The Essence and Expectation of Open Heaven

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Telephone numbers 0703 03636 59, 0703 76811 98. Email address lsmediaatlivingseed.org or visit our website at www.livingseed.org. Let us sit back and listen as the servant of God brings forth the Word of Life. Our Father, this evening again we have come.

We thank you for where you have brought us. We thank you for the various things that you have been saying to us. And we are praying to God that this meeting, this meeting where you promised us open heaven, shall bring about restoration to the body, shall bring an outreach of the crumbs that the nations around us are looking for.

They are waiting for the manifestations of the Son of God. Please undertake for us as we go on with your Word tonight. Let your Word mix with faith in our hearts.

Thank you. In Jesus Christ's name we have prayed. Amen.

Now go back to our scripture. We are reading John chapter 1. John chapter 1. And we came as far as looking at verse 50 and 51. That's our theme text.

And we are going to go over it again tonight before we draw the curtain for this meeting, particularly tonight. Now, I wanted to now go to verse 50. Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than this.

And he said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, Hereafter, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Now this night, let's go and look at what would be the essence. What is the essence of open heavens? What is the essence of it? Why do we need it? Why is it essential for the heaven to open? Why can't we continue living our lives even if the heavens are closed? Why can't we keep doing ministry even if the heavens have never opened? What is the essence of this particular promise? And if God will honor his word, as I know he will, what is our expectation? What do we look for? Do we need it for decoration? Do we need open heaven so that we can just dance around? Do we need open heaven so that we can be more popular? Is that why we're trying to go for the heavens to open? What is the essence of open heavens? And I wanted to see it in that verse 51.

That verse 51 immediately shows what will be the essence of it. Most assuredly, I say to you, Hereafter, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. And you will see, Hereafter, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

The first issue I wanted to note is that every time God grants an open heaven, it is so that the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, might be revealed, so that Jesus might be glorified. Whenever God answers the prayer for the heavens to open, it is so that the divine ladder, the divine connection between the earth and the heaven might be made available, be made accessible, and be made possible and touchable, such that what is the gulf between the heaven and the earth might be breached. When the heavens open, the purpose of God is that there will be a connection again between the heavenlies and the earth.

The purpose of God for releasing any open heaven is not just to daze the earth. It's not just to show that, yes, heaven has opened to some of us. The real purpose of God is that the gulf, the impassable way, what has separated men from their God, that link might be restored and that there will be a traffic.

What is touching me as I'm reading the scripture is the order in which the Word of God is coming. You will see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. You will see the angels of God ascending and descending.

I thought angels dwell in heaven, and the direction should be that the angels would be descending and ascending. But that was not how it was. God was deliberate in keeping that order.

And I will take you back to the passage where Jacob had an encounter with God at Bethel and the issues that were raised there. I want to bring you back to it so that we can tie this together as we are looking onto God now. But permit me to just say that every time heaven opens, it is so that there will be a connectivity.

There will be a traffic. There will be a bridge between the earth and the heaven. What the devil has done is to cut off the earth from heaven.

What the devil has done through the disobedience of man is to take the earth as if it belongs to him. So as to rule it in rebellion. So as to make the earth to become a wilderness.

And that's what has happened and is still happening even as we are talking now. We are seeing that every time the heavens closed through the carelessness of God's people, or through the backsliding of God's people, or through the worldliness that comes in, that creeps in. Every time that happens and the heavens close, the devil takes advantage to drag the earth furthermore into his dungeon.

To drag the earth into more confusion. To make the earth a wilderness. To make the earth dry and completely barren in such a manner that dragons, jackals, dangerous things will begin to walk on the face of the earth.

All kinds of things. All kinds of wickedness. In fact, the Bible calls it wickedness in the high places.

It will begin to take place. It will take place in the government. It will take place in the politics and the policies.

It will take place in the life of the youth. It will seek to introduce philosophies into academics that will turn the heart of man away from God. Every time the heaven closes, one of the critical issues is that the connectivity between the earth and the heavens is broken.

And that is what this promise of God to us essentially is to restore. This is what I sense God is rising up to do in our own time, in our own generation. This is what I sense God is bringing us into to believe in for, to stand within for.

God wants to demonstrate his glory on the face of the earth again. But that is not possible under closed heavens. That cannot happen under closed heavens.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was to come, heaven had to open. Heaven had to open. And before he could do anything that he did on the face of the earth, for those 33 and a half years, and particularly for the 3 and a half years when he came out into the public ministry, he knew he cannot attempt anything until heavens were open to him.

He waited, he fulfilled all righteousness, because he knew that if heaven was still closed, even himself would not be able to do anything. But as he waited, as he fulfilled all righteousness, as he was praying, the Bible said, as he prayed, behold, the heavens were opened unto him. That was what we read in Matthew chapter 3 and in Luke chapter 3. But you will notice as soon as the heavens were opened to the Lord Jesus, and a voice came from heaven and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

And at another time he said, hear him. Once that happened, you will remember that there was a pandemonium in the kingdom of darkness. You will notice that Satan was no more at peace.

You will notice that from that moment, in fact, he came quickly, quickly to see if he can negotiate with Jesus. And said, look, all the kingdoms of the earth is mine. I give it to whosoever I want.

If you can only bow down and worship me, I'll give it to you. You don't need to struggle. I'll just give it to you.

He thought he was playing pranks. He thought he was clever. He didn't know that Jesus actually came in order to establish the kingdom and to collect the keys of the kingdom from his hand.

And that's why the heavens had to open. Every time heaven opens is because the earth is in need of a divine invasion from heaven. There is supposed to be an over flooding of the earth from heaven of the heavenliness of the power of God, of the glory of God.

