Understanding the power of giving, prayer, and Fasting — Prophet Cherub Obadare

Oh my God. You know, I was pondering as I was in the aircraft, I was thinking about all that and I got home early in the morning. The Lord said to me, he said, "Beloved son, you don't do it to me because you need something from me. Do it because you worship me." He said, "There is a misconception in the body of Christ because today when you The reason some pastors are even ashamed of giving or talking about giving is because of the misconception, you know, among churches that when you When they talk about giving is about collecting, is about getting, is about And so when somebody give and it doesn't get, it get it gets embarrassed. Say all these thing are lie." For us, giving is a worship. And lo, if he will not give you anything again, he has given you his son. Oh my God, you didn't hear that? In particular, songwriter, I say, "I will never know what he, what sacrifice was done for me. I will never have known." Sacrifice done for me on the cross. So, number one, I really want to correct that. Anytime you hear giving or you want to do something that has to do with giving, think that you are You are a worshipper, not not a businessman. Don't think transaction when you are giving. Think worship. Many of us are too transaction-minded. Businessman. Somebody come to give testimony in church. And say, "You know, I was going to church, I was going home, and the Lord just ministered to me that I should give a brother everything I have in my pocket and the following week God gave me a car." You now wrote it down. You are a businessman. Ah, this canteen, this canteen they won. Let me give money. And so God didn't ask you to do it. Because he knows your heart, he know you have not come to the understanding of a worshipper. So he doesn't give you such instruction. You, you now decided to go and give and nothing now happens. He said, "This This things don't work. It's a lie." Tell your neighbour, "It is working." Yoruba people will say, "O n'àgá." It is working. Give in. O n'àgá. Hallelujah. And so giving is a deliberate or intentional act of living an exemplary life of the teachings of Christ. Right it down, please. I want to instruct everyone of us. Make it an art, teach you that you write. Every member of this church, let it cultivate it that you Because some day you will need this sermon notes. You will need it. Not because you want to teach it. You will need it for as principles to apply in your journey in life. As you move. Remember the story of Kenneth Copland. Who started church. Nothing was happening. His church everything was down. Kenneth Copland that you know today, one of the greatest ministers in America. And the Lord told him, "Go and learn." He said, "Where?" He said, "Go to Kenneth Hagin's school." He went to Kenneth Hagin's school. And everything they were with. With a wrap attention. He was writing. When he finished, he opened the book. He will look at it as if he thought us prayer. He will go and He was looking and practicing. Year after, he gave Kenneth Hagin the gift of an aircraft. Practicing principles. So what I'm teaching you, they are principles. These are principles. And that principles are not things you hear and shout. They are things you hear and write. Because if you just shout, you will shout again when the principle is not applicable in your life. Like I'm sounding funny this morning, right? Amen. I'm I'm I'm serious. So, giving is a deliberate or an intentional act. That's why you don't coerce people into giving. It is not intentional again. You don't coerce people. I I hate it. It's an habit that people now develop in churches. They will invite a minister. They will write on the letter that please, you are taking sermon for one hour. The next thing the few minutes, they will always wait until few minutes before I go to the pulpit. Ejọsa eyi b'awọn atá mi. You know one day I went somewhere and they told me that, "I felt so insulted. I left banking job for this. I will not start selling water." I said I don't do that. You like, don't give me honorarium. You are not the one paying me. So, you it's it's weird, it's to intentionally live a live an exemplary life of the teachings of Christ. He taught the disciples how to give. So, you when you want to um live the scripture, you are deliberate. You are not giving because people are given or you get attention from giving. You are intentionally given because it is in the word, so you want to practice it. That's how a believer should operate. Not because of the insult of Facebook. Or people who feel that brother is nice. Or if everybody come out, I think that's how some people come come out for so-called seed sowing. Say if there is if there are people here who can give us 100,000. And you see his friends stood up and gave. All the people in that room stood up and gave. I really connected. They will call you jokụ. That was why he gave. He didn't give because he understood giving. That's why for many people in church, giving has not been working for them. Number one, they don't see it as a worship. Number two, they don't even understand what they are doing. They don't know. But some is competition. Mo àgba n'church yi. Some, it mostly is competition. And that's why when you don't announce we need people, you