Gratitude by Pastor Tunde Netufo
Let the household of Israel praise the Lord! Somebody did not hear me, I’m referring to the members of the household of Israel, we are commanded through that hymnal, it said let the house of Israel praise the Lord; so I want every member of the household of Israel under the influence of my voice this morning to shout a thunderous Hallelujah!
Let the people of God with all their heart, with all their strength praise the Lord!
Let me ask if there is anyone in the house who has not enjoyed the goodness of God; if you are in the house and you have not enjoyed the goodness of God, can you please shout hallelujah! Please help me identify them, no, I wanted to catch them today so that we can expose them; they absent, its better they are absent because it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed. It takes the grace of God to survive one day to the other, you may not believe it but some of you – all of you will even attest to it that it was not everybody that went to bed yesterday woke up this morning.
Excellent Father, we want to thank You this morning, the One that was, the One that is, the One that is to come, we bow before You, we declare your Lordship, we appreciate Your goodness, we appreciate Your kindness; we thank You for all that You have done for us; thank You for what you are doing; thank You for all You continue to do; thank You because it’s by Your grace that we are alive today; Yoruba has a saying, they will say, “ola omi ni eja fi n yan”,(it is just by the grace of the water that the fish can exist) and that is exactly what You have done for us, if You are taken out of the equation of our lives we are gone.
Thank You for what You have done Lord; thank You for the past, thank You for the present and thank You for what You will continue to do for us. The world will come, the enemies will fight but it’s You that will still give us victory even when we are not deserving, but because of Your commitment and the covenants You had, You are always giving us victory and Lord we are here today to celebrate, accept our thanks in Jesus name.
Lord we ask that today You will release upon every one of us true sense of thanksgiving in Jesus name, and Lord Almighty God, You will lavish us with the grace to appreciate You and by extension everyone around us in the name of Jesus Christ. Help our gratitude to come unto You as a sweet-smelling scent; let our gratitude not be a theory; just as You have been doing in the past, let it be real and genuine; let people around us feel the impact of our gratitude in the mighty name of Jesus.
I pray for all Your children who have been faithful in the payments of their tithes and the giving of the offering, my Lord and my Father in blessing You will bless them in Jesus name; until then You will open the windows of heaven and You will release Your blessings upon them in Jesus name; and according to Your word, make every one of them and the families that they represent a fertile land in Jesus name.
Take us from one level of glory to the other; thank You for the month of February, a special month in the life of this nation; thank You because as a people, You will move us forward, You will grant us divine speed, you will give us divine acceleration, You will break the bans of stagnation in our life, accept our thanks in the name of Jesus Christ.
And we pray as a nation, you will move us forward from poverty to prosperity in the mighty name of Jesus; from stuntedness Lord Almighty God to higher high in the mighty name of Jesus; from not enough to more than enough; from wailing to rejoicing; from pains to celebration, Father let it be so in the name of Jesus Christ.
We pray God of heaven with all our heart, with all our soul that you will prick every heart so that in the forthcoming election they will vote for the right person; they will not be swayed by the portion of the evil one; they will not be swayed by cash or by food knowing that the food will not last but what they do by the reason of their conscience that will bring them a very rosy future; Father in the mighty name of Jesus, prick every conscience in the name of Jesus Christ, and help us Lord to do the right thing, thank You for everything.
We commit this service unto Your hands; take control, reach out to us like never before and bless us Lord Almighty God so that by the time we will go back, we will go back better than we came in Jesus name. I pray for as many that are grieving, as many that have lost one person or the other, those who are in pain of sickness and diseases, Lord Almighty God, I pray that your grace will find expression in their lives in Jesus name.
Your anointing will break every grief and sorrow and pains in Jesus name, and Lord Almighty God, You will give Your children, every one of them, young and old, reasons to laugh again in Jesus name. Bless our children, bless our teenagers, bless our women, bless our men, bless the elders among us; Lord Almighty God, bless our youths in the mighty name of Jesus. Father, the spirit of waywardness in them You will take away in Jesus name, and we pray God that by Your grace that You will help us Lord not to miss it in Jesus name. Thank You glorious Father in Jesus wonderful name we have prayed. And the people we shout a better amen!
Praise the Lord! Praise the living Jesus!