That will be the main reason why God will want to grant the open heavens. Now, you know, on the day of Pentecost, Jesus told his disciples, said, you can't go anywhere. Even though, as my father sent me, I've sent you.

But you can't go anywhere. You must wait. You must wait until you are in deal with power from on high.

And so they had to wait. They were waiting. They were praying.

They were seeking the face of God. And on the day of Pentecost, the Bible said the heavens opened. And behold, God descended like a mighty rushing wind.

You know, tongues, I mean, tongues as cloven tongue of fire. And he sat on each one of them. And you can see immediately, immediately, a fearful brother, Peter, who had just denied Jesus three times before a small girl.

Immediately, something took place. Immediately, he spoke one message and 3000 souls were crying and were saying, what shall we do to be saved? Because when the heavens open, it is for a connectivity between the earth and the heavens. It is so that that which have been locked up in the heavenlies might be restored, might come back to restore the situation of the earth.

Now, you might wonder why we have such great an enlargement in our hearts that what we are asking God for is a global visitation. What we are believing God for in the course of this time is a global visitation. It will reach everywhere.

It will touch every people. It will transcend all social status. It will go to all denominations.

It will go to all tribes and tongues, race and colors. All will be affected in what about upon. Don't mind how many of us are sitting in these different centers.

Don't mind how few we appear to be. There were only 120 in that upper room, only 120. But when the heavens opened, the beginning of a worldwide harvest started.

And it is OK that God will locate few of you in Belize as representative of Central or Latin America. It is it is joy that God will locate some of you in Bahamas. I see to begin to deal with the eyes, all those eyes, Venezuela and all the places.

We know that something is going to happen very soon. It is not a mistake that few of you are in Pakistan sitting down somewhere. Some are in India sitting down somewhere and following this.

You are in Russia sitting down and say, oh, this fire must not pass us by. It is not by chance that God is bringing our brothers from Sudan and then from South Sudan because something is about to happen. Now, the essence I want to show you again, he said, most assuredly, I say to you hereafter, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God.

Now, so let's quickly begin to pick it one by one. When the heavens open. Those of us that are on the earth, you receive a divine lift of grace into the heavenlies.

You receive a divine lift of grace. That takes you from where you are on to where God is longing you to be. And so you see an ascending.

So the first thing I wanted to note is that open heaven. We bring an ascending. It will bring an ascending.

It will take you from the level of canality. It will take you from the level of personal weakness to take you from the level of your own personal scatteredness. There'll be an ascending.

And I want you to expect that hereafter God will cause an ascending upon your life. But this ascending that we are talking about is not you using human strength to personally climb. We are not talking of you trying to sweat in trying to exert yourself to climb the hill as if you can make it up there.

It has never been possible. But then angels, the messengers of God, as I'm reading that, I'm not just thinking of the angel Gabriel, angel Michael, angel Jesus. I'm just talking about God's help, God's messengers, God's assistants who are going to be sent by the power of the Holy Spirit to ascend with your life.

To ascend with your life. Ascending. And then I saw what is the reason for the descending? To bring down the blessing.

To bring down the outpouring. To bring down the grace. To bring down the glory that will overwhelm the earth.

I was just looking in my mind and I wanted to say something very quickly. That all that the earth is needed, all that the earth will need for its vegetation to change, for the situation of our nations to change is abundantly up there in heaven. In fact, when you read your Bible, when it was time for God to wipe up the earth in those days, all he simply did was to open the heavens and this time he just sent rain.

And the rain that came all the way from heaven and the water that was under the ground was all opened up at once and the earth was flushed away with everything in it. So it's nothing. If God wants to overrun the whole earth, there's enough in heaven to do so.

But when God is talking to us about that you will see greater things than this, and most assuredly I say to you hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, now we saw that it will be upon the Son of Man. Every genuine reviver, every genuine open heaven is to point to only one, the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we want to note again that this move of God that we're talking about, this move of God that God is speaking to us about in this particular season is not going to emphasize a preacher.

It's not going to idolize a man of God. It's going to point to Jesus and him crucified. It's going to point to the Son of Man.

And you know I was touched that the Bible particularly referred to him as the Son of Man here. He could have been Son of God. But when God was going to deal with this and said the Son of Man, he was talking about this Jesus who took upon himself the nature of man to become our representative, to become our scapegoat, to become our redeemer.

And having become man, he identified with man because God's interest is to redeem the man that he has made in his own image. And so when we talk about this Son of Man, we are talking about Jesus, Jesus Christ, who came and laid down his life as a man in order to deliver those of us who are subject to bondage all our lifetime. In order to bring many sons to glory, in order to ascend with many sons unto glory, that's what God is introducing to us.

Now before I take this, because I intend to take this a little further tonight, but before I do that, before I do that, let's quickly go back to Genesis 28, where the first reference to this experience was coming. And it was God appearing unto Jacob while he was running away from his senior brother, whom he had impersonated, while he was running away in order to go and pick a wife, while he was running away, first for personal safety, and yet in the divine purpose of God, God was going to encounter him. Now all of you go to Genesis 28, and let's quickly pick one or two issues that can help us to return to what is the essence of the open heavens, and what are we expecting God to do with your life when the heavens are open to you as an individual, and as open to us corporately as his people.

Now in Genesis 28, now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went towards Aaron. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night because the sun had set. That itself is a very instructive instruction that I want you to please follow me into.

He said, and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set. He couldn't continue his journey because the sun was set. Night has fallen upon him.

He couldn't move because the sun was set. And so the Bible said he had to tarry there all night. And he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep.

That is the context of that story. But then look at verse 12. Then he dreamt, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and his top reached to heaven.

And there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth.

