BIBLICAL CONCEPT OF FAITH (20) (HEB 3) (Prayers)

**Speaker 3** Church fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God will desire a godly family. These are words of restoration and instruction on righteousness on Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [background noise] **Speaker 1** Our Father, unto You be glory, honor, adoration. Lord, we thank You for Your mercies. We thank You for Your goodness. We thank You for grace. We thank You for support. We thank You for preservation. We thank You for provision. We thank You for help. Lord, we thank You for our redemption, our adoption as sons and daughters of God. We are really, really grateful, our Father. Accept our thanks in the name of Jesus. Lord our God, we all come again this evening, gathering together unto You. Our brethren who are on Telegram, our brethren who are on Mixlr, we who are here physically. Lord, unto You alone we all gather. Lord, we pray according to the scriptures, unto You shall the gathering of Your people be in the name of Jesus. Lord, we will not gather unto ourselves. Lord, rather, according to the scripture, we speak the word of life. Our gathering shall be unto You. Lord, Your Spirit will work among us. Your Spirit will work within us. You will meet with us individually. You will meet with us collectively. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Praise the Lord. We thank our God as we gather this evening again. It has always been God, and I believe that even as we gather again today, it will still be God in the name of Jesus Christ. We left the matter last week Monday at the junction where in Hebrews chapter 5, the Bible says that so we see that the people could not enter into their rest. They could not enter into that rest that God had designed for them. That's Hebrews chapter 4, from verse 1. **Speaker 2** "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear, lest any of you seems to have come short of it. For indeed, the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said, 'So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest,' although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way, 'And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.' Again in this place, 'They shall not enter my rest.' Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, 'Today,' after such a time, as it has been said, 'Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your heart.' For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For He who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His works. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." **Speaker 1** So I left the matter last week on the matter of rest, and I said this week we will pick it from there. We'll pick it to some point, and being our last Monday when we normally set aside time to pray, we also create time to pray. So we have two major things to do. I want to summarize this matter of rest today, and then also we now go into the time of taking time to really pray. Prayer, the scripture says, "The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much." Now, I have opened a scripture, I've made reference to Matthew 11 from verse 28 last week, so let's combine those two scriptures together. Let's open Matthew 11 from verse 28. We'll be looking, comparing that vis-a-vis this Hebrews chapter 4. In Hebrews 4, it says, "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear, lest any of you seems to have come short of it." Now, the whole point about let us fear here, a better or another good word to use to replace it is, let us be careful. It is not fear in terms of the negative fear where you are, no. What he's saying is that let us be careful. Let us be diligent. That's what he's trying to say. One thing I've often told people about God, if God want intimidated worship, God is the best that can do it. If God want everybody before the wake up of tomorrow, God want everybody to submit to Jesus this evening, it's a very simple thing. Just imagine that in seconds, the heavens open and everybody can see Jesus at once, which is not impossible for God. Is this impossible with God? In that same second, God opens the reality of hellfire. You are seeing the fire the way Nebuchadnezzar did it. And then the next thing, to the hearing of everybody globally, before the count of ten, Gabriel, Michael, I don't know whichever other angel again they will call, get set. After the count of ten, whosoever have not crossed to the other side to say Jesus is Lord, cut off their head and throw them into that fire. Just watch my counting. One, two. Please, which point will God count to before everybody will change side? Where will He count to before everybody changes side? So the point is, I want to make you understand that God is not looking for intimidated worship. "I don't want God to kill me. Let me serve God." If that is why you are serving God, you didn't get Christianity right. You didn't get it right. If that is what makes you to come to God, no, you didn't get it right. God does not seek intimidated worship. God seek free worship where you freely, you freely worship God because you want to worship God. You get the point I'm making? Now, the reason why I'm saying that is because I don't want us to misinterpret when the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 1, "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear." The fear there is what I'm trying to explain. It's not the fear of if I don't serve Him, God will kill me. That is not it. The fear here is, he's saying that look, there is something