Sermon
293 ~ 2026 DIVINE TAKEOVER
Publisher transcript
Transcript
-
We welcome you to the Via Zayan Sermon podcast.
-
We are a church based in Chennai, India.
-
We are so happy that you tuned in today and hope that as you
-
listen in, you will be inspired, strengthened and empowered to
-
live for Jesus everyday. As we enter 2026, we believe
-
that this is the year of a divine takeover.
-
We believe that when we surrender our lives to Him, He
-
will take over every aspect and bring breakthrough and blessing
-
like only He can. Today we look at how we hand
-
over the details of our lives before He takes over.
-
Would you keep your eyes, ears, and hearts tuned into God today
-
and every day of this year? Would your hands and feet be
-
strong to do what you have been called and created to do?
-
Hi Church, this has a joy and a privilege to bring God's word to
-
you. Even before we start, I just
-
want to wish all of you who are watching and who are listening a
-
happy and a blessed New year 2026.
-
Can you believe you've just finished with 2025 and we're
-
stepping into 2026? I don't know about you, but I'm
-
excited for what God has in store.
-
Not that because 2025 was not anything less, but I believe in
-
2025 God's really done something.
-
He really has positioned us. That was a theme that we saw
-
passage was from Hebrews chapter 6 was his 11 and 12.
Hebrews 6 chapter mention
-
Our promise was for 2025 was positioned to possess the
-
promise and I believe over the year God has stretched us
-
wanting to position ourselves and I don't know about you, but
-
for me personally, what has it? What has he been positioning me?
-
He's been positioning my heart, especially to things.
-
It was aligned outside of his promise.
-
And I believe as we took the whole year to meditate and
-
receive from the lives of many of God's children who walked
-
this journey. We saw God positioning our very
-
own lives with all the circumstances that worked and
-
changed around us. And even as we stepped into
-
2026, I want us to pause for a moment here and say God and
-
welcome him. I want us to pause even right
-
now as we enter 2026, I want us to pause and ask God, God, would
-
you work in and through us? We don't want to go into this
-
new year unaware. We don't want to go into this
-
new year worried. We don't want to go into this
-
new year with fear. But we want to go with faith.
-
We want to go with strength. We want to go with courage that
-
will only come from Jesus Christ.
-
One of the things that we saw last year was we were physically
-
positioned. You know, we were physically
-
aligned, probably the right people, we were in places with
-
the right people, but spiritually, there was still a
-
lot of realigning that God had to do.
-
And I pray and ask that, you know, we won't be looking to our
-
Egypts, to our areas of comfort, but we will be pressing in to
-
what God's calling us to step out into.
-
I pray specifically for those who moved from old spaces where
-
they were already in the rigor, where they had seen God move,
-
that even as they carry that presence and they come into new
-
spaces that we saw that, you know, you can't bring in new
-
wine into old wineskins. And I pray that our positioning
-
will change that, that we will be able to tear down that old
-
wineskin and say, God work, scrub that thing, work in and
-
through us that we'll be able to accommodate the new wine.
-
For some of us, the provision of last year would have been
-
something we're content with. But God saying, no, I want move
-
you more. I want you to depend on me more.
-
I want you to do ask me for something more.
-
And great God is asking us, would you allow now?
-
Would we have a God sized dream rather than our own dream?
-
Because today we can be so content with being in the status
-
quo. But God is like, no, I want to
-
mature you into being something much more.
-
Some of us are still struggling with the rhythm of the Word of
-
God. We found our rhythms with the
-
world and yet the conflict internally is aligning ourselves
-
to the rhythm of the Word because that will have a
-
different rhythm outside of the world.
-
It says be in the world but not of it.
-
And so today as we are in here, I pray our rhythm will be one of
-
the Word. I pray that as we look into
-
this, one of the key takeaways when we see when we position
-
ourselves is what is a heart perceiving?
-
What is our heart pursuing? And you know, before I start, I
-
just have taken some time to actually go through some of the
-
things that the world is asking us to pursue in 2026.
-
What is the world asking us to pursue?
-
It's saying artificial intelligence and machine
-
learning are still the top things that we need to be
-
pursuing. It says cybersecurity, data
-
analytics, it talks about creativity, UIUX, animation
-
management business, it talks about green energy, health care.
-
All these are big words that we get thrown around time and
-
again, industries, businesses, verticals that all make sense.
-
And so today our hearts might be pursuing all this with regard to
-
finances. It the pursue is probably you
-
need to diversify, you're probably you're working towards
-
leveraging some of those index funds and all that.
-
With regard to relationships, when I was checking, it says you
-
need to prioritize clarity and honesty, practice clear
-
communication, embrace true casting, be emotionally
-
available. As much as the world is trying
-
to dictate what we need to pursue in 2026, as our content
-
creators are trying to create content and test, this is what
-
you need to pursue. I would ask today as we step
-
into 2026, when we are positioned to possess the
-
promise, are we pursuing what God wants us to pursue?
-
Else we will miss out entirely what God's calling us.
-
And as I was meditating, as we go into the promise verse, which
-
we're going to be looking at for the entire year, what God's
-
asking us to look at, I moved to a specific portion where Paul
-
was encouraging Timothy to pursue the right things.
-
And I believe I want to start from that because if we align
-
our hearts to pursue the right things, I believe we'll be able
-
to see God come through. What did Paul tell Timothy in
-
one Timothy chapter 6 was a 612 is what it says.
-
A devout life brings wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of
-
being yourself before God. Since we entered the world
-
penniless, and we'll leave it penniless.
-
If we had bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's
-
enough. But if it's only money these
-
leaders are after, they'll self destruct in no time.
-
Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble going
-
down that path. Some lose their footing in the
-
faith completely and live to regret it bitterly after.
-
What is Paul telling Timothy? Paul is telling Timothy pursue
-
the right things. I love how it says in the
-
versions, it says us that we need to make sure that you're
-
pursuing things that God is is ordaining us to pursue.
-
It says pursue simplicity, which is in the sense when you pursue
-
this devout life and you pursue this God ordained life,
-
everything becomes simple. Everything becomes clear.
-
You no longer are called to carry the burdens of this world.
-
You suddenly see you can be God dependent and you see things
-
change. You can suddenly have faith only
-
in God and you can start seeing things moving around.
-
You suddenly see patterns in your own life where you suddenly
-
are questioning, am I pursuing this for my gain or is it what
-
God wants me to pursue? It talks specifically about
-
money, and I want to spend some time there because when Paul
-
talks to Timothy and he's encouraging that, he is
-
emphasizing this because it was a problem that time.
-
It's a problem this time. What does he say?
-
We have come into this world empty.
-
We go empty. Our pursuit is about having
-
bread and clothes to wear and a roof overhead.
-
It's more than enough. If it's only money, we will self
-
destruct. And it got me thinking because a
-
lot of times I don't know about you, but me, I'm like thinking
-
you know what? I need to, you know, make sure I
-
we have enough for the present, but also we should save enough
-
so that our children are set. But am I really teaching my
-
children how to pursue God? Am I teaching them how to pursue
-
God? Am I teaching and living the
-
life of how to pursue God? Or am I complaining, saying we
-
don't have enough right now? We don't have enough Because I
-
was really convicted about that. I was like, we are wanting to
-
have so much in storehouses for them, but will those storehouses
-
drive them away from their Creator?
-
And so today I want to ask, as Paul asked Timothy, is a faith
-
tied to money Because if it is, it will derail us entirely.
-
In Matthew chapter 6, verses 23 to 25, Jesus talks about this.
-
He says in the message, it's interesting.