You shall spread abroad to the west and to the east, to the north and the south, and in you and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Please, I wanted to mark that. Behold, I'm with you and I will keep you wherever you go.

And I will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken unto you. I will stop at that verse 15 because I'm not yet ready to deal with the response of Jacob. I'm really trusting God that it is your own response that we're going to be discussing before we conclude this meeting tonight.

But I wanted to mark one thing that is very critical here. The Bible said, then he dreamt, and behold, a ladder. A ladder was set up on the earth and his top reached to heaven.

That is a very peculiar instruction I wanted to note. This ladder, this staircase was set up not in heaven. It was not hanging up there.

And they were saying to Jacob, can you try to jump and catch up with that thing and see whether you can hang on it and then it will take you up? No. God knows that none of us who have been trapped in the earth, trapped in the things of the natural, will be able by any means to be able to catch up with anything going up in the heavenlies. So what did God decide to do for this man and for us? The Bible said, behold, a ladder was set up.

You know, when they use a ladder was set up, the first question you will ask, who set it up? Who set up this kind of ladder? Who is setting up this kind of ladder on the face of the earth? And that is a miracle of what we are looking at. God himself was making a provision, a provision for our lives, a provision for us to reconnect with heavens, and a provision for the purpose of God for our lives to be accomplished on the face of the earth. A ladder is set up on the earth, a ladder.

And please take note, it was upon the earth where Jacob is lying. To me, it looks as if the ladder was brought very close to his head where he was lying down. As if to say, young man, this is your connection to heaven.

This is your connection to the heavenlies. This is your connection to what heaven wants you to become while you are born in the first place. Jump on this ladder.

And it is not by your strength that you will be able to ascend. Angels are around to carry you. Angels will bear you on their wings, and they will take you higher than what you can go with your leg.

God was setting up this on the earth, and the top of it, we are told, it reaches the heaven. So first and foremost, when you now come to first, I mean, John chapter one, and the Lord Jesus was speaking about it. Please return now to John chapter one.

I wanted to be flipping between those two passages. John chapter one, now you see. You see that Jesus said, I say unto you hereafter, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

You will see that this verse 51 and verse 12 that we read, there was only one little difference. The difference was that they said a ladder was set up on the earth, and his top reached to heaven. And there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

But now we came to see that in chapter one, verse 51, the word ladder is missing and replaced with the Son of Man. Brother, I wanted to note that that ladder that Brother Jacob was seeing that time, it was the Son of Man. It was the Lord Jesus that God was giving him a revelation of him, as if to give him, you know, an insight onto what will be the solution to his own problem.

You know that Jacob had problem. You know, Jacob has performed atrocities. He had deceived his brother.

He has deceived his father. He has impersonated him, and he cannot stay in the house. Jesus was already planning to kill him.

He was running. But God is saying, no, running on your leg will not help you. The plan I have for you, you need to climb on this ladder.

My wife was pointing in the morning that that man did not make the most of that open heaven. In fact, he woke up, he said, I've been dreaming. Ah, the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.

And instead of saying, Lord, what will you have me do? Instead of him to kneel down and say, oh God, this ladder, I must climb it, carry me up. The Bible simply says, he began to negotiate, if you will go with me. God said, I will go with you before.

God said, I will not leave you nor forsake you until I have done what I promised to do with your life. But this young man is not interested about that. All he said at the end of that vision, the Bible said, then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.

And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place? There is none other than the house of God. This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Now, I think the first mistake Jacob was making here was to think that there is the sacredness of the place.

There is no place sacred on the earth. It's only when God visits a place that there is any level of sacredness. It is nothing.

It is God's presence that makes the difference. Instead of him to address a relationship with the Lord who came to that place, God didn't used to live in that place. That place was called loose before.

It was an ordinary place. But because God wanted to encounter him, God wanted to change his direction, that's why God came there. I want to say to you, my brother, do not celebrate places.

It is not places that will matter. I can see some of you like to go to holy places, holy lands, you want to go into monasteries and thinking that, oh, that's where God is, that's where God is. No.

Jesus had to debunk that in John chapter 4. He said, God is spirit. They that worship him, they do so in spirit, in truth and in spirit. And that is the kind of people that God is looking for to worship him.

That a time is coming, and in fact, the hour has already arrived, when it is neither on this month or on that month that men will serve God or worship the Lord. You see, we are talking about something here, but this brother was only talking about place. He said, oh, oh, surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.

And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. I wish he saw that that ladder was only set up for his sake at that point. That ladder don't used to be there.

In fact, if you go there the following day or the following week, you see nothing there. There's nothing there. God has come to encounter our lives, and I wanted to know that this moment, what matters is what you do with God who is appearing to us.

What matters is what you are going to make out of this encounter that God is giving you. Oh, I don't want to be so dissimilar. Oh, that similar.

All of that was only a means for you to encounter God. If you don't encounter God, what is similar? What is similar? Is it just a meeting? If God does not meet with you, what is it? What is it all about? So this meeting itself was organized so that you can meet God who is ready to open the heavens unto your life. Unfortunately, brother Jacob rose up early in the morning, he took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, poured oil on top of it.

He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of that city had been loosed previously. Then Jacob made a vow, look at his vow, if God will be with me and keep me in this way that I'm going, which way is he going? And if God encounters you like that, isn't it time for you to say, Lord, what will you have me do? If heaven suddenly opens to you and you start seeing angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, what is wrong with you that you are clinging to where you are going? Where are you going before? Is that not the time to say, Lord, ah, so you have come to encounter me in this journey, what will you have me do? How do you want me to go from here? What is the next direction that you have for my life? These are the proper questions to ask. Maybe some of you came here doing something, and you thought that, yes, that's your direction, and God came now, interrupted you as he did to Saul on the road to Damascus, and see what Saul said, Lord, what will you have me do? And then the Lord said, yes, it shall be told you, go to the city in front of you in Damascus, there is a brother there, Ananias, he will tell you what to do.

