You are right now in the presence of destiny, this message that you are reading today is because God planned it to be so. Before you were born, God planned this very hour for you. It’s a special moment in your life and you’re going to have to do what you choose with it.

Make up your mind. You’re going to do the right thing with it. Make up your mind.

Thank you, Lord. How gracious you are. How gracious. How merciful you are. So merciful. So merciful. Thank you, Lord. There’s something that God made possible for human beings. Animals don’t have it. Angels don’t have it. Of course, demons don’t have it. It was only given to human beings and you have to do something. You do something with it.

Your faith in God is important.

Only humans are given the capacity to believe and act accordingly. That is so important. You have the capacity to believe and act on it. Animals cannot believe and act. Demons cannot believe and act. They can believe but they cannot act on it. When they believe they tremble. They can act on it. But humans are given the capacity to believe and act accordingly. Some people say I can’t believe. No, you can.

Every human being can believe. But you choose to believe or not to believe. It’s always a choice to believe or not to believe. It’s always a choice. Even children learn to believe while they’re still very young. If mommy makes a promise, they believe. If daddy makes a promise to a child, they believe, and they act on the word that mommy spoke or that daddy spoke. Children, they don’t need a seminar on believing. You grew up believing many things without any pressure. Human societies are built on believing and acting on believing. Human societies are built on faith.

All the structures of human societies are built on faith. You have faith in the school. That’s why you send your kids to the school. That’s why you attended it in the first place. You have faith in your neighbor.

That’s why you chose to live next to him.

The whole society is structured on faith believing.

It’s very simple. Why do you go to the doctor?

You never asked the doctor if he was qualified to treat you before you went there.

You didn’t ask him for his qualification documents. You didn’t ask him for his certificate.

Somebody told you that’s the doctor and you were ready. Oh doctor, pleased to meet you.

And then you started explaining to the doctor what the problem was.

He gave you instructions and you followed. You never asked him for his certificates. You believe that the system was already structured to have found out about that to be sure that he was qualified before they employed him. You trusted the system.

But if many of you have listened to some of the news coming out of some of these places for years, you would know that some doctors were actually butchers.

Do you ever hear of Dr. Death in Australia? There was a doctor death in the United Kingdom and also Dr. Death in the United States. These people killed a lot of people. These doctors deliberately killed instead of treating them. And it took a while before the system found out that something was wrong. The system failed the people who trusted in it. But it didn’t stop us from trusting.

Didn’t stop us from trusting. Some of you have travelled by air. You flew several hours without even asking if the pilot was qualified to fly the plane.

You just followed. They said gate five and you looked at your paper. It was gate five and you went there and got in the plane. There are people who will tell you they got in the wrong plane and they were taken elsewhere.

You didn’t even ask any question. You just entered and sat there, where are you going? Your neighbor asks you, sitting close to you, wow, said I’m going to Lagos. Okay, thank God you you’re here now. But you never asked whether the pilot was qualified to fly the plane. You didn’t even ask how good the plane was before you got in. You had faith in the system.

Faith. So your faith is working all the time when it comes to the things of God. You say, “Well, I don’t know if I believe that or not.” You don’t know if you believe that or not. That was your choice.

It was your choice to believe or not to believe. But I have to tell you something.

In Romans chapter 1 verse 16, I want to read it to you and I want you to see it. Romans 1:16, Paul the

Apostle writes, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” Notice what it says. It says, “The gospel of Christ,” that means the good news about Jesus, the salvation that Jesus brought.

This gospel of Christ is the power of God to save. He cannot save without the Gospel of Christ. He says the Gospel of Christ is the power of God for the salvation of everyone that believes. If you don’t believe it, he cannot save you.

You see the problem? So you can’t say, “Well, you know, I heard the gospel. I don’t believe it.” If you don’t believe it, you cannot be saved.

You have to believe it to be saved. Look at it again. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. The power of God to bring about salvation to everyone that believeth.

Everyone who believes. If you don’t believe it, you don’t get it. Period. You have to believe it. You have to believe it. There are people who have heard about Jesus Christ and they chose not to believe, and because they didn’t believe, they haven’t received salvation.

You can’t say, “Well, if God is going to save me, let him do it by himself.” He’s already done his part. He did it in Jesus Christ. He already did his part in Jesus Christ. Your part is to believe in what he did. Now you have to believe. His part is complete.

In St. Mark’s Gospel chapter 9, the Bible tells us about a man who wanted healing for his son, his little boy, and he brought the boy to the disciples and they couldn’t cast the devil out of the boy until Jesus came.

So when Jesus arrived there, the man immediately turned to the master and said, “Master, I brought my little boy to you.” But the disciples couldn’t help. If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

I want to read that story to you. I want you to enter from the 20th verse St. Mark’s Gospel chapter 9.

And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. The demon was tormenting the little boy on the floor.

In verse 21, he asked his father, Jesus asked the father, the boy’s father, “How long is it ago since this came unto him?” And he said, “Of a child.” Since he was a child, he’s been through this.

