Exploits through knowledge

And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?  

Acts 19: 15 (KJV)

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1: 7 (KJV)

There is only one battle happening in the world, in the spiritual realm and that is the battle over the souls of men. Today we will close our teachings on exploits. We should not be ignorant of what is happening around us. We should not focus on only the physical but more on the spiritual.

You too can do exploits. We just want to rehearse and find out about doing exploits. One of the challenges of Christianity today is that a lot of leaders no longer do exploits. Some even believe that exploits and miracles ended with the new testament apostles. God can and still  heals blind eyes, make the lame walk, change situations suddenly and otherwise; He can make and use you to do mighty things. The bible says those who know their God, He can use them to make and do exploits.

What are things we must do so that we can do exploits

1. Know your God and serve him with a perfect heart. God looks and responds to us based on what is in our heart and thoughts. Acts 19: 13-16 talks about the sons of Sceva and the man possessed with evil spirit. David said in 1 Samuel 17. I come against you in the name of the Lord of host. 
2. Believe and trust this God. A lot of us do not do exploits because we really do not believe. We do not think that God can do what He says He will do. So when we ray, we do so without expectation. 2 Chronicles 20:20 encourages us to believe. Mark 9:23. If you believe in God, He will act according to your believe
3. Keep yourself in total consecration, holiness and obedience to God and His words. The bible tells us that Samson stopped doing exploits when he started a relationship with Delilah. Joshua 3:5; Hebrew 12:14. There are too much sins in the world and the church has become an entertainment area. 
4. Be bold and courageous. If you are going to do exploits you have to be bold and courageous. Joshua 1: 5-8. There is not enough courage in the world and that is why people get away with a lot of evil. Our religious leaders prefer to receive adulation from the world because of what they can get. Today people have no courage, do not speak the truth and so find it difficult to do exploits. 
5. You must be a person of prayer and fasting. You need to commit yourself to study the word of God because the word helps you pray. Fasting strengthens you, keeps you clean and set aside. Jesus said some of the problems cannot be overcome except by prayer and fasting. One day the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to teach them how to pray. Matthew 21: 22; John 14: 13. 

We must come back to the bible of old, to the Christianity of old. To a Christianity that is righteous and bold in the name of the God that we serve. As a christian we must be ready to do exploits and show that we serve a God who is able to do everything and anything. The 3 Hebrew men stood before King Nebuchadnezzar and told him boldly that they would not bow down to the image he put up.

We must be ready to serve God and be prepared to obey Him. We must be ready to give up everything because the bible says we will surely have the reward. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all other things will be added to you.

Do you have tension about tomorrow? Are you afraid of the direction your life is taking? Do you want to do exploits in your life? Come to Jesus now and let Him hold you as you rededicate your life to Him who can do exploits through you. 

Exploit through God! ~ Pastor Tayo Fagbenro Pt. 2

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Daniel 1:8 &15

Daniel and his companions had certain characters. Heroic and deep faith, performing daring feats. To do exploit for God.

The 10 D’s to doing exploit

1. Dare to be different/distinct Romans 12: 2-3 Be not conformed to this world. Draw the line and be defined in what you do.
2. Be decisive. Be sure of your purpose and calling Daniel 1:10 Daniel decided in his heart not to damage himself
3. Do not defile God; don’t defile yourself  in what you do and where you go. Walk in line to not mar the name of the Lord your God. 
4. Discipline. You cannot do exploit without be disciplined - living consistently in a controlled pattern of behavior. But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9:27 (KJV)
5. Be a person of determination. You cannot do much for God and God cannot do much for you if you are not determined in the things to do. 
6. Be discerning. 1 Chronicles 12:32  And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment. You must be able to discern that which is unique to you and to your purpose for life. You must have the capacity to judge what is right or wrong and do what is right.
7. Be devoted to God and to your calling in life. God is looking for people who are devoted to Him, to their calling, the purpose of God. You must be devoted to your corporate responsibility. 
8. Be a disciple of Jesus Christ. A committed learner and student of the work of God. 2 Timothy 2: 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (KJV)
9. Be willing to deny yourself in order to follow Jesus. You must deny yourself which are pleasurable to you but is against the will of God. 
10. Dreams. Pursue the dreams of God. Dreams are revelation and a promise of achieving purpose

As the children of the king we must not act like ordinary people. We must decide to deny ourselves of those things that are pleasurable to the world but not to God. We can’t eat like the world eats, we cannot live like the world lives, we cannot think like the world thinks. The book of Daniel teaches us how act how to influence and how to influence your environment in a reckless and godless culture.