Now, that's how to maximize open heavens. That's how to maximize encounter. Some of us, God has come to you many, many, many times.

God has appeared to you many, many, many times. You only named the place. You did not strike that contract with God.

All of it is in your record, oh, when we went to that meeting in 2005, oh, I just felt something. What has that done to you now? Because you didn't ask a relevant question. What is the essence of open heaven to a man? It is for heaven to invade the earth.

It is for connectivity between the earth and the heavens. It is to ascend a man who is lying down on the floor, to ascend him onto the heavenlies. And it is to flow from heaven through the Son of Man so that something on earth will change.

My dear brother, at the end of that encounter, look at what Jacob said about it, because we are not talking about Jacob, I'm just passing through it. Then Jacob made a vow, if God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I'm going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, look at all that matters to him. Yes, a man that God said, all this land that you are lying, I'll give it to you.

And through you, through your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now, can God have such a plan for a man like this? And then he will be, all that concerns the clothing he will put on. The food he will eat and go to the toilet.

Is that what should matter? Will God plan to use me for something serious in the world, in this generation, and hunger, he will allow hunger to kill me? I don't know what you are thinking. If God has a great plan for your life, is it what to wear that would be too difficult for God to provide for his cadaver? I don't know why that becomes a big matter to you. Wherever you are sitting, whatever you are hearing the Holy Ghost saying, do you know that what we eat, what we drink, what we wear, Jesus said, take no thought about that.

Your father in heaven knows you have need of all of that before, but you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. But this brother, look how he concluded. He said, so that I come back to my father's house in peace, then the Lord, then, look at the Bible, then the Lord shall be my God.

Did you see him? He postponed commitment. He postponed a relationship with God. He said, then, not now.

Not now. Let me go where I'm going first. Let me finish all I want to do first.

Let me say to all my own personal things before. Now, and if you are very faithful to feed me, to clothe me, and to give me something, and I will be coming back to my father's house. When I now arrive in my father's house, I don't know how many years that will be.

Then, you'll be my God, but not now. And look at how he put, he said, and this stone which I have set as a pillar in your house, and of all that you give me, I will surely give a tent to you. So, what's the meaning of that? If God will give you so much, is it a tent? What does God need to do with one tent from you, my friend? He didn't say, I will hand over my life to you.

He didn't say, you'll be the Lord, my God. He didn't say, you will become all my all. I've read about my father, Abraham, who led all, who led all to follow you.

And you said you will be his exceeding great reward. And even my father Isaac, I read how you told my father Abraham, my grandfather Abraham, to sacrifice my father Isaac, and he gave him over to you. Such are the people that were my own forbearers.

He didn't think like that. He was doing mathematics with God. Are you sitting in this meeting tonight? And all you are doing is you are calculating, you are calculating, you are thinking, you have brought out your calculator now, and you are calculating what you'll be doing to God.

When the heavens open, heaven invades the earth. When the heavens open, it's always looking at interruption, so that men who are destined to perish in the earth may find an ascending, an ascending from the earth to the heavenlies. Ah, let me stop at this point so that we can conclude this meeting tonight.

Now, follow me back. Follow me back to our John chapter one. And from John chapter one, I'll take you to one more passage, and then we shall stop to pray together.

Now, in John one, the ladder, the ladder that was set up on the earth, he came down to the earth so that we can become, he can become accessible to us. He let his glory up above. He descended to the earth first that he may come to the earth to our level so that he may partake of what we are in order to bring many sons to glory.

He came down so that he can ascend with so many of us unto glory. That was why he came. And if heaven open again, he said, you will see angels ascending.

In my mind, I'm seeing, I see the open heaven that is coming is going to bring an ascending, a lifting up of several lives that are down trodden here, several lives that are at bound. Heaven will come and begin to raise them up. And I want to say the first one to raise is you.

The first person that God wants to ascend with is you. And if I were to start looking at the word ascending, that would take us time, but let me read a scripture for you to see what that passage is talking about. But my joy is that this ascending is upon the son of man.

Can you go to Psalm 24? I would like to pick it from the King James Version. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So in verse three, the question, who shall ascend? Who shall ascend into the heel of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? And from that Psalm 24, he said, he that has clean hands, a pure heart, who has not littered up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek your face, O Jacob's sailor. Now I just stopped in verse six there. Now I saw an ascending, an ascending to the heel of the Lord, an ascending to the presence of God, an ascending to one's stand right in the holy place, in the presence of God.

Now, when the heavens opened, this ladder that had been set on the earth to make Jesus available and accessible to our lives as the only connection, the only staircase unto glory, the only ladder that will connect the earth to heaven. And yet it was set up for us here. And tonight, I wanted to know that that ladder is set up on earth, but it doesn't stop halfway.

Who stops reaches the heaven. If you jump here, your destination is heaven. If you jump on this lift, your destination is heaven.

It will take you there. It will take you to glory. It will take you to the presence of God.

It will take you to a place of manifestation of the power of God. But it's set right for us on the earth, where we can touch him, where we can access him, where we can walk with him. Now, the Lord Jesus, again, something was said about him as this ascending that we're talking about.

And I would like you to please go with me to Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter 4, we have been reading Ephesians 4 in our Bible study. But it's that verse that we did not get to.

We could have got to it in our study when we'll be talking about the gifts, the provision that he made for his church to be one. But because of the way the study is running, we are keeping that until we come back on the study itself. That's Ephesians chapter 4 from verse 7. Now, I just want to stop at this.

