======================================================================== IS THERE NOT A CAUSE by Gbile Akanni ======================================================================== Summary: Gbile Akanni emphasizes the divine call for a generation to rise up, possess the gates of their enemies, and establish God's kingdom through faith, obedience, and spiritual warfare. Duration: 1:18:57 Topics: "Spiritual Warfare", "Divine Promise" Scripture References: Genesis 22:16-18, Psalm 24:6-10, Psalm 127:4-5, Matthew 16:18-19, 1 Samuel 17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this prophetic sermon, Gbile Akanni challenges believers to recognize their divine call to possess the gates of their enemies and advance God's kingdom on earth. Drawing from key biblical passages, he highlights the importance of spiritual warfare, the role of youth, and the urgency of the end-time battle. Akanni encourages a global unity among believers to rise up with faith and boldness, embracing their God- given assignments to impact their nations and spheres of influence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Living Seed Media brings to you God's Word, which is his comprehensive equipment for changing lives. May the Lord impact your heart as you encounter his Word. For further enquiry or counsel, contact Peace House, PO Box 971, Boko, Benue State, Nigeria. Telephone numbers 0703 03636 59, 0703 76811 98. Email address lsmedia at livingseed.org or visit our website at www.livingseed.org. Let us sit back and listen as the servant of God brings forth the Word of Life. Our Father, it's our joy and it's a great privilege that you have allowed us to be part of what you are doing in this end time. Thank you for our eyes have seen the glory of the Lord in the land of the living. Lord, we thank you for our brothers and sisters from different parts of the world. We don't take it for granted that you are doing something and you are involving us. You are asking us that it is time for us to go and possess the gates. We are grateful to you. And so tonight, Lord, as we start, it is to you we have gathered. It is to you we have gathered from one center to another, from one place to another. Lord, in different circumstances, Lord, we thank you. Some are gathering even in a different time zone. Some are sitting there while some of us are in the night. Others are there in the afternoon. Some are in the early in the morning. But you have brought us together under the banner of Christ. We lift up our voices to you this moment and we say to you, thank you. Please, Lord, take all the glory. And take all our adoration. Be thou exalted, Lord, above all the heavens. And let your glory be above all the earth. Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayer. Thank you for doing what we cannot do for ourselves. Thank you for where you are going. Thank you for what you want to do with each of our lives. Thank you for men and women you are raising. And thank you for where you are desired to manifest your glory in our individual lives. Take all the glory right now, Lord. Now we are back here at your feet. We ask that you will speak to us. Speak to us and let your word come to us with simplicity. Let your word come to us and let it mix with faith in our heart. Let your word do us good. Thank you. In Jesus Christ's name we have prayed. Amen. Possessing the gates. There are a few passages that we have, that we are going to look at in the course of the meeting. But tonight I just want to read the body that God has laid on our hearts for this meeting. Then I'll read it out and then I'll draw one or two issues to bring a charge for the opening of this meeting. Looking on to God for what he will be leading us to do in the course of the days ahead by the grace of God. Now you will notice that one of the key passages that God had brought us into for this particular circle this year is a promise. It's a covenant promise that God made unto his servant which we have found it being fulfilled in Christ Jesus. So I'm going to read those passages and read the note that we have put across and then I'll draw a charge. Now Genesis chapter 22 verse 17 and 18. But maybe I read from verse 16 to give it a proper context. Now in that Genesis 22 verse 16 it said, As the stars of the heaven and as the sun which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed, verse 18, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice. That is one passage where we have taken our theme text. We are going to come on it as we go ahead in the course of the meeting. And yet there is another passage which we have noted there and that is Psalm 24. And if you can go quickly to Psalm 24 then we can read it again together. Psalm 24, we pick it, I would like to pick it this time also from verse 6. The passage it says is from verse 7 but let's read from verse 6. Psalm 24 from verse 6. Even though when you have space you can always read the entire Psalm. They are very important issues for us. Now this is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face. O Jacob, sailor, lift up your heads, O you gates, and be ye lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. Strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. Sailor, I'm trusting that as we go on, the issues that God is raising in these passages will become clearer as we go ahead by the grace of God. Now, in Psalm 127, we now are coming closer onto the matter. Psalm 127, and I want you to look at verse 4 and verse 5. 127, verse 4 and 5. