THE PREVAILING WORD

For the purpose of emphases I’m going to read (Act.19:18); ‘The prevailing word’. The
emphases on this message is to let us know what the word of God is able to do, that the
word of God has the ability and the power to prevail over every situation and
circumstances.

If you check the meaning of the word prevail, amongst its many meaning is to,
overcome, to be victorious, to have force over, have effect and to succeed. These are
parts of the meaning of the word ‘Prevail’: So the word of God has the ability to succeed
within itself, you can not be in the word and not be a success; the word of God has the
ability to be victorious within itself, so when you have the word of God within you, you
are obviously going to be victorious; the word of God has force within itself, so when
you are a man of the word, you are a man of force, you are able to influence or move
things; the word of God has effect, so when you have the word of God within you,
everything around you must be affected, that is what the word of God is supposed to do.

There is an inbuilt force within the word of God to bring His will to pass, and like we
said from the beginning of this teaching, God does not need you to effect His will, it
takes His word alone to effect His will and His purpose; that is why the word of God has
the ability, the power, the influence and the force within itself to accomplish what He
wants to do. We have been checking scriptures since we commenced this teaching just to
show us why the word of God is powerful, why the word of God has effects, why the
word of God will bring about changes. Notice what the scripture says “so mightily grew
the word of God and prevailed (Act.19:18)”, not just any word, but the word of God.

In life, whatsoever word grows on the inside of you will prevail over you, positively or
negatively. But when you allow or permit the word of God to take its place in your life,
knowing fully well that His thoughts towards you are thought of good and not evil, to
give you a hope and an expected ends, that means the word of God will ultimately give
you a hope and the word of God will ultimately lead your life into Good. The word of
God has the power and the influence to change every negative thing in your life to align
with God’s word, to align with His will and to align with His purpose for your life.

Because in His word is His will and His purpose, in His word also is His promises and
covenant; everything about God is embedded in His word, so when you are a carrier of
the word like we said earlier, you are a carrier of God as everything about God is in His
word; so if God is powerful, then you are a carrier of power, if there is healing in God,
then you are a carrier of healing, if there is prosperity in God, then you are a carrier of
prosperity. There in nothing in God that is not in His word; so you ought to understand
that this is why His word makes the difference.

But again, I want us to check more scriptures before we continue with this teaching on
why the word of God will surely manifest its result in your life: (Num.23:19) “God is not
a man that He should lie, neither is He a son of man that he should repent, hath he said it
and shall he not do it, hath he said id and shall he not make it good?” God is begotten by
no man, God is never under the influence of any man, God doesn’t have the character of
any man, and God is not a black man and neither is He a white man, God is not an
African, neither is He an American, and He is not a man that he should lie! He has no
reason to, because He’s not trying to impress anybody “God is not a man that He should
lie; neither is He a son of man that He should change His repent (mind)”.

Now, what does that tells you? Let’s just look at it from another side: Men can and do tell
lies (either white or black lie); you reading this book can lie, you are a man, you can
change your mind but that is not God, it is written in the book of Malachi 3:6, “I am the
Lord, I change not; that is the why you children of Jacob are not consumed.” The reason
why you cannot be a prey to the devil is because God doesn’t change His mind about His
purpose and His will towards your life. God is not a man! So there is no reason for Him
to lie; He’s not trying to impress one lady somewhere, He’s not trying to cover for His
background, He’s not trying to make you see differently about Him, He’s not even trying
to change your mind about Him; He is not a man!

So, that is one reason why the word of God is effective, that is why the word of God is
powerful; even, the most powerful man is still a man, he can lie sometimes, he can
change his mind sometimes but God is not a man and the Bible says: “...Has He said it
and shall He not do it”. I have told you severally that God means what He says and He
says what He means. Whatever He says, He intended to do and I want to remind you
again that God is not a politician, He has no hidden agenda. Among we human, there is
one thing that is called “double-talk”. This is the process whereby one is saying
something and within that same person he is saying another. Put another way, it is when
what you say does not correspond with your thought. Life is full of double-talks; I was
watching a film recently with some people and I saw double-talk in display.

