HOUSE RETREAT 2024 DAY 1

THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH STUDENTS’ FELLOWSHIP OF NIGERIA
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN CHAPTER (TACSFON UI)
HOUSE RETREAT 2024, DAY 1.
TUESDAY, 23RD APRIL, 2024.

OPENING PRAYERS

The opening prayer was led by Sister Mayowa which started at about 6:20 pm. She led the congregation to worship God and reflect on the goodness of God throughout the session.

Afterwards, by 6:25 pm, Bro Samuel Joshua came up to lead songs of worship to God. He then sang the following songs;

1. Eh,eh,eh….eh,eh,eh….You are worthy of our praise.
2. I hail the lion, I worship the lion…

Afterwards, he read from Zechariah 4:6 and asked that the church pray for the help of the Holy Ghost. Then, he read from 2 Kings 2 to illustrate the life of Elisha as he followed Elijah and asked the congregation to pray for grace to follow through in the service and for grace to be focused and not be distracted.

Thereafter, we prayed for God’s encounter as we gathered.

The session ended at 6:40 pm

WORSHIP

At about 6:41 pm, Sister Faith Akinwande came up to lead us in worship, she asked the congregation to rejoice in the spirit as TACSFONITES and then she led us in singing the following songs in adoration to God;

• Iwo loba awon oba, Eledumare oh(you are the king of kings)…
• Agbe okan wa soke, nireti to nibukun (we lift our hearts in blessed expectations)…
• I will never be ungrateful to you Lord…
• Olorun to lagbara, osubare ma re o…
• Oh sing my soul, praise the Lord…
• Glory be to the Lord, Hallelujah
• Praise ye the Lord, oh my soul
• I’ve got Joy, Joy, Joy
• Wetin I go give to you, my praise
• Amope wa, amu iyin wa
• Eh, eh, eh, eh…my God is good oh
• Jehovah eh eh, Jehovah ah ah,
• We clap our hands in the sanctuary

There was joyous celebration as the congregation expressed their Joy before their maker.
She rounded up the session with the song,

You are the reason I live…

The session ended at 7:05 pm.

Opening Charge

At about 7:05 pm, Sister Mayowa Opadeji came up to encourage TACSFONites to gather their hearts and gather expectations as God had started moving in our midst regardless of absence yet of spectacular events.
Then she led the congregation in singing this song, ‘Ma se da demi nikan 2x, Oluwa dasi oro mi. (Intervene in my matters, Lord intervene)
Afterwards, she began her charge by exposing the purpose of the retreat.
– House retreat is a personal time with God.
– It is a time for refreshment.
– It is a time of change.
– It also is a time of teaching.
She led us to read from Matthew 9:17, and then explained how House retreat is a time of purging as vessels of God. She advised that everyone be sensitive as God could decide to move through any session of the retreat. It could be through songs or the ministration of the word.
– House retreat is a time for impartation.
She then led us to pray the following prayers;

• Father purge me and make me new that you may pour yourself out on me.
• Help me to encounter your light.

HYMN
At 7:27 pm, Sister Odekunle Dorcas came up to lead the church to sing from the Redemption Hymnal 42, LET ALL THE PEOPLE PRAISE HIM.

After the hymn, Bro Isilo Emmanuel came up on stage in a bid to introduce the minister for the word ministration and charged the congregation to start taking the session seriously as day 1 has started after which he sang ‘Fowokan mi fowokanmi ooo’ (Touch me Lord, touch ) and he then led the congregation in prayers for the retreat whilst asking us to hold hands praying for one another and for our expectations.

