PSK 165. Sermon – So Great A Cloud – Rt. Rev. Dr Michael A. Fẹ́mi-Adébánjọ
✝️❤️🔥🦅 👑❤️🔥
✝️❤️🔥 *PSK 165. Sermon — SO GREAT A CLOUD!* 👑❤️🔥
🕊️ *CHRIST’S GOOD NEWS MISSION*
Sunday Worship Service — 1st November 2026.
https://evangelion-tm.com/psk-165-sermon-so-great-a-cloud/
📅 *Liturgical Day: All Saints’ Day — 1st November 2026.*
📖 *Bible Lesson: Matthew 5:1-12; Hebrews 12:1-2; Revelation 7:9-17.*
✍️ *Text: _“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”_* — Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV).
💕🦅 THEME:
*SO GREAT A CLOUD — _The Saints Who Finished Before You Left More Than a Memory — They Left a Proof._*
🎵 *OPENING HYMN MHB. 832 — _“For All the Saints”_*
🔍 YouTube Search: *_“For All the Saints — William Walsham How, Methodist Hymn-Book — 1933.”_*
1: FOR all the saints who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesus, be for ever blest.
*_Alleluia! Alleluia!_*
2: Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might;
Thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true light.
*_Alleluia! Alleluia!_*
3: O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win, with them, the victor’s crown of gold.
*_Alleluia! Alleluia!_*
4: O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
*_Alleluia! Alleluia!_*
5: But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
*_Alleluia! Alleluia!_*
_(William Walsham How, 1864 — England’s most beloved All Saints’ Day hymn, uniting the Church militant with the Church triumphant in one great adoration of the God who is the rock, captain, and light of every saint who has ever run this race — a magnificent frame for this message on the cloud of witnesses.)_
🙏✝️❤️🔥 *SEVEN PROPHETIC PRAYERS*
*_Preparatory — Before the Exhortation_*
❤️🔥 *Prayer 1 — _Inspired by the Cloud Above._*
Title: Their Testimony Igniting Our Race.
_“Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”_ — Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_Father of all the saints, let the testimony of every soul in that great cloud of witnesses ignite fresh fire and courage in this congregation today! Let the knowledge that the finish line is real — proven by all who have already crossed it — fuel our race with holy urgency, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 2 — _Every Weight Laid Aside._*
Title: Nothing Heavy Carried into the Race.
_“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us.”_ — Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_God of freedom, let every believer in this congregation identify and lay down every weight that has slowed their race — whether habit, bitterness, compromise, or misplaced affection! Clear the track for unencumbered running, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 3 — _The Race Run With Endurance._*
Title: Pace Set for the Long Course, Not Just the Sprint.
_“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”_ — Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_God of endurance, release supernatural staying power into every believer in this congregation who has grown weary in the race! Let none here finish strong at the sprint only to falter in the long course, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 4 — _Eyes Fixed on Jesus._*
Title: The Author and Finisher Always in View.
_“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”_ — Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_Lord Jesus, fix the eyes of every soul in this congregation upon You — and You alone — as the source, sustainer, and completion of our faith! Let no distraction, however compelling, pull our gaze from the One who runs with us and awaits us at the finish, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 5 — _The Beatitude Character of the Saints._*
Title: Blessed Are Those Who Finish the Way They Were Called to Run.
_“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”_ — Matthew 5:8 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_Beatitude God, let the character of the saints — meek, merciful, pure in heart, peacemaking, and faithful under persecution — be fully reproduced in this congregation! Let us run this race in the same character as those who finished before us and are now with You, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 6 — Heaven’s Song Breaking Into Earth’s Race.*
Title: The Worship of the Completed Saints Released Here.
_“A great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”_ — Revelation 7:9 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_Father, let the worship of that great multitude before the throne break into this congregation right now! Let the sound of heaven’s completed victory strengthen every runner who is still on the track below, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 7 — _The Promise That Fuels the Race._*
Title: No More Hunger, No More Tears — Already Secured.
