Biblical Concept of Faith (30)

[Speaker 2] Church is no fellowship and no more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God-to-be-designed of godliness, these are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. Will you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Our Father, we are grateful. We thank you for your mercies. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for the mercy that has brought us again to another Monday, another time for our discipleship class. Lord our God, we commit ourselves into your hand. We welcome our brethren who are on Telegram. We welcome our brethren who are on Mixlr. Lord, as we all come together this evening, we who are here physically, as we all connect together, Lord, we pray that your Spirit will work within us. Lord our God, there will be an entrance of your word in the name of Jesus Christ. Precious Father, the Bible says the entrance of your word gives light and understanding to the simple. Lord, cause our hearts to receive light and understanding in the name of Jesus. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. We have been on this our very, very important topic since I think we started this topic sometime in March, Biblical Concept of Faith. And we are today on the Episode 30 of Biblical Concept of Faith. And we are going to take it from where we left it last week, Hebrews chapter 11. Let’s turn our Bible to Hebrews chapter 11. That was where we left it last week. Hebrews 11. We take our reading from verse 4, thereabouts. We have considered the earlier verses of that book, verse 1, verse 2, and verse 3. I believe we were able to come to a critical conclusion last week when we were looking at "It is by faith that we understand that the universe was framed by the word of God." That is Hebrews 11:3. That was our focus last week, that it is faith that gave us an understanding. And it is that under which gives us a standing. That was our focus last week. Faith is the under that gave us a standing. The standing is that we are able to stand on this reality that everything we see around us is not created by the things we see. That is, nothing physical explained the things that we physically see. The things that we see, what brought about them was that God spoke and it was done. It was faith that gave us that under that made us to be able to stand on that reality. And very importantly, we drew a very strong conclusion that when God wants to create anything in your life, anything that will be seen in your life, God must speak. It is by speaking. So that any life that cannot hear God, then that life cannot enter into everything that God want to do with that life. You must be able to hear God. God must speak. God must say something. "Arise, do this job, you will prosper." Then when you do it, you prosper, you have money. When it comes to marriage, God say, "Arise, marry Bode, David. Marry Alice." And when David does that, there is life. What will be seen in that marriage will not come from what is physical. It will come from that command that told David to go that direction. So until God can speak to a man, the purpose of God cannot be established. And that is why the whole essence of Christianity is the ability of a man to hear God and stop to God. That’s the whole essence of Christianity, that constant, personal, passionate, consistent, continuous, fervent, intense fellowship that a man has with God. So that is faith. Bible say faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. So if a man cannot hear, faith cannot come. And then the second conclusion we drew last week was that today I want to show the connection between the Rhema and the Logos. This Logos, this word of God that we read. There’s a connection between that word of God that we read and the word of God that we hear. That is what I want to look at critically today. So I’m trying to bring us to how we ended the meeting last week before I move on to where we are going this week. And then we said last week, actual faith goes beyond the Logos, the reading of the Bible. If all you have is that you read the Bible and you literally understand it like a literature book, then what you have gotten is the knowledge of the Bible, not an encounter with God of the Bible. There’s a difference between Bible knowledge and the knowledge of God. There are several people that have the knowledge of the Bible but they don’t know God. There are many CRK teachers who are not saved, who don't have any encounter with God. They can tell you everything about the Bible. The Bible is an academic exercise for them. So they just do it as an academic exercise and they can explain, explain, explain, but there is no encounter. Now, but when we’re talking about faith, faith is not just the academics of the Bible, the intellectual aspect of the Bible. Faith is the Rhema, the God encountering the author of the Bible. The Bible says holy men wrote as they were moved by the Spirit of God. So it is when you encounter the author that you actually encounter God, not just what is written. So there are several men who are having encounter with what is written but not with the author. So what they have is Bible knowledge. But what we are talking about is an encounter with the author. That is what we are calling faith. And what we want to do is that I want to make you to see that there is a strong connection between the written word of God and the