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man. The hearse is quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. And finally, you will see these same scriptures coming back to us when the Lord Jesus Christ now made that declaration in Matthew chapter 16. I want us to quickly check Matthew and chapter 16, and I'll read verse 18 and verse 19. Matthew 16, verse 18, and verse 19. And I say also unto you that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. There is a generation, and it is the generation that we sense God is wanting us to address and prepare ourselves to step into. He said there is a generation that seek the face of the Lord, and upon whom he is going to ride prosperously to possess the gates and establish his rule in the midst of his enemies, unto their maid his foes too. So as you heard our brothers and sisters singing either from Makodi or from Namibia or from Bichang tonight, the Holy Spirit is beginning to stir us up, talking about going to take the gates, going to possess the gates for the Lord. He said there is a generation that seek the face of the Lord, and upon whom he is going to ride prosperously to possess the gates and establish his rule in the midst of his enemies, unto their maid his foes too. This army of the Lord are volunteers in the deal of their youth, they are dressed in holiness, and they are clad with the zeal of the Lord. The Almighty God, our Lord of hosts, the great strategist, has been on a recruitment drive of such men, young men and women for an intense and concentrated training of their lives in discipleship, and in their professional career development as his end-time army to engage in order to silence the enemy at the gates. He is teaching our hands to fight and our fingers to war. It is clear to us that as the end of the age is drawing nearer to its eventual end, the Prince of this world, the God of this world, the powers behind this present darkness, is becoming more restive, very aggressive, and brutally ruthless in wreaking havoc upon the entire earth, thereby causing untold hardship and mystery for mankind. He is furiously enraged, knowing that his time has become very short. Those that were hit and caught up in this fierce raging battle are the young. This is why our battle for the young strategy must become relentless and unyielding. Victory we know is ours, and the victor's song is on our lips as we march under the Lord's banner to possess the gates in every sector of human endeavor. That's why the song from Namibia was very, very, very key tonight. We are able to go and take over the gates. We are able to go over and take the nations. Let us go with the word of Christ, with the life of Christ. Let us move in the righteousness of Christ. Now, as we gather this year, as we gather together this year again, we will be waiting at God's feet for a fresh endowment with power from on high to equip and release us into the gates, mapping out divine strategies for us to pursue, to overtake, and recover all that the enemy cut in the way, and actually bring our Lord and Christ at work in us and through us to prevail and to take over the gates of the various sectors, whether it be the gate of the economy or politics and governance, sports and entertainment, education, health, religion, and all the places where we see the principalities and power wanting to take over. God is releasing an army, a people that will go and take over the land. And I'm trusting God that each one of you that is attending this meeting, the hand of God will come upon you. The spirit of God will rest upon you. The Lord himself will mobilize you. You are an instrument that God is raising at this time. And I'm praying that heaven will rise up on our behalf. This meeting is global. We are expecting a simultaneous global manifestation of the power of God that will shake the kingdom of darkness from nation to nation, from country to country, from one center to another in the name of Jesus Christ. The Lord had made a promise to us, and that's why we are standing this year to gather this meeting the way God is gathering it and to draw people from all over different walks of life as God is gathering us. And I know God is the one that brought you to where you are because you have a critical role to play in the coming days. Now, in the course of this meeting by God's grace, which I explore, which I study, which I look at other young men and women of old who dared to engage the gates for the Lord in their generations, which I also look at young men and women of our own caliber who are pushing forward and getting at the gates in their various areas of calling and laying God's strategy for us at this time of our rebirth. Dearly beloved, if God has made it possible for you to come to respond to this call, to come for this congress this year, it is clear, and I want you to know that, that you are a stakeholder in what God is about to do in our day and in your particular nation. Each one of you that God has allowed to be part of SEKO this year, and I really recognize that God was very strategic in making sure that every nook and cranny of the nations are being represented. God was very, very strategic, making sure that different nations, we are sitting together, we are standing in a very critical position because what God wants to do is going to be happening at the same time all over the land, all over the nation. And so each one of you, wherever you are seated, and how God has brought you is because that constituency where you occupy must not suffer loss. My prayer is that God himself will focus on each one of us. He will set us ablaze. He will set us on fire. I said, because you are a stakeholder in what God is about to do in our day and in your own particular nation, that is why you are here. You are not here by chance. You are not here by accident. Even if it's just somebody who casually invited you, to him it was a casual invitation, but it is a divine arrangement. I'll be reading a few scriptures to you tonight, and I'm praying that you will respond to God in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, we have come to the set time for your exploit as the Lord is now strategically positioning such young men and women like yourself in the power of his boundless resource and might to man and take over the gates of the enemy to accomplish his divine agenda for the end time. God is out to multiply the seeds of righteousness and godliness as the innumerable stars and sand by the seashore and to plant them as oaks and trees of righteousness in the nations of the earth. To cause men from all nations of the earth to bow their knees and to confess that