Biblical Concept of Faith (35)

[Speaker 1] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God's design is a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. Be blessed as you listen. Hallelujah, glory be to God in the highest. Amen. Hallelujah, glory be to God in the highest. Amen. For His mercy endures forever. Amen. For His mercy endures forever. Amen. Hallelujah, glory be to God in the highest. Amen. Hallelujah, glory be to God in the highest. Amen. Hallelujah, for His mercy endures forever. Amen. For His mercy endures forever. Amen. He can never, never fail. Let us worship God. He can never, never fail. He can never, never fail. He can never, never fail. Jesus the same forever. Hallelujah, He can never, never fail. He can never, never fail. He can never, never fail. Jesus the same forever. Our Father, we thank You. Lord Jesus, You can never, never fail. You can never, never fail. We worship You, our Father. We give You praise, we give You glory, we give You honor, we give You adoration. You can never, never fail. It doesn't matter what is happening around us. It doesn't matter what is happening about us. It doesn't matter what is prevailing. One thing that is sure is that You can never, never fail. Our God, we gather again this evening unto You to study scriptures together, to look into scriptures, to learn from Your Word. This matter of our faith—faith is not something that began with us. Faith is something that began with our fathers. The Bible says we should contend earnestly for the faith that was delivered to us. Faith was delivered to us. The baton was passed to us. We are to run the life of faith, not as a new thing entirely, but as something that is passed to us, to run according to the principle, to run according to the rule, to run according to the pattern that had been set before us so that for any reason we are not disqualified. Lord, as we look into scriptures again to learn, Holy Spirit we pray, work within us. Our brethren who are connecting with us on Mixlr, our brethren who are connecting with us on Telegram, Lord, we pray, we all together, Lord, we are asking, grant us inspiration. Teach us Your ways, oh God. Establish us in Your counsel. Lord, speak to us particularly as individuals and speak to us as one people. Thank You, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now, we want to take the matter from where we left it last week. We are on episode 35 of Biblical Concept of Faith. In the last week's episode, we were able to see something very important which has to do with the principle of operation of faith and why the Bible says in Hebrews 11:4: "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks." We saw that Abel approached God with something in his heart. We saw that faith is something in the heart. The righteousness that is by faith says thus: "Do not say who will go to the heaven to bring down Jesus, or who is going to the hell to bring Him up again from the dead." It said, "No, the righteousness by faith is saying like this: if you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth." So we saw that faith is something we speak in the heart. We saw the woman with the issue of blood. We saw the man with palsy. The Bible says when the Lord saw their faith. The Lord saw their faith. Faith can be seen. They were saying something in their heart. They were saying it. Because they were saying that in their heart, of course, they got their miracle. We mentioned something last week that faith speaks to the situation. If you have faith like a mustard seed, you will speak to this mountain. Faith speaks what faith has received to the situation. That is faith. Faith will speak what faith has received. We noted that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Now, faith receives something. We saw that the Bible records that Jesus said, "The Son does nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing." So faith has eyes. Again He said, "Look, as I hear, so I judge." Faith has ears. So faith hears, faith sees. So when there is a matter, faith speaks that thing he is saying in his heart. The woman said, "If I can touch the hem of His garment." She was speaking to her situation. Faith speaks to the situation. We saw that we speak out of the abundance of the heart. We saw that it is as men were filled that they speak. How do we get filled? We must go for the mixed wine. We must go for the mixed wine, they that tarry at the wine. They tarry at the wine. Make sure you tarry. It is men who tarry, who stay there, who follow after wine, they are the ones that have miracles. They are the ones that have victories. They are the ones that have stories to tell. They are the ones that victory is spoken about. And so when the Bible says, "By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," what the Bible is saying is that when Abel was bringing his sacrifice, what was he saying? He was speaking in his heart. He was saying something in his heart. "God is God." I don't know what he was saying, but he was saying something. That's what the Bible is saying. There was something in his heart. He was speaking. He had an understanding that "I am offering to God," and he was saying something. And God saw that, so God took his sacrifice. But when Cain was coming, Cain was saying something else in his heart. May your sacrifice not be in futility. When you offer sacrifice to God but not by faith, then you will not have offered a sacrifice that is excellent. Faith allows our sacrifices to be excellent. That was what we saw last week. So we want to move on today as we bring together Hebrews 11 between verse 5 to see where we will get to. We have seen verse 6 last week. It says without faith it's impossible to please God. So let's see something about verse 5, then 7 and then downward. Now the Bible began to speak about Enoch, several people. About Enoch, the Bible says by faith: "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Hebrews 11:5) So by faith Enoch was taken away. Verse 7: "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." (Hebrews 11:7) Abraham: "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going." (Hebrews 11:8) "By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:9-10) "By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore." (Hebrews 11:11-12) "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth." (Hebrews 11:13) Now I want us to see how these first set of people were summarized. It said all of these people, all of them, they died in faith. Now what is the faith? That which they heard and that which they saw. They heard it, they saw it. That which they heard and that which they saw. The Bible says all of these died in faith. Now look at something about these people, verse 13. It says not having received the promises. But look