spoken word of God. While what we are looking for is the spoken word of God, the Rhema, you need to understand that there is a connection between the written and the spoken. The reason being that it was God who moved holy men to write. So there is a reason for writing. If you go to the book of John, the book of Revelation, where God was speaking at different points to Apostle John, you notice that at some point, the Bible will say, they will tell him, "Write, write, write." Who have noticed that in the Bible very well? Write, write. The only time he was told not to write, who can tell me the only time he was told not to write? He wanted to write, he said, "Don’t write." It is only for only you to hear, so you should not utter it to men. Apostle Paul spoke about the same thing. He said, "I know of a man who was caught up to the third heaven and he heard many things that are not lawful to be uttered by men." So there are some things that are not lawful to be uttered even though the person who have the encounter hears those things. But he was constantly told to write, write, write. So there is a reason. God has a reason for writing. And that is why what we are saying is not that the written word of God is useless. No, that’s not what we are saying. No. But we are saying that walking with God has the place of Bible reading, it has the place of Bible study, but it also has the place of meditation. And if you check very much into the scripture, Bible will say, "Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. In whose law he meditates on it." It’s about meditating. Meditating on the word goes beyond the reading of the word, the study of the word. It goes to encountering the word, where you come to the point where you speak to the word and the word speaks to you. Now, let’s see something about our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to show the connection between the written word of God and the spoken word of God. Let’s look at something in the book of John chapter 3. Maybe I should begin with that of John. Let me begin with that of John in John chapter 3. John chapter 3. I want to show you what John said when they were speaking to him and John spoke the scripture. Look at John chapter 3. I want to take it from verse 23. It says, "Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him.’ John answered and said, ‘A man can receive nothing unless it is given to him from above. You yourselves bear witness that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase but I must decrease.’" I’m trying to make you see something that they came to John and they were asking him a very vital question. And what did he tell them? He said that he’s not the Christ. He said, "I’m not the Christ. I only came to testify of Jesus Christ. As for me that you are looking at, I am not the Christ." They were looking at the mighty works that he was doing. So they are trying to identify him by the things that are seen. "From these things that we are seeing, this is who you are." He said, "I am not the Christ." He said, "Okay, if you are not the Christ, are you Elijah?" He said, "No, I am not Elijah." "Okay, are you the prophet?" What was the response again? "No, I am not the prophet." Now let’s go. "Then they said to him, ‘Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?’" Look at what John said. Verse 23. He said, "I am the voice," hallelujah, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the path for the Lord." "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said." Now when John said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness," where was he quoting from? "As Isaiah has said." So what Isaiah said, was John born when Isaiah was writing those things? So which chapter is John quoting in Isaiah? Isaiah chapter 40. Let’s go there quickly. Isaiah 40. Isaiah chapter 40. I read from verse 1. "Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for the Lord. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain shall be brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places made smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of God have spoken it." So where was he quoting from? Isaiah chapter 40. So what are you seeing? Wherever you are, brethren and those who are here, I want you to pray for just one minute. I want you to pray. See, let me tell you something, and I mean this prayer, please make sure you have prayed. You see in the different chapters of the Logos, the written word of God, there are things that are written concerning you. You must discover it. I am saying that John, when the world was trying to give him a different identity—the world will tell you, "Go and become a pastor." Ah, you are good to be an engineer. Go and be an architect. In fact, why not marry Bose? Oh, why not live in Abuja? It is good. The world will try to place you. But men who have discovered what has been written concerning them, they can never lose their identity. I want you to pray. Lord, in the Logos, that is in the written word, cause me to encounter the Rhema that is written concerning me. Something has been written concerning you. Something has been said. There is a purpose of God. There is something written and you must discover what has been written. When you say, "Look, no, no, no, just as it has been written concerning me, no, I am not going this way because what is written concerning me and oh, I can’t do that because