Now let me just tell you the story, (Pastor Watch’s film ok? Alright): There was this
lady and this guy; the lady was not ready to be committed to any man but she wanted to
have a child so she needed a man to father the child. On the other hand, there was this
guy who is always looking out for rich girls to dupe, so when he saw that this girl is from
a rich home, he was desperate to marry her because of her inheritance. But the lady’s
planned only to have a child and not to marry him. So when both of them were
expressing their undying love to each other, I understood double-talks again. She said she
loved him just to make him impregnate her and he said he loved her just to make her
marry him; both of them had their own hidden agenda.

Let me tell you now; God doesn’t have any hidden agenda, so He doesn’t say empty
words. It is possible for you to greet me, “pastor good evening” and in your head you are
saying ‘look at his head, stupid man’; that is why a man is full of double-talk but God is
not.
A politician can go somewhere now and give high and bogus promises that he can’t
keep, he will tell them everything they need to hear and give some money; that money is
their inheritance, he’s not coming back; but God doesn’t say that, ‘has he said it and shall
he not do it’. I am getting more convinced that one of our hindrances as children of God,
and men and women of faith are the deceits and disappointment that we have received
from our fellow men or the people we too have disappointed and we are beginning to
equate God with men thinking the He too is full of disappointments; God is not a man,
whatever He says, He will do; look at that ‘Numbers 23:19’ again, what does that tells
you? Whatever God says, He will do; or say it in another way, what God says, is a done
deal.

Since He will do whatever He says, you can as well say that whatever He says, He has
already settled and you can say that whatever He says, He has done already. So whatever
you see in the scripture is a settled matter, He is not saying it just to make the volume of
the book, He says it because He meant to do it, “has he said it and shall he not do it, has
he spoken and shall He not make it good”, whatever He speaks, He will make good; He
watch’s over His word to perform it.

This is why you can take the word of God to the bank and that is why with the word of
God, you can go to sleep, that is why with the word of God you can be rest assured. The
bible says in the book of Mark 4: “so is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast a
seed into the ground and he goes to sleep, day and night he knows not how…” As long as
the seed in the ground and the ground is well prepared, your problem is not how it should
grow; you only lean that in school because they just want you to know the dynamics, that
doesn’t make any difference; either you know how it grows or you don’t know how it
grows, it will grow, because the seed has contacted the ground.

Same way is the word of God, if you can receive the word of God into your heart and
believe it, go and sleep; He has said it, He will do it. Because he has spoken it, He will
make it good. So if you have the word, you are sure of what God will do in your life, that
is why you can be rest assured, that is why you can live in peace, knowing fully well that
the word of God has prevailing power, and you can hold on to it, you can believe it, you
can trust it to affect any area and every area of your life.

Let’s check Hebrews 6:19 to see why the word of God has power enough to bring
about changes; this is why what God says is enough for you. Hebrews 6:18 says “For
men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all
strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the
immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in
which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:” Now, the writer of Hebrews here try
to explain what God says to human beings, so that you can comprehend God better.

Remember again, God is not a man, God is not a liar. I was at the bank some time ago
for a loan to carry out a project, I told them I will domicile the LPO’s account with them;
and they said ah! Ah! Pastor, somebody else domiciled the account with us and by the
time they paid him the cheque, he took the money somewhere else: that is a man; even
though he had made a pledge, there is an agreement that once the contract is paid for, the
money should go to the bank that gave the loan; so that they can take their money and
take their interests, then he will take the remaining profit; rather, he took all the money
somewhere else and they had to now start pursuing him with police; that is a man!

In the book of Hebrews6, the bible says that men swear by greater; that is why even
when you want to get married and you go to the local government, you will swear by the
bible to the government that you will not go back on your promise with the woman you
want to marry and in the church you’ll say “so help me God” because you are swearing
by God that God should help you so that you wont fail. “Men swear by greater”; in that
Hebrews 6:16, He’s actually talking about when there is a dispute somewhere and they
said we want you to actually commit yourself to this dispute; then, you will swear or you
will write an agreement, you will write an oath and you will sign; being bound to that
agreement, and once you are bound to it, it is binding on you to obey because of what you
wrote down.

