20/01/2025
*MOUNTAIN OF FIRE AND MIRACLES MINISTRIES*
*International Headquarters*
*Lagos, Nigeria.*
_Glorious Sunday Worship Service._
Sunday, January 19th, 2025.
*TOPIC: TAKING GOD SERIOUSLY.*
Text: Genesis 19:4, 18:20, 19:15-17, 26, Revelation 6:17
Ministering: Dr. D.K Olukoya (G.O. MFM Worldwide)
The book of Genesis 19 is one of the most tragic books in scriptures. It is difficult to read this book as a child of God and not feel like crying. It is a lamentable book, a tragic book, and to even make it more serious, archaeologists have proved that what this book said is true.
Genesis 19 paints a very, very terrible picture of life in a place called S***m and Gomorrah. It is a city of open and shameless perversion. In fact, if you look at Genesis 19:4, visitors from heaven had come to visit a person, but the men of the city wanted to mess them up sexually.
Genesis 19:4 (KJV) says: "But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of S***m, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter."
Both young and old from every quarter in S***m and Gomorrah were perverse people. It would appear as though that city was overpopulated with strange human beings. Men who were completely lost in po*******hy, homosexualism, and all kinds of sexual perversion. God had been observing this city for a long time. He had given them a long rope, just like God has given most of us here a long rope. But you see, the patience of God has an expiry date. Once He has made up His mind that enough is enough, then trouble starts. By Genesis 18:20, the verdict of the Lord was very clear.
Genesis 18:20 (KJV) says: "And the LORD said, Because the cry of S***m and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;"
Every sin you commit has a voice that cries out to God. The cry from S***m and Gomorrah was so loud in the ears of heaven that God had to do something about it. For some very strange reason, this man called Lot, who was a nephew of Abraham, was drawn to S***m. He and his family lived among these perverse people, and no doubt, they got accustomed to their ways of doing things and their perversion, which they accepted to be the normal way of life. They continued this perversion until God stepped in, and when God stepped in, He wanted to deliver Lot and his people.
God clearly wanted Lot's deliverance, and He announced a very clear evacuation plan for Lot.
Genesis 19:15-17 (KJV) says: "And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed."
It was a clear language: Lot, run for your life! Do not look back; do not stop until you get to the mountains where I want you to go. The doomsday of S***m was approaching, and the Lord rained fire and brimstone on that city, and the corrupt city sank slowly as the waters of the Dead Sea covered it. And Lot was running, but only the legs of the wife were running; her heart was not running. It is interesting how the scripture records the death of this woman.
Genesis 19:26 (KJV) says: "But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."
The woman went to hellfire straightaway from the escape from S***m. Why was his wife behind? Why did she linger behind? It is because she was still attached to S***m. She wilfully refused to cut off her emotional ties from that city. The angel said, "Escape for your life; look not behind you, lest you be consumed with the iniquity of the city". The woman said, "Which kind of angels are these? Do they not know that my jewelleries are there? Did they not know that I have a wedding to attend? Did they not know that I have a house there? Did they not know that that was where all my children grew up? What kind of wicked angels are these? These angels cannot be serious!"
Pulling away from sin, beloveth, may be very difficult sometimes. Sin has an attraction from the flesh. I am sure that the people of S***m and Gomorrah were probably laughing and joking when they heard that their city was going to be destroyed; they did not believe them. But when it happened, the mockery was now turned into screams of terror and death. What killed Lot's wife? Why did Jesus say in Luke 17:32, one of the shortest verses in scripture, "Remember Lot's wife"? Why did Lot's wife die? The answer is very simple: she saw no need to take God seriously. Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife."
She probably felt, "This is fanaticism! I will look back! Why are they stopping us from looking back?" and she looked back and became a pillar of salt. What killed Lot's wife? Why did Jesus make that statement? You will notice that the Bible did not bother to tell us the name of that woman because she perished, even though she had been warned of danger she knew what God is saying but she rejected it. She perished, although she was a righteous man's wife. She made a good start, like so many who get born again, and they start running for Jesus, but then she did not finish well. Lord's wife died by the hands of those who even tried to save her.
The Angels were trying to drag her away, yet she perished in the hands of the Angels. This beloveth, is very popular today. A lot of people are not taking God seriously. I beg you this morning, beloveth, even if you do not like everything the pastor is saying, or you do not even appreciate what the pastor is doing, or you do not consider his own opinion of anything, but I beg you this: please take God seriously. If you do not take God seriously, you are looking for serious trouble. This woman was hearing the words of God, but she did not believe those words, so it cost her her life.
Many today will not believe that God means what He says. Unfortunately, it will cost them their lives. This is a very, very serious matter. Plenty of people who really love God from their hearts these days, God has been showing them visions, revelations of what is going to happen and how the end is so near. God has been showing His people. You may be living your life as if you do not care, but it does not matter. Very soon, you will understand like the people of S***m and Gomorrah because barring the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, if Jesus tarries in His coming, which may be very soon, everybody is going to die, whether they want to or not.
Of all things available on earth, death is the most inevitable; you cannot run away from it. The question is not "Are you going to die?" No, the question is not "When are you going to die?" No, the question is not "How are you going to die?" No, the question is, "When you die, where are you going after you die?" When you leave this planet, will you leave your footprints on the sand of time, and people will say, "Yes, here was a woman of God" or "Here was a man of God"? The important thing about death is not death itself but what follows it.
