Biblical Concept of Faith (12) (isaac 3)

[Speaker 1] 25th of March, it coincidentally happens to be a Monday. We want to thank the Lord who have preserved our lives through January, February, and today is March ending, the last day. To him alone be glory. To him alone be honor. To him alone be praise. To him alone be adoration. To him alone be all our worship, all our praise, in the name of Jesus Christ. We want to thank the Lord for this opportunity again, and as we all connect together, we who are here physically, our brethren who are connecting with us on Mixlr, our brethren who are gradually coming in also on Telegram, we trust in the Lord that it will be a time of refreshing again in the name of Jesus Christ. It has always been God. I believe it is still God, and I am persuaded that it will yet be God in the name of Jesus Christ. Let us have a word of prayer as we commence this evening. Everlasting Father, we are grateful unto you. We thank you, Lord our God, for the privilege of being in your presence this evening. We thank you, Lord, for your love. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for all who you are. We thank you for all that you are. We thank you for grace. We thank you, Lord our God, for how you have kept us through till now. Baba, we said unto you be glory, honor, praise, and adoration in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, unto you again we gather this evening. Lord, we pray, let our gathering indeed be unto you and you alone in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we beg you, meet us in those areas of our lives where we need you most. We have been considering this matter of Biblical Concept of Faith. This is the 11th edition. Trying to journey through scriptures to consider what the Bible says about this matter. Lord, we are praying that as we proceed again today, Lord, please come to us collectively. Lord, please come to us individually. Lord, please speak to our hearts in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray, I pray particularly this evening, let confusion in the heart of your people give way for direction. Lord, let doubt and fears, let them give way for trust and hope in the name of Jesus. The things of the scripture, they are written that we may have hope. Lord, I pray, let hopelessness give way, and may hope, Christ our hope, become again afresh in our heart in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Eternal Father. In Jesus' most holy name we pray. Amen. So, we move on from where we left the matter last week. We saw the man Isaac in Gerar, and we saw how everything went when a man is at Gerar. When you are at Gerar, what is it that happens at Gerar? We saw that in the life of our father Isaac, how if a man is in Gerar, prosperity is a function of being in your Gerar. I believe that by now, those of us who have been following us, you understand what I mean by being in your Gerar. But if in case you are just joining us today, either on Mixlr or you are just coming in on Telegram, I want to beg you, you may need to go and listen to the last three episodes to understand what we meant by your Gerar. But in a very simple way, your Gerar is that place where it is the Lord. It was through your intimacy with God, you got instruction from him, and that gave you direction to be in a particular place or to do a particular thing. So in anything that has its origin, that is, you are taking your bearing from intimacy with God that led to instruction from the Lord that brought direction for your life, in that matter, you are in your Gerar. You are in your Gerar. In anything where you are not in your Gerar, you may struggle through life. You may struggle through life because Gerar is the place of rest. Gerar is the place where God backs you. Gerar is the place where you get honor, lifting, prosper, because it is the place where the Lord is with you. So, economically, politically, financially, educationally, in your business, just look at it in anything at all, career, marriage, just list anything. As long as that thing that you are in, what led to it is your intimacy with God where you got instruction from God and it gave direction into that thing, you are in your Gerar. In your Gerar, the Lord is with you, and because the Lord is with you, even if famine is in that place that is Gerar, no matter how every other person will describe that place—this thing is not good, this place is not even okay, there is famine in this place, in fact, this business people don't make it well, ah, when you marry from this tribe, eh, it is trouble, oh, don't marry from that tribe—these kind of things people talk about generally. As long as what brought you into that thing is intimacy with God, instruction from him, direction for your life, you can be sure you don't need to be afraid. You will prosper in that thing. Not because of any other thing, but because the Lord is with you. The psalmist said, "Yea, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil." Why was he able to say so? Because at the beginning