TOPIC: FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN – PART 3
MINISTERING: PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE
DATE: 22ND JANUARY 2023
BIBLE TEXT: GENESIS 18: 17-21
Let Us Pray!
SONG
We give Glory to the Lord He reigns
We give Glory to the Lord He reigns
He reigns, He reigns, He reigns
We give Glory to the Lord He reigns
OPENING PRAYER
Our Father and our God, King of Glory, the One who is Glorious in Holiness, Fearful in Praises, Wonder Working God; we Worship You.
Thank You most sincerely for everything that You have done for us Particularly since the Year began. We trust that You that has kept us thus far, You will keep us all the way through. Father, accept our Thanks in Jesus Name.
As Your Children gather to You again today, I Pray that in Your Own Miraculous Way, You will open the Heavens to us, let some very “Unique Miracles” begin to happen in our lives.
In Jesus Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen!
Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!
We want to continue our Series on: “FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN – PART 3. And we will still be discussing a little bit further about Abraham – The one for whom he Heavens opened!
Our Bible Text this time around is going to be from Genesis 18: 17-21.
17. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
18. Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a Great and Mighty Nation, and all the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed in him?
19. For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do Justice and Judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
20. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21. I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
When we were discussing about Abraham in the Part 2 of this Series; we spoke about the fact that Abraham was one of the People for whom the Heavens opened for. That God lives in Heaven and for Him to come and visit Abraham, the Heaven has to open, God has to get up, God has to travel and when God is travelling, Miracles are distributed et cetera et cetera.
But the Question is: Who exactly is Abraham? What is it that God saw in Abraham that caused the Heavens to opened to him?
Abraham according to Romans 4:16 is called “The Father of Faith” – Which means that he is an Example of a “True Believer”.
That if you are looking for a Role Model for all Christians, all Believers then use Abraham as their Role Model.
Isaiah 51: 1-2, made that clear – That those of you who want to do the Will of God, should just remember Abraham.
If you don’t know what to do, doubtful of what step(s) you should take and you want to do the Will of God; consider Abraham.
Who is Abraham?
1. This Abraham is someone so Special that God Testified of him.
In Genesis 18:19; God said: I know him – That is a serious one.
Because I remembered very clearly that during the latter time of my father-in-the-Lord; several Companies in Nigeria will come to him at Ebute Metta (RCCG National Headquarters Parish) and say: We need an Accountant or Cashier or whatever they needed – Somebody that can be trusted. That so and so from your Church has applied for this or that Post, what do you say about him? And daddy will say in a very Clever way: Bro so and so applied to you? – Yes. He says that he is a Christian.
Do you know what that means? – I am not giving you my assurance but he has said that he is a Christian.
But occasionally, they will mention somebody else and he will say: Ha, he is a True Child of God – That is a Testimony.
Oh, how wonderful will it be if the Almighty God is to write your Testimonial today and say: Bro so and so, is my son; Sister so and so is my daughter.
You see, for you to know the Gravity of that Statement: “I know him” – I have given this illustration before that in a King’s house (At least in the Olden days in my Nation); you have all manners of children because the King in those days will have many wives. So many that he will not be able to Minister to them appropriately. And there are People in the Palace who come for business – High Priest, the Chief Herbalist etc and they help the King to Minister to the wives.
And when the children are born, anybody with eyes can see clearly – This child is not born by the King. But because he/she is born in the Palace, he is a Prince or she is a Princess.
And many of the People who has been helping the King to Minister are the People the King cannot fight because they are the backbone of the Kingdom – You can’t fight your Chief Warrior or your Chief Herbalist. You know what they have done, but you can’t do anything about it.
And so when the King receive Visitors and the “Host King” is introducing the children one by one to the “Visiting King”; he would say to the “Visiting King”, this boy is a Prince, this girl is a Princess and then he will say this is my son/daughter.
The “Visiting King” understands – That he is a Prince because he was born in the Palace and not my son; that she is a Princess she was born in the Palace but not my daughter. But this is my son/daughter; without any doubt he/she is my own.
So, if you want the Heavens to open unto you, you must live a Life that will cause the Almighty God to say that without any doubt; this boy, this girl is mine!
2. Not only somebody that God Testified about, God said that I can’t even hide from him what I am about to do – Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
My Beloveth, this year you need to sit down and re-arrange your race to Heaven:
I. Get yourself to that Stage where you can hear from God yourself.
II. You need to get yourself to that Stage where God will no longer hide anything from you.
Jesus Christ said that: I know my Sheep, my Sheep knows me and they hear my Voice.
You don’t have to be a Prophet to hear from God – All you need to be is to be a Child of God.
And this is going to be the year when the Almighty God will open many ears.
And I’m Praying that He will open your ears today so that you too will begin to hear from God – Amen!