I want to say good morning to every one of you, happy new month! It’s very nice to be back and to see the beautiful faces again; I miss you but I didn’t miss the church as such because of course I was seeing everything that was going on but I must say that it is nice to be back and we thank God for the month of February, the month of divine acceleration. The Lord will take us from the point of sorrow, from the point of wailing, from the point of self-pity to the point of freedom, prosperity and celebration in the name of Jesus Christ.
The month of February as we are all aware is a month of a divine acceleration, the scripture is taken from the book of Exodus 14: 15; “And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” We cannot continue to be stagnant, we cannot continue to be on the same spot, God wants us to move forward and I trust God this month, He will give us speed in Jesus name.
Consequently, normally you know we have prayer chain every Monday; it’s a platform through which we cry unto the Lord both for ourselves and for the nation, but the national in this case has come up with a three days program titled ‘Special Divine Encounter’, to start from tomorrow and run through till Wednesday, February 8th 2023. Ministering of course is no other than our esteemed father in the Lord, the general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye; time is between 6pm & 7pm.
By the grace of God, this will serve as a viewing center like it was announced in the morning, and for those of you who for one reason or the other might not have the privilege, you can join any of our social platforms. I can assure you it will reach out to you live and you will be blessed in Jesus name.
Now, the presidential election comes up on the 25th of this month; you have seen a lot, you’ve heard a lot and you will still be hearing a lot; orishirishi, blame games, in-fightings, out- fightings, insecurity, scarcity, fuel queues, currency queues. The naira used to trade against other currencies but the trader has started trading against itself, what is naira to naira today?
The first time I was there, somebody said what is naira to naira today? I said what is going on here and now, he said look, I used ₦5,500 to get ₦5,000, then I know now, naira is waging war against naira, it’s a shameful thing. This is not the first time we will change currency in Nigeria; at my own little age, I have seen it about three times, (about three or four times), it has never been this rancorous.
It shows lack of plan, it shows how disorganized and it shows there was no intent. So if you want all of this to continue, make up your mind, but let me tell you one thing, you cannot do the same thing, like that English parable will say, ‘we cannot continue to do the same thing and expect a different result’. It is madness. We have been surcharged times and times again; if they bring money and you take money and you vote for them, then you have your soul to blame.
If they bring rice, they bring you salt and sugar that will not take your family more than a day and because of that you sell your soul, you will be punished for it. So make up your mind, it’s a game of conscience, I leave you to your conscience. I pray the Holy Spirit will prick your conscience that you will not mortgage your future, that you will not subscribe to slavery, that you will not subscribe to bondage in the mighty name of Jesus.
I know some of you will say we are praying, INEC will not count prayer points, you pray when you cannot do things, we pray to God. The reason we pray to God is because prayer is also important, don’t misunderstand me, don’t twist me, prayer is key but let me tell you, I’ve taught on this altar times and times again, the secrets of answered prayers or praying the fervent and effective prayer; there are principles that at least God has given you ability to do, if you begin to ask God come and do it for me, ebi ni o ma pa e ku (you will die of hunger). Okay cook your food, prepare the food, sit down and say God come and feed me, it’s as simple as that.
So that’s why we’ve been appealing to you; get your PVC, don’t say I’m praying, pray and vote. The Bible says watch and pray! Nehemiah was building and he was – the problem of this country, I can say this, if I say this, they will call for my head, you can blame me, for the Church of God, we are never together, we are too divided, we shall know the truth and the truth will make us.
The day we decide what to do and we are one in the Spirit and in action, the narrative will change. Now people are poking our eyes asking us what can we do, they say that because they know who we are, may God have mercy. So on the day of election, go and vote; presidentially, vote; many of us, those in the National Assembly, we just vote for them we don’t know them and because of that, don’t vote for a party, vote for personalities that you know. Look, it’s only in Nigeria we don’t take democracy serious, in America or Britain, they will know that somebody will not win, they will say go and vote for him, that is the beauty of democracy; but here, I’ve heard people say hey, I can’t vote for this one because he will not win, who told you he will not win? Are you a prophet?