know, to come out, some we know they need to be coming out. They need you to say come out. It's good at times when other call is done. But if you look at all the places in the Bible where people gave, the Bible says let they that are willing-hearted, not they that come out. Because you can actually come out and your heart did not come. Hello. People gave and insulted after giving. All this all this useless pastors and he nobody forced him. Hallelujah. Giving is a proof of your trust in God. Right it down. When you give, you are proving to God that you are my source, not my boss. My boss is not my source. God, you are my source. Right it down. Giving is a proof of trust in God to meet your needs. You are telling God my boss is not my source. You are my source. You know, most often when God asks you to give, hello, he's trying to make you trust him. I have learned in my life all the instruction I have received from God that has to do with me parting with my money, is God teaching me trust. It was not a transaction like let me give you. It was his way of circumcising my heart from covetousness and greed. I have learned that long ago. When God asks you to give, you know, some of this you see, um quotes that we have today that when you give, you will know that we give back, God will give back. It's not all the truth. For his own son, it is a tool for training. That's why after some time God asked you to give. Empty your pocket. And the next thing, anybody you are seeing, you think the person will we we, you know, give you money and empty his pocket. Because that's how we think most often. After some giving, you just anybody you just think, "Okay, God is about to return it." Somebody greets you the next thing you start thinking God is about to return what you gave him. Who told you you must return it in cash? Must it be in cash? Must he return everything he asked you to? Okay, let him take all that you have, he has been giving you that you didn't give anything. What did you give to our Christ? What did you give? Even your life that you say you give, I give my life which wretched life did you have? He was the one that gave his life. We didn't We didn't have life. He said we were dead in our sin. Does a dead man have life? Well, he said, "I give my life." He was the one that has a life. The Bible call him a life-giving spirit. You didn't have life. He was the one that gave the life. Hallelujah. So, giving is we are trying to practice what we saw or what we have learned in Christ and The example that we have seen in the ministry of Christ. You are intentional. I want you I want you to see a scripture in Luke chapter 8, give me from verse 1, very important. Luke chapter 8 from verse 1. Media. And it came to pass after afterward that he went throughout every city and village. This is Jesus on his mission, preaching and chewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, and the 12 were with him. Verse 2, And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirit, these are women that have received from the ministry of Christ, who have been blessed. And that's why I tell people, bless whatever is blessing you. It is scriptural. Look at it. Says, and which has been healed of evil spirit and infirmity, Mary called Magdalene out of whom went seven demons. Let's go. Verse 3. Verse 3. And Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him from their substances. Can I have another version, TLB, Amplified, Message version of verse 3 alone? Of verse 3 alone. Joanna, wife of Chusa, Herod's manager, and Susanna, along with many others, who used their considerable means to provide for the company. They were following Jesus consistently, given to the ministry. They were giving. They were giving. Not because they were expecting anything from you. They were already blessed. They were given. Hallelujah. Now, we are talking about three powerful principles here. Three cords that cannot be broken. If you engage these three principles. At least listen, we are in a 21 days of prayer and fasting coupled with project 400. So, you are conscon you are currently engaging this principle. And I like you to do which with understanding. That's why I'm doing this teaching. So, that there will not be anyone person in this church that will not have something to show. Because you can actually engage the three if it is without understanding, you will get nothing out of it. What is prayer? Prayer is a communication with God. Please, I want you I want to so simplify prayer. I want to so simplify it so that you can you can pray anytime anywhere and still believe your prayer is answered. For some of us believe you you must be in certain location before you can get God's attention. Prayer is simply communication, and communication is usually between two people. Prayer is an interaction of your spirit with the spirit of God. It's an interaction. Especially when you pray in tongues. It's an interaction. Say interaction. Yeah. A spiritual interaction. There's something we call distortion in English. Distortion is one of the elements that affects communication. It comes in like an interruption to um when a message is sent from the sender to the receiver, in the middle, there can be distortion. That's why God usually asks us to pray in tongues so that there will not be distortion. Your mind