-
It says in other versions it talks about serving the word
-
worship in the message version highlighted me because sometimes
-
we start worshipping this very thing called money.
-
It says in verse 24 you can't worship 2 gods at 1:00.
-
Loving one God, you'll end up hating the other.
-
Adoration of the one feeds contempt for the other.
-
You can't worship God and money both.
-
What Paul is echoing is worship the one true living God alone.
-
If you start worshipping money, you will start worshipping the
-
fruit of money. You'll start suddenly seeing,
-
you'll suddenly use money as a fact that you know what, I have
-
enough. I can get my way.
-
I can find things, I can do things around.
-
I can work my things around. But if you pursue God, you will
-
start seeing God opening doors. You will see God making a way.
-
You will see God providing in the most unusual ways.
-
If you pursue money, we bear the fruit of money, but if you
-
pursue God, we bear the fruit that God will bring as we did
-
earlier. In One Timothy chapter 6, verses
-
11 to 12, it says that you need to pursue a righteous life, a
-
life of wonder. Let's read that verse again from
-
One Timothy 6 verses 11 to 12. But you, Timothy, man of God,
-
run for your life from all this. Pursue A righteous life, a life
-
of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy.
-
Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life
-
you are called to, the life you are so fervently embraced in the
-
presence of so many witnesses. There's a Greek word that's used
-
here for pursue, which is called diaco, which means to
-
aggressively chase after like a hunter pursuing a catch.
-
I don't know if you watched these videos of Nat Geo of one
-
of the wild animals, the Wildcats, like the leopards, the
-
tigers, the lions running after its prey.
-
They are aggressive, they are focused.
-
Nothing can come in between. They are working towards getting
-
that. And what is Paul saying?
-
He's saying run after the things of God like that and you know,
-
you made a guess shown, but we we we know that.
-
Why are you emphasizing it Cynthia?
-
Because this new year, God has a word for us.
-
And if you don't make pursuer action item, if you don't make
-
pursuing God our action item, we will miss out entirely on what
-
God is calling us to do. Love what it says in the
-
passion. It says that you need to pursue
-
and chase after what is true. What is true holiness.
-
Are we content with the holiness that we've found so far or can
-
we pursue after true holiness? Can we pursue after true
-
justice? Can we pursue after true
-
faithfulness? Can we pursue after true love?
-
Can we pursue after true hope? Can we pursue after true
-
humility? And I'm asking you church today
-
in 2026, would you commit? Would you join with me to pursue
-
what God's calling us to pursue? You know, middle towards the end
-
of the year, I personally was going through this turmoil
-
internally. I felt God, I, I, I and I I as I
-
was preparing for the sermon. God was like I had to I had to
-
walk with you through that vessel because I wanted to know
-
what are you pursuing issue and it was very clear God was
-
reminding me what he had placed me on this earth for.
-
He reminded me what I signed up for.
-
He didn't ask me to sign up for something where I'm I'm about to
-
make more money. I'm about no, he said I'm about
-
your about pursuing me, about pursuing me and the things for
-
what I'm calling you to do and I had to reorient everything to
-
say God, I'll run after you. I will chase after what you're
-
calling me to run after because at the end of the day, God
-
wanted me holy. He wanted me.
-
He wanted me to pursue the right things.
-
He was challenged me. Geshom, is the holiness that
-
you're pursuing enough? This much more?
-
Is your worship enough? There's much more.
-
Is the idea of justice that you're thinking enough?
-
No, there's much more. Is faithfulness that you thought
-
of enough? It's much more.
-
Is love that you've showcased enough?
-
No, it's much more. Is the hope that you're having,
-
is it anchored to something else?
-
No, your, your hope was anchored to some of the things of the
-
world. You had to remove that anchor
-
and put it in place where it will be only me.
-
And I want to ask you today, Church in 2026, can we, both you
-
and me, as you're watching this, as you're listening to this, can
-
we both commit to this? The theme for 2026 is Divine
-
Takeover. Divine takeover.
-
I don't know if you can see it right back there.
-
We've just got our signage up, we've got the the design up.
-
There are four key elements which we are going to be
-
concentrating for this year. But the key, key is divine
-
takeover. It's not my intellect takeover,
-
it's not what I've studied takeover.
-
It's a divine takeover, which means it has everything to do
-
with me, but it is nothing about me.
-
Which means God in his all form will take over.
-
The Father, Son and the Spirit take over.
-
The Holy Spirit has free reign to take over everything.
-
Before we start, I just want to talk about an incident that
-
happened in my life, getting married right into a year.
-
We've just had Caleb. He's a couple of months old and
-
we were still staying in my in laws place and I think Caleb was
-
just two months low two months. And my best friend from college
-
was getting married. And I told my wife coming from
-
work here, we're going for the wedding reception, get a gift
-
ready. She got a gift ready.
-
We're all set. I walk into the house to get up.
-
She's all dressed, decked up, beautiful.
-
And she was just a new mother. So she had the glow of a new
-
mother. And, and I see this thing that
-
she's packed as a gift and I'm a little bit of a stickler for how
-
it should be wrapped. You know, there's a particular
-
way in which you wrap certain things.
-
You can just put wrapping paper and put stickers or tape
-
everywhere. There's there's a way in which
-
you fold. There's a way in which the
-
crease has to look. And just a year into marriage, I
-
don't know what to say. And so when I looked at it, I
-
said, hey, what have you packed? This doesn't even look great.
-
And I think it was postpartum. And, you know, she was probably
-
just going through a lot of things because we hardly had
-
gone out after Caleb had been born.
-
And she just went into the room, kept the gift on the dining
-
table. Mind you, both my employers are
-
sitting on the sofa. And she just changed.
-
She changed into her home clothes.
-
And she came out and she's like, yeah, so if you want, you go.
-
And just sitting here and I just realized the very takeover I
-
thought of just doing over the gift is backfired.
-
And then after one hour of me apologizing and saying sorry and
-
we can go with what you've packed, she agreed.
-
We went for the wedding. Reception was a beautiful time
-
with my friends. But I still remember there are
-
certain things when we take over.
-
It just is disastrous. You know, you, you trample over
-
someone's feelings. You trample over what someone is
-
you. You don't even consider.
-
That's what takeover looks like. But a divine takeover is 1,
-
which is beautiful where he comes in because we've allowed
-
him. He comes in.
-
I don't know if you caught that because we've allowed him.
-
In Revelation, it says that Jesus is standing at the door
-
and knocking. Will you allow him and even when
-
he comes in, he's asking, will you allow me to take over?
-
And I want to ask you today can if both of us can, if you know
-
as you're listening, if you can just lift our hands and say,
-
Jesus, I commit myself right now for you to send your Holy Spirit
-
and do a divine takeover of my life.
-
When we do a handover to God, he can only take over whatever we
-
hand over. A lot of us are handing over
-
our, our so-called Christian faith life, but we are not
-
giving him the work life. We are not giving him the
-
married life. We are not giving him the
-
parenting. We are not giving him our, our
-
recreational life. And so suddenly there are these
-
gaps that fall heavily and we are suddenly realizing there's
-
an internal conflict between the very Jesus that we know and the
-
very gods of the sins that are occupying all of our places.
-
And God's like, I want to take a complete takeover of everything.
-
And So what happens that when a divine takeover happens, when
-
you hand over, you're not just handing over bits and pieces.
-
You know, we're seeing God come over.
-
He suddenly is taking over a personal life.
-
He's taking over a marriage. He's taking over our intimacy.
-
He's taking over our sexuality. He's taking over our finances.
-
He's taking over our children. He's taking over our future.
-
He's taking over a work environment.