_“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”_ — Revelation 7:17 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_God of all comfort, let the certainty of this glorious end settle deeply into every weary heart in this congregation! Let the promise of no more tears fuel every soul still running through tears today, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
✝️❤️🔥🦅 *EXHORTATION* 👑❤️🔥
✝️❤️🔥🦅 Theme: *“SO GREAT A CLOUD — _The Saints Who Finished Before You Left More Than a Memory — They Left a Proof!”_* 👑❤️🔥
📖 *Bible Lesson: Matthew 5:1-12; Hebrews 12:1-2; Revelation 7:9-17* (NKJV)
📅 *Liturgical Day: All Saints’ Day — 1st November 2026.*
✍️ *Text: _“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”_* — Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV).
🌟👑❤️🔥
In AD 609, Pope Boniface IV did something remarkable with Rome’s greatest pagan temple. The Emperor Phocas had donated the Pantheon to him— that magnificent domed structure consecrated to all the gods of the Roman world, its great oculus open to the heavens. Rather than demolishing it, Boniface consecrated it afresh: no longer to all the gods, but to the Virgin Mary and all the Christian martyrs. By ancient record, twenty-eight cart-loads of bones from the Roman catacombs — the remains of those who had been fed to lions, beheaded, burned, and drowned for the Name of Christ — were processed into the Pantheon and laid honourably beneath its famous floor. What had been a hall of silent, powerless idols became a house of triumphant, speaking witnesses. The martyrs were not installed there in grief — they were installed in proclamation. The Church was saying to the watching city of Rome: *_these are our witnesses, and they are not finished speaking._* All Saints’ Day was born not from mourning but from victory. The cloud is not silent. The cloud is testifying.
🌟👑❤️🔥
*The Cloud Above — Witnesses, Not Spectators.*
The writer of Hebrews, in chapter 11, has recounted the entire gallery of faith’s heroes — Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, David, and nameless thousands who *_“wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth”_* (11:38), receiving nothing in their lifetimes yet never abandoning the promise. Then chapter 12 opens with the word *“therefore”* — because of all of them, *we* run. They are not absent from our race; they witness it. The Greek *martyres* — from which we get *_“martyr”_* — means witness. These are not passive observers in distant grandstands; they are testifying souls whose completed race is itself the standing evidence that our race can and will be finished.
🌟👑❤️🔥
*The Weight Laid Aside — Running Light.*
*_“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us”_* (v.1). Hebrews carefully distinguishes between “weight” and “sin” — both must be laid down, but they are not the same thing. A weight is not necessarily sinful; it is simply too heavy to carry well. Good things, comfortable things, lawful things — if they are slowing the race, they must be laid down at the starting line. The saints who preceded us ran light. They did not carry the approval of their age, the accumulation of this world, nor the opinions of those who thought the race was foolishness. They laid it all down and ran.
🌟👑❤️🔥
*The Author and Finisher — Eyes Fixed, Race Complete.*
The instruction reaches its summit in *_“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”_* (v.2). Jesus ran this race first — carrying the heaviest weight ever borne, the entire sin of humanity — and He finished it. He sat down in the posture of one who had finished the work. The cloud of saints above us ran toward Him. We run toward the same destination. And Revelation 7 shows us the finish line already populated: *_a great multitude which no one could number_* (v.9), safe before the throne, hunger gone, thirst gone, every tear wiped away by the hand of God Himself.
Beloved, the finish line is real. The cloud above you is the proof. Lay your weight down and run.
*_“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”_* — Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV). ✝️❤️🔥🦅
🙏✝️❤️🔥 *SEVEN INTERCESSORY PRAYERS*
*_Post-Exhortation — Prophetic Charismatic Warfare_*
❤️🔥 *Prayer 8 — _Against the Spirit of Weariness._*
Title: Every Runner Revived and Restored.
_“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”_ — Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_My Father, My God — we break every spirit of weariness, discouragement, and race-abandonment over this congregation RIGHT NOW! We call forth a second wind, saturated with Holy Ghost fire, into every exhausted runner here, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 9 — _Every Weight Identified and Dropped._*
Title: No Unnecessary Burden Carried One More Step.
