Biblical Concept of Faith (10) (isaac 1)

[Chorus] [Singing] Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on. [Speaker 1] Church as a fellowship cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God will always have a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord! Hallelujah! [Chorus] [Singing] I will praise thee from everlasting, Everlasting to everlasting. I will praise thee from everlasting, Everlasting to everlasting. I will praise thee from everlasting, Everlasting to everlasting. I will praise thee from everlasting, Everlasting to everlasting. I will praise thee from everlasting, Everlasting to everlasting. I will praise thee from everlasting, Everlasting to everlasting. I will praise thee from everlasting, Everlasting to everlasting. M’ayo l’Oluwa titi laelae, Titi laelae, titi laelae. M’ayo l’Oluwa titi laelae, Titi laelae, titi laelae. M’ayo l’Oluwa titi laelae, Titi laelae, titi laelae. M’ayo l’Oluwa titi laelae, Titi laelae, titi laelae. [Speaker 1] Let’s thank the Lord. Let’s thank the Lord again for today. Let’s appreciate Him for His mercies. Let’s thank Him for His love. Let’s thank Him for His goodness. Let’s thank Him for His grace. Let’s thank Him for the privilege to be here again. Let’s appreciate Him. Let’s appreciate Him. Let’s appreciate Him. Let’s give Him glory. Let’s give Him honor. Let’s give Him adoration. Our Father, we thank You again for today. Our God, we give You praise. Our God, we give You honor. Our God, we give You adoration. We thank You for Your love. We thank You for Your mercy. We thank You for all who You are and for all that You are. We honor You. We glorify You. We give You glory. We give You honor. We give You praise. We say thank You, our Father. We say thank You, our Jesus. We say thank You, Almighty God. Thank You, thank You, thank You. Our Father, unto You we gather again this evening. Lord our God, to look further into this matter of biblical concept of faith. Our God, we pray that as we look into Your word, as we look at this—as we reflect on scriptures—Lord, we pray there shall be entrance of Your word. There shall be entrance of Your word. The Bible says the entrance of Your word gives light and understanding to the simple. Lord, there will be entrance of Your word. It will give us light. It will give us understanding, in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our eyes are on You this evening. Nothing will prevail against Your purposes for our lives. Thank You, eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Hallelujah! We thank God again for this time in His presence. We thank God this evening is the tenth edition of Biblical Concept of Faith. We have come a very long way with this topic. Honestly, at the starting point, I never knew we were going to go this far and this long. And as we reflect again today, I'm just looking at it that how are we going to go today? Will we be coming to a point where we’ll be terminating the matter, or will we be getting to a point where there is still matters to raise at the end of the day? Last week, we were able to look at some critical issues about the subject matter of faith. And we saw some very important things, that actually biblical faith requires using our minds. Biblical concept of faith, at different points in time, you’ll find out that those who had a walk with God, they took some decisions that looked like—people said, "Are they normal? Do they know what they are doing? Do they know where they are? Do they know where they are heading to? Do they know how it’s going to end?" And we saw that at those critical points in time, had they not taken those steps, it would have had—they would have had negative consequences for their life. We saw the examples in the Bible. We saw those that did not take those steps, or they took the step and they began to doubt. God was asking them to lose their mind, but they were insisting on using their mind, and eventually it had negative consequences on their life. We saw the example of Zechariah. We saw the example of Peter. The Lord was raising a matter with them, and they were saying that, "Baba, this thing does not agree with our mind." And because they were insisting on their mind, it had negative consequences. But thank God for His mercy. Zechariah eventually was able to speak. He was made dumb, but eventually he was able to speak. Peter would have sunk into the sea, but thank God again for Jesus, who stretched out His hand and asked him, "Why did you doubt me?" When I’ve told you "Come," you don’t need to be looking at the—look at the storm, look at the—the Bible says Peter began to look at the strength of the wind, how the wind was coming. And as he was looking at the strength of the wind, what happened to Peter? Peter began to sink. As if he had been walking on the water. He had been walking successfully on that water. There was no problem because he was moving at the instance of the Lord. The Lord said "Come," and he was coming. But unfortunately, he began to sink. And what we want to do today is, we have said some very categorical things about faith, and I just want us to look at the life of Isaac. The life of Isaac in the book of Genesis chapter 26. Biblical Concept of Faith: the life of Isaac. Genesis 26, let’s turn to that place. Genesis 26. Let's look at the life of Isaac. Let’s see what happened with Isaac. Just to draw lessons for our life as we evaluate this matter of biblical concept of faith. Genesis chapter 26. We’ll take our reading from verse 1. [Speaker 2] There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “Lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.” Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’” And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him. Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” Then he went up from there to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him that same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’” So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. Then they rose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. It came to pass that same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. [Speaker 1] Praise the Lord! Praise ye the Lord! That looks like a very long reading. For those of us just coming in, we read the book of Genesis chapter 26. We read verse 1 to verse 33. That was where we read. We want to look at the matter of faith and we want to reflect on the life of Isaac. We want to look—we want to look at what can we learn about faith, what can we learn about men who had a walk with God in this matter of faith. Now, the first thing I want us to—that opened up to us in Genesis chapter 26 is something we have been saying before. It's something we have always said. It says there was famine in the land, besides the first famine that happened in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech to Gerar, where the king of the Philistines in Gerar—then the Lord appears to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants I give this land, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father." What is it that we have seen in this place? We’ve just been making reference to the lessons one after the other. The first thing that is coming to us in this place is something that we have been saying over and over and over again. Something that repeated itself in this chapter, not once, not twice, not—about three times in this place. What we saw at the opening of the chapter was that there was famine. There was a challenge. There was a problem. There was something to resolve. There was something to solve. There was a challenge, and the challenge was something that requires that Isaac was thinking of doing what? Of changing location. Where was he thinking of moving to? He was thinking of moving to Egypt in order to solve the problem. The Bible says this was another famine that happened besides the one that happened in the days of Abraham. What interests me in this scripture is to make you see that it happened in the days of Abraham, it's happening again in his days, in the days of Isaac. The bottom line I’m drawing for us is something we have been saying since we started this discussion. That it’s important for us to know, no matter how intimately we walk with God, it does not immune us from life challenges. It doesn't immune us from life challenges. Biblical faith is not a faith that says there would be no problem. No, that is not biblical faith. Biblical faith is a faith that says in spite of the problem—in spite of the problem, I will yet triumph. What does the Bible say? The Bible says, in all things, we are more than conquerors through Him who does what? Who loves us and gave His life for us. Then telling that there will always be battles, challenges, situations, things to solve, things to overcome. So, it is important—we have been saying this. We are reading it through the life of Isaac. The Bible says even his father Abraham, the friend of God, also experienced this thing. We have said something at some point in the course of this lesson. Please always understand challenges are not peculiar. They are not peculiar. They are not peculiar. It happened to Abraham. What’s going on here again? It’s happening to Isaac. So, challenges are not peculiar. When you begin to make what is happening to you as if it is something that don’t happen to the saints, that is when you begin to have a peculiar problem. Do I repeat that again? Your problems, they are not peculiar. Your challenges are not peculiar. It is your attitude to it that makes them peculiar. If you have a positive attitude towards life challenges, what happens is that you will discover that they are not peculiar. They are not. That is what we have seen first in that place. The Bible also makes us to see that—we have mentioned this before—that biblical concept of faith tells us that there must be—those who have this faith must share intimacy with God. Everybody who does not share intimacy with God can never practice the biblical faith. It’s not practicable. You must have an intimacy with God that