In the same way I want you to understand the difference between two people who
planned to marry and two people who are married; some people will say that they are
quarter to marry: they are almost married; they are as if they are married but they are not
married. What is the difference? Aside from the fact that as a Christian, you are not
meant to do “some things” (you understand what I mean?) you are not meant to do “some
things” I repeat. Apart from that, what is the difference? There is no binding force; what
is a binding force? Agreement; what is the agreement? Because if I said I want to marry
you, there is an agreement; so what is that agreement? It is the oath.

So if I say that I want to marry you, it is a promise; but on the wedding day, we sign,
there is an oath to bind us. You go to the government and bind yourselves by the contract,
you go to the church and you bind yourselves in front of the congregation. That is why
they always have congregation, as witnesses while you are signing the signature, and in
this modern time they will snap your pictures and take your video coverage; in case you
are lying, they will take you to the court of law, they will say: see his picture, see his
video coverage, these was when he was signing; all those things they are doing, are just
to formalize what already had been settled before that day.

That is the difference between an oath and a promise or between a covenant and a
promise; the covenant is a promise with an oath binding you; that is why say marriage is
a covenant, marriage is not a promise because promise can easily be broken; Yes! It is a
covenant, there is an oath attached to it. A promissory note has become a contract; it is no
more just a promise, but a promissory note.

Now that is what is been explained here, he says: “for men verily swear by the greater
and an oath of confirmation is to them an end of all strife.” As long as that woman and
that man signed the dotted line, they are married; do you know that? Even if both of them
are not smiling, by the virtue of pending their signature on that sheet of paper, in the
presence of a pastor, they are married; or in the presence of the representative of the local
government, they are married. Because the oath is the end of all strife (arguments); it is
documented; it is no more “he said he love’s me and he disappointed me;” that’s the
difference.
That is why someone who is engaged with someone says I’m no more engaged to you,
and he married someone else, and they didn’t take him to court: it’s because he only
made a promise, he had not signed (bound himself to the contract); there was no oath
binding him. But if a married man marries someone else, he is going to prison straight on.
So, before you sign the dotted line, you should be rest assured; Aright?

So, Hebrews 6:17, it says: “wherein God…” here is trying to tell us that God also
wanted to assure us of His word, he wanted to assure us of His promises; “wherein God,
willing more abundantly to show unto the hairs of promise…” that is He shows to those
who will inherit His promise; the heirs of promise, the inheritor of His promise; the
immutability of His counsel or the immutability of His word or the immutability of His
promise; His counsel is what he said: His word; immutability is the unchanging nature.

Let me explain that in the simple biology of Meiosis and Mitosis; there is supposed to be
some exchange of genes, so we label them A, B, C, D; so that you can understand. But in
the nucleus of the cell is where all these things take place. But there are sometimes when
A is supposed to combine to B but C will combine to B; so when such a thing has
happened, you’ll say mutation has taken place because the outcome is different from
what is expected; that is what gave birth to Albino; it’s mutation; its not the right thing;
what supposed to happen did not happen according as it is supposed to. Even in nature, in
cell division; there can be mistake somewhere that gives you wrong result.

But the bible says the word of God, the promise of God does not suffer mutation; it
can never happen; His word and promises are immutable. God cannot say A be blessed
and it goes to B; it is not possible; the word of God does not miss its target, the word of
God does not change on its way; the word of God hits on the bulls eye and it’s never
altered. So that is why the bible says that God wanted to show us the unchanging nature
of His word, the immutability of His counsel; so He confirms His word by an oath.

Now we have just told you that God cannot lie, it is impossible for God to lie;
whatsoever He says, He does. His promises are good enough for us but just to reassure us
that He’s bound by what He says He will do, and gave us the promise, He now swore by
Himself because He could swear by no other. That’s what you’ll see in Hebrews 6:13-15
which says: “For when God made promise to Abraham, Because He could swear by no
greater, He swore by Himself, saying, surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I
will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.” He
made and oath to swear by Himself even though His promises are sure; so you can
equally say that God didn’t have to make a covenant with us to fulfill His promise, He
didn’t have to, but covenant is what men understood to be a binding force between two
people.