he, Christ Jesus, is the Lord. Now, this meeting is your own personal opportunity to begin to be great before the Lord. My dear brothers and sisters, I sense and I need to announce this to you, that God bringing you to circle this year is a beginning of something that will become great in your life and by your hand. It's a beginning of something that will become unstoppable through your life, by your hand, and in your own territory of occupation. What God is doing now is going to go beyond our own hand. God is going to do something that none of us can control. It's an unstoppable move that God has begun and we cannot look back again. We can just flow with what God is doing. And so, my brother, my first request is that you should never, never be ignorant of your own time of visitation. You should not in any way think, ah, maybe it's just by chance. It's not by chance. As I saw the brethren from Ghana, from Bogatanga, eh, from the very north, and I said, oh, look at what God is doing. And as I look at those that have come from Nguru, ah, in that far part of Nigeria, I said, look at what heaven is beginning to do. And as I look at different people, different people from the nation, those at the edge of the Kalahari Desert, maybe in Namibia or in Botswana, I said, look at what God is about to do. Something's about to break forth. But the question that is very up almost in my spirit is that you are at the beginning, at the threshold of something that will become great. Something that will not stop small. Something that will break forth. Something that God himself is ready to, to drive by his mighty power. So my dear brothers and sisters, you are part of a global move of God. And I don't know whether you can help me touch somebody by your side, in your center, just grab him by the right hand and say, my brother, my sister, you are a part of a global move of God. And God is building a synergy that cuts across tribe, across tongues, across race or color. This is an unstoppable move. And the mightier than the mighty man at the gates has come forth in his power to possess the gates and release the captives, even the captives of the mighty. I beg you, and I can't say you to settle down. I can't say you to please take your bearing. Collect your victuals from the store of grace. Turn your spirit and set your antenna to hear the midst of his command. We are on the move and you must not be left behind. May God bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you very much. That is the charge. Now, there are several issues in that charge that we cannot unbundle tonight. I know as we go ahead, Julius will be giving us opportunity to pick some and begin to bring it out in his intrinsic details of what God is saying to us. But tonight, I just want to raise an issue. It's tomorrow when God begins to lead us that we'll be taking the instructions very, very deliberately. But tonight, just an issue that I want to raise. And I'll be talking about two things very quickly. Very quickly. Now, there came a time in the days of the children of Israel, there came a time when the enemy seemed to have taken over the gates. There came a time when the entire nation of Israel was under a terrible pressure. And in that moment, there was unrest everywhere. There was a difficulty everywhere. Saul was the king at the time. And he himself became helpless. And there was a young man. And that's the matter I want to raise briefly tonight. I want all of you to please go to 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 17. That's where the story is coming from. But you are familiar with the story of David going to confront Goliath at the gates. Ordinarily, I would have just told the story. But it is not the story that is very critical in my mind this moment. What is critical in my mind is that we're at a crucial time. When the enemy seemed to be manifesting himself recklessly, when he's beginning to say things and it looks as if nobody can stop him, it appears as if nobody can bring it to a stop. And it is at that time God was needing a young man. And I'm so touched because all the testimony they were giving about him, they're saying, but you're a youth. But you're a youth. So I want us to pick a few issues tonight because we must pray together and we must get into what God wants to begin to do in your life and in my own life in the name of Jesus Christ. Now 1 Samuel chapter 17 is where the story is coming from. And I would like you to read. I can't read all the chapter. I will just take a bit of it and then I'll paraphrase the story so that we can have a short space of time tonight both to pray together. Now, now, now, the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle. And they were gathered at Soko, which belongs to Judah. They encamped between Soko and Asseka and in Ephesdamin. So I wanted to note the issue. Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle. And they were gathered together at Soko, which belonged to Judah, and pitched between Soko and Asseka in Ephesdamin. That is the first matter that bothers me. If the Philistines actually were gathered to battle in their own territory, if to say they are just trying to defend their own territory, it would not be a matter. But they have advanced. They have come into the territory that belonged to Judah. They have come to the land. And I would like to remind you that this territory they have come to, there was a young man that refused to die until he collected that mountain. That man was called Caleb. Caleb said, give me that mountain. So this territory that Caleb laid his life to collect, we now see the Philistines. They have gathered their armies together and they did not come to play. They did not come to just eat and dance. The Bible said they gathered together their armies to battle. And they were gathered together at Soko, which belonged to Judah, and they pitched between Soko and Asseka in Ephesdamin. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched by the valley of Elah. And they set the battle in Arre against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side. And there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath. And what was he saying? They described him, they said, his height was six cubits and his span. And if we were to get that in modern measurements, he was a very terrible giant as they were describing him. They said, look at all they are saying about him. He had an helmet of brass upon his head. He was armed with a coat of mail. The weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And one bearing a sheath went before him. Now, by the time they are describing all of this, that would not have been a matter for me tonight, and that's not the issue that I want to focus on. But what the man began to say is the challenge here tonight. And the Bible said, and he stood, look at verse 8, and he stood. And he cried unto the armies of Israel and said unto them, why are you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine and you servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you and let him come down to me. Let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and you will serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and they were greatly, greatly afraid. And this man was doing this day after day. For continual six weeks, nobody could respond to him. The tallest man in Israel was Saul. And we are told that Saul and all Israel, when they heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and they were greatly afraid. Now, before I come to introduce the young man that God was going to take to the gate, let me quickly get all the issues together so that you can follow me. Now, I wanted to jump from verse 12. That's where we are going to introduce the life of David. I will talk about that very briefly. But when David was, you would think it's by chance, because he was too young even to be recruited into the army of Israel. His senior brothers were in the army, but he was not of age according to the standard in those days. So, what was the only thing for him is that the father, Jesse his father, sent him, sent him to go and check the welfare of his brothers on the field. And if possible, to carry some food for them. Look at verse 16 quickly. And the Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself 40 days. Morning and evening. He comes every morning. He said, I defy the army of Israel. All of you together, are you not servants of Saul? Why have you come out? Why did you set yourself in array as if you can fight me? Just give me one man. That man, if he can conquer me, then all of us will become your slave. But if I defeat him, all of you, you will become our servants. You will serve us for the rest of your life. And he was doing this every morning, every evening for 40 days. And there was nobody in Israel that could raise his head. There was no man. All the men, all the men of war that we thought we had, they were all shaking and shivering. The Bible says, actually they were hiding themselves in the cave. It was in this condition that Jesus said to David his son, take now for your brethren an ephah of this parched corn and these 10 loaves. Run to the camp to thy brethren, verse 18, and carry these 10 cheeses unto the carton of their thousand, and look out your brethren fair, and take their pledge. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. And David rose up early in the morning and left the ship with a keeper. And he took and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage. And he ran into the army, and he came and saluted his brethren. Verse 23, And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines. And he spoke according to the same words that he had been speaking for forty days. And David heard them. Now brothers and sisters, wherever you are, this is the issue I'm asking you to begin to spend, to pay attention to. Because in a short while, I will be drawing that sword, and we shall be praying together. Now the Bible said, And David heard what he was saying. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, they fled from him. And they were so afraid. And the men of Israel, they said, Have you seen this man that has come up, surely to defy Israel? Is he come up? And it shall be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. Now I want you to know two things there now. Here is a young man that they thought was not qualified to go to the army. Here was a young man they thought was too young to be enlisted in the army of the Lord. But when he came just to run around to give food to his brothers and to go back home, he heard the blasphemy of the Philistine. He heard what the Philistine was talking about. How he was bragging. How he was advancing himself. How the children of Israel were retreating and running backward. And he heard him. And he said, This man, you are calling him a big man, but me, I see him as an uncircumcised Philistine. And people answered him, and they said, No. Even his senior brother came, and they have said, What's your business about this? Why are you here? Why are you proclosing to a matter that does not concern you? Why comest thou down here? And with whom have you led those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the naughtiness of your heart, for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. Can you imagine what his senior brother was saying to him? I know your pride. I know the naughtiness of your heart. See how he was accusing a man whom God is positioning to turn the battle to the gates. This night, I am not here to talk about Eliab. I'm not talking about all such men that have been standing on the battlefield for years, and the gate is still in the hand of the enemy. I'm not talking about those that they themselves, in the secret place where God could have anointed them, God rejected them. He said, I have rejected him. I have rejected him. He cannot stand to do what I have called you to do. I have rejected him. His heart is not right with me. All such men were the people that saw, gathered together to go to the battle with him. He himself is walking in disobedience. He himself, the spirit of the Lord that departed from him, and