WORD MINISTRATION
The minister Bro Olufemi Ogundiran came up at 7:40 pm and he then led the congregation in the song: Majen wa la lai ri o (May I not go without an encounter). He thereafter gave thanks for God for the privilege given to minister to the people of God in the church of God.
Those who will receive from God in this day will have the earnest desire to receive from him, and to experience Him. He led in the song ‘As the deer pants for the water so my soul longs for you, forever and ever yeah… this heart beats for you’

Topic: Come up hither
Text: Psalm 42:1, Philippians 2:10, Revelation 3:16-17

Excerpts:

• In the first scripture we see a psalm written by David who was shown in his lowest state when he was running away from his son, Absalom. This is  a metaphor for those who like David are running from the product of their misdeeds and sins. God promises to come for this set of people tonight. A form of Absalom could be oppression, limitations, addictions, people like David, people at their lowest point.

Part of this set are those who are not at all subject to any consequence of sin but their life is characterized with dryness, God is here for us, and he is saying come up hither. He is saying he is stretching forth his hand to help us, he is saying to all, come up hither.

A clean hands and a pure heart; you won’t access anything in this retreat if your conscience is not purged from dead-works. Hebrews 10:22, Psalm 63:1 The state of your conscience talks about the disposition of your heart and this is a reflection of your heart. This then is a time of deep reflections to uproot those desires that easily beset and to face those things that corrupt the heart. Deliverance from oppression is here, forgiveness of sin is here and then if the problem is dryness God is watering you in this moment.

• For the second set of people who are not like David who had sinned but those who are like Paul who had grown to a state, Philippians 3:3.

God is saying maybe you are like Paul and you have handled spiritual things, you have begun to mentor others or perhaps you know you are doing well, God is saying come up hither, a word for someone here is that you are not yet at one-fifth of what he has for you. God is saying come up hither, if you think you have attained, if you think you have touched all of it, God is saying he is here to encounter you for more.

Revelation 3:15, this is for those who have plateaued who have found a comfort zone in God who have come to a place where everything goes in constancy, the verse talks about those who are lukewarm; neither hot nor cold and has found a resting zone. God is looking for those who will be on fire for him, those who will desire for more, those who will press in for more, who will not just be satisfied with sporadic anointing.

1. God is saying to lay aside all weights and to press in, and as you desire, fresh grace is released upon you. According to Matthew 5:3; God is coming for the poor, those who realize their need for God.

Without realizing your insufficiency, God cannot come to be your sufficiency, ‘If you don’t touch me where else can I go’ is the disposition of one that hungers for more. Jeremiah 29:13, Luke 18:9-14, Philippians 3:13-14.

2. The second thing God is expecting is desperation, you must come to the state where the choices are  either God or God.

Philippians 3:14: Here Paul talked about pressing and in pressing you apply pressure, with the whole of  your being.

In Luke 16:16: God is saying come with desperation, the kind that says that you will not let God go unless He blesses you. What will remain with you is the encounter you would have had with God, will you be as desperate as the blind Bartimeus who regardless of the crowd still cried out for God. Matthew 11:12 a recount of Luke 16:16, here you take it by force regardless, like Paul who says I press  into it with all force.

God is saying here the wells will be like springs and the springs like fountains and as you soak in the fountain the fountain will be like rain and the rain will be like rivers. Revelation 22:1

• The third category of people God is speaking to this night Revelation 4:1 . For this category of people God has opened a door, you came to the conference for a specific encounter, for healing and you are not complacent, the door has been opened up, and God will not force you to enter. There are people that prophetic scrolls have been written of you, it is time to come up unto it. He then led us into prayer to this effect.
• Closing Charge
• At about 8:50 pm, the vice president, Bro Emmanuel Cornelius came forward for the closing charge encouraging the brethren to keep writing materials close and take note of what God will be communicating to them, as the Lord then is ready to launch us into great and mighty things.
• Afterwards he invited the President for the closing charge.  He read from Luke 16:16 and Ezekiel 47:1-4 inviting us to press in and be ready for an experience of plunging just as Ezekiel said. He sang the songs ‘Channels of my spirit…’ ‘Rivers of living waters…’ He enjoined those who are having their exams the next day to see the secretariat and those in the Mellanby Hall, Kuti hall and Idia Hall are the ones to be in charge of the food handling. He then shared the benedictions and said the grace.