It was God, who made covenant with us, we did not make covenant with Him
so as to bind Himself to His promises in our lives; that’s just to show you the power of
this bible that you are holding. It contains words that God had sworn by to do for us;
Hebrews 6:18 says “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation”. In spite the changing nature of men; in spite of
the changing nature of the world; in spite of the economic imbalances; in spite of the
change in health; in spite of that change in your business; in spite of the change s around
you; in spite of the disappointments around you, that you may have strong consolation,
assurance and guarantee; that even if father and mother forsake you, if husband and wife
forsake you, if children forsake you, you have an assurance; you have a consolation in the
word: you have a Hope in the word of God, “by two immutable things,(by His promise
and by His oath) in which it is impossible for God to lie”. That is enough for you to sleep
with; so when you have the word, you have an assurance, you are carrying the promise of
God and the oath of God at the same time (because the promise of God and the oath of
God are the same thing He only confirm His promise with an oath); that is why you can
be rest assured, that is why you can be convinced; that is why you can be guaranteed of
the word of God and its efficacy in your life; that is why the word of God is enough for
you of a glorious future, the word of God is enough.

Let’s go to the book of Act 19, when Apostle Paul got to Ephesus; the bible said
something there in Act 19:8 that he was at the synagogue preaching the gospel
concerning the kingdom; so Act 19:9 says some people were hardened. The most difficult
people to preach the word of God to are those who are not willing to change; those who
are not willing to hear; those who are not willing to use; and that is why I’ll always tell
you that you’ll be wasting my precious time if with everything I’ve always told you, there
is no change in your life. And if I can just notice you, I may just turn my back on you and
face some others like Apostle Paul; the bible said he disputed with them for three month
and he left them alone because they are as unyielding as a rock, and after three month he
left the synagogue for somewhere else, and the bible said in Act 19:10: “and this
continued by the space of two yours” (in that place);

Obviously, if he left hardened people after three month, it shows that these people are
actually interested in what he had to say; so they gave him audience. As Christians, your
attendance in church is not the prove of your audience: your attendance in church is so
that pastor will not ask you why you didn’t come to church, but that is not a prove that
you are giving audience; I have told you and I want to repeat it: the prove that you are
giving audience is that you are listening with the intent to change; if you are just an
accumulation of scriptures, ‘my pastor said this , my pastor said that;’ what have you
done with what your pastor have been saying? I do not want anyone to parrot what I’ve
said; I want everyone to use what I’ve said to transform your life.

He continued in the space of two years. Meaning people gave him audience, they listen
to what he had to say, they allowed the word to change their lives, they were not
hardened. The bible said that God will give us the heart of flesh and take away the heart
of stone: so if as a Christian, you still have a heart of stone, I am sorry for you; you are
just occupying church’s seat for nothing. You better make a decision today that you will
yield to the word of God. The worse part of it is that when you get to heaven, (if you’ll
get there at all) the words that had been spoken to you will be used to judge you. So, what
you should do now is to use what you are hearing because you are already condemning
yourself when you are hearing and you are not intending to change; you are condemning
yourself by the word.

Proverbs 4:20 says: “My son, attend to my word; incline thy ear unto my sayings. Let
them not depart from thy eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart” Be attentive, listen
with the intent to do; that’s why he says keep them in the midst of your heart; because the
bible says out of the abundant of heart, the mouth will speak. So when you put the word
of God in the midst of your heart, you are about to live the life; “as he thinks in his heart,
so is he”: when you put the word of God in the midst of your heart, you are about to live
the word. The prove that you gave audience is to put the word that you are hearing in the
midst of your heart; that ultimately will change your personality, it will change your way
of life, it will even restructure your temperament because that is what the word f God
does; the word of God doesn’t change your temperament it will restructure your
temperament. Why? Because the negative things in your temperament is corrected by the
word that you are hearing; so if nothing is changing in your personality, in your
temperament even after you are hearing the word, I’m sorry for you.

“…Let them not depart from thy eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart”. Notice, He’s
not even talking about your physical eyes even though your physical eyes is involved;
he’s talking about how that you’ll keep seeing the word wherever you go; you can see the
word wherever you go; when people are acting contrary, you can see that they are acting
contrary to the word because the word is forever before your eyes: meaning that you are
able to compare the word with anything around you. If by the reason of your hearing the
scriptures, you are still able to blend with the world smoothly, then you are wasting time,
because you are still blending in; put the word before your eyes and when you see things
contrary to the word, you’ll be able to move away from them; if the word is not before
your eyes, you will do what everybody is doing; you’ll go and repent later? You are
wasting your time.