-
You suddenly are so content in the place that you've called.
-
You suddenly are not worrying what others are worried about.
-
You know that God has placed you here for a time of day.
-
You are also suddenly seeing God taking over the very good works
-
that you're doing. At one point it seemed like you
-
were so important of doing good works because it's filled
-
happiness in your heart. But now you're like, no, God's
-
put me here because He wants me to see transformation.
-
It's not about just a smile on someone's face.
-
It's about transformation. It's not about that moment, but
-
it's about doing it so that their lives are changed forever.
-
And so our meditation passage today is 1 from Zechariah
-
chapter 8, verses 11 to 12. And we're reading it from the
-
amplified version because this is something that's very
-
important says in verse 11. But now in this time since you
-
began to build, I will not read the remnant of this people as in
-
the former days declares the Lord of force for that the seed
-
will produce peace and prosperity.
-
The wine will eat its fruit and the ground will produce its
-
increase and the heavens will give get you and I will cause
-
the remnant of this people to inherit and possess all these
-
things. We were positioned but in a
-
positioning of the whole year of 2025.
-
A lot of us have become still we've stopped.
-
We're like we've given up, we're like God.
-
I'll wait for the promise. You bring the promise here
-
because you know you need to pursue, you need to pursue me to
-
get the promise. You need to pursue me in its
-
entirety to get the promise. And so today as we see this,
-
what is the promise that God's fulfilling?
-
He's stealing for the remnant. There were many, there were
-
probably 10s of thousands in 25 were saying I'm ready to be
-
positioned for the promise. But when they're looking right
-
now, there's only a few remnants.
-
When you look into the context of Zechariah, Zechariah is
-
talking to a group of people. It's a 70 years, getting over 70
-
years before that, Isaiah was taken to captivity.
-
Israel and Judah, they disobeyed God.
-
The Babylonians came, the Persians came, the Medes came.
-
They took over them. They went into captivity.
-
They were under different rulers.
-
Soon 70 years is getting over and this was prophesied also way
-
back to sink. 70 years later they will come back and they'll
-
occupy these lands. This is the promise that God had
-
told them that He's bringing them back and He's giving it as
-
a revelation to Zechariah. And what does this look like?
-
Who are the remnants today? You and me are the remnants.
-
We are the few. We are the chosen few in the New
-
Covenant. Anyone who's accepted Jesus
-
Christ as a Lord and personal Savior are part of the remnant.
-
Jesus is coming back for us and He's asking us, would you be in
-
the mode of pursuing? Because when you're in the mode
-
of pursuing, you're always ready for the King to return.
-
You're always ready for to be ready to welcome the bridegroom.
-
You're ready as the wise virgins were with oil, ever ready to be
-
present so that you'll be invited into the ballroom of the
-
bridegroom. Israel was a nation.
-
What happened? Their walls had come down.
-
The temple was burnt down completely.
-
Their treasuries were emptied. The identity of being a chosen
-
people and a nation that was set apart.
-
Suddenly they are slaves. 70 years.
-
God allowed them to walk and be under the yoke of kings and
-
rulers. We see Ezra writing for the
-
temple for a time when Darius was king to Haggai and to
-
Zechariah saying let's go and complete the temple.
-
And Zechariah was set in the context of the remnant arriving.
-
What is when they were arriving? They weren't arriving in pomp.
-
They weren't arriving in a in a there wasn't a crusade of
-
victory because no, they were coming with hearts heavy because
-
they were coming to a land of desolation.
-
They were coming to a land which had no walls.
-
They were coming to a land which once had milk and honey, but
-
today there's nothing. It's broken.
-
It's in pieces. They were coming to the
-
magnificent temple that was built by Swalomon, that was
-
completely raised down. They were coming to a place and
-
today a lot of us are in that place.
-
A lot of us are in that place. A lot of even I'm in that place.
-
I feel like a lot of things that I thought and hoped and
-
everything would have have all been raised on.
-
I'm walking in desolation. I'm walking to a place of
-
confusion. But it's interesting.
-
The Spirit of God is alive. The Spirit of God is active.
-
Zechariah sees visions. And so today, before we go
-
completely, there are a couple of things I wanted to highlight
-
as to what this divine takeover has to happen.
-
You know, many of times this divine takeover that has to
-
happen has to happen, Holy. It's not a part of this
-
takeover. It's not a takeover.
-
Oh Geshum's heart has to be taken over by God.
-
Oh Geshum's mind has to be taken over by Oh Geshum's spirit man.
-
As we know, entirely physical body, spiritual body, the
-
emotional being, everything is taken over by God, a divine
-
takeover. Interestingly, when you read in
-
Zechariah 7, you see these people who are coming back and
-
then they start asking these questions.
-
They think 70 years they fasted and they feasted.
-
They observed everything, but God questions what they've
-
observed. And so today you might be
-
thinking, you know what? I'm sitting here in 2026.
-
I, I, I, I've read my Bible, I've done, I've done my due
-
diligence of giving tithe. I've done my due diligence of,
-
you know, doing some good works. I've done this, I've served in
-
church, I've done all this. Yet I am walking in a place and
-
being in a place where there's so much lack.
-
Jesus is wanting to tell you that He is going to ask you what
-
was your motive behind your fasting and your feasting in
-
Zechariah 7 verses 11 to 14, This is what He says.
-
But they refused to pay attention.
-
Stubbornly they had turned their backs and covered their ears.
-
They made their hearts as hard as Flint and would not listen to
-
the law or the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by His
-
Spirit through the earlier prophets.
-
So the Lord Almighty was very angry.
-
When I called, they did not listen.
-
So they called. I would not listen, says the
-
Lord. I am mighty.
-
I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations
-
where they were strangers. The land they left behind them
-
was so desolate that no one travelled through it.
-
This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.
-
There were certain things that the previous generation that
-
lived in the land 70 years before that had done time and
-
again. God had sent prophets.
-
God had raised up prophets. God had sent them warning after
-
warning, saying come back to your true love.
-
Come back to the God who brought you out of Egypt.
-
Come back to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
-
But no, they gave in. God had set them apart as a
-
nation, but they always moved to a place of shaking hands with
-
their neighbors, bringing in their idolatry and their
-
affections of their hearts. Mood with the affections, mood
-
generations were affected because they started pursuing
-
the wrong thing and God scattered them.
-
And so these people are walking back to a past that has their
-
face down. They aren't able to lift their
-
face. And what are some of the things
-
that God addresses here? He addresses four key things
-
which I want to point out because if you're going to step
-
into this new year, you and I are always going to look back
-
and say, are these four things clear?
-
Have you got a tick mark or this one still I'm struggling with?
-
Is this something I'm struggling with in this area?
-
The first thing the four checks that we're going to look at is
-
refusing to pay attention. Where are our eyes at?
-
What are our minds conceiving based on what we're looking?
-
You know, recently one of our church, the guys was talking to
-
me and he said, you know, there's one particular way you
-
were talking to me hurt me. He said you were so caught up in
-
your head that as I was talking, I knew you were not listening,
-
but you moved based on what you were already hearing.
-
And basically I wasn't paying attention to what that person
-
was saying. And he said, you know what, that
-
very instance when you did that, it hurt me.
-
And I realized when you refuse to pay attention, someone is
-
being ignored. And so today when you and I are
-
called to look to God, are we giving our full attention?
-
Are we giving our full attention?
-
Are we having a focus mode on? I want to ask you, are we having
-
a focus more on? Because if you're not having a
-
focus more on, we definitely are aligning ourselves somewhere.
-
We are giving an attention, a diverted attention inspect.
