Victory Celebration Mainland Second Service, September 2026 by Pastor Kingsley Okonkwo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

A church God started

30 years ago I got the vision to start a youth fellowship that became this church. I was 19 and did not know what I was doing. I was following the leading of the Lord

This is not just a church. Some people start a church because they feel there should be a fellowship where the word is shared.

That is not a bad thing, but it is very different from when God himself speaks and commands a people to start a church

This church was started by God's instruction. We are not smart people who thought it was needed

God gave us the name. We had our own ideas but we asked him, and God spoke expressly.

That is why it is good to pray and ask God things, especially those getting married or about to have children. Pray before you name your children. Let God lead you.

Some of your kids, God has a name for them

Don't watch a movie, see an actor killing people in it, and name your child after him. In the olden days people named a child after whatever hardship they were going through. No.

God usually has an intention and a name

Same with Jesus, his name shall be Jesus. Same with John the Baptist. God had a clear name and intention for them

As David never lost a battle

We prayed and God said it shall be called David's Christian Center. A very weird name 30 years ago. For years people called me Pastor David

God said, because as David never lost a battle, that is how my walk with you will be

I was a young Christian and did not know. Later I checked: a lion, a bear, a giant, an army, a whole country, a king, no matter what David fought against, he always won

It is not creativity we used to start this ministry. It is God ordained, and that affects how you relate with the ministry and the church. It was not man-made

Many years after, we found it in the Bible 1 Chronicles 18:6

The Lord gave David victory wherever he went. Everything is in the Bible. God won't lead you with something that can't be backed with scripture

God is the author of this work. God backs up what he starts. He supports what he starts

Approach life with that level of confidence. You are not an ordinary person, especially as part of this house

It is a covenant of victory and God can't break his part. It is the same thing the Jews enjoy because of the covenant God started with Abraham.

The beautiful thing about entering a covenant with God is that he never breaks his part

This house is a covenant house. God said, as David never lost a battle, so shall my walk with you be. 100% victory, 100% of the time

If we have a covenant of victory, why am I not enjoying it?

One thing that can make you be in a covenant house and not enjoy the covenant of the house is how you see the house

3 keys to enjoying the covenant of the house

1. How you see the house

   2 Kings 2:1-10

   Elijah had already told God he didn't want to do it again. Ministry can be that frustrating. God said fine, I will take you up in a whirlwind, but we will find a replacement

   Elisha asked for a double portion. It was a nice request. It means he was seeing something on Elijah that he wanted

   Elijah said, if you see me when I am taken, it will be yours. If you don't, it won't

   Everything that has to do with God's blessing is always conditional on our end. It is not conditional from God's end. God is game

   Whether you will enjoy it, whether you will experience it, is more tied to you than to God

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   He doesn't mean seeing physically. They were seeing each other physically. He was saying, how you see me will determine if the thing will flow to you

   Proximity doesn't guarantee connectivity

   Sons of the prophets were people being discipled by the prophets. There were many of them. Those ones didn't receive anything. They were more interested in talking.

   They told Elisha his man of God would soon relocate to America. Elisha said, hold your peace

   There are always people around something special who never experience anything special. In 30 years, in this ministry and others, I have noticed it.

   They never benefit from the anointing because of how they see it. For them it is a joking issue. Familiarity has set in

   Illustration: the one who wanted to be closer

   One of my boys came to my house. He said, Pastor K, I want to be closer to you. I told him, I want you to go to Bible school

   I knew he was not spiritually aware of the environment he was in. I needed him somewhere that would awaken his spiritual consciousness enough for him to gain from me

   I told him, if the two of us stay in my bedroom for 24 years you won't gain anything because of how you are seeing me. You see me from a natural standpoint

   If you see me as your friend, there is nothing I can do for you. You laugh at my jokes, go home and suffer.

   If I am a comedian to you, your life will look like a joke

   People very close in proximity to the anointing have no connectivity. The real people who follow me closely, every time I hear from them it is good news

   Pastor Jetro is a perfect example. Every time he has a testimony. A new car, a new house in Nigeria. You say Nigeria is hard. He can't say that. We don't talk like that.

   He is working

   If you see it well, you don't even have to be physically close. We might not see for a year, but it will work wherever you are

   The reason God sets up a house is to dispense grace upon every member of the house. You can't be part of this kind of house and be struggling. Go and check your connectivity

   Satan always attacks how you see the anointing. That is his favorite attack. The moment he alters how you see God's servant or messenger, he has defeated you.

   He wants it to look like a rumor, a gossip, a gist

   Once how you see the grace of God is altered, you are gone. Elisha was smart. He stayed focused and got the result

   Be careful of familiarity with the grace of the house. Not only with me as a person, but with the house

   You are in a department but come late every Sunday. Some of you are ministers and pastors, never on time. That is the sin of familiarity. You have gotten used to God

   If you see the grace, the grace will work for you

   Don't tie your soul to church money

   If you work in church in any capacity where they pay you, don't tie your soul to church money

   God can always do more for you than a church can ever pay you. If I were you, I would connect more to that grace

   It doesn't mean you can never get paid from church. But as the pastor I tell you, whatever we are paying can't take you where you are going in life.

