Sylvester Alanwoko Vision - about 2007

The speaker talks about his belief in following the heavenly vision and not being disobedient to it. He shares his personal experiences and sacrifices he has made to fulfill his calling. He emphasizes the importance of testifying about Christ and the gospel, especially in countries where Christians are persecuted. He also discusses the need for empowerment and self-sufficiency in communities, rather than relying on aid from other countries. He mentions the construction of a mission house to accommodate missionaries and empower people through education and skills training. to the palace of Pharaoh of Egypt. Egypt was the first civilization of the world. They ruled the world. They taught the world how to write. They had a lot of things. So for a man to leave that kind of place and begin to shepherd sheep in the bush is like darkness and light. One would have said to Moses, what are you doing here in the bush? But when the appointed time came, God manifested and his leadership authority stood out. I will pray for you not tonight, but before I go back to Nigeria, I will pray for you that you distract. You've got no distractions. You know, this time around, the devil uses the telephone to gossip, the text message to pollute people's hearts and draw attention and all the rest of them. God will give you wisdom because your being here has made you better than you ever was. You may not know what God is doing now, but you will know later. I tell you one thing, people that were teenagers together with Teresa will desire to be in the position and place where she is today, where you have your peace, where you have the glory of God. I mean, you know you are doing the right thing and God is with you. So, you may not catch everything, you may not like all the steps, you may not be as you desire, but there will be sounds in your ears, sounds in your spirit and sounds in your physical body and sounds all over, cravings of the body, cravings of the mind. It's natural, but the power of God will help you to suppress them. God will bring everything your way. Now, whatever God will give to you will be ministry compliant. It will be ministry compliant. See, God gave Teresa a husband that is ministry compliant. He is not somebody who is running around out there. So, God will give you a husband that is ministry compliant. He is not someone that will be running around and having his own agenda. He will be a cool-headed gentleman to the call and will love the Lord more than life itself. And that's one of the things he will love. And I say that to say that, you know, Paul told Agrippa that I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. When God showed me a vision, I wasn't disobedient to that. I took it. I followed it. The Jews caught me. They decided to deal with me. In fact, they decided to kill me except that I appealed my case to Caesar. So, that decision is what brought me here. I did not want to be disobedient to the heavenly vision. Now, I'll tell you one thing. There are so many people from all over the world, Africa, all over the world, that has come to America. And in this case, even more particular, Christians and much, much older ministers of the gospel. I know some from my own country. They came to this country. They came to preach. They never preached their message. They never got back from teaching them. Some of them are here for 20 years. Some of them 15 years. Some of them 18 years. Some of them have brought in their family, but they are no longer preaching the gospel. Let me show you something. You know, in the book of Galatians chapter 6, I think so, verse 17. In Galatians 6, 17, Paul made a statement. He says, from this day forward, I don't want any man to trouble me because I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I came here, at the other ranch, if I decided I would tell my mother that I'm staying here, she would assist me. Five years ago, six years ago, three years ago, I was up here two years ago, and I just came here. Even this year, if I tell Faith and God, I'm sorry, I'm not going back. If they pray to convince me, I say I'm not going back. I have no other choice but to help me, assist me, to feed me. Again, what I'm telling you. I am not disobedient to the heavenly vision to stay back there. And look at this. This is my belt. For about ten years I've been wearing this belt. See where I used to be. Can you see the marks? On my belt. Because I decided to bring it here, it reduced here, it came here, it came here, it came here, it came here, and now I'm looking for another one here. Can you look at my belt? Do you see the sign? It's true. I'm not a weight loss program. But it is part of the price you have to pay if you don't want to be disobedient to the heavenly vision. If you want to do what God wants you to do. Others can do whatever they want to do. But you who want to do the will of God have a price to pay. The book of Hebrews 11.24 says, When Moses was of age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He rather chose to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin in Egypt for a season. Now, that choice, that Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, was what landed him where he ended up for 40 years. But then that was what made him the greatest man. That choice to refuse that palace and identify with the people of God. That is my choice. I'm not in America today because I like Africa. I'm not in Africa because I like Africa. I am there because I have no choice. I am there because I know I am called to be there. I am there because I know what God is doing there. If I had not been there, with other, some of my friends I know who are here, that would not be happening. You know, that is something churches established, well drilled. People are drinking their water, are processing their food, they have grinding machines that grind their cassava, they process their food and they will have it for as long as possible. They drink clean water. Churches are in homes now, we're spreading out. And right on that, we are building a mission center, which I want you to take a look. And I want you to take a look at that before we come to the conclusion of Isaiah, verse 58, we talked about it before. You know, ask me please if you can, I want you to show this to people. So make sure everyone sees it. There you go. One by one, everyone sees it. So if she is with you, you just look at it and you look at me. Once