FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN – PART 45 – PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE – SPECIAL RCCG ONLINE SUNDAY SERVICE;26TH MAY 2024

SPECIAL RCCG ONLINE SUNDAY SERVICE

TOPIC: FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN – PART 45 (CASE STUDY OF JOSHUA – PART 32): “SOME LESSONS FROM JOSHUA CHAPTERS 7 AND 8”.

MINISTERING: PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE

DATE: 26TH MAY 2024

BIBLE TEXT: JOSHUA 7: 10-12 AND JOSHUA 8:30

Let’s Us Pray!

SONG

There is None Holy as the Lord
There is None beside thee
Neither is there are any Rock like our God
There is None Holy as the Lord.

OPENING PRAYER

Our Father and our God, there is None like You.

Oh thou Rock of Ages, the Unchangeable Changer – We Worship You because we know that You are there all the time and You have never Changed.

Whatever You have done before, You will do it again.

Glory be to Your Holy Name.

We Thank You because we know that we are More Than Conqueror because You loved us.

And because Your Love for Your People is forever, we know that we are More Than Conqueror forever.

Father, accept our Worship in Jesus Name.

Today once again, let Your Words go out and bring Healings to Your People.

Healiings Physical, Healings Mental, Healings Material, Healings Marital and Healings Spiritual.

In Jesus Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen!

Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!

You may want to shake hands with one (1) or two (2) People and said: Good Day, God bless you Mightily (Amen).

And then, you may Please be seated.

We are going to Part 45 in our Series: For Whom The Heavens Open.

And today, we want to learn some Lessons from Joshua Chapters 7 and 8.

Our Bible Text will be: Joshua 7: 10-12 as well as Joshua 8:30:

Joshua 7:10-12 and Joshua 8:30:

7:10. And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?

7:11. srael hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

7:12. herefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

8:30: Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,

We already know in the Series that we have been dealing with how at a Stage God said to Joshua – I am not going with you anymore – You have failed and that’s it; unless you Restitute your ways.

And then Restitution was made – God came back again and He gave Victory to Israel. And Israel laughs Last so much so that they built an Altar unto God.

And so, as we discussed in the Last Series – Part 44; when God is on your side, you will laugh Last.

But when we look at the two (2) Chapters – Joshua Chapters 7 and 8; we find out that there are some very big Lessons to learn:

LESSON NO 1: THAT YOU ARE DOWN DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THAT YOU ARE OUT.

… That is very Important!

Job 14: 7-9 tells us that even when a tree is cut down; as long as the root is still in the Ground, then don’t think that is the end of the tree.

The tree has been cut down but as long as the root is still in the Ground, another tree can still grow out of that Stump.

Which is why Micah said in Micah 7:8 – It says that my Enemies, don’t rejoice over me. If I fall, I shall rise again. What a beautiful Passage.

Again like I keep referring to Boxing – That you are in the ring, you are fighting and Somebody gave you a blow that you are not expecting and you hit the Ground; that is not the end of the fight.

On the Ground there, they are going to count 1, 2, 3 and on and on to 10.

If you don’t get up by 10; that is when they will say that the fight is over.

And my Coach used to teach us in those days – When they knocked you down; stay down there till you hear 8, then you can begin to get up.

You hit the Ground because you didn’t see that blow comimg – Don’t jump up quickly and say what happened because you will still be goggy (DMC NOTES: Goggy means being weak and unable to think clearly or walk correctly usually because of illness or being tired).

The blow that knocks you down will almost make you faint.

Stay down there – Rest, recoup (DMC NOTES: A Kind of Recovery) a little bit of energy and then Plan your New Strategy.

Let the enemy think that you are tired, and that you are finished – Wait till 8, by then he will be thinking of rejoicing and then get up,

And he thinks – Now, let me go ahead and just give him one more blow.

And you say my friend, I made a mistake the last time, that’s why you got me down; this time around, come for your own!

Down does not mean out – Never forget that!

Ecclesiastes 9:4 says: A Living dog is better than a dead Lion.

Are you still alive? Don’t lose Hope!

Psalms 150:6 says clearly: Are you still Breathing? It said Praise God.

As long as you are still Breathing – It doesn’t matter what the Doctors may say, it doesn’t matter what the Enemies may be Planning to rejoice over you. Are you still Breathing? Oh, there is Hope!

The Doctors may say that you have less than a week to live – That’s their own Expert Opinion; wait for the Report of the Lord.

And you know what? The Report of the Lord is that it is not over until it is over!

It is not over until the Almighty God says no more Hope for you.

When you read Genesis 21: 1-7; Sarah said: Who would have ever thought that a 90 years Old Woman will give birth to a son for Abraham?