-
We're physically present, mentally absent, which means
-
we're physically there, but we're looking at something else,
-
hearing something else. But Two Corinthians talks about
-
something like this, where Paul tells the Corinthians about
-
this. He says yes.
-
To this day, whenever Moses is read on, a whale lies over their
-
hearts, but one turns to the Lord, the whale is removed.
-
Now the Lord is this, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
-
is freedom. And we all with unveiled faces
-
beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the
-
same image from 1° of glory to another.
-
For this comes from the Lord who is Spirit.
-
What does this look like? It looks like when we who've
-
accepted Jesus Christ, everything has to fall down.
-
Which means when I go to God with a request, with a petition,
-
I need to have faith that He will stick true to His word.
-
I don't know about you, but I've been really struggling in some
-
other areas in my life. You know, some of the things
-
that were going normally when they suddenly start having
-
hiccups and they stop moving. Is this something that I need to
-
do? Is this something that I should
-
have done differently or did I hear you correctly?
-
And I start having these doubts and suddenly I'm not paying full
-
attention to what God is doing. Rather than looking at his face,
-
I start looking at his hand because I'm so I'm worried if he
-
would provide. I'm so worried if he will make
-
away. But God said no, keep your eyes
-
on me because as long as you keep my eyes on him, I'm
-
captivated by his glory. I'm captivated by his presence.
-
And so today I want to ask you to have this attention.
-
Can we have our eyes on God alone and no one else?
-
Can we be caught up with this glory?
-
Because it's in that transformation happens.
-
It's in that our assurance gets keeps getting set in.
-
So even if 2025 the promises didn't come true, would you
-
still pay attention to God and say God, my eyes are fixed on
-
you, my attention is on you. Say I'm listening, speak, I'm
-
listening, whisper, I'm listening.
-
The second thing he says is stubbornly turning our hearts.
-
He talks about his very own chosen people.
-
He says they stubbornly turned their hearts.
-
If you're wanting to pursue something else, and so we
-
position ourselves differently. If I love God, I'm ready to give
-
up certain things because I love him.
-
If I love my wife, I'm ready to give up on certain things
-
because I love my wife. If I love my children, I'm ready
-
to give certain things up to make time for my children.
-
The mission is Christian living. What is turning our back
-
signify? If I had to turn my back on a
-
proposal, it means I'm not going ahead with it.
-
And when I turn my back against God, which means I am
-
discounting what God spoken. And today I wonder how many of
-
us have actually turned our back against God to say God, I don't
-
trust you with your word and God's like I can't help you.
-
My word is life, and it requires faith to see that word activated
-
so that in due time, in His time, it will come to pass.
-
Luke 9 was 61 to 62. This is what it says.
-
Another also said, I'll follow you, Lord, as your disciple.
-
But first let me say goodbye to those at my home.
-
But Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plough
-
and looks back to the things left behind is fit for the
-
Kingdom. What is God saying?
-
God saying? The minute you are assigned and
-
you say God, I'm ready to follow you.
-
I'm ready to give up everything to follow you.
-
Don't go and put your hand back to something of the world
-
because you will be caught up between this and that.
-
And so today I want to ask you as we are called to pursue, and
-
in this pursuing, they're saying you pursue with having a divine
-
takeover, which is not just a part, but holy.
-
Can we say, God, if I've stubbornly turned my back
-
against your word and your promises, if I've let go of the
-
plow with a mission field that you've called me because of
-
certain things are happening in my life, I'm sorry.
-
Maybe be quick to repent right today so that God can take over
-
us and do what he has to do. The third thing we see is
-
covering our ears. One of the things we repeatedly
-
see in Revelation, which John writes to the seven churches, he
-
says, is those who have ears, let them hear.
-
What is it? Instruction, Prophetic
-
utterances, God's Word, the very Word of God, the Spirit, not
-
just all happens when we are allowing our ears to be open.
-
The minute we cover our ears, we are tuning out from what God
-
wants us to hear and what God wants us to do.
-
And I pray and ask that we really be only the few who
-
listen to him. That's why we have very few
-
people who are actually listening to Him.
-
There's a lot of noise. There's a lot of noise today.
-
If you and I aren't here with are listening from God, we'll
-
start listening to so many other voices which might sound like
-
God but may not be God. Which might sound like the right
-
thing but actually is not the right thing, which might sound
-
like faith filled with hope but it actually is not.
-
How can you discern? That is when we keep our ears
-
open to what the Holy Spirit is having to say.
-
So I pray that you and I will keep our ears uncovered to the
-
Holy Spirit. We cover it to the lies of the
-
enemy. We cover it to the past that the
-
enemy is wanting to identify ourselves by and pull us down.
-
The fourth thing what we see happen is hearts that are hard
-
as Flint. And this really got me because
-
many a times in a Christian walk, you know, our ears, our
-
eyes, which is our attention, our backs, all these can be
-
turned time and again. You know, we, we, we go through
-
life and we realize we can't do that.
-
But the problem is our heart because of certain things are
-
happening in our lives or the breakthroughs that have not been
-
coming or the things that we want to see is not in alignment
-
with God. What happens?
-
Our hearts get hardened. And here they've used the word
-
Flint. Flint is basically like a silica
-
stone variation of limestone, which has got hard properties.
-
And I was just reading up on it and said it can also scratch
-
steel. So it's used for making
-
instruments. It's, it's used for materials
-
where it's required to bring certain kind of damage or work
-
with or, you know, use to chip off certain things.
-
It's it's very hard in nature. And what is God saying?
-
If it's your heart, your heart is going to be hard as Flint,
-
which means it becomes hard. Everything that the word of God
-
says is not even take or it just bounces off.
-
We in turn start creating damage to those who are trying to put
-
their word back. You know, a couple of weeks
-
back, we just going through a phase in our, in our business
-
side of things and our work side of things.
-
And you know, me and Tina are having this conversation going
-
back and forth. And because of certain things
-
not coming through and some of the some of the dry patches that
-
were happening. As much as I preach, as much as
-
I teach, as much as I journey with a lot of you, my heart was
-
hardened. My heart was hardened.
-
And this word really hit me hard because I realized that I was
-
not even able to receive the faith that my wife was speaking
-
to me. And there were certain things
-
that came out of my mouth which I knew it was a response because
-
those areas of my heart as hard as filled.
-
And So what I was not receiving, I was actually causing damage.
-
I started causing damage. And so today I want you to ask,
-
is my heart and heart leading me towards rebellion because those
-
breakthroughs have not come? Am I moving to those patterns
-
again? God wanted me to wait for the
-
right person, so I gave up all those dating apps and I'm
-
waiting. But I'm struggling in this
-
loneliness, so I'm going back to that.
-
It's because our hearts are in rebellion to what God's promised
-
us to. Are you, are you struggling in
-
your mind to see God's fulfillment today?
-
I pray and ask, are our expectations in alignment with
-
what He wants? That's why the divine takeover
-
has to happen holy. It has to happen holy.
-
As families, a lot of times husband and wife are unable to
-
see what God's calling them to do because two of them are
-
having two different polarizing promises. 1 is in the South
-
Pole, 1 is in the North Pole and they're not able to see it.
-
I pray that you'll be able to see what God's calling you.
-
It will only happen when it comes wholly to you.
-
When it comes wholly to you. The call is that we would
-
surrender wholly our attention, our ears, our eyes, our backs
-
and our heart, everything, all four things.
-
And so as I mentioned about my own, I realized I had to go back
-
and repent. I had to see God.
-
I'm really sorry I had to go back and say, God, I want to
-
have your characteristics work in and through me.