it's done, we are praying and we are leaving. So, back to the book of Acts and Apostles. Paul says, I am saying nothing else other than those things, Moses and the prophets said should come, that Christ will suffer. I am testifying to every God, both small and great. That is what we are doing. Testifying to people, AIDS and other problems. If you check your news, you find out that now in Nigeria, it is Sunday morning. And people are going to lose their life today. Because the Boko Haram sect will bomb their church today. We just don't know which one they will bomb. But they will find a church to bomb. If they don't find a church to bomb, they will wake Christians and they will come and go, and they will open fire on them. Some people will pay the ultimate price today, in my country. No doubt about it. But you know one thing? They can't stop going to church. They won't stop going to church. And will never stop going to church. Because our calling is to testify to small and great. We say nothing else, other than those things that Moses said, that will come. Christ will die, Christ will rise again, and Christ will be the first to rise among the dead. That is it. And so, it's a responsibility we have to share. It's a commitment I have made, that when this life is over, I will be glad to stand before Christ and say, I did all I know to do. I did all you have made me to do. You know, like I said before, this gospel of standing on the pulpit and talking to people, and asking them to send their offerings to somewhere and somewhere, is very good. But we got to know that, without empowering a people, the people will remain powerless. Without empowering a people, the people will remain beggars. Let me tell you something. The people, sorry about that, but the people who make any nation great, are the people that stand on their feet and produce. Not the people that use what has been produced. In our case, in our case, America will not be helping us, by packaging food and scent. Package clothes and scent. Give us shoes, give us toys. That is really ridiculous. What we need, is treasure people. And the 35 churches that have been expanded, have given a mission. And that mission is that, we are building a mission house. That's the picture on your screen. The mission house, it will take, at least 8 couples. 8 couples, at a time. We said we are going to, God has told us to build a mission house, and government says, well, if you will build a mission house, who is going to be there? Missionaries from all over the world, America, anywhere they come from, long time, short time, they say that house must comply with every building code. Amen. Because it is our event. People from America will come there, it must be a standard house. And I said yes. Our God does not do standard work. So it's not that we want to do, yesterday morning, as I was saying to God, somebody asked me, how much will it take you to finish the mission house? I really did not know. But we know that, from where we are now, to the next level, we take at least, the budget is $13,340. American dollars. So when we finished, my brother began to talk to me, he said, you know, you should be able to get the upgrade plan. That house will take more than $50,000. So, why not believe God for the whole thing? And when I came back, as I talked to Revelation, I began to see Revelation, what he was telling me. I began to pray and repent and say, yes God, why do I have to build a second story, and I stop my vision on the third? When it is not even half of it, because when you do the deck, you still have to put the roof, and the doors, and the windows, and the floor, and all the electrical, you know, and you still have to do the program work, you know, all the details, and governance, they should be there. So, I said, yes, but, the key thing is, we are not building a seminary. We are not building Bible schools. It's an empowerment center. So that when you come, when people come, they give people the word, they give them the skill. If you come back the next year or two, you want to see those people producing, some of them with the towels, some of them with the hairdressers, a computer technician, welders, et cetera, et cetera. It's an empowerment center. It is not a handout center. That is the vision God has given. And then, that is how Isaiah 58 is working for me. I've tried, I've done a lot of things, and I see it growing more and more. I sign loans for the widows, which means, by January now, you know, in our country, they measure the land. From here to here will be the wheat, and the land up there, you buy it. If you don't have the money, somebody else will buy it. But, if a credible person comes and says, well, I stand for you, a widow, they will sign. She will plant, and work on it. During the harvest, she will harvest and sell, and pay the money, and have what remains for herself. But if nobody stands for her, and buys the land, she will be starving all the year, from the drought. So we've done all of that. We've taught our people, the local pastors in the area, some of them are raising chicken right now, some of them are raising goats right now. Me, I have goats right now. I have sorghum right now. I have mung beans right now. And we are doing all that because it is empowerment. It is empowerment. So that when we bring missionaries on a short time, on a long time, whether you're going to teach school, whatever you have, first of all, you have the home to stay, without paying hotel bills. You'll be able to stay in a comfortable place, you'll be able to stay for as long as you can, you'll be able to come back as many times as you want to come back, and you'll be able to see the fruit of the work we're doing. That is what I saw, and that is what Paul said here. I'm not disobedient to the heavenly vision. That's what I told you. This is the mark. I'm not disobedient to the heavenly vision. I'm ready to pay the price that if people die off, whatever, at least they have salvation. I've read this, I will never pay to read it, but it's a treasure book. You know, because I read it and I'm closing with that. Great stuff. 