something has been written concerning me." It is men who come into the Rhema of the Logos that is written concerning them that have proper direction in life. I want you to pray. God, God, God, cause me to encounter the Logos, that thing, let it become a Rhema to me. That thing that is written concerning me so that when life is asking me who are you, when people are asking me why are you doing this, when they are saying why are you going this way, won't you marry now, won't you take up this job, won't you go this way, won't you do this, why not become this, why not live in this place, why not settle in US, why not settle in Canada, why would you want to stay in Nigeria? No, why not stay in Nigeria? Why are you going to US? You can say, "Listen, something has been written. I have encountered the Rhema in the Logos. I have encountered the Rhema in the Logos. It is because I have encountered the Rhema in what has been written. I have encountered that which is written concerning me. It is because in what is written I know what has been said." Another person will say according to what Jeremiah said. Another person will say according to what John said. These things were written, but you must discover it in the Logos. In that Logos, in that thing that is written, there is a Rhema that must come to you. There is a reality that must come to you. That is what we are calling faith. Faith is the living word that jumps at you from the Logos. That Rhema that jumps at you, that tells you this is written concerning you. I’m trying to show you that men who were burning and shining light in their generation, they were men who were able to encounter the Rhema in the Logos. In the Logos, they were able to encounter the Rhema. It is not just accumulating the Logos. Uh-huh, Isaiah said, Isaiah said, Jeremiah, in Jeremiah, in Amos. No, it is beyond that. You must come to a point where you can say I am the voice. You must come to a point where you can say I am as it is said by Isaiah. Where you can say I am, where you can come into the point of I am. This is my I am. This is my own. That is what we are calling faith. That is what we are calling faith. It becomes personal. It becomes your own when men are trying to place you, when they want to give you a different identity, when they want to give you a wrong direction when you say no, no and let me tell you, you must seriously pray. Pray this again seriously in life. Lord, I must find direction before I gain speed. Help me to gain direction. You see, it is the Rhema in the Logos that gives you direction in life. Once you gain direction before you gain speed, your speed will not become destruction. Your speed will not become destruction. But if you don't gain the Rhema in the Logos, if you don't get what is written concerning you before you begin to jump into marriage, you begin to jump into money, you begin to jump into career, you begin to jump, oh, all those jumping, you are not building to last. You are not building to last. You are building to crash. You are building to crash. The one that will last, oh, the one that will last is the one that comes from the Rhema. It’s the one that comes from the Rhema. I’m going to show you as we are going on, but all we are praying, praying, praying in this one, two, three minutes is that God, God, ah, do not allow me, do not allow me, don’t allow me, Jesus, to be empty-handed. You see, men who have not discovered their Rhema from the Logos, they are men who are empty-handed. They are men who are empty. They are looking like men but they are not men. They are looking like women, they are no women. They are just vanity. They are just empty. I want you to pray. Jesus, don’t allow me, oh Jesus, do not allow me, don’t allow me, Jesus, to be empty-handed. Thank you, our Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. [background noise] Let’s move on, let’s move on. Let’s move on. There are critical points of prayer and we’ll be taking the prayer as we are traveling together. I just felt as the Spirit beats me. Now, so John was able to discover that he was a voice. That’s what he discovered. He said, "Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Christ?" He said, "I am not." But all this thing that you are doing, you are the Christ, as some would just say quickly, "I want... look at that point when they came to him. Look, he’s increasing, you are decreasing." He said, "You don’t understand. He must increase." There is no need for envy. There is no need for competition. Oh, are you understanding me? You are not threatened by somebody else’s progress. Oh, are you understanding me? They came to John, "See, he’s increasing. Look, everybody is going." He said, "You don’t understand. A man cannot receive anything except it be given to him from above. Me, I’m just the voice. I am not the Messiah. So I am designed to decrease for him to increase. There is no need for envy or competition. There is no need to say ah, my life this is like things are not working. There is no need because I have gained my direction. I know where I am going in life. I don’t need to become like I was telling somebody, don't ever desire to be the photocopy of somebody. You are an original of something. Are you understanding the point? Don't ever desire to be the photocopy of somebody, of someone. No. You are an original for something. There is an original about you. There is this originality that makes you