-
And God led me to the passage to say, you know what the yoke that
-
you're trying to carry, you're doing it all by yourself.
-
It says in the New Testament, Jesus says my burden is easy and
-
my yoke is lying, which means he is wanting to walk with us.
-
The divine takeover is not he is taking over on us.
-
He's left us here. No, he's saying I'll walk with
-
you. I've sent you my comforter,
-
which means he will work with us.
-
He will Co left with us. There is a shift in the dynamics
-
entirely. You no longer are just carrying
-
this yoke of bondage. You suddenly are walking in this
-
yoke of one with the redeemed and the Redeemer, and so
-
suddenly you're making sense of everything.
-
And that's when you read this verse in Zechariah chapter 8,
-
verses 12. And it makes sense because the
-
remnant who came back, as much as they were coming to
-
desolation, they were also coming to the promise of what
-
God was saying. He's saying, I'm not going to
-
deal with how I dealt with later.
-
I'm going to deal with you differently.
-
And what is he saying? He's saying that when you put
-
seeds in, it will produce. When you plant vineyards, it
-
will bear fruit. When you till the ground, it
-
will produce. You will experience the dew from
-
heaven. All this will happen because of
-
the divine takeover. So today, whatever is looking
-
like desolation towards you, whatever is looking like
-
brokenness in front of you, whatever is looking like it
-
doesn't make sense, it's time for a divine takeover, You know,
-
But the problem is with the divine takeover.
-
It requires one person to surrender and it requires us to
-
surrender. You know, for a lot of us, I
-
don't know if you've seen this, but over the couple of years
-
I've seen quite a few of these legal dramas.
-
I've seen a couple of these things that mergers and
-
acquisitions happen. Mergers are basically where two
-
competing companies, they merge together and they form a unified
-
body. Both the CEOs are there.
-
Over a period of 3-4 years, they work together and then one moves
-
away and does something else or they figure it out.
-
But there's a vertical acquisition where one comes
-
who's a big guy, he sees what the smaller guy is doing, sees
-
there's a lot of traction, acquires it for a hefty price,
-
more than what the other guy could actually even think of
-
selling it, and suddenly he's acquired it.
-
What happens there's suddenly it's dissolved in the sense
-
unnecessary things are all cut off.
-
The main things are kept and then they move ahead with it.
-
But today, when we look at this particular divine takeover that
-
we're talking about, God is wanting us to actually in
-
surrender, allow him to come. But he's saying you still get to
-
do everything. You still get to put your hands
-
to the plate. You it's, it's, it involves you
-
because he is wanting us to make a decision with our will, saying
-
he's wanting us to use our free will to say you get to make the
-
decision for yourself. You get to make the decision.
-
He's treating us as an equal. So this understanding when he
-
when, when the redeemer's walking with the redeemed, he's
-
still saying son, daughter, you still have to make the choice.
-
You still have to make the choice every day.
-
It's in a surrender, the divine takeover habits.
-
It's in a surrender. And I believe what is that
-
surrender looking Lord, you can take it from here.
-
You can take it from here. Lord, I've I've come to a place
-
where I need you and you can take it from here.
-
We are asked to take our hands out so that he can put his hands
-
in. He can put his hands in, which
-
means we are called to be doing what you're doing, but with not
-
our strength, but with his strength, not with our
-
understanding, but with his understanding, not with our
-
ideas, but with his ideas. Zechariah 8 versus 9.
-
You know, before he gives this promise to his people, he says
-
one thing which is very instrumental and which is very
-
needed for us to have the divine take.
-
And this is where I think a lot of us give up.
-
We want the easy way. What we want to go into a lazy
-
recliner, pull that back and say, God, you do your thing.
-
I'm right here. But God's saying no, boss, the
-
land is desolate, which means you need to get your hands
-
dirty. Zechariah chapter 8, verses 9.
-
This is what it says. Thus says the Lord of hosts, let
-
your hands be strong. You who in these days hear these
-
words from the mouths of the prophets, who on the day that
-
the foundation of the House of the Lord of the Hosts was laid,
-
foretold that the temple might be rebuilt.
-
This is basically saying, let your hands be strong.
-
Zechariah is being is having visions for people to build the
-
temple. And the the reason is God wants
-
them to build a temple. When you look at the
-
chronological order, they have built a temple.
-
And then God moves the heart of a person who's in the throne
-
room of King Darius to say, hey, go and build the walls in
-
Jerusalem. And so Nehemiah goes after that.
-
And so you see Nehemiah, Ezra. And it's interesting when you
-
see in the chronological order, God had his ordained people
-
walking this together. They had perfect synchronization
-
of what had to be done. That's because they were in tune
-
with the Spirit. God was speaking to them.
-
And so today when you and I are called, he's saying, can you put
-
your hands back to work? Hands back to work.
-
And it's interesting. He's saying bring it back to
-
work at the temple. A lot of times you've thought,
-
you know what the House of the Lord is For those who signed up
-
for ministries, for those who have said this is their calling,
-
the calling is for everyone. Jesus said he's coming back for
-
his bride, which means you and I are the bride.
-
We have different designations. You might say you're a software
-
engineer, You might say I'm a doctor.
-
You might say you're a film maker.
-
All that is good. I might say I'm a pastor.
-
Yes, but at the end of the day, we are all part of the same
-
body. So which means there's something
-
that your hands has to do. There's something my hands has
-
to do, the fivefold ministry. There's some, there's, there's
-
an equal part taking of all of this.
-
And so I ask you today, would you identify what God is raising
-
you up for a time such as this so that when the divine takeover
-
happens, you know what to do with your hands.
-
You know what to do with your hands.
-
We are called to build the House of God, his body.
-
What are we building today? We're so much building our own
-
buildings, our own structures, but God's saying, could you put
-
that to rest and come to build my Kingdom, My Kingdom?
-
Can we stretch our hands and ask God, can you strengthen my hands
-
today? Hebrews 12/12 says so.
-
We made strong even in your weakness by lifting up your
-
tired hands in prayer and worship and strengthen your
-
weakness. For as you keep walking forward
-
on God's paths, all your stumbling ways will be divinely
-
healed. The reason why I'm reading this
-
is because we've heard earlier, I remember Tina speaking
-
specifically on this, that when we praise, may our hands be
-
lifted up, that he'll strengthen our knees because it's in our
-
hands, hands lifted up. We say, God, we are surrendering
-
to you. Our plans.
-
We surrender, are being, we surrender.
-
Holy do we surrender to say, Lord, we are yours.
-
And So what happens every step of the way, we are acknowledging
-
him. It's divine takeover from here
-
on, strengthen my hand so that my personal life that I will be
-
an overcomer so that I may not be overcome.
-
Overcome by what? My enemy is plaguing me.
-
You and I have passed. So what the enemies plagued us.
-
Probably it's drugs, probably it's sex, probably it's alcohol.
-
Probably it's pursuing things that were completely off, which
-
are not aligned with him. And today he's like you are an
-
overcomer in Christ. But we have to be ready so that
-
He can overcome the enemy also, because the enemy also is
-
fighting for our attention, is fighting to make sure that He is
-
alive in areas where we are weak.
-
If we don't allow God to become the overcomer in our life, where
-
He says I have given you the Spirit to overcome this, we need
-
to ask Him, can we be ready to overcome by the precious blood
-
of the Lamb? Marriage is where we don't just
-
walk out because we don't see it, but we are ready to fight it
-
out. We are ready to fight it out
-
singleness where we are not we we have the and we have the
-
faith and the courage to walk into marriage.
-
We are just not talking the what the world is saying.
-
Oh, I need to have everything. Where does faith come?