There are 3 thing that God has shaped in our life

1. Servant leadership
2. Compassion
3. Nation building

The 3 above must be our dream as individuals and as citizens of the Kingdom of God. Wake up and say God what is on your heart. Do not do it because of your want, like, desires and selfish wishes of your heart. When you are hearing something from God constantly about your purpose then you must set aside everything and walk in that light. When you are delivered you can do exploits.

Without the spirit of God you cannot do exploits. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.  Luke 1: 35 KJV. Mary was an agent of exploit when the Holy Ghost came upon her. The Spirit of God came upon Saul and he prophesied, upon Samson and he killed a bear.

You must seek God for insight. Be lead by the will of God. When you go to where God sends you He will keep you, provide for you, and protect you in everywhere He has sent you to.


You want to do exploits for God, want God to do exploits through you? You must ask God where He has called you, what He has called you for and I assure you, you will stand out. The “I” in exploits is declaring your identity. It means you are marked by Christ Jesus. 

Exploit through God! ~ Pastor Tayo Fagbenro Pt. 1

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Daniel 1:8 &15

God does not live in days, months or years; He lives in moments. The word exploit means a heroic achievement. An extraordinary thing that is done by ordinary people.  Each church has its unique features. No two churches are alike and it is very dangerous thing for churches to compare themselves with another. You must know the unique features that makes you who and what you are. It is not about how much connection you have. It has to do with the purpose that God has for your life. You must keep in mind and write down the plans, purpose, vision and all round reasons why you are you.

The number 10 happens 10 times in the bible. It is used to describe completion. There are certain features that God has designed for you this year. The second part is the number 6 which signifies testimony. There are physical and testimonial dimension to the year. For parents who are here and you have a child. When the child gets to the age of 10 research shows that the life is already formed.
In Genesis 1, the phrase ‘God said” occurs 10 times. God gave 10 commandments and this means 10 is a number for covenant.

To do exploit it is doing exploit through God, in God and for God. The exploit we are talking about is the heroic achievement of service for God. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you belong to, you must do exploit for God. When the time is over, God will ask us what we did with what He has given us, the purpose He has created us to complete.

In life we have those who are lamenting in the church, outside the church and everywhere around you. Check numbers 13, God is always angry with the people who lament, complain and murmur. But we must not be like them. We have to live a life that is focused on God. The knowledge that we talk about in Daniel 11:32 is no ordinary one. It is a Revelation knowledge that gives us a true understanding of God.

Doing exploits for God. Exploit talks about doing notable achievement. In the book of Acts after the disciples received power from God they witnessed and they did exploits for God and reached 3,000 people. A witness speaks of hat he or she knows and has experienced of God. Your life must be a testament of goodness, marvelous things and great things that God has done in your life.

You want to do exploits for God, want God to do exploits through you? You must ask God where He has called you, what He has called you for and I assure you, you will stand out. The “I” in exploits is declaring your identity. It means you are marked by Christ Jesus.

Exploit to do the extraordinary

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.  1 Chronicles 28: 9 KJV

Text: 1 Chronicles 28: 9 - 11

Those who know their God, who are familiar with their God, those who understand their God shall do great things and they shall be strong. The reason why David was able to kill Goliath was because he knew the God he served. Goliath was big and a giant but David knew that he was an uncircumcised Philistine and David saw a small and important weakness which he leveraged on. There is no problem in life that has no agreement with God.

You need to know who you are and what you are in Christ Jesus. This certainty will move you forward in life and move you to success. Anybody coming against the covenant of God will be faced with problem.

You need to understand that anybody that did an exploit was an ordinary man. A man of flesh and blood. The bible speaking about Elijah said he was a man of like passion. Saying he was a man like you and I, a simple man but yet the man prayed that rain must not fall and it didn't rain and when he prayed that it should rain, it did. Ordinary men who know their God shall do extraordinary things.

I was listening to Myles Munroe this morning and he said ‘it takes discipline to excel in life’. He said people that have done great things is because they have been disciplined in one area in their life. They focus on one thing and become great in it.

