Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness 032221

[background music] The church's fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for these are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Are we Matthew chapter five? Matthew chapter five verse six. Matthew chapter five verse six says, "Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." "Blessed are they who thirst and hunger after righteousness for they shall be filled." In a discipleship class as it were, I remember when we were at after local government, Light Center, when we gathered on Mondays and it's always is, permit me to say, it's more interesting in the sense that we get feedbacks. Daddy asks us direct questions. Innocent, Annu, and we it's not like we are contributing to the sermon as it were, but we are part of the whole session. We are carried along. When Jesus used to minister to His disciples, they'd interrupt Him. They will ask questions. "Master, how is this like this?" They were discipled. They were not preached to. They were not members as it were. They didn't come for service. They were taught. And I will appreciate if we can make comments. I understand that this is recorded. I understand all of that. But this is a discipleship class. It is a class where we come to learn and stay at with a daily load source with benefit. As we have come to His table, we have come to load, not to have head knowledge. All of what I am to say here, you can Google it or what you can even get knowledge of all of these scriptures from anywhere. But the fact that as we gather, the Lord is willing to open our heart individually and minister to us specifically. It might not be directly from the mouth, might be comments, it might be according to what Paul said. He said some came with hymns, with psalms and spiritual songs. So please and please, let's be open and when a contribution is needed, we will make necessary contribution, necessary contribution as possible. So I'll read from Amplified again, that Matthew chapter five verse six. It says, "Blessed, joyful, nourished by God's goodness, are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who actively seek right standing with God, for they will be filled completely and satisfied." Key words: hunger, thirst, righteousness, and they will be filled. Righteousness as it were is a right standing with God and doing according to the intent of the heart of God. It is right doing what is right. The difference between a man and a believer is the tenet of which he believes. If a man disbelieves or believes wrongly, he will act wrongly. And our belief is on the basis of our knowledge. What you know is what you believe. And what you believe is dependent on how you act. If you see a young man that is acting wrongly as it were, a man or I used to be a strict person. I don't really believe that things should be done like this, it should be done like this. It should be done like this. So I've come to realize that what is easy for me to do normally does not mean it is easy to do at all. It is simply because of some of the things that I've known, the knowledge I've acquired, my experiences, background, that made all of those things easy that I can just do them. Sometimes we can just say, okay, for God so loved the world and He gave His only begotten Son, for whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. And to you, you understand it. But to a regular person, he does not because probably he has not been taught, probably he has not had that experience, probably he has not been in an environment as it were to get that proper understanding of what you are talking about. So if we want to talk about righteousness, that okay, what I'm doing is right. If Daddy can testify to this, he counsels a lot of couple. An husband can stand and say, "I know my right in this house. I'm the man of this house. I know that a woman is supposed to subject to me." The man is saying what he's saying with all confidence and boldness that he's right because of what he knows. To him, that is his righteousness. He believes that what he is doing is very correct based on his knowledge. But what defines the right from that which is not right? In this generation that we are, the Bible has already prophesied in the book of Daniel that knowledge will increase. You see people talking so many things, so much knowledge, so many, many. But the truth is, the Bible says that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. The knowing of the truth is on the basis of relationship. And that relationship is what aligns our knowledge. I was talking to someone and he was saying that this is how they do Yoruba marriage, that this and this and this and that. So I told the person that I'm not going to do Yoruba marriage, even though I will do Yoruba wedding. I will do my marriage according to the pattern of the scriptures, that in Yoruba land, men don't do like this. That's their problem. Men don't do like this. Women are supposed to do like this. Women are supposed to do like this. Those things are on the basis of the knowing. So that is what you know, that's what you believe, that is how you act, and that's where the positioning of your state of righteousness. The truth is that most of the time we do church. We do our work with God. We do everything that we do based on one, cultural basis, based on experiences, based on knowledge. The truth is that a man keeps falling in gutter and God brings him out. He falls again, God brings him out. He falls again, God brings him out. He falls again, God brings him out. That does not explain that that is a pattern in God. It's so that man can come now and now be explaining to us that this is a dimension in God, whereas it is because of his own limitation and his own work with God that made that experience possible with him. Praise the Lord. Praise the living Jesus. The Bible says, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Before I proceed I want to try to put the righteousness in perspective. If you do some things in Nigeria as it were, in some setting they will tell you it is not correct. If you do the same thing in probably UK or US, you might say cultural