Here is a powerful sermon message with Bible verses on the topic Mightier than the Flood by Pastor Sonny Wogu.
Bible Text: Psalm 93:3-4 "The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their waves.4 The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea."
Mightier than the Flood
The flood represents the challenges of life. The floods are so intimidating and so trembling and could destabilize and paralyze one with fear.
However, no matter how gigantic, or how threatening and intimidating The challenges of life may be, I want to assure you that our Almighty God has the final say, and before him. every flood is but a mere bubble.
The flood may be sweeping everything in its path, but by the time that flood gets to where God is, it becomes a mere bubble. And because God is with us, we are not expected to be paralyzed with fear because of the floods. Sermon with Bible Verses on His Wish, My Command
Romans 8:31, "...If God be for us, who can be against us?" I want you to know that the flood may be like a tsunami, it might look so big, but, you need not be afraid because with God you have victory. Every flood that may be staring you in the face will burst like a bubble and fizzle away, you will have a testimony, and you will be standing, even in this country.
There are three things that are connected to the flood, voice, noise, and waves. Psalm 93:3 "The foods lifted up", the floods have a voice, and can lift up, that's the noise of their waves; that suggests that the flood is a personality that can speak, and convey things; like fear, destruction, frustration, loss, anxiety, death, failure, terminal and incurable diseases... But I want you to know, as intimidating as the presence of the food may be, before God they are mere bubbles. This will be your testimony in Jesus' Name.
The floods speak, the waves represent the physical presence of the flood. It will take a shape to intimidate, it enlarges in size and comes with such force that when you look at it, if you are not careful your heart may fail you. The physically intimidating presence of the flood is speaking one language; metaphorically, the language of destruction.
God is speaking to us, using the things that we can relate to, to pass a message. He is telling you. "Don't be bothered by that intimidating problem, the only thing you need to be comforted with is that God is with you, you can depend on God."
Psalm 93:4 God is telling us "What the flood is saying is nothing but, mere noise." It depends on what you want to hear, the flood may even be reminding you of a particular addiction in your life, that you can't get away from this lifestyle or habit. There are some people, who are in bondage of sin, a particular lifestyle, that could be the flood staring that person in the face. If you will agree with God, you will not be held down permanently, you shall be free whether the devil likes it or not, with God your freedom is guaranteed.
Jeremiah 46:17, we are told that Pharaoh the king of Egypt is but a noise. Pharaoh was a king of world power at that time, physically speaking when pharaoh speaks it is as good as God, he had all the power; but for God, pharaoh is what? Noise! Pharaoh was inconsequential, and when God decided to deal with Pharaoh, He dealt with him in such a way that He left no one in doubt who was in charge, He dealt with Pharaoh and decimated Pharaoh.
Do you know that we believers, suffer more from fear than reality? The devil will use fear to afflict you maximally; God has guaranteed journey mercies for your loved one that is on a journey, but because of some circumstance the person was delayed, the devil will cash in on that, use that as an opportunity and begins to throw arrows and lies into your heart; he'll say, "You can see you can't get him on the phone something terrible must have happened. Whenever he goes he normally calls you, but today did he call you? That means the plane has crashed, go and check now you will see it on the TV." You obey the devil, you rush and go and check and there is nothing on the TV, the devil will laugh and says, "You fool", but you see you have lost your peace, you will be panicking, and later on, your loved one will call you and say, "Sorry my battery ran out." So all those hours of torment were for nothing, why? Because we did not put our trust in God, we decided to listen to the enemy.
You shouldn't debate with the devil, you shouldn't talk to him, you have no business with him, stand on the word of God, believe what God is saying and it shall be well with you.
I have good news for you; you may be faced with all kinds of intimidating presence of the flood, in the area of your health, it may be bereavement or any other crippling distress, the Lord is mightier than the floods, Psalm 93:4 "The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea."
You saw the mighty presence of the flood, but God is mightier than the mighty flood, when the enemy will come as a flood, the Lord will raise a standard, higher than the enemy, and the Lord will make a way of escape for you. That is why you should not fear; some have died of fear and panic before anything will come near them.
What do see? Yes, the enemy is painting pictures but what do you see? In Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up: 1st Samuel 17:36-37, David saw differently from the rest of the army of Israel, David saw a mere bubble, while others saw a giant called, Goliath who intimidated them for days, David saw a mere bubble.