Beloveth, here we tell you the truth. The Mountain of Fire is not a place where we pamper people and tell them lies. It is good for us to tell you these things now.
Because a lot of people will blame their pastors when they see Christ and say, But they did not tell us. This we are telling you now.
There are plenty of people amongst you that God has been speaking to their hearts, "Do not do this again," "Now you do this," or "You do that," but they do not do it; they are not taking God seriously. There are people that God has called. God says, "Sit down, look: this anger is too much. If you do not do something about it, it will destroy you, but they refuse to listen, and if you see the way the rage of adultery and fornication is ravaging human beings now, even in the house of God, you will be amazed.
You see that so many people come to church, but they do not take God seriously. Some people run away from this church. They say, "Well, when I come here, they make me feel guilty. I will go to church where they do not talk about heaven so that they do not make me feel guilty again." Such a person is not taking God seriously. There are only two ways to die, beloveth: either in the Lord or outside the Lord; either you are saved or you are lost. Either you are a child of God or a child of Satan. Only those two ways to die. There is no middle camp. Either you are headed for heaven, or you are headed for hellfire. Either you die a forsaken sinner or a forgiven saint.
Whether you like it or not, if the rapture does not happen, death will come. One sober, solemn truth that all preachers face is that many people they have preached to will still go to hellfire. A day is coming, beloveth, a day of fear and anger, a day of the destruction of the ungodly, a testing day for all mankind, a day which shall burn as an oven, because God shall blow His final whistle, just like He blew His final whistle on S***m and Gomorrah. Then the scripture you find in Revelation 6:17 will come to pass. what you find in Revelation 6:17.
Revelation 6:17 (KJV) says: "For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
I used to tell people that that young prophet in the Bible's first mistake was that he prayed for King Jeroboam, because when he came, God sent him to the altar. As he spoke to the altar, the king said, "Catch him!" and the king's hand just stood still. His hand became a long stick like that, pointing forward. When the king saw that his hand could not come down again, he begged him and said, "Please beg your God so that my hand can be restored."
The first mistake of this young prophet was praying for him for his hand to be restored, because if that hand was not restored and Jeroboam went about with a long, hand-like stick all over Israel as a king and people said, "O king, put down your hand," and he said, "I cannot put it down; the prophet from Judah said it should be like this." They will say, "Well, if the prophet of Judah can make your hand to be like this, then we must go and serve his God.
There is one king like this, a Yoruba king. He was fond of blaspheming Jesus. In any public meeting, he would talk against Jesus anyhow. Any opportunity of abusing Christians, he would use it.
One day at a public meeting, he blasphemed against Jesus again, and one man of God was there. The man was very angry. The man of God stood up and said, "Kabiyesi, because you blasphemed the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I serve, I command your right hand and your right leg to be paralysed." The king laughed. He said, "You see them; I said they are useless. You see what he said". But he did not know that the destruction had already been spoken into his bones. By the time he got to his kingdom, the right hand was paralysed. The right leg was paralysed. He quickly picked up his phone and called up a deliverance minister in Lagos here to come and pray before going.
He did not bother to ask any questions. He wanted to be popular; he wanted to say, "I was the one that prayed for the King when he was sick." He left and was going, and he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit say, "Son, go back home." He did not listen. He went. He got there; he prayed for that man. And you know, the name of Jesus is creditworthy any day. The hand of the King was restored; his leg was restored. That was on a Saturday. By the following Monday, we had buried the Deliverance minister. He died. Why? He did not take God seriously. He was a goatish deliverance minister.
The Bible says, "He shall divide them into two parts: his sheep and the goats. There shall be two positions: the right hand for the sheep, the left hand for the goats. There will be no third group, no neutrality. You are either for God or you are for Satan. Your name is in the Book of Life, or it is not there. There are only two groups of people in the world: those who are dead in their sin and those who are alive unto God. There is no middle state. You are either spiritually alive or you are dead. Do not deceive yourself, beloved. As you are listening to me this morning, you are either on your way to heaven or on your way to hell.
Your character that you have now is fit for heaven or is fit for hell, anyone. We need to pray that the goatish spirits must depart from our lives. If we allow it to stay, it will waste our destinies. I want you to note, beloveth: you cannot sin successfully. Sin is a detective; it will find you out. There are many things that we do not know about life. But one thing is certain: sin will catch you up. There will be a payday one day. Sin will take you further than you want to go, and sin will put the person in hellfire. Make up your mind this morning.
The Lord is calling for people who will say, "No, I do not want to be rebellious anymore. I want my goatish spirit to go." It is a mystery that somebody will prophesy, "Thus saith the Lord blah blah blah blah," and after the prophecy, the same person who is prophesying is the first person to disobey the prophecy and therefore get lost. I beg you once more: even if you are not taking the words of the pastor seriously, take God seriously. All the signs that are happening around us now show that very, very soon, something may happen.
PRAYER POINTS
[Before Message]
*Every power assigned to bury me while I am still alive die, in the name of Jesus.*
[After Message]
1. Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, Lord, and I shall be saved, in the name of Jesus.
2. Holy Ghost Fire, burn away the iniquities in my heart, in the name of Jesus.
3. Power of perdition assigned against me, lose your hold in the name of Jesus.
*God Bless You🙏*