about our walk with God. There is something about it. If we are not diligent about it, if we are not watchful about it, if we are not careful about it, then you will miss the mark. That's what he's saying. If we are not diligent about it, if we are not watchful about it, if we are not careful about it, you are most likely to miss the mark. And so when he said let us therefore fear, he's saying let us be watchful. The reason why we are trying to be watchful was because you remember how we started this book of Hebrews, how God wanted to bring them to Canaan. It was God's joy to bring them. It was God who came down. He came down, He sent Moses. It was God who did all the wonders in Egypt. It was God who killed all the firstborn. It was God who parted the Red Sea. So it was really God's intention. But eventually, the majority never got to the promised land. Not because God never wanted them to cross over, but there is something about these people. Their heart always depart from God. They don't know the way of God. And that way of God is what we have been trying to discuss and explain. That way of God is the way of faith. That way of God is the way of taking God for that which He has spoken. God said, "This is what God said," knowing that that which God has spoken is what God meant. And that no matter how the circumstance or situation is changing, what God said remains valid and it stands just as God has said it. So that you can stay on it, you can rest on it, you can believe it. You don't need to begin to doubt and think that when circumstances seem to be unfavorable against that which God has spoken, you don't need to begin to doubt God as to whether God will do what He says. That was what happened to them. When there was no water, they would just start, "Oh, this is what we have said. Why would we be in this place and there be no water?" They complained, some of them died. At another point, "Why is it that it's only this manna? We want meat." God brought meat. Some of them, in bringing the meat, God killed some of them again. At another point again, they were traveling on the journey. The journey got so tiring. They began to speak against God, that "What type of stupid useless journey is this?" God sent serpents. So it was that wrong attitude they keep bringing towards different situations. And that is what the scripture is also calling us to, that let us be watchful. Let us be careful. Let us be sober. Let us note something, that there remains a rest, and so let us be careful. Now, when you take this vis-a-vis the Matthew 11 from verse 28, it says, "Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me. I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Now, you will notice that in extending the kingdom again to us, the Lord Jesus presented the kingdom as what? As rest. "Come unto me and I will give you rest." Then He moved on to say, having gotten that rest, there's yet another rest. This other rest, He says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul." So there is a rest that is given, there is a rest that you find. You have to search, you search and then you find. So Jesus gives rest, but you notice that the rest is categorized. Just like you find in this place, God brought them into a rest, but again He said there is a rest that they did not enter into. Which rest did they not enter into? When you look at everything that happened with all of them, you will notice that there was no time that they ever shared the same mind with God. They are either complaining or they are murmuring, doubting, tempting God, speaking against God. There was no time. If you notice, let me give you an example of the two people who entered that rest, Joshua and Caleb. Let's look at a classical scene about these two people which is in Numbers 14. I want to show you something about this matter of rest, this "you will find rest." Biblical concept of faith, understanding faith. Now, it says in chapter 13, 12 and 13 they had sent the spies. So the spies came back and they brought their report. I hope we are familiar with that story when the spies brought their report. So let's just go to 14 so that we can just save some time. It says, "So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night." They were weeping because ten of the elders said they were like grasshoppers in the sight of the people. Now, "And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, 'If only we had died in the land of Egypt,' are you seeing these people? 'Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?' So they said to one another, 'Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.' Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, 'The land we passed through to spy is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.'" What was their response? And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. They had made up their minds that let's stone them to death. Now, the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel. Then the Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people reject me? How long will they not believe me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they." And Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people, that You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now, if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which heard of Your fame will speak, saying, 'Because the Lord was not able to bring these people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.' Now, therefore, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, 'The Lord is