The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has counted some of the blessings of the coronavirus-induced lockdown
Speaking at the first day of the church’s 2020 Annual Convention, Pastor Adeboye said the theme of the Convention, which was announced as “Wonderful” as early as during the 2019 Convention
He noted that developments since then have indicated why God choose the theme.
The Convention which is being held virtually from the Redemption Camp of the church along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was broadcasted worldwide through the church’s media and affiliate platforms.
Pastor Adeboye told the participants of the Convention, “I rejoice with you that in spite of every plan of the enemy, we are yet able to reach out to you, and have a very, very wonderful convention.
“Can you imagine why the Almighty God chose the theme for this Convention, even at a time when we had no idea how it is going to be?
“Now we have a Convention that is truly a world convention because all our brothers and sisters across the world are part and parcel of what is going on now.”
He said the lockdown crisis has also shown clearly to everybody that the House Fellowship is very, very crucial.
“When we started having House Fellowships, some people didn’t take the matter serious but now you can see what has happened.
“When the churches are locked down, nobody can lockdown the House Fellowship. God is always a step ahead of the enemy.”
Recalling the experience of the church in the last few months, he pointed out that the lockdown has strengthened House Fellowships.
“One of the benefits of the lockdown was that House Fellowships became more active, with people turning their homes into House Churches, opening their homes to God,” he said in the sermon transcribed by the Discovery Media Crew.
The House Fellowship Unit is an arm of RCCG. It was carved out from the Directorate of Christian Education, to operate as an independent unit in 2012, with the responsibility to effect prompt implementation of the church growth programmes of church planting and house fellowship development at the grassroots level.
This is currently being accomplished through house fellowship, soul winning, church planting and discipleship.
They also serve as worship centres as and when it becomes necessary.
Citing examples, the Revered Pastor noted that many great parishes of the RCCG, including some of those abroad, started as House Fellowships (House Churches).
He recalled: “When we started the Church in London, there were only five of us and we all had big titles.
“I was the General Overseer, there was a Pastor-In- Charge; there was somebody who suddenly became Sunday School Superintendent, there was somebody who became a Choir Mistress.
He also cited the example in the United States: “Before started the church in America, I had talked to all those who left Nigeria for America to start a branch of RCCG but they kept on saying they were already attending Pentecostal churches.
“One day, I visited my Cousin James Fadel, who was not a pastor then, and told him we were starting a church in his house that day, warning that I would deal with him if he didn’t move quickly.
“To cut a long story short, that was how we started. We started a church in one of his rooms, and today, by the Grace of God, we have close to a thousand churches in America.
“You never can tell what God will make up of what will start in your house. Don’t despise the day of small beginnings; just start.”
The General Overseer of what is now the fastest growing Pentecostal Church in the United Kingdom also took time to explain the benefits of opening one’s house to God or having a House Church.
In one of the interesting examples from the Bible, the Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant from the Israelites but are unable to keep it because God was attacking them with illnesses.
They return it to the Israelites, who decide to keep it in “House of Abinadab”.
Eventually, the Israelite king David decides to take the Ark from the “house of Abinadab” to his new stronghold in Jerusalem but after someone accidentally touches it and dies he abandons the plan and the Ark is kept in the house of Obed-edom.
“And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and the LORD blessed Obed-edom, and his entire house,” the Bible says.
That soon became the talk-of-the-town: God blessed Obed-edom so much that it could not be hidden and people envied him.
David rushed back to take the Ark to Jerusalem with fanfare.
Pastor Adeboye said God’s blessing is one of the direct benefits of opening your house to Him or having encounters with Him.
He said during His time on earth, people along routes where Jesus passed received miracles – as in the cases of the woman with the issue of blood and Blind Bartimaeus.
Similarly, he said, there is blessing when God visits a home.
The Widow at Zarephath, for example, was going to cook her last meal to eat and die during a famine.
But because her house became the dwelling place of a Prophet of God, her status switched dramatically from poverty to wealth.
Even during the famine, there was no lack in the house; and there was no harm there.
The Scripture says, if you make the Lord your dwelling place, “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.”
“When He visits a home, as He did to Abraham, the blessing is enormous,” he said.
“There, all the prophecies to Abraham changed into a decree for immediate manifestation, and 9 months after they had Isaac, the promised child.”
He urged people to open house churches in their homes as those in the Bible like the houses of Priscilla and Aquila; Laodicea and Nymphas.
“I am praying that whenever God is writing the history of the church in the new generation, He will talk about The Church in Your House,” he said.
