22nd june 2020 Discretion will preserve you

[background music: hymns and gospel singing] Morning by morning the glory of God. He has loosed the fateful lightning. His truth is marching on. Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tech Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Light of Your word, shine into our spirits. Cause us to see Jesus, to encounter Jesus, to meet with Jesus by Scriptures in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Last week, we were able to remind ourselves as believers, the difference between air and wind, just as it is between belief and faith. Even though there are a lot of similarities between belief and faith, when it comes to operation, when it comes to working, when it comes to manifestation, there's a great difference between belief and faith. That took us into several discussions last week such that we began to expand the Scriptures on and on and on to see that we must behold the image of the Lord as in a mirror so that we are changed from glory to glory. No man can have faith more than the level of light and revelation of the word that comes to him, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Today, we want to move on and last week brought us to the end of the long series we have been considering, "Kept by the Power of God Through Faith." So today, we want to move on to consider a very important topic again, something I want us to really reflect about it because even myself too, it is something I'm in more recent time realizing. I'm realizing it and it has been so much a blessing to me and I believe it'll be a great blessing to you as we share together today. It has blessed me so much, I've shared a dimension of it at the family altar in our own home, and honestly, it was a blessing. I trust the Lord that as we look at this matter together today as believers, it'll be a great blessing to you. If you look at the book of Ephesians 5, Ephesians 5 from around verse 8 thereof. [Reader] For once you were darkness, but now light in the Lord. Live as people of light. [Speaker 1] Yes. [Reader] For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. [Speaker 1] Yes. Please read on, read on. [Reader] Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. [Speaker 1] Yes. [Reader] Therefore He says, "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [Speaker 1] Thank you very much. I want us to note some things in that reading. In the verse between verse 8 and verse 13, the instruction of the Lord is that we should not have anything to do with the unfruitful works of darkness. Rather, we should reprove them, we should expose them. We should have nothing to do with them. Rather, we should walk as children of light. Between the verse in the verse 14, there was a scriptural reference to back up that statement. It says, "Therefore He says, 'Awake, you who sleep.'" Meaning that if as a believer, you are having fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, it means most likely you are sleeping. The same way, He said, "Arise from the dead." It means also if you are having fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness and you are not walking as children of light, it also means that not only are some sleeping, but possibly some are even dead. He says, "Awake from your sleep and arise from the dead," which means the believer having fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness is a believer that is either asleep or the believer is dead. That is dead, we're talking about the deadness inside, the life of God not being there, the life of God not being alive and awake in us. Now he says when it was through with that scripture, that actually what God wants us to do is to be awake from sleep and arise from dead. Now why is he linking sleep and death? It's because there's a little difference between sleep and death. What is the difference? The difference is that while sleep is a temporary death, death is a permanent sleep. So you see that there is sleep in both. Sleep is a temporary death, while death is a permanent sleep. So many times, people who are sleeping, they are not too different from people who are dead. The only difference is that the person sleeping can still come back to life, but the person who is dead cannot come back again. That's the difference. So the Bible links sleep and death together. So once you are sleeping, you are approaching death. Your behavior, your characteristics, what you'll be doing, your attitude, your outlook to life will not be different from men that are dead. That is why for example, if you are sleeping and the whole house is burning, you will not see any emergency. You'll still be snoring. The whole house is burning, you'll be at ease. Why are you at ease? Because you are sleeping. It's as good as somebody who is also dead. It's only a dead person that will not respond to such emergency, but sleep can make you look as if you are dead. So the Bible links sleep and death because they are so closely related. But please don't forget that the Bible is linking all of this to our walk with God. It says if you look at it in that verse 8 and 9, "For you are once darkness, but now you are light. Walk, walk as children of light." So there's a way you are walking, you are having your walk with God and actually when heaven looks at you, you are a dead person because of the way you are walking. Your Christian walk, your walk with God. That way you are walking is synonymous with those who are in darkness. So the Bible is addressing a very active thing in our life. It's addressing how we are living