Abounding in Goodness (2)

[Speaker 1] Church the fellowship starts with the most spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God the Father, the Godly Father. These are words of restoration and instruction on righteousness, on family tent ministry. We lead the life as we discuss. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord! Praise ye the Lord! Hallelujah! Amen and amen and amen and amen! Glory be to the Lord our God for His love and for His mercy. Let’s worship the Lord this evening. Let’s thank Him for His goodness. Let’s thank Him for His love. Today’s the last Monday in the month of February. Wow. We’re through with January. We’re gradually coming to the end of the second month of the year. Let’s bless the name of the Lord. Let’s thank Him for His love. Let’s thank Him for His mercies. Let’s thank Him for His goodness, let’s thank Him for His grace. Let’s worship the Lord. Let’s worship the Lord. Lord, we worship You. Lord, we worship You. Lord, we worship You. We say blessed be Your name, Abba Father. We say blessed be Your name, our Jesus. We say blessed be Your name. We say blessed be Your name. Blessed be Your name, Almighty God. Blessed be Your name, Jehovah. Thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You. Who is like unto Thee? Who is like Thee? You are glorious in holiness, You are fearful in praises, always doing wonders. Hallelujah. We worship You, our Father. We bless You, our God. Almighty God, we come before You this evening. We are saying blessed be Your name, Abba Father. We are saying we worship You, we thank You. Unto You we gather again this last Monday in the month of February. Our Father, to look into scriptures and to pray. Lord, we pray that as we fellowship together, Your Spirit will work within us, around us, among us in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we who are here physically and those who are joining us online, Lord, we pray together as a people, You will meet with us in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Everlasting Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus’ name we pray. We thank God that last week we began another very, very vital theme or topic for our discipleship class series, which is abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. And we looked into scriptures last week, and we zeroed in on Galatians 6. Galatians 6, where the Bible records that it is important for the believers not to be deceived. God can never be mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that is what he’s going to reap. He who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. And the person who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap eternal life. And in verse 9, it says, "Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." We took this as the background for our topic, abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. That there is a need for us to know that when you are not intentional about the things you do in life, when you are not deliberate about the things you do in life, when you are somebody who is not focused about the things that you are doing in life, whatsoever thing you may be doing, whatsoever actions you may be taking, then you are somebody who doesn't understand that tomorrow—what you call tomorrow, that the Yoruba have called *ola*—what you call tomorrow is actually a function of today. How? What you are calling the future is a gathering of several today. What will eventually turn out as the harvest of whatever you are doing, what will eventually, what will eventually be will actually be an harvest. You'll be harvesting from what you sow. So, if you are living casually, unintentionally, you are not deliberate, then there's somebody who does not understand that there is nothing really called, in the concrete sense of it, there's nothing really called an unknown future. The future is actually a harvest of several today. Whatsoever a man sows, that is what he will reap. And if you are deliberately sowing to the spirit, you'll of the spirit reap eternally. And if you are sowing to the flesh, you'll of the flesh reap destruction. We created that background last week, and we want to move forward. But in moving forward today, I want to hint on some things because we needed to pray. It's our last Monday. I want to hint on something for you. We are looking at abounding in goodness and we are saying that it is very, very crucial for the believer to know that if he gets weary in doing good, if he does not abound, if he does not, in the face of no matter what, abound in goodness, he's actually not a wise person. He's not a wise person. And how do we sow to the spirit? How do we sow to the flesh? We will come to all of these in the course of the discussion. But what I want to focus on this evening particularly, as a basis for our prayer, is something that the Lord said in Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 is a very, very popular scripture. Let's see Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah chapter 61. Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. I read Isaiah 61 from verse 1: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all who mourn. To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified." Brethren, I actually want to call our attention to something very vital, something we need to consider under this matter of abounding in goodness. Now, this scripture was the same scripture that the Lord quoted in Luke. If you are familiar with this quotation in the book of Luke, the Lord Jesus made reference to that quotation in the book of Luke when He entered into the synagogue. The Bible says He went there, and then that's Luke chapter 4, please. Let's go there. Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. Are you there? From verse 14: "Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet of Isaiah—the prophet Isaiah, sorry. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.' Then He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them: 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'" Now, what I'm trying to make you see—was when Isaiah was prophesying, who was he prophesying about? He was prophesying about the coming, when he said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to." It's not only talking in respect of himself, but with respect of He that is to come. Am I correct? Am I correct? And when He who is to come, when He came, what did He say? He said, "Today this prophecy is fulfilled in your very eyes." It's fulfilled in your hearing. And what's the prophecy that was fulfilled in their ears? What's the prophecy? Look closely at the prophecy. Look at the prophecy. It says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." If you go on and on in Isaiah, "To comfort those that mourn in Zion, to exchange with them beauty for ashes, a oil of joy for the spirit of sorrow, a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness so that they can be called the planting of the Father so that He can be glorified." I want to ask you: what is the thing that glorifies God? What is the thing that glorifies God? When are the people called the planting of the Father? When is the Father glorified? Go and check it one after the other. When you comfort those who mourn in Zion, when you exchange with them beauty for ashes, when you exchange joy for sorrow, when you take away heaviness and you give gladness, when you open the prison for those who are bound, when you bind the brokenhearted. Are you understanding me? When you proclaim liberty to those who are bound. What am I trying to make you see? Do you notice that what really glorifies God is when goodness abounds? Do you notice that what really glorifies God is when there is an abounding goodness? Do you realize from this scripture that God is glorified when goodness abound in the land? God is glorified when goodness abound among the people. God is glorified when good things are happening. That's what I'm trying to make you see. When goodness—oh, an heart has been broken, the broken hearts was put together. Somebody is a captive, liberty has been proclaimed. Somebody was bound by something, he has been set loose. There was sorrow in a place, joy was exchanged. There was mourning in a place, beauty was brought. People were discomforted and there was comfort for the people. You now say, "Then they will be called the planting of the Father, and then the Father will be glorified." Know what I'm trying to make you see, brethren, is that the root of this matter, the root of this matter is that the Lord said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." That's the root. That's the starting point. Am I right? In Luke, the same quotation. Am I right? He says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to." Now, this is what I'm trying to make you see, is that when the Spirit of the Lord begins to work optimally in your life, what abounds in your life is goodness. When the Spirit of the Lord becomes optimal in your life, when the Spirit of the Lord—you see what I'm trying to make you see is that let us look at some things about God. Let's look at some things about God. Let's look at it. Before man was, before man was was God. Am I right? Ever before man came into the picture, what was God doing? God was creating a universe. Am I correct? God put everything in place. Am I correct? And when everything was put in place, man was not yet in the picture. Man came last in the picture of creation. Am I correct? But do you notice that while God was busy doing everything that He was doing, everything that man needed to have all goodness around him was what God was doing? It was not because man prayed to God. Man did not pray to God. It was God—the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord was moving upon the surface of the deep. Is that not? The Spirit again, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. That same Spirit was moving upon the face of the deep. And as He was moving, God said, "Let there be this. Let there be that. Let there be this. Let there be that." And God finished everything. Eventually God said, "Let us make man in our own image, after our own likeness. Let them have dominion over everything." By the time man is to take that dominion over everything, He