58 of my diet, I won't read the whole thing. But I want to read some. Some of what I used to eat, I've known about it. Ben Thelman said, If not this the path that I have chosen, to lose the bond of wickedness, to undo heavy burdens, that's what we do, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke, if it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bringest the poor that are cast out into thy house, when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thy face from thy own flesh, then shall thy light break forth at the hour, and thy health, come on, if not in those health things, and thy health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go forth before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Then shall thou come, and the Lord shall answer, and thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am, if thou take away from the midst of the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity, and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as in the dead, and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in darkness, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose water never fell not, and they that shall be of thee shall build the food with places, thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the bridge, and the restorer of paths to dwell in, the infrastructure is what will be, the comfort for this program of Isaiah 58 will be the repairers of the bridge in Africa, they will be the restorers, they will lay down foundation for many generations, and that is why I told the brothers yesterday, anyone that sees me in this particular trip, is seeing me in a different way, than they have seen me before, because this trip, is a trip that heaven is calling, and I told the brothers, I said you know, I don't want to preach to you, it's not a preaching thing, this project needs everybody's support, you've eaten food for many many years, you've been doing your own things for years, when this project is completed, heaven will record it that you are part of it, whether you are there once or two times, or ten times, or five times, God will say, you've done it for many generations, missionaries that you know, and missionaries that you did not know, who will come there, will pray for you, and pray for God on your behalf, and for your generation, and we will raise Annie for the war, that will take the gospel to the next generation, that's what the Lord was talking about, He is raising you as an army of the Lord, for the next generation, not everybody that comes here, will have the privilege you have, God has given you the opportunity he gave to Moses, it's one out of a thousand opportunities, one out of a thousand, God will always choose you, so I want you to be diligent, I want you to be focused, I want you to depend on God for strength, because sometimes you will struggle about so many things, you will struggle, you want to break loose, you just feel like you just want to get out and do something your own, but always say God help me, I tell you that word will change everything, I've been in situations, difficult situations, don't know what to do, I just say God help me, I want everybody to pray and not be part of this, together we will change those people forever, together we will change them forever, this is a gospel not a word, what will you be telling them, the pastors in those villages now know that, if they raise 30 chickens, they are going to make at least $12-$15 for one chicken, times 30, so if they sell 20, they have that kind of money, and they eat 10 or 5, they never did that before, some of them never killed a chicken in their life before, wow, you never heard it before, so this is what empowerment is all about, so when we have the centre completed, weekly, monthly, they come, we review, we train, we supply whatever we have, and people continue to go, then we will be able to test Islam squarely, then we will be able to defend our body language, nobody will defend it for us, I want everybody to continue praying, and seek God's help, don't ever say there is nothing you can do, that is the deception of the devil, thank God for whatever you can do, because anything you do, you pray, you wish good, you give money, I told a brother, this is Sidra or someone here, he said I will be praying for you, I said ok, let me tell you something, I have so many people praying for me, in Nigeria, my church, my wife, my family, I said I think I really need to raise people who will be given to the project, because I have too many people praying for me, I just want another group, the praying people I have enough, the giving people I need more, and that is where I start, I need the giving people, so if you are going to pray for me, pray for God to raise giving people, for us to complete this project, because if you are praying for me, you need to know what you are praying for, you have to get my request, my prayer request is, I need giving people, finances are desperately needed, and the brother spoke by the Holy Spirit yesterday, I mean he said something about that day, everybody was like God, Jesus came down, but when he shared with me, he said no, this project will cost more than 50,000 dollars, talk about, hell, I don't know if it happens to you, somebody is like woke up, yeah, don't say this, this is worse, so, whatever God has given you, wherever God has blessed you, make sure you are not disobedient, to that heavenly vision, because it is a favor from God, that he gave you the vision, and put you in the ministry, in the first place, God bless you, if you have any questions I would like to answer, I would like to ask you a question, the building that you are building, is it the same size as this house, or is it bigger, it could be, this size, I don't think it is bigger, about the same size, if you go from here all the way to the back, 3 stories, 1 story, but if you put the 50,000, it is 2 stories, for the 50,000, is it 2 stories, the reason I am saying this, is we can get an idea, because if we were going to build a house, this size, 2 stories, we are going to pay 500,000 dollars, so, what he is talking about, he is talking about 50,000 dollars, to build a house, to build a center, this size, 2 stories, I mean it is like, when you give 10 dollars, it is like giving 100 dollars, upstairs for sleeping, upstairs 2 rooms, 2 rooms down, each, bathroom, toilet, wardrobe, each room, we can't build, the cabin that you are staying in, we cannot build that, for less than 25,000 dollars, if we put a bathroom in it, it is going to cost us 32,000, I just wanted to, share with everybody, to be active, on this one, we have blocks, because if we buy the blocks, it adds the money, so I get the funds, I got the people, and they make the blocks, and then, we got caught, so are you employing those