It is the totality of the votes that will determine who wins, and let me tell you, except for once in my life that I voted for a president that won; the first time I voted, I don’t follow the crowd, it’s only one person that I voted for that has won. The last election, myself and my wife were divided and I said it’s because I’m a very liberal and generous person, otherwise, how can you be living under my roof and will go and vote for this one? Yes, we have to be ourselves and this time around I’m not going to accept, let me say it here, otherwise I will exercise the power that is confirmed.
Of course my candidate did not win but I like it and when trouble started, I’m happy that I did not vote, at least I had that free conscience; I did the first time, I didn’t do it the second time, I cannot open my eyes and enter into fire.
John 6:1-.14, praise the Lord! Look, if we speak we die, if we don’t speak, we die, only one life. John 6, we’ll take it from verse 1; “After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. (The last one for the purpose of this exhortation) Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
I’ll be talking to us this morning by the grace of God on what I called ‘Applied Gratitude’. The word ‘apply’ simply mean something that is practical, something that is real, something that is contemporary, something that is directly opposite theory, so when we talk about applied, we’re talking about something practicable, something contemporary, something that works.
Gratitude as we all know is simply defined as the state of being grateful. It typically involves expressing thanks and appreciation for something, from a gift and/or even unto life itself.
I cited an example in the morning about a friend of mine who is now in Canada, the descriptions she had in her whatsApp DP before now, it displayed for a long time have these wordings, ‘life is a bonus’, and I said it upfront that it’s only by the grace of God that we are alive today; it wasn’t everybody that went to bed yesterday had that grace to wake up this morning and be part of this glorious morning.
Now gratitude also involves recognition of the positive things in your life and how they affect you. You need to recognize the positive things in your life, there are many of us, when we are encountered, tell me the best day of your life, it takes us time for us to record or recall the best moments of our life. I don’t know whether that is the way humans are wired but I know it doesn’t apply to everybody, but ask them, tell me your saddest day or saddest moments, oh God, they will read it out and reel it out, you will be wondering whether they have a recorder on their head to pick those days.
It is gratitude because gratitude involves recognition of the positive things in your life and how they affect you. This can range from acknowledging stuff around you, including people around you and the feelings of thanks that comes from the totality of events and happenings in your life.
For instance, when you take ill and at the end of the day you get healed; you take ill, you pray to God for healing, you go to the hospital and let me tell you, doctors can only care, it is God that heals; so you need the combination of the two (sometimes) to get your healing. Sometimes you may not want to go to the hospital depending on your faith, if you are a man of faith and you are righteous, you can wrestle it with God in prayer and God can do it; but assuming you are a faith person, you can still combine the two.
So when we get healed or we recover from those issues, there is a sense that comes that truly we should thank God for healing because it’s not everybody that takes ill, goes to the hospital or pray that eventually survives it. Do you understand what I’m saying? When you have food to eat, before you eat you pray, do you know it’s also very important, part of applying gratitude to appreciate God after the meal. Appreciate the fellow that God used to prepare the meal.
Do you know it’s not everybody that has people that prepare meal for them? Some, those who prepare meal for them they are higher links; some, they had to go to Mama Put, does Mama Put still exist in the light of chicken this chicken that Republic here and there, The Place and so on, so Mama Put still exists. I know you are some of you are patrons.
Even when you get to Mama Put, the fact that they give you this they give you that and you are able to do justice to it also calls for thanksgiving. Haven’t you seen people that are served food, delicious meal and they will not be able to eat? I shared with them in the morning, this song we used to sing those days especially in primary school; ‘some have food they cannot eat, some can eat but have no food, we have food and we can eat, glory be to you oh God’; you have legs you can walk; you have eyes and you can see; you have ears you can hear; your brains are intact, you are not walking naked on the streets.
Some years ago in early 90s, I was working in Surulere, (in SCB those days) there was a man – a madman around Adeniran Ogunsanya and Bode Thomas, they called him professor with a very long beard; he would carry like 20 – 30 pens, he would put them in his tattered suit and he would be picking dumps all over the place, he would be speaking big grammar. Now, two things; he went to school, maybe he was a prof or not, that I cannot substantiate but he went to school, he studied, he was from a home, a good background that could afford education but something went wrong with the brain; while others were using their brain to solve problems in workplaces, he was using his own to pick things on the street and you would see his hands would be shaking, it would be doing like somebody was writing.