The Convention had three sessions on the first day, opening in the morning with Divine Encounter, followed by Shiloh Hour; in the afternoon, there were presentations by children and youths, and then an evening session of praise and worship, presentations and prayers.
■Day 2: Adeboye excited about salvation of souls
On the second day of the Convention, the General Overseer started with winning of souls. He urges members of the church to be incurable soul winners.
His session, which usually closes the day, was devoted to salvation; he had the whole night to do that and he was visibly happy about the opportunity.
“In the past, when I had the opportunity of talking about salvation, we had been limited by time,” he noted. “But now we have more time, so we are not in a hurry. We are happily settled in our homes for the Convention and so I can take much more time.”
He has often shared testimonies about such opportunities:
“Some years ago, I received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Ibadan. It was a large gathering with eminent personalities like the political elite, traditional title holders and academicians, all gracefully adorned in their beautiful gowns.
“At some point, they gave me the microphone and told me I had just five minutes to say something. I thanked them for honouring me and quickly added that but for Jesus I would not have received that honour.
“I went on to say that there is an honour waiting for some people in Heaven and that if they do not give their lives to Jesus, although they can be honoured here on earth, they would lose the honour of Heaven.
“I then gave an altar call.”
With ample time for him, Pastor Adeboye elaborated on the benefits of salvation, which he said are much more than rescuing people from hell and making them candidates of Heaven.
With the text, 2 Corinthians 5: 17, he ministered on “The Wonders of Salvation.”
He said the position of a person who is unsafe is critically bad because according to the Scripture, God is angry with the sinner every day; angry with the wicked every day.
However, as the text says “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Then, he listed point-by-point, with explanations, the benefits of salvation.
Upon Salvation you get a new name; you are called the son of God. A Change of name can seriously affect your future; a new name can mean some tremendous transformation coming your way, otherwise you won’t find God changing the names of people from Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah. Jacob, a cheat, was a weakling, afraid of his brother Esau, who was approaching his dwelling, but the dynamics changed after an encounter with God during which his name was changed to Israel.
Salvation changes your accommodation from a world of darkness to one of light. You no longer live in the kingdom of Satan – which is the kingdom of darkness. You begin to live in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, who definitely is the Light of the world. As a matter of fact, not only do you now begin to live in Light, you will continue to shine.
You come under new management: from the management of Satan to the management of Almighty God. It is a dangerous thing to be under the management of Satan. And that’s where you are until you become Born Again. The problem with being under the Management of Satan is that he will abandon you at a critical moment; he will use you and abandon you; he will pay you with disappointment; he will pay you with evil and sorrow.
When you are truly Born Again, you become a new creature; a new creation; a child of God. Before then you were an animal living a bestial, sin-ridden life of adultery, fornication hatred and envy – all of which lead you to self-ruin and hell. The reason a sinner is called a sinner is because, it is his nature to sin.
The new Creation from Salvation belongs to God’s family; and is even joint-heir with Jesus. You are adopted into the Family of God. The Bible says you become the heir of God; you are now an inheritor of whatever God has.
From a life of hopelessness, the New Creature has new hope in a God to who everything is possible. When you are truly Born Again, You have new hope. Before you are Born Again, you were hoping that sooner or later, trouble would come; witches would attack, enemies would start operating. That is why some people go to the herbalist to armed themselves but as you hope for danger it does come!
But when you are truly Born Again, you have a different kind of hope; you can say your tomorrow will be alright.
Under Salvation one has a new influence because of the connection to the Most High God; one has new abilities and failure is not one’s portion.
One is also gifted with the ability to hear inaudible things of the spirit realm; Jesus said His sheep hears His voice.
With Salvation you have new joy – joy unspeakable; if you are one of His children, and when you are truly Born Again, you will be hearing his voice quietly. He will be guiding you, directing you.
When you are truly Born Again, you suddenly develop new strength. Because the joy of the Lord is your strength, you wake up rejoicing; you go to work rejoicing; you return to bed rejoicing. You discover that your strength is being renewed day by day!
When you become a new creation, you are clothed with the garment of praise. Most of the time, you will just find yourself singing and praising God.
You get a new vision: you focus on the things of God; things of heavenly places, rather than earthly things. You have new ambitions and new plans for the future.
You will begin to enjoy His friendship. it is a dangerous thing to be lonely; it is a very, very terrible thing to be lonely.
In conclusion, to enjoy all these wonders of salvation, we have to call on Jesus. To be saved, you must realize first that you are in serious trouble if you are not saved; you need to realize that you can’t change yourself without help, and then you need to know that only Jesus can save. He is ready to save you but then you have to call on Him to save your soul.