I ask you again, what do you see? When you begin to see that challenge as a mere bubble, it will come to pass as a mere bubble, what do you see?
That is the question you should ask yourself; what am I seeing now? What am I looking at? God has called it mere noise, do you believe the report of the Lord? Even as a nation, we have our challenges, but God is telling us not to lose faith, that even the present challenge that we are going through as a nation shall come to pass.
The believers will have the last laugh; go and write it down somewhere, our testimony is only getting bigger. When life throws complicated stuff at you, it is in order to give you a big testimony, because if things were straightforward, maybe people will take it for granted, but when they now hear how complicated it was, they will be able to testify that this is the finger of God. God is giving us a big testimony in Jesus' name. 1st Samuel 17:26, you will see there, that notwithstanding what happened, how the rest of the army, were trembling; when David came to the scene, David looked at Goliath, look at the kind of question he was asking, they were shaking, these were soldiers and David asked, what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? David was already asking, what is the reward; because he was seeing a reward, he saw that Goliath was a mere bubble that will soon burst.
They tried to discourage him, some would even think that he was mad, like some people will think that you have lost your mind when you speak authoritatively, you are looking at that challenge, the doctor is saying one thing, but you are believing God for another thing. Some of them will laugh and say, "This one has lost his/her mind."
You are standing on the truth; you are not disputing their report medically speaking, and you are not quarrelling with the laboratory report, but you are standing on the truth, what God has said concerning you, that is what is going to come to pass. When God has promised you something and you hold on to it, I want to assure you; no matter how things will go, eventually, God will give you a testimony.
This is a true Life story. After, the war, my father went to his place of work, and after a little while, they told everybody "Please, the company has been sold to another company, all the employees should go, at a much later date, you will be called to be paid off." It was game over, park your things and go, they brought new security to replace the old one, but my father said that when God was giving him that job, God told him, "You will use this job, to train all your children”, that was what God told him. So when they gave that announcement, my father said, "Look, my children are all still in primary school, some have not even started school, so what you people are saying cannot be for me." They laughed at him; he was telling them what God told him and they were telling him a reality on the ground. He said, "I'm not quarrelling with your reality, but I heard clearly what God told me, this was what He told me."
My father will even tell you where he was when God spoke to him, at the place of prayer, so he refused to take their no for an answer, they shut the gate and everybody was sent home, my father went home alright, but the next day he took his bath and went back to the company. The place was shut, no work, he sat with the security people until when it was time to close, he stood up and trekked back home, he was doing that for days and weeks, news filtered to the Pastor, "Look is like one of your members has lost it oh, look at his company has closed, they've driven everybody but he is still trekking to work and coming back, that he'll just go there and sit with people, the Pastor said "Is that so? Oh no." The Pastor sent for my Dad. The day my Dad went to see the Pastor, I went with him and the Pastor sat him down and started counselling, "You know sometimes in life, these things will happen..." He talked and talked, "As from tomorrow, please I don't want you to go back there again, just stay in your house and rest, we'll be praying for you, we are sure God will provide another job and all that."
My father thanked him very well and assured him that he understood his concern and everything, but however, he said, "This was what God told me, and I believed it then and I am still believing it now." He said, "I don't want to doubt God, I don't know what God is doing but since he has told me this, I will believe him to the end, thank you Sir, but I will rather wait on the Lord to work out what he has in his mind." The Pastor shook his head; as we were going I saw him, he just resigned himself to what was happening, my Dad took me (a little child as I was then) and we walked away.
The next day he took his bath and went to work, when he'll be trekking back he will take the handkerchief and cover his head because of the sun, I always remember when he would come back, looking tired, and that was it, no work!