long-suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.' Pardon the iniquity of these people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven these people from Egypt even until now." Then the Lord said, "I have pardoned according to your word. But truly, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord, because all these men who have seen my glory and the sign which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and have put me to test now these ten times and have not heeded my voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected me see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it." Now, I'm trying to make you see something about Joshua, Caleb, these two people, and the other people. What is it that make this person different from all the other persons? What? What is another spirit? It was explained in that place. He simply believed God. He said he has followed me fully. Do you get the point I'm making? Another spirit is just about ability to agree with... they said, "Since God is with us, he has brought us this far. He parted the Red Sea, he did all the ones in Egypt. This one, He will give it to us. Let us..." they were just confessing, they were speaking, they were saying. What I'm trying to make you see, what made them to enter into rest was that they had the same mind with God. They were thinking the way God will naturally want them to think. They were thinking the way God would have expected, "I'm doing something." So they were thinking, "I've done this. If I've done one, two, three, they should be able to see." In essence, what God was saying was that "I've done one, two, I've done ten, they could not even believe me for ten." But look at the person, he has a different spirit. I will mention this person constant. What I'm trying to make you understand, Jesus said, "Come unto me, all you that labor, and I will give you rest." That is, you become born again. You become a child of God. You come into the kingdom. They were people who were in bondage. They were in Egypt. They never needed to do anything special. All they needed to do was Moses sacrificed lamb, it was put on the lintel of the door. And when the angel of destruction came, when he saw the blood, what happened? He passed over them. The people that the angel of death passed over, they experienced a rest. They crossed out of Egypt. But there is another rest, which has to do with a changed person. A change in the way you think. A change in your character. A change in your attitude. That had not been worked upon. Are you getting the point I'm trying to bring out? The first, when Jesus says, "Come unto and I will give you rest," as you believe, I give Jesus into my life, you enter into a rest. But there is a rest that, this one, it is something that comes as a process. He said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn, learn me. I am meek and lowly in heart." That is, you want to under-study me. You want to understand me. I don't know the kind of heart you are coming with. I don't know the kind of orientation that you are coming with. But there is something about me you need to come and learn. There is something about my person you need to come and carry. There is something about my image you need to bear. There is something about my principles you need to work with. There is something about my standard, there is something about my reasoning, there is something about my methods. There is something you need to come and learn me of. If you don't learn me, there is a rest you can never find. That rest is a rest for your soul. The rest for your soul. Many believers today, because we are not looking at this matter of faith very, very carefully, many believers still find themselves, what God wants is not just that we become born again. That is not the ultimate rest that Jesus came to give. The rest that Jesus came to give is the rest for what? The rest for the soul. When you are looking at sin, what did the Bible say about sin in Ezekiel? He said, "The soul that sin shall die." It is the soul of man being able to come to a point of alignment, being able to have a walk, to see things as God sees it. That was what brought Caleb and Joshua into that rest. He said they followed me wholly. They were thinking when God, God have not surfaced, they were just telling the people, "What's your problem? Is it not this God that is with us? Since this God is with us, the land we have gone to search is a good land. It's a land flowing with milk and honey, just the way God has said. And the people, you don't need to fear them. Do you need to fear? You don't need to fear them. Only be careful, don't rebel against God. You are talking of going back to Egypt as a better option? What are you saying? God is able to take us there." God have not shown up, but you are seeing people who are speaking, that is what we are calling faith. Faith. People who are speaking God's mind. People whose thinking, people whose mindset, people whose reasoning, people whose attitude is in conformity with God's expectation, with God's expectation. And when we say God's expectation, we are simply saying that which God have spoken. What these people said was not anything strange. What Joshua and Caleb said was not anything strange. God brought them from Egypt. Are they only the one that God brought from Egypt? Is it not all of them? God is with us. Are they the only one that God had been with? Is it not all of them? He has been leading us. Is it something that is peculiar to them? But others never laid it to heart. So their soul never