says, "See, I have commanded this for your food: the trees, the this, the that, the that." Everything God put together was not what man prayed for. Was not what man asked. Rather, it was something that God of His own self put in place. Am I correct? It was not a response to a prayer. It was not. For you that what was abounding out of God was what? Goodness. Goodness. Now, when the man came into the picture, look at it again. Look at it again. The Bible says God planted a garden, and He did what? And He placed man inside the garden. Now when He placed man inside that garden, I want you to look at it. He said of everything in this garden, you can eat freely. You can eat. Except one thing that you cannot eat from. Is that a limitation or a liberty? Is that a limitation or a liberty? Limitation would have been, you cannot eat everything here, you can only eat one thing. He says, "To set at liberty those that are bound." Liberty, freedom. Don't forget the Bible says again, "Stand in the liberty wherein Christ has set you free." Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. I'm trying to make you see something about God, that when certain things don't abound in your life, you need to question whether your spirit is normal. You need to question your spirit whether it is normal. Certain things must abound where the Spirit of God dwells, where the Spirit of God moves. When Spirit of God moves and the Spirit of God dwells, there is—He says, "That He may be glorified." What glorifies Him? Go and check everything that glorifies Him. Heart was broken, it has been banded. People were mourning, they have been comforted. There was sorrow, joy has been given. Heaviness, praise has been given. There was ashes, beauty has been replaced. He now say, "Yeah, they can now be called the planting of God." *Ehen*, God has worked now. Look at what glorifies God. Look at when God says, "This is now my own planting." That's what I'm showing you from the beginning. Look at the plantings of God. Look at the goodness of God. Look at the abundance of God. God did not stop there. He went further. "It is not good again for the man to be alone." He proceeded in goodness. He was the one that used the word good. "It is not good for him to be alone. There is still something that I needed to add to still make it to be real good." He wants to make it good too. I want to make it good. Look at His vision. Look at His workings. Look at His intentions. Look at His mind. Look at His operations. What are your intentions? What are your mind? Do people need to cry before they can experience your goodness? Man never prayed. Man never asked. God was living His life and man came into it. I'm talking about at creation. What brought man into sorrow again was his action. He disobeyed. He disobeyed a good God. What brought him into limitation, was not listening to a good God. What brought him into problem, was not agreeing with a good God. He didn't continue in the image of Him who created him. He followed the image of him who deceived him. That brought him into problem. Look at it again. The person who brought him into problem never solved the problem. It was the same God again that got up—I'm talking about God. I'm talking about the Spirit of God operating in a man. I'm talking about when the Spirit of God is optimal in a man. Because of our prayer this evening is that, God, that Your Spirit might be optimal in my life. That's the prayer we want to pray this evening. That Your Spirit might be optimal in my life. In my actions. In the things I do. In my words. May Your Spirit be optimal. I'm talking about goodness. Something I'm talking about. Goodness. You don't need to cry, you don't need to provoke God that God—I need to come to a point where I don't get weary in goodness, in doing good. I need to get to a point where I don't give insult for insult. I need to come to a point where I don't give slapping for slapping. I need a point where even when my enemy is hungry, I can give him to eat and I'm not feeling bad. I can—I want to get to a point where if he's thirsty, I can give him to drink, and I'm not feeling shaky. I'm happy that that is me. I'm showing you God. What makes it to rain upon both the wicked and the good, and he's not feeling less God. He's not feeling shaky. He's not feeling—he's not supposed to enjoy this thing. I'm trying to show you this God. The Bible talks about Him again. It says God is not slack concerning His judgment. But His patience is what? Is towards men. Look at the Spirit. Look at the Spirit. So that they might what? So that they can repent. He's not slack when it comes to kill them. He becomes slack. He becomes—maybe they will still change. Maybe they will still change. Maybe they will still change. Maybe they will still change. Maybe they will still change. I'm trying to show you this God. And people count it for slowness. People count it for slackness. That "this is why *ehen*", somebody said, "Oh, it is because they are using Bible to swear." Let them use your book. People, people feel that God is not, oh, everybody can see it. Even the wicked knows it. Even men knows it. When they are operating, they say, "Look at our own kingdom, there is no mercy. It is in the other kingdom." I'm talking about God. I'm talking about the Spirit of God when it comes upon a man. Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." When a life cannot abound in goodness, the matter is: what is upon him? That's the question we need to ask. What is upon him? Man went into limitation. Humans went into sorrow and weeping because they left the counsel of the good God. And He said, "Okay, because you have left the counsel, because the word of God is an eternal word." What's an eternal word? Something that you cannot alter, something that you cannot change. He said, "The day you eat this thing, you will die." So, the consequence just must come. And the consequence cannot be reversed. The wages of sin is death. That is His word. And you notice because that is His word, when He want to bring man back, did He bring him back without dying? No, He had to die. Because the wages of sin is death. That is His word. Man saw themselves in sorrow, in mourning, in weeping as a result of facing the consequence of an eternal decree that cannot be altered. It's an eternal—that's why God Himself had to die. He did not just, "Okay, let's come back together. You sinned against me, *abi*? No problem, no problem. Okay, let's forget about it. Let's," no, no, no. There's an eternal decree. Man left the counsel of God, got into problem. And ever from that time again, God started a plan. A plan. All that God was doing in the Old Testament, everything He was doing to cover, to do this, the priesthood, the this, the that, the blood of goat, the blood of bull, everything was a plan. Was a plan. A plan towards when the Spirit of God again—God is coming back to the earth again. He want to come back to the earth. He makes all the plan, all the plan, all the plan. Man was not part of it. Man was not asking for it. Man was not praying for it. He was the one working. It was His eternal counsel. It was His decision. It was not because man was asking. He was making the whole plan. Man doesn't even know that He was even planning. Planning to bring back a creation that of himself went into darkness. And He did all the plan. After all the arrange, all the arrange, all the arrange, all the arrange, all the arrange, all the arrange, all the arrangement. And suddenly, from the disappointment of air, God was incarnating in Mary. And He was here again. And when He was to speak, what did He say? "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." What was at the beginning started again when He surfaced on earth. When He was on earth at the beginning, He was to bring light out of darkness. He commanded light to shine into darkness. He was bringing goodness, He was bringing goodness. When He manifested again, what did He say? "Those who sit in darkness, what has come? What has come? A great light." I'm showing you God. I'm showing you God. A God of abounding goodness. A God of abounding goodness. That is the God that you serve. That is the God that you worship. That is the God that we pray to. That is the Spirit of truth. That is the Spirit of Christ. That is the Jehovah God. So, I begin to wonder, somebody said, "I am born again." Somebody said, "I have the Spirit of God." Somebody said, "I'm filled with the Spirit." And a person is speaking in tongues. Somebody said, "Oh, I'm now working for God. I'm in this place, I'm in that place." And his life is not abounding in goodness. The life is not abounding in goodness. I begin to wonder, is there really an encounter with the Spirit of this God? Is there actually an encounter? Or it was a mistaken encounter with another spirit? Could it be the Spirit of this—could it be this same Spirit? Could it be this same Spirit? Go and check the Spirit. Nobody has seen Him. Nobody will ever see Him. You know what He told us? Now, we saw Him in Christ. When He came in Christ and we are seeing Him, it was, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. To bind the brokenhearted again." I hear hearts that are broken in this place, let me bind them together. Is there bondage anywhere? Let me loose them. Oh, He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. By His stripe we are healed. That is this Christ, this Spirit when He manifested again. When we are to see Him in person, what was coming out of Him was abounding goodness. And you say you are speaking in tongues by that Spirit? You say you encounter that Spirit? That that Spirit operates in you? And yet, you keep breaking hearts? Around you, by the news of your life, people enter into mourning and weeping. I'm just trying to turn it around for you. I'm trying to make you see it. Could it be the Spirit of God? Around you, joy, joy, joy, is exchanged with sorrow. Around you, garment of praise is replaced with heaviness. Does the life of people encounter your life, they stay around you, they stay with you for years, what comes out of their life later is rottenness? When people stay—you see I'm talking about this thing in different dimensions. And I want to look at it from the point of the from the point of God. Is the Spirit of God optimal in