My father continued until the management of the new company came, and now said they wanted to revamp the company. They hired the personnel manager of the former company to help them recruit some trusted hands in the company (the company was then in Enugu); they said, look, "We want somebody who can speak Hausa very well, we want to send him to the North to go and open a branch there for us, we will need somebody who could speak Yoruba very well, to send him to the West to open a branch there for us, so please if amongst your former employees, you have anybody that meets that, get such people." Do you know with this new requirement, which the manager had already known was going to happen, so on that particular day when he informed some of his relatives and friends to be nearby. My Dad was surprised that some former employees that have never been there come and sat with him under the mango tree; my father said why are you joining me here? I thought you have been laughing at me, they said don't worry something is happening. After a little while the manager came and called one of my Dad's colleagues, then afterwards, called another one, my Dad was still standing there, so when the one he called first entered, the managing director asked him, "Can you speak Hausa?" unknown to him, the managing director could speak Hausa, he started speaking Hausa straight to the guy and the guy said "I cannot understand Hausa, he now turned to the manager, "Why did you bring him here then?" The man with his mouth said, "But I know the person who can speak Hausa; Mr. Wogu is under the mango tree, he can speak Hausa." The MD said "Mr. Wogu, a former employee here, he said, "Yes Sir." The MD asked the manager "Why didn't you bring Mr. Wogu, why did you bring this man here? The man that was brought said "Sorry Sir, let me go and call Mr. Wogu", the man ran to the mango tree and called my Dad. When he entered the man spoke Hausa to him and my Dad replied when my Dad started speaking Hausa so fluently and so well, then the MD said "Whether the devil likes it or not, you are heading to the North, you are our new branch manager there. He signed, he said "Accountant, release money that, if you cannot go today, 1st thing tomorrow morning head to the North, go to Makurdi and start a branch there for us", my father said "Yes Sir" and that was how he followed the accountant and they signed some money and gave him everything he needed; I was still in the house that day, but before the normal time a taxi stopped, I was wondering, then my father came out; I asked him "Papa, today you came back with a taxi?" he said "Come", he dragged me inside, he was so excited and happy, and he told us the whole story. He had so much money; he brought out money and shared with many persons, he instructed that we "Told the Pastor that he has travelled to the North, that God has given him back his job." Do you know that was how my father got back his job?
My father worked in that company until he retired; when he retired they extended his contract, they said "You have to work for so, so number of years until we get a suitable replacement for you."
Until I came out of Law school my father worked in that place. What was a mighty flood, became a bubble; people were laughing at him, and thought he had gone mad; it was the same Pastor now that was using his case to preach.
He said, "Even me, I discouraged him, but this man told me he heard from God, I thought he was not serious, but now I know that truly he heard from God." You will share your testimony very soon! Don't let people discourage you. Your situation may be intimidating, and that is why many of us lose it; when you see the intimidating situation, you begin to analyze, sometimes you run to a website, you begin to check and you will see what will come; the devil will begin to tell you things, he will even show you where they said that one out of millions suffer from this thing and you'll say, "So this is the type of thing me I'm going through" and you will just throw in the towel.
You might be the first person to have the testimony, how God is going to work it out is none of your business, like my father refused to bother himself about what was going to happen, all he held onto was what God had told me, that I will be in this job until I train my children, I'm only beginning to train them so how can they say that the job is finished, until God tells me that, as far as he was concerned, the job was not done, and God honoured that his faith.
God is looking for those that will believe him, dare to believe him; people like Elijah that will pour water over and over unto the altar of sacrifice before calling fire, what is impossible with man, with God it is possible, that is something I want you to appreciate. This morning, it doesn't matter what the flood you are looking at, no matter what that flood is, I want you to know that it is a mere noise and a bubble. Psalm 29:4-5, "The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon." You can see the difference between the voice of God and the voice of flood.
The voice of the flood is mere noise but the voice of the Lord is powerful. The flood may be speaking to you, trying to strike fear inside you, the question is who will you listen to? If you will dare to listen to God, believe him and stand on his word, I can assure you that your testimony is on the way. It may be a lifestyle when the temptation of sin threatens you like a flood, that may be a situation you are facing right now, but remember Joseph, he also was threatened with such a situation, but Joseph leaned on God, what you shouldn't do is to begin to debate with that temptation.