But today, our brains are okay, people can sit with you, you come to a public place; there are people who would enter this place now, some of you – you know Yoruba has this saying that ogbon ni agba fi n sa fun maluu,(elders would stylishly run from a cow); there are people who would come in now and they would want to sit with you and you would behave as if you are going to the toilet, never to return again, stylishly you will escape.
You know what I’m talking about; if somebody should enter here now, even me that is preaching here, I’ll begin to look so that nobody comes here and perhaps I will signal and say help me send ushers to this place before this man comes to the front, and as I’m seeking, I will also be speaking in tongues concurrently, but that is not the situation. I am painting this picture so that you will understand what we are talking about and guess what? Gratitude leads to recovery and makes what is not enough to become more than enough.
John 11: 40- 43, you know the story of Lazarus, it was gratitude that brought forth Lazarus from dead, a man that was four days dead, gratitude restored him and he recovered his life. I pray today, as you follow the footstep of giving gratitude to God and to people around us, there will be recovery of losses in Jesus name. And of course in the scripture that we read, John 6: 1-14, we find out that gratitude made what is not enough to become more than enough; five loaves of bread and two fishes, after Jesus has given thanks, was more than enough to feed a total number of about five thousand people and guess what, they had something left over. I pray that all through this year, e e je sheku,e e je ajeyo, you will eat in full and there will be surplus in the mighty name of Jesus.
Gratitude is a master key to securing what I call divine recognition and permanent victory. Luke 17 is very apt, if you read from verse 10; ten lepers encountered Jesus and Jesus gave them instruction – a clear instruction; He said go and show yourself to the town. In the olden days, it’s a taboo for lepers to dwell in the town, in fact if a leper dares enter into the town, he will be stoned to death because leprosy is a contagious disease, so when you have it you’ll be isolated, and in fact the bush belongs to the lepers.
So when Jesus get that instruction to them, go and show yourself, it was a big risk but they believed, they went and of course the Bible says, out of the ten, one came back and he said Sir, I have come to show myself, I have been healed, my leprosy has been taken away and Jesus (the Bible) says turned around, He looked at the disciples, He looked at all the people following and He asked a question that how many of them were involved? How many of them were told to go and show themselves? How many of them has come back? Only one, he was recognized to be a grateful person and of course though is not captured, we believe that by reason of that, his healing became permanent.
I pray to God this morning that as you appreciate God and people around you, everything the Lord has done for you and the good things that the Lord will do for you and your children shall be permanent in the name of Jesus Christ.
So you can practice applied gratitude in a lot of different ways; number one, there is what I call gratitude exercise or exercises, how do you do that? You get a list, it’s like journaling the things God has done; take them, a songwriter says count your blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done for you. The good thing the Lord has done for you are your assets and you won’t be able to know how much the Lord has done except they are listed.
Those of you that have stock, you have investment, both in stock and shares – fixed deposit, at least you have a record of them and from time to time you are able to monitor what God has done for you, it is that journaling that will give you an idea of the total value of your investment, so that’s what I call gratitude exercises, just journaling.
Number two; paying attention to the little things in life, like being able to go to toilet, you take its number, it’s not everybody that can go to the toilet now, pray you don’t have serous hemorrhoids, you will find out that going to the toilet will be a major challenge, you don’t even want to eat so that you will not have reason to go to the place because it’s going to be a herculean task for you, it’s going to be a tough experience.
That you can eat, you can you can express yourself, I told them in the morning; everybody that came in here today, I have not seen anyone that came in on wheelchair, we all walked in, all the little things around us in life, let’s take note of them. The flies, the environment, even the nature itself, even the birds that you have, even the pets around you, you need to pay attention to those little things. Tell someone you are grateful for them on the things they have done for you even if it was a long time ago, we must learn to appreciate.
I used to tell my driver, when you get to a junction or anywhere and somebody decided to yield the road to you, you owe that person a duty to say thank you. How do you say thank you? You don’t need to stop the engine and stop the car to go and say thank you, just horn just to say it or if it’s a place where you can thumbs up, do you know what? You will encourage the man to give way next time.
