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My message is entitled, When You Think It's Too Late. And I would like to take the opportunity and say to you that this message is for somebody who literally has been going through so many things that they feel like there's nothing change for me. The one that actually had a dream but for some reason the dream died out. It's like the dream is gone. For somebody who had who were married and the last paper has been signed for somebody who is literally they gave up, they made peace with their situation. This is literally for the one who thinks they are too old. I'm talking about that 80 to 90 year old that think, ah, I'm done. A person who is facing a stone that is so heavy that they can't move it. I'm speaking to the person who has been diagnosed with a severe condition that the doctor even called it a three weeks to live. It's six weeks to love. I'm speaking to the person that has been saying, I come to a corner where there's no way out. If I go to the left or if I go to the right, there's nothing I can do. This is the person I'm speaking to. You decided something is dead and it final We buried and we stop believing it could ever live again Now you might be asking but what does this have to do with me Somewhere in your life, you have come to a situation where you believe it died. Were you sure it died? I remember my sister were having a diagnosis about cancer. And this was one of those cancer that, what they call it, cervical cancer. and is it cervical cancer? Okay, but it doesn't matter. The news became so overwhelmed that one of her friends said this word. The friend says she will die. And here I'm talking about almost a year ago, if it's not more than a year ago. The person said, I'm sorry, I'm seeing a grief. And I took that word, specifically what they were saying. And I went to God and I said to him, are you being serious, God? you telling me through somebody else this news and I don't believe this news I really don't believe this news but I'm not going to make an issue out of it all I'm going to say is please have your way let your will be done and here we sit over a year now my sister didn't go anywhere she did you hear what I say She didn go anywhere She is fine And I'm not saying some of the things that you should understand is that when we think that something has changed or it's the last line we decide for God what is the way forward. And my message today is to literally tell you, you can't decide when God is saying, is it finished? You can't. I'm reminded of the time when my girlfriend was saying this is the last I don't want to see you anymore while I was so I was so drunk that day she didn't like the fact that I must be drinking that way. And that was the final say, bye-bye. And when she said it that time, I literally thought it was the last. I literally thought I'm finished. You know, where you have a girlfriend and you are so young, you think that you will never be able to find anybody like that again. I can tell you now, 20 years ago, this happened, not 20. It's actually 26, 27 years ago it happened. And here I'm happily married. I'm just saying to you that some of the things that you think is the last, it is not the last. It can never be the last. It will never be the last And I speaking to the person the world already says ah it over If somebody is in the grave, you will always say, that's the last. you will always say that's the last but I want us to take our Bibles and go to Matthew 28 let us read Matthew 28 and I want us to go to Matthew 28 the verse 1 Now Matthew 28 verse 1 and I'm going to read from 1 to 6 Matthew 28 from 1 to 6 In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the Sephalchia and behold there was a great earthquake For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came back and rolled back the stone from the door and set upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the woman. Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen. As he said, come, see the place where the Lord lay. See the place where the Lord lay. Now, I would like you to read this in a sense of As everybody would say, we read it as an empty tomb and a happy ending we already know. That's how we read the scripture. Wow, he is risen. Because of course he is risen. Of course he rose up and we heard it a thousand and thousands and thousands of times. How he rose up from the dead. But picture this. The woman walking towards the grave. they were already prepared as they were walking to the grave they had spices and that spices was for the dead body they had already given up at that time the biggest worry was who will roll that stone for us to get into that grave. Some of our situations, we already gave up. We have already prepared for the next step because of the death of our situations. We have already prepared that I know they will fire me today. I've already fixed my CV. You know, that way you go to the CCMA and the CCMA already said that this is the last section that must be done. And then you will sit out without the job. I'm speaking to that person. The only thing that they have to do is today in court, they have to say the verdict because all evidence shown up to thus far, shown that you will get your 25 years for life. Everything else shown, the only thing that must happen, the judge must just strike that mallet and say, life in prison. So you're already preparing yourself how your cell is going to look like. You're already preparing yourself how you're going to die in that cell. I speaking to this person that when your marriage was already been signed off that this is the last I'm speaking to the person that already the whole metric is ahead of you and your great 11 results came out. You failed. You failed. But yet, this is not a situation unto death. I remember my sister's child was struggling at the time. They were saying that he failed. And she did what any mother would do. and she went to go and put in a you can almost call it like a nomad. I don't believe it is. And yet, do you know what happened? When her son did a recounting or something, I don't know what they did, but you will know in grade 11 when you need to go to grade 12 and you failed he got the things and if I'm not mistaken I think that subject was is it Afrikaans or English but it doesn't matter one of the subjects if