The Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo has revealed that he’s not after building big physical church but after souls.
According to him, between 2015 and now, he has won over76,000 for Christ.
He stated this during the Saturday’s Covenant Hour of Prayer (CHOP).
Transcript of his message and obtained by Church Gist below.
WE ARE AFTER THE SOULS OF MEN.
* We are committed to the enlargement of His Kingdom and
* We are after the rescue of the souls of men from the torment and torture of the wicked one.
SOUL WINNING: A HIDDEN TREASURE OF THE KINGDOM
Carrying unfathomable valuables within it. We are very much aware in this Church of the diverse benefits that soul winning attracts, but we still have much more, very much more to discover. One thing we all know is the fact that every commandment of scriptures is ordained for the profiting of the saints (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Every commandment is for our thorough furnishing, thorough decoration, it is for the unveiling of our enviable destiny (Deuteronomy 28:1). Above the commandment, “thou shall love the Lord with all thy heart, with all your soul” (Matthew 22:37).
“Do you love Me”, He said, “go after the lambs, go after my sheep” (John 21:15).
Matthew 22:36-40, John 21:15-17
“I love You Lord” – Prove it, go after my lambs, the young ones.
“Are you sure you love Me” – Lord, I love You. Okay, go after the young adults to prove that you love Me.
“Simon, son of Jonas, do you truly love Me?” – I do, now go after the matured adults, the old ones. Just go after every unsaved soul to prove that you love Me.
Now what happens? 1 Corinthians 2:9
We can’t unravel how much treasure; we can’t fully unravel how much treasures are hidden in soul winning but soul winning delivers through our genuine dedication to Christ and the interest of His Kingdom.
John 15:4-5
It takes our raw dedication, buried with Christ, to be effective fruit bearers. Dedication!
“Lord, I am all out for You. The interest of your Kingdom is my priority. What You do or do not do, does not tamper with it. In season and out of season, You can count on me” – that’s what He meant by, “in season, out of season, preach the Word”
It is not about what He will do, it’s about what His agenda is and your commitment to it. God wants all men saved and so you do (1 Timothy 2:4).
He doesn’t want anyone to perish; you don’t want them to perish and you are dedicated to that cause in truth and in deed, fruit bearing becomes automatic. I was 19 years when I said to Jesus in that little village, “Jesus, I must not leave this village the way I met it. Church Gist Your name must be planted here.”
What were you preaching? Believe me, I can’t remember but my heart was all out to see Jesus’ name planted there and within 72 days, He planted Himself a Church. I was not a Pastor, I had no calling into Ministry but I was lost in His will. I wanted to see souls saved, I wanted to see them established and He taught me the wisdom to go about it. He did!
Dedication is at the root of effective fruit bearing. You want to be an effective soul winner, first abide in Him and let His Word be the driving force of your life and then you’ll find fruits coming up (John 15:4).
Dedication is key.
Every dedicated soul winner supernaturally ends up a star (Romans 1:16)
“See, this ‘Yeye’ man. ‘Haba’ he has problems”: He (Paul) said, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
Paul is still speaking: all his peers and mockers long buried and forgotten.
Why? He that winneth souls is wise and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars forever and ever (Proverbs 11:30, Daniel 12:3).
Every day, you say, “Paul said”, as if you met him yesterday. Paul has been gone over 2,000 years and Paul is still speaking to the world today as if he is still on one particular street in Lagos. God never lies.
Acts 26:22
Witnessing, that is soul winning, to both Great and Small: men and women in authority; to those on the streets, hawkers on our streets, those homeless under the bridge.
“I continued unto this day”: Apostle Paul – great name, great acclaim.
Soul winning makes eternal stars.
*There are many such stars under the sound of my voice this morning. People who are still blessing generations after they are gone. You are one of them.
When God confided in Abraham, He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah:
“Ahh, God! If you find 50 righteous men, will you still destroy them?” (Genesis 18:24)
God: For the sake of 50, I will not destroy.
