STEALING FROM GOVERNMENT IS NATIONAL THIEVERY, IT IS NOT NATIONAL CAKE!!
Bishop David Oyedepo at 1st Service, Faith Tabernacle
- Some have made National thievery a career.
- Many people around the world today, in Nigeria particularly, are professionals in national thievery.
- They don’t even feel it anymore.
*Anything that is not yours, that you cunningly appropriated to yourself makes you a thief. - It is not where you steal from that makes you a thief, it is the act of stealing that makes you one.
- They say the richest Pastor in the world is this short man.
- It is not where I am going to but they have a right to say that because I am not owing any bank.
- I don’t have a story or history of overdraft.
- I don’t borrow from any individual. I do not borrow from corporate bodies and I am not in need.
As stated severally in the course of the month, the primary purpose of Kingdom wealth is for the promotion of the Kingdom of God on earth. If you are not interested in that, you are not a candidate. If you don’t have God’s Kingdom at the centre of your heart, you are not a candidate. Yes, what to eat, what to drink is there, but life is much more than that.
-Many destinies are tied to you. You will not disappoint them.
But it is important to know that the Covenant does not only empower us for but terminates all forms of misfortune that the enemy may launch against you.
I will rebuke the devourer for your sake, he won’t come near what belongs to you (Malachi 3:11). So it is blessing with security.
-You will not miss it in Jesus name.
VITAL KEYS TO A WORLD OF FINANCIAL FORTUNE
We have tried to explore that we need to be spiritually minded:
It is important to hear from heaven.
It is important for spiritual understanding.
It is important for progression in our walk with God.
- We must engage tirelessly in the covenant of giving and receiving. The moment a farmer is tired of a planting season, he will soon be out of business. We must be tireless in our engagement of the covenant of giving and receiving. It is not a once and for all episode. It’s a once and again requirement.
Philippians 4:15-17
It has to be once and again to keep impacting on your account. Once and again!
Every farmer is always looking forward both to the planting season and the harvest season. He must be committed to planting season before he qualifies for the harvest season. If you don’t want your harvest to cease, then don’t stop your planting season. Your planting season should be according as God has blessed you. You are just acknowledging Him like we heard in that song, you are acknowledging the blessings of God in your life by demonstrating through your giving.
As God has blessed everyone, even so let him give; not grudgingly nor of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver (Deuteronomy 16:17, 2 Corinthians 9:7). God loves a cheerful giver!
There is no one here or anywhere else that I will give 10 Naira to under any condition. I’ll rather tell him, “please, I will talk to you later”, than insult you with 10 Naira. I’ve left that level longest time.
But if I gave you 10 Naira in those days, you would give testimony, “that the Lord blessed you today. The Pastor gave me 10 Naira”, because you look at the Pastor himself, he is not worth more than 15 Naira. So if he gave you 10 Naira, he has only 5 Naira remaining.
As God has blessed everyone, even so let him give.
No one can walk in financial fortune without his tireless commitment to the covenant of giving and receiving as a lifestyle with delight. That’s why no consumer has a future in the covenant. You have to be a distributor to keep enlarging your coast of blessing with God; His commandments are not grievous, so we start from where we are.
The tithes of 100 Naira is 10 Naira: no argument.
Now if you give 1 Naira in every Service, that’s quite commendable. Your faith can carry that perhaps, because you must not appear before Him empty and it is to the level to which you are blessed. So you are not under pressure.
If you now give 2 Naira to the poor, in your budget: you have tried, you are moving up, you are moving on. You are going forward.
I recently defined planning as programming to secure the present and capture the future. You programme it, you don’t sit down there and make it happen. There is no way somebody will come and pull something out of your pocket. You programme it.
You still have parents that you have not killed yet, you owe them responsibility, covenant responsibility. It is not when you see someone going to the village, no. It’s a plan. It goes there regularly.
That it may be well with you: you won’t struggle like others are struggling.