daily because our walking with God is how we live daily. What you do at home, what you do in the office, what you do in the market. That's our walk. That's how we express our walking with God. So there's a way you can be living your life and you are living your life in the capacity not different from those who are actually dead. So he now said, "Look, what God says is that anybody who is asleep should wake up. Anybody who is dying should arise from his dead. And if that is done, what will happen to the person? Christ will give light." Telling you that there's a relationship between how you walk, how you live, and how much of light Christ gives. The way you live your life has a direct relationship with the level of revelation you will have. "Awake, you who sleep. Arise from your dead, and Christ will give you light." So don't awake from your sleep, be having fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness. Be having fellowship with all those things. What will happen to you? Christ will not give you light. So in a way, to him that has, more will be given. And the person that has not, even what is in his hand will be taken because it is those who are living right that keep having light. Those who are living wrongly will not have more light. Now, having addressed that, I've given a background for our topic for today. Our topic for today is "Discretion Will Preserve You." Discretion will preserve you. The need to be discreet. The need for us to be discreet in whatever we do, in the way we live our life. It is so important that we are discreet. To be discreet is something that relates to the level of wisdom that an individual display in living his life. Look at it, when you now get to the verse 15 and 16. I want us to try other translations. King James says, "See then," because until you awake and you arise from your dead that Christ gives light. What is now the important thing in verse 15? It now says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise." Because of this matter of light. Be careful therefore to be living in a way. Be careful to live. Now I want us to try another translation of that verse 15. Can we hear some other translation? [Reader] So be careful how you live. Don't live as fools, but as those who are wise. [Speaker 1] Don't live as fools, but as those who are wise. Yes. [Other Reader] Look carefully then how you walk. Live purposefully and worthily and accurately. Not as the unwise and witless, but as wise, sensible, intelligent people. [Speaker 1] Discretion. Discretion. NIV's, thank you, ma. [Reader] Be very careful then. Do you see that word there again? Be very careful then. Because of this matter of light. We are coming there gradually. Be very careful then, be very careful then. How you live. Not as unwise but as wise. [Speaker 1] Be very careful. Be very careful how you live. Not as unwise, but as wise. Message, okay. [Reader] So watch your step. Use your head. [Speaker 1] So watch your step. Use your head. Of course, that's a smart English, but we know the matter here is not a matter of head. It's talking about the light you receive from the Lord. There's a way you'll be able to think right if you receive light. I hope you get the point it's making. So use your head. That light you receive from God is to be wise. Don't just go gullibly until you enter into the thing. I was discussing with a young man and he said, "Sir, I didn't even know how it happened. I don't just know how it happened. I did not just understand. I just fell flat for the fornication." I said, "Sorry bro, you actually understand how it happened." I said fornication doesn't just happen. There are steps. I said, "You left your house by yourself to visit the sister." He said, "Be-ni." Okay. "When you got home, she was the one alone." He said, "Yes." Where were you people having the meeting? They actually first were discussing in the sitting room, but some people were disturbing us. He said, "We now entered the room." Okay. "What happened to the door?" Because of noise, he said, "We closed the door." I said, "Is so." I said, "You are telling me that it just happened? It did not just happen. I'm showing you all the step you took before it happened. All the step. I'm showing you all the step." At the end, the truth was that it did not just happen. You did not fall into fornication. You actually walked into fornication. You were not walking wisely. So certain things that suddenly happens, people think it's sudden. But some of these things are not sudden. And that's what we want to look at today. We'll just look at a life and honestly we will close this meeting. We'll look at a life. And the reason why I want us to look at this life is because of this scripture that the Lord is giving us. He says, "Look, awake, you who sleep. Arise from your dead. Don't have anything to do with unfruitful works of darkness." *Ma ṣe bi awọn ti o lọ lọhun.* *Ma jẹ ki ronu ti ẹ dabi titi wọn.