Bible verse. Psalms 100. 1Shout with joy before the Lord, O earth! 2 Obey him gladly; come before him, singing with joy. 3 Try to realize what this means—the Lord is God! He made us—we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
26. 4 Go through his open gates with great thanksgiving; enter his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.
27. 5 For the Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and his faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation.
28. If you believe that, shout a big Amen. And a big Amen. Verse 2 of this Bible verse told us that we should obey God gladly. Obey Him gladly, not frowning your face, not complying, but we should obey Him gladly. Whether you like it or not, obey Him.
29. It said, 2Obey him gladly; come before him, singing with joy. Not singing with a frowned face. Not bearing grudge in your heart while praising Him, for He is not going to accept that offering. He is not going to accept that sacrifice or offering. Let us be careful.
30. Make sure you obey before sacrificing. Before you sacrifice, be prepared to obey God. Because if you do not obey, that your sacrifice will be rejected and you are also compounding your problems.
31. Let me read from the Message, EXAMINE YOUR STAND IN THIS FAITH, Page 45 verse 41. The prophet said, sometimes, people contact a deceiving spirit. A spirit that resembles that of Christ. And they will begin to make a hell of noise.
32. They will be hollering, jumping up and down, ah, I have got it, I have got it. But when it comes to displaying the character, you notice that the spirit is not there yet. They are having mere sensation and euphoria.
33. The prophet said that sometimes, people contact a deceiving spirit, false anointing. And that is why you should know the spirit controlling you because no human being is empty. It is either you are controlled by the spirit of God or by the spirit of the devil.
34. The Prophet said that sometimes, people contact a deceiving spirit which resembles that of Christ. You see them jumping and shouting.
35. They can preach the Message well, but when it comes to the character, reflecting that which you are jumping for, reflecting that which you preach, then you see that they do not display that which they claim they believe.
36. God said here that they will be making a hell of noise and they will be hollering, but when it comes to displaying that character, you notice that spirit is not there yet; they are having mere sensation and euphoria.
37. You do not worship God with sensation and euphoria. We worship God with strict obedience to His Word, doubting nothing and obeying all.
38. You must mind yourself and make sure you are in line with the teachings of God. Make sure that you are doing God a service according to His will and not outside His will. This is because God told us in our Message that in this judgment period, that He has judged most of us and that we should be very careful.
39. That He has judged most of us and marked us undesirable and still we are sitting down here. I will read it from this Message. He said that He has marked us undesirable, unacceptable and still we are sitting down here.
40. You are still coming to fellowship. You think you are still part of what God is doing but yet, you are outside whatever God is doing. Let us be very careful. Make sure you are always found doing whatever God said you should do.
41. DO GOD A SERVICE ACCORDING TO HIS WILL. Obey God according to His Word, not according to our own. We are not going to bend God to obey our own word. You must bend to God’s Word. You must obey Him, if not, that will be the genesis of your problems; that will be the beginning of your problems.
42. Do not come to a point where the Word of God will sound common to your ears. Do not come to a point where you will think that, “Yes, I have heard this Message before. I am conversant with this Message. No! That will be the beginning of your destruction.
43. Never come to a point where the Message of God, where the Word of God being handed down to you will become common in your ears.
44. God will bless you in everything, but not in disobedience. It is only in obeying God that you will be blessed. Every bit of the blessings that come with obedience; every bit of the blessings that is attached to obedience will be all yours only when you obey His Word. You will obey all minus nothing.
45. I want us to read from the Message, TRANSLATION IS FOR THE PERFECT. Page 9 verse 3. “THE GREATEST ENEMY OF SATAN IS GOD, FOR THE MOMENT HE DISCOVERS THAT GOD HAS STARTED BUILDING YOU FOR SOMETHING GOOD, WATCH OUT.
46. SATAN CAN NEVER ALLOW YOU TO STAY ALONE. YOU BECOME THE OBJECT OF ATTACK. HE WILL TRY IN ONE WAY OR THE OTHER TO PULL YOU DOWN, TO QUENCH THAT MOVE. THAT IS WHY EVERY MINISTER MUST BE EXTRAORDINARILY CAREFUL.”