There are things that we need if we as ordinary men must do the extraordinary

1. Vision, a clear vision
2. Focus on your vision Jesus said to Martha one thing you lack and that thing Mary your sister has done
3. Place a value on yourself. You have to become valuable at what we want to become in life. We must live based on the value that God has placed on our life. If you have value people will run after you. 

Everybody keeps saying the country is hard, no the country is not hard; we are the ones who are not thinking. In the midst of the hardness some people are making so much money because they are focused. Myles Munroe said he decided to focus on his ability to talk and this created a value that made a way for him.

Initially people may not see your value, remain focused because bit by bit you will be noticed. When you become noticed your focus will be rewarded. We must see value quickly.

How do you do exploits?

1. Know your God and serve Him 1 Chronicles 28:9
2. You must be courageous Joshua 1:6
3. Have power and moral understanding
4. Trust God with all your heart. Proverbs 3:5 (you have to believe that if you fall God will catch you, if you jump God will catch you. 
5. Keep yourself in total consecration and obedience Joshua 3:5 Deuteronomy 28:1
6. Have faith in God and take steps of faith. If you have faith you will say onto this mountain move and it will. Take a step of faith and let’s see what God will do in your life. When you move God will move. 

You cannot lie on the bed of Delilah and expect to rise up with power the next day just like Samson. Read the word for yourself and apply it to your life. Do not depend solely on the words that come out of the pulpit. We need to take Christ and Christianity much more seriously. We need to take our life and eternity more seriously.

Exploits for success

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. Daniel 11: 32 (KJV)

Reading: Daniel 11: 24 - 33; Psalm 121: 1-8

Exploits is taken from the book of Daniel 11: 32. the book of Daniel is a very strong detailed classic book. There are 7 books that talks about the end and era of Israel and their freedom. Everybody knows about the story of Israel which started from the founding father Abraham. Today Christianity and Islam came out of the man called Abraham. The bible tells us the children of Isaac were the chosen ones who God called the Israelites.

It came to pass at a certain time that the book of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Nehemiah Ezra, Daniel, Jeremiah talks about the captivity of Israel by neighboring nations as a result of their disobedience and Idolatry. Daniel talking about the captivity of Israel and their eventual release said in Daniel 11:32 that anyone who does evil against the people of God shall be corrupted but the people who know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

The greatest challenge of Christianity today is that a lot of us that go by the name of Christ do not really Know God. One of the challenges that Moses had in Exodus 3 was who he would tell the children of Israel that sent him to them. David knew God and so was able to overcome the giant Goliath. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 1 Sam 17: 45 (KJV). David confronted the giant because in knew that there is a God in Israel.

1 Chronicles 28:9 David said to his son Solomon “and thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever” (KJV) . His words to his son was a call to know God so that his son shall be strong and do exploits. Solomon knew God and he was counted as the wisest man in his time.

The word strong means bold, confident, determined, courageous, valiant, resolute and capable of doing. It is the Hebrew word Chazak. The word exploits means things hitherto thought unimaginable. Therefore through out the biblical history a few people did exploits

1. Adam gave name to all the animals a thing never being done before because he knew God. The bible tells us that whatever name Adam called them it became their name from that day on. Adam conjured things into existence by the word of his mouth. Genesis 2
2. Noah built an ark because he knew his God. Hebrew 11: 7. 
3. Abraham’s life changes because he knew God
4. Isaac made money in the time of famine because he knew his God Genesis 26:1. He wanted to leave to another land but God told him not to because He would make him to prosper in that land. Isaac obeyed and he was fruitful in a land of famine
5. Jacob became very wealthy against the run of play
6. Joseph became wealthy in a foreign land. 
7. Gideon and all the prophets

Some people are not doing well because of a word or words spoken into their life. That is why we must be mindful of the words we speak into our life and the lives of the people in our life.

The story was told some time ago of a certain young boy who was very proficient in music and at a certain time in life lost his sight. The young boy went into slight depression and was thinking of giving it up. His name was Ray Charles. His mother looked at him one day and told him “Ray they may have taken your sight but they have not taken your eyes”. He got up and made history as a great musician in spite of his blindness. The circumstances of your life is not who you are.

I want to ask us this question, “what are you going to leave behind at the end of life?”

Do you want to be strong? Do you want to do exploits in your life? Then it is time for you to know God. In the knowing is where you can have the strength to do exploits.

