All We Need Is Life

[Speaker 1] Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God really desires a godly home for His children. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Circle Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] Friends, as we move on this evening from where we left the matter last week, looking at the life of Job to see how God values integrity compared to other things in human's life. And Job, at a point, also had an advocate. We were looking at the fact how you see them playing together. "I write to you so that you sin not. If you sin, Jesus is the advocate." But at the same time, if any man continues to sin, he does not belong to. You keep seeing these two things playing out in all that we discussed last week. And I felt as we begin to take the epistles as we are looking at them one after the other, you will see this thing playing out more and more and more in every aspect of all that God did in the life of all that God did through the apostles in the letters that they wrote. But as we try as we try to move on this evening, I want us to look at the book of Ephesians. I want to draw our attention to something I was discussing in a meeting yesterday with some of our young people. Let us turn our Bibles to Genesis. I just want to read that, comment on that, and then we will try to move on from that point. Now look at Genesis 3. Genesis 3. The Bible reads that was where Bible talks about the Fall. Since we are familiar with the Fall, we will not be reading the whole of that scripture. But I just want to draw our attention to something in that place. After the fruit has been eaten, look at what the Bible says from verse 12—sorry, from verse 11. And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree whereof I commanded you that you should not eat?" And the man said, "The woman who You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate." And the Lord said unto the woman, "What is it that you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent beguiled or deceived me, and I ate." And the Lord said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed above all animals and above every wild living thing of the field. Upon your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise and tread upon your head, and you will lie in wait to bruise His heel." To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy, and the pangs of childbirth. With pangs of distress you will bring forth children, yet your desire and craving will be for your husband and he will rule over you." And to Adam He said, "Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' the ground is under a curse because of you. In sorrow and toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns also it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plant of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return." I'm trying to draw our attention to something as we move on today to look at the book of Ephesians, see what God said. I was saying something yesterday in a meeting and I said everything that happened to man, what was the singular thing that led to everything? What got missing, and all other things followed? God said, "The day you eat this fruit, you will die." When they ate the fruit, they died. That is, life was taken out. That was the only thing that was taken out. Every other thing that followed was a consequence of just one thing. That they saw that they were naked, that God placed a curse on the woman, that God placed a curse on the man, that there was scarcity, there was lack. Just think of every other thing that has followed that thing since these days. There is only one cause. What was the cause? Only one thing was taken. What was taken? Life. Immediately life left, all other things followed. And if we are to restore man and to give man back everything that was lost, there is only one thing to return. Jesus did not die to give mortal life. He died to give eternal life. Is that not? Now we are seeing again from Genesis that it was when eternal life was taken, because they continued to exist. They did not fall down. They were still existing. They were still giving birth. They were giving in marriage. Everything was going on. But we know life had gone. So Jesus came to introduce that life. So what we should get something. It means therefore that if the Bible says that in John 10:10, He said, "The thief cometh not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that life abundantly." In other reference, John 11, He was telling Martha, He said, "I am, I, I am the resurrection and the life." In John 14, He was telling the disciples, He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." The word which I preach unto you, John 6:63, "they are spirit and they are life." I am trying to draw attention to something. What exactly then should man seek? Is there any other thing to seek as far as man existence is concerned apart from life? Nothing. Because it was only life that was removed. When life was there, is there anything that man lacked? Nothing. If you bring back life, will there be anything that he will lack? I was saying in that meeting yesterday, I say I make bold to tell anybody that if any man consistently fellowships with Jesus, consistently stays with Him, consistently share in His presence, consistently keep knowing and growing into Jesus, there is nothing else that needed to be added to the person. Every other thing about existence will be restored. Because that was the only thing that left and all other things came. So if anybody is saying that there are several things to seek in God, his teaching is not correct. There is one thing to pursue in God, and that is life. Life. Life. If a man gets to a point where as he grows on with Jesus, Jesus constantly speaks to him, what is Jesus speaking to him? Spirit and life. If for instance Jesus says, "No, do this one," what does that thing become? Life. If you want to marry Sade, Jesus says, "No, marry Bose." What does that marriage become? Life. If you everything, you will see that death is all that surrounds man because Jesus is not involved. What anything that man is doing, anything that you find man inside, anything you find man involved in, anywhere you find man going, if the thing emanated out of Jesus, what will that thing be? Life. And so the real thing, the real thing for us to pursue, the real thing if God is to give us a check and He says, "Ask Me for one thing," what should be the one thing man should ask for? That I may live. Because once man can live, he doesn't have any other problem again. The reason why I am using that as a background before we go into we have been looking at faith and conduct. That's what we have been looking at all the while. Last week we saw that very well. He took care of our sin. Yet, if it is already taken care of, we see conduct. "I write that you sin not." Yet, "he that is born of God does not continue in sin." We are looking at all of that. I said we'll try to check the epistles of all the fathers and see how they presented this thing. But see what I'm trying to call your attention to is that the church, where we are today, because of a fundamental problem. The problem is that along the line, some men made us to think or some men made us to believe, or preaching and teaching made us to come to an understanding that there are several things to pursue in God. And so when we begin to pursue several things, we lost life. Instead of growing in fellowship with Jesus, instead of increasing I'm trying to make you understand why what led to this famine that we are having today. It's because there is no continuous formation of Christ in us. What we are having is doctrines, traditions, activities, conferences, seminars. Christ, Christ is not being daily formed. Christ is not being daily. You see I am coming to realize something under God. That any time I join a group now and I stay with that group and we fellowship, and I notice that every time I am in the group, there is nothing making me to become more and more like Jesus, it's not a place to be. It's not a place to be. Even if the thing is giving me material blessing, it's still not a place to be. Because all the materiality that surrounds man without life is affliction. It's affliction. I was watching there's this truism that is normally said, "Even the rich also cry." Are you familiar with that truism? You see what man what man lost, what brought man into the situation that he is today is not the loss of money. It's not the loss of a wife. It's not the loss of education. It's not the loss of what to eat. It's not the loss of anything. What man lost, what Adam lost was life. And so if life is consistently formed on a daily basis, He is encountering God, He's staying with Jesus, He's becoming like Jesus, He's becoming like Jesus, He's becoming like Jesus, what will He be becoming? Life. And as long as He is becoming life upon life upon life, such that when we behold the glory, we can see the glory of the only begotten Son flowing in that thing, what will happen to that man? You will see again that all these other things that He needs, just like it was in creation, everything that Adam needed, which one did he work for? Everything, tell me one thing that it was Adam that worked for it. Was there anything? God made provision for everything. He was even so honored that when he was to marry, he was sleeping and God was working. Is that not true? He was sleeping, God was working. When God finished again, I thought God would just say He would just say a voice like the voice of a trumpet as in Revelation, say a voice like a trumpet, "Go!" and then you know the thing sounds everywhere. But He said like a trumpet, oh, and then He's in other words his wife is somewhere, we'll go and see her. You understand me? God didn't say go under one tree there you will see one thing that you can marry. God brought her. God held her as Job, "Take." I'm telling you the honor, the place of dignity, the place of power, the place of glory that man occupies as long as he was in life. As long as he lives. But immediately he died, what happened? He now began to pursue those things that were initially there in abundance. He began to pursue them. And