47. God said that the greatest enemy of Satan is God and the greatest enemy of God is Satan. That whenever he [Satan] discovers that God is using you for something good, he is not happy. He will love to change your testimony. He will love you to become an object of his attack.
48. And when will you become his object of his attack? When you lose sight of who you are. When you lose sight of your calling in Christ, you will become an object of attack.
49. …You become the object of attack. He will try in one way or the other to pull you down, to quench that move in you. That is why every Minister must be extraordinarily careful.
50. You must be very, very careful. He [Satan] will love to change your testimony. He will love to quench the fire in you. That gift and talent God stored in you, he will love to change.
51. He will like to twist it so that you will start doing his own will, winning souls for himself. WE MUST BE VERY CAREFUL, PRAYERFUL AND DISCERNING AT ALL TIMES.
52. Let me read from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18 from verse 13 to 22. 13You must walk blamelessly before the Lord your God. You must walk blamelessly before the Lord your God. Let us pay attention. The Bible said that we must walk blamelessly. You must not be spotted. You must never be found wanting before the Lord your God.
53. 14The nations you replace all do these evil things, but the Lord your God will not permit you to do such things. Amen.
54. 15“Instead, he will raise up for you a prophet like me, an Israeli, a man to whom you must listen and whom you must obey. 16 For this is what you yourselves begged of God at Mount Horeb.
55. There at the foot of the mountain you begged that you might not have to listen to the terrifying voice of God again, or see the awesome fire on the mountain, lest you die.
56. 17 “‘All right,’ the Lord said to me, ‘I will do as they have requested. 18 I will raise up from among them a prophet, an Israeli like you. I will tell him what to say, and he shall be my spokesman to the people.
57. 19 I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to him… I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to him. God will personally deal with you if you do not listen to Him. If you do not obey Him, He is going to deal with you.
58. 19I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to him and heed his messages from me.
59. 20 But any prophet who falsely claims that his message is from me shall die. And any prophet who claims to give a message from other gods must die.’
60. 21 If you wonder, ‘How shall we know whether the prophecy is from the Lord or not?’ 22 this is the way to know: If the thing he prophesies doesn’t happen, it is not the Lord who has given him the message; he has made it up himself. You have nothing to fear from him. LB
61. God has told us that He will personally deal with anyone that does not listen to Him. And in this day, we are privileged to be close to Him. Much closer to Him.
62. So, now we must be very careful because when we disobey Him, our own condemnation will be swift. It will be fast and quick.
63. Let me take from the Message, WARNING FROM GOD BEFORE JUDGEMENT. Page 22 verse 8. I wish to make it clearer, not that you do not know it that drawing nearer to the vessel God is using in every dispensation, getting acquainted with Him, coming closer or closest to Him must be for two reasons, one: for your condemnation or [two:] your justification. The choice depends on you.
64. Drawing closer, drawing nearer to the vessel God is using in your day, coming closer to Him or closest to Him is for two reasons. One: for justification and two: for condemnation. And the choice depends on you, not on God.
65. The choice depends on you because He has given you His Word. By and by, the judgement is here, and we cannot deny that. And let us be careful for the judgement of the Bride overlapped into the judgment of the world.
66. The judgment of the Bride overlapped into the judgement of the world. So, you will be very, very very careful, for you are coming either for justification or condemnation.
67. YOU CONDEMN YOURSELF WHEN YOU DISOBEY HIM; WHEN YOU MURMUR AGAINST HIM; WHEN YOU ARE STUBBORN TO HIS WORD; WHEN YOU ARE AN UNBELIEVER; WHEN YOU LIVE A LIFE THAT DOES NOT SYNCHRONIZE WITH THE MESSAGE THAT YOU PROFESS; WHEN YOUR CHARACTER IS NOT HARMONIZING WITH THAT WHICH YOU PREACH. THAT IS WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO RECEIVE CONDEMNATION FROM GOD.
68. For you justify yourself by obeying Him. Obedience to His Word justifies you. That’s all. Obedience to God’s word justifies you in His sight. Obey the Word for you have no other choice. You do not have a choice. You do not have an option than to obey Him and that is all.
69. When God gives you an instruction, when His Word has gone forth, how do you take it? Do you take it lightly or you take it that God is not serious? Or you take it that God cannot do it. How do you take the Word of God when it comes to you? Do you believe it, doubting nothing? Personally, do you get the revelation?
