By Pastor (Mrs) Anthonia Obafaiye.
The theme of the month of October is Great and Sweet victories as spoken by God through His prophet.
The Bk of Psalm 118: 16-17 declares to us that ‘the right hand of Lord is exalted, the right hand of The Lord doeth valiantly.
I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. Yet again the Bible says in Rom. 8:31 ‘What shall we then say to theses things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
True victories only come from God and if He declares that this month and from now on it is Great and sweet victories then believe it, for He will do it in Jesus name.
He is Jehovah The man of war, God has never lost a battle, and He will never lose in Jesus name. He is the consuming fire, no one goes to battle with Him lives to tell the story.
As long as we are on the Lord’s side it is an error for us to lose or fail in this life. He says we will hold our peace whilst He fight for us, you do not need to defend yourself, you won’t need to lift a finger in this battle for He says I The Lord will fight for you and you shall have great and sweet victories in Jesus name.
Brethren we are living in this world but not living as the world is living. For the Bible says even though we are living in this world, we are not of this world. The world can never be our friend neither will it love us for it hath not the love of the Father. For it hated Jesus first before us. The Bible says friendship with the world is enmity with God. In the Bk of John 16:33 Jesus said in this world we shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.
What am I trying to say, this world is a battlefield, we as children of God are constantly fighting a battle,even when we sleep, some people will say peace at last, we are still fighting battles, if only The Lord would open our spiritual eyes for us to see forces & spirits at work not wanting us to wake up, I am sure some people will become afraid of sleeping, but Brethren the Bible says even though we are fighting battles, the battles are already won even before we start, for the Bible says in the Bk of Roms.8:37 ‘that nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus that loved us.
You are here today and you see yourself between the devil and the Red Sea, you look around you and you feel trapped as if you have come to a dead end. I perceive in my spirit a word from The Lord to you today, and it says Fear not for I will deliver you, for the enemies you see today you will see them no more in Jesus name.
Do you know that every problem in the form of a challenge to us has an expiring date. It is not over until The Lord says it is over and when He says it is over it is victory time, it is party time and so shall it be in Jesus name.
Our main Bible reading will be taken from the Bk of Exo. 14:1-31
The children of Israel had just made their exist from Egypt, and for a lot of them I perceive they must have been saying peace at last, deliverance at last, Thank you Lord, thank you Lord. You are Gracious, you are wonderful, you are awesome, you are too much, God no one can be compared to you, until they looked behind in verse 10 of Exodus 14 and saw the same enemies they had been delivered from pursuing and marching towards them to capture them and in front them the great Red sea, they were trapped.
As soon as it dawned on them what was going on they became sore afraid and they cried unto The Lord. I thought they would have stopped there and watch & wait to see what God will do, but no they turned it to abuse, they began to abuse the anointed of The Lord Moses, they said ‘is it because we have no graves in Egypt that you have brought us here to die in the wilderness? Did we not tell you to leave us alone in Egypt to serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us than to come and die in the wilderness.
They began to blasphemy the name of The Lord God, in their moment of distress they forgot so easily how good God had been to them, the miracles and great signs he performed in Egypt that led to their deliverance. They forgot so easily how God had paid their wages of 450 yrs in one night. How The Lord restored all they had lost in slavery and bondage.
The Lord will help us in Jesus name, for some of us fall victim to the same things the children of Israel did.
They say desperate times calls for desperate measures and Moses cried unto The Lord, and God responded by saying ‘why are you crying to me, speak to the children of Israel that they go forward, I am very sure children of Israel would have said to Moses ‘move where, oh so you want us to commit suicide by Jumping into the Red Sea.
Brethren with God it is forward ever and backwards never, with him we go higher and higher, from Glory to glory, from grace to grace, from strength to strength in Jesus name.
The Bible says in Luke 9:62 ‘whosoever puts his hand on the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God’.
God instructed Moses as to what to do, He told him to lift up his rod, and stretch out his hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel will go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
The Bible makes us to understand that God caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground like a highway, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left, that is what I call great victory Brethren, no man can do this except God, no scientist has been able to prove how this happened because there is no searching to the understanding of The Lord. You can not study God as a case study, God can not be read as a degree. The Bible says we know in part, we prophesy in part, Brethren we will not know everything about God until we see Him in Glory and become like Him.
Then the children of Israel crossed over, their enemies made a terrible mistake for they pursued them with everything they had, Pharaoh came out with all his riders, his horse and chariots because God hardened his heart, God wanted to display his Glory through Pharaoh and his whole army (this really happened because in the Bk of Joshua 2: 9-10 Rehab in the city of Jericho said to the spies that God sent to spy the land ‘I know that The Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how The Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt.) Even a heathen lady that did not know God like the children Israel did believed in Him more.
The Bible made us to understand that the Red Sea was an escape route for the children of Israel from their enemies but it became a death trap for their enemies (Pharaoh, his riders, his chariots and his horses) for they all drowned in the Red Sea when The Lord commanded Moses to stretch his hands over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.
The Bible tells us that the children of Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, the enemies they saw today, they saw them no more. This is what I call sweet victory and it made them sing a new song and dance a new dance to the Glory of God in the Bk of Exo. 15:1 ‘I will sing unto The Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his riders hath he thrown into the sea.
Let somebody shout Alleluia.
May The Lord God Almighty cause us to sing new songs and dance new dance steps of great and sweet victories to His Glory in Jesus name.
May He cause us to laugh and make everyone that hear us laugh, laugh with us in Jesus name.
Sermon delivered on 27th October, 2013 at RCCG Everlasting Father’s Arena, York