Now, Proverbs 4:22 says: “For they are life unto those that find them...” that’s telling
you that it is not everyone that hears the word that finds the word; but whosoever finds
the word, finds life and it means dead things around him will come alive. For example, if
the word of God is not able to change your obnoxious life, then you have not found life,
you are still living in death. So when the bible talks about life, it is talking about the word
of God finding place in you “the entrance of His word gives life and understanding to the
simple”, the word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your part; “the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life”; life come to a dead situation.

When the light of God or the word of God shines in your life, you will see your
ignorance and you will see your stupidity. If after all that you have been hearing, the
word has not been able to convict and convince you, then you are wasting your time,
because that is what the word of God is supposed to do; like I’ve told you, Christianity is
supposed to make you a better you; something must change; though it may not be
overnight. Our rates of change vary but there must be a marginal change, there must be a
change: a gradual movement towards an end. The bible says surely there’s an end. If you
are not moving anywhere, then you have already reached your dead end. Surely there’s
an end; you are moving one step at a time. Someone may move at the pace of a snail,
someone may move at the pace of a rabbit, and another one at the pace of a cheetah; the
fact still remains that in as much as you are all moving, all of you will still get to your
destination; the time may just differ.
The question is, what has the words you have been hearing done in your life thus far?
“For they are life unto those that find them” and for those that don’t find them, it means
nothing to them; they often remark: ‘Oh, my pastor can preach, he can really preach’;
what will that do for you? Nothing; it will not add anything to your life; it is the words
that you received and find that can give you life, not the jingoism of your pastor; the
word that you receive for you; benefiting your life; the word that changes your
personality, that reform your character, your temperament, that is that word that is
benefiting to your life; not even the words you cram; it is not the words you are able to
tell others; it is the words that you are able to use for you. The word that is able to show
you your wrong, the word that sheds light in your life, that makes you see where you are
missing it. But if you are still justifying your faults, then you are still rationalizing your
sin: you are a sinner full and full; you are just wasting time in the church.

“They are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh;” The word of God is
able to heal you of anger, able to heal you of sickness, able to heal you of your obnoxious
life. Whatever area of your life that is wrong, if you allow the word of God to shine, it
will heal you; its health to ‘all’ every part of your life; the word of God is able to
straighten you. I standing before you am no perfect man, but I am willing to change by
the word of God; are you willing too? That is a choice you have to make; if you are not,
you are wasting your time.

To be changed is to be transformed and be transfigured. Apostle Paul continued to

preach in the space of two years means he had people who were listening with the intent
to be reformed, to be changed, to be transformed, to be transfigured by the word of the
Lord. The bible says in Act 19:10 “…so that all they which dwell in Asia heard the word
of the Lord Jesus; they heard about a different kingdom; they learn about how to live life
differently; they lean about how to live on earth and yet manifest heaven; they heard that
they could live a life differently from others; that you can be in the world and not be of
the world.

Do you know that it is not everybody in Ephesus that came to Apostle Paul’s church? But
those that heard became ministers of the gospel themselves. When the word of God
transform you in your home, there is no way, it must attract your house members; it will
attract your friends and they will know that something has given way about you; it’s
either they will run from you or they will want to be changed by you; and whichever way,
they have heard the word.

So, that is what the gospel is supposed to do; if your obnoxious friends are still finding
it comfortable in your presence, I fear for your salvation; there must be a kind of
discomfort around them because of something which you carry within you, which is
reflecting light. When light shines, darkness will move back. Two years this man has a
platform and these people heard the word of God. The bible says, the words of God are
health to all their flesh. Another meaning for that word ‘health’ in Greek is ‘medicine’.
The word of God is medicine to all flesh and so the people at Ephesus were able to
receive the medicine of the word, so that they may be cured, not only in their physical
health, they will be cured even in their emotions; they will be cured in every area of their
lives. That is what you’ll see in Act 19:11, “And God wrought special miracles by the
hand of Paul.” Who wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul? Did Paul work special
miracles by himself? That’s why I’m afraid for you when you think the man of God is
anointed without God; it is God that confirms his word in the life of the man of God; the
man of God cannot confirm the word because it is not his word, it is the word of God:
God wrought miracles by the hand of Paul, so that the hand of Paul became the hand of
God. The bible says in the book of Exodus when Moses got to the red sea, and the
Egyptian armies were behind him; the Lord said, what is that in your hand? Raise your
rod”. The rod of Moses became the rod of God, because Moses was communing with
God, Moses became the representative of God and God had to prove and make people
know that He is with him; it is the word that God honors in the life of the man of God to
authenticate the anointing in his life, to prove to men and women that He sent him. So
when you want to turn a man of God to a god, you are missing the point: you want to kill
that man before his time; it is God that wrought special miracles through the man; the
man can do nothing of himself. That is why the bible says we have this thing (the
anointing) in an earthen vessel that the Excellency of power will be of God and not of
men.