you? Is the Spirit of God optimal in you? Is the Spirit of God is it really optimal in you? When people, when people stay around you, look at what the Bible says about God. It says in His presence, there's fullness of joy. What abound in your presence? When you are present in a place, what abound to people? What comes around people? What comes to people's life? What comes to people's situation? I was looking at something, I was looking at something, when the scripture says, when the scripture says, "He will make the rough road smooth. He will make the crooked road straight." When people stay around you, does the crooked become better? The crooked person. Do you brew? Do you mold? Do you change? Do the life of people improve because of their encounter with you? Is your life an improvement of people's life? These are these are things you need to ask yourself. Check yourself in the office. Check yourself in the hostel. Check yourself among colleagues. People who associate with you, does it lead to improvement upon their life? Can somebody say, "Oh, thank God. As a result of associating with you, there's this thing that's not correct about my life, but now it has—I associate with this person, it was made better." You see, I'm talking about this thing in diverse dimension. and I want to look at it from the point of the from the point of God. That I want you to see something, all from the onset, God, without being prayed to, without being cried to, was a God that put everything good in place for man. That is who He was. That is who He is. And that is what He will be forever. When man came again, He said, "It is still not good for him to be alone. I need to add goodness to him." Everything went wrong when man did not stay within the bound what I call bounded freedom. Some people don't understand that the freedom of God is also bounded. Bounded freedom. In the bounded freedom. Because if you break the edge, serpent will bite. You must stay within the edge of God to enjoy God. Stay within that edge. "All of this you may eat, don't do this. All of this you may do, don't do this." Bounded freedom is true freedom. That is what Adam did not understand. So, he left the bounded freedom and he lost goodness. He later realized it. That's what I tell people. When people, when people rebel against you, when people leave you and go their way, if actually you are abounding in goodness, years and days later, they will think back. They will realize that, "*Oto ni eni yen so.*" That's the truth about it. They will realize it back. This man said, "Ah, this serpent deceived me." They realized it. They saw it. They saw that, ah, if they stayed within His limit, it would have been better. But look at this same person. Look at how He abound again with goodness. From that very beginning, while He was giving judgment, that's what I want you to know. He said, "I will multiply your sorrow in conception. With sorrow you will give birth. Yes. Your desire shall be to your husband. He will rule over you." What we are seeing today, the patriarchal world, is the world of sin. People keep justifying the world of sin, unfortunate anyway. You know that's the patriarchal world. But do you notice that still in that pronouncement of "I will beat you", He said, "Your seed will bruise the head of this serpent." Even in judgment, He was making a way out. Can you imagine? Do you understand me? That is when the pain people, if your pain is sincere. When you whip people, when you say, [clapping sounds], is it sincere? He was, He was telling them *o se mi, e da mi*, but inside everything was also the way out. Inside that whipping, inside that lashing, was the way out. He was lashing them, but do you notice that the way out for them was also inside that word? Inside that [clapping sound] was the pronouncement of a way for—talking about the goodness of God. Abounding in goodness. Is that how to take revenge of somebody who disobeyed you? What you have—you are caning the person disobeyed you, but part of the cane is the person's way out from the bondage he entered into. Is that really a cane? The caning was that a seed will come that will—that will bruise the head of this serpent that deceived you. And ever from that day, that is why you notice, when you open the book of Matthew, they tell you, "Adam begat Seth." They trace Jesus back to who? All the way down. Is it not in your Bible? You see how He do? That even in that Adam that God was saying, "Out of your sweat you will now eat. Out of this, this, this, this," God was creating a seed. And He was chasing that seed. I'm talking about the goodness of God. Is that you have done what is wrong, and I'm paining you, you will cry, you will weep. What is the ultimate of it? What was the ultimate of God's pronouncement? Was it not liberty? Yes, man wept, man suffered, everything, they faced the consequences. But what was the ultimate of it? What was the ultimate thing? The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He showed up again. He showed up again to perfect forever those who will be sanctified. He showed up again to offer a better sacrifice. He showed up again to bring good