-
I need to know the person in central where does faith come?
-
Trust God, ask God, keep the main things the main and move
-
forward. This is where we ask God to
-
strengthen our hands with regard to children parenting.
-
Most of us think, you know what, it just happens.
-
It doesn't happen. Parenting is intentionality.
-
You want your children to be pursuing Christ.
-
It's intentionality. You want your children to be
-
pursuing the world. That may not require
-
intentionality because the world will educate them whether you
-
like it or not. Work will be work well, will be
-
lead well, will be stewarded well.
-
Will we be known that we were carriers of His presence at work
-
or will we be known for what we did not do, for how we wasted
-
time, for what we brought down church in the community of
-
faith. Are we with surrendered hands
-
saying you know what this doesn't belong to me.
-
This is a whole bunch of others. You know that's why we give our
-
tithes and offerings. No where are your hands today at
-
the House of God. It's interesting that when Jesus
-
came and he called his disciples, and then when he
-
ascended to heaven and when he prayed, and when they were all
-
waiting in that upper room, 120 of them, and the Spirit of God
-
came like a rushing man, they were ready to receive.
-
They were ready to put their hands to work.
-
How is it that they all knew what to do is because the Spirit
-
of God was working in them. It was willing to submit where
-
submission was needed, was willing to do what everyone else
-
was caught up doing, was willing to fill in the gaps.
-
That is what the Spirit of God will enable you to do the minute
-
you are ready with your hands. And so today I'm going to ask
-
you, a lot of us are unable to use our hands because it's tied
-
down to our very own bodies, our very own emotions, our very own
-
heart, our very own limited understanding, our very own of
-
resentment, our very own of unbelief, our very own of God
-
did not come true. But I ask you, may we take that
-
fate step to surrender. Why are we called to surrender?
-
So that we'll be able to experience what God stopped.
-
He's saying the minute you put your hands to work because of
-
the divine takeover, because you're coming back, you're
-
coming back, you're acknowledging me, you're doing
-
everything as I would want. I am instructing you.
-
Things will be different. The problem is many of us today
-
have not surrendered our hands. Our hands are coming with such
-
constraints are coming with such if and then if I do this, will I
-
get this if and then conditions if OK, then no, sorry if, if
-
it's comfortable, I'll come if it is if it, if it's too much,
-
God's grace is not like that and we have verses to comfort
-
ourselves. Probably the breakthroughs in
-
your life have not been coming because you've not surrendered
-
your hands. You surrendered your hands.
-
You know, the beautiful thing about hands is hand embraces,
-
hand acknowledges, hand heels, hands strengths.
-
Hands unite, Hands hug, hands confront, hands resist.
-
Hands also hold others together. And so today I want to ask you
-
the four things that God is saying He wants to come through
-
and which requires our hands. Without our hands, none of that
-
thing will come through if we are not allowing the divine
-
takeover to happen with our surrendered hands because the
-
divine takeover only happens to say God, I'm ready.
-
Do as you may. If you want me to clean the
-
garbage in the church every week, I'll do that.
-
If you want me to clean the toilets in the church, I'll do
-
that. If you want me to clean the
-
chairs in the church, I'll do that.
-
If you want me to come and clean and set up certain things, I'll
-
do that. If you want me to do, if you
-
want me to just come and pray, I will do that.
-
If you want me to do things in the unseen, I'll do that.
-
If you want me to do things. And you know, the problem is I
-
come across a lot of people, a lot of people in our church
-
planting journey and this, I'm talking personally for my life.
-
I've never been in a place I can honestly say where I've done it
-
for someone else. I've always done things for the
-
love of God when it came to the church, when it came to work.
-
I've done it for myself, I can admit that.
-
But it came to things of where I had to get remuneration for
-
certain things. I've done it for my own pride,
-
my own ego, my own self. I can say that when I came to
-
the church, it always was for Jesus.
-
It wasn't for a leader. I didn't act differently for a
-
leader. I didn't act differently for
-
this kind of leader and that kind of no.
-
And So what happened for my own life, I have to say, when I was
-
in a church which was big enough, I did it for Jesus.
-
When we moved to a church which was small enough, which had a
-
pastor, was well known internationally, I still did it
-
for Jesus. And then when we came back here
-
to plant a church and to do it in the inconspicuous way
-
possible, we were still able to do it because we did for Jesus.
-
It came because of surrendered hands, whatever it entailed,
-
whatever it entailed. You know, the problem is many a
-
times people don't see what our hands are doing.
-
There were times with this, these hands clean chairs, clean
-
toilets, got the house ready, got the spaces ready, did it
-
because loved Jesus. There was no one to give
-
recognition. There was no that is divine
-
takeover. But I see a lot of people who
-
are coming in from different churches, they talk about their
-
accolades so much, but their hands are not surrendered for
-
the present season. They keep talking of positions
-
that have been held, but their hands aren't ready to serve
-
because they feel like they need to come in that same equal
-
position. Suddenly they think this is a
-
corporate ladder. They it goes from glory to
-
glory. They don't realize Jesus came to
-
title and to do the work. They suddenly want prominence.
-
And so today I want to urge you, if anything has to happen in
-
your life, it starts with surrendered hands because
-
surrendered hearts only happen when hands are surrendered.
-
I'll tell you that it's in this serving of people, serving of
-
others, you'll realize what grace is, what true love is.
-
You'll realize what God's done for you.
-
You'll realize the grace and the favour that's been on your life.
-
A lot of us are coming to a place where you know, I know all
-
that, but I won't surrender my hands.
-
God's like till you surrender your hands, I won't be able to
-
do anything of this. And so the reason why I'm
-
spending some time here is because the next 4 things are
-
very important. What did it say?
-
When we have surrendered fully, we make room for God to do
-
certain things. There is a divine takeover of
-
the Spirit of God in our lives. Every Bible character in the
-
story, every person who you read about has had a divine takeover.
-
The divine takeover has been the script that God had over their
-
life. The divine takeover is something
-
that God he did so that people will be able to see Him clearly.
-
His plans were accomplished through the divine takeover, not
-
their plans. You take from Abraham, Isaac,
-
Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, to the Judges, Deborah and every
-
other person, all the way to King David, to from Solomon to
-
Samson to every person, all the way even up to Paul to Timothy.
-
Everyone had a divine takeover to accomplish God's purpose.
-
So today when you and I are wanting this divine take work,
-
what is our purpose? Nothing.
-
Let's move toward the thing and say, God, I'm ready to
-
accomplish your purpose, your purpose.
-
I'm ready to accomplish your purpose.
-
So what are those four things? The first thing is the seed will
-
produce peace and prosperity. So if our hands are surrendered,
-
whatever seed that you're called to plant will produce is what
-
it's saying. I have come to a point in time,
-
but I want to have this divine encounter.
-
So whatever seed I produce, be it in my in whatever I touch,
-
whatever I do, whatever I put my hands in whatever I Co labor
-
with others will all start producing even as we look
-
through in Genesis 626 was 126. I wanted to take Isaac
-
specifically and this is the reason about surrendered hands.
-
Isaac inherited a lot from Abraham.
-
He inherited everything that was assigned to him.
-
And So what he inherited was God said every place you step.
-
I'll give it to you. And so he had dug a lot of
-
wells. He was prosperous, but then
-
moved into this Philistines territory where ABI Malik was
-
king and he was staying in the land.
-
And at that particular time when he moved, it was a famine.
-
And it's interesting what it says here.
-
It says here in verse 12, Isaac planted crops in that land and
-
the same year leaped A hundredfold because the Lord
-
blessed him. Divine takeover does that.