So when you see things happen, thank God for the man of God that he made himself
available; but thank God more because He did choose him, because if God didn’t choose
to do anything through him, nothing will happen. Because the word of God is given free
place, the word of God was allowed to be made manifest, the word of God was allowed
to be released and medicine was released, because the bible says the word of God is
medicine to all their flesh; wherever you need it, the medicine is available but first, hear
the word before you receive the healing. Many of us want the healing before the word;
we have this at the back of our minds: ‘God, forget about my attitude, forget about my
obnoxious ways, you just heal me first! Just heal me first heal me lord.’ if He heals you
and you have not changed your ways, what is the difference between you and
unbelievers? The word of God is supposed to change you.

And so, he did that within the space of two years, and God started working special
miracles by the hand of Paul; so that from His body were brought unto the sick,
handkerchiefs and apron; and diseases departed from them; God decided to prove His call
upon the life of Paul at that time; especially to disgrace those who did not hear him at the
first time.

So, God did all these through this man; but it’s all founded in the word of God that he
was able to minister, and when you look at it, you’ll see that the bible made us see that
there was no struggle from the people to receive their miracles. The reason why many of
us are struggling to receive miracle is because we don’t give place to the word; when you
give place to the word, you have received medicine; it is easy for you to receive miracles,
because it is the word that has the power, it is the word that has the anointing, it is the
word! The bible says the gospel of Christ is the gospel of the anointing; so when you
allow the gospel to be ministered to you, and you allow it to have its place in your life,
then the anointing will be activated; faith comes by hearing, and the bible says by grace
are ye saved through faith; so its your faith that will activate the grace, to release the
power to be made manifest; you give place to the word and let things happen for you.

Now, we’ve learnt about some vagabond Jews that tried to make something happen
and nothing happened for them because they said “in the name of the God whom Paul
preaches.” It is not about whom your pastor preaches but whom you believe; do you
believe in the God that your pastor is preaching? If you don’t believe in ‘the God’ it will
not make any difference in your life. “And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks
also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the lord Jesus was
magnified. Act 19:17. The reason why the seven sons of Sceva thought to use the name
Jesus whom Paul preaches is because they wanted result without fellowship. If they really
had fore knowledge of Jesus, they won’t say come out by the name of Jesus whom Paul
preaches; they got to know Jesus through what they heard Paul was saying about Him;
whereas, Apostle Paul was not struggling to deliver the sick, to deliver the bound; they
were trying to work it. You don’t need to work the power, you just work the word and the
power will be made manifest.

So, from what happened to these vagabonds, the name of God was magnified and fear
fell on them all. But the root of that fear is the word that was given free course for two
years. In Acts 20, the bible talk about how Apostle Paul was preaching somewhere until
late night, If I ask that we should have service till 10pm, you’ll say oh! Pastor that is too
much, now we have what they don’t have then; so it is not necessary that you should
spend 10 hours in church any more: you have the tape, you have the CDs, you have the
books, you have the Bible, and they didn’t have all these so they could spend so long in
the church. What are you doing with the tapes and the books? If you are doing nothing
with them and you are spending only one hour in church, it will take you a long, long,
longer time to grasp the truth of the word; you must make up for the times that you don’t
spend in church; it takes time for the word of God to make a difference in your life.

