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Adeyemi: We intend to feed about 20, 000 people at Embrace Season 10

By Chris Irekamba
08 April 2017   |   3:11 am
The theme of Embrace Season 10 is: “Rejoicing In Our King,” taken from Psalm 149:2. We rejoice in this King because He brought salvation and deliverance. He allowed Himself to be killed, so we can have salvation and without Him we are nothing.

REV. ISAAC ADEYEMI

Embrace International Assembly, Ikorodu, Lagos, has concluded arrangements to hold its yearly programme tagged: ‘Embrace 10.’ In this interview with CHRIS IREKAMBA, the Senior Pastor of the church, REV. ISAAC ADEYEMI spoke on activities marking the event and other pertinent issues.

What is the theme of this year’s programme and what is it all about?
This year’s Embrace marks our 10th anniversary and we are also using the occasion to launch Isaac Adeyemi World Evangelistic Outreach. God just gave us the vision to reach out to the world and we believe that Embrace would be the vehicle to accomplish that purpose. In addition to what we have been doing every year, we intend giving free drugs, free eye glasses and a lot of other things to the public. We also intend feeding about 20, 000 people expected to at the event. As usual, we believe that souls would be attracted to His kingdom. Some artistes have been shortlisted to perform at the occasion, among who are Evangelist Ebenezer Obey, Cobhams Asuquo, Tope Alabi, Tim Godfrey and Bois Olorun. So, we are believing God to make it a time of breakthrough for soul winning, signs and wonders. The event comes up on the Good Friday, April 14, 2017 and the venue is Ikorodu Town Hall. We are starting at 8am with the medical outreach, and it ends at 2pm. The musical crusade starts from 8pm till dawn.

The theme of Embrace Season 10 is: “Rejoicing In Our King,” taken from Psalm 149:2. We rejoice in this King because He brought salvation and deliverance. He allowed Himself to be killed, so we can have salvation and without Him we are nothing. If there is anyone to be praised, it is this King. So, this year, we are approaching it from the angle of praise, to open people’s eyes to see what this Man has done for them. This is the first year I would be ministering at Embrace since we started, and the reason is to explain more clearly the vision God gave to us concerning Isaac Adeyemi World Evangelistic Outreach. Before now, we have been reaching out to communities here, but with the new vision, we realised we need to go beyond here. Jesus said when we receive the gift of Holy Spirit; we shall be witnesses unto Him in Jerusalem, Judea, and in Samaria. Jerusalem is our locality, where we have been witnessing in Judea. Now, we have done Jerusalem and Judea, and we believe it is time to go to Samaria and the outer part of the world. And I know that God Who has brought the vision has monitored it from afar. I believe He knows we are due to leave the mountain, where we have operated for so long. We’ve stayed too long on this mountain and God is saying we should move to the next mountain. We believe Embrace Season 10 is the auspicious time for us to launch out.

‘Rejoicing in our King’ is the theme, but how can Nigerians rejoice in the face of current economic recession?
We serve a King, Who is a promise-keeper. Men can make promises and fail to fufil them because they are mortals. But we serve a God, Who when He says a word, stands by it. So, we must rejoice in Him, as He is the holy One Who never fails and Who will never fail. He is the only One Who has integrity and keeps it. Others may disappoint, but He doesn’t. And if there is any time we should rejoice, it is now, because we have One Who is a promise-keeper. He says: “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” So, no matter what the country is presently passing through, it is still a season of rejoicing. Our season of joy is at hand, because we serve a God, Who loves and cares about us. He is ever thinking about us, and wants us to succeed, He changeth not. He is ever constant.

What security measures have you put in place for the safety of participants?
By the grace of God, we have not done badly in managing the security arrangement in the past. What we have done is to involve all the security agencies such as Operation MESA, the Police, Civil Defence, the Neighbourhood Watch and so on. This year, we have informed all the security arms of government. We’ve even gone to bomb disposal unit, to leave no stone unturned.

Could you expatiate more on IAWEO (Isaac Adeyemi World Evangelist Outreach)?
When people invite me to occasions and they said they want my picture, I always tell them not to bother, but if they insist, I tell them to use the picture of the Holy Spirit, if they can get it. So, the idea of Isaac Adeyemi World Evangelistic Outreach came to me through a revelation on January 3, 2017. We do community worship here, which is also a form of an outreach, though we often take our service to communities, which we use as a form of evangelism. I thought that was enough for an outreach, until God gave us this vision. If this revelation didn’t come to me, there was no way I would have said we want an outreach outside Nigeria.

But when this vision came, I felt a sense of urgency, that God was saying: “we can’t afford to be static here, I still have people out there, who need to be told about Me.” I believe we are the people He is sending out. Isaac Adeyemi World Evangelistic Outreach is not the first evangelistic outreach and it won’t be the last. I’m sure God is just calling us to go and play our part in catching the fishes that are still out there in the river. As a matter of fact, that is the most urgent assignment for us as ministers and believers for now.

Do you have a particular country in mind?
No. Ever since the vision came, what we have been doing is to pray. He has not told us this is where we should go, but what the vision says is world evangelistic outreach. We’ve set up a prayer team, and asking God for proper direction. We don’t want to go to Ghana or Liberia, if He doesn’t want us to go there. We want Him to lead us and then we follow. If today He says we should go to Ghana, of course, we will head there. What is your view on the political situation in the country?

I know that God in heaven cannot fail. I will be 60 this year and all this time, I have witnessed successive government promising electricity, potable water, good roads, good healthcare, but they have never delivered on their promises. How would I now think that in two years, President Muhammadu Buhari would do the magic of what has not been done in the past 40 years? We are just in a hurry and maybe politicians are the ones hiking our expectations. Change doesn’t come over night. Change is gradual and I think those in government also need to demonstrate that they are serious about the change they are talking about.

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