* Walk as wise. Walk as wise. Now the reason why we are looking at this thing is that I've been reading this verse of the scripture for years. But you know when you re-encounter scripture. There's a way you re-encounter scripture because God is inexhaustible. Nobody can exhaust God. What did I encounter in this scripture? It's this scripture in Hebrews 12 about Esau. Where the Bible says, "Let none of you be a profane person like Esau, who for a morsel of bread threw away—" maybe I should read that scripture. Let's get there so that we can be reading from the Word of God. Hebrews 12. I want us to let me read from here. It makes it clearer. It says from verse 16—in the verse 15 he has warned about diligence. Do you see it there again? It says, "Looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God." You see the matter of carefulness again in that place. "Lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled." "Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one—not even two or three or four. Not for one week food. Not for three days food. Just one food. Just a meal. If he has mortgaged that thing for one year food, we say, 'Okay, he will die in about a year's time if he does not eat.' Now, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright." Verse 17. What do we see there? The Bible says, "For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." What I encounter in this scripture that is talking about carefulness is that please, I want us to get something very clear. God is merciful. God is a God—some even say that God is a God of second chance. That sometimes when you miss it with God, God gives opportunity again for you to get it right. I believe we have seen God do that over and over again in the life of people. And that's very true. We saw that in the life of Peter. He denied the Lord, but we saw how the Lord restored him. It's possible. Our God is merciful. Our God is good. Our God does not even seek the death of the wicked. Not to talk of the death of His own, of the godly. So we must get that very clear at the background. So that it is not as to paint God as a God that is not merciful. But to reflect on this verse, that there are some kind of foolishness a man displays in his life that even when later he is seeking that thing with tears, there may not be place again to get it back. Because whatsoever things are written aforetime, they are written for our learning. They are written for us to take instruction. We have just talked about Peter who when he sought it back, when he wanted to get back, he got back and things was well. But let's look at somebody like Saul, King Saul. He was told to wait for seven days till Samuel will come to perform the sacrifice. The man actually waited. He actually waited the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day, the seventh day. It was on the seventh day that he was waiting. But there was so much pressure. The army, the soldiers all around him were running away because he did not blow the trumpet for them to fight. The enemy army was advancing. "King, do we fight? Do we fight?" He said, "I'm waiting for Samuel to come and perform the sacrifice before I blow the trumpet so that we can start fighting." And the enemies were advancing. And it's like this king doesn't know what he's doing. They began to leave one by one because you can't be seeing the enemy coming and you are carrying sword, you are told not to fight. Wait, wait for somebody to come and perform sacrifice. When the thing got so much and the soldiers began to leave Saul, Saul said, "I forced myself and I performed the sacrifice." Immediately he finished performing the sacrifice, Samuel came. And said, "Saul, what have you done?" He said, "The people were scattering from me. The enemies were advancing. And I did not know what to do. So I forced myself and when I didn't see you—" and he said, "You have done foolishly. Now will your kingdom would have remained forever. But now your kingdom has been taken away from you and given to somebody better than you." We see instances like this in the Bible where it looks like God is hard. That's the instance we are seeing in the life of Esau. That's such an instance. He came back to—want it with tears, but it was not given. There was no place for it. So that is not to begin to make the devil to begin to intimidate us that you see, hey, maybe your life God has decided to no more have mercy on you, this is how you will die. We should not allow the enemy to create fear into our heart. But I want us to see that God as a father gives warning about careless living. Living carelessly and just feeling that *ko s'onkan nkan, ṣebi* God is merciful, *ma pẹ n’tọ ma tun lọ bẹ Ọlọrun, Ọlọrun aanu, Ọlọrun a gbadura, iwọ-iwọ,* but you would have been dead. You know those kind of attitude people have sometimes. If it happens, you know God is merciful, we'll do something about it. Our God will do something. You know there's this wrong attitude that is enveloping our society. Some will say, *Ọlọrun o roro, Ọlọrun o roro, alaanu l’Ọlọrun, alaanu l’Ọlọrun, ewo de ni, ko ma ṣe kini.* Everything—that is what we are addressing. Carelessness just feeling that *alaanu l’Ọlọrun, ko s'onkan nkan,* even God don't want the death of the wicked, even with the godly there's nothing. If it falls, God will restore, God is able to restore. Yes He is able. But God also warns that we should be careful. Many times He used to tell His disciples, "Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation." So you see in this place, a man has made an exchange. Later he wanted to inherit it, but he was rejected. He was rejected. We find similar examples like that in the Bible. And so all of these, they are just pointers to the fact that as much as God wants us to rest in Him that see, I'm a father. I'm always there. I am good. I am merciful. I am able to do and undo and redo. That is God. I'm the Almighty. I can bring back. I can win back. I can restore. God also warns that we should be discreet. There should be discretion in the way we live because some things can be costly. Some things can be costly. And what just came to my mind, even though I did not think about it while I was preparing. You know what just came