Abraham: “God, if you find 40, will you still destroy?”
Genesis 18:25
Abraham: God, ‘make you no vex’, if they are only 30, are you going to destroy?
Every soul passionate covenant child lives for generations after they have gone. When he (Abraham) heard his arrogant cousin (Lot) was captured: you are the one who took Lot along and Lot, “yes this place can’t take us.”
Abraham: Okay Lot, choose where you want.
Your uncle said, “choose where you want”
Lot: Okay Sir, I know you will soon die. I choose all these green areas.
Then he (Abraham) heard that he (Lot) was captured, Abraham by this time had become a nation: he armed his own army to go after the army of the nation that held him captive, conquered them and rescued him. A soul passionate father.
“And in thy seed” God said, all the families of the earth shall be blessed by an oath.
You may not know what you are doing right now but I am telling you that you are investing into generations after you have gone if Jesus tarries. Get excited!
2. Soul Winning confers divine honour on believers.
Bearing much fruit glorifies the Father (John 15:8).
Bringing much people to the Kingdom honours the Father (Proverbs 14:28).
Fruit bearing entitles believers to the honour from above (1 Samuel 2:30).
I want to tell you this: HONOUR FROM ABOVE CANNOT BE SCUTTLED BY MEN BELOW! Church Gist Whatever the Lord doeth, it shall be forever (Ecclesiastes 3:14).
Much fruit bearing honours the Father and the Father honours the individual with the honour from above.
*No one here shall miss out of the honour from above.
3. Soul Winning secures a crown for us in Heaven.
He called 12 that they might be with Him and that He might send them forth to the harvest field (Mark 3:14).
“…I will appoint to you a Kingdom even as My Father as appointed Me that you may eat and drink with Me on my throne, sitting on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28-30).
It secures a crown for us in Heaven. Then Paul came out with this bright light (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
“…not only to me but to everyone that loves His appearing by engaging fruitfully on the harvest field”
Matthew 24:14
Dedication to soul winning: Faithfully and Fruitfully, secures a crown for the believer in Heaven.
* You will wear your crown.
* Your crown, another man will not take!!!
Our dedication to God and to the cause of His Kingdom is our ultimate security in the race of life (Luke 13:6-9).
*No one here shall be cut down.
What God is doing here is digging around our lives, putting manure to see whether we will still bear fruits or not.
*No one here shall be cut down.
The wicked is on the loose, but our security is in our dedication to God. Watch, the enemy launches its attack on 4 main fronts. Every believer is a spiritual seed after the order of Christ (John 12:23, 26, John 20:21). We are spiritual seeds.
There are these 4 channels that the enemy launches attack against us:
He comes as that serpent, old serpent called the devil (Genesis 3:1). The most subtle of all the animals that God made, he launched against Adam and got him out of the Garden into the wilderness (Revelation 20:2).
When a seed is planted, it becomes out of reach to the serpent: serpents don’t dig. So when you are planted, you are free from that old serpent called the devil and satan.
Dedication shields you against his reach.
We have his (satan) picture as a beast (Ezekiel 34:25). That beast is pictured as a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8-9).
When a seed is planted: first lions don’t eat seeds. When a seed is planted, lions can’t dig them out. So when you are planted, you are shielded from the evil beast, satan, the devil. Being planted protects you and I from the assault of the evil beast.
“and it groweth up” – serpents don’t eat trees; lions don’t eat trees. Church Gist
He comes against us as a wind, the air. He is called the prince of the power of the air. No air blows underneath the earth.
When you are planted, that evil wind cannot reach you (Ephesians 2:2, Luke 22:31-32).
When you are planted, you are shielded against that evil wind, that power of the air can’t reach you. Where you are, that power of the air can’t come there.
Somebody is blessed.
My prayer is that each one walks away from here knowing that there are unfathomable treasures hidden in this mystery of commandment of soul winning that we can never fully unravel.
You won’t miss your place.
The good news therefore is this, your engagement today rescues you from shame and reproach forever.