A lot of crisis we have, a lot of artificial traffic that we have occasionally is because somebody (maybe) has stopped for one or two people to pass and they didn’t thank him, this time around you just go, if you don’t thank me nobody leaves here you know what I’m talking about, all these little things happen. Even sometimes when I give way to the first or second, I also expect that person to say thank you for stopping for me, so if you don’t do it, I’ll say next time, let me also go, in the process sometimes accidents occur, it doesn’t matter who owns the right or whatever, yield it, and when somebody yield it to you, you appreciate the fellow.
Do something kind for someone in your life to express your gratitude. Somebody has been nice to you, you need to be nice to them too, this thing should be a two-way thing, don’t be at the receiving end all the time. Many of us today have become parasite, we keep sucking, suckers and vampires, we keep sucking and sucking. Let me tell you, if you are a river you keep receiving and you don’t flow out, very soon you will be smelling, my prayer is that you will not smell in Jesus name.
Yoruba has a proverb, “ko to nkan ni o n so eni di ahun, eleyi o to ni o n so eni di okanjua”, it could be as little as anything, take it, it’s a seed, life is not for one person life does not belong to one person and if we are able to cultivate this habit of live and let live, I think the world will be a better place for us. You will find out that the billions you stock up somewhere, you will not end up spending it, how much can you eat in a day?
I shared with them; one of our very good friends, (I will not mention his name), very rich, today he cannot climb to go to his office, most times he operates inside the car. I have a man that has a building, a massive building, today he cannot go to the top floor; it’s a storey building, now he has occupied the room down there. The same house he built and when they opened it they were rejoicing, everything in that room all the bathrooms, go and see, the best of facilities but guess what, the birds have overtaken that, now he’s down. Won’t you go upstairs? He would say no, how long will it take me?
Meditate on the positive aspect of life. The positive aspect of life; your marriage, your children, the good people around you, your church people, your friends at work – your colleagues, your business; do you know that for people to call you is a privilege? I read the story of a woman that started crying (was it not last year) in Nigeria here; she threw the phone away, they asked her why she threw it away, she said what is the use of this phone? Nobody is calling me, everywhere I go, I keep this phone but nobody is calling, the phone is not ringing; the woman started crying and they were petting her, they should collect her number and people should be calling her, just say ‘hello mama, how are you? I just said I should greet you’, the woman will be happy, but today when they call you, you would say don’t disturb me. There are those who disturb, there is no doubt but do you know it’s a privilege that people are calling you?
A man of God said ‘aye o ke ki n gbadun o daa ju aye gbagbe mi’, it is better to be envied than to be pitied. I pray for you that you will not be in a position of pity.
It’s not easy to be to be involved in pity; you know it’s not difficult to call people, sir, I need help, those who have their pride find it very difficult to do. For some people, there are some specialist beggars who have no sense of shame, you give them today, they are coming to beg tomorrow; you give them again, in fact they can come and beg you to help them build a house, they have lost sense of shame, ‘a fun ni je o ki n fun ni k’ata’ there are people like that in Nigeria, but yet there are those who will struggle and pray that their request will not be turned down because if you turn down that request, some of them can commit suicide because they hardly beg, they have never done it.
Somebody called me in December, by the time he started parambulating, I said what is it? He said yeah but I don’t know how to go about it, okay I will do it. Eventually he said thank God for you because if you had declined perhaps because there are people like that, they’ve never been in a position for begging or pity but situation happens, these are the people right there and suddenly went off, I pray in the name of Jesus that there will not be a negative turn event for you in Jesus name.
Meditate on the positive aspect of your life, it’s not all the time you give all the failure and set back too much of thought otherwise it will lead to depression. Those who have depression are those who give so much thought to failure, setbacks, inabilities and all the rest, try to ignore them as much as they are there, try to ignore them, work on them and see how you can come out of them, but focus on the positive things because they serve as a tonic for the moment.
Give thanks through prayers according to Psalm 107: 1-3 because it’s also very important. Now, applied gratitude simply means appreciating human beings. Appreciating human beings is the best way to appreciate God and that is where I’m going, that is the main thrust of this exhortation today; appreciating human beings is the best way to appreciate God; if we cannot show gratitude to those who we can see, I doubt how possible it is for us to appreciate God in the best way possible.
How many of us have seen God before? People around you are God’s elects and representative. The account in Matthew 25:31 – 44 underscore this assertion, no man has ever seen God face to face; as a matter of fact, Moses desired to see God but he was clearly told that he won’t see God and survive it according to Exodus 33: 20. Most of the claims people made about seeing God are mere through visions or dreams which of course are very subjective.
Where somebody said ‘oh I saw God; oh God is this’, I told them in the morning jokingly, some would say I saw a white man with a long beard, have you seen God before? Where did you know whether God is white? And when you see a black man you say that is the devil, how do you know whether the devil is black? All of those things are just mere myths.
In fact, one of the things they taught us in Primary school those days, they would say ‘emi ni Olorun bi emi o ti le ri, oun n ri mi, o mo oun gbogbo, o si le se oun gbogbo’, in other words, God is spirit and John 4 confirms that, it says God is spirit and then I worship Him now, to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Let nobody come and tell me I saw God wearing agbada, do you know whether it’s God’s tradition to wear agbada? To some people, He wears jalabia, how do you know God wears jalabia? God is spirit my friend, and He expects us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. So I want to plead with us today to cultivate the good habits of saying thank you to people around you who have been of help to you one way or the other either in the past or even currently. How I wish couples would learn to appreciate each other more than ever before.
I told them in the morning, those of you women who have men by your side, somebody that you call my husband my husband, do you think it’s easy? It’s not easy, and that’s why you need to appreciate us, so if you are sitting by your couple, please tell your husband I love you baby.
The men, do you think it’s easy with all our troubles to have women that would call you and say daddy, when you come in they would say daddy; even sometimes you’re a kekere man, they would call you daddy, let somebody shout Hallelujah!
Applied gratitude; so if you are sitting beside your spouse as a man, then tell her baby, I love you too, thank God for you. And look, if your partner is not here, make sure you say it to him or her, ‘baby I love you, I thank God for you’. You know I have to be very careful because after this place now you will not be there, so I have to walk up front.
How many people are looking for somebody to call daddy? How many people are looking for people to call baby? A lot of things we have we just take them for granted; you have somebody who gives you upkeep, do you think it’s everybody that has people to give them upkeep? Some are even married, their men are not manning enough, not because they don’t want to man or they don’t want to be a man, let me put it that way, (let me not use colloquial English), but circumstances, situations will not allow them to rise up to be counted, but you come, hey I want to go and do my hair, you will get money; you want to buy shoes, you will get money; rice is finished at home, you will get money; please clap for them, and please, it should not be a momentary thing, it should be a continuous thing because when you do this, the man will be happy.
When my wife says thank you, yes I’m happy, I feel good and I’m sure it applies to everybody, even you as a woman, when they cook correct food and they say babe, this one is delicious. Children will also appreciate their parents for training, education. It is not written in the Bible that we should send you to university, though the Bible says train a child the way he should go, but because our own parents didn’t have money, they didn’t. In the morning, we would go to the farm, so we can also train you in the way of farming but we deprived ourselves of comfort, we deprived ourselves of enjoyment to send you to school, so after reading these things, don’t come and tell us daddy you are an old school, it’s an insult; you don’t come and tell us mommy, that is old school, who is talking and you are talking? How can I use my money to send you to school and you would come and tell me dad, this is not Nigeria, wa a pada wa bawa nibi (you will come back to meet us here).
And of course, parents hold it a duty to appreciate their children because if you send them to school and they waste your money, what can you do? I have a friend who sent his son to America for four years, the boy came back worse than he went; he took to drug; he became an addict; they brought him back for rehabilitation. So if you have children that you sent to school whether here or there and they are turning out good results, we need to also appreciate them for making us to be proud fathers and mothers.
I said it in the morning that pastors should appreciate their members, and I want to say from my heart of heart, I appreciate you; you are very wonderful; I appreciate all the ministers, thank you for always feeling the gap; thank you for the support day and night. I had a conversation with one of our senior pastor, he said I like the way you operate, I said well, I don’t bring in external people except when it’s necessary; we need to protect our people so that people will not play on their ignorance, but I also need to develop my own people. Any leader that cannot reproduce himself is a failed leader. If I begin to bring in people, when will they have the opportunity to express themselves? And today I can travel; I know the church will continue, that is my vision.