differences, it is in quote acceptable. I'm still trying to buttress the whole truth and freedom. Truth making you free. It is not a product of the righteousness that we exude. It's not a product of knowledge, head knowledge. The Bible says that Jesus have come to abolish the law. Am I correct? Is this the Bible? Jesus have come to totally abolish the law. So He is now our truth. The truth is systems and practices have been placed in different setting to help us to guide us, to put us in perspective. But those system and practice are not the truth even though they help us identify with the truth. So if we want to really talk about the entirety of righteousness as it were, we need to understand the person of Jesus. A man that is introduced to Jesus as it were, salvation, you believe in Jesus, I believe, accepted Jesus as my Lord and personal Savior, you are saved, eternally saved, you are saved as it were. He is first and foremost introduced to system and practices instead of the Jesus in person. And the Jesus he is introduced to is the Jesus that the person that is introducing him is taught. As what Daddy will always say is that we are not here to model men to ourselves, we are only here to show them Jesus. If we choose to identify with Jesus in His person from the word, it changes us from the inside out. So the knowing of Jesus experientially is what determines our work, our act, and all of those things now put us in a right standing with God. I pray the Lord will give us understanding in Jesus' name. So Jesus is the word. I'm still going to the hunger and thirst, righteousness. So Jesus is the word of God as we know and Daddy has always said it that Jesus is not a theory, it's not an ideology, it's not a philosophy, it's a person. So knowing the person of Jesus is much more important because it takes God to know God. So a man in himself cannot hunger and thirst for righteousness for him to be filled. Are we together? A man in his capacity, David said something, he said, "I hunger and thirst for You in a dry and weary land." And he also said that "As the deer pants after the water brooks, so does my soul pant after You." That is a man that has had an experience and an encounter. So the Bible says, "Blessed are those who thirst and hunger for righteousness, for they shall be filled." But it only takes a man that is righteous to hunger and thirst for that righteousness because it is now God in Himself that helps you to thirst and hunger for the righteousness for you to be filled. Thirst, righteousness as it were is doing the will of the Father. Doing what is in the desire of God. We in ourselves we are not sufficient, our sufficiency is not in ourselves, it is of God. So until we come to the point when we are resolute and that resolution can only be helped, that's what I explained earlier by God, to pursue that righteousness. And knowing the will of God, Daddy will always tell us about Bible appreciation then in those days that we should read, know the Torah, know the Torah front and back. That the Holy Spirit will brood on the Torah that you have known to direct you in every way. Know the word, be chewing it, read it, study it, read it front and back. It's not in the reading, but as we read, the Lord broods on the word and gives us understanding to know the will of God so that we can walk in righteousness. So identifying and understanding the will of God in itself is the initial pathway to righteousness because the Bible says every unrighteousness is a sin. Am I correct? So if we want to really please God, which takes faith, if we really want to please God which take faith, we one need to know the will of God to walk in that will. So walking in that will, taking that part that is of God, that is right, which is the will of God makes us to walk in righteousness. And it takes a man, a regenerated man that is fuel by the passion of the Holy Spirit to thirst after righteousness. So let's just briefly look at the will of God, like the intention of God. What is God's mind? Let's go to the beginning. Genesis where God made man. Made man in His image, placed him in the garden and the man was having fellowship. He was beholding God. His glory was in God's glory. He had access to God. He was doing everything the Bible says that everything that Adam called the animals, the animals, that is what they became. He had the capacity to see into the mind of God, to know what God wanted to call each animal because he had a communion with God. To understand how to everything that he did in every of his actions, his deeds, his doing in the garden were righteous because he had a face-to-face communion with God. I said earlier that understanding the person of Jesus is the beginning of the work of righteousness. It's not in our piety, in your title in church, it's not in your school of ministry that you have gone through or your years of service in the house of God that gives you a standing. No. It is the finished work of Jesus on the cross and understanding that person of Jesus to help you navigate the pathways of life and walk in righteousness. So as I was saying in Genesis, Adam was with God, he had a relationship, he had a communion. The essence of God and creating man was one, for communion; two, for dominion, multiplication and all of that that was stated in the book of Genesis. And dominion when Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, He said, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." So replicating the will of God in heaven that is in heaven, that there's a template of the will of God that is in heaven that we as individuals are supposed to replicate on earth. Those are one of some of the one of the reasons why God in Himself created man. So let's look at I think we have not opened Bibles. Let's look at Revelations chapter four verse eleven. Revelation chapter four verse eleven. It says, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive all glory and power and honor for Thou hast created all things for Thy pleasure they and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." So the the will of God concerning our life is to have pleasure concerning what He has