today I want to ask you, are you not pursuing? Are you not pursuing and pursuing and pursuing? You see what I'm trying to make us see is I'm trying to see two things. Number one, there's a reverse of how we ought to live. You notice that God did not say, "Seek only the Kingdom of God." What did He say? He said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God." Then what will now happen? "All other things shall be added to you." Which means He is not saying we don't seek those things, but what He is saying is that the only way to get direction to seek them is in the Kingdom. Am I very clear? The only way, it's just like the issue of somebody came to me and was asking me a question. He said, "He didn't understand this thing that Jesus said." A man came to Jesus, he said, "Let me first go and bury my father." Jesus said, "Let the dead bury the dead." He said, "Does it mean that it is wrong for us to bury our parents?" And I said, "Go back again and check that scripture." Go and check everything in that scripture [Luke 9:59-60]. One said, "I will follow You. Let me first go and tell my people." Jesus said the same thing to the person. One said, "Okay, I will go, but let me first." Jesus said, "No, he who lay a hand on this plow and look back is not fit for it." I said go and check all the statements. They didn't say, "Let me go and bury my parents." They didn't say, "Let me go and tell them." They said, "Let me first." That the problem in those discussions is the problem of first. And what Jesus is saying is this. You won't know the correct way to bury your father in a way that God will be glorified except you first stay with Me. That is, first seek this thing, let Me then tell you when to bury them and how to bury them. First be with Me, let Me then tell you how you will tell them that you have gone with Me. If you don't first be with Me, you won't know how you ought to do it. And that was the matter. You see what I'm trying to say is that I have seen us today running after all of these things without the first thing we need to run through them. And what is the first thing we need? Life. Life. And how do we get the life? He said, "The word which I speak, they are spirit, they are life." I went to work in maybe Fed Poly Ado Ekiti, and Jesus said, "No, don't work there. Go and work with the polytechnic, the tech poly Peter." What has happened to the program in the Fed Poly? It's no more a polytechnic, it has become life. While Adam will fall to this side, step out to this side, it's not luck, it's life. Are you understanding me at all? The life is in Him. I'm talking about this in Him. I see a situation in which we have left life. It's a consequence that what we are facing, this is the reason why godly conduct is also missing because there is no life. What you have is doctrines, services, programs, units, activity. That's what we have. We don't have life. Those people, you were raising your hand to ask a question, your hand was just going up and down. I just wanted to come with you about what, in the after come to wait. Before I teach you how to bury your father, I want you to I'm only using that figuratively. I'm saying that Jesus said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom and these things shall be added." Shall be what? Did you notice that it is that they will be added, not that they will be worked for even though you are seeking them, even though you need them. But the principle is for them to be an addition. It is not to really be worked for. But the only way they can be an addition is if you seek first. Once it is not first, life, it is those things first, what will happen? They will not be an addition. You will be laboring, you will be working, you will really be work. So as many people continue as you want to work, work. And your working today is destroying our homes. Your working today is scattering our children. Your working today our family is in trouble. Your working today our health is in trouble. Are we not working? We are working. But are we better by this job that we are doing? So what I'm saying is that it is possible for all of these things to better us. It's possible to work and your work is bettering you. It's making your family better, your life better, your children. It's possible for them to be life and not death. That's what we are trying to say. It's very possible. But the only way it's possible is if they are added. I like it in the Yoruba way. Yoruba put it well. He said, "Ibukun ti Olorun, Olorun n bu, o n fi n kun. Ibukun. Olorun n bu, oun lo n sise e kun. O n bu, o n fi n kun. O di meji, o so di meta. O di meta, o so di merin. Olorun n bu, o n fi n kun." The blessings of the Lord, the Lord is the one adding His blessing with it. He's blessing you with it. He's blessing you with it. He said, "That blessing makes us rich." No, people are seeking to be rich instead of seeking to be blessed. If you are blessed, you will be rich. You will have enough. But what are we looking for? They want to be rich. How can I make money? How can I we don't understand that money is not what we are looking for. There is something, are you understanding what I'm trying to say? The matter is a matter of life. But that is not the direction I am going into today. Where I am really going is that I am seeing a serious problem. The problem we are seeing today is that the reason why there is a famine or a famine of godly conduct or godly conduct in the land, why men could not display faith, I mean the fruit of faith as it's playing unbelief, is because life is not constantly formed in them. And when we say life, we mean there is no personal, consistent, continuous, intense fellowship with Jesus, such that they can hear Him, He can speak to them, they can take instruction from Him, He can direct them. Bible says, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, are actually the sons of God." It is because that one is not there. That is the source of life, that the life. Because life is not there and life don't just don't just get there because if you check through scripture and you look very well into scripture, the Bible make it clear. It says it's as we look into this perfect law of liberty and we continue in it. Other one says as we look at to reflect on His image, that is the Word of God, He says we look as we keep looking He says then we are being changed from glory to glory by who? By the Spirit. It is the Spirit that is doing it. It's not really our effort. But what we do is we are beholding. We are beholding. We are beholding. We are spending time with Him. We are staying with Him. And the Spirit is changing us. It is because that one is not there. That is why there seemed to be a gap between when you say somebody is born again and then you see somebody who display Christian conduct. It's like actually the child was born at a point, but there was no continuous feeding. The child was not eating. The child was not changed. Once the child is born, what will happen? There will be joy. Everybody will be happy. They will do naming ceremony. After one year, the child is still like that, no change. After two years, he's still like that, no change. After three years, he's still like that, no change. After four years, he's still like that, no change. What do you think will happen? The joy will still be going on? It'll become a burden. That is what believers have become to God today. That God is saying, "I am grieved." We have been raising the matter and we are trying to make you see the source, the cause of the problem. Why is there a famine of good conduct or godly conduct in the land? Why men could not display faith, I mean the fruit of faith as it is playing unbelief, is because life is not constantly formed in them. And as I make you reach your hand to ask a question, your hand was just going up and down. I just wanted to come with you about what? I've come to wait before I teach you how to bury your father, I want you to I'm only using that figuratively. I'm saying that Jesus said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom and these things shall be shall be what?" Did you notice that it is that they will be added, not that they will be worked for even though you are seeking them, even though you need them. But the principle is for them to be an addition. It is not to really be worked for. But the only way they can be an addition is that you seek first. Once it is not first, life, it is those things first, what will happen? They will not be an addition. You will be laboring, you will be working, you will really be work. And your working today is destroying our homes. Your working today is scattering our children. Your working today our family is in trouble. Your working today our health is in trouble. Are we not working? We are working. But are we bettered by this job that we are doing? So what I'm saying is that it is possible for all of these things to better us. It's possible to work and your work is bettering you. It's making your family better, your life better, your children. It's very possible for them to be life and not death. That's what we are trying to say. It's very possible. But the only way it's possible is if they are added. I like it in the Yoruba way. Yoruba put it well. He said, "Ibukun ti Olorun, Olorun n bu, o n fi n kun. Ibukun. Olorun n bu, oun lo n sise e kun. O n bu, o n fi n kun. O di meji, o so di meta. O di meta, o so di merin. Olorun n bu, o n fi n kun." The blessing of the Lord, the Lord is the one adding His blessing with it. He's blessing you with it. He's blessing you with it. He said, "That blessing makes us rich." No, people are seeking to be rich instead of seeking to be blessed. If you are blessed, you will be rich. You will have enough. But what are we looking for? They want to be rich. How can I make money? How can I we don't understand that money is not what we are looking for. There is something, are you understanding what I'm trying to say? The matter is a matter of life. But that is not the direction I am going into today. Where I am really going is that I am seeing a serious problem. The problem we are seeing today is that the reason why there is a famine or a famine of godly conduct or godly conduct in the land, why