came to rest. Their soul never came to rest. It never rested. It was always having agitating passion. Always having agitating passion. Agitating, agitating. In any situation, agitations. Check believers today. Financial situation, agitation. Marital situation, agitation. Emotional situation, agitations. With their neighbors, agitation. With sinners, agitation. With colleagues, agitation. The soul, check inside, deep down, unforgiveness, malice, hurt, wound, pain, what that did, what, I mean, government crazy, that one mad. I mean, they are never at a time when their soul is at rest. Their soul. Their soul. Their soul is sinning. Some what is in the soul is murmuring. Some what is in the soul is lust. Some what is in the soul is complaining. Some what is in the soul is bitterness. Some what is in the soul is malice. Some what is in the soul, different things in the soul, in the soul like that. Different, different, different, different, the soul. And those are the things that we are calling sin. Those are the sins we are calling, that's why when you check scripture, the Bible talk about being washed from all uncleanness of the soul and spirit. I don't know if you have read that thing before. There is uncleanness of the body, but there is uncleanness of the soul and of the spirit. There is something about our walk with God that once our soul don't find rest, then the reality that we cannot be at peace with God. What I mean is that your life can never please God. Your life can never please God. Because when you read it about these people, he said, that's Hebrews 10 we have read that before, but by way of reminder, let me just remind you of that 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that we read. We have read that, but I just want to remind you. "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank that spiritual rock that followed them, that rock was Christ." Verse 5, what was the major thing about them however? What was the major thing verse 5? "But with most of them, God was not well pleased." What did the Bible says? "For without faith it is impossible to please God." They were not able to please God. That is, they were not able to think as God would have wanted them to think about different situations. They were not able to talk the way God would have expected them to talk. You are in a different, you are in a particular situation. There is a way God expected you to talk. There is a way God expected you to react, depending on how you have placed God. You get the point I'm making now? Hope you're getting it. Because actually, the life of the believer is no more unto themselves. Whether we live or we die, we belong to who? We belong to God. We have been bought with a price. That was what God did with them. God bought them. God took them. So God wanted everything about them to be something that will please Him. When He brought them, he said look, I'm making you a peculiar people to myself, a holy nation. That's why He gave you circumcision. I'm separating you from all others. Nobody else is circumcised. You are the only circumcised nation. Israel was the only nation that God came to and revealed Himself, face to face, and He wrote laws and brought to them. Israel was only that nation. He separated them to Himself, just like we are. We are the only people that can be addressed as children of God. Nobody can be addressed as a child of God except in Christ. Everybody else are actually creations of God, and God care for all His creation. God care for all His creation. That's some mistakes sometimes that Christians make. People think that God don't care for sinners, God don't do anything about them. No, God care for them as His creation. But it's a completely different thing, like I will just give you a good example. No matter how you relate, you will discover that the abundance of your wealth will not only be your children that will enjoy it. There will be people you will give to here and there who are not your children. There are people you will give this, there are people you will give that. There are people you will assist here and there who are not biologically your children. You get the point I'm making? But what makes your children your children is that they are the only ones who can inherit you. Is that not? Aha. So I tell people that look, we need to get something clear. God care for all His creation, but only His children can inherit God. That's the reality about it. But God care for all His creation. Now, the point I'm actually pushing seriously towards is that, you see, we are a peculiar people to God. We are not the generalized sinners. Believers are peculiar people. And where God, when we are talking about peculiarity of the believer, is not just that they came out of Egypt. It's not just that they came out of Egypt. That is not where God was taking them to. Where God was taking them to was where He could boast about them. Where He could boast, "Ah, look at Caleb is different." That is where God, a people that shares the mind of God, a people that carry same mind with God, a people that please the Lord. That is the matter I am trying to address concerning rest. That look, there is a rest. There is a rest for the soul. And a major aspect I've addressed about that rest today, I'm looking at the time it's already 6:13, I want us to pray. I actually intended to stop by 6:00, I don't know I have spent extra 13 minutes. Now, but please get some things that one major aspect of this thing is learning God enough. He says, "Take my yoke, learn me." Sitting down with God, so much so