Like the day before, Day 2 of the Convention was packed from the morning with activities of the Pastors’ Seed Family (children of RCCG pastors); children and teens; and youths and young adults.
■Day 3 was a night of healing
The night of the third day of the Convention was devoted to ministration and healing.
As in the practice of the church, there were no dramatic scenes of people jumping and being handed microphones to give testimonies of instant healings.
Even if it were the practice, that was not possible in a virtual convention. In a church were laying of hands by the General Overseer is no longer possible because of their large numbers, members believe that once healing is decreed or proclaimed by the General Overseer, “it is done.”
Amazing testimonies of people from all over the world have testified to that, and as a member of the church in Lagos observed, it must be one of the reasons for the large participation of people in a virtual convention. There were expectations of signs, wonders and miracles as Pastor Adeboye preached a sermon on “The Wonders of Creation,” with a text from Psalm 139, verse 14: “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
Some people initially found it difficult to relate the title to healing but it soon became clear that if “everything God created and may be creating is good,” then he didn’t create man to be dysfunctional.
Citing various Bible texts, Pastor Adeboye noted that when God created something, he looked at it and said it was good, but after creating man in his own image, he looked and said it was very good; “which implies that in the opinion of the Most High you were wonderfully made – you are wonderful.”
He said, the real wonder or motive of the creation of man is found later in the Book of Revelations, where it is stated that He created everything for His pleasure.
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created,” the Bible says.
By implication, therefore, all parts of man were created to serve Him and He is displeased if for any reason man is unable to function effectively.
For that reason, he will correct any dysfunction provided one has not put any stumbling block between him or her and God.
The General Overseer declared: “By the special grace of the Most High God, you are going to be healed today.”
The revered Pastor spent some time to highlight and pray over various parts of the body.
God made your hands to clap. The Scripture says clap your hands all ye people, including you. He made your hands to produce music for him by clapping.
If He sees that your hands have withered or gone lame, He will be displeased because the hands that are withered can’t clap and it will not give Him pleasure. When Jesus found a man with a withered hand in the Temple, He restored the hands to wholeness without a request so that he could clap.
He made your legs to dance. He expects you to praise Him with a dance and so when you are dancing, you are pleasing Him. When He sees that you are crippled, He is not pleased. When Peter found a lame man at the gate of the Temple, filled with the Holy Spirit He commanded him to rise and walk.
He made you to increase, multiply and to produce after your kind. The first time God spoke to man, He said “you are blessed.”
The Bible says He takes pleasure in the prosperity of His saints. God went further to say, “increase and multiply.”
When He sees your womb dying without fulfilling the purpose He ordained it, He is not pleased and He will correct the situation.
He made your mouth to sing. Everybody can sing. David said “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall be continually in my mouth.”
He didn’t make your mouth to complain, murmur, backbite, query or challenge Him but to sing praises unto the God in every situation.
God wants you to be a man/woman of faith.
Faith pleases Him; without faith it is impossible to please Him.
That is how much God is pleased with faith and hates doubt. And because faith comes by hearing the word of God, if you are deaf, it displeases Him.
He formed the eyes. “He that formed the eye, shall He not see?”
The Scripture says, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”
He sees ahead of your enemy and because He formed the eyes, long before you fall into the trap the enemy has set for you, He will take care of the situation
He planted the ears. “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear?” God says, “If you call on me in the day of trouble, I will answer you.
The General Overseer further assured: “Tonight is the night for your healing, if you cry to God, He will hear and when He hears, He will answer.
“There are wonders waiting for you, from the top of your head to the soul of your feet, wonders are about to happen because He made you for His pleasure.
“Any part of your body that is not functioning well will receive a correcting touch from Him today.”
“Even if you are in the jaws of death – and doctors have declared there is no hope – with his displeasure over your inability to serve the purpose for which you were created, He is capable of healing you, if it is not your appointed time to die.
The Bible says, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD,” and you have to be functional to do that. For example, when a mortally ill King Hezekiah challenged God that only the living could sing His praise, 15 years was added to his life.
“In all the dysfunctional situations that cause Him displeasure, God is willing to heal us.
Pastor Adeboye, however pointed out that there is a problem if sin is standing between us and God. He said in that case, we are removed from Him and can therefore not be expected to heal us unless we surrender our lives to Him for the forgiveness of our sins and repent.
“If there is any hidden sin standing between you and God, pray for it to be revealed,” he warned. “And if there is a known sin God has been warning you about but you have remained stubborn about it, have a rethink.”
He urged people to pray for salvation and capped it with prayers for all his listeners.
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