of that Psalm, go and check what he said. He said, "The Lord is my shepherd." (Psalm 23:1). "The Lord is my shepherd," and I pray for you, that's going to be our major prayer this evening. Don't forget that normally every last Monday, we create more time for prayers. So we are just going to journey a little into the matter today, and then we'll spend some time to pray. And what we really want to spend some time to pray on today would be what I'll be talking on vis-a-vis because it relates to also what where we left the matter last week. It is actually Psalm 23. The opening of that Psalm is that the psalmist said, "The Lord is my shepherd." (Psalm 23:1). And before I come to dwell on that Psalm for about 15-20 minutes thereabouts and then we'll begin to raise prayer points from that Psalm, let's first try to relate that Psalm to something that our Lord said in John chapter 10. Please let's turn to John chapter 10. We will come back to Psalm 23. The matter of Gerar. The matter of Gerar. Let's see John chapter 10. Let's see what the Bible says in John chapter 10. The Lord Jesus spoke almost in every part of that chapter. John chapter 10. It was a very long discussion, and he began that discussion on the matter of shepherdhood. John 10. It's a very long chapter, having 42 verses. We just want to point to some things here. Look at what the Lord said: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up by some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1). If anybody enters into the sheepfold not through the door, but he climb through some other means to enter, that person must be a thief, he must be a robber. "But he who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep." (John 10:2). The shepherd don't need to climb through any way; he enters through the door. He is the shepherd of the sheep. He says, "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own by name and leads them out." (John 10:3). I'm trying to relate what we are looking at in Genesis chapter 26 to John chapter 10. The Lord Jesus on this matter of Biblical Concept of Faith, what happened with Isaac, because we have been looking at the man Isaac, a Biblical example of considering this matter of Biblical Concept of Faith. Now, when you look at the man Isaac, he wanted to go to Egypt when there was famine. But as he wanted to go, the Lord spoke to him. And the Lord said, "Isaac, do not go down to Egypt. Do not go down to Egypt. Rather, I want you to stay where you are right now. Stay in Gerar. Don't go to Egypt. If you stay here, I will be with you and I will bless you. And the covenant that I have with your father, I am going to establish it for you and upon you. So stay here." (Genesis 26:2-3). So Isaac stayed in Gerar. That was how Isaac was in his Gerar. So the place where the Lord spoke to him. Holy Spirit seems to be raising something in my heart. Those of us who are with us right now, we who are here and brethren online, I just want you to pray for a minute or two. Just talk to the Lord. Lord, like Isaiah prophesied, Isaiah said you will hear a voice from behind you. He said this is the way, walk in it. (Isaiah 30:21). That is what Isaiah prophesied. That scripture just jumped into my spirit now, and I think the Holy Spirit is saying that we should pray with it. Can you just pray that, "Lord, Lord, help me to hear that voice behind me. Isaac heard the voice. Isaac heard that voice saying don't go to Egypt. Lord, in my endeavors, in my pursuits, Lord, I just pray. Lord, I am praying. Let me hear the voice behind me. The voice from behind me, saying this is the way, this is the way, walk in it. Let me hear the voice. Lord, let me hear the voice. Let me not stray spiritually, materially, financially, career-wise. Lord, Lord, let me hear that voice from behind me saying no, no, no, don't go that way. Don't go there. Don't do that thing. Oh, do this one, do this one. This is what you are to do." May we hear this voice from behind us, particularly in this generation that we are in, where men are hopelessly confused. People are living in so much confusion, so much fear. So much confusion, so much fear. Lord, I will not live in confusion. I will not live my life in fear. I will not live my life in doubt. "Should I do this thing? Should I not do it? I don't know now, maybe. They said if they do it, people that do it, you know this, I said it's like if I don't," so much fear in the heart of people. Oh, the voice of the Lord is the voice of certainty. It is the voice of the Lord that settles confusion. May your confusion give way for direction. May your confusion give way for direction. May you hear the voice of the Lord. May you hear the voice of the Lord. May you hear the voice of the Lord, clearing your confusion, clearing your confusion, silencing your doubt, giving you direction, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. Isaac heard that voice. The voice was telling him don't go to Egypt. And we are looking at the matter of the voice here, that is what we are looking at. He