Exemption Banquet Service Faith Tabernacle Ota by Bishop David Oyedepo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Wonder Content of the Word

Genesis 1: God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. Whatever God said, God made. Whatever God made can be seen. The word creates, and creates what can be seen. God's word carries wonder content. There are four dimensions of this wonder.

Wonder 1: God's Word Is Prophetic

2 Peter 1:19-21: we have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well to take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart. For no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. It is called the more sure word of prophecy. It is direct from the mouth of God who cannot lie.

Isaiah 34:16: seek out of the book of the Lord and read. None of these shall fail, neither shall any be without mate, for his mouth has spoken and his spirit has gathered them.

In those early days in the 1970s, prophetic words were coming in, among them that God was going to stir up jealousy by his acts in the lives of his people. The word was: the faith will soon become the envy of men. It was a challenge in those days to publicly say you were a Christian, because it meant you were considered useless. But those prophetic words began to find fulfillment, and that is what it is today to the glory of God. Everybody wants to be part of it because it is working.

Prophetic words are assets. Inject your faith and you have committed the hand of God to perform. Every word spoken concerning you in this book shall find fulfillment.

Luke 1:45: blessed is she that believeth, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told from the Lord. The blessing of the prophetic dimension is in faith. Every statement of scripture comes from the mouth of God. When it is believed, God is committed to perform it.

Wonder 2: God's Word Is Ordained for Fulfillment

Isaiah 14:24: for the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.

Isaiah 55:8-11: my ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. His words are his thoughts imprinted. And as he has thought, so shall it come to pass. His word shall not return void but shall accomplish that which he pleases and shall prosper in the thing where to he sent it.

God's word is not just for information. It is ordained for fulfillment. Every word encounter is ordained for fulfillment when it is mixed with faith.

When the light of Matthew 6:33 was seen, a covenant was entered into in writing to make it a lifestyle. That has been the case for fifty years. When Jeremiah 29:11 was seen in 1977, that your future is in God's plan not in your plan, all personal plans were dashed and full subscription was given to his plan. And here is the result today.

Wonder 3: God's Word Is Alive Forever

Psalm 119:89: forever, oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.

Matthew 24:35: heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.

How do we experience the forever manifestation of the word? 1 John 2:17: whosoever doeth the will of God shall abide forever. Doing the word keeps it working forever. It is in the doing, not just the knowing. The knowing is to help you know what to do. The doing is what makes it work.

The word does not work in the head. The only good ground where the word works is a good and honest heart.

Luke 8:15: that which fell on good ground are those who hear the word and receive it in a good and honest heart, and bring forth fruit with patience. All three other grounds in the parable are in the head realm. The wayside: no time for the word. Among the thorns: more concerns than the word. On the rock: it may work and may not work. They are all in the head realm. When the word enters a good heart, it has landed in good ground where it will grow and bring forth fruit.

There are things received in 1970 that are still working. Things received in 1973 that are still working. Things received in 1974 that are still working. When the word is planted in the good heart, it procures a future.

When the principle of staying off what is not yours was received, from Jeremiah 17:11, the ostrich lays eggs and hatches them not, so is a man that gets riches not by right, he shall leave them in the midst of his days and at his end he shall be a fool, that word has been working for decades.

Ensure the word does not stay in the head. Circumstance can flood it away. When it enters the heart, nothing can uproot it.

Romans 12:2: be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. 2 Corinthians 3:18: as you behold as in a glass, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord.

God's word still commands transformation. But it is walking in the light that transforms, not just having the light.

John 12:35-36: Jesus said, while you have the light, walk in the light, lest darkness come upon you. Believe in the light, that you may be the children of light.

There is a lifespan to light. After daybreak comes nightfall. Do not let the night fall on the light you receive. Respond to light as quickly as it strikes. Every time light strikes and you do not dive in, it fades away. And before you finish thinking, you can no longer find it.

Wonder 4: God's Word Is Creative

Matthew 8:8: the centurion said speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. And the word went forth and he was made whole that same hour.

Matthew 17:26-27: go to the sea, cast a hook, take the first fish that comes up, open his mouth, and you will find a piece of money. Take that and pay them for me and for you. As the word went forth, the coin was created in the mouth of the fish, and the fish was aligned to the hook.

God's word is creative. Give ye them to eat, and food was created so that five thousand men, besides women and children, were fed, with twelve baskets left over.

He was not just the creator. He is still the creator today. In the beginning God created. In the present, God is still creating. In the future, he will still be creating. He specializes in recreating anything dead or dying. The same power that created is the power that recreates. Whatever needs to be recreated in anyone's life is being created.

How to Tap Into These Wonders

Step 1: Gain spiritual access

There is a difference between intellectual understanding and spiritual understanding. To access the wonders in the word requires spiritual understanding.

Colossians 1:9: we do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with all knowledge in the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

Spiritual understanding comes through prayer, often coupled with fasting.

Jeremiah 33:3: call upon me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know.

Isaiah 58:6: is this not the fast I have chosen? Verse 8: then shall your light break forth as the morning. Fasting enhances access to light.

The reason is that the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine onto them. 2 Corinthians 4:4. Darkness is scared of light. Satan, whose stronghold is darkness, is scared of any access to light. Jesus said this kind goes not but by prayer and fasting. You can fast the blindness off.

When this church was crawling after three months, going to prayer and fasting produced a vision on the third day. What was seen was a layer of thick darkness over the roof of the church. The Lord said that is the blindfolding weapon the devil uses to misinterpret what is being done in the church. There are innocent people sitting in church. The solution to their issues is being transmitted, and the blindfolder says: don't bother, this is your cross, not everybody will prosper, not everybody will succeed, Lazarus also made heaven. And that individual is kept in captivity. The darkness was never seen until the fast. Fasting revealed where the secret was.

Step 2: Walk in the light

Walking in the light is what transforms, not merely receiving light. The step of Abraham's faith was that whatever God told him, he responded. As the light was seen in covenant, in the word on giving, on marriage, a covenant was entered. That is when it began to work and has not stopped since.

Father, I see amazing performance of the word taking place in every life from now in the name of Jesus. Every irreparable part of the body, I declare recreated. Every word spoken concerning you in this book shall find fulfillment. I see God's word being fulfilled in every life in a new dimension. Let solutions be created to every issue and concern. In the name of Jesus, your days of financial struggle must end, in the name of Jesus.