requires a constant dependence and discussion. We have said this before. Now, you look—you see this situation. There was a situation. What was Isaac thinking of doing? He wanted to go to Egypt. What gave solution to the problem? Was it Egypt? Was it Egypt? What gave solution to the problem? Direction. Direction. He got direction. How did he get direction? Because God gave instruction. I’m trying to make you understand something. Listen to this thing I want to connect for you. Intimacy with God brings instruction from God and then directions for you. I take that again. Intimacy with God gives room for instruction from God and then direction for you. Intimacy with God gives room for instruction from God and then direction for you. What I’m trying to make you see is that biblical concept of faith is a life of direction. People who practice biblical faith, they don’t just do things haphazardly, just anyhow. No, they have direction for their life. I want to ask you, do you have direction for your life? If you don’t have direction, something is missing in your in your practice of faith. Biblical concept of faith, because—remember the thing that we have said earlier. It’s about intimacy with God and continuous dependence on God. Remember? We said this before. Now, what we are trying to see about this thing is that it gives direction. We have seen the life of Isaac. He wanted to go to Egypt. But if he had gone to Egypt, would things have worked well for him? Would it have worked well for him? What I’m trying to make you see, do you know that many economic problems, many financial problems, many career problems that did not get solved in your life may be because you didn’t get proper direction? Many economic problems, I take that again—this was an economic problem for this man. Survival problem. He needed to survive. Because if there is famine and there is no water, what will happen to the whole of his livestock? They will all die. So, it was a survival issue. Today there is survival issue in the land. Before this present administration took over power, pump price was 180 naira. By the time it took over, the thing jumped to 500 naira. We have not proceeded into—we have not worked up to a year, it has jumped to 900 naira. The consequence of that on the economic life of people can never be funny. Am I correct? Am I correct? It can never be funny. It was a serious pull on the life of people. People began to seek direction. And do you know that the economic situation of the nation is partly why there is Japa syndrome? I learn Japa is now in dictionary, Nigerian words that entered the in dictionary. Japa, they say—they define it based on what we do with it. Migration of—immigration from Nigeria by Nigerians to whatever—dictionary now defines it. But what am I trying to bring out? Why the Japa syndrome? It’s about what? Survival. People are thinking of how to survive. But what I’m trying to bring out about biblical concept of faith this evening is that do you know that when we—when we practice biblical concept of faith, when we walk with the Lord in the light of His love, when we walk with the Lord in the light of His word, when we walk with the Lord in the light of His will—one thing I want to make you see is that it gives economic solution. Solution to survival. Solution to how do you survive. Solution to what should your career path look like. Which career should you be in? What type of job should you take? And not only that, do you know that it also solves location problem? What was the mind of Isaac? What was the mind of Isaac? The mind of Isaac was to go to Egypt. Where did God intend that Isaac should stay? Where he intended that Isaac should stay in Gerar. The mind of Isaac was to go to Egypt. What I’m trying to make you see: be careful. Be careful. What are you to be careful about? Be careful because location determines allocation. I take that again. Location determines allocation. If you are not where you ought to be, what God have allocated for your life, you are likely to miss them. For everything that God have allocated to your life, God have also allocated what? The place, the location where you will get that allocation. So, it is very germane that as Christians, we have a clear understanding that biblical concept of faith, when we walk with the Lord in the light of His love, you will begin to realize that that walk with God and will have implication for where you settle down. It will have implication for your location in life. What I’m trying to make you see is that biblical concept of faith is actually a faith that if a man—if a man put into practice, if it is something that a man is living by, the person will realize that that faith life is something that determines his allocation, his location in life. Do you notice something in this place that God told Isaac? That "I want you to stay where? To stay where?" In Gerar. Why should he stay in Gerar? Why? Why should he stay in Gerar? He said, "Live in this land that I tell you. Dwell in this land and I will be with you." When your