said, "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice." (John 10:3). Are you seeing something? One thing I am trying to make you understand is this: when a life does not share intimacy with the Lord such that the Lord can call that life by name, whatever that person is practicing is not the Biblical faith. It is not the Biblical faith. The Biblical faith brings a man into such intimacy that God can call him by name. God can call her by name. It brings an individual into a relationship with God where God can address the person. Look at what it says. It says, "To him the doorkeeper open. The sheep hears his voice." Are you seeing that? The sheep hears his voice. The issue is that once a life is not hearing his voice, that life is not his sheep. What actually established Biblical faith is that relationship in which you can hear his voice. That is what I am trying to say. It is not just being in an assembly. I give people an example. Look at Samuel. God came to Samuel, and God was calling, "Samuel! Samuel!" What did Samuel do? Samuel ran to Eli. He said, "You called me." (1 Samuel 3:4-5). Why was Samuel running to Eli? The Bible says Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the Lord had not yet revealed himself to him. (1 Samuel 3:7). So even though he was in the temple of God, the only voice he recognized is the voice of Eli. There are people like that. The only thing that give them direction is what the pastor says. The only thing that give them direction is what is in their life. They don't have personal direction for their life. They only fast when the church is fasting. They only evangelize when the church is evangelizing. They only know that God is saying something when there is a prophecy inside the church: "Thus saith the Lord, my people, I want you to do this, I want you to do that." That is only when they hear God's voice. Personally, they don't have any personal connection with Jesus. Let me announce to you: you are a spiritual bastard if your life is like that. You have not entered into the real thing. The real thing that Jesus came to establish is a relationship between a shepherd and a sheep. In that relationship, the sheep hears the voice of the shepherd. There is a personal connection between the sheep and the shepherd. Number two, look at what it says. He says, "He calls his own sheep by name." (John 10:3). Now, I want you to get what the Lord is saying here. He calls his own sheep by name. Now, let me just, the simple way I can illustrate it. You will notice that when you see anybody and you are saying, "Hey, hey, hey, you, hey, that boy, that girl," what is the relationship? You don't know that person. When we talk about calling someone by name, it's talking about shared relationship. Shared relationship. Biblical faith is about shared relationship. He calls by name. He said they hear his voice, he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. Look at those three things: the sheep hear his voice, he calls them by name, he leads them out. These are the three things that characterize eternal life. It is these three things that characterize eternal life. A hearing of his voice, a calling by name, a leading out. Hearing his voice, calling by name, leading out, that the psalmist was referring to when he said, "The Lord is my shepherd." (Psalm 23:1). It is this hearing his voice, calling by name, leading out, that makes the Lord your shepherd. If these three things are not in your life, then the Lord is not your shepherd. You need to realize that he is not yet your shepherd. And you know the funny thing many times that makes me sad, many times you see people every time they finish fellowship they just go to the consequence of that shepherdhood. They will say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." (Psalm 23:6). Lie! Before that thing can be true in your life, verse one must be true. If the Lord is not your shepherd, I can announce to you: surely goodness and mercy cannot be your portion. The reason why the psalmist was drawing that conclusion in Psalm 23, it was based on the opening in verse one. He opened that Psalm by saying that, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1). He began to talk about the consequence of the shepherdhood. We are going there very soon. He began to raise them one by one, one by one, one by one. And then when he was concluding, he now said, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever, amen." (Psalm 23:6). He was drawing that—he said that because the Lord was his shepherd. The three things that characterizes shepherdhood: hearing his voice, calling by name, leading out. And let me announce to you: that is what we mean by eternal life. Eternal life is a real thing. Eternal life is a relationship. Eternal life is something that is dynamic. It is not just a ceremony, it is not just what you just say—"Are you born again? Yes, I'm born again." Why? "I'm a Baptist." "Are you born again? Yes, I'm born again. I attend so-so church." That's not what we are talking about. Eternal life is actually the