Don't debate or reason with that temptation, disregard the waves of that temptation. That was what Joseph did; Joseph was faced with waves of temptation, and that temptation was sin, Portiphar's wife, his mistress was the one trying to seduce him, and she was persistent, she refused to let go, she tried for several days and weeks and months but when Joseph was not forthcoming, she decided to take this matter into her hands. Could you imagine what this meant for Joseph? It was quite intimidating, it was overwhelming, for many young men, they would have thrown in the towel, they will say, "This one God no go blame me", after all, Joseph was a slave in Egypt, and a slave then didn't have a say, a slave was to do whatever the master or the mistress will say, Joseph could have used that as the perfect excuse, he would have said, "Well, God is the one that allowed me to become a slave, and as a slave, I don't have a mouth; if my mistress says, "Come here", I will come, she says I should do this, I will do, so God oh, you know, "It is a condition that made crayfish to bend", Joseph could have done that. You may be in a situation, maybe at your place of work, they are giving you a condition that will make you compromise your faith; that is a flood, maybe they've even told you to go and think about it, and right now you're in the process of thinking about it, God is talking to you, and God is telling you to give them the reply of the three Hebrew children. The three Hebrew children told Nebuchadnezzar, "We have nothing to think about, we can't consider this nonsense, for us the answer is certain and sure, we will not bow before your image whatever you want to do, go ahead and do it." Go, take back that same message to your employer, to that your boss, tell your boss ,"My birthright is not for sale, if you like take away your job and position, my birthright is not for sale period!" Your boss may remind you the packages of office, "You know you're in the company's house, you know you are using the company car, you know your children are on scholarship based on this company...", tell your boss "You don't need to remind me of all the so-called benefits, they are not worth my birthright period." When you do that, allow God to take over, even if they throw you out, walk out like Joseph; you know Joseph was eventually thrown into prison, and people will say, "Ah Joseph, that didn't want to sin against God, why should he suffer", Joseph was not in the real sense suffering, he was only at the right place at the right time, and if it will take Portiphar's wife to send him to that right place, then so be it.
If Joseph had not gone to prison, he wouldn't have met the baker and the butler, it was only in the prison that he would have met them, so God allowed Portiphar's wife to instigate his being sent there so that he could meet them; have you seen how God was working out things, but for the non-initiated, the non-discerning, they may think that Joseph was suffering, When God wants to bless you, he will come in a way you least expected.
As a junior lawyer, where I cut my teeth in chambers, I was confronted with a temptation; a big merchant was about to take a facility from a bank, and she brought her company as collateral. They were to do some legal search and came to the company, where I worked and was assigned with the responsibility of conducting that legal search suddenly this lady with her husband accosted me and told me, "Look, we know that they have given you our property to go and conduct a search on, we have something to tell you, that property is presently encumbered with another bank, but when we collect this money from this your client, we will pay off the lien so that this property will be free and we can now use it for this particular facility; if we tell this bank that it is presently under encumbrance, they will not give us the loan, so we don't want the bank to know, so you will have to work with us and cooperate with us, then we will do you well, I said, "Is that so" and they said, "Yes.' I said, "Sorry, I am going to conduct a search and whatever I see, I will report." They said, do you like the way you are now? I said, "Yes, why not?" They said it is because I have not tasted a better life. I said, "What do you mean?" They said, "Look at your car." I was driving a second-hand white beetle that my parents bought for me and I was very happy because my mates were trekking. Me, I had at least a car and they were insulting my beetle that I was very proud of, they said they were going to give me money to buy any car of my choice, I laughed, I said: "Sorry, you can keep your money, I am happy with what I have." They looked at me, and they said, "Okay, name your price", I said it's not a matter of price, I am not for sale, my birthright cannot be purchased by anybody." I went, conducted a search and wrote my report, told the bank exactly what I saw.
The bank had already written their cheque, and was waiting for my report; as a matter of fact, the manager was about to go out, and they were pressuring him to hand over the cheque, that my report was coming and it was going to be positive. The manager told me he almost handed it over but he said, "Let me just wait for this report" and somehow he waited, and suddenly I came. As he read the report, he froze. "You mean this property is not free?" I said, "No, it's not free, sorry." The man just took the cheque and tore it right before my eyes; he started thanking God for saving him. Do you know the couple went berserk, they just got so infuriated with me, the woman came and started raining curses on me, that since I don't want to be rich, I will die a poor man... I said Madam, "The curse shall no curse lest come", and I walked away, and I thought that was the end of the matter. A few months after, this same man came to call me, that his wife is calling me, I said, "Calling me? What for, she wants to continue her curses, I said, "Please go and tell her that I'm not coming." The man started laughing. When the man started laughing, I became curious, he said, "No, come oh, it's not because of curses, she wants to see you", I said, "What, I don't have anything to do with her, she is not my client." He said, "Come and hear her." I got curious, and I now decided to go with him, when I got to her office, she was very courteous, she stood up, she said "Please Sir, sit down", I looked at her, she now said "Please Sir, I want to ask you for a favour", I said "Madam another favour?" Remember how the first one ended, she started laughing too. I said, "Remember the first favour you wanted me to buy you and how it ended, you want to ask me another one?" And she started laughing; she said, "Look, since I started doing business in this country, I haven't seen anybody that I have not been able to compromise, you are the first and you are such a young man. I want to beg you to please agree to be our company lawyer, look at those files, (she pointed at the stack of files), she said, "I've gone to retrieve all these files from our lawyer, I want you now to take over, and please anything you charge us, we will pay you, the only thing that you will do for me is that you have to try and change o; you will change that your beetle now, buy a better car, and during vacation, I don't want to see you anywhere near Nigeria, I want you to travel with your family so that when people see you, they will know that you are our company lawyer."