location is a product of your intimacy with God, one thing you can be sure of is that God is with you. He said, "Look, stay in this place." What does that tell you? If Isaac had moved to Egypt, what does that tell you about Isaac? That Isaac will be in a place where God—the presence of God—will not be with him. God’s presence will not be with him. He said, "Dwell in this land and I will be with you." Not only that, he says, "And I will bless you. I will be with you and I will bless you." Now, what I’m trying to make you see is what? I’ve talked about allocation. Your blessing, God being with you, God enlarging you, God expanding you. Look at what God said. "I will be with you," number one. "I will bless you," number two. "I will multiply your descendants," number three. "I will give this land to you." Your descendants will be like the sand of the sea. Do you see that all of these things, what are they titled? What all of these allocation, what are they titled? Obedience to be where? Stay at the location. That is what I’m calling your allocation. Your allocation talks about the presence of God, the blessings of God, the increase from God, and your enlargement, your enlargement. That is your—that is your allocation. Please, if the presence of God is not with you, the blessings of God is not upon you, your allocation from God is not with you because where God want you to be is not where you are. What has happened to your life? What has happened to your life is that your life will run or your life will go down. What has happened to your life is that your life has missed what? All its allocation. What I’m trying to make you see is that our allocation in life is a function of our location in life. That location I’m talking about is the location that is a product of intimacy with God, instruction from God, direction from God. Everybody who practicing biblical faith, this is how their life goes. Their life goes with what? Intimacy. What follows? Instruction. What follows? Direction. What follows? Location. And then what follows? Allocation. My prayer is that your allocation in life will not elude you. May you be where you ought to be. May you be where you ought to be in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, what we are seeing in this place very clearly is trying to relate biblical concept of faith in the life of this early father so that we can bring this matter to—by the time we are looking at the New Testament, we can relate these things together. Now, what do you notice? Please don’t forget. What are those things that make up our location? What are those things that make up our allocation? It says, "I will be with you," number one. Number two, what is it? "I will bless you." Number three, what is it? God will multiply that person. And what do you see again in terms of allocation, in terms of allocation? What do we find? Establishment. Now, all of this, let’s now see what happened. "Isaac therefore," in the verse 6, it says, "Isaac therefore dwelt in Gerar." Isaac dwelt in Gerar. What am I saying? May we not miss our Gerar. Isaac dwelt in Gerar. You know what it means to dwell in Gerar. What does it look like that Isaac dwelt in Gerar? He obeyed instruction. What does it mean if you say somebody dwell in a place? It means that is where he is now living to do whatever he wants to do. Is that not? Is that not? Is that not? Now, when Isaac dwelt in Gerar, Isaac now began to do things. What was the first thing that Isaac want to do in this Gerar? What did he do in Gerar? Let me show you something about being in Gerar. Something very similar to what happened with Abraham. The men of the place—who told Isaac to stay here? God. And the men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, "She is my sister," for Isaac was afraid to say she is his wife. He thought the people will kill him because the wife was beautiful to behold. So when Isaac dwelt in Gerar, what did you notice became a problem? Isaac began to have concern about what will happen to his marriage. Isn’t it? Isn’t it? He was having concern. And that concern made Isaac to do something. What did he do? He made Isaac to tell a lie. I want to show you something about being in Gerar. May you not miss your Gerar. Is it correct to lie? Is that the way forward in life? It’s a way backward. Because he lied, Isaac was not truthful. Why should he not have lied? Why should he not have lied? Because in Gerar, God was with him. What I’m trying to make you see is that it is very, very important for men who have a walk with God to always mind their mind. What did I say? If you have a walk with God and you don’t mind your mind, before you know, you’ll be walking according to the course of this world. The Bible says: be transformed by the renewal of your mind. So that you will prove what is good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Isaac had a walk with God, and I can show you several examples in the Bible. Do you remember Peter? Peter was the mighty apostle. You know how Peter started. The shadow of Peter was