is shut down. Your spirit's come alive, and so, when you pray in tongues, you are interacting. It's called spiritual. Your spirit is interacting. That's why the Bible says, even though you that you are praying, don't know what you are praying, don't know what you are praying, God who is a spirit, whom your spirit is in, because when you speak in tongues, that's why it does not appeal at times to human language. It is not it is not supposed to. It's a language from your spirit. The Bible says the spirit of the man is the candle light of God. An interaction. And so, in this in this season, I know some of you may be at work busy when you are alone, you are doing your tongue is you can do it very calm. Don't mind who is looking at your mouth. But some of you are too You are too mindful of people around you. Okunrin wà fẹ́ kánrò. O fẹ́ kánrò pẹ̀lú ohun tó ń ṣe pé. Làsí shàràtá. Mẹ́sí tẹ̀tẹ̀. As if a ka shà ya. At times, nothing is even coming out. It says groaning that cannot be heard. When you get to that point, it's a dangerous point in the spirit. That is when your spirit is in complete sync. You are doing like this you can't no uttering of words, but there's you are trying to morter something out. And when you have a spirit, you know, witness what I'm saying. You want to stop and say, "God, I have prayer point." "Oh no." "I have a better prayer point." So, prayer from this definition is a communion, a fellowship with God, where in that fellowship, you express your desires. Now, it is not the request that it's a fellowship first. Then in that fellowship, you express your desires, your pain, your love, your requests in the course of that fellowship. Praise God. Fasting, let's look at fasting briefly. You know we are just touching definition. We are not This is an introductory part of this message. We have not gone through the body. So, I like I like you to, you know, that's why I like it when I start a series. Everybody starts. Because some people would just come at the middle of the message and you know, and be when we end the message they would not be in church. So, you just speak one chair, go and put it on Facebook. Like somebody heard the Peter said, so we just went, he said, "The Bible is not the word of God." He just went and put it like that on Facebook. Then somebody thought a series, about 10 series, you just hear one part. You know, some people think when they put some of these things on Facebook, they give people an impression that they now have knowledge of people insulted, you know, life out of him. What does the man of God say? He said, "The word of God is Jesus." That the the Bible is only a record, a written record of the best the the everything about the word." Now, he didn't hear that part. He just went to the Facebook. The word of the the Bible is not the word of God. That's why I like it when we do it, you know, come about, I want you to get it. So, that you not go and hear what I am not saying. And people who hear what the preacher didn't say. Praise God. So, fasting is is spiritual engagement that involves denial of self. Write it down. A spiritual engagement that involves denial of self. from food, or denial of oneself from food, water, entertainment and all kind of pleasure. Write it down, ETC. Now, many of us don't know that there is a lot involved in fasting. There are all kind of fasting. And often when you are fasting, you should You should equally know that it's not just only about dinner, because some of us just fast through the day you are watching movies. Say I'm fasting. Go and watch prison break all through. You want to break a prison? Now, now, now, listen. Listen. You deny yourself of food. Yes, it is true. When you start listening to music or people like what's this this guy that is posting people's mind with all kind of music, this they call themselves Malias. And you are on fast, a child of God is on fast. Who should get who should get who should get losing worshipper and lineup? Who should get it? Or Pastor Banal. You can go. So, you deny yourself of a lot of things when you are fasting. It's not only food. Some of us are truly fasting, but you are too busy. You are so distracted that somebody who is not even fasting. The only thing is that you are not eating. And that could be defined as deliberate loss of weights. Want to share it with you, you can decide to know that people they are not Christians. They fast so that they can get a particular stature. Hallelujah. And so, fasting helps you to number one, become spiritually focused. That's one of the things fasting does. You become so focused. Fasting will help you to be very focused. Because when you are hungry or when you are fasting rather, you don't think of cooking. You don't think of, "What will I eat?" You know, you don't think of breakfast. You know, your mind is set. You don't think of water, you don't just your mind is focused, so you are able to pray. Now, I want us to look at a few things that these three principles, I want us to look at it together, you know, these three principles would do for you. Because listen, by December 6th, Rasina Zalika has kabayà. Except if the Bible is is lying. Except if the the words written here are not true. That's why I'm teaching you what what has been written. So, that you can actively engage because the devil look…