you fail that one you are gone you're not going to you can almost say you're not winning And then at that time, when they did the recounting and the what not evers, the guy is in metric. And I'm talking about last year. This year is in metric now. The death situation, the situation where you felt like I'm done, I'm finished. I can't. But I want you to know when you think it too late Jesus stood up and he showed to you he showed it that even in the grave where people come and think who will roll the stone already bring the spices, yet they didn't go to a death situation. Lazarus, the sister was saying, if you were here, this wouldn't have happened. if you were here he wouldn't have died he wouldn't have died he wouldn't have died he wouldn't have died If you go to Genesis 3 verse 23 and 24, I would like you to read something. Genesis 3 verse 23. Genesis 3 verse 23 says the following. He says, And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us to know God and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also off the tree of life and eat and love forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. to tilt the ground from when she was taken. And that is what most of the time happened, is that we as humanity, when things like that seems to be the last part, we think it's done. We think it's done. Some of the things that we thought was finished. It's not yet to finish. Some of the thoughts that we think we must already know who will roll the stone for us There nobody need or there no need for a stone to be rolled because he is risen He already rise. When he rose from the dead, the ladies, the Magdalene, Magdalene and Magda, what? Okay, we were talking about them earlier on. Those two. What's their names again? Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. Yeah, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. Imagine the other Mary. Now, my question to you is, when they were on their way, they have not been prepared at that time for the grief that is ahead of them in their minds they were already given up that when they come day they will find this big stone in front of the grief that is what they were thinking of they were even coming with that spices to a dead body and here when they got there, there was an angel already. And that angel, when the angel got there, the angel says, I is not here. He's not here. He's not here. And the worst part of it is when you as a human being knows about a stone that needs to be removed You're looking at your stature. You're looking at what you can and cannot do. You're looking at your ability. And that is where you make the mistakes. Because the problem is not the ability of how you can move the stone. God is looking at your availability to see if you would still have the thinking of, I need to be there. and when you get there the availability is the one that makes the stone to be removed because your ability is not the thing that move a stone some of the things that we think that we can do we had this this this last week with the a situation even in our own church where we think that some of the, let's call it our finances, couldn't do what we wanted to do and yet God showed up. God showed up. God showed up. I can tell you now, if I looked at my finances a week ago, it was in shambles. But yet God showed up. And as I'm speaking to you now, we have given up even on age because you think you're too old to do certain things. The thing is, the woman's biggest problem was the stone too heavy for them. By the time they arrived, it was already been moved. By the time they arrived, it has already been removed. And this is why some of the things that you need to understand is that as much as you think that you cannot do things, the thing that you say you cannot do is the thing that you must actually go back to God and say nothing is impossible for God. Nothing is impossible for God. And I need you to understand some of the things that you need to do is that these stones that you see in your life that has been packed in front of your graveyard, you think that you died already. You think this situation is to the end. You think that this diagnostics that they gave you is already the end of your life. You think that when the judge hit that mallet and says, life in prison, You think that by the time you your marriage certificate is signed to be null and void You think that is the last thing to happen You think that when that report card comes out that say you failed your subject that you were supposed to be going to the next grade when you see this situation, you are feeling like you are in a graveyard situation. You feel like you are dying inside. You feel like I gave up, but yet I'm telling you today, as Jesus was even in the grave. He already went through the same thing that you went through. But by the grace of God, he was risen. He rose up and even when the ladies came, the Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, when they came to that stone, thinking that they will be able to remove that stone, the Bible says in Mark 16 verse 3, the Bible says, and they said amongst themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulture and when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away for it was very great. Church of God, I need you to understand something. The thing that you think is that the last nail on the coffin is not the last nail on the coffin. I can make an example. Let me talk about an old Kenyan guy, a Kenyan guy. Bishop, do you know Kenyan guy of the age of 80? Let me explain the story for you. Here's a story that you should understand why I'm saying it's not the end of the time. This Kenyan guy was so you can almost call it hunger for God that he wanted to read the Bible for himself. He couldn't, he didn't like it. The fact that everybody tell the Bible according to how they see the Bible and how they read the Bible. He wanted to read the Bible for himself. And every time, whenever it comes to a time where he should be, he should take the quiet time with God. He couldn't read the Bible. He had to now call somebody to read the Bible for him. And every time when somebody is called to read the Bible for him, they all had excuses. And every excuse makes him to get so angry that he said to them no one just leave this thing and on the 12th of January 2004 a 84 Kenyan farmer named Kimani Maruhe 84-year-old guy, Kimani, walked into a primary school in Eldoret and sat down in grade 1. Imagine, grade one, somebody of the age of 84 and you, you think that when you left school, when you were 17 years of age and now you're only 20 years of age, I'm too old to go back to school. Now you're 25, I'm too old to go back to school. Now I'm 30, I'm too old to go back to school. Now I'm 50, I'm too old to go back to school. 