at something. But having seen them how? They saw them afar off. So what is one thing you are seeing about Biblical faith? What one thing you are seeing about this faith? These things which they heard, these things which they see, they were looking at something that is where? That is afar off. One thing I'm going to make you see about Biblical faith is that Biblical faith makes men not to live for the immediate. What these people were confessing, what they were living for, what was holding them was not something that was immediately before them, but it was something they did what? They were looking at afar off. Now look at something. It says that were assured of them. They were sure, they had certainty about it. They were sure of them. Now look at the next thing. It says embraced them. What does it mean to embrace? What does it mean to embrace somebody? To accept the person. Is embrace "accept"? How can we look at embrace? What does it mean to embrace somebody? To embrace, what do you do to embrace? Do you stay far away to embrace? Can you embrace something that is far off? What can you embrace? Something that is close to you. And for you to embrace it, what do you do? You move closer to that thing, or you pull the thing closer to yourself, then you are able to embrace it. Now I want you to look at something. It said having seen them afar off, were assured of them, then embraced them. What does that tell you? They saw it afar off, they were assured of them, embraced them. So what are you seeing about faith? Now, while faith can see something afar, while faith can see, let us give an example, while faith can see ten years to come, fifteen years to come, thirty years to come, it is also true that faith is living in the reality of that thirty years in the immediate. While something is afar, for you to embrace it, what do you do? You draw close, or you draw it close. It means that that thing that is afar was brought where? Was brought close to themselves. Now this is what I'm trying to see. You see, what I'm going to make you see is this: while Biblical faith has vision, while Biblical faith can hear something that has to do with six, seven, eight years, ten, twenty years to come, it does not mean that Biblical faith lives in the future. What it means is that Biblical faith makes you, while in the immediate, whatever you are doing now, what you are doing in the immediate, what you are doing today—you are doing something today. You are doing something about your life today. You are doing something about your job today. You are doing something about your marriage today. You are doing something about your marital life today. That thing that you are doing about your life today, what is making you to do it today is not something that is in the immediate today. It is something that you are seeing in years to come. What I'm saying is that Biblical faith, if you want to speak with physics, Biblical faith does what we call time travel. What I mean is that—let me give you a picture that will bring this message home. Stephen was facing the religious leaders. He was confronting them with the truth, with the gospel. While he was confronting them, they got angry and they charged towards him. When they charged towards him, what was their intention? Their intention of course was to kill him. They took stones and they were charging towards him to kill him. Please, if people take stones and they are charging towards you to kill you, ordinarily, what will be the situation of your heart? What will be the situation of your heart? Relaxed? Fear, trepidation, concise, dead—all of that. But while they were charging and they were coming, the Bible says what about Stephen? The Bible says Stephen said, "I can see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." The people then plugged their ear. They didn't want to hear that. Which Son of Man? The person that we'll kill. And as they were stoning him to death, what was he saying? "Lord, do not lay this to their charge." The question is, what was controlling Stephen? Was it in the present? Was it in the present? In the present, it should be fear! "Help me!" That should be what he should be doing. But he wasn't doing that. He was doing something else. He was saying, "Lord, I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father." Please, look at that story in Acts. I'm trying to make you understand something about when the Bible said they embraced it. I'm trying to explain Biblical faith—the practicality of this faith. Now, please look at it. Look at the matter in Acts. Acts chapter 7, towards the end of that chapter, we'll see what happened when Stephen was speaking and the people were reacting. I want you to see what happened. Acts 7 from verse 54: "When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth." Let me take that in another translation. The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation and they shook their fists in a rage. Now look at what the Bible says about Stephen: "But he, being full..." (Acts 7:55) We have talked about being filled last week. It is what fills a man—out of the abundance of the heart a man speaks. "But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, 'Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!' Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not charge them with this sin.' And when he had said this, he fell asleep." (Acts 7:55-60) Please, is this the natural response to what was happening? Stephen was acting in the present, but what was making him to act that way? Because he was seeing something that is afar off. I'm trying to explain Biblical faith. Biblical faith makes you to live in a way today that what is making you to live the way you are living today is not what is happening around you today, but what is to come. That's what I'm saying. What is to come is determining how you are reacting towards what is present such that the way you are reacting towards what is present cannot be traced to what is present. Are you getting it? The way you are acting to what is present—people will be wondering, "Do you know what is present? Are you aware that this is what is present?" You say you're aware. So why are you acting this way? So, in Biblical faith, that's what—let's go back to that Hebrews chapter 11. Verse 13: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off." What's the first thing? They having seen them afar off. "Were assured of them." They were assured of them. Now, it's not just that they were assured of them—what happened? "They embraced them." That's what I'm trying to explain. They embraced them—that is, faith brings a man to a point that his daily reality is not controlled by what is immediately seen, but by what is not seen. His daily reality. And that is where believers today are having