an evil spirit has come to trouble him. He himself is no more in good favor with God, and he has gathered people, rejected people. Those that God said, I cannot walk with, they are the ones standing there. No wonder Goliath was getting stronger. Goliath was becoming more prominent. Goliath was becoming loud, and loud, and loud, because something was wrong in the camp of the people of God. Now David stood up, and that's what I'm ending here with. And David said, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause for me to arise? Is there not a cause for me to respond? Is there not a cause for me to stand up? Even though I have seen several of you, I see you running back. Is there not a cause? How can this uncircumcised Philistine defy the army of the living God? He was busy saying the army of Israel, the army of Israel. He was saying you are servants of us all. But we are not just the army of Israel. We are the army of the living God. We are the servant of the Most High God. Is there not a cause? Brother, why are you in this meeting? There is a cause. Why is God turning to young people like yourself? There is a cause. Why is the Holy Spirit mobilizing us? There is a cause. Why is God laying strong hand on your own life? There is a cause. And the cause for which you were born has come. The reason why God has preserved you has come. The reason why you have been kept alive. This is a cause. And it is time for you to arise and do something in your generation. And when David responded, please look at a few words that remain there. They brought David and he began to speak. Look at what he said. I want to read it from verse 32. And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou art not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with him. Look at this reason. He said, for thou art but a youth. You are just a young boy. And he has been a man of war from his youth. Now I wanted to see a contradiction there. He has been a man of war from his youth. That's when you ought to have gone. How can the devil be training his own people when they were youth to go and do havoc? Look at all the boys in your university. Are they older than you? Do they have two heads? Why are they so bold for the kingdom of darkness? And you are still saying to yourself, I am but a youth. Why are they causing rampage everywhere? Look at those words that are going about. And they are propounding terrible theories in our generation. And they are changing things. And they are defying the name of the Lord. And you are still saying, but I am a youth. All those words that are going up and down, kidnappers, are they older than yourself? All those words that are causing revolution, turning things upside down, are they older than you? This meeting, the Holy Spirit is saying there is a cause. There is a reason for you to arise. There is a reason for God to look for his own arrows to take them to the gates, to take them to the place of contests. And so has David. And even though they kept saying, but you are a youth, but you are a youth, the young man said, no, no, no, let nobody fear this man. I will go and see what he began to say. Saul was saying this man had been a mighty warrior from his own youth. And David said, excuse me please, let me tell you my own small story even though you think I am a small boy. Your servant kept his father's sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and smote him and I delivered it out of his hand, out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his bed and I smote him and slew him. The servant slew both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them. See, he has defied the armies of the living God. David said, moreover, the Lord has delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear. He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, go and the Lord be with you. That's where I'm stopping tonight. My dear brother and my dear sister, there is a cause. There is a cause for your life to make a difference. There is a cause for you to respond to the purpose of God. There is a cause. There is a cause. There is Bathu at the gate. And I see the enemy advancing. And they are taking over territories. They are taking over the heritage of our God. They are taking over. And they are doing it with immunity. They are doing it with punity. They are doing it as if it is their normal right to so do. And they are nothing different in terms of who they are. Who are they? Uncircumcised Philistines. This night, as I ask you, you have come into this meeting. There is a cause. There is a reason why heaven is asking us to go and look for seeds, the seed that will possess the gate of its enemy. There is a cause. And you are the answer to that cause. You are the solution to that matter. Heaven has opened. And the eyes of the Lord have turned towards you. And God is saying, where are my young men? Where are my Davids? Where are my Joshua's? Where are my Caleb's? Where are those small young Gideons who will arise? Because there is a cause. This night, there is a cause for your life to arise. There is a cause for you to respond to God. But now there is a quick word that we need to handle as we begin to pray tonight. Now do you notice that I just started this passage from chapter 17 and the word started saying, now, now the Philistines have gathered. Now they are taking the gates. Now. And you wonder what led to that. And we saw that if you go a little backward in chapter 15 and chapter 16, something happened to Saul. Saul missed his relationship with God. Something happened to Eliab. Something happened to Jonadab. Abinadab and all those senior, senior brothers of David. But we saw that in that chapter 16, God was setting apart this young man. And the only thing that I wanted to note with you was in chapter 16 and verse 7 and verse 11. In chapter 16 verse 7, maybe I should read verse 6 and 7. And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and he said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. For man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. So I saw something