unique. It’s that originality that makes you different. It's that originality that sets you apart. There is something original about you. Don't settle for the photocopy of somebody. Choose to be an original." John said, "Look, that is increasing. I’m not threatened by that. A man cannot receive a thing except it is given to him from above. That has been given to him. It has not been given to me because me, I am what? I am just a voice. While he is who? He is the Christ. And he, when he is lifted up, what will happen to him? He shall draw all men to himself. Me, I’m to prepare the way and I’ve prepared the way. I have turned out a people prepared for the Lord. Having prepared them, all of them will go to him. They are not to come to me because I am not the Messiah." He got his direction in life. So there is no struggle. There is no shaking. There is no sweat. He was contented to be where he was because he had discovered who he is. Look at the same thing about the Lord Jesus. Look at something about the Lord Jesus. You will find a similar thing about the Lord Jesus. I want to make you see that men who were burning and shining light in their generation, they were men who were able to connect the Logos and the Rhema. They were men who were able to bring these two things together. Once you cannot bring the two together, you cannot become a burning and a shining light. I want to show you something that Jesus said somewhere in the scripture. I want to bring two together. One is in Matthew chapter 4, but that’s I don't want to begin from that place. I want us to go to Luke chapter 4. Luke 4. Luke chapter 4. I want to read from around verse 18. Let’s go to Luke chapter 4. Luke 4 from around verse 16 so that the story can be clearer about Jesus. The Bible says, speaking about Jesus, he said, "So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read." I just let me just say this, by that is not where I’m going, but let me say it by way of a passing comment. If you must be a man that has a custom, something you do constantly, something you normally do. You must be a man, but that just by way of a passing comment. As his custom was, he went and I tell people one custom you must you must have, that is very, very important. If you look at this place it says he went into the temple on the Sabbath day. Have a custom, I tell people, don't be somebody who don't have a local assembly where you are known. Have a custom of have a place where you are known. It’s very, very important. Forsake not the assembly of one another as brethren. You know, I know churches have challenges. Church is some you enter some you say God what brought me here today, this is not a place to be. But if you prayerfully trust the Lord, just like Jacob prayed for Judah, he says bring Judah to his own people. There is a local assembly that in that place you will experience, just as the Bible says you will prosper, you will be in health as your soul prospers. Those two prosperities, prosperity of the soul, physical material prosperity and the prosperity in your health. There is a place, don't isolate yourself. It’s very, very important. Have a custom, just by way of side comment because I know that generally today, like in those days too, people have begun to forsake fellowship, forsake the assembly of brethren. I could understand that there is there are so many challenges today for this, so many challenges. Many places you call church today, they are not church. They are just solution centers. They are not salvation centers. Some places have what they practice is witchcraft, charismatic charismatic witchcraft. We know there’s a lot but if you prayerfully trust the Lord, the Lord will guide you. I believe that there are still places today where if you fellowship with them your life will be better. Now, let’s move on. He was handed, look at what happened, please look at something. He entered into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read. So when he say he stood up to read, what is that? Logos or Rhema? Logos. Is that not? He stood up to read what is written. Please be following this. He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." When he got to that place, to that to that point, look at what the Bible says he did. What did he do? The Bible says then he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And all the eyes, and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Please, what does that mean? Let’s try some other translation so you can get it. NLT: "Then he said to them, ‘This scripture has come true today before your very eyes.’" NIV: "And he began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’" The Message: "Then he started in, ‘You have just heard scripture make history. It came just now in this place.’" It came just now in this place. What is Jesus saying? That scripture is what is going on now. So when Isaiah spoke, what has happened to Jesus before he read the scripture before them? Jesus had come to the understanding that this is written concerning him. I’m trying to show you crucial things. I’m trying to make you see that men who became burning and shining light in their generation, they were men who were able to connect the Logos and the Rhema. They were men who were able to bring these two things together. Once you cannot bring the two together, you cannot become a burning and a shining light. So when we say faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God, what we are saying is that faith comes to the point where you can hear what God is speaking. He say he spoke and it was done. When God want to use you for something or he want to fulfill something in your life, what does God do? He takes the written and he does what? He personalizes it to you. The written becomes what? Your own, he personalizes it. That is what we meant when the Bible says "He sent his word and his word healed them." He will send it. You see, it is written but what is written becomes concerning me. It is not again, you see the word of God says no, it becomes "In this scripture, I am seeing." So you discover something, that men who don't give consistent attention to scriptures are also men who will not have encounter with what? With the Rhema. The Logos is not what we need. It is the Rhema from the Logos that we need. And that is why the Bible says "This book of the law should not what? Should not depart out of your mouth. But you must what? You must meditate on it day and night, day and night. So that you can observe to do according to what is written there." So there is this connection. We are talking we are we are we are saying that there is there is when God want to want to fashion greatness out of a man’s life, what becomes general becomes what? Personal. That is when real faith begins. That is when real faith begins. And do you know that do you know that this thing is a pattern with God? Look at 1 Kings chapter 13. 1 Kings chapter 13. Let’s see something in 1 Kings chapter 13. Are you there? 1 Kings chapter 13. He says, "Behold, a man of God," I’m reading from verse 1. "Behold, a man of God went out from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, ‘O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord, behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David. And on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned shall be burned on you.’ And he gave a sign the same day, saying, ‘This is the sign which the Lord God has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart and the ashes on it and the ashes on it shall pour out.’ So it came to pass when Jeroboam heard the man of God who cried against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying, ‘Arrest him!’ Then his hand which he had stretched out towards him withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself." That’s where I want to stop. We know the rest of the story. But please go back to 1. What do you notice in 1? What do you notice in the verse 1? It says behold a man of God went from where? From Judah to Bethel. How? By what? That man that went, by what? Do you notice say by the Lord’s command? Another version says by the word of the Lord. Are you getting something? So the man who went was not a man without direction. Are you seeing something? What gave him direction? A word came. That word became his. That's why it says he went by the Lord's command. So it was not just there’s the word of God, but this man did not just go by the word of God. He was going by a word of God that did what? That came to him. "Go to Bethel. Prophesy this word. Say the following things." Now, what was he supposed to do by that command? He was not supposed to return the same way by that command. I’m saving a lot of things. But you know at a point, the man, an old prophet went to him. If you read down the story. I’m trying to save time. An old prophet went to this young this young prophet. Am I correct? Are you familiar with the story? Are we all familiar with this story? Some of us are not familiar. Wow. I wanted to save my time by not reading those things. But let’s let’s let’s let me quickly read them. I just want to I want to show you something about Logos, Rhema, direction, power, strength, glory. That’s what I want to show you. That’s why I’m saying that may you gain direction before you gain speed. Because I’m talking about your identity, you must know who you are. If you don't know who you are, you will fall for anything. The world will give you a different identity. You will run in a different direction, you will run a different race. And at the end, let me tell you something, that’s what I want to show you with this man. When you move from your identity and your direction, you also move from a place of glory and power to a place of disgrace and shame. Knowing what is written concerning you is your glory, is your power, is your strength. But knowing it is not just enough. Running by it, you see that when they came to John, what were they trying to do? They are trying to give him a different identity. You must be Christ. You must be Elijah. You must be the prophet. And he said no, I know who I am. I know who God says I am. What he says I am, I know who I am. Are you understanding the point? For most people they can’t they sing that song, but it's just a song, it's not a reality their life. They don't know who they are. John said, "I know who God says I am. What he says I am, I know who I am." That was for John. And that was for this man. He was moving in that direction. But something happened. And he said to him, "I too, I am a prophet as you are. And an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’" He was lying to him. He was lying to him. So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water. Now it happened as they sat at the table that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but