that in every life situation, you can put God in the right place. You can place God rightly. You see, when God is placed rightly in life situation, there is a way you will think. There is a way you will speak. There is a way you will act. There is a way it will be done. When it is done the way it is of God, like Joshua and like Caleb, even in the midst of the storm, they were at rest. They were not weeping like the others. They were not crying like the others. Others were weeping, they were crying, the Bible says they wept till the following morning. They wept through the night till the following morning. Their soul was scattered, their soul was shattered, their soul was restless. Yet there were men who were just at peace. You see, "Why are you like this?" Because they placed God rightly. I want us to go to the place of prayer. I want you to talk to the Lord. I want us to take time to pray. Speaking to the Lord, talking to the Lord this evening. I don't know what the exhortation this evening came to you, but I just want you to just commit yourself to the hand of the Lord. First commit yourself to the hand of the Lord. Just commit yourself, turn yourself over to the Lord. Turn yourself over, just turn yourself over to the Lord. Just say, "Lord, here I am." Just present yourself, present yourself to the Lord. The way you can present yourself to Him, whether you want to speak English, whether you want to speak your mother tongue, anyhow, whether you want to use hybrid, whichever way, whether in song, whether in words. I want you to just turn over to the Lord. I want you to yield yourself to the Lord. I want you to yield yourself that, "God, here I am." The way of faith. The way of faith. Lord, that I may see You. Lord, that I may see You. Lord, that I may place You rightly. Lord God. Maybe you are somebody who have not at any point in your life deliberately decided that, "Lord, I have taken Your yoke." Lord Jesus, I am putting Your demand on my life. The yoke of Jesus is the demand of Jesus. The demand of Jesus. You may not know all the demands at once, but that point to which you know it. You gave your life to Jesus. What have you come to realize that life is demanding from you? What have you come to realize that life demanded from you? Never mind about the ones you don't know yet. You have given your life to Jesus. You said you gave your life to Jesus. Now, having given your life, what is it that you came to realize that the life demanded from you? Can you say, "Lord Jesus, I am deliberately, deciding that I am taking Your yoke. I am taking this yoke." And then, "Lord Jesus, I want to learn You. I that I may learn You, Lord." I am making up my mind to sit down to learn. Just the way you say, "I want to go to school. I want to go and learn physics. I want to go and learn tailoring. I want to go and learn how to do this thing." It's the same way, "I want to learn Jesus." Maybe you were never meant to realize that when you gave your life to Christ. You are supposed to make up your mind that, "I want to learn Jesus." Then you begin to sit down, "How do I learn Jesus?" You begin to ask questions. And one major question I want to tell you, let me tell you this truth I come to know. I came to know one of the principles of spiritual growth. The Bible says, "Walk with the wise, you become wise." Walk with the wise, you become wise. Men, walk with the wise, you become wise. One good thing is walking with the wise. One good thing is sitting down with the scriptures. When you sit with the wise, you will discover that one thing that the wise will point you to is the scriptures. Maybe you have never told yourself that, "Look, I want to learn Jesus. I will learn Jesus and I will know Jesus." Jesus is to be learned. Jesus is to be learned. Jesus is to be learned. Jesus is grace, you need to learn grace. Jesus is truth. Jesus is the way. Jesus is might. Jesus is wisdom. Jesus is power. Jesus is light. Jesus is salvation. Everything you want to know is Jesus. Maybe you were never told when you gave your life to Christ. And you never made up your mind. Take a decision today. Take a decision that, "I want to learn Jesus. Lord Jesus, I want to learn You." Help me to separate my life from distraction. Help me to separate my life from everything that is not allowing me to learn You. Lord Jesus, separate me and my distractions. Every thing that looks like attraction, that is not helping me to know You, that is actually tradition, convention, Lord, help me to separate myself. Help me to separate myself into reality. The reality of Your instruction is "Take my yoke upon you and learn me." That is Your instruction. The instruction after being born again is "Take my yoke and learn me." Can you take His yoke and can you begin to learn Him? That is the instruction. Can you respond to Jesus? Maybe you have not responded correctly in your life before. You may need to respond correctly. Oh, Lord Jesus, I am seeing that the primary matter is taking Your yoke and learning You. Oh, Lord Jesus, help me. I will find rest for my soul. Ah, I will enter into Your rest. Can you pray for your life? "I will enter into Your rest. I will enter into the rest of God." The rest has been promised for us. The rest is for us. The rest for your soul is for you. You can overcome sin. You can overcome lust. You can overcome malice. You can overcome provocation. You can overcome difficult situation. Just go and look at all what our fathers went through. There are things we will go through as we journey through the wilderness. Difficult economy, difficult