70. This is because if you do not get the revelation of the Message, you can never put it into practice. You will find it difficult to obey that Message. You will keep finding fault with that Message.
71. You must first of all get the revelation. If the revelation has not struck you, then obedience is very, very far. This is because you will keep on doubting. You will be asking why? Why? Why? We are under a military regime here. We do not have an option.
72. You do not begin to give reasons why you will obey it. No! You do not have a choice. Obey it or you leave it. And now, it is easier for us. Those that do not obey the Word of God are not part of us. Those that obey the Word of God are part of us, and that is it.
73. ALSO KNOW THE SET OF PEOPLE YOU MINGLE WITH. ARE YOU MINGLING WITH THOSE THAT ARE OUTSIDE THE WILL OF GOD OR THOSE THAT ARE IN LINE WITH THE TEACHINGS OF GOD? WHO ARE YOU TAKING YOUR INSTRUCTIONS FROM? WHO ARE YOU TAKING YOUR INSTRUCTIONS FROM?
74. GOD WILL SAY SOMETHING AND MAYBE THE PERSON SITTING CLOSE TO YOU IS GIVING IT ANOTHER INTERPRETATION AND YOU ARE ALREADY LISTENING TO THE PERSON.
75. THE PERSON YOU ARE EMULATING MIGHT BE MARKED UNDESIRABLE, UNACCEPTABLE AND HE IS STILL SITTING DOWN AND YOU ARE LISTENING TO THAT PERSON.
76. THE SAME FATE THAT AWAITS THAT PERSON AWAITS YOU. IF THAT PERSON HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO CONDEMNATION, YOU LISTENING TO THE PERSON, TRYING TO EMULATE THAT PERSON IS ALSO SENTENCED TO CONDEMNATION.
77. And we have been espoused to the truth, enough truth to the point that we know the good from the bad. So, you cannot tell me that you do not know when someone close to you is trying to convince you away from what you know to be the truth.
78. We have been over taught. So we know what is truth—the right and the wrong. Know who you are taking instruction from, whether it is from God or the devil. Whether God or devil, an individual must be used. God is going to use an individual. The devil will also use an individual.
79. We are all instrument either in the hand of God or in the hand of the devil. It is depending on the one you yield yourself to. Like I said, no human being is empty. It is either you are filled with the spirit of God to do good or you are filled with the spirit of devil to do wrong.
80. And when the devil rests on you, you will be filled with false anointing, resistant to God’s Word and resistant to God’s Messages. You can never feel free to do that Word of God, to obey Him, to practice that which you know.
81. SOM: Let us read something here. AFTER ME COMETH NO OTHER. VOLLUME 1; Preached on 9th December, 2018. Page 12 verse 18. If he knows who I am and who is talking to him, would he not melt? You will melt. Let Me tell you. I can stop your breath even there right here now.
82. Doubt it one bit in your heart and I will tell your father and your mother to take away your corpse here now. I am not here for salvation again. I am here for condemnation.
83. That I stemmed the tide of death while judging the Bride is to save us cost, save us sorrow and pains. But by and by, all that are involved, that which they are avoiding now, they are meeting them. So, I am not killing them before their time.
84. That is why I decided to die in their place publicly here to stop the plague. But that does not mean the judgment has stopped. The judgment is now exposing them, marking them bad, allowing them to sit down here.
85. Once I expose that person, everybody will see the person and he is automatically marked, “UNACCEPTABLE! UNDESIRABLE!” and will be asked also to sit down. Amen.
86. Amen. So, when God exposes you, everyone will know who you are. You will be marked “UNDESIRABLE! UNACCEPTABLE!” You are not fit to be in this gathering. You are not fit to be called a child of God.
87. You are not fit to be in the gathering of the Saints because you will pollute them. You are going to pollute us. Everybody will try to avoid you so that they will not suffer the same fate you suffer.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
When we know that we do not believe this Faith, yet, we come to the Church to clap hands and use our money to finance the ministry, of what use is it to us? Nevertheless, God is saying that obedience is better than sacrifice. You had better obey Me than to carry ox and sheep for sacrifice. If you like dance more than anybody in the Church, it is rubbish, you are entertaining yourself for God is ever mindful of His Word. For He watches over you. When you see God’s promises coming to pass, what else do you want to see? If it did not fulfill, you complain, if it comes to pass, you also complain. Can the Word of God come to pass without using a human being? Who will it use and it will be better? Why must it be me.
OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE; Preached on 29th July 1994; Pg. 80 vs. 30 – 32
7
OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE
1. IF THERE I NOTHING CHECKING YOU; IF THERE IS NOTHING CHECKING YOUR LIFE, YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHEN YOU VEER OFF THE TRACK. YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHEN YOU WILL STAY OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES WHERE THE LOVE OF GOD IS GOING TO REACH YOU.
2. YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHEN YOU WILL START DOING THE WILL OF THE DEVIL. THIS IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOTHING CHECKING YOU. YOU HAVE NO MESSAGE THAT IS STORED IN YOUR HEART.
3. ALL YOU DO IS TO STORE THEM IN YOUR BRAIN. YOU CAN EASILY RECITE THEM. YOU CAN EASILY TRACE IT IN THE BIBLE WHERE THOSE MESSAGES ARE BEING CONFIRMED. BUT YOU DO NOT STORE THEM IN YOUR HEART. YOU DO NOT TEACH YOURSELF AND THAT IS WHY YOU ARE GOING TO VEER OFF THE TRACK.
4. MAKE SURE THERE IS SOMETHING THAT PUTS A CHECK IN YOU ANY TIME YOU ARE DOING WRONG. MAKE SURE THERE IS SOMETHING THAT PUTS YOU TO CHECK ANY TIME YOU DO WRONG.
5. THIS IS BECAUSE IF THERE IS NOTHING PUTTING YOU TO CHECK, THEN, I DO NOT THINK THAT THIS PROMISED TRANSLATION IS FOR YOU. YOU MUST HAVE THE NATURE OF GOD BEFORE YOU CAN BOND WITH GOD.
6. It is someone that has the same character with you; that has the resemblance of your character that you will have affinity for. It is only someone that you have the same character with, that you will have affinity for. You will always long to be with that person. You will always long to see that person. If you are a nuisance, you will always long to be with your fellow nuisance. It is simple.
7. THE PEOPLE YOU MINGLE YOURSELF WITH TELL EVERYBODY WHO YOU ARE. IT WILL TELL EVERYBODY WHAT YOU BELIEVE. IT WILL TELL EVERYBODY HOW YOU BEHAVE AND HOW YOU IMPLEMENT THESE MESSAGES.
8. IF YOU KEEP ON BONDING WITH PEOPLE THAT ARE ALWAYS KNOWN FOR DISOBEYING GOD, PEOPLE WHOSE NAMES ARE ALWAYS BEING CALLED FOR EVIL, THEN YOU ARE LIKE THEM, BECAUSE YOU ARE ALREADY HAVING AN AFFINITY FOR THEM. YOU ARE ALREADY HAVING THAT AFFECTION.
9. You are going to always act like them, you will always wish to be like them. If that person acts in obedience, you will act on obedience. If that person acts in disobedience, you will act in disobedience.
10. Why? Because that person has the same character with you and you love the person. You also love mingling with that person. And mind you, any fate that person will suffer, you are going to suffer that same fate.
11. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO PLEASE GOD THAN COMPLETE OBEDIENCE TO HIS WORD. If you want to please God; if you want Him to bless you; if you want Him to do good things for you; if you want to make it in life; if you want to succeed in life, there is no other way than pleasing Him.
12. If you like, any time the church is making any contribution, be the person to bring the highest amount of money, but when it comes to obeying His Word, you do not obey Him, you are marked undesirable and unacceptable.
13. We are favoured. Let me tell us, salvation has narrowed down to our day to day activities. If God is not happy with you now and you are making no effort about that, the promised translation is not for you. If God cannot live in harmony with you now, the promised salvation is not for you.
14. If you give God headache here, He would not love to take you to Paradise because you will continue giving Him headache eternally.
15. HE IS GOING TO TAKE PEOPLE THAT HAVE HIS NATURE. ONLY PEOPLE THAT HAVE THE TRUE NATURE OF GOD WILL LIVE WITH HIM ETERNALLY IN PARADISE.