-
And so today, the seed that you're calling to produce today,
-
you'll be set apart even when the markets are crashing, even
-
when things, the job markets are bad, God will hold your head up
-
by because of the divine takeover you've done, because of
-
your surrendered hands, the seeds that you're producing will
-
start start bearing. It'll bear 100 foot and people
-
be wondering, you'll be able to point them to the God of all
-
creation. What happens here is God set
-
Isaac up to a place where he was seeing clearly that there's
-
someone else above him. There was someone else.
-
Isaac did that strategy. Isaac did it.
-
He just did everything. Surrendered hands does that.
-
So the watching world, it'll be like, man, what is this guy?
-
He's just like any of us, but why is he different?
-
Divine takeover. It's interesting in verse 18 it
-
says Isaac reopened the wills that have been dug in the name
-
of his father with the Philistines had stopped up after
-
Abraham died and he gave them the same names his father had
-
given them. What is Isaac doing?
-
He constantly was putting his hands to work.
-
So today in season, out of season, would your hands be
-
ready to work? If God's blessed you with one
-
child who did be ready to work? If God's blessed you with two
-
children will be ready to work. If God's blessed you with no
-
child, have you still be ready to work?
-
That is why we are asking today, would you be ready to do what
-
God's calling you to do for the seed to produce peace and
-
prosperity. It's interesting.
-
The prosperity that God gives you will be 1 of peace.
-
Peace will be accompanied. Don't come with another person
-
ready to pull you down. Imagine that is what divine
-
takeover looks like. It requires staying power.
-
Isaac realized the power of staying, which means keep doing
-
what you're called to do, staying and putting your hands
-
to work even in famine because of the divine takeover, IE will
-
be 100%. I pray that we will be able to
-
do what only God can do through us.
-
Our hands are ready. The second thing we see is the
-
wine will yield its fruit. What does that mean?
-
Today, as Paul tells us in the book of Romans, that we are
-
Gentiles who've been grafted in, we are grafted in as Gentiles,
-
we are grafted in and so no longer are we going to bear
-
fruit which we have solely stuck in.
-
No, God's plucked us. The minute we have been
-
redeemed, we have been grafted into His body.
-
We are his root system and His stem, and He constantly keeps
-
pruning us. The wine will yield its fruits.
-
And so today a lot of us, when we are grafted and won't
-
immediately bear fruit, it takes time because we need to
-
understand the characteristic, We need to understand what the
-
supply is. We need to, there'll be a lot of
-
resistance. That's where He constantly
-
comes. Keep pruning.
-
I've told this earlier, we hear and feel got closest when we
-
prune. And so I pray if you're on a
-
pruning season, don't be discouraged.
-
Fruitfulness is coming. When the fruitfulness comes,
-
it'll be unbelievable. You'll be like, did this come?
-
Ephesians 320 is what will happen to your fruitfulness
-
today? Would you be ready to receive
-
that? Would you be ready to receive
-
that? In John chapter 15, we read
John 15 chapter mention
-
about Jesus talking about the wine and we are the branches.
-
I pray that we will remain in Him.
-
We will remain in Him so that when we are ready to bear, He is
-
able to bear in and through us. With the divine takeover, I
-
believe God wants to do much more than you've thought or
-
imagined. So today if you're thinking of
-
fruitfulness is going to be only 20.
-
Don't be amazed if it's 200 because that's what God's
-
equation is with the divine takeover.
-
The third thing that we see is the ground will produce it's
-
increase. It's interesting the minute you
-
see the Bible with the ground, there was always this in not
-
desire for us to possess certain land.
-
The Israelites wandered out of the wilderness and then when
-
they were ready to go, they were allotted lands, they were given
-
portions. So the when we.
-
Take ground When we take a stand, that is where God is
-
mocking us. And today, what is the stand?
-
What's calling you to do? You'll be interested to see for
-
those who actually encountered a divine takeover will actually
-
take ground of prominent areas where the enemy has had
-
strongholds. Today we are right on top of a
-
fertility clinic, which means we are on the ground with this
-
hopelessness. Where's this where's this?
-
It's marked by so much of sadness.
-
The fruitful promise that God's provide be fruitful and
-
multiply. We're standing on top of that.
-
We are called to take ground. We're just not taking ground
-
for. If you're taking ground for
-
many, it's interesting every time I see my wife's prayer
-
list, when you're praying, she has a whole list that she keeps
-
adding. She keeps adding for those who
-
have to give birth to children. We believe God is wanting us to
-
stand in the gap for that specifically today.
-
What are you called to take ground in?
-
I believe when divine takeover comes, you and I specifically
-
will be having something marked out for us to take because when
-
we take that, generations, I mean change.
-
When we take that, families for generations are going to be
-
seeing that breakthrough. When we take them the ground, we
-
are bringing the healing that Jesus wants to bring with the
-
divine takeover. When we read what does it look
-
like, 'cause when we look at ground, we think it's lifeless,
-
but it's this very ground that God breathed his life on and
-
formed us. Genesis chapter two, O 7.
-
If you read then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of
-
the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and
-
the man became a living being. So today what if we have to
-
reverse that? When we take territory to heal
-
the land, we take territory to see God's healing forth through.
-
When we move to specific places, God is moving you so you can
-
bring healing to those places. We many at times don't see that.
-
We many at times would see that. But I pray for healing of the
-
land that we will find healing when we start praying for our
-
very own land. We will find healing when we
-
pray for our ecosystems to be normal.
-
We'll be free from the greed and the carnal nature that the land
-
causes us to have because of sin and the clutches of sin.
-
When you read Ezekiel chapter 37, verses one to three and
Ezekiel 37 chapter mention
-
verses 7 to 8, that entire chapter, if you read is where
-
Ezekiel is standing and there are these dry bones and what
-
happens? The Spirit of God comes upon.
-
I believe when a divine takeover happens in the Spirit of God
-
comes upon, we'll see dead things coming to life, dead
-
things coming to life. That's what happens when someone
-
walks into a church. That's what happens when a
-
divine takeover happens. Suddenly they are not lost, but
-
they are found. Suddenly.
-
They are not feeling completely cut off.
-
They suddenly find family. They suddenly find hope.
-
They suddenly find somewhere that their feet are being able
-
to be put on the rock to stay. And today we know that that rock
-
is no one else but Jesus, who's the cornerstone you and I get to
-
stand on him today in verse 9 it says in Ezekiel chapter 37.
Ezekiel 37 chapter mention
-
Then he said to me prophesied to the breath prophecy, son of man
-
and say to this is what the sovereign not says, come breath
-
from the four winds and breathe into these slave that they may
-
live. So I prophesied as he commanded
-
at the breath entered them. They came to life, stood up on
-
their feet. I believe the grounds that we
-
are called to take will bring dead things to life.
-
Dreams that were dead, situations that were dead,
-
things which the enemy had stolen a long time back.
-
You'll see things coming back to life.
-
I pray that we have a divine take or prophesying over the
-
dead things of our cities. We will soon see the very fact
-
that we are here because of us, our praying and what we've been
-
interceding and the divine takeover that God's done, the
-
burden that He's put in us. We will be the very people who
-
will bring Shalom to our city because we'll be those
-
peacemakers. We'll carry that peace into
-
every place that God's calling we need it.
-
In Jeremiah chapter 13, it was 17 to 18.
Jeremiah 13 chapter mention
-
But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares
-
the Lord, because you're called and outcast to Zion, from whom
-
no one cares. This is what the Lord says.
-
I will restore the fortunes of Jacob's tent and will have
-
compassion on his dwellings. The city will be rebuilt on her
-
ruins and the palace will stand in its proper place.
