The Lord says Y2020 is our year of Greatness!!!! I pray that this prophecy shall come to pass in your life. Let’s look at three bible characters Abraham, Moses and Joshua whom God promised greatness as we proceed in this message:

How did Abraham become great? “Yes, think about Abraham, your ancestor, and Sarah, who gave birth to your nation. Abraham was only one man when I called him. But when I blessed him, he became a great nation.” Isaiah 51:2 NLT

How did Moses become great? And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.” Ex 11:3

How did Joshua become great? The Lord told Joshua, (Dele Dada “Today I will begin to make you a great leader (Pastor, Husband, businessman, Engineer) in the eyes of all the Israelites. (Canadians) They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses” Joshua 3:7

What is greatness?

Greatness is the quality of being great, distinguished, or eminent. Greatness is something or someone that is larger in size, quality, or quantity which may be called "great." It is a term used for something beyond the ordinary. In the Bible, God, humans, and Christ receive this designation with theological significance. Greatness is a common factor in the lives of achievers. The common denominator with Abraham, Joshua and Moses that made them great is God. I read somewhere that the difference between Race and Grace is G-The God factor. Nobody becomes great without the God factor but that does not mean that to be great you will just fold your arms! All the people that God exalted in the bible that became great were people that did some extraordinary things before, during and when God called them. When you become born again, you will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is the doer/processor. Holy Spirit makes the difference. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall……..

There are so many knowledge sharing sources in our generation but few learners and because many refused to learn, instead of becoming great a lot end up in mediocrity. The purpose of sharing these few thoughts is to initiate, enhance or upgrade your greatness. May you not end up as a mediocre in the year of greatness! - the year 2020!

Orders of Greatness

Our magazines and TV screens are filled with stories of the rich, the beautiful and the strong. Our culture places these things on a pedestal and many of us aspire to achieve them. There is nothing wrong with these things – but they are not everything. The French philosopher, Blaise

Pascal, spoke of three orders of greatness: Riches, beauty and strength fall into his first category of superficial ‘physical greatness’. Above this is a higher, second level of greatness. It is the greatness of genius, science and art. The greatness of the art of Michelangelo or the music of Bach or the brilliance of Albert Einstein – these stand way above superficial physical greatness. However, according to Pascal there is a third kind of greatness – the order of holiness. (And there is an almost infinite qualitative difference between the second and the third categories.) The fact that a holy person is strong or weak, rich or poor, highly intelligent or illiterate, does not add or subtract anything because that person’s greatness is on a different and almost infinitely superior plane. It is open to every one of us to become great in the order of holiness. This year much as we are trumpeting greatness, let the greatness of holiness and integrity be your focus.

STEPS TO GREATNESS

1.    Walk in faith:   Nobody has seen year 2020 before it is just being created day by day, but people who believe the word of God and the prophets and are willing to walk in faith believing they are going to be great will become great. “ Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper” 2Chr. 20:20. For those who are skeptical, pessimistic, unbelieving and say nothing will change, nothing will change for them. “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise.” Heb. 11:11. You need faith to download God’s promises to your life. Faith that you will not drop out of school either due to financial, mental or environmental stressors. I am not just talking about small faith of securing a job, no, develop faith to buy that company that turned you down. Develop faith to start your own company and make it big. Greatness is not an abstract phenomenon. People become great in one area of the other, great engineers, great athletes, actors, great ministers, all of them see it coming to pass and they walk and work into what God has promised them. You cannot become great without the F-Faith Factor in spiritual parlance and the equivalent of risk factor in the corporate/business world.

2. Walk in obedience:  If there is one thing that defines Abraham it is strict obedience to God’s instructions. Read all the promises God made to Abraham. For example, in Gen 12:1-3, and Verse four says. “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him;” Read: Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham! ” Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey.” Gen 22:1-3. You cannot become great until you pass the test of obedience! I don’t know the level you are at now but God said I should tell you he wants you to become great, but that greatness will be predicated on your personal obedience to what he tells you to do. You will need to ask God -what he wants you to do in the year 2020 and whatever he tells you to do and you must be careful enough to do it. I guarantee you as a servant of God your greatness will emerge.

I was in my comfort zone in Warri Delta state and I thought I was blessed, and so when God told me to move to Canada I refused. I could remember writing my resignation letter albeit not in sincerity at Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) a subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)and I gave it to my Managing Director, and he tore it saying “Dr. Dada Nigeria needs you more than Canada.” I left his presence rejoicing telling whoever wants to hear that I wanted to obey God, but my resignation was not accepted! Fast forward after 20 years of obeying God, I have seen my life blossom and my greatness just emerging! God took me from practicing Chemical Engineering to Jesus Engineering. God took me from refining oil to refining souls. On the platform of International Gathering of Eagles(IGOE) alone where God told me to go and raise an ‘eagle generation’ I obeyed God and started IGOE in 2003. Since 2009 I have been training church and non-church leaders in nothing less than 10 nations a year. In the past year 2019 I was in Norway, Spain, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Kenya, Cameroon, Tanzania and Uganda and Nigeria. God has enabled me and the team to hold the IGOE Conferences in over 40 nations and preached the gospel in over 70 nations Just because I obeyed him! I am sure you have your stories of obedience to tell and greatness that has dogged your feet or disobedience that has stagnated you!