establishment in the life of an individual of the shepherdhood of Jesus Christ. The shepherdhood of Jesus Christ, and that is what the Bible calls faith. That is it. When that is not there, there is no faith. What is there? I don't know what to call it. But the Biblical faith, if you call it faith, if what is there is not this, then we can only address it as dead faith, not a living faith. But the true faith, the Biblical faith, is about these three things. And let me give it to you that we'll be praying. When these three things are in the life of a man, what are things that the man is likely to see? The shepherdhood of the Lord, that is, the shepherdhood of the Lord is actually what we are calling Biblical faith. When you are in that faith, then we are talking about having eternal life. We are talking about regeneration. We are talking about living eternal life, a life that is eternal. It is this life, if you move on and on and on, that Jesus was explaining when he got to that verse 10 when he said, "The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and destroy." When the thief comes, the thief does not know the name of the sheep. The thief does not share intimacy with the sheep. The thief cannot lead them. The thief only come to take advantage of them. The thief only come to exploit them, to kill them. In fact, he either comes to take their milk or to kill them for meat. It is the shepherd that have come to feed them, to lead them to green pastures. May you not miss the shepherd of your life. May you not be led by thugs and rogues and the thieves and the robbers. When they are through with you, you will be like that man that fell among robbers who was traveling between Jericho—who fell among robbers traveling from which point to Jericho? Between Jerusalem and Jericho. (Luke 10:30). May you not fall among thieves. May you not fall among robbers. May your relationship be that in which you share intimacy with Jesus, the bishop and the author of your salvation, in the name of Jesus Christ. He said, "But I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly." (John 10:10). Now, it is this issue of abundant life that the psalmist was raising in Psalm 23. Let's turn our Bible to Psalm 23. Let's go to Psalm 23. Let's see what the scripture says in that very familiar scripture. Many of us can read that Psalm offhand. It is just a Psalm of six verses. The psalmist said in that Psalm and said, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1). Let me read it in several other translations. NLT: "The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need." Are you seeing it? What he is actually saying is that when the Lord shepherds you, what happens? You have everything that you need. Please, I want you to note, it is not everything that you want, because sometimes we cannot separate between want and need. When the Lord is your shepherd, you have everything that you need. There are things that are needs, there are things that you want. But my prayer is that everything you need, may you not lack them in the name of Jesus. Life is not about what you want. Life is about what you need. And many times because we are not able to draw that line, our life is driven by what we want. And many times we are driven crazy. Some of us are driven into madness. Some of us are driven into vanity. We are driven into foolishness, we are driven into emptiness, and sometimes, some are even into destruction because they are pursuing what they want. Their life is not centered on what they need. May you not leave the journey of what you need for the journey of what you want in the name of Jesus Christ. May your journey in life constantly be the journey of the things you need, not the journey of the things you want in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, when the Lord is your shepherd, what are the three things about shepherdhood? You hear his voice, he calls you by name, he leads you out. These are the three things. When these three things are not in your life, then there is a reality around your life: the Lord is not your shepherd. The Lord is not your shepherd. When you become born again, these are the three things you must first need to learn. If those who got you born again don't focus your life on these three things, they begin to focus your life on activities and several other things, oh, then those who are fathering you not fathering you correctly. When a life get born again, this three-dimensional things are the three things the life must first pursue: hearing his voice, ability to know when the Lord is speaking to you, intimacy with the Lord, a sound constant quiet time where God calls you by name. There is this relationship you share with him that he calls you by name. They must sit you down to have proper quiet time. They must sit you down to develop a relationship with the Lord. And then the third one is leading you. You begin to say, "These are the realities of our life." We got born again, a matter of six, seven months, we began saying, "The Lord is leading me to this. The Lord is leading me to that." No, this was what we understood about being born again: the shepherdhood of the Lord, the Lord leading them out. Leading them out. These three things. The shepherdhood of the Lord brings you—you know what it does for you?