That He may prolong your days: so that your children can do the same thing to you.
-You will never miss it again.
When you stop tithing, you are just saying, “God, you can close your window, I think I am satisfied. I will take care of the remaining.”
Tithing is mandatory to keep the windows of heaven opened over your life.
That my son said, “he didn’t plug into it” (documented testimony).
That is a very kind word. He didn’t want to hear it, he stuffed his ears, “what is corporate tithing? No. Has he finished saying it so I can release my ears!” He hated it.
You know why? The devil wants to keep you where you are.
When He told me that, we just began to enjoy heavenly refreshing, sweatless supplies as we engaged with it. There is no stress. Church Gist. Whether we say it or not, the world knows that this is one of the most blessed human organizations on the earth today. The world knows and they’ve checked everywhere, they can’t find skeleton anywhere. Neat supplies!! That you can trace to engagement of scriptural instructions!
The voice came, “the same way I open the heaven over the lives of individuals, so I open the heaven over organizations, institutions, businesses including Churches.” He said it to me September 4th 1987. It was highly intoxicating. I’ve told you the story several times.
He said, “I didn’t want to hear” (documented testimony). Good luck.
Does He (God) need it? No.
Who needs it? You; who needs it? Me
-Somebody’s story is changing. - Walk in Financial Integrity: Don’t play games, don’t change books, don’t play your partners out of business, don’t swear falsely.
Jeremiah 17:11 – I caught that when I was 20 years old. I shared with a friend who came to visit me what I just found and his name happens to be David.
I said, “David, come. Let me show what I just found. Don’t touch anything that is not yours. You will be cutting down on your lifespan. I was 20 years old. Don’t play games.
Many have gone to the grave through financial games. This Church is blessed but a quite a number have defrauded us over time. A number of them are not here anymore. Not in Church, they have gone, because the verdict of scriptures stands. However, anybody can choose to turn and when you turn, God will receive you.
Where you steal is not what makes a thief, it’s the act of stealing is what makes a thief.
You steal from your parents: you are a thief.
You steal from your wife: you are a thief.
You steal from your husband: you are a thief.
Because when they say, “did anybody come here?” You would say, “nobody came there” and you know you went there.
It’s not where you steal from that makes a thief, it’s the act of stealing that makes a thief.
You steal from government: you are a thief ooo. It is not national cake. It is national ‘thievery’
You know the meaning of national thievery: it’s a career.
Many people around the world today, in Nigeria particularly, they are professionals in national thievery. They don’t even feel it anymore. They clap for them for stealing so much.
The payday is here and they only know how much they are paying, hard currencies.
For the curse of the Lord is in the house of the thief…(Zechariah 5:4).
His righteousness endureth forever (Psalm 112:3)
Just be contented with where you are, He is changing your level
You steal from the Company: you are a thief. Whether your father owns the company or not, you are a thief.
Anything that is not yours, that you cunningly appropriated to yourself makes you a thief.
Say with me, “God does not bless the crooked, He only blesses the righteous.”
-You are the one God wants to bless next. - Remain committed to be a blessing to the needy around you.
It keeps moving you forward and forward. That was the secret that Job found and made him the greatest businessman of his days.
Job 29:4-18 - Keep rejoicing to secure your returns.
Habakkuk 3:17-19
-You are getting to your high places. No devil will rob you of it.
Deuteronomy 28:47-48
He said, “because thou servedst the Lord thy God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore shall thou serve thine enemies”: let me hear you say, “God forbid!”
It has to be with joy and gladness, to secure our returns.
SOME FRINGE BENEFITS THAT ACCRUE TO US IN THE COVENANT OF ABUNDANCE - Peace: His blessing maketh rich and it adds no sorrow (Proverbs 10:22, Proverbs 3:17)
-You will never lose your peace anymore! In the name of Jesus Christ
They gave lavishly, rejoicingly and the Lord gave them rest round about (2 Chronicles 15:15).
