Bishop David Oyedepo at Leadership Empowerment Summit || August 6, 2022
Psalms 89:34; God said, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips”. That means when you line up with the covenant of the scripture, you commit God’s integrity to perform and this God is not a respecter of persons, so there’s no way to use ‘eye service’ to break Him. He knows your uprising and your downs. He even knows your thoughts afar off, so you can’t manipulate Him. Jeremiah 33:20-21, it says ” This saith the Lord, If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, and there should not be the day and the night in their season, then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers”. For we have been redeemed as priests and kings to reign on the earth. So that covenant with the Redeemed is as binding as the covenant of the day and the night. On the day and the night are no more, that covenant remains in force, can I hear your Amen? That’s what blew me up, 1992, March 22nd. Every time you wake up in the morning and you see the sun, then know that my covenant is working, you look up at night and you see the moon, know that my covenant is still in force. And the covenant is a two-deal platform. There’s a covenantor, God, and a covenantee, you and me. The only variable is we. “I am the Lord, I change not”, so you line up. If you don’t line up, it’ll show, if you line up, it’ll show.
Now, can I say this? You can run to any part of the world, if you’re not a giver, you can’t prosper; this kingdom oh, if you can go and steal, you’re out of the kingdom already. But in this kingdom of Christ, you can earn nine digit salary and still be a beggar. E shock you? You won’t serve God, no matter your ranking sir, you can’t break into the benefit of stewardship and that includes; “And ye shall serve God, and He shall bless thy bread and thy water and I will take sickness away from the midst thee (Exodus 23:25). You can’t get in there sir. “The number of thy days, I will fulfill” (Exodus 23:26), you can’t get in there because He’s no respecter of persons.
Jesus thought, one day, – these are hard sayings, these are things people will never talk about. Let’s come down here. In Hebrews 9:1-4. It’s one scripture that we need to look at. “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. Those are the things behind the veil that God is beginning to unveil now. You know, Paul said later in the scripture, “we cannot speak particularly of them now” which means God will be unveiling them as we go on. Unveiling them as we continue. Tables on the covenant. Now, the covenant will come, the new way of life of believers, no longer begging God, just know what God sent us to do and you’re standing there saying, “Lord, I thank you because I know you have confirmed your word”. Can I hear your Amen? The days of “Oh God, ayyya…” will be over. It’ll be succulent, soft, soothing, and warm in the covenant. Can I hear your Amen? Now, that’s talking about the golden agenda of God for His people and it’ll be made manifest through access to the tables of the covenant. The veil was torn into three providing access for everyone into the mysteries behind the Holiest of all. That’s what happened at the death of Jesus. From top to bottom, the veil was torn, providing access to every redeemed to the tables of the covenant.
Every covenant of the scripture is an everlasting covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 13:20; “Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” That turned every covenant of the scripture into an everlasting covenant. “Don’t think that I’ve come to destroy the law, No, I have come to fulfill it” Mathew 5:17. So, every covenant of the scripture becomes an everlasting covenant. And so, when we stop doing our part of the covenant, the covenant is rendered impotent – cannot deliver. ” For My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” (Psalm 89:34). “Not a jot of My word will go unfulfilled, heaven and earth may pass away” In the same Scripture, Mathew 24:35; “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away”. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.” – John 1:1.
Now let’s look at the following covenants for the purpose of clarity; we have God’s covenant of Obedience which is a gateway to the world of supernatural blessings. ” And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come on thee overtake thee if tho shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). And it began to outline the blessings from that place to verse 13. All these blessings. But if thou will not hearken, then all these anti blessings will come. The covenant of Obedience.
Obedience may be costly, but the end result is priceless. Every time you hear the word and say “No, I don’t believe that”, you’re just treading in disobedience. It’s not meant for Him, He doesn’t need any blessing, He’s already, all in all, I mean, all that we have come off Him. In Him, we all live and move and have our brains, He doesn’t need anybody. He doesn’t need anything to be God. He’s God with you or without you. He’s God with me or without me. He’s God forever. He said, “Tell Pharaoh, it’s ‘I am that sent me”. If he asks for your name, what do I say? “Say, I am that I am”. I am that I am, you will insult me, I am, you dance to me, I am, you dis-dance to me, I am. “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22b).
Number two; The covenant of right-living or call it the covenant of righteousness. Right-living, righteousness. “Don’t be deceived, he that doeth in righteousness is righteous” – 1 John 3:7. Isaiah 3:10; “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.” Psalm 5:12; “For thou, wilt bless the righteous; with the favor with thou compass him as with a shield.” Isaiah 62:2-3; “And the gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shall also be a crown of Glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” The covenant of righteousness or right-doing, biblical living. Praise God! It creates a future, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Psalm 9:10). How does it create a future? The fear of the Lord is them that fear Him and he’ll show them His covenant, “This is what to do if you want me to do this.” He will show them. Psalm 25:14; “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them His covenant.”
The covenant of divine guidance. Now, watch please; go to Isaiah 42:22-24; “But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they’re all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient to his law.”
“You can’t tell me what to do, I know what to do sir”, you’re saying that to the world. The covenant of divine guidance. Deuteronomy 12:13-14, hear what it says; “Take heed to thyself that thou offer not they burnt offerings in every place that thou seest: but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of the tribes, there thou shalt offer burnt offerings and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.” Now, watch, what’s that saying? “I have appointed a place where your sacrifice would be acceptable, locate the place and connect there.” Can I hear your Amen? If Abraham ever stopped on the way, he would have lost Isaac for nothing, he was in search of that place for three days, and on the third day, he saw the place afar off, we can’t tell how many more days he walked and he climbed that mountain and there, he encountered God. You don’t offer your sacrifice in any place where you see. If God has shown you where you belong, stay there! “For I will appoint a place…” – God is a God of plan and purpose, “..for my people Isreal, and I will plant them, in a place of their own and they shall move no more, neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as before time (2 Samuel 7:10). “I will appoint a place.” God, show me my appointed place of worship and settle inside. Don’t pull your shoulder against God, He has nothing to lose.
I thank God that I heard of the appointed place. I thank God that I chose and I still choose and I’ll forever choose to be in His appointed place. It was a lost place but it’s now found. Why? Because it is God’s appointed place for this commission. So, if this church is God’s appointed place for you to offer your sacrifice unto God, you better settle Him and don’t go on AWOL. Settle Him. “I will give you pastors after my own heart who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding, and it shall come to pass when ye be multiplied and increased in the land.” – (Jeremiah 3:15-16a). He has these things put in place, no guesswork. The covenant of divine guidance. “There are ways that seemeth righteousness but the end thereof is the ways of death”, Proverbs 14:12, not repeated verbatim. Proverbs 3:6; “In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” You’re free to think of what to do but ask Him if it’s the right thing to do and then He gets the forward, the covenant of divine guidance.
GOD IS NOT A RESPECTER OF PERSONS, SO THERE’S NO WAY TO USE ‘EYE SERVICE’ TO BREAK HIM
YOU CAN RUN TO ANY PART OF THE WORLD BUT IF YOU’RE NOT A GIVER, YOU WILL NOT PROSPER IN GOD’S KINGDOM
EVERY COVENANT OF THE SCRIPTURE IS AN EVERLASTING COVENANT SEALED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS
OBEDIENCE MAY BE COSTLY BUT THE END RESULT IS PRICELESS
YOU DON’T OFFER YOUR SACRIFICE IN ANY PLACE YOU SEE. IF GOD HAS SHOWN YOU WHERE YOU BELONG, STAY THERE!
