We give God praise for this new month and how God has been guiding us, protecting us, preserving us so far. It is a new day, the first Sunday of the month. It is a blessing and a privilege to be here this morning. Let someone shout hallelujah!

By the grace of God, the topic for today, which is our first topic in our series called “Supernatural Growth,” is what I titled “No Longer the Same.” I believe it is a good thing to be appreciative and to bless the Lord for the changes we are seeing in our lives so far.

Most especially when you observe that you are no longer the same person you used to be. You are no longer the same person people know you as. You have improved a notch. Changes have come your way. What you used to do which are qualified as negatives, the reproach and the battles people know you for is no longer there in your life, and many more that you can reminisce about.

If you would ask me, that alone is worthy of praise and thanksgiving today. For this was the case study of the man we are looking at from the scripture.

A man who was known as a blind man from birth. It dawned on me that sometimes, if they were looking for the set of blind folks, his own case and description would be spectacular in a negative form as others might be blind when they grew, but he was blind from his birth.

Which many around him and neighbors saw as a reproach, and they would not hesitate to continuously describe him as a blind man from birth, a beggar who people knew as one who waited by the gates of the temple for gifts from worshipers.

However, as we read, we see that the situation this man found himself in is a situation God allowed to happen so that the work of God may be revealed in him. But even though that was what it was, the reproach of being blind made him to be neglected, made him a beggar until when things suddenly changed in a jiffy for him when he encountered Jesus and his reproach of being blind was no more.

Perhaps he had it in his mind that one day he would see even though he had no eyes. Perhaps he believed that one day Jesus would come his way and take away his reproach. Perhaps he had even lost faith and hope in the change that could happen to him.

In the midst of it all, we see the mighty hand of the same God of yesterday, today, and forevermore turning things around for a hopeless and helpless man.

What is this telling us, somebody? What you know as a reproach in your life, as a situation or battle bigger than you, shouldn’t define who God is in your life. You are who God has called you and purposed you to be, and here is the thing.

The little or much of God’s miracle that you have seen in your life and around you should make you believe that even though weeping may tarry for a night, that your joy is coming in the morning. Hence the reason you must give praise to Yahweh, for you will no longer be the same person with the reproach people have known you with.

You, seeing God come through for you in some area, is noteworthy and praiseworthy so that it can boost your energy, motivate you to know that God is not done with you. And whatever happens to you happened so that the glory of the Lord may be revealed through you, somebody.

Hence the reason you must raise the tone of your praise this morning. Raise the tone of your thanksgiving this morning, for you will no longer be the same folks people know you as. Perhaps yours is the wrong attitude that chases people away from you. You will no longer be the same person with the wrong attitude people know you for.

Somebody, you gotta praise the Lord for the changes you’d seen so far so that there may be completion of what God has started in your life. And for those who have seen the mighty move and miraculous acts of Yahweh, you have to praise God from the depth of your heart because once you were blind but now you can see.

Once you were nobody, but God has made you somebody. Once you used to lobby, but now God has opened the door of abundance to you. Many times life has hit you hard, the storm raged at you, but God kept you through it all. That alone is praiseworthy.

For some people here, the changes you see in your home, in your marriage, in your life, in your career are praiseworthy. For your home is no longer the same, your life is no longer the same, your career is not. There has been a shift. You are not where you used to be. There has been a shift, you are no longer seeing like the world see, there has been a growth, cos you’ve grown above quarrel, above argument, above fight, above jealousies, above envy and hatred… There has been growth…it used to be you only, now you have a spouse, it used to be you only, now you have children surrounding your table.

You used to manage resources because there was not enough but now you live in abundance and have more than enough

Come on, somebody. It is good to praise the Lord for the new you, for the new life, new things, new growth happening in your life.

Even though you are not seeing it all physically yet, you still have to give a worthy praise to God because the remainder of God’s promises will also come to pass. The leftovers people are seeing as a reproach in your life will no longer be a reproach, for you are now a new creature. You may still be seeing the sickness, but now you gotta praise the Lord as someone who believes they’d receive their complete healing. They’d receive a new body part from the Lord.

Even though your supplication made to the Lord has only been answered partially, you gotta give a worthy praise to the Lord as someone who has received it all so that you can shame your adversaries that you are no longer the same person whose prayer always hangs in the air.

Somebody, praise the Lord when you feel it. Praise the Lord even though you are not feeling it. Praise the Lord to tell your situation that you are no longer the same cry-cry baby who will be crying because the contract did not click, because the blessing is not fully ripened, because the devil terrified you in your dream, for this we know… He who started the good thing in our lives will finish it.

All you have to do is to believe, praise, and worship your Maker, for you are no longer the same and you will no longer be the same. For the people who have known you with that problem, with that affliction will have no choice but to say about you, “Is not this who sat and begged? Is this not the one who we used to pity? Is this not the folks that used to lobby? Is this not the one who is a dullard? Is this not the one we have known with a reproach of uselessness and more like it?”

And you will say, “Yes, you were correct. I was once what you called me, what you know me with, but all praise be to our God for I am no longer the same. All praise be to our God for I have seen Jesus. I have encountered Yahweh. All praise to our God, for once I was lame but now I can walk. Once I was blind but now I can see. Once I was a disappointment, but now I am a glory.

Once I was nobody, but God has made me somebody. Once I used to be a persecutor, but now I am an evangelist. Once I used to be condemned, but now that I have Jesus, no more condemnation, for there is no more condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Beloved, tell it to your adversaries, “I am no longer the same.” For it is my month of supernatural growth in Jesus’ name. Amen.