3. GREATNESS BEGINS WITH SELFLESSNESS.

What is selflessness? Being more concerned with the needs and wishes of others than with your own. Selfless is the opposite of selfish. If you're selfless, you think less about yourself, and more about others — you're generous and kind. Being selfless is like being altruistic — another word for giving to others without looking for personal gain. Moses left the comfort of Pharaoh’s palace to identify with the Hebrews. Heb 11:25-27. Read Joshua 13 and you will see how Joshua a great warrior conquered kings, took lands and territories for the people of God. Read Gen 14 and see how Abraham led an army to wage war against formidable kings that were bent on destroying his nephew Lot who had treated him badly earlier. You cannot become great with your selfish prayer life of me, me me. You cannot become great when you cannot open your palms to give to the gospel. I was in Warri, CAC Bethel Effurun in December and I saw when they took offering how it was largely 10 naira and 20-naira notes! One dollar is 370 naira! So honestly, I don’t know the equivalent 20 naira in cents. But I had to challenge them “what do you take God for? I asked with trepidation. If 10 naira is all you have God understands but you cannot make mockery of God. Nobody forces you to give to God but learn to be selfless in giving to humanity through any, channel that will be the beginning of your greatness. Learn to donate to charities, research centers, hospitals, institutions, ministries, at death will some property to great agencies. Donate blood.

4. Offer Leadership:   A Leader is "a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal" Early in the year 2019 I went to Tyndale University to take a course on Leadership Development. One of the lessons I learnt is the impact of personality traits. The ability to make judgments based on Thinking Vs Feelings. I learnt I was making judgments more based on feelings than thinking. There is nothing wrong with your personality traits but to be a great leader you must learn to do more thinking than feeling. Think about how your decision will affect your followers, instead of focusing on your ego, comfort, provision and so on. Greatness cannot be achieved if your leadership is all about your feelings! Help people to become great. Be a great mentor. Moses led the people for 40 years in the wilderness. Fasted for 40 days and forty nights to receive laws from God. When the people sinned and God wanted to destroy them hear what he said” …”Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” 11But Moses entreated the LORD his

God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people.…” Ex 32:10-11- Did I hear you say, Wow!

5. Be Industrious:   Greatness is not cheap. Greatness is not for idlers and loafers. Greatness is for dreamers and not day dreamers. Greatness is for goal pursuers. Greatness is for risk takers. Mike Murdock said, ‘the evidence of desire is pursuit.’ The fact that God says you will be great does not mean you will be great; you will need to make that choice and pursue it! The Lord gave me an understanding of how Jacob became wealthy and great. “In this way the man (Jacob) grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.” Gen 30:43 Which way? When Jacob ran from his brother and parents-he slept with stones as pillows and God showed up with angels on ladders making great promises of greatness to him. He recognized God’s presence. He raised an altar. He made a promise to give all the tithe of whatever God gave him to God. He severed his master for 14 years with hard labor to marry Leah and Rachael. He added another 6 years of hard work. His wages were changed 10 times. He did not quit! Then he had another dream-“In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. 11 The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ 12 And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you” Gen 3110-11.

Now go back and see him implement that revelation in Gen 30:37-42. He was strategic. It is clear Jacob became rich because he took hold of the promises of God and ran with it by being industrious. There is no short course or route to greatness, no drive-through. I listen recently to Ali Baba the Internet giant of China he expressed, ‘industry’ as his path. I watched Dangote being interview by Mo Ibrahim he spoke about, ‘industry’. Ask Bill Gates, talk to Mark Zuckerberg you will hear the same thing. There is no ‘sweat-less’ success, it is only by “sweat-fulness”. To prepare what you are reading now took hours of sleeplessness! Roll up your sleeves in the year 2020 and lets us get to the greatness that God has earmarked for us by doing the right thing!

6. Other Factors:  . Time will fail me to deal in detail with other factors that will enhance your greatness. But I must tell you that corrupt and sharp practices will not take you to greatness, it might give you sudden wealth, but it will only lead you to sorrow and jail. Don’t keep wrong company. Don’t do shady business, embrace holiness, righteousness, integrity, godliness and be prayerful-that is what is called godly character. Be patient. Good things are not rushed. Because they prophesied greatness to you today does not mean you will be great today. There is something called process and timing! Visions don’t speak at the beginning they speak at the end. Be a person of great vision. Be an eagle, be focused. Great people make mistakes but don’t get hung up on their mistakes. They do not allow their mistakes to define them, they learn from them and move on. Every great person failed at one point, they learnt from their failures and progressed. Stop making enemies of every person you come in contact with. Human beings are your greatest asset. Rather value people. Men are God’s method and yours. Whatever God wants to do he finds people to do it, don’t drive away your divine helper. Some people’s helpers are their spouses and they have punched them away! Watch your mouth, how you talk to people matters. Respect begets respect. Three categories of people will define you depending how you relate with them, your superiors, peers and subordinates. Greatness comes in small doses!