serious problems. What controls our life is the daily reality that we face today. You ask that person, "Why did you have to tell that lie?" He will say, "Sir, if you know what happened there, there was no way to escape. You see, we are in Nigeria. Nigeria Nigeria-ed me, You see, I had to Nigeria myself too." What I want to bring out is that our thinking, our decision-making, our acting, what we do is controlled by the things that are immediately happening around us. Our decisions, our ambitions, our pursuits—and that is why the average Christian of today, his or her life is not guided by a vision, it's guided by an ambition. Let me explain the difference. An ambition is something—a dream that has its origin in you. An ambition is a dream of what you want to become, of what you want to do, of how you want to do it, that has its origin in you. The origin is in you. But a vision does not have its origin in you. A vision has its origin in the divine. Go back to what the Bible says—I just want to take you back to something about verse 7 of Hebrews chapter 11: "By faith Noah, being divinely warned..." Do you see that? It was by faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before. It had never happened before. But for 40 years, you are saying that that thing will happen. If something has happened before, it's easy to believe. Am I correct? But this one, it has never happened before. There was no precedent. There was no way to even calculate it. Sometimes when God says something, you begin to calculate in your head, "This is how God will just make this one to..." This one, what will he calculate? How will he calculate it? It had never happened before. And yet, he was building that that thing is going to happen. I'm talking about a vision. What I'm trying to make you understand—if you are a believer and there's nothing divinely seen or divinely heard that is determining how you are living today, you are not practicing Christian faith. Mark my words: you are just in a religion. I'm talking about what faith produces in people. What faith produces in people. The Bible is making us to see something about—it said "all of these," not some of them. Look at verse 13. It said how many of them? All. One thing that marks all these people—one thing that is the common thing about them—is that they saw something afar. Men who will be able to please God are men whose immediate actions are not controlled by the immediate things happening around them. Ask some people, "Why did you slap that person back?" What will they say? "Because he or she slapped me." Because he or she slapped me, that is why I slapped back. But I give you our Lord Jesus. He was before Pilate, and Pilate was telling Him, "Hey! Won't You speak? Don't You know that I have power over You to determine whether You will die or live?" The Bible says like a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so He was. So that Pilate exceedingly marveled that "Which kind of person is this?" What was controlling His actions and reaction? Divinely seen. I'm trying to bring you into something about these heroes that we are talking about. One thing that is common to all of them is that all of them, they saw something afar, which was affecting—it was something they embraced. It was that thing that is in 30 or 40 years to come was determining how they were behaving. They travelled into 40 years to be behaving today. They are in 2025, but they are acting in 2025 as though they are living in 2055. So you are not able to explain them. They are seeing something—they have travelled. They are with you physically, but what they are doing to you you cannot relate it to—you cannot relate it. Pilate could not relate Stephen's action to what they were doing. He could not put it together. He could not relate the action. Do you see the same thing in Joseph? Potiphar's wife could not relate his action to what she offered. Look at the mighty offer. Look at the action of the young man. They could not be related. It was—his action was—it’s about embracing. Not only embracing—look at it—and confessed. They were what? They were speaking. One thing about people of faith is that they speak. I keep telling people, when it comes to spiritual reality, I want to tell you this truth—when it comes to spiritual reality, it is the power of voice against voice. When it comes to spiritual reality, it is voice. And I want you to understand that. Look at this simple thing. Somebody said, "Give me your birthright first before I give you food." Somebody said, somebody said, "What is birthright to me? Take it and give me food." Please, is there anywhere a record that they recorded anything down? Was there anybody writing down? Was there a signed agreement? Was there anything to prove evidence that he said so? Nothing. But look at something. When the Bible was to record the story, the Bible says none of you should be like profane Esau, who for a morsel of bread sold his birthright. Remember how he cried to want to get it back, but there was no place for him. So listen: when was the birthright taken? Was it when Jacob went to his father and said, "Bless me"? Is that when it was taken? The Bible did not say that that birthright went away because Jacob went for the blessing. The birthright went away because Esau confessed. For him, it was about the blessing, wanting to get it back. For God, it was about a voice. People don't understand—when certain things surround you, we are just waiting for what you will speak. We are waiting for your voice. There is something about voice. If there is nothing about voice, the Bible wouldn't say, "Look at it, all these died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen it, they were assured of them, they brought it close so it determined their reality." And when people were asking them, "Why are you doing what you are doing?" they spoke the reality that they have embraced. When Jacob was saying, "Sell the birthright to me," Jacob was pursuing a reality. Esau was seeing a morsel of bread. Jacob was seeing what is to come. And how his action was something that has to do with acting in the immediate. Because in the immediate, the food belonged to their parents. Esau could also go inside and prepare his own food. Why must you give him food that is not your own? Is it not for their parent? So why must you sell birthright to get the food? If he says this, then you go, what do you do? You go inside to prepare your own. There is nothing—but you see, what I'm trying to make you understand, I'm talking about understanding. I'm saying that when men of faith, when they are speaking to a situation, they are speaking deliberately. Faith talk is not just the talk "Mo lo" [I am going]—when some people will say that, "I don't want to say I'm poor now, I'm rich." That's not what