84 years of age, old men. next to the six-year-old. Next to the six-year-old. This old man was standing there. He said he wanted just to learn to read the Bible for himself. He passed his first exams with straight A's. Straight A's. And that was in English. Now, now, If I can say to you, at 85, the school made him the head boy. 85. Imagine this guy already gave up. I didn't go to school. I couldn't be the head boy. This guy goes. 85 years of age, he was made the head boy of the school. and listen to this the genius world of records listed him as the oldest person ever to begin primary school Debra is on the genius world of records have you ever been even in a record of Pretoria or not I'm talking about that book that they put here every time they put that record what is the newspaper the weekly record you have not even been on a record like that this guy of 85 years of age is in the world He has records and that record has shown him to be the oldest person to begin primary school Everybody around him already 40 years ago decided it's done for him. everybody around him decided finished, done they already decided there's nothing left this guy is too old 40 years or let's call it let's make it 50 years ago even, when he was 30, he is already done and here is the situation I'm telling you now. The stone that was rolled wasn't rolled in his ability, but it was rolled by the power of God, who God is the one that moved it. Stop thinking that it's your own power that will make things to move. It is not as finished as it looks. It is not as done as it can be. It is not even certain that it was over. The tomb was even sealed. It was even guarded. It sounded like a final destination for Jesus. But it was the greatest comeback in history that is even recorded up until today. It is recorded. What looks like death and buried to you. Maybe the very first thing that God is about to raise you. God is about to raise you. Don't give up as yet. As much as you want to give up, don't give up as yet. Because the moment you're giving up, you actually tell the devil, Ah, no, he has won the race. you have not won your race as yet. I mean, there's certain things that you need to understand about the Bible. What looks completely dead and buried to you, maybe the thing that shows that that is the time actually where God is about to move into. The more you become lower, the less you become of yourself, the more you allow God's spirit to take over. You need to be dying for yourself first, or on yourself first, or however the case may be. You need to die. If you go to Ezekiel 37. Let's go to Ezekiel 37. Now, Ezekiel 37, and I would like us, I would like us to read from verse 3. Now, Ezekiel 37 verse 3 says as follows, And he said unto me, Son of man, can these dry bones, or can these bones instead, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Thou knowest. again he said unto me prophesy upon these bones and say unto them oh ye dry bones hear the word of the lord thus said the lord thus said the lord god unto these bones behold i will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live and he shall live. Do you know that there was a there was a dead guy who was buried with people that was dying. When they put him in the grave, the people that was already dead they risen just by the touch of this guy's body. Go and Google it. Imagine you dying for somebody to live Go read the Old Testament You will get this one Imagine. No, Bishop, you mustn't talk. I want somebody to go do homework. The man is gone. He's finished. He's dying. He's dead body. somebody get up that they thought he was gone long time that is how you need to understand in life as well it is not over until god says he's over it is not over until god says he's over in john 11 verse 25 jesus said unto her i am the resurrection and the life. He that believed in me, though we were dead, yet shall he live. Though he were dead, yet shall he live. This was the third day at dawn. The first day of the week. A new morning. God specializes in new mornings. After your worst nights. new mornings after your worst nights. And I want you to think of those worst nights that you were having before. And look at a lot of worst nights that you were having before, just so that your mind can open up to better nights that come. Because remember this thing there, some of us don't understand how many things, I mean, how many times we were giving up before. Just think of one moment you gave up before and where you are today. Miskat, let's talk about this, what they call this thing, the house that we had. We almost, Bishop, we almost went to go and say to the bank, just take it back. Because we couldn afford it anymore at that time Our graveyard moment is our testimony for today. Your graveyard moment, you just have to go and look at a lot of times when that happened in your life. How many times you gave up? however dark last night was however the night of last night was dark God's mercies are new every morning it is not too late it is not too late because His mercies are new every morning. And I can say to you, if his mercies are new every morning, it means tomorrow morning is new again. They are new every morning. Huh? So, as much as you like to have a new mercy, remember, although your night is, weeping might endure but for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Weeping can endure for but a night, but joy come in the morning. I can tell you now, as your night is already in half of it, although you are in the darkest situation, the newest day has already been risen. The newest day has already been showing his forthcoming. The moment the clock strikes 12 at night, it's already a new morning. and it's not because you wake up at 8 o'clock, you wake up at 11 o'clock, you wake up at 12 o'clock. It's not. Although even though you're waking up is only 12 in the morning, it is already new day, the 12 in the morning hours. Stop