men could not display faith, I mean the fruit of faith and as it's playing unbelief, is because life is not constantly formed in them. And when we say life, we mean there is no personal, consistent, continuous, intense fellowship with Jesus, such that they can hear Him, He can speak to them, they can take instruction from Him, He can direct them. Bible says as many as are led by the Spirit of God are actually the sons of God. It is because that one is not there. That is the source of life, that is life. Because life is not there and life don't just don't just get there. Because if you check through scripture and you look very well into scripture, the Bible make it clear. It says it is as we look into what? Into this perfect law of liberty and we continue in it. Other one says as we look at to reflect on His image, that is the Word of God, He says we look as we keep looking He says then we are being changed from glory to glory by who? By the Spirit. It is the Spirit that is doing it. It's not really our effort. But what we do is we are beholding. We are beholding. We are beholding. We are spending time with Him. We are staying with Him. And the Spirit is changing us. It is because that one is not there. That is why there seemed to be a gap between when you say somebody is born again and then you see somebody who display Christian conduct. It's like actually the child was born at a point, but there was no continuous feeding. The child was not eating. The child was not changed. Once the child is born, what will happen? There will be joy. Everybody will be happy. They will do naming ceremony. After one year, the child is still like that, no change. After two years, he's still like that, no change. After three years, he's still like that, no change. After four years, he's still like that, no change. What do you think will happen? The joy will still be going on? We'll still be dancing, "Thank You, Jesus, for what You have done." What will happen? It'll become a burden. That is what believers have become to God today. That God is saying, "I am grieved." And we have been raising the matter and we are trying to make you see the source, the cause of the problem. Why is this thing like this? Why and the why is what we are looking at. The process that led to it is what we are looking at. The process that led to it is that somewhere along the line, certain things wormed their way into our gatherings. They did not just worm their way in. They have wormed their way in long ago. When Satan want to destroy man, in 20 years time it can begin to. It's just as we've been saying, if God want to use a man in 40 years time, God can start now. God started with Moses from the day he was born and He was watching over him, watching over him, watching over him, watching over him, preparing, doing everything, doing everything until he came into the fullness of what God wanted for him. Now the point I'm making is that this thing crept in not just yesterday or day before yesterday. It crept in, the enemy sowed a seed. Today we are just reaping the harvest. The seed was not sown today. And the seed that was sown is that the attention of the church was shifted from looking for life. We began to look for things. We shifted from looking for life. And we don't know that everything consists in life. Bible says we are complete in Him. There is nothing man needs that is not in life. Adam that time, what was it that Adam needed that was not in life? They were all there. It was when life was removed that lack began to come in. Every other thing came in. When he was alive, was he looking for what to eat? Was he sweating to eat? Was he running around for who to marry? Was he what is it that he lacked in his life? Was there any lack? There was no lack. So what is the cause of lack today? Death. So lack is just a consequence of death. Lack is not a problem of man. It's not a problem. Not the problem of man. It's death. That is your problem. And so the problem we should face again today in our fellowship, that the problem we should face in our churches, how can we live again? And so when people get born again, the matter is not just born again, jump into several things, no. He's born again, and we begin to look into look, what you need now is begin to look into His image. Begin to look into this mirror, as you look into this image, as you spend time with it, as you stay with it, as you understand His fellowship, as you grow in His fellowship, you will be changed from glory to glory by something. There is a Spirit that is changing us. We are supposed to bring men into this transforming power of the Spirit. Because once men enter into that program and daily and daily Jesus is being formed and they are getting conformed to that image, you will discover that there will be abundance of godly conduct because it is not by struggling. It is not really by struggling. It is by living. I keep telling people, sin is spiritual. Sin nobody is inside as sometimes somebody he say, "As for me, I can never do it. Never." I said you have not said anything. Speak the Word of God. That is the sword of the Spirit. If I say I can never, it cannot happen to me, and me, I trust myself, I say you have missed the point. What you have said, you have not said anything. You are dealing with a spiritual matter. Sin is a spiritual matter. It's not the thing you approach at that level with your will, with your determination, saying, "I will stay away." It's not about that. Sin is spiritual. Sin is a mystery. Have you heard about the mystery of iniquity? What the Bible said this is a mystery, the mystery of godliness. None of them none of them have to do with one man's ability. And that is why nobody comes and say, "Look, I am the mighty man of God." I don't care with your mighty or the mighty brother of God, or the strong brother of God. I don't care. It happens the other way actually for you to understand Christianity. Here comes the man of a mighty God. Here comes the brother of a strong God. That is the correct thing. It's not about the people. Because we have seen something in a particular that one brother is no, it's the Lord, it's a light. And what I am emphasizing today, what I am saying is that we are where we are today because we have not followed the manual. "As many as He foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son." And in all things, God is causing all things to work together for this good. Then I check, is my education making me become more like Jesus? Is my marriage making me become more like Jesus? Because in all things, it's not some of them. Where I fellowship, is it making me becoming more like Jesus? This friend that I call pastor, brother, reverend, how much is he helping me to conform? That is the way to look at life. That is the way to talk. And when I discover that I check my conduct, I check, and it's not becoming, ah, there is need to ask myself, am I sure the title of my life is correct? I must have been wrongly labeled. But if I'm properly labeled, certain things will go in us and that is the point I'm making. certain things going in us. What makes it go is what I am placing emphasis on today, that we need to understand that what brought the inability of man to please God—man was pleasing God in that garden. Is that not true? Until life was taken away. All that man need again is to come alive and to remain alive. That's just what I'm trying to say. That's just what I'm drawing our attention to. That's just what I'm emphasizing. If you want to come to God, if you want to come to the place of if there's anything you want to seek in God, if there's anything that should be the burden of your heart before God, if there's anything that should come up in your life, a burden, something is the thing is just doing like this, is just doing like this, you are waking up and God, God that I may live. That when I look at scriptures, that I may hear You speak. That when I are you understand what I'm trying to say? When I move, that I may see You, I may see my life being led by You. Lord, enough of this life on understanding. I want that in all your ways, I want that you are directing my path. That is the life we are talking about. The more we can come to a point where there is nothing about our our path that is not directed by God, that should be our labor. That should be our struggle, what we are doing everything that I now point to a point where I know that there is nothing again that has to do with my my understanding, but that this one, it was the Lord who said, it was the Lord who did, it was the Lord who directed, it was the Lord. It is how, it is the more and more of this that we have, it is the more and more we increase in this that we will realize that it is not really by works of righteousness, but byHis grace. It is that life, it is that life that actually produced the godly conduct that we are talking about. It's not really a struggle. It is to be alive. Once we live, as long as man lived, he was godly. Was that not true? It was when he died that the glory of God left. When he was alive, there was a glory that covered him. And the Bible says let's come back there and let's start changing from this thing, from glory to glory. Man sinned and came short of glory. So Jesus came looking for again glory. What did you come short of? Is it not money? You didn't say man sinned and came short of money. You didn't say man sinned and came short of a job. He said man sinned and came short of what? Glory. What Jesus should be looking for again is glory. What you come short of is glory. Glory is the thing. This thing you are pursuing is just a consequence of lack of glory. What you really what you really need to seek first is that your glory be restored. The restoration of your glory. Brother, the restoration of your glory. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Thank You. What is your own pursuit? What are you running after? What are you pursuing? I'm only trying to show you how we came to this point today that we have more churches. We have more—let me use the more popular one. Nigeria reputed as the most religious country in the world and at the same time the second most corrupt country. I think I learned now some another rating. They said it has become it has come to number seven, we are no more second. I don't know how true I don't know how true that rating is, but I learned last night on the radio that they rated it again that Nigeria came to number seven. But whether number seven or number two, the point is how can we be the most religious country in the world and yet, whether seven or second most corrupt, it does not go together. It does not go together. It is because what they call what they call religion is not the work of life. But let us look, let's look into your life. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. It's not money. It's not that you don't need money, but what you came short of was not money. What you came short of is not education. It's not as if you will not go to school. I've told you I'm educated. But what you came short of is not education. What you came short of is not a wife. What you came short of is not food. What you came short of when we sinned, for the Bible says as in Adam we all sinned, when we sinned, what we came short of was glory. Life was taken and glory was gone. That is what you came short of. What you should be looking for again and running after is that no, I must go from glory to glory. That glory that was lost must be restored. That glory. And the Bible teaches us how this glory can come. We are looking at them one after the other. We are going through them, brethren. We are looking at this thing, line by line, bit by bit. We are seeing that what we lost is glory. What we need today is for our glory to be restored. It is not activity. It's not even church membership. I don't mean you should not attend church. I attend church. I have a church. I'm even youth coordinator. I'm in prayer unit. I'm not saying church is wrong. But what I'm saying is not about church membership. It's not about the real thing is that Jesus said, "Come unto me." He didn't say "Come to church." He said, "Come to me." Me, me, me, come to me. Believe in me. First come to me. And that is why I don't know if it was from my I don't know how I stumbled over that scripture when we really got born again. John 14:21. It is Psalm 119:1-3. Those two scripture, they were the scripture that became a master in our life when we really got born again. Bible says "He that has my word and do them is he that loves me. He that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will come to him and show myself to him." It became a master. Jesus, so You can show Yourself. I want to see You. If You can show Yourself, I want to see the I want to see. But this must be the one who has Your word. That led to Psalm 1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk here and there and there, but His delight is in the law of God. There He meditate day and night." God's Word became our meditation. I was telling some youth one of the fellowship that as a young school leaver, I can be with scripture for 18 hours. Just me, no discipleship. It was Anglican system. In fact, nobody to encourage, but we just stumbled over that scripture with our heart. How God changed, we did not know. It is now we know that it's by the Spirit. It is now that we know that it was by the Spirit. Now we can explain it. We can explain how it happened. But then we know that we were changing. Some will say, "No, I can't do that. The Bible says," they say, "What is wrong with this boy? What is wrong with this boy? What is wrong with this boy?" That's how it started. And then on and on and on, it has remained till today. But now, most of my elders have come to reconcile themselves with me because they have seen what is wrong with this boy. Why would he not talk like this? Why would he not talk like this? Why would always opposite? He will talk this way, He will talk this way, He will talk this way, He will talk this way. Ah. But it all started. And many things were eventually not seen today. When we were talking about no, you must work in office, and said, "No, I want to teach." Ah. Peter can suffer, let us see. But it was because there was life. It was because we were hearing things. It was because something was speaking to us. It was because there was glory. What I am saying today is that let us get back, let's get back to basics. I'm not saying you should go and leave your churches. That's not what I'm saying, please. What I'm saying is that beyond this church membership, the first thing is that our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. It is He that must not lose our side. It must not leave our side. And that is the source of so much trouble today in the body of Christ. So much lack. There is so much lack today. Lack of godly conduct. And by the time we sit down next week as we take this journey on, we will deliberately, carefully expound to us this matter of John 10:10. "The thief cometh not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." He has come. He has come, but note that in that coming, He placed His coming against the activity of the thieves. You understand me? He said, "The thief cometh not but to steal." It means Jesus recognize thieves. And we must recognize thieves. We must recognize thieves. It must be clear to us. We must understand it. Because as long as the activities of the thief goes on, the activities of life may not take place. If the activities of the thief persist, then life may not go on. "The thief cometh not but to, but I have come." So one must be way for the other. One must be going on while the other is not going on. So I want to leave with us today as we close this meeting this evening, that we have been talking so much about faith. That's where we have the sound of the gospel. We saw what Jesus did and it stands, it stands the way it stands. Nothing to be removed. As many as when we preach, they say we are preaching excess liberty. I don't think I am preaching excess liberty. I just but that is the gospel. I'm telling you that is the gospel. If the true gospel is preached and you truly understand the gospel, you will know that we are complete in Christ. Except the true gospel is not preached. And what we are saying is that we think the truth this true gospel that we preach, we should not hold back as Paul said. He said, "I did not hold back from telling you the whole truth of this gospel." This gospel has a whole truth. And nothing can be further from the truth if faith does not produce godly conduct. Nothing can be further from it. Because the whole essence why God foreknew men was that He predestinated them to be conformed to the image of the Son. That's the whole essence. That's the whole essence. And I keep telling and I keep and I will keep saying this every time I tell people, being is spiritual. Somebody he say as sometimes somebody he say, "Ah, me, I can never do it, never." I tell the person, "You have not said anything. Speak the word of God. That is the sword of the Spirit." If I say, "I can never, it cannot happen to me, and me, I trust myself," I say you have missed the point. What you have said, you have not said anything. You are dealing with a spiritual matter. Sin is a spiritual matter. It's not the thing you approach at that level with your will, with your determination. Sin is spiritual. Sin is a mystery. Have you heard about the mystery of iniquity? Word of God says it's a mystery, the mystery of godliness. None of them, none of them have to do with one man's ability and that is why nobody comes and say, "Look, I am the mighty man of God." I don't care with your mighty, or the mighty brother of God, or the strong brother of God. I don't know how they put it. It happens the other way actually for you to understand Christianity. Here comes the man of a mighty God. Here comes the brother of a strong God. That is the correct thing. It's not about the people. Because we have seen something in a particular that one brother is no, it's the Lord, it's a light. And what I am emphasizing today, what I am saying is that we are where we are today because we have not followed the manual. "As many as He foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son." And in all things, God is causing all things to work together for this good. Then I check, is my education making me become more like Jesus? Is my marriage making me become more like Jesus? Because in all things, it's not some of them. Where I fellowship, is it making me becoming more like Jesus? This friend that I call pastor, brother, reverend, how much is he helping me to conform? That is the way to look at life. That is the way to talk. And when I discover that I check my conduct, I check, and it's not becoming, ah, there is need to ask myself, am I sure the title of my life is correct? I must have been wrongly labeled. But if I'm properly labeled, certain things will go in us. And that is the point I'm making. Certain things going in us. What makes it go is what I am placing emphasis on today, that we need to understand that what brought the inability of man to please God—man was pleasing God in that garden. Is that not true? Until life was taken away. All that man need again is to come alive and to remain alive. That's just what I'm trying to say. That's just what I'm drawing our attention to. That's just what I'm emphasizing. If you want to come to God, if you want to come to the place of if there's anything you want to seek in God, if there's anything that should be the burden of your heart before God, if there's anything that should come up in your life, a burden, something is the thing is just doing like this, is just doing like this, you are waking up and God, God that I may live. That when I look at scriptures, that I may hear You speak. That when I are you understand what I'm trying to say? When I move, that I may see You, I may see my life being led by You. Lord, enough of this life on understanding. I want that in all your ways, I want that You are directing my path. That is the life we are talking about. The more we can come to a point where there is nothing about our our path that is not directed by God, that should be our labor. That should be our struggle, what we are doing everything that I now point to a point where I know that there is nothing again that has to do with my my understanding, but that this one, it was the Lord who said, it was the Lord who did, it was the Lord who directed, it was the Lord. It is how, it is the more and more of this that we have, it is the more and more we increase in this that we will realize that it is not really by works of righteousness, but by His grace. It is that life, it is that life that actually produced the godly conduct that we are talking about. It's not really a struggle. It is to be alive. Once we live, as long as man lived he was godly. Was that not true? It was when he died that the glory of God left. When he was alive, there was a glory that covered him. And the Bible says let's come back there and let's start changing from this thing, from glory to glory. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. Glory is the thing. This thing you are pursuing is just a consequence of lack of glory. What you really what you really need to seek first is that your glory be restored. The restoration of your glory. Brother, the restoration of your glory. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Thank You. What is your own pursuit? What are you running after? What are you pursuing? I'm only trying to show you how we came to this point today that we have more churches. We have more—let me use the more popular one. Nigeria reputed as the most religious country in the world and at the same time the second most corrupt country. I think I learned now some another rating. They said it has become it has come to number seven, we are no more second. I don't know how true I don't know how true that rating is, but I learned last night on the radio that they rated it again that Nigeria came to number seven. But whether number seven or number two, the point is how can we be the most religious country in the world and yet, whether seven or second most corrupt? It does not go together. It does not go together. It is because what they call what they call religion is not the work of life. But let us look, let's look into your life. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. It's not money. It's not that you don't need money, but what you came short of was not money. What you came short of is not education. It's not as if you will not go to school. I've told you I'm educated. But what you came short of is not education. What you came short of is not a wife. What you came short of is not food. What you came short of when we sinned, for the Bible says as in Adam we all sinned, when we sinned, what we came short of was glory. Life was taken and glory was gone. That is what you came short of. What you should be looking for again and running after is that no, I must go from glory to glory. That glory that was lost must be restored. That glory. And the Bible teaches us how this glory can come. We are looking at them one after the other. We are going through them, brethren. We are looking at this thing, line by line, bit by bit. We are seeing that what we lost is glory. What we need today is for our glory to be restored. It is not activity. It's not even church membership. I don't mean you should not attend church. I attend church. I have a church. I'm even youth coordinator. I'm in prayer unit. I'm not saying church is wrong. But what I'm saying is not about church membership. It's not of the real thing is that Jesus said, "Come unto me." He didn't say "Come to church." He said, "Come to me." Me, me, me, come to me. Believe in me. First come to me. And that is why I don't know if it was from my I don't know how I stumbled over that scripture when we really got born again. John 14:21. It is Psalm 119:1-3. Those two scripture, they were the scripture that became a master in our life when we really got born again. Bible says "He that has my word and do them is he that loves me. He that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will come to him and show myself to him." It became a master. Jesus, so You can show Yourself. I want to see You. If You can show Yourself, I want to see the I want to see. But this must be the one who has Your word. That led to Psalm 1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk here and there and there, but His delight is in the law of God. There He meditate day and night." God's word became our meditation. I was telling some youth one of the fellowship that as a young school leaver, I can be with scripture for 18 hours. Just me, no discipleship. It was Anglican system. In fact, nobody to encourage, but we just stumbled over that scripture with our heart. How God changed, we did not know. It is now we know that it's by the Spirit. It is now that we know that it was by the Spirit. Now we can explain it. We can explain how it happened. But then we know that we were changing. Some will say, "No, I can't do that. The Bible says," they say, "What is wrong with this boy? What is wrong with this boy? What is wrong with this boy?" That's how it started. And then on and on and on, it has remained till today. But now, most of my elders have come to reconcile themselves with me because they have seen what is wrong with this boy. Why would he not talk like this? Why would always opposite? He will talk this way, he will talk this way, he will talk this way, he will talk this way. Ah. But it all started. And many things were eventually not same today. When we were talking about no, you must work in office, and said, "No, I want to teach." Ah. Peter can suffer, let us see. But it was because there was life. It was because we were hearing things. It was because something was speaking to us. It was because there was glory. What I'm saying today is that let us get back, let's get back to basics. I'm not saying you should go and leave your churches. That's not what I'm saying, please. What I'm saying is that beyond this church membership, the first thing is that our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. It is He that must not lose our side. It must not leave our side. And that is the source of so much trouble today in the body of Christ. So much lack. There is so much lack today. Lack of godly conduct. And by the time we sit down next week as we take this journey on, we will deliberately, carefully expound to us this matter of John 10:10. "The thief cometh not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." He has come. He has come, but note that in that coming, He placed His coming against the activity of the thieves. You understand me? He said, "The thief cometh not but to." It means Jesus recognize thieves. And we must recognize thieves. We must recognize thieves. It must be clear to us. We must understand it. Because as long as the activities of the thief goes on, the activities of life may not take place. If the activities of the thief persist, then life may not go on. The thief cometh not but to, but I have come. So one must be way for the other. One must be going on while the other is not going on. So I want to leave with us today as we close this meeting this evening, that we have been talking so much about faith. That's where we have the sound of the gospel. We saw what Jesus did and it stands, it stands the way it stands. Nothing to be removed. As many as when we preach, they say we are preaching excess liberty. I don't think I am preaching excess liberty. I just but that is the gospel. I'm telling you that is the gospel. If the true gospel is preached and you truly understand the gospel, you will know that we are complete in Christ. Except the true gospel is not preached. And what we are saying is that we think the truth this true gospel that we preach, we should not hold back as Paul said. He said, "I did not hold back for telling you the whole truth of this gospel." This gospel has a whole truth. And nothing can be further from the truth if faith does not produce godly conduct. Nothing can be further from it. Because the whole essence why God foreknew men was that He predestinated them to be conformed to the image of the Son. That's the whole essence. That's the whole essence. And I keep telling and I keep and I will keep saying this every time I tell people, the being is spiritual. Sin nobody is inside as sometimes somebody he say as sometimes somebody he say, "Ah, me, I can never do it, never." I tell the person, "You have not said anything. Speak the word of God. That is the sword of the Spirit." If I say, "I can never, it cannot happen to me, and me, I trust myself," I say you have missed the point. What you have said, you have not said anything. You are dealing with a spiritual matter. Sin is a spiritual matter. It's not the thing you approach at that level with your will, with your determination. I say "Me, I can never." It's not about that. Sin is spiritual. Sin is a mystery. Have you heard about the mystery of iniquity? Word of God says it's a mystery, the mystery of godliness. None of them, none of them have to do with one man's ability and that is why nobody comes and say, "Look, I am the mighty man of God." I don't care with your mighty or the mighty brother of God, or the strong brother of God. I don't know how they put it. It happens the other way actually for you to understand Christianity. Here comes the man of a mighty God. Here comes the brother of a strong God. That is the correct thing. It's not about the people. Because we have seen something in a particular that one brother is no, it's the Lord, it's a light. And what I am emphasizing today, what I am saying is that we are where we are today because we have not followed the manual. "As many as He foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son." And in all things, God is causing all things to work together for this good. Then I check, is my education making me become more like Jesus? Is my marriage making me become more like Jesus? Because in all things, it's not some of them. Where I fellowship, is it making me becoming more like Jesus? This friend that I call pastor, brother, reverend, how much is he helping me to conform? That is the way to look at life. That is the way to talk. And when I discover that I check my conduct, I check, and it's not becoming, ah, there is need to ask myself, am I sure the title of my life is correct? I must have been wrongly labeled. But if I'm properly labeled, certain