healing the sick. Yet when Peter got to Galatia to go and visit Paul, he was first eating with the Gentiles. When the Jews came, what did Peter do? He withdrew as if—Paul had to rebuke Peter, "Ah, ah, why are you being hypocritical? Why are you fearing men instead of God?" You see the problem again with Isaac? The fear of men as against the fear of God. What I’m trying to make you see about faith—faith so that we can keep our walk with God—so that we can keep our walk with God, we must be careful as believers to do what? To always mind our mind. Peter said something much more later. He said, "Gird the loins of your mind." That was Apostle Peter, much more later in life. He told us to gird the loins of our mind. How did Apostle James put it for us? He said, "Be vigilant. Be sober. For your adversary the devil like a roaring lion..." He is not a lion, but like a roaring lion. He is not a lion. Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. So, he’s acting like a lion but he’s not a lion. He goes about seeking who to devour. What is the point I’m trying to make us see? That you share intimacy with God, that you receive instruction from God—that that instruction gives you direction—does not mean that you should not be careful about what? About your mind. Peter, the Lord said, "Come." He was already walking on the water. He was already going to meet the Lord. The Bible says he began to look at—he was not minding his mind. He had intimacy with God. He could see the Lord. He could hear the Lord. Instruction came. He got direction. But that direction was making him to sink. Not because he should have sunk, but because it is not minding what? His mind. To do what? To do what? Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of his faith. He said "Come." The person who said "Come" will know what to do as this water. Jesus will know what to do. As this water, Jesus will know what to do. As this water, Jesus will know what to do. As this water, Jesus will know what to do. That is the way to mind the mind. May we not lose our focus on Jesus. May we not lose our focus on Jesus. Jesus knows what you are to do. He knows what you are to do. And that’s why we are trying to look at the life of Isaac. We are trying to study some things about faith. As that is why you notice: what did the Lord tell His disciples? What did He tell them? He said, "Pray, lest you fall into temptation." But before He said pray, what did He say? He said, "Watch and pray." Watch. Watch is there is what? Mind your mind so that you can pray correctly. The very error of Isaac was the same error of Peter: the fear of men. The fear of men. The fear of men. "They will kill me. They will kill me. They will kill me because of this. They will kill me because of this person." Who told you they can kill you in Gerar? Who told you that in Gerar you can be killed? What guarantees that you cannot be killed in Gerar? Look at that Genesis. What guarantees that you cannot be killed in Gerar? The presence of God. David said, "Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil." May you know that when you are in Gerar, there is no evil to fear. In Gerar, what is important is to be where? Be in Gerar. And what is Gerar? That place that resulted—that thing that resulted out of what? Intimacy with God. Instruction from God that gives what? Direction to you. Intimacy, instruction, direction. What is that? I-I-D. Intimacy, instruction, direction. Because that direction, once you are in that direction, you have your allocation. And I tell people, your first major allocation in life is the Lord. The Lord is your portion. "The Lord is my portion in the land of the living, my Lord is good forevermore. The Lord is my portion in the land of the living, the Lord is good forevermore. On the mountain, in the valley, on the land and in the sea. On the mountain, oh, in the valley, on the land and in the sea. Hallelujah, the Lord is my portion in the land of the living, my Lord is good forevermore. The Lord is my portion in the land of the living, my Lord is good forevermore." Your first allocation in life is the Lord. Your allocation is the Lord. Once you have the Lord, the other things begin to follow. He blesses you. He enlarges you. He expands you. He establishes you. That is the Lord. Abraham was missing the point at a point in his life, and God had to tell him. God had to tell him. What did God tell him? He said, "Abraham, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward." The portion of everybody who fears the Lord, your first portion in life is the Lord. Do you see? The Lord is with you when you are somebody who has intimacy with Him, instruction from Him, directions from Him, and then you are in Gerar. Gerar is actually the place—it’s actually the place where the Lord is with you. When the Lord is with you, you can be sure. He says, "He will lead me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake." When I slide like this, what will happen in Gerar? He will help me. He will help me. In Gerar, I don’t need to fear that