FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN – PART 34 (CASE STUDY OF JOSHUA (PART 21) – “THE POWER OF RESTITUTION”) – PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE – SPECIAL RCCG ONLINE SUNDAY SERVICE:31ST DECEMBER 2023

SPECIAL RCCG ONLINE SUNDAY SERVICE

TOPIC: FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN – PART 34 (CASE STUDY OF JOSHUA (PART 21) – “THE POWER OF RESTITUTION”).

MINISTERING: PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE

DATE: 31ST DECEMBER 2023

BIBLE TEXT: JOSHUA 7: 13-18; AND 23-26.

Let Us Pray!

SONG

You are Worthy to be Praised

You are Worthy to be Praised

My Redeemer 

You are Worthy to be Praised

*OPENING PRAYER*

Almighty God – Our Redeemer, our Healer, our Deliverer, our Provider, our Defender, our Promoter – You are Worthy to be Praised as there is no one like You.

Please, accept our Worship in Jesus Name.

Thank You for being with us on this Series over the Months: Thank You for Revelational Knowledge; Thank You for Revealing Deep Things in Your Words to us.

Please accept our Thanks in Jesus Name.

Thank You for the Heavens that has been Opened over us.

We Pray that the Heavens will remain Open.

We Pray that we will not do anything Contrary to Your Will.

In Jesus Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen!

Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!

Well, shake hands with one (1) or two (2) People and say: The Almighty God will speak to you today – Amen!

And then you may Please be seated.

*As we move on to Part 34 in our Series: “For Whom The Heavens Open”.*

And we will be looking at Joshua 7: 13-18; 24-26.

The Lord continue His talk with Joshua and say:

Joshua 7:13-18 and 24-26

13. Up, Sanctify the People, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

14. In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your Tribes: and it shall be, that the Tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.

15. And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

16. So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:

17. And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:

18. And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

24. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the Silver, and the Garment, and the wedge of Gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.

25. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

26. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

*It sounds almost like an Horror Story!*

When they finally found out that Achan was the Culprit, they stoned him and every Members of his family were stoned until they died.

And even after they died, they burnt them with Fire – They put a heap of stone over them.

*It is as if they are saying: “From Death unto Death, unto Death”.*

*They are saying: Die in such a manner that there is no Possibility of you waking up.*

… They stoned him and every Members of his family, burnt the entire family and then put a heap of stone on them – So that there is no Possibility that they will come back to Life.

Well, we will begin from where we left off:

The Almighty God told Joshua that I remembered that I’m the One who Promised you that no Man will be able to stand before you all the days of your Life but my Promise was Conditional.

In Joshua 1: 1-9; Particularly Verse 7; the Almighty God told Joshua that the reason you are going to have this Victory is that you won’t turn either to the right or to the left – You will walk along the Straight Narrow Path.

And so, if you want me to go back to my Promise; you have to Restitute your ways.

You have to return to me and then I will return to you.

The Bible says that you draw near to God; God will draw near to you.

*1. So, the first thing that I want to talk about briefly will be: “The Power of Restitution”.*

*That is a Topic that you don’t hear much about nowadays.*

*Don’t worry, one of this days by the Grace of God; we will spend the whole Time talking about Nothing other than Restitution.*

I. In Genesis 12:1-4; God choose Abraham.

And if you read that Story very well, there was Nothing Special about Abraham before God choose him.

He just said: I am the Sovereign God; Abraham – I am going to bless you, I am going to make you Great, I am going to make your name Great and you will become a Blessing.

Anybody who blesses you, will be Blessed and anybody who curses you will be Cursed – I am the Almighty and that is my Decision!

However, you have to leave where you are – Leave your father’s house, leave your Kindreds.

He is simply saying that I have Conditions for the Blessings.

And then in Verse 4; Abraham obeyed only two (2) of the Conditions – He left his Country, he left his father’s house but he took Lot along with him (That is a Member of the family).

God says, No! This is not the way it should be.

So when Abraham began to go towards South, he got into trouble in Egypt with his wife. God intervened and rescued his wife from the King.

But the trouble continues.

If you look at Genesis 13; after God had restored him his wife; there was trouble between Abraham and Lot.

Why? Because Lot represents “Incomplete Obedience”.

God said that you are the one I want to bless and I didn’t ask you to take your Cousin with you.

So, you find out in Genesis 13: 14-18; the Bible says that after Lot departed from Abraham; God says now we can talk again because you have Restituted.

II. In Genesis 20: 1-18; there was another King called Abimelech.

Again he saw the beautiful wife of Abraham and took her to himself. And God said, Abimelech, you can’t do this.