academic challenge, difficult situation, difficult neighbor, pressing situation, difficult circumstance, different, and you have just been giving excuses for why you keep doing wrong. You can look, tell yourself, "I will overcome. Enough of all these useless excuses. I can, in all of these things, I am more than conqueror. I can find rest for my soul. I can please God." Lord, help me that the first problem is within me. I've not been able to place You correctly. The problem is not without. The problem is not the situation. The problem is not the circumstance. The problem is not the adversity. The problem is not the pressure. The problem is not your spouse. The problem is not your neighbor. The problem is not your lecturer. The problem is not your roommate. The problem is not Nigeria. The problem is not the economic situation. The problem is not [unclear: Tinubu]. The problem is not removal of subsidy. No, the problem is within you. Within you, you have not been able to place God aright. That is why you are like a grasshopper before the situation. That is why you are cringing before the situation. That is why you are restless before the situation. That is why you could not do anything about the situation. That is why you keep getting afraid about the situation. That is why you keep fearing. Your heart keeps skipping. You have never been able to enter the rest of God. You have never been able to please God. And God is saying for how long? For how long? For how long? For how long? For how long will it take you to come to this understanding that with God, nothing is impossible? It is because you have not been able to see God. You have not been able to place God where God should be. You have not been able to put God where God is. You need to say, "God, that I may know You, that I may see You." Their heart always depart from God. They never entered the rest of God. And many, many, many, many of us today, we are never just at rest in different situations. Many are not, when you come to their career, they are not at rest. When you come to their marriage, they are not at rest. Come to their relationship, they are not at rest. Come to their home, they are not at rest. Come to their neighbor, they are never at rest. Their neighbor is always their enemy. They are always fighting them. They are always doing that. Come to their schooling, they are never at rest. They are never at rest with everybody they meet with. Everybody is their problem. They shout at this, they fight at that, they quarrel with this, they quarrel with that. And then they don't understand why, in their head they are never at rest. They are never at rest in their health. You are just there, never at rest. There is a rest for the soul. There is a rest for your soul. There is a rest. There is a rest. There is a rest. Rest for your soul. Rest for your soul. Rest for your soul. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. One prayer again I want us to take this evening. I want us to ask the Lord. I raised the matter with you, in fact, I've been raising it now in the last two, three weeks. Jesus said, "You err, not knowing the scripture." That is the need for us to learn God and know Him. That's through the other one is, "nor the power of God." The church, the church has become lukewarm. Our fellowships have become plastic. It has become traditional and ritualistic. Yet, we need power. Power. Power. A ritualistic church cannot do anything to a dying world. A conventional church cannot do anything. A church that is just with the usual, the usual, the usual thing will start with opening prayer, we close with the grace or I don't know how different churches close with different things. Some will close with their yearly watchword, some will close with they will come again next Sunday. They know how they start, they know how they close. Everything is just ritualistic like that. We need demonstration of the power of God. We need signs, we need wonders. What the scripture says is that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. The gospel is not in words. The gospel is in the Holy Spirit. It is in power. The gospel is in demonstration of power. I want you to pray, beginning with yourself. We want to pray for the church, but begin with yourself. Lord, Lord, send down fire. Take my life out of mere casualty. Take my life out of mere everyday ritual. Take my life out of the just the usual, the usual, the usual thing. Bring, Lord, experience of Your power in my life. Let there be an experience, the power of the Holy Ghost. We receive power when the Holy Spirit come upon us. What we receive is not just tonguing. It's not just to be tonguing without power. Gospel should be with power. Our words should be with power. Our encounter with the world should be with power. Our encounter in our fellowships should be with power. It is power, it is power. We cannot convince a world without power. You cannot do anything to a world, to a dying world, if there is no power. We need the power of God to be manifested again. What we are seeing in the church today is lethargy. We have become contented with tradition. We have become contented with convention. We have become contented with, where is the manifestation of the word of knowledge? Go and check. The Bible speaking in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the Bible spoke very clearly about manifestation of different gifts. It said there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are differences of ministry, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but the same God