that is very critical here. And that's the point I must end with as I call on you to pray with me tonight because there's a cause. There's a cause. It looks so urgent. They have already gathered at the gates. Goliath is already shouting. And they are advancing. They no longer stay in their own territory. They are pressing. They are pressing. They have now come to Shoko, a territory that belonged to Judah. And they have set themselves there. And the children of Israel are running backward, running backward. There is a cause. But for that young man to be able to be an answer to it, look at what God had to do to his life. And I sense that something must happen as quickly as possible tonight. Something must happen to your life. Something must happen in your heart. Something must take place now. He said, don't look at his outward appearance. Don't look at the height of his stature. That's not what God looks for. For the Lord looks into the heart. When God looks at a man's heart and he sees wickedness, he sees compromise, he sees secret sin, he sees hypocrisy, he sees lying, he sees cheating, he sees immorality, he sees all of those. Heaven cannot take such a man to the gates. Even if they go to the gates, they can do nothing there because the man they are carrying to the gates is the enemy of the kingdom of God. So when Samuel said, but how can we wait? We have checked, we have checked, we have checked. We can't wait. Don't you have another son? In verse 11, chapter 16 verse 11. And Samuel said unto Jesse, I hear all your children. And he said, there remains yet the youngest. And behold, he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and fetch him, for we will not sit down here till he come. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and with all of a beautiful countenance, good little look. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is he. May the finger of God, may he point at you here tonight and say, for this is he. This is the man we are looking for. This is the young girl that we are waiting for. This is that young man that heaven is preparing to bring an answer to this generation. This is he. Arise and anoint him. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the urn of oil, anointed him in the midst of the brethren. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose and went to Ramah. I perceive that this meeting is going to do two things. First, God is going to check if your heart is right with God. And if it is not right, God wants to change that heart from tonight. Whatever it is that will make you a reject, now that it is time for God to walk and use you to fulfill the cause for which you were born, that matter must be dealt with tonight. That matter must be uprooted tonight. You cannot be one of the rejects. Now what is the second thing that God was going to do? He said, this is he. Arise, anoint him. You will be anointed for an assignment after this meeting. The only ghost is going to come upon your life. When you begin to see what we are going to be dealing with in our Bible study, you will see the endowment from on high with power. It is because there is a cause. It is because something has to happen now. It is because the Goliaths, the uncircumcised Philistines, they seem to have gathered themselves together and they are shouting, for God is looking for a man on whom he will ride. Who will go and confront the gates and say, lift up your head, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, O ye everlasting doors. When we come back by God's grace tomorrow, I will be looking at that generation of those who can possess the gates. But tonight, is there not a cause? Is there not a cause for God to reach out to you tonight? Is there not a reason why heaven has brought you here? Perhaps you are just in your early twenties, or you may even be in your late teens. And everybody around you is wondering, what are you doing, what are you doing? Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause for something to happen to you now? Is there not a cause for God to touch your life and turn you around? Is there not a cause? There is already battle at the gates. The enemy is already fledging himself here and there and making noise. And God is saying, where are my own arrows? He said, happy is that man whose quiver is full of such an arrow. He will not be ashamed when he goes to confront his enemy at the gates. This night as I ask you to join me in prayer, wherever you are, in whichever situation you are, there is a cause. There is a reason for you to be alive now, and there is a reason for heaven to mobilize you. But the first thing we are going to check, is there anything in your life that is working secretly to cripple you? And one of those things that cripple men and make them unable to stand when they should have stood, is the matter of secret sin. The matter of what goes on in the heart. The matter of those things that has kept you down. You were not born to be, you know, a cripple like this. You were born to take God to the gates, and to gain the victory, and to challenge everlasting those that lift up your head. So when we saw David standing out there, and the Philistine was saying, me, you are coming to me, you think you are a small boy? David said, forget about that. I will hand you over this day. The carcass, your carcass, all the bears of the air, they will come and make a feast over your head today. They said, how can a small boy be talking like that? A small boy that is living for a cause. A small boy that is living for a purpose. Heaven is asking, is there another cause? So this night we are praying, and the first thing I want you to do with me, my dear brother and sister, is to check, is there any matter in my heart that will not allow God to release the oil on my head? Is there anything in my life that will make me like a piece of bread for the devil? Is there anything in my heart that I have not given up, that will make the enemy to keep, you know, bragging, and I will not be able to stand? It is not about your age, it is about your heart. It is