God said, okay you took the wife of my Prophet, there will be Sickness in your house, none of your wife will conceive until you returned the wife to the owner.

The King cried to God – God, I am not the guilty one – This Man said that she is my Sister!

God said that I knew you did it ignorantly. But ignorance is not an excuse – Return this Man’s wife to him.

He Restituted and the Almighty God healed his family.

*Restitution is Powerful!*

III. In Malachi 3: 8-12; the Almighty God says: Hey, you rob me of my Tithe? You are under a Curse until you Restitute and until you Restore to me all that you have Stolen from me.

If you do that, then watch me in Action!

*I hope that Children of God are listening*

Oh, I know that you have been hearing from Great Mighty Men of God who has told you – That is Old Testament; ignore it.

Forever Oh Lord, thy Word is Settled!

IV. In Daniel 4: 28-37 – Nebuchadnezzar said that there was Nobody like me (Himself). I am a “Big Guy” and the one “Calling The Shots”.

And God said, okay go and eat Grass for seven (7) years, then we will know who is who.

After seven (7), he said: Ha, I’m sorry; there is no one like the Almighty God.

He said that the rest of us are like Grasshoppers and you are the One who can do and undo.

God said, fine then; come back to your senses now and go back to your Throne.

And he (Nebuchadnezzar) said: All my Glory was brought back to me.

*Beloveth Children:*

– Have you been robbing God? – Restitute your ways.

– Have you been doing things Contrary to the Will of God? – Restitute your ways.

*There are many Promises of God that many of you have Claimed – A Word came at one Holy Ghost Service or the other; and you knew that this is directly for me; that there is no way Daddy GO can know my exact situation and so this Word must have come from God.*

*You knew it, you Claimed it and yet Nothing seems to happen!*

*Hey check! My God never lies – Once He speaks, it is done.*

*Is there anything in my Life? Any Restitution that I must make?*

*May the Almighty God revealed it to you today in Jesus Name – Amen!*

*2. You can’t hide from God!*

How do they get Achan out of a whole Nation? – God has His System.

He said: Bring the People Tribe by Tribe – Then they choose the correct Tribe.

Bring the Tribe family by family and then bring the People Man by Man – And they choose only one Fellow.

You know in Mark 4:22; the Bible made it clear that there is Nothing hid that will not be made manifest.

You can’t hide anything from God but you can hide from Man.

Hebrews 4:13, it said that all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him we have to deal.

Oh, you think that you have done this and Nobody saw you and so it’s forgotten and buried?

You may as well throw away the Bible – Because if you don’t believed any Part of the Bible, then forget about His Salvation.

It is either you believe it or you don’t believe it at all.

David said in Psalms 139: 7-12 – He says that where can I hide from your Spirit?

– You want to fly to the Highest Mountain, He is there.

– You want to go to the bottom of the Ocean, He is there.

– You want to hide under Darkness, there is no Darkness with Him.

Proverbs 11:21 says clearly: Even though hands join hands; the Sinner will not go Unpunished.

*That your Secret is not out yet, that is the Mercy of God – He is waiting for you to make your Restitution yourself so that He can keep everything under Cover for you.*

Some of you heard me tell the Story of one High Chief somewhere who was very sick and they called me to come and Pray.

And we Prayed, we Fasted, we did everything and instead of him improving, he got worst.

And I cried to God and God said to me – If you want to Fast, Fasting is Good for you but not because of this Man. You can Fast but I’m not going to heal him.

Ha, why? God said that he is not my Child.

Ha, but God I asked him and he said that he is Your Child.

God said alright, I will tell you a bit about him – The Source of his Wealth.

This Man did this – Took something that belongs to a family. And then, those who are coming to Court to Testify against him; he got a Man to go and Torpedo their boat. 

The Man Torpedoed the boat and all the People drowned.

And when the Man came to collect the Money for doing that thing; the Man Poisoned the food.

He ate the food, collected the Money, got home and died.

And the Chief thought that it is Covered.

*DMC NOTES: A Torpedo is Weapon (such as a thin Cylindrical Self-Propelled underwater Projectile) for destroying Ships by rupturing their hulls below the Waterline.*

So God said: Go and tell him this Story.

There is no way anybody could know but God knows.

I got to the Chief, I said sorry sir – God told me something: This, this and this.

He said, don’t come here again.

Of course, he died of the Sickness!

*There is Nothing hid that God does not know about!*

*Restitute before it is “Too Late” as you cannot hide from Him!*

*3. The Most Important Part of the Story is that – Your Achan must die and die Totally.*

*And that which is in you that could be compared to Achan must die – And not die casually, but die Completely.*

Galatians 2:20, Paul said that I am Crucified with Christ.