Now, what is it that will happen? We saw that the ladder was set upon us. We saw that it is ascending first. But how could we have said he ascended first when we know that angels don't live on the face of the earth? That meant that he has first of all descended.

And so the Bible said, Therefore he says, when he ascended upon earth, he let captivity captivate and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower part of the earth? Do you know that Jesus first descended? He descended to the earth. He descended to our locality.

He even went beyond the earth. He descended to the lower part where he destroyed principalities and power. Where he took the keys of hell and of death.

And as he rose, as he ascended, listen now to the word of God, and as he ascended, the Bible says he led captivity captive. Those of us that were in bondage, he took us up. And the Bible says he gave gifts, he gave gifts unto men.

Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower part of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. Brothers and sisters, you will see angels ascending and descending, ascending and descending, both upon the Son of Man. These open heavens that God is bringing, it will centralize Christ.

It will reveal Christ. It will glorify Christ. It will magnify Christ.

There is nothing else that this open heaven is going to bring to us except the ascending on Christ, ascending on his glory, ascending, he carrying us, carrying us onto the high heavens where we will commune, where we will walk with him, where we will stand in his presence. And the descending, the release of the supernatural, the release of the supernatural, the release of the gifts of the spirit, the release of the power of God, the release of his grace, the release of his measures, whereby we are going to affect our generation, we are going to help others, we are going to reach out to those who are waiting for crumbs, who are looking for deliverance. We are going to come to that.

That is the purpose. And that is the essence of these heavens that shall be opened unto you as an individual. But now, permit me to stop at this and ask.

God came to Jacob and appeared to Jacob. God gave a very, very wonderful promise to Jacob. God said to him, look, all these things you see, I'm giving it to you.

You are not just going to be an ordinary man. Through your life, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. I don't know why God would single out a Jacob, a supplanter, and God wants to work on his life.

I wish on that day he had said, but Lord, I'm a Jacob. Lord, I've just cheated my brother. How can I climb on this ladder of grace when I'm running away as a fugitive? And I know God will have done something for him that day.

I know God will have done something to change his life that day. But you see how he cleverly, mathematically began to calculate and say, if you take me to where I'm going, you give me food, you be my May God, and you give me clothes, and whatever I'm doing there, you allow me to do it when I finish. And you decide now to wait on me and take me back to my father's house.

When you deliver me back to my father's house, then, no matter how many years it will take, then you'll be my God, not now. And because he was not going to do anything about what God showed him, he was celebrating place, he was pouring oil on ordinary stone in a place, I hope that he was thinking that by the time he comes, the oil will still be there. Maybe he was thinking that the God that came just on that day would just decide to remain there.

That's what he may have been thinking, careless man. So he went, and from that chapter 29, throughout his life, another 20 years, he was just going up and down. The sun that set on his life, the sun never rose.

Sun never rose. It was 20-something years after, when God brought him back to that Bethel. In fact, Bethel was to return to because they go back to Bethel, but on the road to Bethel, Esau met him.

Esau heard that he was coming back. Esau went and mobilized 400 soldier men to come and fight him. Hey! He said, I'm afraid of my brother.

That's the first time anybody was hearing in the whole of his family that he has a senior brother. That was the first time his children were knowing that they have an uncle somewhere. That was the first time.

And he had got all these cartoons which he cheated Lebanon to collect. He was coming everywhere like that, and he looks as if he was a great man. When he was confronted, he tried to bribe his way.

He wanted to give Jacob, I mean, Esau, all those cartoons. He would give him this, he would give him that. The man said, well, the matter between me and you is not cartoons.

The matter between you and me is not all this. It's the birthright. And you stole something and you have not restored it.

I'm coming to collect it. I told myself that over my dead body will you be my senior brother. I'm coming out for us to settle that matter.

When the people returned, he said he didn't collect anything. No, he didn't collect anything. He said, hey, you mean he didn't take anything? You can't bribe him.

The man is too serious. That was when he had to run. And when he was now alone, God came and confronted him.

There was a wrestling with his life on that day when the day was about to break. And the Lord said, well, I will leave you now. I've told you I will not leave you before, but now the day breaks.

I must go my way now. That was when he started crying. I will not let you go unless you help me.

It's possible that someone is sitting here. God had been seeking to encounter you for years. Heaven wanted to open over your head for something serious.

But you have your personal ambition. You have your own personal program. You have your own way of how you are going to do things.

And so that is always on the table. You're always negotiating with God over it. And all my children must finish before I will answer you.

I must set you down like this before I can talk about that. And I can serve you like this. I can serve you like this.

You are the one dictating how you will serve God. You are the one analyzing, calculating what you will do. And it's okay.

I'm not bothered about that. But I'm afraid whether the heavens will not have closed over your head before you now wake up. And by the time this man was now going to seek the purpose of God, he had to be dislocated.

He started saying, oh, I've seen the Lord face-to-face and I'm still alive. From that day forward, the Bible said the sun rose on him. But now he had to be leaning on the stick.

He had to lean on the stick. I thank God that God is still saying today, I am the God of Abraham, I am the God of Isaac, and I am the God of Jacob. God, the long-suffering God, can still give you a chance if you will give him a space.

But now, what will be your own response tonight? What will be your own response? What will be what God is saying to you? And you know, I said in the afternoon, before we close, I said, God wanting to visit a whole community may just select you as a single person, as a single brother, or as a sister, to appear to you, to open heavens unto you. It's not for you. It's not for your personal enjoyment.

It's so that your community, your people, may be affected. God may have come to you, or he may have brought you to MLR this year, and he's speaking to you like this because God has determined that even by your life, he will ascend with you. He will raise you up, that you may be of help to so many others.