things will go in us. And that is the point I'm making. Certain things going in us. What makes it go is what I am placing emphasis on today, that we need to understand that what brought the inability of man to please God—man was pleasing God in that garden. Is that not true? Until life was taken away. All that man need again is to come alive and to remain alive. That's just what I'm trying to say. That's just what I'm drawing our attention to. That's just what I'm emphasizing. If you want to come to God, if you want to come to the place of if there's anything you want to seek in God, if there's anything that should be the burden of your heart before God, if there's anything that should come up in your life, a burden, something is the thing is just doing like this, is just doing like this, you are waking up and God, God that I may live. That when I look at scriptures, that I may hear You speak. That when I are you understand what I'm trying to say? When I move, that I may see You, I may see my life being led by You. Lord, enough of this life on understanding. I want that in all your ways, I want that You are directing my path. That is the life we are talking about. The more we can come to a point where there is nothing about our our path that is not directed by God, that should be our labor. That should be our struggle, what we are doing everything that I now point to a point where I know that there is nothing again that has to do with my my understanding, but that this one, it was the Lord who said, it was the Lord who did, it was the Lord who directed, it was the Lord, it is how, it is the more and more of this that we have, it is the more and more we increase in this that we will realize that it is not really by works of righteousness, but by His grace. It is that life, it is that life that actually produced the godly conduct that we are talking about. It's not really a struggle. It is to be alive. Once we live, as long as man lived he was godly. Was that not true? It was when he died that the glory of God left. When he was alive, there was a glory that covered him. And the Bible says let's come back there and let's start changing from this thing, from glory to glory. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. Glory is the thing. This thing you are pursuing is just a consequence of lack of glory. What you really what you really need to seek first is that your glory be restored. The restoration of your glory. Brother, the restoration of your glory. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Thank You. What is your own pursuit? What are you running after? What are you pursuing? I'm only trying to show you how we came to this point today that we have more churches. We have more—let me use the more popular one. Nigeria reputed as the most religious country in the world and at the same time the second most corrupt country. I think I learned now some another rating. They said it has become it has come to number seven, we are no more second. I don't know how true I don't know how true that rating is, but I learned last night on the radio that they rated it again that Nigeria came to number seven. But whether number seven or number two, the point is how can we be the most religious country in the world and yet, whether seven or second most corrupt? It does not go together. It does not go together. It is because what they call what they call religion is not the work of life. But let us look, let's look into your life. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. It's not money. It's not that you don't need money, but what you came short of was not money. What you came short of is not education. It's not as if you will not go to school. I've told you I'm educated. But what you came short of is not education. What you came short of is not a wife. What you came short of is not food. What you came short of when we sinned, for the Bible says as in Adam we all sinned, when we sinned, what we came short of was glory. Life was taken and glory was gone. That is what you came short of. What you should be looking for again and running after is that no, I must go from glory to glory. That glory that was lost must be restored. That glory. And the Bible teaches us how this glory can come. We are looking at them one after the other. We are going through them, brethren. We are looking at this thing, line by line, bit by bit. We are seeing that what we lost is glory. What we need today is for our glory to be restored. It is not activity. It's not even church membership. I don't mean you should not attend church. I attend church. I have a church. I'm even youth coordinator. I'm in prayer unit. I'm not saying church is wrong. But what I'm saying is not about church membership. It's not of the real thing is that Jesus said, "Come unto me." He didn't say "Come to church." He said, "Come to me." Me, me, me, come to me. Believe in me. First come to me. And that is why I don't know if it was from my I don't know how I stumbled over that scripture when we really got born again. John 14:21. It is Psalm 119:1-3. Those two scripture, they were the scripture that became a master in our life when we really got born again. Bible says "He that has my word and do them is he that loves me. He that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will come to him and show myself to him." It became a master. Jesus, so You can show Yourself. I want to see You. If You can show Yourself, I want to see the I want to see. But this must be the one who has Your word. That led to Psalm 1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk here and there and there, but His delight is in the law of God. There He meditate day and night." God's word became our meditation. I was telling some youth one of the fellowship that as a young school leaver, I can be with scripture for 18 hours. Just me, no discipleship. It was Anglican system. In fact, nobody to encourage, but we just stumbled over that scripture with our heart. How God changed, we did not know. It is now we know that it's by the Spirit. It is now that we know that it was by the Spirit. Now we can explain it. We can explain how it happened. But then we know that we were changing. Some will say, "No, I can't do that. The Bible says," they say, "What is wrong with this boy? What is wrong with this boy? What is wrong with this boy?" That's how it started. And then on and on and on, it has remained till today. But now, most of my elders have come to reconcile themselves with me because they have seen what is wrong with this boy. Why would he not talk like this? Why would always opposite? He will talk this way, he will talk this way, he will talk this way, he will talk this way. Ah. But it all started. And many things were eventually not same today. When we were talking about no, you must work in office, and said, "No, I want to teach." Ah. Peter can suffer, let us see. But it was because there was life. It was because we were hearing things. It was because something was speaking to us. It was because there was glory. What I'm saying today is that let us get back, let's get back to basics. I'm not saying you should go and leave your churches. That's not what I'm saying, please. What I'm saying is that beyond this church membership, the first thing is that our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. It is He that must not lose our side. It must not leave our side. And that is the source of so much trouble today in the body of Christ. So much lack. There is so much lack today. Lack of godly conduct. And by the time we sit down next week as we take this journey on, we will deliberately, carefully expound to us this matter of John 10:10. "The thief cometh not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." He has come. He has come, but note that in that coming, He placed His coming against the activity of the thieves. You understand me? He said, "The thief cometh not but to steal." It means Jesus recognize thieves. And we must recognize thieves. We must recognize thieves. It must be clear to us. We must understand it. Because as long as the activities of the thief goes on, the activities of life may not take place. If the activities of the thief persist, then life may not go on. The thief cometh not but to, but I have come. So one must be way for the other. One must be going on while the other is not going on. So I want to leave with us today as we close this meeting this evening, that we have been talking so much about faith. That's where we have the sound of the gospel. We saw what Jesus did and it stands, it stands the way it stands. Nothing to be removed. As many as when we preach, they say we are preaching excess liberty. I don't think I am preaching excess liberty. I just but that is the gospel. I'm telling you that is the gospel. If the true gospel is preached and you truly understand the gospel, you will know that we are complete in Christ. Except the true gospel is not preached. And what we are saying is that we think the truth this true gospel that we preach, we should not hold back as Paul said. He said, "I did not hold back for telling you the whole truth of this gospel." This gospel has a whole truth. And nothing can be further from the truth if faith does not produce godly conduct. Nothing can be further from it. Because the whole essence why God foreknew men was that He predestinated them to be conformed to the image of the Son. That's the whole essence. That's the whole essence. And I keep telling and I keep and I will keep saying this every time I tell people, the being is spiritual. Sin nobody is inside as sometimes somebody he say as sometimes somebody he say, "Ah, me, I can never do it, never." I tell the person, "You have not said anything. Speak the word of God. That is the sword of the Spirit." If I say, "I can never, it cannot happen to me, and me, I trust myself," I say you have missed the point. What you have said, you have not said anything. You are dealing with a spiritual matter. Sin is a spiritual matter. It's not the thing you approach at that level with your will, with your determination. I say "Me, I can never." It's not about that. Sin is spiritual. Sin is a mystery. Have you heard about the mystery of iniquity? Word