Exploits in time of distress

Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) Acts 12: 1-3 (KJV)

Herod was not interested in certain people. Herod in the Acts represented the pits of hell and the enemy that fights against the saints. The pits of darkness cannot fight against itself; it fights against the light and the people in the light of God. There are certain people that Herod came down to fight. Some of us might look at our brothers and sisters going through rough times and judge them. We say it is because they have sinned or some judge because they are jealous or envious. The irony of life is that this acts are not new. The bible said that Herod stretched out his hand and took James and killed him; the people were happy.

When there is persecution against all it is against all of us. We were talking about exploits, we must know that there are negative exploits. Paul at the beginning of his ministry did negative exploits; persecuting the church and all it stood for. Same with Herod, doing exploits against the church.

During the festival of the unleavened bread Herod apprehended Peter. The enemy represented by people around us exploits others. Anytime the enemy exploits people we must come to their aid as we do not know who will be next. We must consistently pray for one another, especially those in leadership position and are shepherds over us. When we know those who have been held captive for one reason or the other, whatever it may be and wherever they may be held captive, do not withhold your hand of help.

Characteristic of people who do negative exploits

1. They rejoice when evil befalls brethren
2. They are quick to judge people
3. They act from a position of envy and pride

If you have the capacity in anyway to help those being exploited take up your role to do that which you can do to get them out of the plight they are in. Let us be faithful with the little one we have.

James was taken by Herod and he killed him; Peter Herod also took. What must have been going on in the mind of Peter at that time. The scripture says that while imprisoned “he was sleeping”.

Could it had been that Peter remembered Psalm 46: 10? He must have been firm in recognizing who God is. In all of the distress we need to learn to trust in God and to focus on His assignment. Everyday we have an assignment and an opportunity to do exploits.

God expects you to be the angel that person needs to get out of the prison. God expects you to do that little thing; say a kind word, take the person to the hospital, give food to the hungry, help to pay school fees, give a listening ear, say a word of encouragement, or even say good morning.

It is important that we are always sensitive to the spirit of God. Sometimes to lift someone up is just that little thing that we may take for granted. The exploit over our life, many of the times it comes suddenly. Many times God doesn’t give us warnings when he wants to use us to do exploits. Be ready someone’s prayers will lead us to do exploits in the life of people. Someone’s prayer will cause your sudden visitation.

Exploits are made possible when:

1. We make ourselves available for God to use
2. Angelic visitation
3. By the Holy Spirit

Many of the times we forget the place of the Holy Spirit and His position the carrying out exploits. The truth about it is that no exploits can come without the Holy Spirit. The things we are going to do by exploits is by the Holy Spirit. The bible says as the Angel asked Peter to arise, he didn’t ask how but stood up in obedience and arose, as he did the chains broke off. We need to obey God and stop negotiating with Him. The Angel said to Peter arise and he obeyed, the Angel pulled him up.

Let us remember that obedience to God comes first if we want to do exploits. Some of us are not prepared for exploits. No matter how much we shout and expect exploits; our dressing does not connote someone who is expecting to do exploits. We are completely unprepared. There is a dressing that is expected for exploits. There is a new dimension God expects us to go to. Many of us are not dressed for the work ahead. The Angel asked Peter to get dressed. Ephesians 6:14

For some of us the enemy is no longer interested in us because we have compromised so much we have become one of them. The bible said today I present to you good and evil but I urge you to choose good.  Fulfilling the conditions of dressing to be positioned to do exploits is important to each of us. The angel said to him get dressed, put on your sandals. On your feat wear the good news of faith so that you may find it easy to run the race of life. You cannot exploit the glory and the benefits of the exploits of heaven when we have not positioned ourselves to do the will of God.

If you know you do not have the helmet of salvation that Christ gives to all, this is an opportunity to have it. Paul was speaking to Timothy and he said to him, “study to show yourself approved, a workman that need not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth”. One of the deficiencies we have in the church today is that we don’t study. We don’t study and we don’t pray.

By the time different levels of exploits begin to happen in our lives we will be like those that dream. Peter followed the Angel and some of us refuse and do not follow anybody. When instructions are given we feel we are above them. If we become to big to be led then we are too small to lead. At the door of the house, the bible says Peter came to Himself; this means that while the exploit was happening he was not in himself.