16. However, if you are a source of anger and you do not want to change; you are a source of provocation and you do not want to change; God is not happy with you and you do not want to change, the promised salvation is not for you.
17. You are merely wasting your time. You are here just helping others to believe the Message. You help others, you preach to them and tell them, whereas you do not talk to yourself, you have already marked yourself unfit. You have already marked yourself unacceptable in the sight of God.
18. GOD CAN BLESS YOU IN EVERYTHING, BUT NOT IN DISOBEDIENCE. ONCE YOU ARE DISOBEYING GOD, HE CAN NEVER BLESS YOU. AND YOU CAN NEVER SAY THAT THERE IS THIS CHILD OF GOD THAT OBEYS GOD AND GOD CEASES TO BLESS THAT PERSON.
19. If He does that, then He is an unfaithful God. He blesses those that obey Him. Why? Because He is pleased with them, therefore He blesses them.
20. NO MATTER THE FAVOUR YOU SHOW TO THIS FAITH AND YOU DO NOT OBEY THE WORD OF THE SON OF MAN, DESTRUCTION AWAITS YOU BECAUSE OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE.
21. NO MATTER THE FAVOUR YOU SHOW TO MEMBERS OF THIS FAITH OR YOU SHOW TO THE FAITH, OR YOU SHOW TO THE SON OF MAN OR TO ANYBODY OF THE SAME FAITH WITH YOU AND YOU DO NOT OBEY GOD, DESTRUCTION AWAITS YOU.
22. DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF PREPARING YOUR MIND FOR SALVATION. DO NOT PREPARE YOUR MIND FOR THE PROMISED TRANSLATION.
23. RATHER, PREPARE YOUR MIND FOR CONDEMNATION BECAUSE GOD TOLD US THAT THE WORST THING THAT WILL HAPPEN TO US IS THAT HE IS GOING TO MARK US AND STILL ALLOW US TO SIT HERE. YOU WILL SIT HERE, ENJOYING EVERYTHING, BUT HE HAS ALREADY MARKED YOU FOR DESTRUCTION.
24. And when you are doing the will of God, you will know. You do not need the Minister to come here and tell you, “Yes! You are doing the will of God.” You do not need anybody to come and tell you, “Yes! You are in a right state with God.” No!
25. ONCE YOU ARE OBEYING HIM, ALL THE ATTRIBUTES OF OBEDIENCE WILL BE SEEN IN YOU. ALL THE FEATURES OF OBEDIENCE WILL BE SEEN IN YOU. ALL THE NATURE OF GOD WILL BE IMPOSED ON YOU. WHY?
26. YOU ARE A CHILD, YOU ARE A SON, YOU ARE A DAUGHTER OF HIS PLEASURE. YOU ARE A SON OF HIS PLEASURE. YOU ARE DAUGHTER OF HIS PLEASURE WHEN YOU DO THAT WHICH PLEASES HIM.
27. You strive to do your best so that you do not do the will of the devil. When you try to do the will of God, God will always be pleased with you. When you try to obey, He is always pleased with you.
28. Let us read from Galatians chapter 6 verse 7. Living bible. Don’t be misled; remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it:… Amen.
29. You cannot ignore God and get away with it. You can never mock God and get away with it. You can never disobey God and get away with it. You can never ridicule the Word of God and get away with it. You can never murmur against the Word of God and get away with it. You can never be stubborn to the Word of God and get away with it.
30. …A man will always reap just the kind of crop he sows! LB. Amen. You will reap whatever you sow. If you sow in disobedience, you will reap what? Disobedience. You sow in obedience, you will reap in what? Obedience.
31. THE LORD: You sow to yourself in righteous, you reap in mercy.
32. Amen. You sow in righteousness, you will reap what? Righteousness. Let us be very careful, because God told us last Sunday that where we are standing now, a step forward is into what? Paradise. And a step backward is what? Into hell. Straight away. God is not looking at anybody’s face. He is stricter now than ever.
33. IF YOU ARE NOT OBEYING HIM, COUNT YOURSELF UNWORTHY. IF YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHIN HIS TEACHINGS, COUNT YOURSELF UNWORTHY. IF YOU CANNOT OBEY HIS WORD, DOUBTING NOTHING, COUNT YOURSELF UNWORTHY.