He didn’t say that I just came to the foot of the Cross and I have Prayed there; he said that I am Crucified – I died like one hundred Percent.

*When you are Crucified, it means that you are dead.*

*When you considered Great People like:*

I. In Genesis 9: 20-27 – It tells you the Story of Noah.

I mean that when you are talking of somebody who obtained Grace and Favour from the Lord; Noah should stand out very boldly.

God was wiping out the whole world but He rescued this Man and his family.

But Noah has one like Problem – He drinks once in a while.

So one day, a little drink became just a little “Too Much” and he became drunk. And he was lying in his Tent Naked.

He had three (3) sons and one of them saw his father lying Naked and ran out to call the other two – Come and see Papa o!

You know the rest of the Story – When he came out of his drunkenness; with his own mouth, he cursed the boy who came in and saw him lying Naked.

*Satan said; you escaped drowning, let me destroy one of your children.*

II. You know the Story of Lot in Genesis 19: 30-38.

If anybody also could claimed that he obtained Favour of the Lord, then it will be Lot.

He escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with his two daughters – You know that the wife turned back and became a Pillar of Salt.

But Lot had only one little Problem – He drinks once in a while. Just a little bit of wine.

And the daughters had a Meeting – There is no Man here and we must have children. And the only way we can have children is through our father.

They won’t do such s thing normally, but let us make him drunk.

He got drunk, the first night slept with his first daughter

Got drunk the Second Night, slept with his Younger daughter.

And the two (2) of them Produced two (2) boys – Two boys who became two (2) little Nations that were thorns in the flesh of Israel for years to come.

… A little drink, just once in a while.

*DMC NOTES: The incestuous relations that the two daughters had with their father (Lot) resulted in the birth of Moab and Ben-Ammi, founders of the Moabites and Ammonites.*

*And many of you will say: No, No, No; I have only one little Weakness!*

*Hey, that little Weakness must die or they will create a Problem for you in Future!*

III. Consider Moses for Example.

The Problem of Moses is that he could get angry once a while 

He was a Meek Man but the devil discovered in Exodus 2: 11-12 – That he could get angry and kill a Man.

*It was anger that didn’t allow Moses to get to the Promised Land!*

You know the Story, you can read Numbers 20: 1-12.

*This is very direct to Somebody listening to me today or reading now on the Label of DMC:*

*Remember, those of you toying with Temper – Ecclesiastes 7:9 says: Anger rest in the Bossom of Fools.*

*Don’t be a Fool.*

IV. In Matthew 5: 29-30; the Almighty God tells you that:

If your right eyes is going to cause you to offend, Pluck it out.

… It didn’t say, Close it, it says dig it out.

It says that if your right hand is going to cause you to offend, cut it off.

*You must cry to God today – Whatever that is in me representing my Achan, Almighty God, help me to kill it and kill it thoroughly (Amen).*

*ALTAR. CALL*

As for those of you who are not yet Born Again, you will be saying that if the situation is this tough for those who are Born Again; what is my Hope then?

Oh, if you will come to the Lord Jesus Christ and He saves your Soul, then He can Sanctify you too.

He can make you Completely committed to Holiness so that you will not sin again.

But the first Step of course. Is that your former sin must be washed away.

So, if you want to give your Life to Jesus Christ, if you will bow your head now, I will join you in Prayers.

And God will save your Soul, forgive your sins and then He will move you Higher to a Level where you get a Brand New Heart – A Heart that will never be able to sin again.

So, if you want to give your Life to Jesus Christ, Please bow your head and I will Pray with you.

*PRAYER FOR SALVATION AND CLOSING PRAYER*

My Father and my God, once again I want to Thank You for Your Words.

I want to give You all the Glory and all the Honour for everything that You have taught us today.

And I Thank You for those who has decided to give their lives to You.

Father, Please receive them, forgive them, let Your Blood wipe away all their sins and give them a Brand New Beginning.

As you save their Souls, receive them into the Family of God and Please Lord, give them the Grace never to go back into the world.

So that from now on, anytime they Call on You, You will answer them by Fire.

Father, I’m crying to You on behalf of all Your Children who are listening to me today or reading now on the Label of DMC – That whatever may represent Achan in their lives, Father Please let Achan die today and let Achan die Permanently.

In Jesus Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen!

Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!

Now, I rejoice with those of you who has given your Life to Jesus Christ.

I will advice that you go to the Pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) nearest to you and he will tell you what to do next and your Life will never remain the same again.

God Bless You!

Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!!!

Thank you so much for staying all through to read.

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