—fundamentally, it will begin to drag you, draw you away from what you want into what you need. Isaac wanted to go to Egypt because Egypt was attractive, because Egypt has irrigation. Isaac wanted that, but Isaac do not need Egypt. What Isaac needed was a land where there is famine. Sometimes what you need will be looking deceptive, will be looking like oh, I don't need this kind of thing, but that is what you need. What you want may be attracting you. Can you pray to the Lord, "Lord, Lord, take me away from the things I want to the things I need. Lord, draw my life, draw my life away from the things that I want. Bring me into the things that I need. Bring me into my needs." Draw my life, don't let me go crazy by things I want. Don't let my life be driven by what I want. My spiritual life, my marital life, my financial life, my career life—oh God Almighty—my academic life, every ramification of my life. Lord, don't let me be driven by the things I want. Draw me, Lord draw me into the things I need. Oh, Lord draw me into my needs, not my wants. There are things I need that I could not recognize. Isaac did not recognize that he needed famine. He did not need the abundance in Egypt. What he needed was a famine. Sometimes what you need will be looking deceptive, will be looking like oh, I don't need this kind of thing, but that is what you need. What you want may be attracting you. Can you pray to the Lord, every distraction that is appearing like attraction, Lord close my eyes to them. Every distraction that is looking like attraction, Lord kindly close my eyes to them. Lord, open my eyes to the attraction, the things I need to be attracted to. Lord, help me to see my need. Help me to recognize my need. Help me to know them in every situation, in every circumstance of life. May I choose my need. May I not choose my want. May I choose my need, not my want, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You see, that is why a man can say, "Surely goodness and mercy can follow me" at the end of his life. If a man's life is driven by his need, not by his want, you can be sure that the man will end well. But if a man's life is driven by what he wants, not what he needs, you can be sure that it will not be well. The reason why David was drawing that conclusion in Psalm 23 is because the Lord was his shepherd. The three things that characterizes shepherdhood: hearing his voice, calling by name, leading out. When these three things are in the life of a man, then you can be sure you will lie down in green pastures. When the Lord shepherds, and he begins to bring you to your needs, it is a making process. As the Lord pushes you away from what you want and the Lord brings you into what you need, do you know what happens with your life? What happens with your life is that you begin to lie down in a pasture that is green. Your want will bring you to a pasture that is dry. Your want will bring you to a pasture that is not green. Isaac wanted to go to Egypt. If Isaac had gone to Egypt because Egypt was looking attractive, everything was green, Isaac thought that ah, let me leave the land of famine, let me go to the land where everything is green so that everything can be green. But God told him, don't go to where it is looking green. Stay inside this famine and I will bless you. (Genesis 26:2-3). When Isaac stayed in that famine, he was dragged from what he want, he was brought into what he need. What happens to him in Gerar? In Gerar, the Lord defended him. In Gerar, he sowed and he reaped hundredfold. In Gerar, the man started going forward until he became exceedingly great. (Genesis 26:12-13). Why? Because he was made to lie down in green pasture. When the Lord takes your life away from what you want into what you need, actually the Lord is taking you away from a pasture that is not green into a pasture that is green. What is looking to you like what is green and you are being attracted to that thing, by the time you get there, remember Lot. (Genesis 13:10-13). Lot moved into what looks green. He moved towards Sodom. But you realize by the time he was to lie down, it was not in green pasture. Everything that enter Sodom, none of them came out. May you not be emptied. Many times our wants, they are tantalizing mirage. By the time you pursue them, by the end of the day, you will not have anything out of them because by the time you close to them, you now see that sss, hey, ah, so there is nothing inside this thing. It is just a mirage. Mirage is something in physics. You look far away, it looks like you are seeing water. By the time you get close to the point where you see the water, you will discover there is no water there. It is just a reaction that takes place. There is actually no physical water there. Many times our wants are tantalizing