the devil can take me away. I’m confident of this very thing: that He who began the good work will finish it. Once I’m in Gerar, what biblical concept of faith teaches us is that it takes us away from the fear—the fear of falling, the fear of fate, maybe the project will not be completed. The project will be completed. But look at it very well. It is being in Gerar. Intimacy with God. Instruction from God. Direction from God. Bringing you to Gerar so that you can always have your allocation. What is your allocation? What is allocation? The Lord is your first portion. He said, "I will be with you. I will be with you. I will be with you." I tell people, there is nothing greater than this allocation: the Lord is with me. In everything, you must never lose that. That is your allocation. Your portion is the Lord. Look at what the Bible says in Psalm 33. Look at Psalm 33. Let’s see something there in Psalm 33. Psalm 33. I want to show you something about the Lord our portion. The Lord our portion. Let’s stick to the Lord. Let’s stay with Him. That’s the greatest thing we have in life: the Lord. The Lord. Psalm 33. Are you there? Psalm 33. Look at what the Bible says. Just look at the reading. I will take it from the verse 2. “Praise the Lord with the harp; make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy. For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.” Why? What are the reasons? Please, what are the reasons from verse 9? “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to naught; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” Hallelujah! The people that God choose as His own. They are blessed. The families, the man, the child, the teenager, the Nigerian, the citizen that God say, "This is my own." Blessed is that people. That man is blessed. That family is blessed. That home is blessed. What am I trying to say? Look at what the Bible says in that place. When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for Isaac was afraid to say she’s his wife. He thought the people will kill him because the wife was beautiful. Look at what the Bible says. Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time—I want to ask you the question: why didn’t anybody sleep with the wife for that long time? Because he was in Gerar. Because he was in Gerar. Because he was in Gerar. God said, "Dwell in this land." We are humans. Sometimes we may make mistakes. I tell people, look at it. Joseph made a mistake, didn't he? When he was in Potiphar’s house, in a bid to escape, he left his clothes and he ran away. He forgot his clothes. If he knew, he should have done everything to run away with his clothes instead of leaving it. That became the evidence against him. Joseph would have said, "See the clothes!" Madame would have held his hand. "See the clothes! You know that—shut up!" It was when he was—he was trying to hold me. I grabbed the clothes as he ran away. That became evidence against him. But that evidence against him was the evidence to the prison of his purpose. When you are in Gerar, even your errors will work around for your good. That’s what I’m trying to make you see. The Bible says God was with Joseph. Go and read the story. God says that even Potiphar could see that God was blessing him because of Joseph. Your greatest inheritance in life is not money. I keep telling people. God is. Your greatest inheritance—that is what the biblical concept of faith teaches us. We have been seeing it in this generation. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 6. I’m just trying to make you see some big mistakes that we are making in this generation. Your greatest asset in life is God. Don’t compromise God for anything. That is what the Bible is teaching us. Seek first God and His kingdom. Don’t compromise God. Look at 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 6. I want to show you something. 1 Timothy 6. I want to read it from verse 3. It says, “If anyone teaches otherwise,”—that is contrary to what the apostles have been teaching. Are you getting it? “And does not consent to wholesome words, even to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,”—what is the word of our Lord Jesus Christ? Matthew 6:33. "Seek ye first..." He said all these things the Gentiles seek. Your Father knows that you have need of them. What should you do? "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." And what will happen to these things? They shall be added to you. He’s telling us that even the word of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness. What does the Bible say about such a man? What does it say about such a man from verse 4? That man is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wrangling of men of corrupt minds, destitute of truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. He said, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation.” Does that mean that believers cannot be rich? No, if you go down, without desiring to be rich, you can be rich. Go down that same chapter. Go to verse 17. Are you there? That