things. He showed up again to give the eternal life that was lost. He showed up by Himself again. The Bible says nobody is saved by works. Nobody can earn salvation. Nobody. It was all by Himself. He said, "God of all goodness." Brethren as we begin to pray this evening, I want you to talk to God. What is it that abound out of you? *Ehn*, *no be me mo sise ibi*. Oh, I did not—I am not like others. Let us go to God and cry to God to our life. God! That Your Spirit may be optimal in my life. This is what you have been designed to become. Don't settle for the less, you can be a better person. Don't settle, I keep telling people, don't, I'm telling you my prayer. I keep saying God, I want to be a better person. I keep, honestly, I'm telling you a pray, the prayer we are praying now was the prayer I prayed throughout today morning. That God, that I may be a better person. Oh, make me a better person. *Oluwa je ki n dabi re. Oluwa*. Is it not—You said when the when the servant is perfected, he will be like his master. You said the servant when he's made mature, when the student is made perfect, he will be like his master. I want to be like You. I want to be like You. I desire to go further. I desire to go forward. I desire to abound in goodness. I desire to abound in goodness. Lord! [tongues-speaking/shouts]. Lord! Lord! Lord! Lord! Lord! Lord! Lord! Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness is actually becoming like God. Ah! Abounding in goodness is becoming like God. Abounding in goodness is becoming like God. Abounding in goodness is becoming like God. *Ah, Oluwa!* You cry to God for your own life. *Baba, Baba* break me. Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, I can be revengeful. I can be malicious. Lord, Lord God Almighty. In my own anger I don't do good. In my own anger I pull down, I tear down. Oh God! *Baba, Baba* break, *Baba* mold me. *Baba* change me. *Baba* make me a better person. Lord, God, *Baba* I want to become more and more like You. What glorifies You is that broken hearts have been banded. Liberty have been proclaimed, oh, to the captive. The opening of prison to those who are bound. *Ah!* Morning, morning, have been comforted. *Ah!* Sorrow have been exchanged with joy. Heaviness have been exchanged with praise. *Ah!* That is when You are glorified. That is when You are glorified. That is when You are glorified. Lord, Lord, Lord. When it comes to punishment, You are so slow. You are so slow. You are so slow. You are busy calculating the way out even in punishment. You are calculating escape in punishment. You are calculating how ultimately it will bring a change. You are calculating—*Ah, Baba!* You make it to rain upon the good and the bad, and you are not feeling shaky. *Ah!* You that is who You are. And You are even telling us: be like me, be like me. *Ah, Baba!* Lord, Lord, Lord, may our goodness not be consequential. May we do goodness freely out of our good pleasure. May Lord, that is who You are. Your goodness is who You are. Your goodness is what You are. It is not consequential. It is not coming because somebody asked for it. It is not coming because it is merited. It is not coming because it has been earned. It is not coming because it could be obtained. Because it cannot be obtained, it cannot be merited, it cannot be gotten. It is so high, it is so holy, it is so pure, that God You do goodness out of Your free willing. You are not, You are not, You are not tied upon before goodness abound. Goodness just abound out of You as You. Oh God! That Your Spirit will be upon us indeed. Ah! I want you to beg the Lord. Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." I don't know what is upon you. Many times it is your emotion that is upon you. Many times it is your feeling that is upon you. Many times it is your interest that is upon you. Many times it is your ego that is upon you. Many times what is upon you is not the Spirit of God. What is upon you is not the Spirit. What is upon you is your ego, is your pride, is your self-justification, is your pain, is your interest. Oh! The Master said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." Lord! Lord, remove me, let me—Lord! Lord! Lord! Lord! Lord! Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. Abounding in goodness. In all ramification. In all ramification. In all ramification. In all ramification. In all ramification. In all ramification. In all ramification. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Before we go, as we normally do, we must pray for Nigeria. Let's pray for our nation. All around us today is violence. All around us is insecurity, banditry, kidnapping, corruption, industry, shedding of blood. That is all that we see around. That is everything that seems to describe Nigeria. Everything seems to be just negative. And that you wonder, you wonder, that, ah, can good come out of Nigeria? But I want us to look at this from this perspective, that there was a time in history that the source of the river was bitter, and by the miraculous hand of God, that river turned around. It turned around. It turned around. You'll say that is the natural state of that river. It brings out that which kills. That's the natural state of the river. That is how it's been to that city. That is how it has been described. That is what has become its name. But by the miraculous of God, the story of that river changed. The story changed. It changed. What's natural to us in our nation appears to be that which is not which is not helping us to develop. What seems to be natural to us, I'm saying so because something really good was happening to us and we were really developing and we were really going and we were going. By the time the white people, by the time the—they met with us, the Afro-European contact, what they would have met would have been something superior to theirs. What they would have met would have been something better. What they would have met would have been something so before they came. What was with us was not something better than theirs. It was not something better. Theirs was better. I'm just talking about development. That was why, why we were still doing *sakabula*, [shouts], they were using machine gun, so they could, superior firepower, they finished all of us. There was something, all I'm saying is that there is something our development, our if you look at it, it looks as if our natural things, what's often to be natural for us is *e sha wa leyin*, just be backward. I mean as a nation. When you take these Nigerians and put them in other economy, you will wonder: see this boy that had top class in physics is now the best in physics in the US. How? There is something about the nation. There is something about the source of this water. There is something in the source. There is something about the source, the source, there is something about it. We want to say, "God, command Your goodness into our source as a nation." Lord, command Your goodness into our source as a nation. Lord, please, in Your mercy, Lord, we look up unto You, command Your goodness into our source. Command Your goodness into our source. Lord, command Your goodness into our source. Ah, *Baba, Baba, Baba, Baba*, command Your goodness into our source. Into our source, Lord, command Your goodness. Into our source, Jehovah, command Your goodness. Command Your goodness into our source. Ah, *orisun wa, orisun wa, orisun wa*. Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord! Command Your goodness into our source in the name of Jesus! In the name of Jesus! In the name of Jesus! Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Almighty God, into Your hand we commit ourselves. Lord, with our God, Lord, we pray for ourselves. We pray for our various spiritual sons and daughters. We pray for the church of God. We pray for our brethren scattered all over the world. Oh, precious Father, that Your Spirit, Your Spirit will become optimal in our lives. Amen. Lord, our God, yes, Your Spirit is in us. Yes, it's operating in us. But Lord, we want to come to the fullness. We want to come to where it is within and it is upon us. It is something that we are wearing as cloth. It is upon. It's not hidden within. It's not blocked by self. It's not overshadowed by conflicting passion. It's not eclipsed by human will. Lord, it is upon. It has conquered. It has broken through. It is victorious. It is reigning and ruling. It is not just residing, it is presiding. Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, *Baba, Baba, Baba*, we cannot make ourselves. You are the one that make us fishers of men. Lord, make us. Lord, make us. Lord, make us. Lord, make us. Lord, make us. In the name of Jesus! *Baba*, no matter how much we cry, no matter how much we run, no matter how much we try to expand, *Baba*, don't allow us have our way. Amen. *Baba, Baba, Baba*, hold us, break us, mold us, bless us, use us in the name of Jesus. Lord, Lord, Lord, we also cry for our nation. The truth is that there is something wrong with our source. The problem is our source. There is something wrong. Something is wrong in our source. How we got to this point, You know, Lord. Because before the mountain was, You were. Before the hills, before they came, *amo isoro aye wa*, before the hill, before the mountain, before they came in place You have been. Lord, You know how our source became like this. Lord, we look up unto You. We look up unto You as a people, crying oh God, *Baba*, *Baba*, *Baba*, enter into our source and fill it with Your goodness. Enter into our source and command goodness into our source. Lord, enter into our source and change what is natural to us. Lord, enter into our source and change, oh God, what we have been described with. What has been with us and has become our name. Lord, enter into our source and change it to goodness. Lord, that Your name alone may be glorified. Because we saw in scripture that when the when liberty is proclaimed to the captive, we can now be called the planting of the Father. That is when You are glorified. Lord, Lord, take glory over Nigeria. Take glory over Nigeria. Take glory over Nigeria. Thank You, *Baba*. Thank You, Lord Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together in fellowship. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen.