Biblical Concept of Faith (27)

[Background music: Choral singing] [Speaker 1] We give him all the glory. We give him all the praise. We give him all the honor. We thank him for his mercies. We thank him for his love. We thank him for all who he is and for all that he is. We have been looking at biblical concept of faith for some time now, and today we are in episode 27. Last week we took time to look at the matter of understanding the concept of why the Bible says faith is the assurance of things hoped for. We tried to establish the matter of confidence when the Bible says, "Do not cast away your confidence, which has a great recompense of reward." We saw that faith is a track record. Something you have been having with somebody and both of you have been going together for a while. God expects that every dealing at some point is supposed to become a cumulative experience for the believer, a cumulative experience on which the believer builds and moves on from that point. We saw in Hebrews 10 how the Bible says that there is a starting point to the confidence we have in God and there is a continuation point to it, and that is where we closed last week. Let us have a word of prayer as we press on today to get into chapter 11 and then see how we sum up everything, if possibly get into chapter 12. So, we will take the matter from Hebrews 10, read into 11, and then move on from that point. Let us pray. Everlasting Father, we are grateful unto you. We thank you for your mercies. We thank you for your love. We thank you for all who you are. We thank you for all that you are to us. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you, our Father. We say be thou exalted in the name of Jesus. Lord, as we come together again this evening, our brethren who are joining us on Telegram, our brethren who are joining us on Mixlr, we who are here physically as we fellowship together this evening, Lord we pray, let your presence be with us. Lord, meet with individuals where they need you most. Speak to us collectively as a group. Teach us your ways, O God, in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, make us to walk in your path. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, we will take the matter from chapter 10 where we read last week, just to recollect one or two things and from there we move on this evening. So, let’s look from verse 32. [Speaker 2] Hebrews 10:32-38: "But recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with suffering: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves. Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has a great recompense of reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 'For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.'" [Speaker 1] Now the just shall live by faith. And last week we established from all that we have said, what is faith? Faith is simply the ability to remain confident in God based on what God has done before in your life. God has done some things. God has said some things. God did some things. God worked around your life. From when you were born, in primary school, in secondary school, you entered the university; God did some things. Faith is that confidence that if God could say this and God could do this at this point in my life, in this new point that I'm in, God is able to repeat it and even do it much more. God is able. That is the confidence he is talking about. That was what we took time to establish last week in Biblical Concept of Faith episode 26. And I will beg you, if you have not been with us on this journey that started three months ago—what is faith according to the Bible—it will be good you go and listen to all the episodes from episode one, how we journeyed and today we are in episode 27, Biblical Concept of Faith. So, we can see from this place, that was where we concluded the matter last week and we prayed. That faith is simply yesterday God said this, God did this. Last week God said this, God did this. Now I am facing a situation, I am confident. Last week God said this and he did it. Yesterday he said this and he did it. This today, I am confident that God who said and did last week, yesterday, is able to do again today. He says so that is what he is saying now. He says, "Now the just shall live by that faith." So faith is actually a confidence. But if any man draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. If any man, like we saw our fathers, they drew back. They could not say, "Ah, God who took us out of Egypt, God who dealt with Pharaoh, God who brought us to the Red Sea, God who parted the Red Sea, God who caused Pharaoh and his chariot to be consumed in the sea, God who brought water out of the rock, God who rained manna, that God is able to give us the land." They simply said, "Ah, we are not able to take this land. In our sight we are like grasshoppers. In fact, God has brought us here to kill us. We are going to die." And God said, "Okay, as you have said in my ears, that's what I will do to you." But for Joshua and Caleb, who maintained their confidence, who said, "If God has done XYZ, then God can do ABC," the two of them will see the land. And that's why he says if any man draws back, if any man cannot continue that confidence in God, if any man cannot rest on God like that, God's soul has no pleasure in such a person. And that is what he did to our fathers. They were overthrown in the wilderness. We will not be overthrown. It is from here that I want to kick off into chapter 11. He now encouraged them anyway, that "we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul." Now, when he enters 11, what did he now say? "Now." Why "now"? What he has said from chapter 11—and I always like saying this when we are expanding scriptures like this verse by verse—please believers should remember that Bible originally came as scrolls. They are scrolls. There was no chapter. There was no verse. No chapter, no verse. Hebrews is just a continuous letter. Somebody was just writing. All those Matthew were just a continuous story. They were just telling the story of Jesus. It was just the way you write long essay, no chapter, no verse. They just wrote like that. It was much more later that somebody introduced verses for the purpose of convenience of reading and reference. It was later that somebody introduced chapters. Did you get it? So, the best way to read these books many times is to have it in mind that there was no chapter and there were no verses. Read them as continuous reading. It helps you to grasp the context of what they are saying. Because many times, you know what I notice in believers? They'll just pick something in Hebrews chapter 11 and just begin to fire on. By the time you check what they fired on on, you will be surprised. It has no correlation with what the Holy Spirit was raising from the preceding chapter. So, if we don't want to get the Bible out of context, it is important to look at the Bible as each of these books as a single reading. So he now said, "Now." So you don't want to start a statement and say, "Now." Let's look at some other translation. NLT: "What is faith?" Why? Because he has been talking about faith. NIV: "Now." KJV: "Now." Amplified: "Now." What am I trying to make you see is that that word "now" is connecting 11 with 10. He now said, "Now faith is the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed of the things we hope for, being the proof of the things we do not see and the conviction of their reality. Faith is perceiving as real what is not revealed to the senses." Why do you perceive it as real? Taking from where we left the matter last week, why do you perceive it? Why did the Bible say, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence, the evidence of what you have not seen"? What is an evidence? A proof for what you have not seen. So you say faith is the proof. So why is faith a proof? Because of what he has done before. It's a track record. You get it? That is what we took time to establish last week, that please faith is a track record. You remember David like we said last week? When David was to confront Goliath, what did he say? He spoke about the lion and the bear. So what gave David a proof that this uncircumcised Philistine is nothing to be feared, your servant will go and fight with this Philistine? What was his proof? While the Israelites were seeing a giant, what was David seeing? A lion and a bear that a sling will kill. That was his proof. Saul said, "You cannot, let's look at that scripture." I want us to look at that scripture. These things, they are written for our learning and it's good that we pay attention very closely to these things for our learning, our increase, and our understanding. They normally help us to see God and see God in a way that will help us to comprehend God very well. Now, look at what Saul was telling David in 1 Samuel 17 verse 31. [Speaker 2] 1 Samuel 17:31-37: "Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they were reported to Saul; and he sent for him. Then David said to Saul, 'Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.' And Saul said to David, 'You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.' But David said to Saul, 'Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.' Moreover David said, 'The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.' And Saul said to David, 'Go, and the Lord be with you!'" [Speaker 1] What was the proof to David that Goliath will die? Because God had done it in the past. So when we are talking about the word of faith, the word of faith, the confession of faith, we are talking about our testimony. We are talking about our testimony. When God begins to do things, once we become born again, walking with God is not just about some activities. It's about a daily reality of somebody who has a relationship with God and who sees God answering his or her prayers, who sees God doing some things and says, "Father, thank you. Oh, thank you Jesus." There's a relationship and he's building on that relationship. He's resting on that relationship. He says, "Ah, God you did this. Lord, thank you." And that is why I tell people there must be a regeneration of the spirit. There must be a regeneration. If people don't get born again and have a personal relationship with God, if you add them to the church, they are just disasters. They are disasters. You know what will happen? They will just be people of activities but no reality. They must have been a relationship because that relationship is what we are calling faith. Relationship is not the activity in the church. "I'm in choir, I'm in this, I'm in that." No, no, no, I'm telling you, you can do all of that without being a Christian. I was an active member of the choir, an active member of the evangelical team, an active member of my church prayer band. In fact, I entered into the choir at the age of 10. And we rose like that in orthodox churches you have that, you rise, you grow through the rank like that. Then you move from juvenile to youth like that, like that, like that. And we rose like that. I became committed, was in the prayer warrior team, then I moved on I was evangelical team, we go out on evangelism, what? I wasn't born again. There was no relationship, there was no personal relationship. Not until much more later when God because everybody thought church activity makes you a Christian and I was just going like that becoming move on, move on, move on like that until when God himself decided to look for me. You know, it is easier when you are lost and being lost is that you are in the world. You are lost and you are in the world and everybody is looking for you. But if you are lost and you are in the church, nobody will be looking for you. They will think you are among them. So some are lost in the house, some are lost in the field. The worst of all the people are those who are lost inside the house. That's why Jesus said if somebody has a missing silver coin, what does he do? He will need to put on a candle, light up the whole house, take broom, sweep everywhere to look for that silver coin because it was lost inside. But the sheep, there's no need for sweeping. There's no need for putting on light, there is daylight. A sinner is clearly seen. You don't need light to know a sinner. They are clearly seen. But by the time you've been very active in church and he's very busy and committed and I mean I don't miss any church program, that's the level of commitment. But I wasn't born again before God in his mercies came and just one day just singing hymn and the hymn convicted me and I gave my life to Christ and so nobody really preached to me to become born again. It was just God who found me in his mercies. The point I'm trying to bring out is this. I'm trying to explain biblical faith. What I'm trying to say is that biblical faith is an impossibility without a personal relationship. You can be anything inside the church but the beginning of biblical faith is a relationship. Relationship in which somebody is conscious of a connection to somebody and is recognizing what that person is doing in his or her life. He says, "Ah, Father, thank you for this." He recognizes it is him who did it. He prays to him, "Father, I want this done. Lord!" He goes into his word, "Lord, your word says this to me and I believe this word." And he rested on that word and the Lord showed up for him, "Oh, thank you Lord." So something is going on. That's why I tell people when the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 3, God leading the way. I said it is not an event, it is a process. The process begin with "Trust the Lord with all your heart." That's the process. Number two: "Do not lean on your own understanding." Number three: "In all your ways acknowledge him." Then number four is now God leading the way and he will direct. I said so there are three things that must have happened before God can direct. Then I said, when the Bible say "Trust the Lord with all your heart," the question I ask believers is "Can you trust who you don't know?" What is the basis of trust when you talk about trust? Can there be a matter of trust when you don't have relationship with somebody? Before you talk about trust, there must be a connection between you and that person. If he's your customer, you say, "Okay, I will send you the money. Okay, I will make the yam ready." The person is your customer. There's a relationship. You have known that the person will get the yam ready. Trust don't come into where there is no one-on-one relationship. So when the Bible say "Trust the Lord with all your heart," the Bible presupposes that he is speaking to people who already people of God. He is not speaking to somebody who does not have a relationship with God. That there's a one-on-one relationship and on that relationship something is happening. And it is from that that the Bible is calling faith. He say "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for." You are hoping for something but there is an evidence. What is the evidence? The God who delivered me from the lion, from the bear, is able to deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistine. Now faith is that proof. Faith is something. So faith is not just—that is why when I went to chapter 12, I said biblical faith is not an idealistic faith. It is a living reality. It's a reality. It's not just an idea. It's not an intellectual thing. No. It's a life thing. It's something that is real to you. It's real to you. It's something that is clear. It's something that has a starting point and it is growing. You are growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord. The more you grow in the knowledge of the Lord, the more you know the Lord, the more the faith it goes on and on like that. It starts from somewhere and it grows. Relationship deepens. It gets more intimate. It gets deeper. And as it gets deeper, it commands more influence. It commands more power. It commands better access. Not that God is just making the access to be there, but the more you relate with somebody, the more confidently you can approach the person. The less you relate, the less you can approach. Not as if God began to make the access bigger, no. But the more confidently you can come. So it's actually a growth. It's a growth. You are increasing in something. And that's why the Bible says, like where we start, Jesus is the minister of better things. From glory to glory, He's changing me. He's changing me. He's changing me. From earthly to heavenly. It's a growth. You start becoming more and more conformed to the image of the Son of God. Until we get to a point like Jesus where we become so sure. If you look at the relationship between Jesus and the Father, it was such that the Son did all he did so confidently. He did all he did with so much assurance. He did all he did with so much confidence. There was this connection. There was this connection that praying through the night, he connects so much to the Father, he makes certain things so real to us, that Jesus was not here only as God incarnate, he was also man, very man. He was man, very man, as he was God, very God. And he gave us the example. So there's this confidence and that's why you notice two things in the scriptures. Look at two things I want to show you in the scriptures. Look at Isaiah chapter 26. [Speaker 2] Isaiah 26:3-4: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength." [Speaker 1] You will keep him in perfect peace. Let's see NLT. "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you." Are you seeing that? Look at Amplified. "You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace." You will guard him and keep him in what? In perfect and constant. So when peace is not constant, it's not perfect. You can be at constant peace. But it is something that God does. Do you see it? It is God who actually work that. He say, "You will." God will do it. He will put him in constant peace. Peace can be constant. You can always have a peace that is—when a peace is constant, then it is perfect. If your peace is you have peace today, you don't have tomorrow, you have next tomorrow, you have for one month, you don't have again for... No, no, no. That's not the kind of thing that God is offering. God is offering a perfect peace, a peace that is constant. You will keep in perfect peace, perfect and constant peace, whose mind, both its inclination and its character, is stayed on you because he commits himself to you, leans on you and hope confidently in you. Then verse 4 says, "Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord is everlasting strength." Now look at how these thing play out in the life of somebody. 2 Chronicles chapter 14, 15, 16. That is when King Asa became the king. Asa became king in chapter 14. We will go through it very fast because actually where I'm going is chapter 16. But I want you to have some background so you can understand the matter. The father of Asa is Abijah. Abijah died and Asa became king. When Asa became king, the Bible says that Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. So what is that telling you? That Asa had a walk with God. He did something good and right in the sight of the Lord. Now they now told us what he did. He removed the altar, he commanded Judah to seek the Lord, he removed the high places, he built fortified cities, therefore he said to Judah, "let us build," for the Lord has given us rest. Asa had an army of 300,000, those are his whatever. But go to verse 9. I'm rushing to chapter 16. That's why I'm skipping verses. What happened in the verse 9? [Speaker 2] 2 Chronicles 14:9-11: "Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried out to the Lord his God, and said, 'Lord, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!'" [Speaker 1] Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots. How many men did Asa have? Go back to verse 8. Asa has an army of how many men? 300,000 from Judah who carried spear and from Benjamin, how many? 280,000. So add it together: 580,000. So he had 580,000 men. The Ethiopians that were coming, they came out against him with how many men? 1 million men apart from 300 chariots. So how many is coming against him? 1 million. Plus 300 chariots. Some people are saying 1.3 million. No, just make it 300. Just say that one person is on the chariot. He can be two, but I'm trying to be at least minimal with that. Let's take it as one, 1.3 million. How many does Asa have? 580,000. So you can see that it is almost twice the size of his own army. A large multitude. What happened? It says so Asa went out against them and set the troops in battle array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. Look at what the Bible says. Verse 11: "And Asa cried out to the Lord his God." Do you note that? He didn't cry to the Lord God of Israel. He cried to the Lord *his* God. Personal. Relationship. Possession. There is the God of Israel. There is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. That is what was transferred to them. But there was a walk that brought that God to "his God." That is what many believers don't have. We know God generally. We don't know him in a personal and a specific way. And that is why there is no faith. That is why there is no faith. It is in a personal and a specific way that the Bible is talking about faith. And you notice the Hebrews chapter 10 that we read, what did he say? "Now the just shall live by faith." It didn't say "by faith," it said by *his* faith. You