not about your old experience, it is about your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Is your heart right with God? When God is looking, He doesn't look at age, He doesn't look at height or status, He doesn't look at appearance, He doesn't look at any of those things, He looks at the heart. So we are going to pray right away and say, oh God, search my heart. Search my heart today, oh God. See if there is any wicked thing there. If there is anything that belongs to the devil in my heart, tonight I must lay you down because there is a cause. I cannot be alive and be impotent when my own age mates, they seem to be advancing for the kingdom of darkness. I cannot be alive and just be amputated when people that are of my own age, they are doing something, they are brandishing themselves about for the enemy, for the devil. Is there another cause? As I will be praying with you this moment, the first thing I want to ask you for is, is there a matter? Is there a secret thing that you must release to God this moment? Something you must let go, something you must confess and say, oh God, my life must not be a waste. Fornication must not waste my life. Hypocrisy must not destroy my opportunity. Things of the flesh must not scatter my own life. I am going to stand up for God in my generation. There is a cause. Thank God that David responded to that cause. And that is why today, whatever you are talking about the Philistines, he just said, that uncircumcised Philistine, he cut his head that day, you know. He brought his head back and by the instrumentality of one small David, God gave victory. The Bible said the Philistine fled. They started running. You need to go and read the rest of that chapter, I don't have time to read it for you. They were running and as they were running they were falling and the children of Israel were killing them like chicken because a boy has responded to a cause. I want to put it to you now, what will you do? God has brought you to circle this year and the issue is clear for setting the gates. But the kind of life that can do so is a heart that God has circumcised, a heart that God has visited, a heart that God has changed. A new heart will I give you, a new spirit will I put within, I will take away from you the heart of stone. Would you like to join me in prayer right now? Wherever you are, you want to stand up or you want to kneel down, you want to speak directly to God and say, Lord, there is a cause. There is a cause. Some of you are just finishing your school or you are just having an admission to the tertiary institution and you see all the things that are spread. You see wickedness spread everywhere. You see your own age mate, your classmates, see the kind of thing they are displaying everywhere and they are so bored about it. And the devil is saying, you are a small boy. How can you say you are a small boy? How can you say you are a small boy when your own opportunity has come? Would you like to pray with me tonight? Would you like to check your heart? Would you like to say, oh God, you have brought me to circle because there is a cause. There is a reason. There is something my life must respond to. I can't continue to be rising and falling. I can't continue to be but a piece of bread that the devil is just manipulating here and there. My life must not be a waste. I want to pray for you right away. Now the first step is that God saw a David whose heart is right with him. Is your heart going to be right with God tonight? Present it to God. Present your heart to God and say, Lord, tonight, here am I. Do something new with me. Do something eternal with my heart. Are you still struggling with sin? You are struggling with a secret thing that nobody knows but it is cutting you short. You are unable to lift up your voice because you are perforated inside. You are defeated inside. God wants to put an anointing on your head so that you can stand out there at the gate because it is already a curse waiting. But here you are. Here you are. The Holy Spirit is saying, take this filthy garment out of his life. I need him to be cleansed so that I can fulfill the reason why he has been born. He needs a new life. He needs to be born again. He needs the power of God on his life so that I can fulfill the reason why I have kept him alive. God bless you. We are praying. Open your mouth to God personally. And this night, as we are hearing the Spirit of God say, yes, come. I want to touch you. I want to change that story for you. And I want to cleanse you. And I want to anoint you. And I want to send you forth to go and fulfill the reason why I have actually lent you life. If you don't do that, your whole existence will be a waste. You will be a shadow of what you are supposed to be. So as we are praying, the Holy Spirit is saying, come to me. Come to me. I will give you rest. He said, if we confess our sins, God is faithful. God is righteous. God is just to forgive and to cleanse. He said, a new heart will I give you. Now, we are not in a situation where you can be pretending. We are not in a situation where you can be, you know, playing hide and seek. What God must do in your life tonight has to be definite. Even if people say, ah, you are a man of God. But you know that inside, inside, your outward appearance looks nice, but your inner man is rotting. This is the night to make it right with God. Don't say, ah, maybe tomorrow there will be another message. There will be another message, but tonight is your own time of visitation. Can I ask you to stand where you are? Lift up your right hand. If your heart is saying, Lord, do something new with me tonight. Change my story. Change my secret life. I don't want to become a secret defeat in order to bring failure to you at the gates. Lord, I ask you to do a new thing in my life now. God bless you. If you are there and you are raising your right hand, just stand on your feet and let's please quickly respond and come towards the altar because I'm going to be calling on God. And whatever is the altar ahead in front of you, just step out there. Just take