worketh in all and through all. But the manifestation of the spirit is given to everyone for the profit of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit, another the word of knowledge, to another faith, to another, another the gift of healing, to another, the gift of healing by the same spirit, to another the working of miracle, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirit, to another different kinds of tongue, to another interpretation of tongue. But what I'm trying to make you see, where are all of these gifts in our fellowship today? Where are they? We are not just to be reading them in the Bible. Brethren, brethren, we are not just to be reading them in the Bible. We are supposed to demonstrate them. Healing, people come, "Oh, I have this sickness." Somebody with healing is saying, "Oh, as I lay my hands on you it is God and it is God." Somebody is performing miracle. Oh, brethren, brethren, what we have today cannot do anything for a revival. We need revival. We need revival. We need revival. What we are seeing today is not what God expect. What we want, the manifestation of the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit that is given to us is not just to be inside us and then all we can do is to be speaking tongues. No, it said these gifts of the Holy Spirit, they are for the profit of the church. It is for our profit, so that we can profit one another. The person that have this one will profit the other person. The person that have that one will profit the other person. But all I see today is that we gather in church, we give some testimony, we do some one or two Bible reading, we do one or two sharing, after the brief sharing we do some dancing and singing and whatever again, and after that, oh goodness! I am talking about manifestation of power. We have lost something. We have lost something. We have lost something. We must beg God. We must beg God. The gift of the Holy Spirit. If an unbeliever enter into our midst and he has come with, maybe I don't know, maybe with one goiter, maybe with one ailment, and somebody by the word of knowledge he say there is somebody here you have this, and somebody that have healing is laying hand and the thing is going, and somebody that can do miracle is doing miracle, and somebody with prophecy, Lord, wake up Your church. Lord, wake up Your church. Lord, wake up Your church. Lord, wake up Your church. Lord, wake up Your church. Lord, wake up Your church. Lord, wake up Your church. Lord, wake us up. Begin with me. Begin with me. Begin with me. Begin with me. Begin with me. Begin with me. I don't want to be usual in the midst of my brethren again. I don't want to be usual in the midst of my brethren again. I don't want to be usual. Manifestation of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. Lord, send down revival. Lord, send down revival. Lord, send down revival. Let it begin with me. Oh Lord, Lord, send down revival. Lord, send down revival. Lord, send down revival. Let it begin with me. Revival, Lord, send down revival. Lord, send down revival. Lord, send down revival. Let it begin with me. Our Father, as we close this evening because of time, my prayer, my prayer is that this matter will not leave us until our life individually, individually catches the fire of revival in the name of Jesus. Lord, Lord, cause us to bend our head in prayers. Cause us to bend our head in persistence. Cause us to bend our head in labor. Lord, until the fire falls in the name of Jesus. Lord, Lord, the Bible says in the days of Your power Your people shall be willing. Lord, we are begging You. The traditions, the activities of the robbers, activities of thieves, activities of false teachers, activities of traditions, cultures, conventions, practices, oh God almighty, that have taken the center place in our churches and fellowship today, as against demonstration of the Holy Spirit, as against demonstration of power, as against salvation, redemption, holiness, sanctification, purification, change, growth, enlargement, walking with God, expansion in faith, breaking forth into nations, conquering nations for Jesus. Oh God, Lord, come into Your temple suddenly again. Come into Your temple. Come into Your temple. Come into Your temple. Lord Jesus, come into Your temple. Come into Your temple. Come into Your temple. Overrun the table of the money changers. Scatter whatever we may be doing. Arrange it back for us again in the name of Jesus. Lord Jesus, the church belongs to You. Come and take Your place. Come and take Your place. Everywhere men are sitting in Your place. Everywhere tradition is sitting in Your place. Everywhere conventions, routines, and rituals, everywhere they are sitting in Your place. Lord Jesus, displace them. Displace them. And Lord, we are begging You, begin with our life. Begin in the place of our quiet time. Begin with us in our personal prayers. Take us out of our comfort zone. Send Your fire. Send Your fire. Send Your fire. Send Your fire in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Baba. Thank You, Baba. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever more. Amen. **Speaker 3** This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and marriage 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 out-reaches and every day counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, [unclear: Ilere] community, opposite [unclear: Verrejoy] filling station along [unclear: Ijera] 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 080-338-611-36, 070-336-138-48. God bless you all. [background noise]