we are talking about faith. It's not just a vain-hearted confession. It's a reality that you are deliberately establishing something. When you are speaking, you are connecting with something that you are seeing, that you have embraced, and you are speaking deliberately. It's not just "I don't want to say things are hard, things are easy, things are easy." It's not those vain and casual talk that we are doing. That's not what we are talking about. The reason why there was a transaction between Jacob and Esau was that Jacob was deliberate. May you not be casual when you should be deliberate. You can begin to pray one moment for yourself: "I will not be trapped. I will not be trapped. Lord, my life will escape. I will escape the snares of hell. Hell normally sets snares. They set traps. I will escape the snares of hell. As it is written that 'I will build my church, the gates of hell will not prevail,' the gates of hell will not prevail against me. I will escape the snares of hell. I will escape every snare of the devil. I will escape their snare in the name of Jesus! In the name of Jesus! In the name of Jesus! Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name we pray." I'm trying to make you understand something. Death and destruction is a snare. The things that want to destroy you, they will not appear like destroyers. But while they are deliberate, you may be casual. Are you understanding me? They are deliberate. They know what they want to do. What I'm also saying is that men of faith, when they are speaking, they are not speaking casual statements. They are deliberately saying something. They know what they are targeting at. They know what they want to get. They know where they are going. And that is why many times when I discuss with young people today, it just baffles me when they start saying "I feel," "I think," "Actually, you know today people are doing more of this, so me too I'm trying to..." And I stop and say to myself, "You can be deeper than this. You can go beyond this level. You can take a step further. Why? Because you are a believer. You can speak more definitely. You can time travel." You travel into forty years to be behaving today. They are in 2025, but they are acting in 2025 as though they are living in 2055. So you are not able to explain them. They are seeing something. They have travelled. They are with you physically, but what they are doing to you, you cannot relate it to—you cannot relate it. People could not relate Stephen's actions to what they were doing. They could not put it together. Pilate could not put it together. He could not relate the action. Do you see the same thing in Joseph? Potiphar's wife could not relate his action to what she offered. Look at the mighty offer. Look at the action of the young man. They could not be related. It was—his action was about embracing. Not only embracing—look at it—and confessed. They were what? They were speaking. Faith is the ability to see it afar, be assured of it, bring it closer to yourself—you are bringing it closer to yourself. You are embracing it. And you are doing what? With meekness, answering everybody who questions you the reason for the hope that is in you. When they say, "But Esther, you are not doing..." by the time you will answer, you are answering deliberately. You are answering because you are seeing something. You are answering because you know that by the time things turn and turn and turn and turn and turn, you would see that I was making a wise decision and that you are not making a wise decision. What I'm trying to make you understand is that it is the people who can see their latter end that can act wisely. Do you agree with me? It is people who can see their latter end that can act wisely. People who cannot see their latter end cannot act wisely. They cannot be wise. But what I'm trying to make you understand is that it is this seeing the latter end and acting wisely that the Bible is calling faith. That is what is faith. When you say "I have faith," what you mean by "I have faith" is not that "I am a member of Deeper Life Church, I'm a member of Anglican Church, I'm in the choir in Anglican, I have faith, I'm the president of my fellowship." Those are just activities. Anybody can do all that and don't have faith. Anybody can do all of that without faith. Do you agree with me? So when we say that we have faith, of course, faith also makes us to be president of fellowship, that we are this, but the activities of faith should not be taken as faith. There is a reality of faith. And that is the concern that we are talking about. The reality of faith is that faith is seeing something afar, hearing that which is to come, assured of it, embrace it—you are bringing it close. Bringing it close means that you are acting today based on something that is to happen in decades to come. But you are acting today. So I call it, the best—the simple way to make you understand it is to time travel. You travel into forty years. "Why are you doing what you are doing?" You are doing what you are doing because you are seeing fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety years to come and you are acting today. They say, "Don't you see what is going on?" That is not the matter. This one is temporary, it's passing away. After this, there will be this. After this, there will be this. The final thing will be this, and the thing that will matter will now be this. And so we are acting based on what the outcome would be, not what is happening now. I give you a good example. I remember as a young boy then, was it '89? I think it was '89. 1989. When Nigeria was playing the finals of a particular ball—it's a world something. So when they started, the match was three-zero by the conclusion of the first half. So at that time, they could not televise things so that you can watch it immediately, but they can broadcast it on radio. So we were following it on radio. In those days, you almost have heart attacks! "Adepoju passes to this, he passes to this, and then he went away, he stepped back! Oh, it's not a goal!" You know, you will almost die on your seat because you are not seeing anything. You'll just be following the comment on the radio at that time. Technology had not come to this point where you can be seeing it. No, most people could not watch it directly. It has to be recorded and then they will now play it later. I'm talking as at that time—the period I'm talking about, I was quite young. So after the radio thing, by the time it was three-zero, everybody went home. Everybody just concluded that we have lost the thing. But along the line, it became three-one. Along the line, it became three-two. When it became three-two, that was second half, they were almost going off. Everybody rushed back! "Again, it became three-three! Finally, it became four-three! Nigeria won!" That day, nobody could wait to watch it in the evening. Everybody was now waiting when they would play the thing in the evening to come and watch it. But do you know what happened? In the evening when we were now watching it, nobody was tense again. Why? We have time travelled. When they scored the first goal, we said, "Okay, this is how he scored it. Okay, this is how he scored it." We were relaxed because we know—may you see afar. We were settled. Even when it looked as if the other song was winning, we already know the end. May you already know how it will end! In the name of Jesus! That is what the Bible is calling faith. That you can see it. So people are wondering, "Are you not tense? Three-zero! Why are you so relaxed? Do something!" You're just smiling. You're just relaxed. "Do something!" You say we are winning this battle. "Look at this foolish person. Look at the stupid thing he is saying." That is what we are saying. You remember when Jesus said, "The girl is sleeping, she's not dead." Why did they start to do? "Look at this foolish man! When something we know that she is dead! Who—which kind of man is this? What are You saying?" He was simply speaking based on the end. They were speaking based on the happening. May you see the end! That is what I'm trying to make you understand about faith. That is—you see, the Biblical faith—this thing is not something special—you see, I'm trying to make you understand something. It's not something meant for some people. That's the mistake you are making. "It is the General Overseer that should..." No, no, no, no, no, no! If you are not living like this, you cannot please God. So it is not something for "spirit-dim-dim" people. I don't know whether you understand me. That's what I'm trying to correct in our generation. If you are a believer, if you are a Christian, the way you are expected to be living, the Bible says, "The just shall live by what? By faith." The Bible did not say the General Overseers will live by faith. The founders of ministry will live by faith. The leadership of the churches will live by faith, while others—no, that's not what the Bible says. It says "the just," and I ask you, have you been justified? Are you born again? Have you been justified? Have you been redeemed? If you have been justified, if you know that you have been justified, the question is why are you not living by faith? Why are you not living by faith? This is what we mean by living faith. When we say "Faith is not dead," that faith is living. Faith is the daily life experience of people who respond to their immediate based on what they saw afar, what they are persuaded of, what they embrace as a result. They are confessing what they are seeing, not what is happening. And then you are wondering about their life. "Which kind of people—what is wrong with this boy? What is your problem?" And you see, then we did not properly understand—this thing was not properly clear to us. But I could remember thinking back to so many experiences that we have gone through. I remember when the Lord told me that "Son, no, I have not designed you to read accounting. I have designed you to read sociology. So leave your admission at Federal Polytechnic Ado. Go, write that JAMB, go to University of Benin. That's what I have designed for you." And we rewrote JAMB. And then in our days, it is not the one that you can be changing-changing in our own days. You are given three options—first choice, second choice and third choice. So normally, in case they didn't take you in your first choice, you can go to your second choice. It's not that you have to go and change. You get the point I'm making? You are given those three choices. But because we have heard something and we are seeing something: first choice, sociology, school, University of Benin. Second choice, sociology, University of Benin. They looked at me, "Don't scatter your life! In case they don't take you, you have the second one." I said, "No." Third choice, University of Benin. They said, "This is not the way to go, young man." I said, "No, this is where I am going. We are going there." We are not just too confident. What I'm trying to make you understand is that faith life is not something meant for leadership of churches. It is the life of every Christian. And that's why I am telling you that if as you say you are a Christian, this what makes you a Christian. What makes you a Christian is that you can see afar, you can time travel, you can embrace that thing—embracing means that that thing is in your daily reality and you are acting based on that. You are embracing the thing, you are romancing the thing, you are romancing—"What's your problem?" You are confessing that faith that is in you. It says they embraced it and then what? They confessed. Why are you romancing this one? Don't you see what is going on? No, you are confessing that faith that is in you. That is what we mean by Christianity. That is Christianity. Anything outside that is not Christianity. That's what I'm saying. And let me tell you the truth: the reason why people could not overcome—somebody is fornicating, somebody is telling lie to get promotion, somebody is cheating on the husband or cheating on the wife, somebody did some sharp practices to make money. Do you know why? It's because there is no faith. You are the one calling them Christian. They are not Christians. You are the one calling them Christian. Where faith is a reality, actually you will now see what the Bible says—that faith makes us to become overcomers. Look at what the Bible says further. It said that they were strangers and verse 14: "For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." He continued again: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called,' concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense." (Hebrews 11:17-19) Why was Abraham acting? He was seeing—he has time travelled. That if the boy die, what will happen? He will resurrect. So he has embraced that and he was confessing that. "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come." (Hebrews 11:20) I'm showing you something about all these people. What is it? Things to come. "By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of his sons, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff." (Hebrews 11:21) He was telling them again, what? What is to come. "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones." (Hebrews 11:22) What was controlling the present? He has time travelled. They were there for 400 years. I don't know how many years Joseph lived for out of that 400. Let's say he went for 110 or 120. So another 200 plus, he was seeing 200 plus to come and he was acting today telling them, "Don't bury my bone. You are going to leave this place. Embalm me. What will take also so-so number of years—make sure you don't bury me here. Carry me along when you are going." So what are you—what are you calling faith? I'm showing you what these people—this is what they wrote. This is what the Bible is calling faith. So I'm asking you, if all that controls your life is all about today, happening around, what you feel, what you see, what you think, then you are not a Christian. You have not entered what they are calling faith for you. Faith is not "Oh Father Lord, I trust You for bread and butter, give me bread." I'm not saying that things don't happen. The Bible says your Father knows you have need of these things. But I'm also telling you that don't forget that having things happening around you is not just something that happens only to believers. Unbelievers too are also making money. Things are happening around them. God cares for His creation. Providential blessing is not specifically Christian blessings. Providential blessings—they are not particularly our heritage in Christ. They are providential blessings. There are people worshipping water that will live for 120 years. Do you agree with me? So when somebody is telling you that your inheritance in Christ is to live for 120 years, I just laugh. There are people outside Christ and they are enjoying all those things. Those are providential blessings. Don't center—and I want you to get something clear from me. You will notice something about the ministry of Jesus. If all that God is doing with your life—listen to me—if all that surrounds your life is about miracle of what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, can I announce to you that you are among the multitude. Please don't forget that the miracles of Jesus were not centered on the disciples. He provided for them. He sustained them. He met their needs. But the focus of the miracle was for who? For the crowd. What was Jesus doing with them? He said, "For to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom." They were not made to be seekers of miracle. They were made to be workers of miracle. They were not seeking miracle. They were working miracles. By the time He was through with them, were they seeking for miracle? They were working miracles. May you be somebody who is interested in not just in the fish, but in fishing. So when you're talking about, "God is good," don't forget that there are people who don't know God that are also passing and having first class. I'm not saying that we should not appreciate these blessings, but I'm trying to make you understand something about what faith really is. Faith is the ability to connect with God. Faith is bringing you into a relationship that makes you to be able to see afar and you are living today based on what you are seeing afar. So a Christian without a vision is not a Christian. He's not a Christian. He's just a churchgoer. He's just a church member. Because what he is practicing is what? Is dead faith. It's not a living faith. Faith is alive! Faith is living! Faith is real! Faith is a reality! It's a walk with God! Faith is time travelling—seeing what is to come in time and living for what is to come in time. And men are wondering, "What is your problem?" say, "Oh, you don't understand. Don't bury me here. Embalm me. You are going to leave this place. Carry me along." They'll be looking at him. "We are going to leave this place? How, when, where? What will cause it? How will it happen?" May you live the life of faith. Talking about Joseph—I know when he was speaking, they would be wondering, "We'll depart from here when?" And I'm sure by the time the first 100 years left, this thing cannot happen again. The second 100 years left, it cannot happen again. But by the time things turned around and another Pharaoh came up who does not know Joseph and things began to change, and then God visited them and they saw that they were leaving Egypt. Joseph said so! You know why he said so? The Bible says when they were leaving, they took the body of Joseph with them. So that instruction travelled through centuries. What I'm trying to make is that the godly is in everlasting memory. What was faith in Joseph? It's not that he has food to eat in Egypt, he was Prime Minister, he was this, he was that. Is that what the Bible is calling faith? What the Bible is calling faith is that Joseph could see. He could relate with—he could tell somebody, "No, I'm not interested in sleeping with you," because he is seeing—he is seeing afar! He's seeing the invisible! That one is not seeing, "Ah, how will I do this thing again?" He's seeing the invisible! He's hearing the invisible! He's hearing the inaudible! That one is not hearing anything, he's not seeing anything. He's seeing, he's hearing, and he's acting based on that. And the person is wondering, "What is your problem? Look at the offer!" He said, "There is no offer here, this is just death. This is where I'm going." He can see. That is Christianity. "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin." Look at something about Moses: "esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward." (Hebrews 11:23-26) "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as doing what? As seeing Him—as seeing Whom? What was he seeing? He was seeing the one who is invisible." (Hebrews 11:27) So what is faith in Moses? Seeing the invisible. By faith they kept the Passover and sprinkled blood, lest their own firstborn is destroyed. By faith they passed through the Red Sea by dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned. We have looked at all of these things before. Go and look at episodes 7, 8, 9, 10. You will see these things. That's why I'm going very fast. I'm not taking them again because I've taken these things in episodes 7, 8, 9, 10. But I'm just trying to bring out faith for you—what faith is. "By faith the wall of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days." (Hebrews 11:30) Can you explain that? Can you explain that? The enemies were on the wall. They were on the wall. They can shoot you. Then you went around their wall and you were going round, you were going round. Say, "What are you doing?" say, "This wall will come down." Are you not looking like a madman? He said, "Don't worry, this wall will come down." He just keeps going round. Then on the seventh day, he said, "Don't worry, I'm going to go round this seven times, and then I'm going to just shout, 'Hallelujah!' and the wall will come down." Say, "Ah! na so e dey happen?" It was looking like fantasy, but they were speaking realities. I'm talking about what Christianity should be. He now said, "What shall I say more? For time will fail me to tell of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms." You know what he's trying to say? We are confronted today by the kingdom of darkness. We are confronted today—oh, it's already 6:30. I wanted to—maybe we will round up next week. Let's round this up next week. I actually wanted to round up today. I wanted us to close the matter with episode 35. But you see, I cannot—I want to show you the climax of this thing that we are calling faith. So that you see that it's not just—it's not just an emotion. It's not an emotion, it's not just a feeling. No! If you want to know these things, look at people that are operants of darkness. They speak with so much certainty. "Me? Me? Okay, we will see." And then they enter somewhere, they take something, [spitting sound]. "As I'm speaking now, winds of evil move from here. As you move, there is no water that flows and flows back. Turn him into a madperson." And then they are expecting results. Oh, am I saying something to you? It's not just an emotion. They are acting on a reality that is certain to them. God is not an emotion. God is not just a feeling. God is a person. God is a certainty. In fact, as I close this evening, I tell you this: faith is the only certainty in the uncertainties of life. Let us pray. Faith is the only certainty in the uncertainties of life. Men who are operants of darkness, they act with so much certainty, even though many times they fail. Look at the prophets of Baal—they were overthrown, they failed. But faith is a certainty. Faith is—it's not just an emotion, it's not just a feeling. It's a certainty. You are certain. And I want you to pray: Lord, take me beyond the level of "I feel," "I think," "I am thinking," "it's like you see, you know what is going around me now." Lord, take me beyond all these levels. Lord, that I may grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord. Take me beyond just church membership. Yes, it is good, but that is not all that faith is about. People are church members and they don't have faith. Take me beyond leadership—people can be EXCO and they are not in faith. Take me beyond devotedness—people can be devotees and yet there is no faith. Take me beyond miracle, blessing, this and this and that, because people can have all of that and there is still no faith. Lord, bring me into the reality, the living reality of a relationship, of seeing, of living, the living—faith is a living thing. Faith is living, faith is real. Faith is a reality, it's a walk with God. Faith is time travelling—seeing what is to come in time and living for what is to come in time. And men are wondering, "What is your problem?" You say, "Oh, you don't understand. You don't understand. You don't understand. Don't bury me here. Embalm me. You are going to leave this place. Carry me along." They'll be looking at him. "We are going to leave this place? How, when, where? What will cause it? How will it happen?" May you live the life of faith! That is what I'm trying to make you understand about faith. That you see it afar, be assured of it, bring it closer to yourself—you are bringing it closer to yourself. You are embracing it. And you are doing what? With meekness, answering everybody who questions you the reason for the hope that is in you. When they say, "But you are not doing..." by the time you will answer, you are answering deliberately. You are answering because you are seeing something. You are answering because you know that by the time things turn and turn and turn and turn and turn, you would see that I was making a wise decision and that you are not making a wise decision. What I'm trying to make you understand is that it is the people who can see their latter end that can act wisely. Do you agree with me? It is people who can see their latter end that can act wisely. People who cannot see their latter end cannot act wisely. They cannot act wisely. They cannot be wise. But you know what I'm trying to make you understand? It is this seeing the latter end and acting wisely that the Bible is calling faith. That is what is faith. When you say "I have faith," what you mean by "I have faith" is not that "I am a member of life church, I am a member of Anglican church, I'm in the choir in Anglican, I have faith, I'm the president of my fellowship." Those are just activities. Anyone can do all that and don't have faith. Anyone can do all of that without faith. Do you understand me? So when we are saying that we have faith, of course, faith also makes us to be president of fellowship, that we are this, but the activities of faith should not be taken as faith. There is a reality of faith. And that is the concern that we are talking about. The reality of faith is that faith is seeing something afar, hearing that which is to come, assured of it, embrace it—you are bringing it close. Bringing it close means that you are acting today based on something that is to happen in decades to come. But you are acting today. So I call it time travel. You travel into forty years. "Why are you doing what you are doing?" You are doing what you are doing because you are seeing fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety years to come and you are acting today. People say, "Don't you see what is going on?" That is not the matter. This one is temporary, it's passing away. After this, there will be this. After this, there will be this. The final thing will be this, and the thing that will matter will now be this. And so we are acting based on what the outcome would be, not what is happening now. May you see the end! May you already know how it will end in the name of Jesus! That is what the Bible is calling faith. That you can see it. So people are wondering, "Are you not tense? Three-zero! Why are you so relaxed? Do something!" You are just smiling. You are just relaxed. "Do something!" You say we are winning this battle. "Look at this foolish person. Look at the stupid thing he is saying." That is what we are saying. You remember when Jesus said, "The girl is sleeping, she's not dead." Why did they start to do? "Look at this foolish man! When something we know that she is dead!" He was simply speaking based on the end. They were speaking based on the happening. May you see the end! That is what I'm trying to make you understand about faith. That you see, the Biblical faith, this thing is not something special—it's not something meant for some people. That's the mistake you are making. "It is the General Overseer that should..." No, no, no, no, no, no! If you are not living like this, you cannot please God. So it is not something for "spirit-dim-dim" people. That's what I'm trying to correct in our generation. If you are a believer, if you are a Christian, the way you are expected to be living, the Bible says, "The just shall live by faith." The Bible did not say the General Overseers will live by faith. The founders of ministry