   I am not saying it because I am wicked. I say it because I have experienced it

   Be giving and tithing with passion so that the grace of the house will promote you financially

   When we started, the church couldn't pay anybody. Later the church said they would pay me something for transport and to load my phone. Nothing major

   We hired a staff. Church has no fixed income. We believe God to pay the salaries we promise, so sometimes it delays a day, sometimes a week.

   Urgent needs like the venue are paid before salary, because without the venue the whole work is closed

   This man complained and murmured every time salary delayed. He created a strife atmosphere in the office. I got tired. I said they should stop paying me and pay him quickly.

   That is where I first stopped earning a salary

   He kept complaining, so I told them to make him the accountant. That is how to cure people.

   

   person

   Pastor Kingsley Okonkwo

   David's Christian Centre, Lagos (DCC).

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   If you have never been a pastor, a HOD or a shepherd and you always complain, one day they put you there and you see that it is not easy to coordinate people

   The choir director came, we need a microphone, we need batteries. He checked the account, nothing there. They were texting him about salary. After a few months he came to repent.

   He said, you think we are eating your money, there is no money, we are just believing God

   I stopped earning since that time and thank God I did, because I began looking up to God. That salary would not have paid for the life I live today

   When I pay tithe from my own income it is very healthy. The church account enjoys my monthly tithe. Imagine if I was waiting for church

   Don't see church as just a physical organization or a social gathering. Don't have a familiarity spirit where you are just strolling.

   Jacob said, the Lord was in this place and I knew it not Genesis 28:16

   Recognize that it is a spiritual house with grace upon it. Interact with the grace upon it, not the physical organization alone

   Some people treat it as a racket. They inflate money. You are wasting your time. You can't rob God. God is the worst person to steal from. He is seeing you

   It is not a physical organization. I didn't start it, God started it. If you think it is me that started it, you have missed it already

   Illustration: the missing offering

   Many years ago we had somebody stealing offering. It is familiarity again. You get so familiar that you see it as a physical organization

   It happened whenever we were doing projects. Somebody would say, I have redeemed my pledge for the property, but there was no record of it. It happened again

   Then I gave my own seed for the project and it didn't show in the report. I said somebody is collecting the money

   We wanted to call all the ushers together and say somebody is stealing. That would have been a big mistake, because the person was among them

   By inspiration I asked one of my boys I could trust, I think my PA, to hide under my big table throughout the service. Offering was taken into my office to be processed

   When they collected the offering, the person who took the baskets into my office was quickly checking through to see what to take. Somebody came out from under the table.

   That is how we cut him off

   We almost involved that person in the strategy, but a small thing stopped us

   Familiarity. People like that hardly amount to anything. It takes grace to grow

   You can't be somewhere 15, 20, 30 years with no tangible increase. Check your connectivity. You might have proximity but not connectivity

   Some say they have been connected to this house 10, 20 years and they are reducing the size of the house they rent. Three bedroom before, now two, now one and a half.

   You are eating your tithe, your seed, things you should not be eating

   You are familiar. It is a game to you, a joke to you. This is what makes people angry with church. I have been there 14 years and nothing has changed.

   It is your mind that didn't change. Your attitude is wrong. The state of your heart

   Some got born again here, met here, married here, and now have children and their own house. For those being blessed, keep having as many houses, cars, breakthroughs and businesses as you want

   We have always had a culture that you must start a business. Don't sit down. When you come and tell me it is not working, I don't know you

   If you see the grace the right way, it will happen. If you don't, it won't.

   You can live in the same room with me or any man of God and nothing changes, because proximity does not guarantee connectivity

2. Serve in the house

   2 Kings 3:10-12

   Three kings came together to fight a war, and the people they were going to fight looked stronger.

   The king of Israel said, the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab

   Jehoshaphat asked, is there not a prophet of the Lord here? A servant said, here is Elisha who poured water on the hands of Elijah. Jehoshaphat said, the word of the Lord is with him

   Elijah was gone and Elisha was now the main man. They needed to hear from God.

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   The servant said, I don't know his ministry, I don't know how anointed he is, the only thing I know is that he poured water on the hands of Elijah.

   The king asked no further question

   The principle in the spirit is that what you serve eventually serves you. He that waters shall be watered also Proverbs 11:25

   The grace you serve begins to serve you. Pouring water on his hands means he served him. Before taps, somebody stood by you and poured the water for you to wash

   One of the ways grace comes upon people is by serving that grace

   2 Samuel 6:11 to 2 Samuel 6:12

   Obed-edom carried the ark to his house and God multiplied him. People were even angry and said, let's go and collect the ark of God from his house

   He kept the ark only three months because they had no place to keep it, and the Lord blessed him. Serve, serve, serve. You can't be in a house like this and already retired

   Too young to retire

   How can a young man be called past tense, ex-worker? At 32 you are saying, when we used to run the department. Which age do you want to use to serve God?

