FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN – PART 38 (CASE STUDY OF JOSHUA – PART 25) – “THE DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION – PART 2” AND “BACK TO SQUARE ONE – PART 1” – PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE – SPECIAL RCCG ONLINE SUNDAY SERVICE:11TH FEBUARY 2024
SPECIAL RCCG ONLINE SUNDAY SERVICE
TOPIC: FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN – PART 38 (CASE STUDY OF JOSHUA – PART 25) – “THE DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION – PART 2” AND “BACK TO SQUARE ONE – PART 1”.
MINISTERING: PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE
DATE: 11TH FEBUARY 2024
BIBLE TEXT: JOSHUA 8: 1-2
Let Us Pray!
SONG
Magnify Him, Magnify Him
Magnify Christ the Lord
Amen
Magnify Him, Magnify Him
Magnify Christ the Lord
Amen
OPENING PRAYER
Our Father and our God, the Bright and Morning Star; the Holy One of Israel, the One who was, the One who is, the One who is to come; the Almighty God – We Worship You.
We are very, very Grateful for Loving us as we were because while we were yet Sinners, You died for us.
We want to Thank You for keeping us in Your Love, even up till this moment – Thank You! Thank You!! Thank You!!!
Thank You because Your Words teaches us that even while we are yet in our mother’s Womb, You had already chosen us.
Thank You Almighty God – Please accept our Worship in Jesus Name,
It is written that He sent His Words and it Healed them and delivered them from all their Destructions.
As Your Words will be going forth today to Your Children, let the Healing Power in Your Word becomes Manifest.
Deliver us from all our Destructions and let all just be well with us Lord.
In Jesus Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen!
Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!
We are continuing with our Study using Joshua as an illustration of “The One Whom The Heavens Open”.
And like we said at the beginning of the Year (2024); it could easily have been used as a Typical Example for Divine Repositioning.
And we have been spending quite a lot of times on Joshua Chapter 7; but today we are moving forward to Joshua 8: 1-2.
I’m sure that by now, some of us will be saying: When are we ever going to finish with the Book of Joshua?
Well, as long as God has something for us, we will just keep on Studying.
Joshua 8:1-2:
- And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the People of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the King of Ai, and his People, and his City, and his Land:
- And thou shalt do to Ai and her King as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a Prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the City behind it.
This is an extremely interesting Passage in the Story of Joshua.
But before we go deeper into this Passage, I ended up in the Last Series – DMC NOTES: Part 37; on “The issue of Sanctification”.
And I told you how to get a Heart of Flesh and having the Heart of Stone removed so that we can have an easy way of doing the Will of God.
DMC NOTES: We can get to read the Full Text of the Part 37 of the Series on this Link:
But I noticed that in my hurry to tell you how to become Sanctified, I didn’t even bothered to fully described the word Sanctification and what exactly it means.
To be Sanctified actually means “To be Set Apart for the use of the Almighty God”.
In 2 Timothy 2: 20-21; the Bible tells us that in a Great House, there are many Vessels, some unto Honour and some unto Dishonour. And it says further that if a Man will Purge himself (Purge and not just washed); of all manners of evil, then he will become a Vessel unto Honour, Sanctified, Meet for the Master’s Use.
To really understand the full meaning of Sanctification, you will need to understand that there are many People that can be called the Bride of Christ.
So, it will be appropriate to think of a King that has many wives – And you know in the Olden Days, a King can have many wives like Solomon who had only just seven hundred (700) wives.
And then, out of all the wives, the King will choose one that he will call his Favourite.
An illustration of an African King might help us:
An African King may have many wives. And because the wives are many, he might not be able to attend to them appropriately as he is supposed to do as a husband to a wife.
And because all manners of High Chiefs and Warriors and Medicine People do come to the Palace regularly; some of them get attached to one wife or the other of the King and they minister to them.
That is why they say in Africa that you find all manners of children in the Palace but not all of them are really born by the King.
But because they were born in the Palace, they are called Princes and Princesses – Some of them might belong to the Head of Warriors and another one might belong to the Chief Herbalist and so on and so forth.
But then, of all these wives; the King will choose and make it abundantly clear – This one belongs to me and me alone and Nobody messes with her.
It doesn’t matter if you are the Head of all the Warriors, you mess with this one, you loose your Head.
That wife that is called “The Favourite Wife” or she could be called “The Sanctified Wife” – She is kept Pure, Untainted Unsoiled and Set Aside for the King!
You said where do you find that kind of thing in the Bible?
- Numbers 3: 11-12; the Almighty God said: Levite shall be mine, I have taken Levite unto myself.
… Oh, I love the whole of Israel but Levite shall be mine.
I don’t have the time to tell you the Story of how Levite became the Favourite of the Most High God.
But if you have time, Study everywhere you find Levite – You will be amazed how Wonderful it is to be Set Aside for God.
Do you know that the Levite were not even supposed to own Land?
The Almighty God said I will be their Supply – The rest of the Nation is Commanded to Supply the Needs of the Levites.
It is a Wonderful thing to be a Favourite of God – So, to be Sanctified is a Wonderful Thing!
