Ministering: Rev Sam Oye
Topic: The Recognition You Give Determines What You Get.
Two are better than one, it’s not good to do life alone, everything responds to recognition; were the opening phrases of Rev. Sam Oye, the Lead Pastor of The Transforming Church International and the Convener of the Prophetic Prayer Hour (PPH), before delivering the sermon on “The Secrets of Attracting and Maximizing Divine Connections” on Sunday, July 16, 2023, at the church, auditorium, end of 7th Avenue, Anwalu Anwar Close, after Lube Gas Station, Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja.
“You don’t stand before greatness and trivialize it. You must learn to respond to recognition. He further expatiated that the reason the blind Bartimaeus could be helped was that he recognized the personhood of Jesus. Don’t be so close to greatness and commonize it. Don’t be so close to a Messiah and see him as the carpenter’s son, he said.
People lose relationships because they use a person’s past to reduce them. Using Jesus as an example, he said Jesus could do no mighty works in his hometown because they saw him as the carpenter’s son.
According to him, Jesus was a man who could raise their dead, but even their dogs weren’t raised; he could open their blind eyes but left them blind because they only saw Him as the carpenter’s son, not their Saviour.
The recognition you give determines what you get; that is the power of recognition. “The reason blind Bartimaeus could be helped was that he was blind to the history of Jesus. The reason those who could see were not blessed was that they were very knowledgeable about the carpenter’s son, Mary’s son. Blind Bartimaeus received mercy because he referred to Jesus as the son of David, not the Son of Mary, Joseph or the carpenter’s son.
“The worst thing that can happen to one is to be close to greatness and literalize it. You can be so close to the Messiah that the only vision you have of him is that He is the carpenter’s son. It’s to be close to a fountain of living water and die of thirst. It is not the absence of water in the well but a lack of recognition that is causing your pain.”
“God raises men from strange backgrounds to remind you that His treasure is in earthen vessels. Your life would have been changed if you practised the code of honour.”
Fleshing up his text from Ecc. 4:9; 7:8, “Two are better than one, It is not good that men should be alone, it is not good that you journey through life alone, it is not good that you do life alone.
Some people are sent into your life for a season; there are those sent into your life for a lifetime. It is important to understand the differences so that you do not wear them out. Understanding that people are in your life for different reasons is also important. Discern the difference that everybody brings so that you do not put pressure on them to deliver into your life what they are not sent to provide.
Every time you make somebody who is supposed to encourage you to become your provider, you frustrate them. Your encourager is not your provider; sometimes, your encourager may be your provider, but learn to discern what everyone is in your life.
Life is a series of connections. There are people sent into your life for a season, and there are some sent to be in your life for a lifetime. It is important to know the difference so you don’t wear them out. It is also important to understand that people are in your life for different purposes. Discern the difference every person brings, so you don’t put pressure on them to deliver what they are not sent to provide.
“It is dangerous for the mighty to be unshielded. For a man to rise high without covering is the reason you will slip so early”.
Furthermore, Highlighting the secrets of attracting divine connections, Rev. Sam Oye said one of the secrets of attracting destiny helpers is PRAYERFULNESS. He quoted Mark 1:35–37. “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there He prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.”
“When a person leaves men to seek God, men leave everything to seek the person. People who know how to seclude themselves, take a break from men, and pursue God. God is a father of spirits, and He is a spirit, so those who worship him must do so in spirit and truth. Until a person secures the spirit that secures the spirit of men, the person hasn’t captured men.”
“Why do you think Jesus goes to a quiet place to pray at midnight? That’s why he had the power to raise the dead. The Father of all spirits compels spirits in your direction when you put a demand on Him. Don’t speak to spirits when you haven’t spoken to their Father. Men are Spirits. The spiritual controls the natural. Office protocols are spiritual. The spirit of a man drives his generosity. It’s not by power.”
“Go back to the place of prayer to secure the spirits of men. When people you are chasing after are not seeking after you, sit back and evaluate. Rejection is not because you are not good; it’s simply because you haven’t secured the spirit of the person. The protocol for accessing the spirit of men is prayer. Pharaoh didn’t just decide to put Joseph in that position; he was made to put Joseph in that position by the Father of spirits,” he explained.
Delving further into the sermon, Rev. Sam Oye opined that nothing wears out a man more than running with the speed of another person, admonishing the congregation to run their race.
The wisest man who ever lived, he said, made known “things that are better”. This was revealed in the book of Ecclesiastes 7:8, which states that “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”
“Whatever you’ve lost now is not the end. Have you come to your end? Are you at your end? Have you been notified that you’re dying tomorrow? So why are you in depression over a ‘Johnny’ that walked away? His name is Johnny Walker, so he walks away. Let him go away, and you watch and see a special Ben coming,” he joked.
“I keep my eyes on better, and my priority is shaped by scripture because better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. I always say to people that I’m not a sprinter because life is not a sprint. I’m a marathoner because I know life is a marathon. Sometimes life has a lot of hurdles involved in it because a marathon even sounds like a smooth race, even though it’s a long one. You never know what you’ll meet in the twists and turns of life, but the goal must be to make it to the end. The bible didn’t say, ‘Better is the first to make it to the end, but better is the end, so make it to your end and don’t try to make it with me to my end.”
Using Solomon as a case study, “Solomon looked at his life and said, as wise as I am, it would have been better if I had somebody else in my life that I had recourse to. He said this was the balance that my father had – my father never travelled alone. The challenge for Solomon was that he was the ‘be it all and end it all’. The Joy of David was that there was Nathan the prophet, there was Zadok the priest, and then you had Ahithophel the counselor. All of these things he has people for, David himself is a reservoir of. The only time David skipped and skidded in his life was when he sent the mighty people away and he was left back at home, showing you how dangerous it can be for the mighty to be unshielded.”
“A man who is rising high but doesn’t have a voice of reason in his life is the reason why he will slip so early. Better is the end, and two are better than one.” These he said in a bid to emphasize the importance of relationships.
“For a man to be rising high and not have a voice of reasoning in his life is the reason you will slip so early”, he emphasized.
“A wise pastor never chases away members. The higher members go, the farther you should withdraw. If they don’t seek you out, don’t run after them. I would rather stick with the humble ones who are just rising, not out of pride but out of understanding. Greatness reveals the heart. My closeness multiplies and increases when I see you still have the same heart you had when you were small,” were some of his final words to the congregation.
In conclusion, “Jesus went to a quiet place to pray to his Father. He left men to pursue his Father. When you leave men to seek God, men will leave everything to seek you. Men are spirits, and God is the Father of all spirits. Until you secure the Spirit that secures the spirits of men, you have not captured men. The Father compels the spirits in your direction when you put a demand on Him; don’t speak to spirits when you’ve not spoken to their Father. The spiritual controls the natural. The spirit of a man drives his generosity.
Rejection is not because you’re not good; it is because you have not secured men’s spirits. The protocol for accessing the spirits of men is through prayer.
Be Prayerful!!!