RCCG LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM (LTP) 2019 – THEME: THE GIDEON ARMY

MINISTERING: PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE (GENERAL OVERSEER OF RCCG AND PRESIDENT CHRIST REDEEMER’S MINISTRY)

DATE: 31ST OCTOBER, 2019

BIBLE TEXT: JUDGES 7;7

Thank You Lord – Hallelujah!

Let us Pray.

SONG

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Jehovah the Man of War
His Mecy endureth for ever and ever
Oh Praise His Holy Name.

OPENING PRAYER

Our Father and our God we bless Your Holy Name.

King of Kings and Lord of Lords; the Lord Strong and Mighty, the Lord Mighty in Battle. The Lord who has never, never lost a War, the Lord of Hosts Himself – Glory be to Your Holy Name.

Please accept our Thanks in Jesus Name.

I am here tonight to commit these Your children into Your Hands. As many of them as will qualify to be Part of Your Army; Lord God Almighty that uncommon Anointing that will make them forever Victorious release on them tonight in Jesus Name.

The Anointing Lord God Almighty that will never let them suffer failure, release on them tonight in Jesus Name.

The kind of Anointing Lord that the enemies will come to them one (1) way and flee seven (7) ways; release unto them tonight in Jesus Name.

Physically, let them be Victorious; Spiritually, let them be Victorious; Academically, let them be Victorious – In every facets of their lives Father, let them be Victorious.

Please Lord God Almighty; I Prayed that from tonight when the enemies see any of these your children coming; the enemies will flee.

Use them for Your Glory.

In Jesus Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen.

Let somebody shout Hallelujah – Hallelujah!

Shake hands with one (1) or two (2) People and say: Good Evening, God Bless You – Amen.

And then put your hands together for the Almighty God.

My Purpose of coming here tonight of course is to Pray for you and I have Prayed.

And I trust that the Almighty God that from tonight onwards; you won’t know failure again – Amen.

I want to talk to you for about five (5) to ten (10) minutes on “THE GIDEON ARMY”

To let us discovered for yourself whether or not you are qualified to be in the Army.

BIBLE TEXT: JUDGES 7:7

“And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.”

Tonight, am going to mention five (5) Basic Characteristics of anyone who is going to be a Member of the Gideon Army.

1. He must be Fearless.

Because if you read Judges 7: 2-3; when Gideon gathered together an Army of thirty two thousand (32,000) Soldiers to go and face an Army of three hundred thousand (300,000); the Almighty God said that the People who are already outnumbered by ratio ten to one (10:1) are still too many.

So, He (God) said to Gideon: Tell everyone who is afraid to go home.

And the Bible said that twenty two thousand (22,000) ran away.

Anyone who is going to be in the Army of the Lord known as “The Gideon’s Army” must be Fearless

Proverbs 28:1 tells us that the Righteous is as Bold as a Lion.

Anyone who is afraid of anything including death cannot really be in the Gideon’s Army.

Because The Gideon’s Army is not just an ordinary Army; it is a collection of what we call “Commandos” or what the Americans will call “The Marines”.

They are not supposed to be many

I have a son who happened to be in the American Marines. And he told me that when they want to select those who will go into the Marines; they must have done very well as a “Regular Soldier”.

If you go to the “Regular Army”; they found those who are very good and they select some of them to go into the Marines.

And if they take one hundred (100); they expect on the average only twelve (12) to survive.

But the twelve (12) that will survive; they can easily be said to fulfill that Promise of God that one (1) shall chase a thousand (1,000).

If you want to be in the Gideon’s Army, you must be Fearless.

And let me tell you something about the meaning of being Fearless: You become truly Fearless the day you are no longer afraid of death.

And how can that possibly be?

Well by the Grace of God, I became a Fearless the day I realized that I cannot die until my Day because to every man, there is an “Appointed Day”.

And when your “Appointed Day” comes; nothing can keep you alive.

But until that Day comes; you just will not die.

So, I have lost Fear of death because I know that when the Day comes; I will go.

Until the time comes; you can’t kill me.

If only you will understand that; you won’t know Fear again.

Because I have seen enough in my little walk with God that I can give you examples upon examples.

I will probably be giving you a Good example of a lady that was told two (2) or three (3) Years ago by the doctor that the Possibility that she will die is ninety nine point nine nine percent (99.99%).

They left only zero point zero one percent (0.01%) for God.

… And today, she is alive!

Because we cried to God to make use of that little window to Perform a Miracle.

Tell the Person next to you: Until God is ready for me, I cannot be killed.

… You don’t seems to believed it: Be Bold as a Lion.

That is what it takes to be in the Gideon’s Army.

2. You must be Vigilant.

If you read the same Judges 7: 1-7; when the Almighty God said listen that the People are still too many – there is still ten thousand (10,000) of them there.