34. DO NOT LOOK SIDEWAYS WHEN THE MESSAGE IS GOING FORTH, PRAY FIRST. TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHERE THE MESSAGE IS COMING FROM. TRY TO KNOW WHAT GOD REQUIRES FROM YOU. HE REQUIRES WHAT? STRICT OBEDIENCE FROM YOU.
35. YOU MUST HAVE FAITH IN THE GOD YOU WORSHIP BEFORE YOU OBEY HIM. YOU MUST HAVE FAITH IN HIM BEFORE YOU OBEY HIM, BEFORE YOU WORSHIP HIM. IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IN HIM, YOU CAN NEVER OBEY HIM. YOU WILL KEEP ON DOUBTING.
36. If at any point in time you feel uncomfortable with the Word of God, know that you are not a part of what God is doing; Know that you are not a seed of God. This is because a seed of God finds it easy to obey God. He does not find obeying God very hard. It is very simple for Him.
37. Obedience has become his day to day activities. It is now part of you and because you do it day by day, it is now part of you. Why? Because you are a seed of God.
38. But if you are not a seed of God, obedience will be very hard for you. Obedience will be a very big thing to you.
39. Let us read from James chapter 1 verse 22. Let us see what God told us there about obedience.
40. Living Bible: And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. So don’t fool yourselves. LB.
41. That we should remember that it is a Message to obey, not a Message to do what? Disobey. God is going to bless us only when we do what? Obey. Not only hearing the Message. We have heard from Him.
42. When you go to the Local Assembly, you share the testimony, “Yes, this is what we heard from God”, and you cannot obey that which we preach. God will never bless you when you disobey Him.
43. And we should remember that we should obey what? The Message from God. It is a Message to be obeyed, not a Message to be listened to.
44. This is not where you will sit down, and at the end of the day, you leave this places with your life untouched or you are still the way you came. God is not requiring that from us. Rather, He said, “After listening, you should Obey.”
45. Obedience comes after listening. You must hear the Word first before you obey. You cannot obey what you have not heard. When you hear it, then you obey, if you have the believing heart.
46. DO NOT COME TO A POINT WHERE THE WORD OF GOD WILL SOUND COMMON IN YOUR EARS BECAUSE THAT IS THE BEGINNING OF YOUR DOWNFALL. THAT IS THE BEGINNING OF YOUR CONDEMNATION.
47. DO NOT EVER COME TO A POINT WHERE THE WORD OF GOD WILL NOW BECOME COMMON. “I heard it yesterday. I heard it last year.” NO! IT SHOULD NEVER SOUND COMMON IN OUR EARS. AMEN.
48. MAKE SURE THAT AT ALL TIMES, ANYWHERE WE ARE THAT WE MUST VOLUNTEER, WE MUST STRIVE TO OBEY THE WORD OF GOD, WHETHER IT IS IN YOUR WORK PLACE, IN YOUR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. EVEN IN YOUR FAMILY, VOLUNTEER.
49. EVEN IF OTHER PEOPLE ARE ACTING IN DISOBEDIENCE, VOLUNTEER TO BE THAT SINGLE PERSON THAT OBEYS THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE REVELATION OF WHO GOD IS. MAKE SURE YOU OBEY THE WORD OF GOD. BE SINGLED OUT ANYWHERE YOU ARE.
50. Even if the place where you are is filled with Roman Catholics, let your own life be singled out. What is that life? Your character. The way you live. Your composure. Let it be singled out because it is very easy to spot out a child of God anywhere he is.
51. This is because anywhere you go, you possess that attribute of Christ. And whenever you manifest it, everybody will know that “Yes, truly you are a child of God.”
52. You can never hide light, for once it comes to a dark place, it lightens up the dark place. You can never hide it.
53. So, volunteer, strive to always obey God and not to comply because “My mummy said, my Daddy said or our parents used to tell us.” Always strive to obey the Word of God. Obey that Word, doubting nothing.
54. Do not murmur against that word because God is against murmuring. Do not be stubborn. Do not find it difficult to obey that Word because God has told us that stubbornness is idolatry.
55. SOM: Let somebody read from the Living Bible there. Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 12 through 13. And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to listen carefully to all he says to you, And do what?