mirage. They look attractive, tantalizing, and you are going towards it. But by the time you get there, it is emptiness. May the Lord deliver you from emptiness. Those mirage, when he begins to bring you into your needs, it is a making process. As the Lord pushes you away from what you want and the Lord brings you into what you need, do you know what happens with your life? What happens with your life is that you begin to lie down in a pasture that is green. It is the shepherdhood of the Lord that brings the making of the Lord. It is as the Lord shepherds you that he makes you. It is as the Lord shepherds you that he makes you. It is in shepherding that you are made. May the Lord be your maker. You know many times we say, "Ah, the Lord is my maker. I'm fearfully made, I'm wonderfully made." Look, it is not just about singing. I'm telling you the reality of these things. It is those that the Lord shepherd that he makes. It is as the Lord shepherds a man that the Lord makes the man. If the Lord is not shepherding your life—how? I repeat it again—you hear his voice, he calls you by name, he leads you out. You hear his voice. You can say this is how the Lord leads me. You share intimacy with him that is intimate that he calls you by name, and he can lead you out. That is the shepherding of the Lord. When the Lord shepherds and he begin to bring you to your needs, it is a making process. From this time henceforth, I don't want to make anything again. I don't want to be the maker of anything in life. I don't want to make, I don't want to be the one who makes. I want you to be my maker. Make me to lie down in green pasture. Make me to lie down in green pasture. Lord make me, be my maker. Do the making for me, Lord. Do the making. Lord make me. Make me financially. Make me martially. Make me academically. Make me spiritually. Be the maker. Lord make me. Make me, make me, make me, make me, make me, make me, make me. Oh God, make me. I want to be fearfully and wonderfully made. Maritally fearfully and wonderfully made. Academically fearfully and wonderfully made. Spiritually fearfully and wonderfully made. Career-wise fearfully and wonderfully made. I want to be fearfully and wonderfully made. Fearfully, in my health, fearfully and wonderfully made. In my endeavors, fearfully and wonderfully made. Lord be my maker. Lord be my maker. That the pasture might be green. I want to lie down in a green pasture. I want to lie down in a pasture the Lord has for me. A pasture the Lord carved for me. Lord, Lord, Lord, that pasture, that pasture that is mine, the pasture you have carved for me. May I be the man that can last. Last no matter the condition, last no matter the situation, last no matter what is happening around. May my life last. May what I'm building, may they last. May I not be building what will not last. May I be building to last. May I be building what will remain. May I be building what will endure the storm, the wind and the rain. May I be building what will last when every other things are scattering. May what I'm building be able to stand. May what I'm building be able to stand. May what I'm investing my life into, when everything is being shaken away, when everything is falling away, may what I am building, what I'm building my life on, may they be able to stand. May they be able to endure. May they be able to remain. May they endure the storm, may they endure the rain, may they endure the wind, may they endure the flood. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. Lord, Lord, Lord, deliver me from a vain life. Lord, deliver me from a vain life. Lord, deliver me from an empty life. Deliver me. Lord, deliver me from vanity. Lord, deliver me from emptiness. Baba, that I may lie down. Can you cry to the Lord? Oh, be my maker that I may lie down in green pasture. That I may lie down, I want my lying down, Lord, my lying down. I want it to be in green pasture. I don't want to lie down in a mirage. Belshazzar was inside a mirage. The rich man was in a mirage. They did not understand that a man's life does not consist in the abundance of their possession. Look, it is not that you are having a good house and a good car that makes you to be prosperous. Oh, it is when you lie down in green pasture. It is when that thing you are doing, the maker is the Lord. I want you to beg the Lord this evening. Lord, I don't want to make anything in life. I don't want to make, I don't want to be the maker of anything in life. I don't want to make anything. I don't want to be the maker of anything. I want you to be my maker. Make me to lie down in green pasture. Make me to lie down in green pasture. Lord make me. Be my maker. Do the making for me, Lord. Do the making. Lord make me, make me, make me, make me, make me, make me, make me. Oh God, make me. I want to be fearfully and wonderfully made. Maritally fearfully and wonderfully made. Academically fearfully and wonderfully made. Spiritually fearfully and wonderfully made. Career-wise fearfully and wonderfully made. I want to be fearfully