She said that I laughed myself and People must have laughed at me. But now, when we were laughing in Mockery, we will now laugh in Triumph.

Are you still Breathing? Then there is Hope for you.

Because Joshua was on his face on the Ground – Knocked down by the enemy.

But at long Last, he laugh Last and built an Altar for his God.

LESSON NO 2: WHEN GOD FORGIVES YOU, FORGIVE YOURSELF.

… That is very, very Important.

Oh, you made a mistake – You fell alright. The Almighty God said that you are in trouble but then you said I’m sorry and I will never do so again and then you restitute your way.

When God forgives you, then you should make sure that you forgive yourself.

Because in Psalms 103: 8-14; the Bible says that when God forgives you; as far as the East is from the West, that is how He takes your sin away from you.

… From the East to the West – That is a long, long distance.

It is we Human Beings that we will say you have come again ooo – This is what you did 9 years ago and I forgave you and you are comimg again. Not God! When He says that you are forgiven, then you are forgiven.

Otherwise, how could Somebody like Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 7:2 – He said that I wrong no Man.

He was the Chairman when they are Stoning Stephen to death – Even though we can’t remember any other thing, we remembered that much.

But by 2 Corinthians 7:2; he said that I wrong no Man.

Why? He said in 1 Timothy 1: 12-13 that everything I did in those days I did it in Ignorance. Then I met the Lord and everything Changed.

And the Bible says clearly in Acts 17:30 – It said that the time of Ignorance God winked at.

It is simply saying that just make sure that you don’t go back to those days of Ignorance.

You will remembered very clearly the Story of a Woman that was caught in Adultery – In the very act.

They brought her to the Lord Jesus Christ and they said: What the Law says is that we should Stone this woman to death.

He said: Fine, go ahead. But make sure that the Fellow who throws the first stone is the one who has never sinned before – They all checked themselves.

It’s just as I said to one fellow who was asking me about some happenings in recent days.

I said that when Somebody has done something wrong and the Wind blows it open; and you are beginning to mock and criticise.

Remember that the Wind is still blowing and it is the one whose case has come to the open that we see now – The Wind is comimg your way too.

So, laugh as loudly as you can so that when your time comes, we will be able to laugh louder.

Because the Judgement you used to judge others, that is the same Judgement we are going to use to judge you.

The Lord says to that woman caught in Adultery – He said: Nobody condemned you? She said that they have all gone.

He said that I didn’t condemn you too but just go and sin no more.

… When God forgives you, Please forgive yourself.

LESSON NO 3: THE ONE WHO CAN USE MOSES (SPIRITUAL FATHER OF JOSHUA) CAN STILL USE YOU REGARDLESS OF YOUR PAST.

Moses was a Murderer – Read Exodus 2: 11-12.

The Bible said that Moses went out to see his Brethren and he saw an Egyptian ill-treating one of his Brethren.

What did Moses do?

The Bible says that he look right and he look left.

What does that mean?

He was trying to see that I hope Nobody is looking.

He knew what he wanted to do – He wanted to kill.

He didn’t kill that Man (Egyptian) by accident – He did it deliberately.

… He look right, he look left before he killed him – That is a Murderer.

This is not a case of Accidental Killing but a Deliberate Killing.

I mean, there are cases where things happen by Accident.

I remembered once when I was at Kirikiri Maximum Prison to visit the Prisoners there (DMC NOTES: Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison is a Prison West of Apapa, Lagos State, Nigeria. It is named after the rural Kirikiri Community in which it is situated. A part of the Nigerian Correctional Service, its official capacity is 1,056. It was first established in 1955.)

There was a Young Man there who was Playing Organ – That was the first time that I was there with my Elder Pastor who took me under his wing.

I saw the way the boy was rejoicing on the Organ and so I asked that Pastor of Blessed Memory – Pastor Talabi: Are they going to release him next week? Why is he so happy?

He said no, he is here for Life.

Why? He said well, he has a quarrel with his friend, slapped the friend and he hit the Ground and died. And so, they Charged him for Murder.

But they discovered that this was Accidental Killing and so instead of Death, they commuted the Sentence to Life Imprisonment.

But that was an Accidental Killing; but in the case of Moses it wasn’t Accidental but a Deliberate Killing.

Moses was a Deliberate Murderer – But God still used him:

I. In Exodus 3: 1-10; when God wanted to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, it was Moses that He said go for me.

II. It was the same Murderer who wrote the first five (5) Books of the Bible.

III. It was the same hand that committed Murder that opened the Red Sea.

IV. It was the same hand of Moses in Exodus 17: 8-13 – The hand of the former Murderer that gave Victory to the Children of Israel.

When he raised his hands against the Amalekites, the children of Israel Prevailed over the Amalekites. But when his hands were going down, the Amalekites were Prevailing.