- I give another Example in the Scriptures – In Esther 4: 10-16.
We learnt that the King that married Esther was such a Powerful King that Nobody comes to His Presence without Permission – If he does not send for you and you go to visit him; all he has to do for you to loose your head is to do Nothing.
You come to his Presence, he did not sent for you, he looks at you and just keep looking at you – Nothing else.
That is enough Sign to the Soldiers around to cut off your Head.
But when Esther visited him unsummoned as we will find in Esther 5: 1-3 – Because Esther was a Favourite Wife, she went to the King.
Not only did the King says you are Welcome, the King says: Ask anything you want; even up to half of my Kingdom and you will get it.
Believe me honestly – If you don’t have any other reason(s) to be Sanctified; that is enough!
So, make sure that you sincerely Pray that Prayer that the Almighty God will Sanctify you!
- And you will find another illustration in John 13: 21-26.
And you find out that among the Apostles, God has Someone that was referred to in the Holy Bible as “John The Beloveth”.
He was so loved that name “Beloveth” was attached to him.
And an incident happened in the Passage that we considered (John 13: 21-26) – Jesus Christ was talking about who will betray Him and everybody was asking: Is it me?
And Peter beckoned to John the Beloveth and said: If He won’t tell anybody else, we know that He will tell you as we know that you are Special.
And we know the rest of the Story – John asked for the information and Jesus told him; not in Plain Language but in Codes.
There are some People who can get information from God, even when God is not telling anyone else – They are the Sanctified People.
To be Sanctified means that you are Set Apart for God and you become a Favourite of the Most High God!
I Pray that God will use this little Piece of Message as a Great Hunger in you for Sanctification if you are yet to be Sanctified.
That you will Pray for it and God will give it to you in Jesus Name – Amen!
Now, we come to Joshua 8: 1-2:
Joshua had Restituted and Achan was dead – Stoned to Death, burnt and even the ashes were covered with a Great Heap of Stone.
And now, God spoke to Joshua.
You know that there is a Phrase “BACK TO SQUARE ONE” – And we always use that Phrase Negatively!
But it has a Positive Meaning too.
“Back to Square One” could have a Negative Meaning if:
- You considered something like Exodus 14: 5-12.
When Pharaoh and his People were Pursuing the children of Israel and they met them at the Red Sea. Their Plan was to bring them back to Square One – Back to Slavery and Bondage.
… That is a Negative Way of looking at “Back to Square One”.
- In Proverbs 21:20; if you want to interpret it in Mordern Language; you can say what is well known that: A fool and his Wealth are always soon separated.
In other words, if a fool becomes rich; it is not going to be long before he becomes “Back to Square One”.
That is why you find a lot of People winning huge amount of Money in a Lottery and within a Couple of years, they are broke again – They are back to Square One.
As a matter of fact, the world’s Statistics says eighty Percent (80%) of those who win Lotteries, within five (5) years will be begging for Money – They are back to Square One.
- In 1 Kings 1: 5-53; you will see the Story of a Prince called Adonijah.
He woke up one Morning and said that my father refuses to die; I’m going to become King as I can’t wait for him – It is my Inheritance anyway!
Early in the Morning, he gathered People together and Proclaimed himself a King. And the People were already hailing him – Long live King Adonijah!
And News got to David and there was a little bit of Political Play in the Palace and before you know it, Solomon was Proclaimed King by King David himself.
The Bible says that in Israel on that Day, there were three (3) Kings:
I. King David – The Original King.
II. Adonijah – The one who made himself King.
III. And Solomon – The one who was made King by his father.
But the most important thing was that before the Day was out, Adonijah was back to Square One – He wasn’t a King anymore!
Oh yes, he still remains as a Prince but a Prince living in Fear – That is a Good Illustration of “Back to Square One”.
But there is a Positive Meaning of “Back to Square One” – You see, it all depends on what exactly is “Square One”.
For Example:
- You read Genesis 8: 14-21 – And you can see what happened to Noah and his family.
They used to live on dry Land, then they got to the Ark, Rain came and the Rain lasted for forty (40) days and forty (40) Nights.
And they were in the Ark with all manners of animals, birds – Oh, only God knows how smelly the inside of the Ark might have been but they dare not go out until after forty (40) Days and forty (40) Nights when they were back to dry Ground,
They were back to Square One – A very Good Square One!
- Another Example of Good back to Square One is found in Daniel 4: 28-37 – It tells us the Story of a King called Nebuchadnezzar, who was a Mighty King.
Then he forgot himself and God told him: Alright, I will show you who is the King of Kings.
And for seven (7) years, Nebuchadnezzar was walking about naked – Eating Grass with the animals and the only Clothes that he has were Feathers like birds.
And then, he came to his senses – Restituted his Ways and say: Oh God, I am sorry and I am just like an “Ordinary Grasshopper”.
And God said, okay back to Square One – And He Picked him up, his Chiefs came to him and took him back to the Palace, washed him, Clothe him and Crowned him again.
And he said: Oh, my Glory were restored to me – That is back to Square One and a very Good Square One.