you came back and ate bread and drank water in the place of which the Lord had said to you "Eat no bread and drink no water," your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your father.’" So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet who had brought him back. When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his and his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. Is that not a miracle? Is that not an amazement? How a lion kill someone and not eat it? May we not become a wonder in disobedience. Something begin to happen with some people, they become a wonder because they left the place of honor and power. Hey! Which kind of thing is this? Hey! Can a Christian life be like this? Can this be like this? Because he left the path of glory and power. He became a wonder in disobedience. When you become a wonder in disobedience, you are you'll become a disgrace and a shame. When you leave, when you leave direction, when the word of God comes to you, that’s what I'm trying to make you understand something about this word of God coming. It is something today in this generation that this generation is not paying attention to. Young people today will be talking, "I just feel like doing this. I just like doing this. I just want to do this." Oh! These are not young people that can become people of glory and power. Men of glory and power, they are men who say, "Look, thus saith the Lord." And that is why if you notice that hymn, "It's so good to trust in Jesus." Are you familiar with that hymn? You know this stanza I love so much: "And to know thus saith the Lord." Jesus, Jesus, how I love you. How I want you more and more. You see, it is so good to know "thus saith the Lord." It is so good to know what God has commanded. Because that which God has commanded is the direction to which life must move. The Bible says he sustain, he maintain, he uphold, he propel the universe by the word of his power. Once you know what God command, that is Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. He sustain the universe by the word of his power. That is, the universe is going in the direction that God has commanded. History must go where God has commanded. Everything that goes outside that thing will end up in disgrace and shame. Look at it: "Of every thing in this garden eat. Of this do not eat." That is what God has commanded. At a point man got to a point where he did what? He left what he was to eat and he ate another thing. What happened to him? Disgrace and shame. You will not be disgraced. You will not be disgraced. You will not be disgraced. You will not be ashamed. In one minute you are going to pray. Lord, in every ramification of my life, my marital life, my financial life, my academic life, my career life, you see, oh you don’t have so many life, you only have one life. That one life, like the speaker said in a meeting I was on Saturday, everything inside the building, the fan, the light, the fridge, these are the different aspects of your life. The fan, the fridge, the freezer, the stabilizer, the TV, whatever. Once electricity enters into it, all of them become powered. You see, every aspect of your life need to experience this flow of God’s command. It needs to flow into it. And all of them will just receive light. Ah! You see, all you need just to begin to plug them. You plug your marriage to it. You plug your finance to it. As you plug them, they receive the light. As you plug them, they receive the light. You just begin to plug them. You are just plugging them. You are just plugging them. You plug your health. You plug your finance. You plug your career. You plug. And as you plug into that, into that light, that "thus saith the Lord," that "this is what the word of God says," they begin to just receive it like that. All of them begin to get that light, that direction. It is so good to know "thus saith the Lord." This is what God is saying. This is the direction of his counsel. This is the direction of his will. He sustain, he propel, he maintain the universe by the word of his power. It is just for you to get into it. Get into the command. Get into that command. Stay in it. And don't ever forget that the world try to get you out of it. In the name of Jesus we pray. Let’s move on, let’s move on. I want to get to where we I will conclude this evening. Now, you see, this man became a wonder. And look what happened. "And there men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then when they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt, now when the old prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, ‘It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord.’" You get the point I'm making. You get the point I'm making. Hosanna today, crucify him tomorrow. May your life not be managed by the crowd. May your life not be managed by public opinion. The same man who said "God said this thing," the same man again is describing the man who is disobedient. What I'm meant to say is that we need we need people today that have direction. They are the people that become burning and shining light. Men of Rhema, not men of Logos. "I think the word of God said that anyway God word says, but you know you know sometimes we don't even know." Because it has not become a command to you. You have not received your own out of it. You are still speaking generally, the one that is general to everybody. You