3. What does this mean – I know him, I can’t hide anything from him. That simply means that: He is my friend!
In John 15:15; Jesus Christ said to the Disciples: I no longer call you Servant. He said that I have called you my friend because everything that I hear from my father I have told you.
You want to be a friend of God; this Year is giving you an Incredible Opportunity to become his friend.
Not just his friend, but His “Favourite Friend”.
There are friends and there are friends – In John 13: 21-26 at the Last Supper. When Jesus Christ sat down with His Disciples and they just finished eating. And He said: One of you People will betray me and everybody was saying who can it be? And Jesus Christ wasn’t answering.
The Bible says that Peter beckoned to John the Beloveth and say: Ask Him, He will tell you even if He may not tell the rest of us.
It is a Glorious Thing” to be able to say: My daddy didn’t tell me that; it is a “Beautiful Thing”; it is something that shows that by the Special Grace of God, you are very Special to God; that you can’t be deceived by any Prophet no matter the Title he calls himself – “Most Senior Prophet”.
Let him Prophesied; you must be in a Position to be able to say: Well, I am not doubting any Prophet but my daddy did not tell me that.
I Pray for everyone of my children that the Position where you will hear the Secret of God yourself; the Almighty God will bring you there – Amen.
4. But Abraham wasn’t just somebody God just Testified about, he wasn’t just a friend of God, he wasn’t just a “Favourite Friend” of God; God said concerning him in Genesis 15: 1 – God said that “I am your Reward”.
For the Almighty God to say to you – We are not talking about me Rewarding you with money or with Position or Earthly Promotions; I will be your Reward!
If you have the Almighty God, the All Sufficient God as your Reward, what else can you ever lack?
I told you before that when I became General Overseer and things were very tough and I finally collected my Gratuity for having served the Government for twenty nine (29) years and the money was a lot then, especially when you had Nothing. And I was Planning how to spend the money; which one I will save and so on and so forth and hoping that before I finished the money, the Church would have at least grown a bit.
And God spoke to me and said: Divide the money into three (3) Parts. He said give this one to this Ministry, give this one to that Ministry, give the third to that Ministry.
While I was trembling, He said to me: Son, I will be your Source. This is why Nobody can ever find out my Source because it is God!
I Pray for everyone of my children: May the Almighty God be your Reward – Amen!
Who is Abraham?
The Bible tells us that God is the God of Abraham. It says the God of Abraham is not the God of the dead but the God of the Living.
1. Abraham is the first to learn one of the names of God – I mean that the Relationship was such that God introduced Himself to Abraham.
In Genesis 17:1, God spoke to him and said: Abraham, my Name is “Jehovah El-Shaddai”.
The Relationship must have been really intimate that God said: Listen, I am the God who is More Than Enough, I am the All Sufficient God, I am your Mother’s Breast, I am the God who is Inexhaustible!
Abraham is the first Fellow to have a “Covenant Relationship” with God.
Genesis 17: 2-4; the Almighty God told Abraham: I will make a Covenant with you.
I hope some of you know the meaning of a Covenant – It is an Agreement Signed in Blood; an Agreement that cannot be broken!
One of the reason that Jesus Christ became Man is for the Almighty God to finally have somebody who can shed his Blood to make sure that a Covenant that has started from the beginning can fully be finalised.
Many of us know Particularly those who are Members of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG); that the reason this Church is succeeding this way is because of the Covenant between God and her Founder – It has Nothing to do with Pastor Adeboye.
God saw a man who was worshipping an Idol, grabbed him, saved his Soul and told him that I will start a Church through you that will go throughout the whole world. All I want you to do is the following – And He told him.
And my father-in-the-Lord fulfilled his own Part of the Covenant and God is not going to break His own.
So, if you are trying to find out the Secret of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG); go to God to find out.
2. And then Abraham was the first Fellow to have his name Changed by God.
His name used to be “Abram” but God Changed it “Abraham”.
And I have spoken to you before about the importance of names.
You know Moses – Moses mean “I pull him out of the water”.
And you know the Part that water Played in the Life of Moses:
I. Moses Changed water to Blood.
II. Moses brought out water from the Rock.
III. And why Moses could not get to the Promised Land was because of water.
God looked at Abraham and said: No, I Changed your name from Abram to Abraham – Genesis 17:5.
Oh, how I wish that if your name is causing Problem in your Life, God will give you the Grace to Change that name today – Amen!
3. But what is that something that must be “Extra Special” about this Abraham? Something about him that is kind of Unique?
Because I want the Heavens to open to me just as it opened to Abraham.
Oh yes, there are quite a bit that is Special about Abraham?
I. He was a Covenant Keeping Man – A Covenant Keeper.
In Genesie 17: 9-13; the Almighty God said: Okay, my Covenant with you is that all the Male children in your family and even those living in your house, must be circumcised.