The iron gate opened to them by itself. After this gate the Angel suddenly left. When the Lord re-positions us and we get to the place where he wants us to be, we find out that all resistance begins to fall always from our path. For as many as chosen to believe and trust God for what He says, we will see the works of God made easy through the power and guide of the Holy Spirit.

Exploiting from the little things

And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. 

1 Samuel 17: 49 -52 (KJV)

It is not easy to do exploits. There are many achievers to encourage us to do exploits. These achievers include; Micheal Faraday, the Wright brothers, Graham Bell. There are other inventors and others that did exploits of their own. Some have done exploits in their youths while others had done it at a much older age.

Some have had to go through downfalls but then they had risen above it. The great men who did exploits in their own little and great ways have all done it by running after and focusing on their passion.

There are many records of exploits in the bible. The exploits done at the red sea Exodus 15: 1&2. So many people have done exploits, from the little to the great. Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Noah, Jesus Christ, Apostle Paul, Peter, Daniel, Esther, Ruth, Deborah, Gideon, just to mention a few. The men and women were ordinary people who did extraordinary things because they knew their God.

Our text is about a young man who did great exploit in the land of Israel. David knew his God and won over Goliath. When David wanted to confront Goliath a lot of people have a lot of things to say. This are the things that happen when we are about to do exploits. When we are about to do exploits people say a lot of things to discourage us, they tell us every reason why it cant be done.

David went after his goal and focused only on that one thing. He placed his faith in God and in this confidence he went after that thing that stood in the way of his people. He was successful because he did not listen to the negative distractions that people posed but only on the words of God.

Are you ready to do exploits for God? If you are ready, you must be willing to step out of your comfort zones. David stepped out not because he is confronting Goliath but because in his own way many times he had stepped out when there was no one there to see him. Starting to do exploit is what we do when people are not seeing you.
The power of God is what we should desire and covet, without the power of God it impossible to do exploits. There is nothing we can do outside of this.

You cannot do exploits without expanding your mind without thinking big. In Daniel  11: 32 it says that “ they that know their God will do exploits”. It is very difficult to know someone without been intimate with them, without being friend with the person. Therefore if you want to do exploit you need to be friend with God.

To do exploit we need to understand that it is for God to bring glory to his name and not for man.
The Lord wants us to step out our comfort zone. Let us start our exploit with doing the little things that will be of great benefit to the people around us.

Do you know God?

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Hosea 4:6

We need to take God seriously. This is where Christians fail; not taken God seriously enough. We seem to take him a bit for granted. Daniel 11:32 says that those that know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

The problem is that a lot of us want to be strong, we want to be able to do exploits but we fail to know God. There is a precursor to being able to do exploits which is “knowing God”. Do you know God?

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 says “and it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

This means to receive the blessings of God there is a pre-condition; to observe and to do according to what is written in the Word (bible).

My question to us today is this - what does it mean to know God? What does it mean to be intimate with God?
In the first chapter of Proverbs, we read that the fear God is the beginning of wisdom. To know God is to fear Him, to revere Him, to always obey Him and we will have the wisdom and knowledge to to exploits as His word will strengthen us.

How many of us make an effort to read their bible at least once a month?  We must spend time in reading the bible. When we do this we have that special connection. We must a conscious effort to know Him really well so that we can do exploits.

Who is God?

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. Daniel 11: 32 KJV

The background to this passage was the story of a young man called Daniel who was taken away in captivity into Babylon along with other children of Israel. Daniel lived through 4 kings (Nebuchadnezer, Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus) and he was preferred above all the wise men by these same kings. Towards the end of his life Daniel saw the vision of the restoration of Israel to their land. He also saw the war between the king of the south and the king of the north. Daniel was encouraging the people not be anxious concerning that problems they see around the world but that a people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits. The word "to know" is “Yada” in Hebrew. It means to have deep intimacy with the subject matter. To to perceive and see, find out and discern, ro know by experience, to understand, to acquire knowledge intimately of God. 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Hosea 4:6  KJV

Daniel was saying a people that know their God intimately can actually be strong and do exploit. The challenge of life is that most people don’t take enough time to know the subject and object they are pursuing after. A while back a young man came to me and said he wanted to pursue a musical career. I asked him a couple of questions

1.How will you succeed

2.Who are you modelling your career after?

He seem not to have an intimate knowledge of the career to know exactly what he was pursuing after and the environment. This also happens a lot in marriages and between married couples. Husband and wife fail to know themselves intimately, they do not have an indepth knowledge of each other. These causes friction and misunderstanding. 