Everybody has his own objective and that is it. I want to raise Godly leaders; I want to use my position to raise Godly leaders, people who would continue where we stop; people who would do better than us; I’m not afraid of anyone out there doing better than me, in fact, they must do better than me. A good father must pray for the progress of the children; when you monopolize everything, you sit on them, the day you die, all your achievement will die.
I told them in the morning; there are a lot of pastors, there are many churches but you choose to come here, we appreciate you for it. There are those who are daily enticing you with prophecies, manipulated signs and wonders, yet you choose here because we will not prophesy forcefully. Prophecy is the scripture.
My prophecy for all of you this year is found in Isaiah 3: 10, it says, “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him”. I stand on the authority of the word this morning and I declare that it shall be well with you; you will eat the fruits of your labor in the mighty name of Jesus.
In Revelation, I’m told that the testimony of Christ is the spirit of Prophecy. One of our leaders came, he said thank God for this church, thank God for people like you, this is not a comedian; he said a lot of pastors are comedians all over the place; you’ll start the service with laughter and you end it with laughter, at the end of the day nothing substance to show for it. Miracles, prophecies, bring people to the church; it is the word that will sustain them. Praise the Lord!
And the Bible says the words that I speak to you are their spirits and so will give you life, we will give you spirit because that’s all you need for survival, but you also need to appreciate us; we’ve made a lot of sacrifices; we’ve burnt the midnight oil; we have to find out what we are going to teach, we need to establish it and compare it so that what we are saying will have a deep reference in the word of God. The Bible has no variation, it only has translations; the whole essence of translations is to drip in knowledge but no variation, so when people are talking to you and you cannot compare it, entrench it, confirm it to the word of God, there’s a problem there and that’s where this place is different; you cannot be here and you will not find grace; you cannot be here and you will not enjoy peace, so you need to appreciate us as well. As I’ll be standing now, you will sit down, I’ll be talking while standing, appreciate us.
On Sundays, we are here; tomorrow, if not for divine encounter, even after, we will be here; Tuesday, all of that, please appreciate us once again. I put it here, I said conversely members should learn to appreciate their pastors for the great sacrifice and risk they take on daily basis, simply to ensure that their welfare spiritually and otherwise.
So brethren, the words you get here, I told them in the morning they are not common and they should be appreciated; you don’t have such everywhere where people gather together in the name of the Lord. How nice the world would have been if only siblings will show gratitude to one another for the help and support rendered or rendering; you need to know that making such sacrifice is not for what or what to spend money on, but rather it is just because it is considered to be very important and bore out of a kind heart.
You will see brothers, siblings; my brother is not doing enough; where is it written that your brother should do enough for you? He has his own family, he has his own children to take care of, but if they go out of their way to do whatever little they can do, appreciate it, especially in Africa, sometimes come and see – no, this is an altar, it’s not everything you can say, sometimes the siblings brouhaha can be very tough; they just want to become a big problem to you; they throw themselves at you and they want you to wash their leg, wear their socks, put on the shoes, clean the hem up, wear trousers for them; if you have decided to remain at that level then who will be doing that for you?
So for those of you who are siblings and you are looking up to your brother, you keep abusing him; you keep abusing your sister; ‘love ti wo lori, ko je ko ri odo wa mo, oko e ko je ko gbo tiwa mo’ (she has been intoxicated with love, her husband has told her not to help us anymore), you too, go and work; whatever he has done, thank him for it.
Maybe what is creating this problem is that you are not thankful enough, because for some of you, there is this sense of entitlement, and I pray that from today, I want to beg you to take steps towards doing this from today, please from today, appreciate people, there lies the future, blessings and enlightenment.
A child that shows gratitude for the previous gesture will surely receive further blessing. When you thank your benefactor for his kind deeds, it’s a turning for him to do more. A man that is shown kindness and fails to appreciate is like a robber who robs. Yoruba would say, “eni ti a se lore ti o dupe, bii olosha”, do you know olosha? In Yoruba means thief, robber, because a thief is different from a robber, amen! A robber is a senior or advanced thief, praise the Lord! Please don’t be a robber henceforth and you will be blessed for it in Jesus name.
There are many benefits, I will round up here, and I will not talk about the danger of gratitude, maybe some other time. Now, the benefits include improvement of self-esteem, energy and health. I don’t know about you but I think it happens to an average person, when you do good, you know you are happy that you do good; when you help, people come to you for assistance and you are able to do it, I don’t know, I feel so elated that I’m able to solve this problem.
So it improves self-esteem, energy and health; it makes us happier and it makes us more resilient and when you are a man with a grateful heart, it helps you to deal with adversity better, because you know that no condition is permanent.
It makes us more generous and forgiving. Show me a man that is forgiving, you will show me a generous man, a man that has a sense of gratitude; but when you show me a man that has PhD in malice; find out, that person must be a miser -akagum. Amen somebody! Let the akagum shout Hallelujah!
Now, it keeps you in the present moment. One of the other benefits of applied gratitude, it keeps you in the presence moment. You take one step at a time; it lowers your stress; it takes away stress; it takes away anxiety and unnecessary talks.
Do you know one of the major flaws of Judas Iscariot? One of his major flaws is ingratitude, ojukokoro (covetousness). He saw the money and said haha, let me amass this to myself alone, and he ended up committing suicide. My prayer is that you will not kill yourself.
In conclusion, in Ecclesiastes 2: 26, I decided to bring this in using the International version; Ecclesiastes 2:26, it says, “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
In the King James Version, it says, “For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up…”, do you know what? At the end of the day, they will throw it to another person. My prayer for you today is that you will not work for others in the mighty name of Jesus.
So I want us to bow down our heads this morning or this afternoon and tell God, Father, give me the grace to apply gratitude in every aspect of my life in the mighty name of Jesus. But if you are here, you have not given your life to Christ, you saw what the scripture said to sinners, he has given travail; travail means anxiety, troubles, affliction and everything along that line, but I have a good news for you today, if you are in the house you have not surrendered your life to Christ, I want you to raise up your hand because God wants to change your position this morning; He wants to take away your travail and give you peace; He wants to take away your travail and give you comfort.
The Bible says when you come to the place of God, Acts 3: 19, it says, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out”, in order to pave way for the time of refreshing. The time of refresh is a time of change; it’s a time of comfort.
So if you are in the house, you have not given your life to Christ and you want to do it today, you want to change level, raise up your heart wherever you are. All eyes closed, your head bowed; raise up your hand very quickly, don’t struggle with your Maker; you’ve heard the word of God, come and say yes Lord, I surrender to
You; I want to pray with you and God will change your level. Do you know that from today, God will open the door of mercy unto you and every little effort of yours will bring about monumental result? The season of wonders will begin in your life.
I want you to begin to appreciate God for everything around you, everything about you; the food, the water, the environment, the fact that you have people that call your number – to call your phone, you have people’s numbers, people have your number; please wherever you are, thank God for it.
You want to say yes Lord, I surrender to You; take away suffering from my life; take away my travail; I yield my life unto You, take my life and let it be consecrated on to you.
Daddy told us this morning that if you are the son of the God of wonders, he said your season of wonders will be prolonged. If you want your season of wonder to be long, please come forward very quickly. In Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
Father in heaven, we want to thank You for the opportunity of Your word that You have given unto us today; thank You for the word that has been clearly expanded and thank You for everyone that have heard, we pray oh God that for every heart that has received Your word, You will water it in Jesus name; You will nurture it in Jesus name; You will cause the word to grow handsomely in our heart, and by the reason of Your word, You will propel us Lord Almighty God to doing good works in Jesus name.
By reason of the word, You will propel us Lord Almighty God to appreciate all our benefactors and everyone and even including those who have not done anything for us in Jesus name. Gratitude promotes healthy living; we pray that from today Father Almighty God, You will give us perfect health in Jesus name.
Gratitude promotes good will, Lord Almighty God, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus that from today, you will grant every one of us a grant well of good will in Your grace, in Your love and in Your mercy in Jesus name. And above all in Your kingdom, may none of us be found wanting; bless Your daughter that has come unto You; forgive her past and let mercy prevail over judgment in her life and write her name in the Book of Life, in Jesus wonderful name we have prayed.
And the people will say a better amen!
Praise the Lord!!
Praise the living Jesus!!!
Thank You Jesus,
Salvation Prayers
If you don’t Know Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour and would like to accept him into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, Please say this prayer:
Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from You. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward You. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that Your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send Your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your Will for the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
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Chukwuemeka Obiorah Ogwo,