-You are the one God is talking about.
-From henceforth, it shall be round about rest for you. Rest over your family, rest over your children, rest over your business, rest over your career.
-Evil tidings will never come your way anymore. In the name of Jesus Christ. - Favour
Nothing flies like favour. You can’t stop favour from having its expression. Favour followed Joseph to the house of slavery and he prospered there (Genesis 38:3). A slave is not permitted to prosper, he is a property but he prospered there. The chair you left in your room will never become bigger when you get home today after Service, but Joseph prospered there because God gave him favour.
Now he (Joseph) got to the prison, the ultimate place of misfortune and Joseph prospered in the prison (Genesis 39:21-23). He became an official of the prison where he was an inmate. And favour got him through from the prison to the palace. Favour!!
What was his testimony? I feared God (Genesis 42:18).
The fear of God entitles us to His favour any day, anytime, anywhere.
Favour. Full of integrity: nothing was missing in Potiphar’s house, nothing was amiss in the prison. Favour! It is the birthright of anyone that fears God.
Daniel feared the Lord, he prospered in the land of Babylon (Daniel 6:28). They could not find anything amiss in his life. They would not defile themselves with the king’s rich food (Daniel 1:8).
Favour will always follow them that fear the Lord. No wonder the Bible says, “godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life which now is and the one which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).
-You won’t run out of God’s favour anymore in your life!!
Nothing creates a future like favour!
-No one’s destiny here will be sold for a morsel of meat.
Nothing creates a future like favour. Church Gist. We are here by favour (Psalm 44:3).
Favour gave us this place. Favour built this House. Favour!!
-Your life will never run out of favour anymore.
Among the blessings of the giving and receiving covenant is the unleashing of God’s favour on the individuals.
-You won’t lack it anymore!!!
Psalm 102:13-15
-Fearful favour coming towards you for promoting His Kingdom. You won’t miss it. You will not miss it in the name of Jesus. - Among the benefits is Divine Health.
Psalm 41:1-3
“Blessed is the man that considereth the poor…He will make all his bed in his sickness”: He won’t let him stay there. Come on now, get up, I want to make your bed. Go to work!
“Every branch in Me that bears fruit”; fruit bearing begins from seed sowing, “I will keep fit so he can keep bearing more fruit” (John 15:2).
The story of John D. Rockefeller is very clear to us. A verdict, professional verdict of doctors, “you will not see your 52nd birthday, so wind up.” Then he parted with 50 percent of all his things to bless humanity.
God said, “No, no, this kind of person should not come down here. Let him stay.” He stayed for 93 years. Health restored and that’s you.
-Expect restoration of health and vitality in return for your covenant practice. It’s your right, it’s your entitlement.
-As you give to the poor, expect God to deliver you from the will of your enemy.
-As you attend to the sick, expect God to get you off any sick bed.
That is what He (God) does.
It’s not just about money. There are things that money cannot buy. Can money buy health? Can money buy preservation? Can money buy protection? There are many things that money cannot buy that this Covenant offers us for free.
-You won’t miss it in the name of Jesus.
Give God praise.
We all know that God blesses us principally through the works of our hand.
“Whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper” – Psalm 1:3
If you came in here today, with your points of contact for blessing, I will be proclaiming blessings on it and you will begin to see the hand of God in a strange way in your life, but maintain a heart for God and a heart for the needy around you.
Maintain a heart of covenant practice as a lifestyle and you will see God expanding your coast from time to time.
God said, “He will bless Abraham” and he became very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold (Genesis 13:2).
God began to bless the works of his hand to confirm His Word in his life.
Then Isaac came and sowed in the land and God blessed his farming business. He became the envy of the world powers of his day (Genesis 26:12-14).
Jacob became a man to be wondered at, with his ingenuity in livestock business.
God blesses us principally through the works of our hand.
-The work of your hand will not suffer any setback anymore. In the name of Jesus Christ.