- And then of course, when you read Luke 15: 11-24 – You will read the Story of the Prodigal son there.
He was a son – Living in Plenty, eating the best Meals and everything was fine. He was “Well Dressed” as a son of a Mighty Man.
Then he strayed – He took what he considered to be his own Portion of the Heritage, went, lavished all the Money, and wasted everything.
And then Famine came and he became so hungry that he would have loved to eat what was being given to Pigs to eat and they will not even give it to him.
And then the Bible says that one day, he came to his senses and he said: Ha, instead of dying of hunger; I will arise, I will go to my father, I will explain to him that I have sinned and I want to Restitute.
He came home and he was well received.
He wasn’t just back home – They washed him, they removed the rags on him, they dressed him up and even held a Party for him.
… He was back to Square One but what a Good back to Square One – Back to Positive, back to Honour and back to Celebrations.
I’m Praying for you today who has strayed that before this Day is over; you will be back to a Good Square One – Amen!
Because after Restitution, God brings you back to at least the spot where you strayed so that you can begin afresh.
I have always given the illustration that if you are travelling for Example in Nigeria.
Assuming you are travelling from Lagos to Ilorin (DMC NOTES: Capital City of Kwara State) – Travelling Northwards. And you are supposed to go straight Northwards.
But then, you get to the Junction called Sagamu Junction (Around Ogun State) and you turned off to the Right – Taking you now Eastwards.
But then, at a time when you are supposed to be in Ibadan (DMC NOTES: Capital City of Oyo State) – Which is still on your Northwards Journey; you find yourself in a City called Ijebu Ode (DMC NOTES: A City in Ogun State) – Going Eastwards.
And you suddenly realised that I have strayed.
To be back to Square One is to come back to right where you strayed – Come back to Sagamu Junction and now begin the Journey towards the North..
When you read the Passage that we read today – DMC NOTES: Joshua 8: 1-2; you will see that what God said to Joshua is evidence that God is saying: Alright Joshua, you have strayed but now you are back and so we can begin to talk again.
I can now begin to speak to you as I was speaking to you at the beginning.
You know that in the case of Abraham – When Abraham left home in Genesis Chapter 12 and he did not obey God Completely because he took Lot with him.
From that moment onwards, God didn’t say a word to Abraham – And he went from one Problem to another and God kept quiet.
There is a Great Prayer that you should Pray:
- That the Almighty God will not keep quiet when you are Suffering.
- That God will speak to you so that at least you will know when to quickly Restitute your way so that you can begin to hear from Him again.
When you read Genesis 13: 14-18; the Bible tells us that after Lot had departed from Abraham, then God spoke to him again.
And you know what? From that moment onwards, God began to speak to him.
As a matter of fact, by the time you get to Genesis 18: 17-33; the Almighty God said that: “Shall I hide from Abraham what I’m about to do?”
The One who had not spoken when he strayed or his Obedience Incomplete, God is now saying: I don’t think that I can’t hide anything from this Man again as he has become my friend and Favourite.
I’m Praying for everyone of you listening to me today or reading now on the Label of DMC – If you are suffering and God has been Silent, I Pray that God will reach out to you today so that you can Repent, Restitute and He can begin to talk to you again – Amen!
I am Praying from the bottom of my Heart that if you are on Speaking Terms with the Almighty God before but you are no longer on Speaking Terms with Him; whatever you need to do so that He will begin to talk to you again, so that you can come back to Square One (In terms of Speaking Terms with God), may the Almighty God give it to you and give you the Grace to do it – Amen!
ALTAR CALL
And so, for those of you who has not yet given your Life to Jesus Christ – You wonder: What is he talking about being on Talking Terms with the Almighty God?
Probably the reason why up till this moment you have never heard from God is because you have not even Surrendered your Life to Him – You are not one of His Own, that is why you have not heard from Him.
Because the Lord says: I know my own and my own knows me and knows my voice.
If you will give your Life to Jesus Christ today, you will be amazed that it won’t be long before God begin to talk to you as a friend to a friend,
So, if you want to give your Life to Jesus Christ, will you Please bow your Head now as I Pray for you.
And God will save your Soul and you will come to Talking Terms with the Almighty God.
Shall we Pray!
PRAYER FOR SALVATION AND CLOSING PRAYER
Ancient of Days, we want to say Thank You – We want to give You all the Glory and Honour for Your Words today.
And we are asking Lord God Almighty, that You will have Mercy on all those who are Surrendering their lives to You for the First Time today.
That You will Please forgive all their sins, that You will save their Souls Lord and bring them into Fellowship with You so that from now on, they too will be hearing Your Voice.
And I Pray for those of us who has strayed from You and who are no longer hearing from You; that today, whatever we need to do so that we can come back to Speaking Tetms, You will help us to do it Lord.
Thank You Almighty God.
For in Jesus Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen!
Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!
Again, I rejoice with those of you who has given your Life to Jesus Christ today.
Please look for the nearest Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) to you and asked the Pastor what you should do next – They will guide you.
And I’m sure that I will hear from you soon.
God Bless You!
Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!!!
Thank you so much for staying all through to read.
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