Divine Connection (Acts 23:12-24), by Minister Gabriel Adunmade

Divine Connection (Acts 23:12-24), by Minister Gabriel Adunmade

The beginning of every New Year is always characterised with hope, aspirations, expectations, breakthrough and testimonies

Everybody expects a better year than the previous ones.

Coincidentally, the theme of this year in our church is unimaginable progress, while the theme of the year in RCCG worldwide is pleasant surprise.

As good as this sounds, let me say hear that for us to experience unimaginable progress and pleasant surprise, we have got to do things differently. Our obedience, commitment, dedication and seal to serve God this year must be different from the way we used to. It must be far better than How we used to do it (a common saying that doing the same thing the same way and expect a different result is nothing but insanity).

As the Lord lives, we will all experience all these in every area of our lives this year IJN. (I mean you will experience unimaginable progress as well as pleasant surprise IJN

However, for this to happen, you will all agree with me strongly that we need the help of God.

In the Old Testament which in many times we often refer to as dispensation of law. Or in New Testament including the present time which is dispensation of grace, what God does in the life of a man is always through somebody. (Heb. 13 vs 8)

There has never been a single moment after the fall of man in the Garden of Eden that God Himself came down physically speaking to help man or attend to his needs. He usually sends destiny helper to help out.

Before the fall of man, when God created Adam and Eve, God regularly paid them a visit. How do I know this? In Gen 3 vs 8, the bible says;

“And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3:8‬ ‭KJV‬

After that time, there was never a moment when God came down physically to attend to man.

Even when He wanted to reconcile man back to Himself, He sent Jesus Christ who came in human form to do the reconciliation process.

What am I saying in essence, for one to achieve anything in life, there must be a link, pre arranged by God.

If you therefore ask me the title of this message, I will simply call it DIVINE CONNECTION.

What is Divine and what is connection?

I believe we all know that anything divine is something supernatural, something that beats human understanding, which man cannot find explanations to. Simply call it God’s intervention.

While I will define connection as a link or linking of two or more things including man together for a purpose.

Divine connection can therefore be defined as the supernatural act of God whereby He links up two or more people together for the purpose of fulfilling their destinies.

What makes this connection special is the involvement of divinity. I.e. a connection that is originated, orchestrated and executed by God.

It is a divine arrangement for a divine purpose.

This divine connection is the most important connection that you need this year to experience unimaginable progress and pleasant surprises. It is a connection you have not struggle for, which God in His wisdom has caused to happen.

(For instance, God sent a lady custom officer to help me out at Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos when I was stranded with money the last time I travelled to Nigeria)

Any unimaginable progress will require unimaginable favour from God which is usually through someone sent by God.

In other words, an unimaginable progress will require an unimaginable connection.

A good plan without divine connections would end nowhere.

Even, if you are as wise as Solomon or even wiser than him, you cannot execute your plan in isolation) you need somebody in the process.

Eccl. 9vs 11 (one of my favourite passages of the bible) I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

One of the reasons why many people make accelerated progress in life is because they were easily located by their divine connection.

On the other hand, why some people are not making progress is because of bad association, bad influence.

(I have had at some time in life to disassociate myself from some friends because I can see they are going nowhere in life and I know I am going somewhere, because God said He has a thought for me to give me a hope and a future. (Jer. 29 vs 11)

And for that to happen, I have to associate with like minded people. (Brethren, he who will not add value to your life will definitely devalue you.

As a matter of fact, when it comes to unimaginable progress, you have to meet some people in your life and you definitely need to miss some people in your life.

You need like minded people around you all the time to fulfil your destiny.

Even spiritually speaking, to make progress in life and to make it to heaven at the end of the day, you need right people around you to make it happen.

The essence of this message is to help you recognise your divine connection and make you aware of some principles of relating with your divine connections. (I remember some few Sundays ago, a man of God told us that everything in life has principles)

The idea of divine connection is well grounded in the bible if you reflect on it carefully.