Look at, I want you to read with me. He goes on to tell Jesus about the condition. He says, “And of times it had cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if you canst do anything,” he’s talking to Jesus. If you canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

Can you put it in in a simpler English, maybe like the NIV? I I want young people to see this and understand it. So again, the father explains to Jesus what his condition was. He says,

“It has often thrown him, the demon has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

The father of the boy says to Jesus, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. If you can do anything, he says that to Jesus.” Let’s see Jesus response. Next verse. “If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Everything is possible for him who believes.

What a story. What a story. What a story.

Let me give you another story in the Bible, to help you understand a little further.

If you look at the 8th chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel and you go to the 40th verse. And it came to pass that when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him, for they were all waiting for him.

Verse 41. And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue, and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house. This man was well known in the place of conquest, in the place of the assembly.

He was well known. So he came to Jesus to invite Jesus to his house. Why? Next verse.

For he had one only daughter. He had just one child, a girl about 12 years of age. And she lay at dying. She was dying. But as he went, the people thronged him.

Jesus agreed to go with him. So he says, “But as Jesus went with him, the man’s asking Jesus, please come to my house because my little daughter, 12-year-old daughter is dying.”

So Jesus starts going with him. But there’s a lot of people around Jesus.

And there was an interruption. You can you can read about that interruption. It’s the lady with the with hemorrhage.

Okay. So, we’ll jump that story, that part of the story, because it’s another person’s story and continue with this man’s story. So, let’s take it from the 48 verse just so that woman was healed. That’s the woman with hemorrhage. And he said unto her, “Daughter, be of good comfort. your faith has made you whole.” While he yet spake, while he was still speaking to that lady who interrupted and got her own healing, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, from Jairus’s house, saying to him, “your daughter is dead.” I mean the girl was sick when Jairus went to look for Jesus to invite Jesus to his house to come heal his daughter. Now Jesus agrees to go with him and then somebody delays them with her own case and while they’re standing there he gets a message from home, “Your daughter is dead now.” He’s supposed to go to Jesus to say condition has worsened, right?

She’s dead. So they tell him, “your daughter is dead. Trouble not the master. No need for him to come. She’s dead.” Okay, look at the next verse.

But when Jesus heard it, when Jesus heard it, what did he hear? He heard the message that was given to the man, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the master. No need.”

But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, “Fear not. Believe only.” and she shall be made whole. I want you, this is remarkable. This is remarkable. I want you to notice what Jesus says here. They come tell the man, “Yeah, your daughter was sick and the sickness worsened and now she’s dead.” Jesus says, “Fear not. Believe only, and she shall be healed.” Jesus is acting like he didn’t hear the girl is dead.

He’s still talking about she shall be healed. Made whole. All right. She shall be made whole. He’s supposed to say, “Oh, um, she shall be raised back to life.” He didn’t say that. He didn’t say that.

You know, sometimes when you’re believing God about something, the condition can get worse. And you go, “Oh, I’m trying to believe at this level and things go worse.” No. Jesus said, “Fear not. Believe only.

Believe only and she shall be made whole.” Didn’t say raised from the dead. He’s acting like he doesn’t know the girl is dead. No. Jesus has refused to recognize the death.

He takes what the man said, “Come and lay your hand on my daughter and she shall be healed. She shall be made whole.” Jesus accepts that invitation and is going with him. Now there’s an interruption. It’s worse.

He says, “Believe only.” In other words, all I want you to do is believe. Just believe. Tell somebody only believe.

Only believe. Don’t struggle. Just believe. He says, “Fear not. Believe only. And she shall be made whole.” Look at the next part. And when he came into the house, when they got to the house, he suffered no man to go in. He allowed no one to go in with them. Now, can you go back to the NIV? Okay.

When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, and James and the child’s father and mother.

So, there are people outside already. They already heard the girl’s dead. I told you he was a popular man. So, you come to a house like this, a lot of people. So, there are people outside already.

Jesus didn’t let anybody go in with him except Peter, John, and James, and then the child’s father and mother. Okay. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. wailing, mourning. They’re crying outside.

So Jesus arrives. They says, “Stop wailing.” Jesus said, “She is not dead, but asleep. I told you she’s not dead but asleep. Next verse. They laughed at him knowing that she was dead.

They laughed at Jesus. I thought they were mourning just now. These people were mourning, crying, wailing. Jesus says the girl is sleeping. They stop crying. They clean out their eyes and start laughing at Jesus. They’re mocking him.

They’re mocking Jesus. They’re mocking him. Look at it. They laughed at him. They laughed at him knowing that the girl was dead.

Next verse. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up.” So what happened? Look next verse. Her spirit returned and at once she stood up.

Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Oh wow. Imagine if you had been there that day. Oh boy, I love it.

Next verse. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened because when they come out of the room, they’re going to see what happened anyway.

But they they’re going to be asking questions. tell us what did Jesus do? Was the girl really dead? They’re going to be asking stupid questions. So Jesus said, “Don’t tell them what I did. Just take the girl out. Give her food. That’s enough.” Do you get it?

What do they tell the man to do? Only believe. Only believe. Don’t struggle. Only believe. Only believe the Word of God has power of itself.