Your engagement in this season secures for you generational impact.
Your rescuing in this season terminates all your fears and anxieties because the wicked can no longer reach you.
Prayer: Ask God for sustainable grace for fruitful soul winning. Not just, “I have gone”, He doesn’t reward efforts made, He rewards result obtained
The fowl of the air: When you are planted, you can’t be reached anymore (Luke 8:5,12). When you are planted, the birds of the air cannot access you anymore.
*In the name of Jesus, your story changes today.
In Revelation chapter 18, it talks about a cage of evil birds (Revelation 18:2). There are evil birds all around but when you are planted, they can’t reach you. When you are planted, you are free.
*The good news is this, no devil molests any aspect of your life again.
“Hey, satan look here: I am planted, you have no access to me.”
Planted: they that be planted in the House of God, they shall keep flourishing in spite of the devil, in the House of God. They shall be fat and flourishing, the devil notwithstanding. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, Church Gist that’s how secured our lives are when we are planted (Psalm 92:13-14).
Prayer: Grace to remain planted, receive it! Grace to remain planted on the altar of prayer, in passionate soul winning. Lord, it is by your grace that Paul continued to the end. Grace to remain planted, I desire this morning Jesus.
Somebody here was talking to me someday, we were in a very small meeting: he said, “can you remember, the first tract I ever received in my life, you gave it to me in 1969”
1969: the same year I was saved.
Grace taught me dedication, I didn’t know the meaning. Grace just taught me. Since the year began, our team has brought in 13, 500 plus souls into the Kingdom. From 2015 to the close of last year, by His grace, I saw 76,000 as I led the outreach by myself, brought into the Kingdom. This thing works.
*There are many of us here today, history will never pretend not to recognise your impact, by your tireless engagement.
1969-2020: Like I mentioned yesterday, I just turned 52 years in the faith yesterday. This thing has been pursuing me and I have been pursuing it since that time by His grace.
I was 19 when I said Jesus, I mustn’t leave this village the way I met it and He honoured His Word because it was coming from my heart.
Those were not days when you think of offering: offering to where, by who, where will they get it from? It wasn’t motivated by somebody is going to give me something but by a heart for Jesus.
This village man has not been contained in a village till now.
*In the name of Jesus, your dedication today will define your great tomorrow.
Stay dedicated and make the most of your life.
Thank God for answering your prayers this morning!!!
Prove that you understand the hidden treasures in soul winning by ensuring you don’t come to Church solo tomorrow. At least one soul comes along with you. In case you are coming from a long distance to Church, miss the service you are to attend, go and collect a soul on the street: they are opposite Canaan here. Most of them are not going anywhere, cuddle them with the love of Jesus, bring them into His presence. He will save them, He will establish them in the faith and it will be counted in your favour.
Everybody, everywhere: prove that you love this God, not in words nor in tongue but in truth and in deed.
What 50 years of labour can never attain, His favour one day will bring it your way. One day Favour will bring your way what 50 years of labour cannot bring.
Just pursue Him and all these things shall be added unto you.
We are not after big Church, we are committed to the enlargement of His Kingdom and the rescue of the souls of men from the torment and torture of the wicked one.
Tomorrow is also the first special Miracle service, the 4th service:
Carry down to Jesus, every paralytic that could not bring himself and believe Jesus to touch them and turn their story around.
Bring forth everyone at the point of death, He will quicken them back to life.
Bring someone that is being afflicted and Jesus will set them free.
Fliers: No one will reject this invitation to the free offer of eternal life. Spirit of God breathe upon these fliers afresh and let it bring about massive convictions, ingatherings and massive conversion of souls.
Rescue everyone in attendance tomorrow from the affliction of the wicked by inflicting judgement in the camps of their enemies.
SPEAK TO THE DAY: It shall be an awesome day for you. It shall be a day of great fruitfulness. It shall be a day of amazing favour from Heaven. You will hear good news as you commit to serving His interest, in the name of Jesus.