ALTAR CALL
-Your days of financial stress are finally over.
-As you choose to begin from where you are, God will keep changing your level forever. In the name of Jesus Christ!!
-Many, many people’ stories have dramatically changed in this Church. Your own will be listed among them.
This story of this Church has changed from glory to glory over the years by responding promptly to every scriptural instruction.
-Yours is next to be listed.
I cannot tell where I will be today if God never showed me the mystery of Kingdom prosperity. I can’t tell where I will be today but I know it would have been horrible. But He showed me; I chose to follow and see what He’s done in my life.
-For everyone who chooses to follow these simple things that God is saying, you will end up a surprise to your generation.
Well, they may be true but I know that’s not where I am going. The richest Pastor in the world is this short man, that’s what they say. They have a right to say that because he is not owing any bank, he has no story or history of overdraft. He doesn’t borrow from any individual. He doesn’t borrow from corporate bodies and he is not in need.
Following these seemingly crazy things: fill the waterpots with water. Sir, it is wine we needed. He said, “stop that. Fill the waterpots with water.”
He said: I was born blind. He (Jesus) said, “you were born blind, you have never seen. Okay, go to the pool called Siloam.”
How will I go? Go and find out.
Simple things.
Okay, cast your net on the right side.
Right side of the boat, what is the difference? I am in the water already and are the fishes moving around the right side? Can’t I put it here and then the net will go under to the right side?
Cast the net on the right side. Simple. You’ve been fishing on the wrong side till now, cast your net on the right side. Let God have His way or you will never have your way. Cast your net on the right side.
Start tithing from where you are. It’s 10 Naira income from your pure water, sachet market: 1 Naira is tithes.
No argument.
1 Kobo you know is enough for offering. You don’t have any problem with God and before you wake up to know it, your 10 Naira has grown to be 100 Naira.
Then 100 Naira to 1000 Naira.
1000 (Naira) to 10,000.
10,000 to 100,000 (Naira)
Then they will say, “what is happening?”
Then 100,000 to 1 Million (Naira)
What is he doing? God is blessing what he does by obeying God.
-You won’t miss your step anymore.
Please bring out your points of contact for a prophetic blessing and release. You came along with points of contact for your business: your complimentary card, whatever it is.
Thank You Jesus. Glory to God.
A prophet can only make declarations, you choose to believe or not. He can’t believe for you and he can’t receive for you.
As this blessing is proclaimed today, you will start seeing wonders from after this Service.
-Many will receive calls today that will show that the days of your financial struggles are over.
-Contracts that they have taken from you will be restored back to you.
-Your integrity will keep paving the way for you.
-They will tell others, “you give him any job, you can be sure. You can go to bed, it will be done.” That will be your testimony. In the name of Jesus.
Lift up those points of contact to Heaven and now express your desire, the changes you want to see.
There are many that have come down here with their CVs, you will be hit with a miracle job like a dream of the night.
Every dying business is coming back to life and in full force.
Everyone’s ministry is taking a new turn.
God is opening new doors to businesspeople.
Every dying career is resuscitated today.
In Jesus precious name we have prayed.
We have our Covenant Day of Trumpet on Saturd ay the 1st (May 2021), but because of the uniqueness of the month that we have entered into, we are praising and celebrating God as announced.
5:30 am to 7 am – we will be dancing. So it is not Covenant Hour of Prayer (CHoP), it is Covenant Hour of Dancing. We will be dancing for that season, in celebration of God’s faithfulness as a Commission and over us as individuals.
How many of you are excited about that?
Next Sunday, come ready for the dance of your life because it is going to be our Special Thanksgiving for the 40th Year of this Mandate. That day (2nd May 2021) makes it 40 years exactly. We will be dancing our dance that day, so come prepared for it in the name of Jesus.
Then we will be wearing our uniform for those who have it, the following Sunday, the 9th (May 2021). We are wearing our uniform to celebrate God that look, “we are saying thank You Jesus.”