and wonderfully made. Fearfully, in my health, fearfully and wonderfully made. In my endeavors, fearfully and wonderfully made. Lord be my maker. Lord be my maker. That the pasture might be green. I want to lie down in a green pasture. I want to lie down in a pasture that is green. A pasture the Lord has for me. A pasture the Lord carved for me. Lord, Lord, Lord, that pasture, that pasture that is mine, the pasture you have carved for me. He makes me lie down in green pasture. He leads me beside quiet waters. He leads me beside quiet waters. Let me take it in another way for you. He leads me beside peaceful stream. He leads me beside peaceful stream. May my stream, the stream, the stream be peaceful. The stream be peaceful. Peaceful stream. Peaceful stream. He leads me beside peaceful stream. There are some rivers that look as if they are peaceful. There are some streams that look as if if you enter into it, it will be well. But at the end of the day, it is trouble. At the end of the day, it is trouble. But I want the Lord can put you in a peaceful stream. That thing can be peaceful. That business can be peaceful. That decision can be peaceful. That path can be peaceful. There is a path of peace. Oh, he is the Prince of Peace. It is the Lord that give peace unto his people. Go and read the Bible. It is the Lord that give peace unto his people. It is the Lord that give peace unto his people. It is the Lord that give peace unto his people. It says the Lord will be a strength unto his people and the Lord will bless his people with peace. (Psalm 29:11). It is the Lord that can bless you with peace. It is only the Lord that can bless you with peace. It is him that can lead you by peaceful waters, by peaceful stream. You cannot get peace by yourself. The Yoruba call him *Oba alade alaafia*. They also call him *orisun alaafia*. That is his name. That is his name. That is his name. That is his name. That is his name. Father, we thank you. Father, we thank you. Lord, we worship you. We bless you for today our Father. We give you glory, we give you honor, we give you adoration our God. We give you adoration. We must not go today without praying for Nigeria. Before we close this meeting, I want us to pray for Nigeria. I want us to pray for our nation. It is in the peace of this nation that we have peace. (Jeremiah 29:7). I want you to pray wherever you are. Lord Jesus, be magnified over Nigeria. Brethren let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for our nation. Lord Jesus, be magnified over Nigeria. Lord Jesus, be magnified over Nigeria. Lord Jesus, be magnified over Nigeria. Lord Jesus, be magnified over Nigeria. Lord Jesus, be magnified over Nigeria. Lord Jesus, be magnified over Nigeria. I give the mic to my wife to close up this meeting this evening. As we close this meeting, let me hand over the mic to her. [Speaker 2] In Jesus' name we pray. Heavenly Father, thank you once again for blessing us, for it is your desire. Thank you for your word spoken to us. Establish us in this truth, oh Lord, in Jesus' name. Lord, please we hand over our lives, our will unto you, Lord. Shepherd our lives in Jesus' name. You will not force yourself on anyone, though you are the creator of heaven and earth. You owns everything, including us. Yet, you have given man his will. Man chooses who will be his or her shepherd. And until we have chosen you, all the blessings of your being our shepherd cannot be ours. Lord, we submit to you. We ask and allow you that Lord, please be our shepherd in the name of Jesus. We submit our lives to your making. We submit our lives to your workings. To only what is your need and not our want. To only what is your purpose and your counsel. Lord, work it in us in the name of Jesus. Work it through us in the name of Jesus. So that our life here on earth will not be a waste, will not be in vain. So that we will not have run the race in vain. So that at your appearance, we will not be ashamed. Lord, please shepherd our life in the name of Jesus. Thank you for your son, oh Lord. We pray, Lord you will cause him to continually draw from his well of salvation. I pray, Lord that he will not go dry. More of your grace, your unction, your oil upon his life. More of your word, give him the word at every season in the name of Jesus. And together we pray, Lord as we go, continue with us beyond this point. Until you bring us into the totality of your will. Until you perfect all that concerns us. Until, oh Lord God Almighty, you reign supremely and your throne completely established in our lives in Jesus' name. Thank you, Daddy, for answers to our prayer. In Jesus' unfailing name we pray. [Speaker 1] Let's hear the benediction. 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. Praise the Lord! Amen. 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 PM; Adolescents and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; 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 Verajoe filling station along Igbara 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.