same chapter, verse 17. What do you read? “Command those who are rich in this world’s goods not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” Are you seeing? He said we should charge those who are rich in this world. So let me tell you, without desiring to be rich, you can be rich. Without pursuing riches, without making riches the first thing in your life, without thinking that godliness is a means to gain, thinking that, "Ah, if I don't..." without all of that—he said charge those who are rich. Without being desperate about riches, the Bible says except the Lord build the house, the labor in vain that build. And let me tell you something, you will see it as we are going on, the matter of Isaac. You will see the matter of riches. Because most people don’t know that instead of you to be seeking to be rich, seek to be blessed. Once you are blessed, it is the blessing of God that makes rich. We will soon get there because I’m trying to make you see biblical concept of faith. Your actual portion, your greatest portion in life is the Lord. And when I say the Lord, seek to be intimate with the Lord, such that you receive instruction from Him, you become dependent on Him—we’ve discussed that two weeks ago—dependent to get direction from Him because there is a Gerar. That’s what we are looking at. Gerar is actually the best place to be. When I mean Gerar, I mean anywhere that the Lord is with you. You are a rich man. You are a wealthy man. You are a prosperous man. That is what I’m trying to make you understand. I tell people, I’m a prosperous man. I’m a rich man. I’m a billionaire. I’m a millionaire. They say, "Ah, what do you mean?" I say because the Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. May the Lord consistently be with us. That is our greatest asset. I tell people, I was speaking to a group of young people, I said let me tell you one thing: don’t pursue assets—assets—pursue access. To be able to access God. To have a relationship with God. When you say "Baba," He is hearing you, you can access God. When the person who possesses the whole universe, you can easily access that person, you will realize there’s nothing in the universe that cannot be at your doorstep. Do you get the point I’m making? Do you get the point I’m making? I’m showing you biblical roots, biblical concept of faith. As we close this evening, that’s where we are going to stop. It says Abimelech called Isaac—no, we stop at verse 8. “Now it came to pass, when he had been there for quite a long time...” I want to ask you the question: why didn’t anybody sleep with the wife for that long time? Because he was in Gerar. Because he was in Gerar. Because he was in Gerar. God said, “Dwell in this land.” We are human, sometimes we may make mistakes. I tell people, look at it. Joseph made a mistake, didn’t he? In Potiphar’s house, he should have run away with his clothes. In a bid to escape, he left his clothes and he ran away. If he knew, he should have done everything to run away with his clothes instead of leaving it. That became the evidence against him. Joseph would have said, "See the clothes!" Madame would have held his hand. "See the clothes! You know that—shut up!" It was when he was—he was trying to hold me. I grabbed the clothes as he ran away. That became evidence against him. But that evidence against him was the evidence to the prison of his purpose. When you are in Gerar, even your errors will work around for your good. That’s what I’m trying to make you see. The Bible says God was with Joseph. Go and read the story. God said that even Potiphar could see that God was blessing him because of Joseph. Your greatest inheritance in life is not money. I keep telling people. God is. Your greatest inheritance—that is what the biblical concept of faith teaches us. Your greatest inheritance: that is what the Bible teaches us. Seek first God and His kingdom. Don’t compromise God. Don’t compromise God. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 6. I’m just trying to make you see some big mistakes that we are making in this generation. Your greatest asset in life is God. Don’t compromise God for anything. That is what the Bible is teaching us. Seek first God and His kingdom. Don’t compromise God. Don’t compromise God. Look at 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 6. I want to show you something. 