through my mind just now? It's the case of Abraham. Of course, Abraham was restored. He said, "Walk before me and be thou blameless." He was restored. But you remember, that Ishmael that was born and God was trying to finish Ishmael and Abraham was still protecting Ishmael and he was saying, "Let Ishmael live before you, let Ishmael live before you." And that Ishmael that lived before God, today, we know the implication of that Ishmael that is before God. We know the implication today for Abraham and for the descendant of Abraham. He said, "He shall be against everybody and everybody will be against him." And I'm sure that if Abraham is to reflect back, he would have—he would have said, "Oh, I wish this error did not occur." I wish it did not occur. So but that does not remove the graciousness of God from the life of Abraham. I'm saying all of this so that we can put things in a balance as we look at different aspect of the truth of scriptures. Now if you look at this matter, we are looking at "Discretion Will Preserve You." We saw in the New Testament the matter of discretion, the matter of walking wisely, not as fool, walking wisely. Let's look at Proverbs 2. Let's see what the Bible says about this same matter in Proverbs 2. Proverbs 2, I will take it from the verse 6. It says, "For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright." Do you see it again? I hope you are seeing the matter again. Awake from your sleep, arise from your dead. What will happen? Christ will give you light. We said how we live our life has direct relationship with the level of revelation and light that we have. Do you see the same matter here again? Who does God store up sound wisdom for? For the upright. So if your walk is not up and right, your wisdom may not be sound. When it comes to sound wisdom, it is stored for the upright. Those who walk circumspectly, those who don't have fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness. He's a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guides the path of justice and preserves the way of His saint. Look at what the Bible now says in verse 9, "Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path." Do you see something? That when God begins to give a man wisdom and understanding, God at the same time guides that man in the path of justice. Are you seeing it? When God guides, preserves the saint in that way, what do you notice is happening there in the verse 9? Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity, and every good path. Can we see that in another translation? [NLT] "Then you will understand what is right, just and fair, and you will find the right way to go." You will find the right way to go. Do you see that wisdom brings us into a way of what is right, what is just, what is good? What is fair. Do you take that back to what we read in Ephesians 5? For the fruit of light is in what is good, what is true, what is right. Then you'll notice that to lead you in every good path. There's a path. There's a path. Now I read down from verse 10. "When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you." That was where we got our topic. This is where our topic came from. "Discretion will preserve you. Understanding will keep you." Discretion will preserve you, understanding will keep you. And what are the things that you are kept from or preserved for? "To deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things. From those who leave the path of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness. Who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked. Whose ways are crooked, and who are devious," they are not straightforward, "in their path. To deliver you from the immoral woman," and I'm telling you even from the immoral man, "and from the seductress who flatters with her tongue. Who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God." There are people who have forgotten the covenant they say they have covenant with God, but they have forgotten it. They are living strange lives, they are living anyhow. But the way they will do the presentation, the way they will approach you. That is why if you notice 2 Peter chapter 3, it says as there were false prophets among them, there'll be false teachers among you. Who will what? Who will what? Who will what? There's a word there, who will what? If you go and check that scripture depending on translation that you are reading. King James says who will privily bring in damnable heresy. Some version says who will cleverly bring in damnable heresies. Some say who will stealthily *bi ole bi ole* bring it in. What he is saying is that this corrupt people, this perverse people, the way they live their life, you will think that they are upright. You will think that they are okay. When they make presentation to you, you will think everything is just upright, everything is just normal. But except you have discretion, you will not see it. You will not understand that this is not a company to walk with. This is not a somebody to associate with. This is not a business to go into. This is not somebody to marry. This is not somebody to trade with. This is not an opportunity, it's a distraction. Except you have discretion you will not see it. There are these people already in the path of error. And they are winning people to themselves. There are people that you will think that all of you you are all believers. And you will think that they are people to associate with. But except you have discretion, you will not see that no, you should not go this way. I just remember one of this film that I watched