know what he's saying? The just shall live by the personal track record relationship that he has built with God over time. Anybody who don't have that, let me announce to you, is not a just person, he's still an unbeliever. Biblical faith is what we are talking about. Biblical faith is not a new thing. I keep telling people this faith is not new. Faith did not begin with us. Faith begins from Abel. Abel was coming to God, he had a personal understanding of that God, so he brought an excellent sacrifice more than Cain. There was—he had an understanding of that God. Cain was coming to offer things generally. Abel knew that, "No, ah, this God, He needs the best." There was a personal thing that brought that thing. It say by faith, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice. We are coming to the others very soon, but I'm trying to open that why is faith evidence? Why do we talk about evidence? What is the evidence? Because evidence is a proof. The reason why people cannot live by faith today is because they don't have any proof. You know what they have? They have church activities. They have activities. Activities! But activity is not faith. It's not faith! Devotedness, that is still not faith. These are just consequences of faith. You get the point I'm making? They are consequences. Once there is faith, there will be devotedness. If there is faith, there will be activities. But please, the activities, they are not faith. It looks contradictory, but it is real. It's just like for God so loved the world that he gave, so love means the ability to give up oneself for the purpose of another person. You are committed regardless of who the person is. The person may not merit it, and you give yourself committedly so that the best of that person can come out without expecting anything in return. That is what we saw as love. But do you know that you can give your body to be burned and yet you don't have that love? He said, even if I give my body to be burned, it will not profit me because I don't have love. So which means again that love is not giving. Giving is a dimension of love, but it is not love. You can give and it's not love. You know there's a way I remember when brothers were boys. You know we were once boys before we became brothers. When you get to some places and you want to show, you want to make a show of yourself in something. You know what you do? You just get the place and you just say, "Madam, oya, give that. You have brought a lady, you want to create impression you have money. You say, okay, just give her whatever she wants. Give that my friend too what he wants. Give, give, give, give, just give them." Because you actually want to impress a girl that there's money in your pocket so that you can take her somewhere. It's not because you love her. So you need to get something. The Bible is saying that when we say that devotedness, activity, they are just dimensions to faith but they are not faith. You can have all those things but don't have the Christian faith. Because many times—and this is a problem when you come many times to marital junctions. You are asking a brother, how do you know? He say, "Ah, she's our sister's coordinator, she's a sound Christian." I begin to wonder, is it the sister's coordinator that make her sound Christian? You are speaking with a sister. He say, "So, is he a believer? Ah! Hey! In fact, he doesn't miss any of our activities in the church. He's so committed. Ah! He's a true believer oh! He comes regularly. In fact, he's the person who always pays his tithe." And I begin to wonder, do you know what faith is? Since you can measure faith that way, you too don't even have faith. Because you don't know what faith is. Faith transcends these things. And that's why Hanani said, "Ah! what happened?" Look at verse 7: "At that time, Hanani the seer came to Asa King of Judah and said to him..." Because you relied on the King of Syria. Oh! I'm showing you what God is calling faith. Why without this thing it is impossible to please God. I'm showing you what God is calling faith. He says, "Because you relied on the king of Syria and have not relied on the Lord..." Did he say "the God of Israel" now? The Lord *your* God. He called him back again. Your God. What is God telling him? We have a personal relationship. A relationship there should be trust. We have a relationship. Men may not be trusted, but God is trustworthy. If we have a relationship with me, I expect you to trust me. I expect you to trust me! That's what God is calling faith. That is the proof. Ah! are you sure your husband will do it? Forget it, I know my husband. Are you sure your wife will do it? Forget it, I know my wife. It's when you say, "Forget the matter. I know whom I believe." That is what God is saying, that is what God is calling faith. "I know whom I believe." I'm not just a member of Anglican church or Deeper Life church or Redeemed church or Baptist church or Gospel Faith, I'm not just that. I know whom I believe. I know him! I'm not just a member. I know whom I believe. I know him. He's actually a growth. It's a growth. You grow in the relationship. It is not stagnant. It's a growth. You move on. You climb. You climb. You climb. You climb. You climb. You climb. You climb higher and higher and higher and higher and higher and higher to that place of confidence and rest. To that place—yes, it's