   At 35 you are done? At 40?

   A bishop going on 70 came here, preached Friday night and the next morning, then flew to Abuja the same day to preach in the evening

   Kenneth Copeland is 90 and still preaching. At the last Southwest Believers' Convention he sat down to preach

   I preached with Bill Winston in Rwanda. He had a stroke and still limps. He sits down to preach. He flew from America to Rwanda

   These are the people you go to heaven with, and you retired at 32

   If God doesn't recruit you, Satan will recruit you. Nature abhors a vacuum. The idle man or mind is the devil's workshop

   I have never seen a builder criticize another builder. It is always the people doing nothing with their lives who take it as their job to accuse builders

   One of my favorite stories is Nehemiah. The people who surprise me most are Sanballat and Tobiah Nehemiah 4:17

   You don't have to like everybody. But when your daily work is to go and look for how to criticize and accuse somebody, something is mentally wrong with you

   I am more curious than I want to teach. I want to understand what is going on in their brain.

   If we know it, we can help others, like a vaccine given before the virus enters their brain

   They didn't do it once. They came again and again, raised rumors, tried to create fear. Nehemiah said, one hand holds the shovel, the other holds the sword, but this work must continue.

   And they came again the next week

   Every day somebody is building. Every day you are destroying because you have nothing to build. Satan has recruited you because you retired too early

   At a convention in North America, Baba preached morning, afternoon and night, plus the workers' meeting and ministers' meeting, sometimes sitting down, at almost 90. You are 52 and you have closed

   What will you be doing for the remaining 30 years? At 30 years we are calling you ex-worker. By 60 years what will we call you? Ancestors

   Paul was stoned and left for dead. They thought they had killed him. He stood up and continued preaching Acts 14:19. He didn't say, they nearly killed me, I am going home

   On the last day there are two judgments. The first is who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. If you are not born again, it concerns you.

   If you are born again that is not your business, you are going to heaven

   The second is award night, because God is a just judge. He wants to give people according to their work

   Those who died for the kingdom, Peter, John, Paul, their names will be called. There is a long standing service award. There is an excellence award for those who brought excellence to service

   Illustration: award night

   My second daughter is very brilliant academically. She was packing all the awards: best in English, best in maths, best in social studies, best in religious studies

   I knew there would be a problem, because our last born would not like it. In the car he was fuming. He said, they didn't give me any award

   I said, they are not sharing it to everybody. You earn it. It is by the work you have done

   Bad students don't know award night will matter to them when they are loafing around. The day will come when you are embarrassed as they call out the awards

   Some of you have already retired. Two children and you have retired. Too early

   Engineer Abani is 77 and on site every day.

   Even when he was away in Canada he called me almost every day, saying he couldn't wait to be back to check what is happening on site. I have 37 year olds who have closed

   If you used to be a worker, return to service. Return to base. Return to your department. Don't say, when we used to run this department. You can't use used to

   There are people serving in church at 60, 70. You are an executive member, strolling whenever you like. Too young

   Don't give God your remnants. When they fire you from work and nobody wants you again, you don't come with your wheelchair to serve.

   Give him the best of your mind, the best of your body, excellence in your service

   If you are too ashamed to return to your department, they can find another department for you. There is always work in God's house. All your experience is useful. Don't be too proud

   Any part of your body you don't use begins to die. We don't retire

3. Don't fight the house

   2 Samuel 3:1

   There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. David waxed stronger and stronger and the house of Saul weaker and weaker

   Don't fight the house of God. If it is a man who started the ministry, you can fight it and escape.

   If it is God who started it, you can fight it, but you won't escape

   Illustration: the lion

   A lion or lioness sees some animals and leaves them. You ask, are you not hungry? He is hungry, but if he fights that thing he might kill it and never use his jaw again.

   The injuries will reduce the years he lives. Not worth it

   You can fight the house of God. I just can't guarantee how you will come out of the fight. You might never recover. Your generation might never recover from that single fight

   Don't fight a house God ordained. It was a long war, but it kept diminishing the house of Saul and strengthening the house of David

Return to service

If you are not yet serving, maybe you never served, or you served in your former church or when you were young, you are still young. We don't have any old member here

If a 77 year old man is serving, you are not old. A minister's father is still serving and his son is now a minister

No matter who you are, you must serve. There must be somewhere you can contribute. It might be small, but add something so that your hand will be in this machine going forward

Invitation to Christ

If you are not born again, you are missing out. You will miss out here in life and you will miss out in eternity