people, or they are working for you, no, once we get them, they do the work, we pay them their bill, so you are also, giving your local people, business, yes, I just want to share, a couple of things, one thing is, we did not ask everybody, to come here to give money, that is not what we asked, but as he is speaking, I just hear, I just hear, something resounding in me, that this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached, as a witness, and then the end shall come, and I think this is so powerful, and it has been spoken about, and prophesied about, since 1954, this is what you are building, in the village, you already built one of these, in the village, and when you are talking, there is something we have to realize, in your village, from the beginning, of the first black man, that walked wherever he walked, and set up the first hut, from that time, to this time, the gospel has never been preached, except for, at least a minimum of, 300,000 adults, need to hear, and for $50,000, for $50,000, I mean I just think about, Planned Parenthood, and all this other trash, and all these other ways, we waste our money, and I get so upset, like we want to change, the name of Jesus, and we want to make new Bibles, with a new name of Jesus in it, and all we have to do, is for $50,000, we can reach 300,000 people, that have never been reached, with the gospel, from the beginning, so we just are investing, we don't even have to go, we just have to, get soda cans, or whatever, and I just feel, so moved, by what you're saying, because it's just like, we have spent, a lot of years, with a lot of people, from a lot of countries, and not everyone, has done what you're doing, and thank you for doing it, and I don't know, where that $50,000, is going to come from, but I'm going to pray, that God will provide it, and I just want to share, with everyone, if you kids want to sell, want to take cans, and recycle cans, or whatever, Pastor Sylvester will be here, and he's going to take a can, and put it in the back pocket, but seriously, we can reach, 300,000 people, for $50,000, I know this is true, Pastor Sylvester, I don't know how many of you, have heard of Reinhard Bonnke, Pastor Sylvester is the one, that when Reinhard Bonnke, comes to this country, he is the one in his area, the man knows, how to bring people together, so we were going to come, and we were going to minister, in his village, he was going to bring together, 10,000 people for us to preach to, so when that house, that place is built, then we must go, and once we start, then we're going to continue, to go back, we'll have a place, in the village, powerful, you guys, every time I talk to people, about going to Nigeria, I say, I'm not taking you to Nigeria, but when that place, in the village is built, then I'm bringing them there, we can do, we can teach praise and worship, we can, and when I taught praise and worship, in your church, that house also has, a chapel, right here, where everybody will stay and worship, right next to it, for devotion, everything, we still have a place, at the moment. That's the reason why, as soon as they build, when they make their own bricks, they can build very expensively, here we can't even build, this part of the house here, we can't build this part, just like it is for $50,000. You need $6,000, to finish the well, so there's fresh water, immediately on the property, on that same property. So is that included in that $50,000? It's about $6,000, right? For a domestic well. It's not a commercial well, this time. Acts 11, 23, And when they had come and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced, and began to encourage them, with a resolute heart, to remain true to the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit, and of faith, and considerable numbers were brought to the Lord, and then he left for Troas, he's talking about Barnabas, he left for Troas to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought Jandia, and it came about that for an entire year, they met with the church, Barnabas, Troas, and Saul, and he taught considerable numbers, and the disciples were first called Christians, in Antioch. Now at this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit of the Lord that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of their brethren living in Judah. And if they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders. What pastor is asking happened in Antioch, it happened, they call it the Macedonian Call, but it happened in a number of different areas. As you read through the book of Acts, you see that a good portion of Paul's ministry was in transporting large amounts of funds to those who were in desperate need. The church was not divided, it was not a local church, it was a universal and global church, and they understood that far better than we understand today. They had a heart that reached beyond their own four walls and their own four children. They had a heart that reached that could understand that the needs in one area being greater than in their area, they had a responsibility. So each one, what does it say? And in the proportion or according to the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to spend the contribution for the relief of their brethren living in Judah. This word came to me while we were sitting with them on Friday. Often the way the word of the Lord comes to me while I'm ministering is He will give me a chapter and a verse. And He directed me to the book of Acts and to the 11th chapter. And when I opened it, I opened it to the second half of it, and there was the story exactly that I read to you. And so I knew immediately that it was exactly on target for the subject that we were speaking of. I know this story, but I didn't know it's in Acts 11, but the Spirit of the Lord knows. And so I just share with you, and I encourage us and each of us according to the proportion that we have. If it's a few soda cans or if it's $20,000 whatever it might be, let the Lord direct us according to the portion that we have. Does that make sense to anyone tonight? We're not required of the Spirit of the Lord to give above that which we have. Because He's not ridiculous like that. It's very simple how He does. And when we see that the need in one area is greater than in our own area, then we are compelled of the Lord and of compassion that we should, that we must do something. So that's my encouragement to each of us tonight. Amen? Amen.