a climb. It's a climb. We climb. The Bible says he gave one to be apostle, one to be prophet, one to be evangelist, one to be pastor, one to be teacher, for the perfecting of the saint, in view of the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of faith unto the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ. It is a growth. You grow in the relationship. It is not stagnant. It's a growth. You move on. You climb. You climb. You climb. You climb. You climb. You climb. You climb higher and higher and higher. Oh, thank you Lord Jesus. Thank you Lord Jesus. Pray to the Lord this evening as we close. If you have not started relationship, start one now. If you have started one, begin to pray, "God, help me not to do foolishly. Help me to take note of what you are doing in my life. Help me to keep records. Help me to follow. Help me to keep records. Help me to follow through." The Lord my God. You expect me—your eyes are running to and fro the earth. They are running. They are running to and fro the earth. Ah! Yes, I have a proof now. What you did before, you can do it again. That is the proof that you can do it again. This step that I'm resting on, I can use it to climb the next one. This one that I'm resting on again, I can climb the next one. That is the proof. That is the proof in your hand. That is the proof. Ah! Ẹyin lọba tó ṣetàná. Ah! Ẹyin lọba tó tún ṣetònì. Ó daju wípé ẹ ó ṣetọla. Ọlọrun mi mo wa dupẹ. If you have not—if you are listening to me and you are just a church member, they have not told you that, "Look, that is not faith. That is just church activity." I am telling you now, repent and be converted. Come and start a relationship with God. That is the beginning of faith. That is what the Bible calls faith, a relationship. And that relationship becomes the basis. Then you can say, "Ah, I met with God. One day I was listening to Brother Wale Olusoya. I met with God that day. The Spirit of God spoke to my heart and I started something. I knew it was God." Then you begin the journey. You begin the journey. You begin to look into His word. "What has this God said? What does He want me to know about you?" That is what we call quiet time. You start that walk. That is what they call quiet time. "God, I have come. What have you said in your word? What do you want me to know about you?" And you begin to follow on. That is how it starts, step by step. You begin to encounter things. You call on that God again. "Oh God, if you could save me and you gave me Jesus, God, is there anything you will not give me with Jesus? Lord, I'm facing this challenge. Help me to solve this thing." God will show himself. And when he does that, you climb on that step. You move on again to another thing. Hey! God! Another thing again! Like that you are climbing. Oh, thank you Lord Jesus. Thank you Lord Jesus. Help us to climb higher and higher and higher and higher. Deepening our walk with you on a daily basis. Thank you, Jesus. Let me call on my wife to close this meeting for us this evening. [Speaker 3] Heavenly Father, we are grateful unto you. Thank you for speaking to us, thank you for your word. Thank you for sending your word, thank you for healing us, because your word don't go out void, it goes to accomplish that which is sent for. Thank you for blessing us, for healing, for delivering. You send your word, your word heals and deliver us from all our destruction. Lord, we return all glory unto you in the name of Jesus. Lord, we pray, oh Lord, as we go in this truth, Lord, this life, this seed, oh Lord, will bring forth the desired result; fruit in 30, in 50, in hundreds in Jesus' name. This word will become flesh in us, will become our life in the name of Jesus. Please help us that we will not be forgetful hearers. Help us, O Lord, that we will not forget your dealings. Lord, we pray for everyone that has committed his or her heart to you in a journey of faith, personal intimate fellowship with you, Lord God Almighty. We pray that as they have started with you, we know you are the Lord that carries everyone that comes to you. Lord, we pray that their life will never remain the same. Help us, O Lord, to bury our head in your presence. Help us to bury our life in knowing you personally. Help us not to seek and desire anything outside this. Help us to desire this beyond our everyday food in the mighty name of Jesus. Father, we thank you for your son. Thank you, Lord, as virtue has gone out of him. Lord, you are the Lord that replenishes. Lord, replenish in millions fold. Replenish beyond his expectation. Replenish him for the expansion of God's kingdom. Replenish him for the fulfillment of his destiny and ministry. Replenish him in every way in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you, faithful God. In Jesus' name we pray. [Speaker 1] Let's share the grace in unity. 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. Surely God's goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching 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 PM, Adolescents and Singles Club every first Saturday of every month at 10 AM, marriage forum second Saturday of every month at 10 AM, family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp, by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station, along Ijede 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. [Outro music: Choral singing]