From My Heart To YOU

In my flight from Ottawa to Florida a short vacation, the Lord told me - great people don’t do things casually. They are totally committed. Look at people like Elisha. Even when Elijah kept discouraging him. He kept pushing and pursuing his goal - tap the anointing for commitment! You may need a new paradigm shift to your church and your spiritual life generally this year if you really desire to be great! You may need to engage yourself in specific ways and specific roles and projects. Greatness is not achieved by taking a walk. It is by engaging in real work for the Master. See men like Daniel, Shederack Meshac and Abdenego. If according to 3John 2, prosperity is predicated on spirituality then I will advise you to change ‘your spiritual approach to life” Get serious with reading the word of God, pray, fast, and don’t ignore the earlier counsel offered you in this piece. There is more to life than just eating, whinning and complaining!

God wants us to be great by doing great things for him. What do you want to do for God in the year 2020? Those of us who are more than 30 years old cannot imagine that year 2020 can come so soon! There’s was ‘frenzyness’ and euphoria in 1999.I was in the refinery, nobody knew how computers and computer related programs were going to ‘shift’ at the magic hour of 2000, but God helped humanity to cross over successfully. The refinery machinery worked perfectly. Many that knew that year have gone beyond. Another 20 years journey is commencing. Before you know it, it will be year 2040! What will you do within that window? What will I do?

Souls Are Perishing!

You heard me souls are perishing. Your greatness will be defined by how you engaged yourself in the great commission.

You have to be involved. You have to find your niche. You have to find an area to engage in this great work. I pray you will live long. I pray to live long, but greatness is not defined by age, it is defined by ingenuity, creativity, innovation, envisioning, commitment, hard work, to human development in any sphere of life, be it spiritual, academical, physical, intellectual, industrial and technological. Great people are not idle people. Great people are ordinary people that do extraordinary things within their ambit!

My word from the Lord to you this year is decide not to be cheap, resolve to do something great for God and your generation. Tell yourself like the Scotiabank advert “you are richer than you think” Tell yourself you are intellectually richer; you have greater capacity than you can imagine. We are told that average people use only 10 percent of their brain. Most people never use more than two percent. Resolve to task your brain. All those things that can make you great that you have thought of but never implemented, go ahead and “DO IT” now. No more procrastination.

Let me share with you what we shall commit to in this year as a church!

1. Develop your Human Capacity:  We are going to challenge ourselves to develop our human capacity. We are going to grow ourselves individually and corporately. North Kipling Junior Middle School where our children went to school has a motto “If it's to be, it's truly up to me” If like Joshua of old you say “as for me and my family and this church family we are on our path to greatness by developing our human capacity” then resolve to invest in your personality. You cannot do great things without being, your greatness lies in your being! When you develop your human capacity, you will be able to influence the world positively-that is greatness!

2. Be consistent:  We are going to be consistent in practicing the Christian ethics. That will enhance our growth. Daily reading and meditating on the word of God. Maintaining our daily altar of prayer on personal, family and church altars. We are not going to relent on fellowship with God and with ourselves. We shall be consistent in preaching the word, following up with men and women that come through the gates of this church. We shall by his grace shut the back door of this church by pragmatic and practical assimilation procedure. We shall consistently give our talent, treasure, substance, time, energy money to the gospel.

3. Discipleship Program:  We are going to start a comprehensive One-Year Plan program for all members. After the foundation class the next class will be the discipleship class. I encourage you to participate. Your knowledge power is prerequisite to your greatness. The reason you have so many churches, but shallow lifestyles of Christians is lack of discipleship in our churches. Untrained, immature, self-appointed, opinionated, self-ordained, highly un-mentored and un-discipled people have hijacked and are running the churches as pastors, bishops, GOs, apostles!

4. Refuse to Lose Our Guard. We are by his grace not going to lose our guard. We are going to maintain by his grace great character to God and our fellowmen We are going to live holy life. We are going to walk in the path of integrity and righteousness. We are going to commit ourselves to uncommon spiritual growth!

5. Building a 3000-capacity church We are going to commit ourselves to a great project:  One of such projects will be by his grace purchasing/building a Church building that will seat 3,000 worshippers. We are going to trust God to give us this building Mortgage free!  Our greatness begins this year. We are not going to look at ourselves or our human resource or human ability we are going to walk with God by faith. We are going to trust God for men and women of faith. Men like the three men who went through “hell” to get water for David to drink! 2 Sam 23:16.

Conclusion. Be ready to be great:  Your greatness starts with hearing, watching or reading this message and applying it to areas in your life where it is needed. God wants you to be great, God wants you to prosper, God wants you to make impact in your generation, but God will never force you. Remember he chose Saul the king to be great, but he ended up committing suicide and leaving a legacy on the other hand the greatness of David his successor is unending. May the greatness that God will launch you to this year never end in Jesus name.

Dr Amos Dada is the District Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church Bethel Canada. Follow him on Twitter @dada_amos;FB Amos Dada. www.cacbethel.com. Youtube/dramosdada