in one of this Christian film. The youth leader, like the youth president in the church and the choir leader. They are in a relationship, already known to the church. But it happens that the young man got an opportunity to travel out of the country. When he got that opportunity, he now approached the sister, and said there's something very important that they must do. Sister was wondering what is it and he said anyway what he's thinking is that they need to at least have sex before he travels out. Sister said, "But that will be fornication." He said, "But it is not exactly fornication." It's not exactly fornication. He said, "This is what he is thinking. He will be away for months or for years. And if he gets there, his mind may wander away because there is no covenant yet between him and the sister." "But if there is a covenant, because he knows that sex is a covenant. With that covenant, when he gets there, he will be able to know that he's already covenanted to the sister. And the sister too who is here will know that she's already covenanted to the brother. So that way, they'll be able to remain faithful to one another until he comes back or she comes to meet him." Sister said, "Oh, yes, yes. *Ẹ-hẹn o ṣẹ yemi bayi ni, looto ni.* We ought to sleep to—there should be this covenant between us *looto, o ya jẹ ka sun papọ.*" No discretion. No discretion. We must learn in our life. The Bible says discretion will keep you from the person who has forgotten the covenant of his God. To keep you from pastors with sweet mouth. To keep you from brothers and sisters who look angelic, but they are satanic. They speak holiness, but their heart is full of perversity. Discretion. Discretion. That's our point this evening. That's our point. Discretion. Discretion. How discreet are believers today? How discreet are our leaders? How discreet are our children? Our boys, our girls, our ladies, our young men? How discreet are they? When they ought to see correctly, but what is this matter that is cutting short discretion? Is because there is no light. There is no light. That's why he says, "Arise, walk upright so that you can have light." It is the person who is walking uprightly that'll be getting light for discretion. If you are walking foolishly, even that which you have will be taken away from you. Esau was walking foolishly, he was walking carelessly. And what was taken away again from him? Birthright was taken away further. I'm telling you. Those who have will be having more in this matter of light, in the matter of revelation, in the matter of insight. That's why the Bible warns. Say, "Awake from your sleep. Arise from your dead, and Christ will give the light." I want us to bow down heads to pray this evening. How discreet are you? How discreet are you? How discreet, how discreet? Discretion will preserve you. Discretion, discretion will preserve you. How discreet are you? Are you discreet? Are you discreet with your marriage? Are you discreet with your life? Are you discrete with with the handling of your finances? Are you discrete with the handling of your tongue? Are you discrete with the handling of I don't know, just count them. I was speaking to a young man that was busy troubling his marriage. And I told him, I said, "Young man, this your strength will not remain forever. A time will come when your strength will be no more. You think because you are strong now?" I said, "Let me tell you this: A man who troubles his own home will inherit the wind." And I said, "I hope you know nobody can inherit wind because you cannot hold wind." I mean what the Bible is saying is that at the end of the day you will become nothing. I said of everything to trouble, trouble Satan. Trouble the adversary. Trouble the gates of hell, but don't trouble your home. Don't trouble your home, young man. Don't raise your hand and say, "I will deal with my wife." That is not the thing to deal with. Because at the end of the day you will inherit the wind. I'm talking about discretion. When we don't even know where to put our energy. We don't know what to contend with and to fight with. We don't know exactly how to use opportunities that God is giving us. Discretion. Discretion. How discreet are you using the opportunities that God has given now? God has given you something now. How discreet are you with it? So that you don't even lose what you have. If you are not discrete, even what you have, you will lose it. That was Esau. It is just good enough that you have not gotten certain things. But act in a way that more will be added to you. Don't act in a way that even what you have will be taken away from you. That is not wisdom, that is not discretion. Live in a way that what you have will multiply. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Almighty God, we thank You again for this evening. We just commit ourselves into Your hand. The Bible says discretion will preserve you. This is Your word, Lord. This is Your word, Lord. And Lord, first we are praying for the church universal. Oh Lord, that Your church will be discrete in the name of Jesus. Lord, we pray for the body of Christ in Nigeria, that discretion will preserve us in the name of Jesus. Lord, we come particularly to ourselves fellowshipping together. God Almighty, discretion will preserve us in the name of Jesus. Lord, none of us will be like Esau in the name of Jesus. Grant that Lord, in all our steppings, in all our paths, Lord, we will know the good path and we'll walk in the right way in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' most holy name we pray. Amen.