There are specific people who God has positioned to cross your path at every stage of your life to make your journey smooth, maybe at work, school, church, neighbourhood etc.

For instance, Joseph met the cupbearer in the prison (Gen 40 vs 1-14), although that one forgot him for full 2yrs, all the same it was the connection that propelled Joseph to become prime minister in Egypt. (If not for divine connection, why should they put Joseph a slave in the same prison with king’s staff).

Some divine connections can come through associations; humanly speaking, we believe you are well connected when you associate yourself with influential people, especially when they are in position of authority.

Similarly, do you know that when you associate with other Christians or servant of God, it could be the foundation to your divine connections.

God said to Abraham in Gen. 12 vs 3 that I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. What that simply means is that those who associate with you and your seeds are blessed.

You can also experience divine connection when you genuinely look after the things of God or serve Him wholeheartedly.

You remembered Obed-Edom. The ark of God was abandoned in his house for 3 months. It turned out to be a blessing for him because he looked after it.

You can open a unique source of connection whenever you handle the thing of God at your disposal with care.

Another fact about divine connection in the bible is the significance of timing. God does the connection in his own time and his own way.

Eccl. 3 vs 11 He made everything beautiful in its own time.

It is clear from this scripture that we cannot do anything with our human strength. The things you have struggled for in the past would become easy when it is God’s time.

 (I remember I have been longing to come overseas since I was very young, maybe 10yrs. When I saw aeroplane flying and asked people what is it all about and they told me it was carrying people going overseas. I said one day, I will be flying in that same plane to overseas. I remembered people laughed at me and said whom do you know there that you are going to visit, except my mother of blessed memory who responded amen in a loud voice. Although I did not know Lagos until I was almost 20yrs old.

But when the time came, God connected me with a friend from nowhere who put me through. As a matter of fact, He himself had applied for   UK visas 10 times, and he was denied 10 times before he finally got it at the 11th time. He told me, do it this way, fill the form this way, say this, don’t say this, Lo and behold, I was given the second time. The reason I was not given the first time was that they have a number of people they have to give at a time. )

When it is God’s time, he will connect you divinely.

Quickly, do we have responsibilities or roles to play when it comes to this divine connection we are talking about, or does it come automatically. Yes, we have roles to play;

We should remember that the foundation for any divine connection is listening diligently unto the voice of God and obey His commandments. Deut. 28 vs 1-14 explain that.

We have responsibility to recognise our connection; we have responsibility to make the connections work.

When Satan wants to destroy somebody, he sends wrong people into his/her life. (E.g. Delilah to Samson, Jezebel to Ahab).

On the other hand, when God want to bless you or save you, He will send right people into your life. That right people can be anybody; servant, wife, husband, boss at work, friend, neighbour.

God sent ordinary maid, small girl to connection Naman with Elisha, God sent Paul sister’s son Paul’s Nephew) to save him from the hands of more than 40 people who bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

It was that small boy that God used to leak their conspiracy and safe Paul (From the Text we read earlier. Act 23 vs12-24).

One of the best gifts we can receive from God is a divine connection. (God will bless us with that gift IJN)

You cannot be too far from God’s divine connection. It can locate you wherever you are.

God’s favour located Saul in Tarsus, Jonah in the belly of fish, Joseph in slavery, Daniel in a strange land, Mary an innocent lady.

That same favour will locate you this year IJN.

ALTAR CALL

Is there anybody here this afternoon who thinks his/her relationship with God is not strong enough or who wants the relationship to be stronger so as to earn him/her this divine connection we are talking. Let him/ her signify by raising his/her hand up and pastor will agree with him/her.

PRAYER: Father, this year, please, connection me with my helper of destiny. Those who will make me experience unimaginable progress; those who will make me experience pleasant surprises IJN.

The sermon, Divine Connection (Acts 23:12-24), by Minister Gabriel Adunmade, was delivered on January 8, 2017