-
I pray and ask that God will restore, rebuild, and set us to
-
a place where we'll be able to see those grounds.
-
Those grounds come back to life. Eden's where desolation is.
-
I pray for fruitfulness with his badness.
-
That's the ground that we take. And so I pray today, this is 1
-
conviction that God caused me to have.
-
Every time I'm moved into different cities for meetings
-
and things like that, I used to just go come back aimlessly, you
-
know, my own agenda. But then God started putting a
-
burden. Whenever you put, I've given you
-
the gospel of peace, you're putting in the footwear of the
-
gospel of peace. When you go into those cities,
-
pray over those cities, claim those cities, pray over the
-
peace of those cities, pray for open doors in those cities.
-
Until today, you and I, as much as we're connected with the
-
world, when you go into cities, we pray for the cities to bring
-
heaven on earth. Heaven on earth.
-
The fourth thing because of this divine takeover, He sees heavens
-
will give the idea. I love this and this is what I'm
-
really expecting for. In fact, in my favorite part of
-
the sermon is this because this is where surrendered hands meets
-
the living God and we don't know what will happen.
-
We don't know what will happen. There's no equation here.
-
It's a God equation. Just imagine this.
-
The beauty of the promise is that the floodgates of heaven
-
are waiting for us. Our surrendered hands are ready
-
when it's ready, floodgates of heaven are ready.
-
Anything can come from heaven. What is it?
-
It's interesting and I I'm, I'm waiting for a time such as this.
-
Matthew chapter 14 verses 19 to 21.
-
It says this beautifully where Jesus has to feed.
-
The 5000 surrendered hands gave 5 blows and two fishes.
-
But when Jesus took it up and listened to God, heaven's
-
sufficiency became earth's answer.
-
Heaven's sufficiency became earth's answer.
-
And so it's interesting when the disciples distributed, there was
-
an overflow, there was a surplus 12 baskets full.
-
You read the minute the heavens open, there's always there's
-
always surface in one Kings chapter 17 verses 2 to 6, you
-
suddenly see Elijah is being fed by Ravens, meat and bread,
-
morning and evening things that will blow your mind.
-
So today God cares for the many. God cares for the 1.
-
The heavens care for the many. It cares for the one divine
-
takeover is that when we pray as a church, it cares for the many
-
but also cares for the 1. So I pray that if you feel
-
cornered, if you feel dead, locked into a place, you feel a
-
chokehold. Remember when we give access to
-
the Holy Spirit for a divine takeover, it will show up in a
-
divine way only and no other way.
-
It'll show up in a divine way. It requires us to give up holy.
-
It's interesting that when I mention about this the whole
-
thing for divine take quote requests us to give holy.
-
It also talks about in Malachi 310 bring the whole tithe into
-
the store house and there may be food in my house.
-
Test me and this says the Lord and see if I will not throw up
-
in the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing.
-
There will not be room enough to store in it.
-
You know, one of the things we've done in the last seven
-
years is not preach specifically on this.
-
And as I'm moving forward, I've realised that many have been
-
struggling and I realised the reason is because they're not
-
wholly given themselves to God's house.
-
And so today I I don't want to stress just from the finances
-
part, but I believe surrendered hands has much more as much
-
more. So I pray and ask that if you
-
want to experience a floodgates, it requires you wholly giving or
-
something. So as we conclude, 2026 is here
-
for us. I'm excited for what's there,
-
but I want to ask you, maybe pursue what matters because what
-
we pursue will take over us. What we pursue will take over
-
us. Divine takeover should be of us,
-
holy, not part, but holy. It checks.
-
What are the some of the checks we saw.
-
We saw our attention, our backs, our ears, our hearts.
-
I pray that these will be constantly something that we
-
check our attention because we can't be sidetracked.
-
We can't have our backs turned looking focused somewhere else.
-
Our ears can't be tuned off from the Spirit of God.
-
Our hearts can't be hardened. And I pray our divine takeovers
-
when we surrender, holy, holy, because our hands are ready to
-
surrender, to say, Lord, I'm ready to surrender holy seeds
-
will produce, wine will yield, ground will produce, and the
-
heavens will give its due. You know, even before I close, I
-
want to read this one verse I came across in Jeremiah chapter
-
30 verses 8 to 9. It says in that day that
-
decrease the Lord Almighty, I'll break the yoke of their necks
-
and will tear off their bonds. No longer will foreigners
-
enslave them. Instead, they will serve the
-
Lord their God and David their King, whom I will raise up for
-
them. I pray and ask that even as we
-
get ready to enter into 2026 that the divine takeover will
-
happen over us. He's ready to break the yoke.
-
The divine takeover happens. There's no room for change.
-
There's no room for bondage. It's only freedom.
-
It's only freedom. And I pray we will surrender
-
ourselves holy. We will surrender these hands.
-
Can I pray for your loving heavenly Father, Lord, I thank
-
you, Lord. Lord, what a beautiful way,
-
Lord, to enter into the New year in your presence, in your, in
-
your very own way of us hearing your word, of seeing you come
-
through. We are grateful for all that
-
you're doing, Lord Jesus. Be excited for what you're going
-
to do, Lord, in and through US. I pray right now that you would
-
move even right now. For those who are watching and
-
listening, the real experience, I pray divine takeover will
-
happen physically in their homes, in their rooms, in their
-
places as they're listening. Lord Jesus, right now, they will
-
experience you, Lord, like never before.
-
Lord, I pray for your hands to be upon them, your strength to
-
be upon them, Your grace to be upon them.
-
I pray even right now, Lord, as we enter into this new year as
-
this, not ourselves, but as a whole community, as a group of
-
believers who believe in you, we trust in you, Lord Jesus, we
-
trust in you. I believe and I pray, Lord
-
Jesus, that our wines will bear fruit.
-
Lord, our ground will Lord start producing.
-
Lord Jesus, I pray that Lord will experience.
-
Lord, our will experience peace and prosperity.
-
Lord Jesus, heavens will experience the sufficiency that
-
will come down from heaven. Lord Jesus, we thank you.
-
Be glorified, be honoured. I pronounce your blessing over
-
your children. I pronounce peace, Lovejoy,
-
protection over them. Lord Jesus, we thank you.
-
I pray that we'll be carriers of you everywhere.
-
Lord Jesus, your Shalom will rest in our homes, in our hearts
-
and in every place that we'll be carriers of you Shalom into our
-
cities and into our nation. Go before us, be with us.
-
Lord, take charge. Your most holy name, you pray.
-
Amen. Amen, Church.
-
I'm excited for what God has in store for 2026.
-
I pray that you will allow this divine takeover even as we
-
unpack this in the coming days. I believe God has much more to
-
reveal to us, but I pray we'll take these baby steps of getting
-
to know Him personally, of following Him, of seeing Him
-
come true so that you and I can be witnesses to draw many others
-
to have that divine take over over their lives.
-
God bless you all. I pray that you have a blessed
-
new year. God bless the work of your
-
hands. God bless every space that you
-
occupy so that you'll bring glory to Him.
-
Our love and prayer as a Via Zion Church family from both me
-
and Tina. We just bless you and Commission
-
you to do great things for God. Thanks for listening to this
-
message. We hope you were blessed to hear
-
more messages like this. Make sure to subscribe and check
-
out our podcast channel for past episodes.
-
If you like what you are hearing, consider rating us,
-
subscribing and even sharing it with friends.
-
That would really help us. For more content from Via Zion
-
and to connect with us, go to Via Zion dot in.
-
Remember, whoever finds Jesus finds life.