The hand of a former Murderer brought Anointing down from Heaven, Passed it down to the Valley below and the children of Israel won the day.

V. And you know what? When you read Numbers 11: 14-25; the same Moses had enough Anointing for God to come down from Heaven and take out of his Anointing, give it to seventy (70) Elders and Moses was still not yet empty.

If a Murderer can be that Anointed – If he had more than enough Anointing for seventy (70) Elders; then he must be Someone else.

VI. And you know what? It was those Murderer hands that were laid on Joshua that cause Joshua to be filled with the Spirit of Wisdom.

If God can use Moses, then He can use you too!

And then consider David:

Consider the terrible sins of David and there were so many of them:

If you read 2 Samuel 11: 1-end; you will see how many sins that David committed – He abused his Power of being a King:

I. He coveted the wife of his Neighbour inspite of Exodus 20:17 that says that you must not covet your Neighbour’s wife.

II. He committed Adultery inspite of Exodus 20:14 that says clearly that thou shall not commit Adultery.

III. He was Part and Parcel of the Murderer of Uriah in spite of Exodus 20:13 that says thou shall not commit murder.

IV. And then he added Hypocrisy to that one.

Took the wife of Uriah, brought her to his house, giving the People the impression that he cared for one of the Widow of one of his Soldiers.

And Job 13:16 states clearly that no Hypocrite will come before God.

But then in 2 Samuel 12: 1-3; as soon as He said that I have sinned and I’m in trouble.

The Almighty God said okay we will handle that – You will take your Punishment.

But then, that is not the end of the Story because by the time you read 2 Samuel 12:24, how could you believed that the same David, with the same woman who was the wife of Uriah will Produce a son and God will say: “I Love him”?

The father calls that son Solomon; but the Almighty God called the son “Beloveth”.

And do you know that as bad as David was, he still ended up being called the father of the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 10: 46-52.

And then consider in Matthew 26: 69-75 – Consider the series of sins that Peter committed in one day:*

I. He lied as he said that I don’t know Jesus Christ.

Revelation 22:15 says that Liars won’t go to Heaven.

II. He denied Jesus Christ three (3) times.

And Jesus said in Matthew 10:33 that anybody who denies me before Men, I will deny him before God.

III. He swore deceitfully.

And yet Psalms 24: 3-4 says that you want to make it to Heaven, you must never swear deceitfully.

And yet the Almighty God restored him.

The same Peter Preached one Sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:41 and won three thousand (3,000) Souls into the Kingdom of God – You know the rest of the Story.

But let me conclude:

If God can turn Someone who He Himself said that he is the Chief of Sinners – 1 Timothy 1:15; that’s Saul of Tarsus.

If He can turn the Chief of Sinner to a Chief Apostle; according to 2 Corinthians 11:5, I want to appeal to you today, let bygone be bygone.

If God has forgiven you, Please go ahead and forgive yourself.

Remember that is clearly written in 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore if any Man be in Christ, He is a New Creature; Old Things are Passed away, behold all things has become New.

So for those of you who are truly, truly Born Again, forget the Past and March forward.

For those of you who are yet to give your Life to Jesus; you are the only one who may have to carry the burden of the Past.

But if you will come to Him now, I can guarantee you that with just one stroke; He will wipe out all the evil you have ever done and He will give you a Brand New Beginning!

ALTAR CALL

So, the Choice is yours!

If you are willing to Surrender your Life to Jesus Christ; if you will bow your Head wherever you are now and cry to Him.

Ask Him to Please save your Soul, forgive your sins, give you a Brand New Beginning – He will do so.

So talk to Him for a Minute and I will Pray along with you and you will have a Brand New Beginning.

PRAYER FOR SALVATION AND CLOSING PRAYER

And so my Father and my God, I want to say Glory be to Your Name.

Thank You for Your Words, and Thank You for the Grace to give us a Brand New Beginning.

I’m committing all those who are Surrendering their lives to You today into Your Hands; Please have Mercy on them, save their Souls Lord, let Your Blood wash away their sins and give them a Brand New Beginning.

Please as You have done for me, do it for them and keep them Steadfast in You till the End.

From now on, anytime they call on You, answer them by Fire.

And all those who are already Your Children, Please Lord let us forget the Past and March Forward.

In Jesus Mighty Name we have Prayed – Amen!

Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!

Now, I rejoice with those of you who has given their lives to Jesus Christ

I want to Promise you that from now on, I will be Praying for you. Please contact me and let me have your name, Address and Prayer Points.

And Please contact the nearest RCCG to you – The Pastor there will tell you what to do next.

God Bless You!

Praise the Lord – Hallelujah!!!

Thank you so much for staying all through to read.

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