There you are, feeding your minds with junks; as F.F. Bosworth said: we eat three hot
square meal a day, and we take one cold snack of the word and we want changes in our
lives, it’s not possible. Give the word its place in your life, because it was the efficacy of
the word that was been released in the space of two years that made the difference in the
lives of these people. You may not be able to spend long hours in the church everyday;
but you can spend 5 hours on the road with the word, you can spend five hours with the
word in your shop, you can spend one hour with the word in your car, you can spend one,
five or more hours with the word in your bed; you have access to the word; give it its
place, and stop thinking that your pastor is a magician; (before you move to another
church, you’ll soon get angry and leave there too), because you think the man of God is
not anointed. No, it is you that is not giving the word its place; give the word its place in
your heart and you life can never remain the same.
 The bible says “And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds.
Many of them also which use curious act brought their books together, and burned them
before all men…so mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed”. Act 19:18-20 what do
you think happened? Because the word was given free course, because the man had the
platform to preach, and he had people who were listening to receive to change. The word
grew and succeeded because unlikely people, people who did not necessarily like the
gospel, people who were not willing to respond to the gospel, when they saw the power
of the gospel, they started to burn their instrument of worship, there was a change in
believe. Unlikely men came to accept Jesus as their Lord and savior when men gave the
word a free place; notice, it was not Apostle Paul alone that made thing happened, it was
because he had men and women who caused the word to be heard throughout all Asia
minor through their testimonies and their changed life.

For us to make a difference in this nation; to start making the occultists and all others
to come and bow again to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we must again be people who are
hearing and doing. We have less people listening for change in the church of God now
than before; we must start again to have people who are willing to be transformed by the
word of God; so as to bring about change to people outside.

It was not Paul’s messages that change the people, it was the effect of Paul’s message
that changed the people; they will not come and listened to him, but when they saw
demonstration, not through the preaching of the man alone, but the manifesting of the
power of God because the atmosphere has been charged up with the word of God. When
the devil dealt with seven men, they came to God and say there must be something about
what Paul is preaching.

It is we here that will make a difference in our environment, and country as a whole to
cause men to understand that there is God in this place making things happen; if you want
your pastor to be a magician, you are deceiving yourself; that is not the bible. It’s you,
listening to the word, the word transforming your life, then demonstration is about to take
place around you.

So, unlikely people listen to the word, and they were changed, and the word prevailed
because it began to prevail over traditions; what was normally the norms, was no more
the norm; the word became the standard; everybody started adjusting their lives
according to the word of God because of what they saw in demonstration, through the
lives of all that has been hearing the word of God.

Possibly, the seven sons of Sceva never got to where Paul was, because they would have
been delivered; but they heard people talk about what Paul was doing, they heard about
what Paul was saying that was making people to change; they wanted to do the same
thing and it didn’t work for them; instead, they were punished, and life started
transforming and people started changing their ways.

The prevailing word is when the word start changing your ways, if the word is not
changing your ways, the world will not come to church; people will just move from
church to church, but when the word change your way, when the word change your heart,
when what you hold dear before, your obnoxious life, they see it transformed; then they’ll
know that God is indeed working in your life; but if all they can see is money and cars;
even unbelievers have money! That is not enough to bring people to church; let the word
transform your life, give the word room to grow and prevail over every situation; let the
word change those things which you are rationalizing, let the word transform you to the
point that it cannot be hidden, then men will start holding up the standard of the word of
God; and the bible says when the enemy shall come, the spirit of God in you will lift up
the standard against him and they’ll know that you have become a standard bearer, then
you have become the light for the world to see; the bible says you are the light of the
world on the hill, not to be hidden, you are meant to be seen demonstrating God to the
outside world so that they will know that indeed, this gospel is true.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for us to be challenged, to prove this gospel, to be
indeed the prevailing word.

I want you to speak to your heavenly father, if this word has challenged you enough then
you can talk to your God now about the area in which you have been challenged; make a
decision, it’s between you and God, you don’t need me; make a decision between you
and your heavenly father to move ahead and become part of the demonstrators and part of
the proclaimer of His truth, part of the proclaimer of His word, part of His proclaimer of
His light, of His transforming power; so that you too will cause the word to grow and
prevail; even as you are giving space for the word in your life, let it change your life that
you may change men outside; that you may let the light shine to people in the world, that
people may indeed know that you serve a great God, that people may indeed know that
you serve a powerful God, that people may indeed know that you serve a God that bring
about changes; and if He can change you, He can change all.