Some couples spend years in marriage and fail to be able to discern the character of their partner because they fail to take enough time of the other person. I tell you people that in courtship people behave well in courtship but in marriage they settle down. If you know your spouse or life partner very well then you can be strong together and do exploits. A lot of Christians fail to take time to know God. They rely solely on what the pastor says; hence they treat their pastor like God and will act only on what the pastor says.  People fail to know God for themselves. 

Things about knowing God. Who or what is God?  

1. God created all things; there is nothing that was created that was not created by him. Man does not create anything; what man does is to add value or reshape what God has already created. God created Gold and man reshapes gold to make things from it. Chemistry and technology are revelational knowledge of God given to man proven over time e.g 2 parts of Hydrogen and 1 part of oxygen will give you water. This is a revelation of how God made water. Science is the revelation of knowledge from God to man. 
2. God is the owner of the universe. Nothing that we have belongs to God. Not even the clothes, shoes, house or cars we have belong to us. We are just hiring it for the period of time it is with us. When we die or lose them it will go into someone else’s keeping. Life goes round the circles. Everything that you own is not your own. 
3. God is who He was, who He is and who He will be forever more. The only thing you can do this wonderful day is to give your life to God. The “I am that I am”. 

Who do you say you are? Pt 3

And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. Judges 6: 17-18 KJV

Text: Judges 6: 11- 18

You are what God says you are. Until you have an encounter with God you can never know who you really are. So God said to Gideon, “you are a mighty man of valour”.

I want to tell you as you read this that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. My prayer is that you discover who you really are. We have governors who are governing sheep; Moses was governing sheep for his father-in-law instead of governing the children of Israel. For a long time Joseph was governing in Portiphar’s household when he was destined to be govern over nations. So there are many people under-performing. As a matter of fact almost 90% of the world’s population is actually under performing. Then again, a lot of people have died and will die never knowing who they really are and what they could have become. If Joseph had died a day before Pharaoh had the dream he would have died a prisoner. Then they would have written the epitaph of Joseph to read “Joseph stolen from his father’s house, became a houseboy, found himself in prison and died there”. You know in this life you are remembered only for the things that you did and not the things you could have done.

So you must aspire to do all that you need to do before you expire here on earth.

1. Gideon had no relationship with God, he had not yet experienced God so he thought that God had forsaken His people. What was God doing? God was working extra hard to turn their situation around. God never leaves you, He never forsakes you; He is always looking for ways to solve your problem. He is looking for ways and means to make opportunities happen for you. He is looking for ways and means to transform the mess you have put yourself in. Here you are thinking that God has abandoned you and yet God is working extra hard to make life better for you. I want you to have this at the back of your min, “ALL THINGS are working together for my good”. 
2. The enemy was attacking. The Midianite had come against them and therefore he was hiding. There was an attack over his life; whether we believe it or not the enemy is attacking a lot of us, they are coming against us.  So we are fearful and in hiding like Gideon. Whether you know them or not, whether you have offended them or not; there are some people who just do not want you to succeed in life. Nobody can say what the Israelite did to the Midianites but they came against them. It is very naive to think you can go through this world and this world would be fair. It is naive to go through this world thinking everybody would give you a chance. Naive to think that because you have not offended anybody you are going to go free. There are some people you don’t offend but merely looking at you they are angry with you. Anywhere you go in life there will be someone who doesn’t like you for any given reason; you dress too nicely, you don’t dress nice, you talk too much, you have too many friends, you know the right people, your speak good English, you have a good job, the list is endless. Just focus on what you have to do because it is impossible to please everybody. If you go around wanting to please everybody, you will end up displeasing God and hurting yourself.
3. His father was an idol worshipper. If you come from a family of idol worship it puts you on a bad foot right from day 1. it puts you in an area of fear and neglect. 

The important thing is this, out of all the things that was restricting Gideon 7 was inside of him and 1, only one was against him. The enemies attacking, the remaining 7 were inside of him. This means that most of the failures that we experience is inside us and only one is from outside.

A lot of us focus more on the outside and don’t do anything on what is going on on the inside of us. You are the one making yourself fail because you have written failure into your being. If you can get rid of the 7 the one outside will fall. The minute Gideon got rid of the seven the one outside fell.