of God says it's a mystery, the mystery of godliness. None of them, none of them have to do with one man's ability and that is why nobody comes and say, "Look, I am the mighty man of God." I don't care with your mighty or the mighty brother of God, or the strong brother of God. I don't know how they put it. It happens the other way actually for you to understand Christianity. Here comes the man of a mighty God. Here comes the brother of a strong God. That is the correct thing. It's not about the people. Because we have seen something in a particular that one brother is no, it's the Lord, it's a light. And what I am emphasizing today, what I am saying is that we are where we are today because we have not followed the manual. "As many as He foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son." And in all things, God is causing all things to work together for this good. Then I check, is my education making me become more like Jesus? Is my marriage making me become more like Jesus? Because in all things, it's not some of them. Where I fellowship, is it making me becoming more like Jesus? This friend that I call pastor, brother, reverend, how much is he helping me to conform? That is the way to look at life. That is the way to talk. And when I discover that I check my conduct, I check, and it's not becoming, ah, there is need to ask myself, am I sure the title of my life is correct? I must have been wrongly labeled. But if I'm properly labeled, certain things will go in us. And that is the point I'm making. Certain things going in us. What makes it go is what I am placing emphasis on today, that we need to understand that what brought the inability of man to please God—man was pleasing God in that garden. Is that not true? Until life was taken away. All that man need again is to come alive and to remain alive. That's just what I'm trying to say. That's just what I'm drawing our attention to. That's just what I'm emphasizing. If you want to come to God, if you want to come to the place of if there's anything you want to seek in God, if there's anything that should be the burden of your heart before God, if there's anything that should come up in your life, a burden, something is the thing is just doing like this, is just doing like this, you are waking up and God, God that I may live. That when I look at scriptures, that I may hear You speak. That when I are you understand what I'm trying to say? When I move, that I may see You, I may see my life being led by You. Lord, enough of this life on understanding. I want that in all your ways, I want that You are directing my path. That is the life we are talking about. The more we can come to a point where there is nothing about our our path that is not directed by God, that should be our labor. That should be our struggle, what we are doing everything that I now point to a point where I know that there is nothing again that has to do with my my understanding, but that this one, it was the Lord who said, it was the Lord who did, it was the Lord who directed, it was the Lord. It is how, it is the more and more of this that we have, it is the more and more we increase in this that we will realize that it is not really by works of righteousness, but by His grace. It is that life, it is that life that actually produced the godly conduct that we are talking about. It's not really a struggle. It is to be alive. Once we live, as long as man lived he was godly. Was that not true? It was when he died that the glory of God left. When he was alive, there was a glory that covered him. And the Bible says let's come back there and let's start changing from this thing, from glory to glory. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. Glory is the thing. This thing you are pursuing is just a consequence of lack of glory. What you really what you really need to seek first is that your glory be restored. The restoration of your glory. Brother, the restoration of your glory. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Thank You. What is your own pursuit? What are you running after? What are you pursuing? I'm only trying to show you how we came to this point today that we have more churches. We have more—let me use the more popular one. Nigeria reputed as the most religious country in the world and at the same time the second most corrupt country. I think I learned now some another rating. They said it has become it has come to number seven, we are no more second. I don't know how true I don't know how true that rating is, but I learned last night on the radio that they rated it again that Nigeria came to number seven. But whether number seven or number two, the point is how can we be the most religious country in the world and yet, whether seven or second most corrupt? It does not go together. It does not go together. It is because what they call what they call religion is not the work of life. But let us look, let's look into your life. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. It's not money. It's not that you don't need money, but what you came short of was not money. What you came short of is not education. It's not as if you will not go to school. I've told you I'm educated. But what you came short of is not education. What you came short of is not a wife. What you came short of is not food. What you came short of when we sinned, for the Bible says as in Adam we all sinned, when we sinned, what we came short of was glory. Life was taken and glory was gone. That is what you came short of. What you should be looking for again and running after is that no, I must go from glory to glory. That glory that was lost must be restored. That glory. And the Bible teaches us how this glory can come. We are looking at them one after the other. We are going through them, brethren. We are looking at this thing, line by line, bit by bit. We are seeing that what we lost is glory. What we need today is for our glory to be restored. It is not activity. It's not even church membership. I don't mean you should not attend church. I attend church. I have a church. I'm even youth coordinator. I'm in prayer unit. I'm not saying church is wrong. But what I'm saying is not about church membership. It's not of the real thing is that Jesus said, "Come unto me." He didn't say "Come to church." He said, "Come to me." Me, me, me, come to me. Believe in me. First come to me. And that is why I don't know if it was from my I don't know how I stumbled over that scripture when we really got born again. John 14:21. It is Psalm 119:1-3. Those two scripture, they were the scripture that became a master in our life when we really got born again. Bible says "He that has my word and do them is he that loves me. He that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will come to him and show myself to him." It became a master. Jesus, so You can show Yourself. I want to see You. If You can show Yourself, I want to see the I want to see. But this must be the one who has Your word. That led to Psalm 1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk here and there and there, but His delight is in the law of God. There He meditate day and night." God's word became our meditation. I was telling some youth one of the fellowship that as a young school leaver, I can be with scripture for 18 hours. Just me, no discipleship. It was Anglican system. In fact, nobody to encourage, but we just stumbled over that scripture with our heart. How God changed, we did not know. It is now we know that it's by the Spirit. It is now that we know that it was by the Spirit. Now we can explain it. We can explain how it happened. But then we know that we were changing. Some will say, "No, I can't do that. The Bible says," they say, "What is wrong with this boy? What is wrong with this boy? What is wrong with this boy?" That's how it started. And then on and on and on, it has remained till today. But now, most of my elders have come to reconcile themselves with me because they have seen what is wrong with this boy. Why would he not talk like this? Why would always opposite? He will talk this way, he will talk this way, he will talk this way, he will talk this way. Ah. But it all started. And many things were eventually not same today. When we were talking about no, you must work in office, and said, "No, I want to teach." Ah. Peter can suffer, let us see. But it was because there was life. It was because we were hearing things. It was because something was speaking to us. It was because there was glory. What I'm saying today is that let us get back, let's get back to basics. I'm not saying you should go and leave your churches. That's not what I'm saying, please. What I'm saying is that beyond this church membership, the first thing is that our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. It is He that must not lose our side. It must not leave our side. And that is the source of so much trouble today in the body of Christ. So much lack. There is so much lack today. Lack of godly conduct. And by the time we sit down next week as we take this journey on, we will deliberately, carefully expound to us this matter of John 10:10. "The thief cometh not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." He has come. He has come, but note that in that coming, He placed His coming against the activity of the thieves. You understand me? He said, "The thief cometh not but to steal." It means Jesus recognize thieves. And we must recognize thieves. We must recognize thieves. It must be clear to us. We must understand it. Because as long as the activities of the thief goes on, the activities of life may not take place. If the activities of the thief persist, then life may not go on. The thief cometh not but to, but I have come. So one must be way for the other. One must be going on while the other is not going on. So I want to leave with us today as we close this meeting this evening, that we have been talking so much about faith. That's where we have the sound of the gospel. We saw what Jesus did and it stands, it stands the way it stands. Nothing to be removed. As many as when we preach, they say we are preaching excess liberty. I don't think I am preaching excess liberty. I just but that