must come to the point where you say "No, this one is for me. This is my direction. This is written concerning me. This one is for me. This is where I'm going. This one is for me. No, this one is for me." That is what we are calling faith. That is what is faith. That is the biblical faith. That is the faith that the Bible want to describe in those elders. We soon come to those elders. We soon come to them. But I’m trying to establish the principle for you. You can never obtain a good report before the Lord if you don't enter into Rhema. You cannot. To get a good report before the Lord, you must be able to your life must it must transcend the Logos into the Rhema. It must come to the place of the command of God. What God has commanded. And that thing that God has commanded, I am telling you two things today as we try to close. Number one, Satan, through different people, through different ways, will try to move you out of it and give you a different identity. "You must be Christ. You must be Elijah." They will try to give different identity, but you must know your identity. And that's what I tell most people I meet with, I say what is your identity in God? What is your identity? I'm not saying that you are not you see me I'm an Anglican. That's not what I'm talking about. Me, I'm a redeemed. I say I'm talking beyond all of this. He say I'm a Christian. Of course, we're all Christians. What's your identity in God? Are you a voice? Are you the Christ? Who are you? Go and read about these people. It’s the same pattern because I'll be I'll soon start taking the elders and you start seeing this running through all of them. The Bible says "It is by this thing that the elders obtained a good report." The reason why you are finding so many believers I say believers, so many churches today and so many seemly Christians but less of a life that please God, because there is no faith. I'm not saying that people don't go to church and read Bible. I'm talking of people have not translated Logos to Rhema. That is why they cannot please God. They cannot please God because faith has not formed power and direction. We close the meeting here today. I want you to talk to the Lord, wherever you are, talk to the Lord. We take the meeting from this point next week. Please be noting how we close this meeting and I'm begging you don't come alone. If you are coming online, come with people. If you are coming physically, come with people. Drag men to this meeting. There's the need for us to move from religiosity to spirituality. Talk to the Lord wherever you are. Lord, this song is just coming to me. Lord, deliver me from an empty life. Lord, deliver me from a vain life. Oh Lord, deliver me from an empty life. Oh this is my prayer, oh Lord. Can you pray that prayer? Lord, deliver me from an empty life. Lord, deliver me from a vain life. You talk and talk and talk Bible, but you don't live Bible. You talk and talk, God can heal there's no healing in your life. You say God can save, and yet he could not you could not show the you could not show the salvation. You say God can do this, yet you keep compromising all kinds of things because you want to. I want you to talk to the Lord. Lord, deliver me from emptiness. I dare to be real. I dare to be real. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to be real. Dare to be real. Dare to find direction. Don't be contented with the generality. Come into what has been written concerning you. Come into what has been written concerning you. Come to the place of power and glory. Come to the place of power and glory as the Lord, Lord God deliver me from emptiness. Deliver me from vanity. Deliver me from deliver me from a vain life. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your name, our God. Thank you, Jehovah. In Jesus’ name we pray. Almighty God, we thank you for this evening again. Lord, we just commit ourselves into your hand. Lord, the Logos, they were not written for the sake of being written. They were written to be transformed into Rhema. They were written so that we can encounter scriptures. Lord, I pray this evening for everybody listening to me, brethren on Telegram, brethren on Mixlr, brethren who are here physically. I pray for you. May you encounter scriptures. May you encounter scriptures. May you encounter scriptures. May you encounter scriptures. May you encounter scriptures. May you encounter scriptures in the name of Jesus Christ. May you find direction. May you find direction. May you come to the place of glory and power. May you come to the place where you can live a life that pleases God in every ramification of your life in the name of Jesus Christ. When Jesus come, he shall find us in faith in the name of Jesus. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Amen and amen. Let’s share the grace together in fellowship. 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, 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. Amen and amen. [Speaker 3] 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 heat. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday, 5 p.m. Adolescents and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10 a.m. Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10 a.m. 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, Elewe 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. Phone numbers are 0808-338-611-36, 0703-361-3848. God bless you all.