1 Timothy 6. I want to read some—you will see it as we are going on, the matter of Isaac. You will see the matter of riches. What I’m trying to make you see in this place is that your actual portion, your greatest portion in life is the Lord. And when I say the Lord, seek to be intimate with the Lord, such that you receive instruction from Him, you become dependent on Him—we’ve discussed that two weeks ago—dependent to get direction from Him because there is a Gerar. That’s what we are looking at. Gerar is actually the best place to be. When I mean Gerar, I mean anywhere that the Lord is with you. You are a rich man. You are a wealthy man. You are a prosperous man. That is what I’m trying to make you understand. I tell people, I’m a prosperous man. I’m a rich man. I’m a billionaire. I’m a millionaire. They say, "Ah, what do you mean?" I say because the Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. May the Lord consistently be with us. That is our greatest asset. I tell people, I was speaking to a group of young people, I said let me tell you one thing: don’t pursue assets—A-S-S-E-T-S—pursue access. To be able to access God. To have a relationship with God. When you say "Baba," He is hearing you, you can access God. When the person who possesses the whole universe, you can easily access that person, you will realize there’s nothing in the universe that cannot be at your doorstep. Do you get the point I’m making? Do you get the point I’m making? I’m showing you biblical roots, biblical concept of faith. As we close this evening, that’s where we are going to stop. He says Abimelech called Isaac—no, we stop at verse 8. “Now it came to pass, when he had been there for quite a long time...” And for that long time, God delivered him in that land. That’s where we are leaving the matter today. We’ll pick it up. Believers are not irresponsible people. Believers are not people that live carelessly and uselessly. They mind their mind. Faith is not careless living, living anyhow. It’s watching and praying. But please, believers are people who also understand that their mistake cannot swallow them up. Do you get the point I’m making? I don’t believe that my mistake can swallow me up because the Lord is with me. I am human. I can make mistakes. I’m human. God did not call me because I’m perfect, but He’s perfecting me because I am called. I do everything. I mind my mind. I’m watchful. I’m sober. I’m vigilant. I’m prayerful. But in spite of all of that, you know what the Bible says? Except the Lord watch over the city, the watchman lieth awake in vain. Don’t ever put your trust in yourself. I believe so much in the Lord, that He who began this good work in me will finish it. Let us close for today. Let us close for today. Wherever you are, please begin to talk to the Lord. Wherever you are, just talk to Him. Ask for intimacy with God. Ask for instruction from the Lord. Instruction from the Lord, direction for you. Instruction from the Lord. I will not live purposelessly. I will not live my life as one beating the air aimlessly, not having purpose, not having direction. No, I will not live that way. Believers are responsible people. Believers are people who are watchful, who mind their mind. They are not careless. They are careful. But yet they are still human. So they don’t fear their humanity. I don’t fear my humanity. I’m still human but I’m not afraid because the Lord is with me. Because the Lord is with me. Because the Lord is with me. Because the Lord is with me. He is able, more than able. He can handle what concerns you. He’s able to handle it. He’s able to finish it. He’s able, He’s more than able. He can handle everything that comes your way. He’s able, He’s more than able. He can make you all He wants you to be. He can, He can. Trust in Him. Rest on Him. Roll on Him. Rely on Him. That is what God wants you to do. He will keep him in perfect peace, the man whose heart stays on Thee because he trusts in Him. Are you at that point? Are you losing the fear of your error? No, run to God. Run to God. Have intimacy with Him. Let Him give you instruction. Let Him give you instruction. Get direction from Him. Let Him be with you. Let Him be with you. That is the secret. I’m telling you, He can make you. He can make you. Look at Paul. When Paul was moving on, I can show you the errors of Paul at some point. Paul stressed so much that Mark cannot follow them. For that reason, Paul and Barnabas parted. Paul took Silas, Barnabas took Mark, because Paul felt that, "No, this Barnabas cannot follow us. This Mark cannot follow us." But eventually Paul was reconciled back to Mark. Paul towards the end of his life now spoke to us, he said the man of God must not strive. He came to realize that the man of God should not strive. He came to realize it. God is able, God is able. Your greatest asset is God. Your greatest asset is God. Our Father, we thank You for this evening. Our God, we thank You. Let our heart rest on You. Let our heart rest on You. You can make us all You want us to be. Not by power, not by might, but by the Spirit of the Lord. Your hand of power will perfect it. The Spirit of the Lord will work it out in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, our Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Let’s share the grace together this evening. 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. [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 p.m.; adolescent and singles club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; marriage forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counsel, you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station, along Igbare road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.