_“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us.”_ — Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_God of freedom, we call every hidden weight to the surface — every entanglement, compromise, and encumbrance secretly slowing this congregation’s race! We command them all to be laid down at the feet of Jesus today, in His Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 10 — _For Eyes Fixed Unmovably on Jesus._*
Title: Every Distraction Broken, Every Gaze Redirected.
_“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”_ — Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_Lord Jesus, we command every distraction competing for the focus of this congregation to lose its grip RIGHT NOW! Let every eye be fixed on You alone — the One who authored this race in us and will bring it to its glorious completion, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 11 — _For the Beatitude Character Fully Formed._*
Title: Meekness, Mercy, Purity, and Peace — Reproduced in This Generation.
_“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”_ — Matthew 5:8 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_Holy Spirit, form the Beatitude character of the saints in this congregation fully and without compromise! Let meekness, mercy, purity, and peacemaking be as natural to this assembly as breathing — the unmistakable marks of those running toward the vision of God, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 12 — _For Every Grieving Heart Comforted._*
Title: Every Mourning Soul Strengthened by the Cloud’s Testimony.
_“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”_ — Revelation 7:17 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_God of all comfort, minister profound and lasting peace to every soul in this congregation grieving a beloved saint who has finished their race! Let the certainty of the cloud’s completed victory transform every grief into the anticipation of glorious reunion, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 13 — _For Christ’s Good News Mission: A Cloud-Inspired, Race-Running Community._*
Title: This Ministry Fuelled by the Saints Who Ran Before.
_“Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”_* — Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_Lord Jesus, let Christ’s Good News Mission run its race with the same faith, endurance, and total surrender that mark every saint in that great cloud! Let the testimony of those who finished before us fuel this ministry forward, without flinching or turning back, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
❤️🔥 *Prayer 14 — _The Warfare Benediction._*
Title: Sent Out Running, Light, and Cloud-Surrounded.
_“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”_ — Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV).
❤️🔥 *_My Father, My God — seal every soul departing this sanctuary today as a runner surrounded by so great a cloud! Let them go this week light, focused, and endurance-filled, with eyes fixed on Jesus and the finish line already burning in their hearts, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!_* ❤️🔥
🎵 *CLOSING HYMN MHB. 828 — _”Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand”*
🔍 YouTube Search: *_“Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand — Henry Alford, Methodist Hymn-Book, 1933.”_*
1: TEN thousand times ten thousand,
In sparkling raiment bright,
The armies of the ransomed saints
Throng up the steeps of light;
‘Tis finished! all is finished,
Their fight with death and sin;
Fling open wide the golden gates,
And let the victors in!
2: What rush of alleluias
Fills all the earth and sky!
What ringing of a thousand harps
Bespeaks the triumph nigh!
O day, for which creation
And all its tribes were made!
O joy, for all its former woes
A thousandfold repaid!
3: O then what raptured greetings
On Canaan’s happy shore!
What knitting severed friendships up,
Where partings are no more!
Then eyes with joy shall sparkle
That brimmed with tears of late;
Orphans no longer fatherless,
Nor widows desolate.
4: Bring near Thy great salvation,
Thou Lamb for sinners slain;
Fill up the roll of Thine elect,
Then take Thy power and reign:
Appear, Desire of nations,
Thine exiles long for home;
Show in the heavens Thy promised sign;
Thou Prince and Saviour, come!
_(Henry Alford, 1867 — By the same pen that wrote “Come Ye Thankful People Come” (PSK 161), Alford here paints in breathtaking strokes the completed arrival of the saints at glory’s shore — tears turned to sparkling eyes, severed friendships knit again, exiles finally home; the triumphant musical seal for All Saints’ Day and for this entire arc of sermons from PSK 158 through PSK 165.)_
✝️❤️🔥🦅
*_Enter to Worship: Depart to Serve!_*
*SOLI DEO GLORIA!*
*_“To God Alone Be The Glory!”_*
✝️❤️🔥🦅 *Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael A. Fẹ́mi-Adébánjọ*
Acting Patriarch — Christ’s Good News Mission.
🌐 www.evangelion-tm.com/
✝️❤️🔥🦅 👑❤️🔥