thinking because you wake up late that it's a new day when you wake up. Even in your darkest situations, God has already awoken you. God has already awoken you Lamentations Lamentations 3 from the verse 22 Lamentations 3 from the verse 22 says, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because of his compassion failed not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. You think it's too late. Yeah, it's all right. It's only a mere thought. Let me ask you. There was a time that the fear has taken over you so much that you thought it was the end. You thought it was the end. Fear has taken over you. But yet, it wasn't the end. The thing that you felt, it's death. It's not the end. You even buried it. But yet, it was not the end. The grave is empty. Not because of Jesus woke up and left it. No, the grave is empty because Jesus needed to go through a situation for three days of darkness to show you, even if your day is three days, 30 days, 40 days, years, 20 years, your whole life, you've been in a grave of darkness. he's about to get into that grave with you so that you and him will be resurrected at the same time because as Jesus was resurrected from that grave your graveyard situation has also been resurrected it's just the fact that you're looking at only the negative side of things don't look at a negative because some of the negatives is the reason why we stand where we are Now, I would like you to look at this whole series of messages that we were talking about or the principles of Jesus. Next week, I'll finish. I'll finish with the last part of this series. and I would like you to also tell me, should I go on with another series or should I just know, just do the one-by-one messages for different, you can almost call it different sections of your life. But if I can just give you a recap on our Jesus principles, started from the 14th of June. We sitting now today is on the 15th principle. So the first principle, which was come closer even when you feel too far gone to be touched. The second one was show up yourself. Do not just pay the bills. That was our Father's days. Release what was never yours to carry. That was principle number three. And take the root to God, not the symptoms. That was principle four. principle five take the first real action before you feel ready some of us never feel ready to start something so bless the little that you have and start with it so some of us think that we need to have more than what we actually have before we can do something but here God says bless the little that you have and start with something step out and own the thing that you are hiding and you will stand that's principle number seven pull away to the secret place and get refilled or refueled That is in principle number eight. Principle number nine, press through and reach for him in the crowd. And then turn the feelings into action, not just a post. Don just post into Facebook and Instagram and all of that Principle number 10 pick up a towel The biggest people are the ones who serve And that where Jesus was serving And principle number 12, confronting the wrong thing that you keep tolerating. And then principle number 13, take the step you have been dreading to take. Just move to the thing that you never wanted to do. and then finishing number 14, I mean, finishing the thing you keep wanting to quit and like I said today, which is number 15 as you were just about to quit so if you miss any of these all of them are on a playlist in our YouTube channel Fountain of Grace, Pretoria Nod FGI handle whatever handle they call it it's on YouTube, you can just look for Fountain of Grace International and when you go into Fountain of Grace International you will see us there and then our last part of this series next week we're finishing the whole series and it ends with you the series will end with you after everything God has done the touching, the running, the multiplying, the raising he turns and looks at ordinary you and he says go there's no plan B, please don't get me wrong, there's no plan B, you are the plan there's no plan B, you are the plan I'm going to send you out with the way he sent his first ones You know do not want to miss this finale If you would like you can even bring somebody with But this will be the last finale. And I want you to listen to the message of today. Just to recap again. we've been for far too long thinking it is over while God has never said it's over I'm reminded of somebody who said if you would have been here this wouldn't have happened is it my brother he wouldn't have died if you were here I wouldn't have had to give my house away. Some of these situations, you feel like that. God, if you were here, I wouldn't have gotten a life sentence in prison. You felt like that is your death situation. You were dying at that moment. Yet after 27 years, Nelson Mandela stood up. or step out of a prison into a presidency. And yet, you're thinking your situation cannot change. Your situations can change. It is not the last of the last. It is not the last of the last. Whatever you think it's the last, it's literally just the few minutes before your morning is starting Joy cometh in the morning His mercies are new every morning Let it be your new section Heavenly Father, I would like to take this opportunity and ask you, show us where are we about to give up? and use that opportunity as we are about to give up to help us out, to hold on for just one minute again, hold on to hold on just that one last time so that we can stand as victorious ones over the enemy because we did not give up. Some has already been given up and that is why the enemy gets seen as victorious in their lives. But we will not be seen that he is the victorious one. We will be the victorious one over the enemy, over Satan and his people, over Satan and his angels, over Satan and everything that he wanted us to be down. We are like Job that was sitting on ashes and still did not say any wrong word towards God. But we already prayed that God will help us through. That is what we pray for this afternoon, this morning, Father God. Let that be a strength part to strengthen us to know that this is our last time. that we will keep on keeping on. And every time when we want to give up, we kept on keeping on. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Now let us share