is the gospel. I'm telling you that is the gospel. If the true gospel is preached and you truly understand the gospel, you will know that we are complete in Christ. Except the true gospel is not preached. And what we are saying is that we think the truth this true gospel that we preach, we should not hold back as Paul said. He said, "I did not hold back for telling you the whole truth of this gospel." This gospel has a whole truth. And nothing can be further from the truth if faith does not produce godly conduct. Nothing can be further from it. Because the whole essence why God foreknew men was that He predestinated them to be conformed to the image of the Son. That's the whole essence. That's the whole essence. And I keep telling and I keep and I will keep saying this every time I tell people, the being is spiritual. Sin nobody is inside as sometimes somebody he say as sometimes somebody he say, "Ah, me, I can never do it, never." I tell the person, "You have not said anything. Speak the word of God. That is the sword of the Spirit." If I say, "I can never, it cannot happen to me, and me, I trust myself," I say you have missed the point. What you have said, you have not said anything. You are dealing with a spiritual matter. Sin is a spiritual matter. It's not the thing you approach at that level with your will, with your determination. I say "Me, I can never." It's not about that. Sin is spiritual. Sin is a mystery. Have you heard about the mystery of iniquity? Word of God says it's a mystery, the mystery of godliness. None of them, none of them have to do with one man's ability and that is why nobody comes and say, "Look, I am the mighty man of God." I don't care with your mighty or the mighty brother of God, or the strong brother of God. I don't know how they put it. It happens the other way actually for you to understand Christianity. Here comes the man of a mighty God. Here comes the brother of a strong God. That is the correct thing. It's not about the people. Because we have seen something in a particular that one brother is no, it's the Lord, it's a light. And what I am emphasizing today, what I am saying is that we are where we are today because we have not followed the manual. "As many as He foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son." And in all things, God is causing all things to work together for this good. Then I check, is my education making me become more like Jesus? Is my marriage making me become more like Jesus? Because in all things, it's not some of them. Where I fellowship, is it making me becoming more like Jesus? This friend that I call pastor, brother, reverend, how much is he helping me to conform? That is the way to look at life. That is the way to talk. And when I discover that I check my conduct, I check, and it's not becoming, ah, there is need to ask myself, am I sure the title of my life is correct? I must have been wrongly labeled. But if I'm properly labeled, certain things will go in us. And that is the point I'm making. Certain things going in us. What makes it go is what I am placing emphasis on today, that we need to understand that what brought the inability of man to please God—man was pleasing God in that garden. Is that not true? Until life was taken away. All that man need again is to come alive and to remain alive. That's just what I'm trying to say. That's just what I'm drawing our attention to. That's just what I'm emphasizing. If you want to come to God, if you want to come to the place of if there's anything you want to seek in God, if there's anything that should be the burden of your heart before God, if there's anything that should come up in your life, a burden, something is the thing is just doing like this, is just doing like this, you are waking up and God, God that I may live. That when I look at scriptures, that I may hear You speak. That when I are you understand what I'm trying to say? When I move, that I may see You, I may see my life being led by You. Lord, enough of this life on understanding. I want that in all your ways, I want that You are directing my path. That is the life we are talking about. The more we can come to a point where there is nothing about our our path that is not directed by God, that should be our labor. That should be our struggle, what we are doing everything that I now point to a point where I know that there is nothing again that has to do with my my understanding, but that this one, it was the Lord who said, it was the Lord who did, it was the Lord who directed, it was the Lord, it is how, it is the more and more of this that we have, it is the more and more we increase in this that we will realize that it is not really by works of righteousness, but by His grace. It is that life, it is that life that actually produced the godly conduct that we are talking about. It's not really a struggle. It is to be alive. Once we live, as long as man lived he was godly. Was that not true? It was when he died that the glory of God left. When he was alive, there was a glory that covered him. And the Bible says let's come back there and let's start changing from this thing, from glory to glory. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. Glory is the thing. This thing you are pursuing is just a consequence of lack of glory. What you really what you really need to seek first is that your glory be restored. The restoration of your glory. Brother, the restoration of your glory. Can we talk to the Lord? What is your own pursuit? What are you running after? What are you pursuing? I'm only trying to show you how we came to this point today that we have more churches, we have more—let me use the more popular one—Nigeria reputed as the most religious country in the world, and yet, whether seven or second most corrupt, it does not go together. It does not go together. It is because what they call what they call religion is not the work of life. But let us look, let's look into your life. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. It is not money. It's not that you don't need money, but what you came short of was not money. What you came short of is not education. It's not as if you will not go to school. I've told you I'm educated. But what you came short of is not education. What you came short of is not a wife. What you came short of is not food. What you came short of when we sinned, for the Bible says as in Adam we all sinned, when we sinned, what we came short of was glory. Life was taken and glory was gone. That is what you came short of. What you should be looking for again and running after is that no, I must go from glory to glory. That glory that was lost must be restored. That glory. And the Bible teaches us how this glory can come. We are looking at them one after the other. We are going through them. We are looking at this thing. What I am emphasizing today, what I am saying is that we are where we are today because we have not followed the manual. As many as He foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son. And in all things, God is causing all things to work together for this good. Then I check, is my education making me become more like Jesus? Is my marriage making me become more like Jesus? Because in all things, it's not some of them. Where I fellowship, is it making me becoming more like Jesus? This friend that I call pastor, brother, reverend, how much is he helping me to conform? That is the way to look at life. That is the way to talk. And when I discover that I check my conduct, I check, and it's not becoming, ah, there is need to ask myself, am I sure the title of my life is correct? I must have been wrongly labeled. But if I'm properly labeled, certain things will go in us. And that is the point I'm making. Certain things going in us. What makes it go is what I am placing emphasis on today, that we need to understand that what brought the inability of man to please God—man was pleasing God in that garden until life was taken away. All that man need again is to come alive and to remain alive. That's just what I'm trying to say. That's just what I'm drawing our attention to. That's just what I'm emphasizing. If you want to come to God, if you want to come to the place of if there's anything you want to seek in God, if there's anything that should be the burden of your heart before God, if there's anything that should come up in your life, a burden, something is the thing is just doing like this, is just doing like this, you are waking up and God, God that I may live. That when I look at scriptures, that I may hear You speak. That when I are you understand what I'm trying to say? When I move, that I may see You, I may see my life being led by You. Lord, enough of this living on understanding. I want that in all your ways, I want that you are directing my path. That is the life we are talking about. The more we can come to a point where there is nothing about our our path that is not directed by God, that should be our labor. That should be our struggle, what we are doing everything that I now point to a point where I know that there is nothing again that has to do with my my understanding. But that this one, it was the Lord who said, it was the Lord who did, it was the Lord who direct. It is how, it is the more and more of this that we have, it is the more and more we increase in this that we will realize that it is not really by works of righteousness, but by His grace. It is that life, it is that life that actually produce the godly conduct that we are talking about. It's not really a struggle. It is to be alive. Once we live, as long as man live he was godly. Was that not true? It was when he died that the glory of God left. When he was alive there was a glory that covered him. And the Bible says let's come back there and let's that change from this thing from glory to glory. Man sinned and came short of glory. Beloved, what you came short of is glory. Glory is the thing. This thing you are pursuing is just a consequence of lack of glory. What you really what you really need to seek first is that your glory be restored. The restoration of your glory. Brother, the restoration of your glory. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Thank You.