a step and walk out and say, Lord, there is a cause. Even if you came with a gay friend and the gay friend is looking at you and says, are you going forward? You say, yes, there's a cause. There's a cause. There's a reason why my life cannot remain the same. I can't go back the way I came with you. My life must change. God bless you, my friend. Thank you. God bless you. As you are stepping out and walking out before God, just do it quickly. Thank you, my friends. Thank you, my brothers. Thank you, my sister. Just do it. Just do it. Just do it because there's a cause. Just step out before God because there's a reason. Thank you, my friend. Thank you, my friend. It's not time to be looking left or right. It's time to look inward and say, God, is that why I am standing there and I can make no difference? Is that why I'm in a school and the school is getting more and more rotten and I can make no difference? Is that why many things are happening around me and my life is not making a change? Lord, there's a cause. There's a cause. Something must change with me tonight. There's a cause. Please calm down. Calm down, Lord, and do a new thing in my life. God bless you. God bless you. Just walk out because I'm praying with you right away. And wherever you are, even if you are just before your own television screen, it's time now to kneel down and say, God, you have caught me even in my corner. You have caught me. My life is not supposed to be wasted like this. There's a cause. Thank you, friend. As many as have stepped out and you are kneeling before the Lord, please lift up your two hands as I pray right now. God bless you, my friends. Thank you. God bless you. That sister, you are coming out. Do it quickly. God bless you, that sister. God bless you. God bless you, that young man. Just stand up and come and say, Lord, here am I. Thank you, my friend. Just come down quickly and say, Lord, here am I. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Lord, thank you for what you are doing tonight. Thank you for what you are doing tonight. There's a cause. There's a cause. This thing is urgent because there is a cause. The Philistines have spread themselves. They are now in the church. They have now entered the territory of Judah. There are no more out there. They are now even flashing themselves, defying the name of the Lord, as if there's nothing we can do. And you are saying, go and look for my young people. Go and look for my arrows. They are the ones that will solve this problem. Lord, there's a cause. And I ask you tonight, oh God, as many as are stepping out, do a new thing in their lives. Change their heart, oh God, tonight. You say, a new heart will I give you? A new spirit will I put within you? I'll take away from you the heart of stone. Lord, do this deep walk here tonight. All those that are kneeling down, stretching forth their hands, Lord, Jesus, step into their heart right now. Do something new with them. And that God, before we leave here, they will be turned to another man. I ask, oh God, that the anointing of the Holy Spirit will fall on their heads. They are going back, oh God, to go and confront the gates. They are going back, oh God, to fulfill the cause for which they were born. Lord, I'm trusting you tonight that every yoke, every shackle on their legs shall be broken in the name of Jesus. By the blood that was shed at Calvary, everything the enemy has done tonight, we break it in the name of Jesus. Some of them, oh God, were trapped. They were trapped in habits, in addictions. Some were trapped with drugs. These are people that are supposed to stand at the gates. Oh my God, they are being deflated. But tonight, as they are responding to you, let your hand be set forth. Let your power be released. Let your salvation be declared. Multiply them as seeds, oh God, that will possess the gate of your enemy. Thank you for tonight. Now my friend, as you lift up those two hands wherever you are, just ask the Lord Jesus and say, now no more struggle. I put my hand in your hand. I put my life in your hand. Let your blood speak for me. And let your life, let your life, let your life come into my very heart. Jesus, come and take your space and give me a new beginning that I may fulfill the reason why you have set me apart. Thank you, Lord, tonight for hearing us. In Jesus Christ's name, we have prayed. Amen. And so, God, I pray that as they have responded to you, and they are still responding, some are still coming out, I ask that the hand of God be strong upon them. I ask that this meeting from tonight will mark a turning point. I know, Satan, your days are numbered. Your bragging is going to finish soon. For all the months, all the years, Goliath was shouting. But when David came, it was silence forever. The Bible said, by the mouth of babes and sucklings, you steal the avenger. By the life of this, my brothers and sisters, you will keep silent your enemy in the name of Jesus. All those that have shouted in the countries, in the nations, by the reason of these lies that are yielding to you tonight, you will steal the avenger. You will silence your enemy. You will subdue the uncircumcised. Thank you, Lord, for hearing us. As my brothers and sisters will be standing with them, O God in cancer, let the spirit of the Lord descend. Let the power of the Almighty overshadow them. Let the word of the Lord break forth upon them. Let the anointing break every yoke. If any of them came here sick, we declare you healed in the name of Jesus. Any of you oppressed by the devil, we release you in the name of Jesus. As any one of you be under any form of bondage, by the word of the Lord tonight, we set you loose. By the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we release you. And from now on, you will fulfill your destiny. You will fulfill your destiny. Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayer. In Jesus Christ's name, we have prayed. Amen. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/gbile-akanni/is-there-not-a-cause/ ========================================================================