If they win this Victory; they will say that we are the ones who did it.

Take them to the Brook; ask them to drink and then we will select from the way they drink.

Some People got there, they put down their weapons, put their face down drinking.

Only three hundred (300) had their weapons ready and they are just using their hands to bring up water and laugh like a dog.

They were drinking but they are ready. Their eyes were sharp, they were Vigilant.

During the Nigeria’s Civil War; there was a Slogan: “Biafra your kind of safety is Unresting Vigilant”.

That was the cry of the Army then – BE VIGILANT

The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8. It says that you must be sober, you must be Vigilant because you have an Adversary.

You cannot be in the Gideon’s Army if you are one of those who feels that the devil does not exist, enemies does not exist and so you can live any kind of Life the way you like it and still make it to Heaven.

Those who will belong to the Gideon’s Army, they know that there are enemies around; Plotting to destroy them.

… Be Sober, Be Vigilant.

3. As we continue with the story of Gideon; when they are going to attack they put their touches inside pots.

And what is that one saying: Every Member of the Gideon’s Army must realised that he has Treasures in an Earth Vessel.

2 Corinthians 4:7 says we have these Treasures in Earthen Vessels.

We are made of dust but there is something in you that is Precious.

The Bible says that Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

There is someone in you Greater than all the enemies combined.

But you must realised that I cannot do anything on my own Strength – I am an Ordinary Earthen Vessel.

My success will come from the One within – My Treasure is within.

So that when Victory comes; you will not be boasting. You know that your Treasure is an Earthen Vessel.

Colossians 1:27 made it clear: Christ in You, the Hope of Glory.

It is the One within you that is going to guaranteed the Victory.

4. The fourth (4th) thing for every Members of the Gideon’s Army is this: For that Light that is in the Earthen Vessel to shine forth and lead to confusing among the enemies; the Vessel must be Broken.

The one who is going to be a Member of the Gideon’s Army must be ready to be Broken.

2 Corinthians 12:15; Paul says: Am ready gladly to spend and be spent – Broken.

John 12: 20 says: Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies; it abides alone.

Philippians 1:21; Paul said: For me to live is Christ, to die is Gain.

… You must be Broken.

The Greatest Problem that God has with many of us who will love to be in His Army is that we are not Broken.

We still want to have our own way. We still want to do things only when we agree.

And there is difference between Agreement and Submission.

When somebody joins the Army, the first thing they do is to shave off his head.

They want to tell him that your beautiful hairstyle forget it in the Army. Here, every head is the same.

As a matter of fact, that my son that am talking about said that the day you joined the Army, you ceased to be your own — You become the Property of that Government. You lose your Individuality and the Training that will follow is for one Purpose only: To break that resistance in you.

To bring you to a level that when an Officer said turn Right, you don’t argue.

Infact, you are already turning Right before you are sure it is Right he asked you to turn to.

I am sure you know that if you have any friend in the Army; they will tell you if one Officer asked you to go Right and you are going Right and then you meet another Officer that said turn Left, you turn Left because it is said you must obey “The Last Order” – You don’t argue.

No wonder that when they Graduate they become a terror to the enemies.

When you find someone who is not afraid of death, you find someone who will obey every instructions then you have a dangerous enemy.

That is why the most Fearful Person that you can come across is a Suicide Bomber. He doesn’t care, he doesn’t want to live but want to take you along with him.

During the 2nd World War, the Japanese has some People they trained to fly their Planes.

When you go into the Battle in the Air; the ideal thing is that you are to shoot down the other man’s Plane and then you come back home alive.

In their own case, they go into the Air not trying to come back home – They just want to o run their Planes into yours so that both of you could die.

It is said of those People (Japanese Soldiers) that every Army in the world feared them.

Why? – Because if they could go up into the Air to fight and they for one reason or the other they manages to returned home; they returned home in shame.

Paul said: For me to live is Christ and to die is Gain.

I don’t want to tell you stories tonight but I won’t you to know that everything that am teaching you now by the Grace of God; the man standing before you and a handful of the older ones sitting down behind me have put it into Practice.

Anywhere that they say we cannot come to Preach the Gospel, we have been there.

There was a time that there was an Opening in Congo and the War was on. But there was an Opening and the Opening could shut. And I decided that we will go and Preach the Gospel to them.

They warned us: You may never returned.

Who cares about returning?

I have told you the story before all that Jesus Christ said is “GO”.

Did He say anything about coming back?

And the interesting thing is that if you belong to His Army; you cannot die before your Day.

5. The fifth (5th) Characteristics of someone in Gideon’s Army is that he must be somebody one hundred percent (100%) under the Authority of God and his Leader.

In Judges 7: 18-20; the Bible says that Gideon told them how they are to cry.

When they break their pot, what are they to cry?

For God or for Gideon – The sword of God and the sword of Gideon.

Every Army must have a Captain.

The Problem with many of us is that we all want to be the Captain – There can only be one Captain and the rest of us submits to the Captain.

Submission means that you do whatever you are told – Whether you think the Captain is right or wrong.

Some of you has heard me say this before: The Almighty God told me after I became Born Again that I must be under the Authority of my father in the Lord.

I was a Lecturer at the University, PhD Mathematics. And God said that I should be under the Authority of somebody who could not even write his name correctly.

That was not a big deal initially after all he knows the Bible more than I – he knows the entire Bible off head. So, in that area my PhD doesn’t mean anything.

But there was an occasion when I wanted to do something Good, he will say No.

In those days, every Sunday Evening there is Testimony Time. And when I just got Born Again, I seems to have Testimonies per day per day.

When he said it is Testimony Time on Sunday Night; my hands will go up because God was doing Miracles.

And after some time, when I lift up my hands be will look at me and say: Pull down your hands.

Ah, what is wrong with Testifying?

On one occasion, first (1st) time I raised my hands he said put it down. I thought he was saying let’s give others opportunities.

Then after others have said, I raised my hands again, he said put it down your hands.

By the time I raised my hands the third (3rd) time; I saw the fire in his face – Put down your hands. By then nobody needs to tell me not to raise it again.

And then one occasion came; I came to him, .I got Permission.

We were going to hold the first (1st) Congress ever (we call it Christ Redeemers Congress in those days).

I came to him: Papa I have a Good Idea. I want to do this and this.

He said wonderful go ahead!

So, am under Authority. I got Permission.

So, I began to move. And then one Pastor heard about what am about to do an he wrote me a Letter with series of curses on me because I wanted to win souls.

I brought the Letter to Papa. I read the Letter to him – Sir, the thing I got your Permission for; look at what so and so wrote.

I think that he was going to say: Ah, go and get that fellow. That fellow is in trouble today.

My father in the Lord looked at me and said: Go and beg him!

Ah, beg him? For wanting to win souls and you gave me the Go Ahead?

He said go and beg him.

I came down from his house, got to my car, open the door. I couldn’t enter my car as I was confused: How can I have I go and beg somebody who is standing in the way of the work of God?

And I heard the Voice of God loud and clear: You are under his Authority – Yes Lord!

I entered into my car, drove to the house of the Pastor. I got there and was told that he is not in. The wife saw me, probably she knew about the Letter thinking I came to fight. She says my husband not around and says will be long before he arrives; I said that I will wait for him.

Finally, the man came, saw me and was ready for trouble. But I prostrated. I said I have come to beg you, I saw the Letter you wrote. I don’t know why you wrote it but I have come to beg you.

Now, he took that opportunity to even lash me more. I stayed on the ground begging.

Some Months later, from the Pulpit the same Pastor said that he is sure he is going to Hell but that he will take at least three (3) People with him. And mentioned the name of my father in the Lord, mentioned my name and mentioned the name of another Person.

When my father in the Lord heard that; he said son you see why I asked you to go and beg him.

He knows where he is going but he is not going to take you with him.

Submission not Agreement.

When I asked you to fast; you fast not because you want to fast.

If I asked you to Pray from this moment till tomorrow morning; Submission means you Pray.

Because by the Special Grace of God, am your Gideon.

Let me close by saying this: Everyone of these three hundred (300) in Gideon’s Army was chosen by God.

It was God who said to Gideon do this, do that until there were three hundred (300) left.

Do you know that the Almighty God is still saying till today: Who shall I send? Who will go for Me?

The Almighty God is still saying today: Where is that Young boy? Where is that Young girl? – That I can Grab, that I can Polish, that I can Break, that I can Mould, that I can put together.

So that I can deposit in Him my Power, so as to put the enemies of Nigeria to shame.

Where is that boy? Where is that girl?

Is that boy here tonight? Is that girl here tonight?

FINAL PRAYERS

Stand on your feet and lift up your voice unto the Almighty God loud and clear and said: Father, you are looking for someone to use; I am here, Send me.

Open your mouth and cry to the Almighty God.

Father, if you are looking for someone to enrol into your Army by your Special Grace; I am here Lord. Anywhere send me I will go. Anything you want me to do!; I will do it.

Am for you Lord. I will obey You in everything. Lord God Almighty am here Lord God Almighty. You have a Vessel in me. Put Your Treasure in me, Empower me Lord God Almighty to serve you to the end.

Talk to Him, it is a commitment between you and Him not a question of all of us. It is a question of me and God.

He is not looking for crowd but just three hundred (300) and you can be one (1) of them.

… Talk to Him – Lord anything you want me to be or do for You. I am here Lord, Send me!

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