And Abraham was ninety nine (99) years when he was circumcised – Genesis 17: 23-24.
And there is no Anaesthetics in those days – A ninety nine (99) years old man? I could imagine the Pains.
When I was born, there was no Anaesthetics then too but they do the circumcision very early in Life before you really know the full meaning of Pain. And Mama (Mother) is there to shock your mouth with Breast.
So as you are trying to cry, a little bit of Milk is settling into your mouth.
This man was ninety nine (99) years old when circumcised – He was indeed a Covenant Keeper.
: Anaesthesia means “loss of sensation”. Medicines that cause Anaesthesia are called Anaesthetics. Anaesthetics are used during tests and surgical operations to numb sensation in certain areas of the body or induce sleep. This prevents pain and discomfort, and enables a wide range of Medical Procedures to be carried out.
: Circumcision is a Procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the Operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised.
II. It will interest you to know as recorded in Genesis 14: 13-20 that Abraham was the first Person to Pay Tithe.
And he Paid it Voluntarily as there was no Law then for those who say that Tithing is of the Lord. The Law did not come until more than four hundred and thirty (430) years later.
What are you talking about? Exodus 12:40 says: Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
The children of Israel were in Egypy for four hundred and thirty (430) years – That is not to talk about the years between Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph added.
But at least we know that four hundred and thirty (430) years, the children of Israel were in Egypt before Moses brought them out. And the Law of Tithimg came by Moses.
So, long before the Law came; Abraham Voluntarily Paid Tithe!
So, you want to be the Seed of Abraham; Galatians 3:29 says: If you belong to Christ, then you are of the Seed of Abraham – Like father like son!
III. According to Genesis 22: 1-18; he was the first to give the first Fruit Sacrifice.
God said to Abraham: Your son Isaac; that you Love, your Only son – God made him to realised that I know that you have two (2) children but one is of Covenant (Isaac) and not that one that came by manipulation. That is the one I want.
Abraham gave his First Fruit Sacrifice, “Donkey Years” before Solomon said in Proverbs 3: 9-10 that you should honour the Lord with your First Fruit.
Why? There is something about this Abraham that is Godly, something about his Nature that is almost Divine.
Because in John 3:16; God gave you an Example of First Fruit Sacrifice – For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son.
IV. Abraham was a Lesson in Purity; Particularly where Marriage is concerned.
Because there are lot of Young People today who believed that they can marry anybody from anywhere; Provided that he/she says he/she is a Christian.
Read Genesis 24: 1-end – Abraham said to his Servant: Go back to my Root and get me somebody from amomg my People as wife for my son.
Don’t just marry anybody saying this is a Christian. Ask yourself: Do you share the same background?
Because when we talk of Purity – Something is only Pure when there is no Blemish at all.
If a big bucket of water is full of clean water and then a woman carrying a baby mistakenly drop a little bit of faeces from the baby into the water; that water is no longer drinkable.
The Almighty God meant for His Children: Purity, No Blemish, No Spot, No Wrinkle – All these things are in Abraham!
Let me Conclude: Galatians 3: 13-14; it tells us that Christ has delivered us from the Curse of the Law that the Blessings of Abraham (The Heavens that opened to Abraham) can come to yoi too.
The Channel is Jesus Christ – No other way!
ALTAR CALL
So, if you want to give your Life to Jesus Christ, it is up to you – You give your Life to Jesus Christ, you want to live your Life after the Pattern of Abraham.
It is up to you – You do that, the Heavens that opened to Abraham will open unto you. And one day, it will be said of you: He/She is a friend of God.
So, if you want to give your Life to Jesus Christ – Ask the Almighty God to have Mercy on you, to save your Soul, ask Him to Please Plug you in the same Lineage with Abraham so that all the Blessings can be for you.
Let Us Pray!
PRAYER FOR SALVATION AND CLOSING PRAYER
Almighty God, I want to bless Your Holy Name for Your Words. Thank You for speaking to Your Children. I bless You because the Blessings of Abraham is available to all those who are “True Children” of God, who are willing to Pattern their lives after the “Father of Faith”.
And I am Thanking You especially for those who has come forward to surrender their lives to You today.
Father, Please receive them, save their Souls, let Your Blood wash away all their sins, receive them into the Family of God and let the Blessings of Abraham begin to flow through them. Don’t let them ever backslide.
All Backsliders who has decided to come back to You, Please receive them all.
And I’m Praying for everyone of us who are yours in Spirit and in Truth, that the Grace to follow the footsteps of Abraham, so that we can become a “Trusted Friend” of yours, you will give unto us today.
I Pray that very soon, it will be said of us: Oh, this Fellow we know him/her; he/she belongs to God.
So, let it be Oh Lord.
And I Pray that as Your Children will cry to You today; the Heavens will open to them.
In Jesus Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen!
Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!!!
Thank you so much for staying all through to read.
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