56. …listen carefully to all he says to you, and to obey for your own good… And to do what? …obey for my own good; the commandments I am giving you today, and to love him, and to worship him with all your hearts and souls? LB.Amen.
57. Jeremiah chapter 7 verses 22 through 23. Living Bible: 22IT WASN’T OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES I WANTED FROM YOUR FATHERS WHEN I LED THEM OUT OF EGYPT. That was not the point of my command.
58. 23BUT WHAT I TOLD THEM WAS: OBEY ME, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD AND YOU SHALL BE MY PEOPLE; ONLY DO AS I SAY, AND ALL SHALL BE WELL! LB. Amen.
59. On this note, we say bye bye to the Sunday school as we invite the Pastor in charge of Onitsha to the pulpit.
60. Rewind that Jeremiah 7:22-23. Living Bible: 22IT WASN’T OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES I WANTED FROM YOUR FATHERS WHEN I LED THEM OUT OF EGYPT.
61. Many think their righteousness is in those useless nonsenses, when they have not loved the Lord for one day. They have never obeyed God for one day. They are having their ways.
62. Can a man bribe away the mind of God? Can you bribe away the Word of God? You cannot bribe away the Word of God. It was there before you came into existence. It will be there. Your unbelief can never take it away. It is still there.
63. These were the people that thought they were going to attain righteousness by their offering and this and that, when they have not obeyed. They have not obeyed. Their offerings became abominations in the sight of God.
64. Hence, God said in the book of Isaiah that it was disgusting. Disgusting offerings! Giving offerings to God in disobedience. Very disgusting!
65. 22IT WASN’T OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES I WANTED FROM YOUR FATHERS WHEN I LED THEM OUT OF EGYPT. THAT WAS NOT THE POINT OF MY COMMAND.
66. 23 BUT WHAT I TOLD THEM WAS: OBEY ME, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD Do what? OBEY ME, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD.
67. Remember He will give eternal life to as many as will obey Him. Is it scriptural? Yes!
68. OBEY ME, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD. He will be God only to those that obey Him, but those that do not obey, will He be God over them? I will tell you what will happen to those people before the Pastor will speak.
69. OBEY ME, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD AND YOU SHALL BE MY PEOPLE; ONLY DO AS I SAY, AND ALL SHALL BE WELL!
70. DO AS I SAY, ALL SHALL BE WELL. WHEN YOU OBEY, ALL THE VIRTUES OF GOD WILL BE TRANSMITTED INTO YOUR LIFE. BUT WHEN YOU DISOBEY, YOU WILL NEVER TRACE ANY OF THEM IN YOUR LIFE.
71. To those that have refused to obey, look at St. Luke gospel chapter 19 verse 27. 27And now about these enemies of mine who revolted… Who are the enemies of God? Those that disobey. They are always revolting against the Word of God, proving stubborn to the Word of God.
72. 5And now about these enemies of mine who revolted—bring them in and execute them before me.’” Do what? bring them in and execute them before me.
73. King James Version. 27But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them,…
74. Those who refuse that I may reign over them. Those who refuse that I should bear rule over them and who refuse to obey, bring them in for Me and do what? Kill all of them.
75. …bring hither, and slay them before me. Do what? bring hither, and slay them before me. Slay them before Me. You can say, can God kill? Yes! He has been killing, and will remain killing. But will never kill the just, but must always kill the unjust.
76. That they are still here reserved for that day of their destruction is that the Word of God might come to pass. God is enduring such people. These are the souls that are in prison custody. Will they be executed? Yes! When the time comes. Pastor I hand over to you.
A BLASPHEMER IS A BLASPHEMER. UNTIL A BLASPHEMER REPENTS, THE SON OF MAN HAS NO DEALING WITH A BLASPHEMER. GOD MADE IT CLEAR, “YOU CANNOT MOCK GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT.” Remember what God said through the mouth of William Braham, “If you say you are a child of God, the spirit of God operating in you and you love whatever God hates, you are a blasphemer, and God will never hold you guiltless for blaspheming His name.” Amen. You remember what I told you concerning My family, and you are all witnesses that I have never for one day shrunk from doing it. That if I say I am excluding the heathens, placing them where they belong to, they have no say.
– THE SON OF MAN