will live by faith. The leadership of the churches will live by faith, while others—no, that's not what the Bible says. It says "the just," and I ask you, have you been justified? Are you born again? Have you been justified? Have you been redeemed? If you have been justified, if you know that you have been justified, the question is why are you not living by faith? Why are you not living by faith? This is what we mean by living faith. When we say "Faith is not dead," that faith is living. Faith is the daily life experience of people who respond to their immediate based on what they saw afar, what they are persuaded of, what they embrace as a result. They are confessing what they are seeing, not what is happening. And then you are wondering about their life. "Which kind of people—what is wrong with this boy? What is your problem?" And you see, then we did not properly understand—this thing was not properly clear to us. But I could remember thinking back to so many experiences that we have gone through. I remember when the Lord told me that "Son, no, I have not designed you to read accounting. I have designed you to read sociology. So leave your admission at Federal Polytechnic Ado. Go, write that JAMB, go to University of Benin. That's where I have designed for you." And we rewrote JAMB. And then in our days, it is not the one that you can be changing-changing. You are given three options—first choice, second choice and third choice. So normally, in case they didn't take you in your first choice, you can go to your second choice. It's not that you have to go and change. You get the point I'm making? You are given those three choices. But because we have heard something and we are seeing something: first choice, sociology, school, University of Benin. Second choice, sociology, University of Benin. They looked at me, "Don't scatter your life! In case they don't take you, you have the second one." I said, "No." Third choice, University of Benin. They say, "This is not the way to go, young man." I said, "No, this is where I am going. We are going there." We are not just too confident. What I'm trying to make you understand is that faith life is not something meant for leadership of churches. It is the life of every Christian. And that's why I am telling you that if as you say you are a Christian, this what makes you a Christian. What makes you a Christian is that you can see afar, you can time travel, you can embrace that thing—embracing means that that thing is in your daily reality and you are acting based on that. You are romancing the thing, you are romancing—"What's your problem?" You are confessing the faith that is in you. It says they embraced it and then they confessed it. Why are you romancing this one? Don't you see what is going on? No, you are confessing that faith that is in you. That is what we mean by Christianity. That is Christianity. Anything outside that is not Christianity. That's what I'm saying. And let me tell you the truth: the reason why people could not overcome—somebody is fornicating, somebody is telling lie to get promotion, somebody is cheating on the husband or cheating on the wife, somebody did some sharp practices to make money. Do you know why? It's because there is no faith. You are the one calling them Christian. They are not Christians. Where faith is a reality, actually you will now see what the Bible says—that faith makes us to become overcomers. Faith is the ability to see it afar, bring it closer to yourself—you are bringing it closer to yourself. You are embracing it. And you are doing what? Answering everybody who question you the reason for the hope that is in you. When you say, "But Esther, you are not doing..." by the time you will answer, you are answering deliberately. You are answering because you are seeing something. You are answering because you know that by the time things turn and turn and turn and turn and turn, you would see that I was making a wise decision and that you are not making a wise decision. It is the people who can see their latter end that can act wisely. Do you agree with me? It is people who can see their latter end that can act wisely. People who cannot see their latter end cannot act wisely. But you know what I'm trying to make you understand? It is this seeing the latter end and acting wisely that the Bible is calling faith. That is what is faith! When you say "I have faith," what you mean by "I have faith" is not that I am a member of a church. Faith is the certainty of God. And it is certain than the certainty of darkness. Men who walk in darkness, they work in certainty. They are so sure of whatever they think they are practicing. They work so certainly. They work so actually. Oh, that is faith. But we have something more surer. We have something surer than they have. We have something surer. We have something surer. We have something surer. What we have is surer! Thank You, everlasting Father. Our God, we thank You again for today. Our Father, we bless Your holy name. God, we appreciate You. We bless You again for a time again to look into scriptures, learning what faith truly is. The simplicity of faith: the just live by faith. Not the leaders, not the big men, not the GOs, not the Bishop, not the pastors—anybody who is just is called to live by faith. Christianity is actually a life of faith. That is what it means to be a Christian. Oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, bring Your church into Biblical faith. Lord, bring Your people, let there be an awakening. Lord, wake us up from our slumber. Lord God, wake us up! Let there be an awakening. Wake us, wake us, wake us up, Lord! That we may come into the certainty—there is a certainty about the uncertainties of life. Life is so uncertain, but there is a certainty in the uncertainty. That certainty is faith, and that is what You have offered us. That is why You said, "Take My yoke, learn from Me, you'll find rest for your soul." Oh Lord our God, I pray that we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. That we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. That we may grow, that we may grow, that we may grow in the name of Jesus! Thank You, eternal Father. By the time we'll gather next week again, Lord, bring us into Your presence. Thank You, eternal Father. 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 forevermore. Amen. 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 hints. Our regular activities are discipleship class every Monday 5 p.m., adolescent 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 out-reaches and every day counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the First Bridge, Ilere Community, opposite Rejoice filling station, along Iju-Itaogbolu 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.