Do you know, that I almost wept? Because when she was talking to me, I had just signed off to exit from my place of tutelage, and I was walking into nothing, literally speaking; I had no single file, I had nothing, and here somebody was begging me to carry stacks of files and giving me a blank cheque. She said, "Please when travelling I don't want to see you in the economy, make sure you fly business class", I said, "eh", and she said, "We will pay you well." Do you know that was how I got a stack of files? As a new wig, I just walked into what you will call a successful practice. But how did it start? It started with a flood that looked so intimidating, so overwhelming. God gave me the courage to say, "No, not under my watch."
Eventually, it was the same woman that God now used to bless me so much far beyond what I would have gotten, assuming I compromised, she did not stop there, she began to market me. Whenever someone says they are looking for a reliable lawyer, she will say, "Come, I have somebody I have never seen before in Nigeria, I will give to you." Suddenly, God used a source that was least expected to take me to where he wanted me to be.
The flood you are looking at today will be a platform for your testimony in Jesus' name. Suddenly, people that knew where I was coming from; will see me enter the plane and enter business class. Many times, they'll say "What's your ticket number?" I will laugh, and say "Don't worry about my ticket number, allow the air hostess to come and relocate me.
What the devil has meant for your downfall will actually be your stepping stones in Jesus' name. What he intended to make you stumble and fall, will be the same thing he will use and climb higher and higher to where God want to take you to. Don't be afraid, to dare that landlord to throw you out of the house, to dare that boss to tear your employment letter or whatever, dare them, and allow God to take absolute control, don't sell your birthright. Dare that lecturer, fail me 10 times if you want, I will not sell my birthright.
Acts 16:31, the word of God tells us there, "And they said, belief on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and your household ". Today believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, don't trust on any other thing, trust in Jesus. In John 8:32, the word of God tells us, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free". What I am presenting to you this morning is the truth, it is the only thing that can make you free, don't listen to the devil, the devil is a liar, and he will never want you to know the truth. In John 8:36, the word of God tells us that, "If the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Not partially free, "Free indeed", total freedom; that is the assurance God is giving to you, the only thing that may hinder you from that freedom is pride. In James 4:6, the word of God tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. The only thing that can resist your testimony may be just pride, so as you bow your head, begin to take authority over pride in your life. The devil might want to use pride to hinder your freedom but tell the Lord, "Give me all the grace I need today to be set free, give me all the grace I need to walk into my freedom." When you humble yourself before God like David did, God will promote you, God will exalt you, God will lift you up.
Are you here struggling with indecision one way or the other, and the word of God has come to you today, telling you to believe in the Lord Jesus, don't sell your birthright. Will you say, "Yes Lord"? Will you agree with him? Maybe right now you are thinking, "Should I do this or not?" And the word of God is telling you now "Don't do this", agree with him, I can assure you, you will laugh last. In every area, you are struggling with anything, any type of lifestyle contrary to the word of God. The word of God says He will set you free and you'll be free indeed, all you need to do is to humble yourself before Him, if that is your situation begin to ask God for forgiveness, strength to overcome and complete freedom.
A sermon message delivered by Pastor Sonny O. Wogu, APICR 33/PICP Rivers 5.
Culled from Echoes of Grace, April 2023 monthly publication of RCCG, Rivers Province 5 Headquarters, House of Grace Parish, #55 Woji Estate Road, Woji, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
COMMENTS