The essence is that heaven wants to connect the earth through your life. As you step on this ladder, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, heaven wants to do something in our generation. As you say, Lord Jesus, if this is why you are calling me, if this is why your heaven wants to open to my life, here am I, Lord.

Here am I, Lord. Here am I, Lord. I would like to ask you to join me in prayer at this point.

I would like to ask you to let's turn to the Lord in the place of prayer at this point. The essence is that you will see this ladder, and you will jump on it. It is not sufficient for us to be talking about open heavens when you are not going to step into it.

Heaven has opened over our heads so that you may come into it. God is speaking to you because there is a plan for your life to be part of what God is doing. There is a plan in the purpose of God for you to be part of what God is about to do in our generation.

And so this day, this day, this day that God has brought you to this place, what will be your response? For Jacob, he postponed. For Jacob, he went on with his plans. But I want to tell you, the plans of God for your life, the Bible says, is for good and not for evil.

Sometimes the devil tries to paint things black. I say, hey, if you yield to God, he will just scatter your life. You don't know him.

You don't know the Lord. I'm sure you don't know him. You don't know the God we are talking about.

You don't know that God does not take a life in order to destroy it. If God interrupts you at all, it is because he wants to take you on a higher ground. He wants to ascend with your life.

If God steps into your life, it is to ascend with it. So that when he's descending, he's descending with blessing, he's descending with his glory, he's descending with power. If God will step into your life today, it is so that he can carry you up.

And he's not asking you to struggle, to jump into, you know, a ladder that is hanging in the sky. No, he has brought it where you can come there. Even as I talk here tonight, I can see the Lord come to your side.

You don't say, oh, but I'm not very spiritual. God is not asking for that spirituality. If you can just connect with Jesus.

You may be saying, oh, but I wish, I wish. You don't need to wish anything. You only need to say, Lord, I put my hand in your hand.

Take me up, Lord. Ascend with me out of my own personal predicament. Lord, ascend with me because I know you have a plan for my life.

I know the thoughts that you think towards me, they are thoughts for good and not for evil. Lord, raise me up, raise me up and make me the person I'm supposed to be. This night as we pray together, whatever it is that Jesus wants to do in your life, can you let him have his way? One of the things that is really exciting to me is that the ladder was set up on the earth.

Who's top reaches the heaven. If the ladder was set up in heaven, and I think there's a ladder up there, any of you that can jump, any of you that can make effort, any of you that can, you know, grow taller or climb on top of a tree and see whether you'll be able to catch it. Maybe none of us will be able to get there.

But the Lord has made this ladder available to my level. He has come to where you are. Even I say in the afternoon that you're a sinner is not the first problem with God.

The first problem with God is that Jesus came to save sinners. He came to forgive sinners. But you decided to hide your own.

That's the only problem. He said, Jesus said, the son was not sent to condemn the world, but through him the world might be reconciled back to God. He might raise them up out of their dungeon, might raise them up out of their predicament and bring them to the place of glory.

That is why he came. He first descended so that he may ascend with you. He descended and even went to the lower part of the earth to break the powers of darkness that is holding you down.

There's no reason why you should say, oh, me, I cannot. Me, I cannot. You can.

You can simply say, Jesus, having come to my level, please pick me up and take me up. Take me up. Take me up.

Ascend with me. Ascend with me to your purpose. Ascend with me to your glory.

And I don't want it to be then. I want it now. I don't want to be a postponed response.

I want it now. I don't want to say sometime, sometime. I want you to pick me up now.

I want you to ascend with my life now. As we pray together, I perceive the Lord is standing by you. I perceive he has come down to your level.

I perceive that his grace is available for any man who will say, yes, Lord. Say, Lord, so this heaven is opening, not so that I can postpone and procrastinate when I will come in. So you have come to me so that even now, even me, just as I am, I can step into it.

I can walk into it. I heard that you are distributing your blessing and you are pouring your rain here and there. I learned that you have helped someone else.

I learned that you have helped someone else. Here am I, Lord, even me. Do not pass me by.

I'd like to pray right again. I'd like to speak unto God on your behalf. If the heavens is opened and you did not come on the ladder, you have wasted it.

If the heaven is opened and you still have any reason to stay away from coming to the Lord, then you have wasted what God is doing. God came down particularly so that you can have space in his provision at this time. God came down so that you also might be included in what God is about to do this evening.

Would you like to say, Lord, I want to step in. Take me up also. Take me up also.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Father, this night. Thank you because your word is coming to us.

The essence of this heaven that is opening, as you told Nathanael, you will see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. You see the Son of Man connecting you to heaven. You see the Son of Man bringing glory down from the heavenlies onto your own earthliness.

You will see the Son of Man ascending with you higher than where you could have been by yourself, lifting you higher than your leg. Lord, tonight I ask that the eyes of understanding will be opened. I pray, God, that we will see the Son of Man even standing by our side tonight and say, my son, it is for you I came.

This lift has come down to your level that you may step into it. Every time I have to travel and climb into a very high, high-rising building and there's a lift, all you do is just to press the button. When the lift comes down to your level, that's when it will open for you to come in.

There's a door opening to that lift, opening to your life. And this day, this day, the Lord is asking you, will you step in? Will you step in? Will you step in? Will you allow me to ascend with you? Will you allow me to take you out of your earthliness? Out of your earthiness? So that I can take away everything that is wrong and lift you up and plant your feet on higher ground and through you descend upon the earth with the blessings of heaven. Are you hearing God speak to you this moment? And are you saying, Lord, if this order you are saying concerning my life, here am I, Lord.

Here am I, Lord. Here am I, Lord. I'm not planning to plan to give you a tight.

I want to give you my life. I want to give you my all. I want to become yours completely because I know you have come to give yourself to me.

Lord, take my life today. Thank you, Jesus. Now it is time for you to make that personal response.

No one can make it for you. Jacob had to make that response and his response was what affected his marriage. It affected everything for him for 20 years.

It took the grace of God for God to come back to his life. Of course, many things had gone wrong, as we noted in the morning. Incest.

He had so many confusion in marriage. Things did not work out because the ladder that came to carry him up, he did not jump on it. Tonight, my brother, you have struggled enough.

My sister, you have struggled enough. God has come for you. A little grace has come and is landing where you are, where you are.

I can't hear you say, but oh, it's only for educated. No, no, no, no, no, no. There's nothing about education here.

There's nothing about social power here. It's about him, the ladder of heaven. He has come for you.

Can you stand and step into it? Can you say, Lord Jesus, I will not postpone again. I will not, I will not postpone my time of entering into this lift of grace. I will no longer play games with you.

I just want you to have your way with my life tonight. Thank you. God bless you.

Now, as I pray, if you are standing up, if you are saying, so now this ladder must not be taken back to heaven without me. We said heavens opened and brother Peter was told to do something, but he said, not so, Lord, not so, Lord, not so, Lord, until they took it back to heaven. Somebody must pray today and say, Lord, don't let this heaven close again over my head because I am postponing my response to you.

Thank you. God bless you. I want to now pray for all those that are standing before God, that are saying, Lord, is no longer, I'm no longer postponing.

I'm stepping on this grace. If you have made it available, if you're not asking me to jump up by myself, you're asking me to step on this ladder that will ascend with me, ascending, descending, ascending. It goes up, it comes down to pick others.

Lord, don't let it pass me by. Where are you? Where are you? It's time for me to pray with you. And it's time for God to step into your life.

And it's time for you to say, Lord, whatever is holding me back, let it go. Everything of the earth, let it go. Please take me up, take me up to yourself.

Let this heaven that is come to open, let it pick me along. Let me not be left out. Let my life not become, you know, another story because I refuse to follow you when you called me.

Thank you. Thank you. If God has spoken to your heart and you are saying, Oh God, today, today, the 7th of December, 2023, I heard your voice, Lord, and I cannot allow this ladder of grace to go and dropping me behind.

If the grace of God should bypass you, how do you hope to climb to heaven? You are going to be destined to the earth. You are going to miss out altogether. And all that God wants to ascend with in your life will have been scattered.

If God has spoken to your heart, permit me to give you a space. There are two things I want to do again tonight. And the first space are those friends of mine that the Holy Spirit said, it is for you I have come.

I have been speaking to you. I have been reaching out to you. You have heard so many times, but you have never decided.

Sometimes you say you are going to make a decision, but you are saying, when you finish school, when you do this, when you do that, and you are entering into more difficulty. This night, for once again, the Holy Spirit is saying, I have come. This ladder is set, you know, on the face of the earth, where you are, just by your head, that you may step in.

In time past, we hold somewhere in Boko, and I've seen some few brothers that would try, raise their ticket, try to get visas from the U.S. They are coming. Some are coming from Kenya. Some are struggling to come all the way from South Africa.

And how many could come? Maybe 20, maybe 25. And when there are many, there will be about 90. And it used to be something wonderful.

But God is saying, yes, this matter must get to the door mouth of every man. This matter must be brought to where you are. That's why you are seeing this meeting.

That's why God is making it possible for you to be where you are. And I will go come to your door mouth, and you will still miss it. How will Jesus be coming to knock where you are? And you will still say, I cannot come in.

What will hinder you from stepping out tonight? What will hinder you from saying, Jesus, take me along. Ascend with me. Take me to your glory.

Don't allow me to become left behind. Thank you very much. Now, if you are doing that, I want you to quickly step out before God.

If you have not stepped out, please come out quickly. In any place you are, in any center you are, tonight is another important night. Thank you, my dear sisters.

Thank you, my brothers. Wherever you are, just lift up your hand to heaven and step out. Thank you.

Just step out. Thank you, my dear sister. Step out and say, Lord, Lord, you can't come this close to me, and I will still be giving you excuses.

You can't come to my door mouth, and my life will still not be helped. God bless you. God bless you.

If you are standing, please stand up and walk out. If you have not already knelt down, please go on your knees. Let us jump into this lift of grace tonight.

Thank you, my dear sister. Thank you. God bless you.

God bless you. Brother, you step out quickly. God bless you, wherever you are.

Thank you, my friend. I can see you lifting up those two hands to heaven and say, Lord, I'm the one, I'm the one. If God had to come all the way, all the way, all the way, oh my God, all the way to Belize, all the way to Grenada, all the way, all the way to Bahamas, all the way to where you are, all the way to India, and say, look, this has been brought to your door mouth.

This ladder has been set on the earth. Step on it and let him ascend with you. Who is looking for ascension tonight? Who is going to be taken out, out of the, out of the dungeon, out of the rubbish of sin, out of the rubbish of darkness? Who is going to be translated tonight? Jump on that ladder.

Jump on that ladder. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. The Holy Spirit is, is reaching out, the heavens are opened, and to as many as are stepping to this, oh, he said, and the, and the top of the ladder reaches the heaven.

And God himself was standing on top of that ladder and was saying, hey, I am the Lord God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, your father. I have promised to bless you. I promise to raise you up.

I will not leave you until, until I have finished to do what I want to do with your life. I will not forsake you. All that you see now, all the land where you lie down, I'll give it to you.

God was speaking to a man, and yet he had the gut to be saying, not yet, not now. May God help you to make a response. Thank you, all of you that are holding on your faces, kneeling down.

God bless you. There are still several other centers that we may not even be able to see, but heaven sees you. Just step out.

Even if it is just part of you, and the Holy Spirit is saying, you are the one I came to cut in this place. Just walk out. Just walk out and stand and say, Lord, here am I. Here am I. Put me on the lift of grace.

I won't struggle again. I've struggled enough. I've made all effort, and I couldn't make it.

Take me up. Are you in the Francophone, and you are listening to this message through the Francophone interpretation? I know you are hearing me very well. Step out.

Just walk out. Just walk out and hand over to him. Thank you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

There are still some others that the Holy Spirit is demanding that you must make a decision tonight. Please do so. This meeting is happening the way it is happening, happening concurrently all over the world, because God is saying, it is time for me to visit the earth.

It is time for me to do something in the different places, and there'll be no excuses. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Thank you.

Are you in America, and the Holy Spirit is saying, you have been hearing me for years, but you have kept calculating. When will you release yourself? When will you give me space? When will you come into this lift of grace? Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

What I'm asking you to step into now, dollars cannot buy it. Dollars and all of those mortgages cannot help you. It can only mortgage your life.

But when you step on this ladder, it will ascend with you. It will take you from where you are. Thank you.

God bless you. God bless you. There are so many others that the Holy Ghost is waiting for before we pray.

Thank you. Lift those hands above your head. As you have stood before God, let your hand now be above your head.

Thank you, my friends. Lift it above your head. It's the Lord that must catch that hand.

You are just saying, Lord, oh, I put my hand in your hand tonight. Take me by the hand. Put me on the lift of grace.

Ascend with me, oh God. And the devil has been trying to pull me down to the dungeon. He has been trying to put me in the Mary Clay.

But tonight, Lord, ascend with me. Take me on. Take me on.

Take me on. Young man, maybe you have struggled all the way with pornography. You have struggled with all kinds of things.

You don't want to be in that, but you don't know how to come out. Step on the ladder of grace tonight. Step on the ladder of grace tonight.

Something is going to happen to you. He will ascend with you. He will take you up.

He came to ascend with you. He came to take captivity captive. He came to raise men out of their predicaments.

He came to save. He came to deliver. And he came to lift you up.

He came to ascend with you. He descended first so that he can ascend with you. Oh, thank you, Lord Jesus, this night.

Thank you for what we see you do in our day. Thank you for hearts that you are beginning to raise. Thank you for the ascending, ascending that is happening tonight.

Thank you, God, that you are ascending. You are leading captivity captives. And you are going to give them gifts.

You are going to release grace. You are going to release the anointing of the Holy Ghost. We plead with you.

That you will raise her for us. That you will cause your glory to come upon these lives. And that from this night, oh God, everything that hold them down to the earth, let it break.

Lift them up, Lord, and ascend with them. Ascend with them with your power. Ascend with them with your grace.

Ascend with them, oh God, with your spirit. The Bible say, if the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and dwells in us, it will quicken your mortal bodies also. And so, Lord, I ask every hindrance, every force that holds men down.

Father, the spirit that raised you from the dead, that which was the resurrection life, that you ascended and ascended to the throne up there. Lord, I ask that that same power, that same power of resurrection be released upon these people tonight. That all of them, young ladies, young men, older women, older men, as they are standing, lifting up their hands, please, Father, raise them up.

Raise them up from the power of darkness. Raise them up from the weakness of the flesh. Raise them up, oh God, and ascend with them.

Ascend with them to the holy hill of your presence. Ascend with them, oh God, unto your glory. Ascend with them into what you want to do, oh God.

And Father, as you ascend with them, so will your spirit descend upon them. So will your spirit come upon them. So will your grace come upon them.

So will your gifts come upon them, that they will become a blessing from tonight. They will become a blessing, oh God, from this meeting, that bondage is broken, so that they can break the bondages in the life of many others. Thank you, Father.

Holy Ghost, please take charge of these lives. We have decided to say, Lord, not then, but now. We are not postponing our commitment to you.

Now, have your way. Please, Lord, have your way. Thank you for hearing our prayer.

Thank you for doing what no man can do and taking us beyond our own level. Blessed be your name. In Jesus Christ's name, we have prayed.

Amen. While you are still standing together with me here, I would like to pray for anyone else. God has come.

Heaven is opening to you, and God says, hereafter, you will see something that you have never seen before. You will see greater things than you have ever seen. I want all of you now to lift up your hands, whether you're in the congregation or you have believed the word of God.

You are saying, Father, as the heaven opened upon my life, I will no longer walk under any heaviness of darkness. I will no longer be oppressed. I will walk in the light of your open heavens, and my life will become an expression of your power.

And all those men and women that are tied around my life, that my life must bless, they will take their own. As I eat my bread, oh God, as I take my space, each one of the men will find blessing through my life. You will descend upon me, oh God, with your glorious power, and men shall be helped.

My community will change. Our land will experience revival. Your local church will experience revival because of you.

Please pray that prayer as you lift up your hands everywhere. Thank you, Father, this moment. Thank you that what only you can do is what you are doing tonight.

And thank you because as you are stepping into our lives, as you are ascending upon us, you are also descending your glory upon us, that Lord, the Son of Man, the Son of Man who has become our anchor, the one that has become our staircase, our ladder to glory. Lord, it will become more and more revealed. And so many people that are founded in life, this connection will come to them.

Many out of this experience will find their way to glory. Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayer. And as we go on, oh God, looking unto you for what you will do with us, we are asking that this open heaven will redound unto the manifestation of your power.

It will draw nations to the kingdom, and all those that have been waiting for the manifestation of the Son of God, they will see Jesus appear to them. Light will spring forth, and people who are in the region of death shall find deliverance. Thank you for hearing our prayer tonight.

In Jesus Christ's name, we have prayed.