created. If I buy a phone now and it's a one gig RAM phone in this 21st century and I have to install over I have over 34 to 35 apps on my phone, it will not work. So that phone cannot do my it can't do it. If you buy a car and the car cannot move, it is in your garage and it's not like you have another car. It's just only that one car. And the car is not doing its work. It's not bringing pleasure to you. It's not doing what you have planned the car for. Maybe you took money from cooperative, maybe 1.2 or three million and you just saw one Avalon and you bought it. Precisely. You took cooperative and you bought the Avalon and everybody "Ah bro, you have bought Avalon, congratulations." And you wanted to go to the office on Monday morning. You got there, washed the car, clean it, and you start. It didn't start. You start, it didn't start. You call your neighbors, you call mechanic. They "Ah oga, this motor cannot move. You have to change this." You are not happy. It's not your desire for that to be happening at that time. You are like, "Ah o cooperative." Even that alone, one, you are thinking of the resources that you have gathered to do it first. Put those resources in one hand. You are thinking of the energy you have run up and down to get that done. And you are thinking of, "Ah office." The purpose of which you have bought it. Maybe you are thinking of, "This wedding that we are going in Ibadan on Saturday." We'll just cruise with my family. So the car does not have the capacity to do all of that because it's just given you another bill of maybe 500 to 600 or 700. You are like, "this car has not performed, this car has not done anything. Why is it giving me all of this stress at this time?" It's not satisfying your pleasure. When I was a student in FUTA, lower level, my first degree, there is one place we used to go and eat. If you get 200 Naira to that place at that time as a student, you will be filled. Like you will know that you have loaded. And there's one other place upstairs in the Student Union building. Just your 200 Naira can only buy you a drink. So you'd rather go use your resources to what will give you pleasure, to what will bring smile to your face than use it for what will not bring smile to happy. I'm going to join all of this together. So if the will of God for man, let me not say believers now, man as it were before the fall of man, was for communion and to bring pleasure, to see him do what is in his mind. And that is now the righteousness that we are talking about. When the Bible says "all unrighteousness is a sin," I've been trying to understand the totality of that scripture for a long time. We in ourselves we are not righteous, we do not have the standing as it were, we cannot in ourselves be righteous. But God has a plan. So if we are not doing that which is in the mind of God, if we are not putting our effort to do that which is in the mind of God I explained earlier that it is simply put, it is doing what is right, righteousness is doing what is exactly right. And we explained earlier that the rightness of what we are doing is based not on philosophy, ideology, or the thinking of the 21st century, but on the finished work on Christ Himself, on what He has spoken, on what He has assigned, on what He has said. So you will agree with me as we are all seated that there is something that the Lord has said concerning our lives, right? Are we together? That God in Himself had a plan in the beginning that you and you will do this. When I was speaking some people the other time and they were trying to explain the concept of purpose, that we are looking for aliens on earth as it were, that there is alien life here, alien life there, but the truth is that we are the real aliens on earth. We don't belong here. As the Bible clearly stated that we are ambassadors of Christ on earth. We are supposed to do the will of the Father which is in heaven on earth. So if a man chooses to live his life in a pattern that pleases him, he's not representing as it were. There is a general will of God. The Bible says in Second Timothy that it is the will of God for all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. It is in two-phase: salvation is there, and the knowledge of the truth. The knowledge of the truth in the person of Jesus, the finished work on the cross, and the truth of your positioning on earth. What you are supposed to be doing. You bought the car as I explained, resources, cooperative, loan. The truth is that it took more than you can calculate for God to keep you alive from birth to this time. No, more than you can divine resources, education. I was there was a time I was working with WHO, I had time to go I was privileged to going inside interior of Ondo state. Inside Idanre. Idanre. I was on bike for one hour. And I saw children on barefoot, no school, school before you trek to school the proximity is far, except your father has a bike. And I saw children and it got me thinking that why are these children here? It could be me, sincerely. Anybody seated here could have been born there. But according to divine providence, you were born by your parents, you were schooled, you had first degree, second degree, some even had third degree. Divine resources, not by your own allocation. And your life is following a pattern and you have now chosen to believe one: for all men to be saved. Will of God, abi? And you are now saved, you are coming to the knowledge of the truth but you have now chosen your truth that this is my truth that I want to walk in. It is unrighteousness. It is unrighteousness. I said the beatitudes are the attitudes and the positioning of believers. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." You hunger and thirst to do God. You hunger and thirst to do the will of God. You hunger and thirst to live a pattern in alignment to what God has planned, in alignment to the word of God, in alignment to the eternal plan of God for your life, for your journey. Because if you are living peaceably with all men, you are giving to the poor, you are giving to the needy and you are living based on your truth. That's why Sister Comfort said last week that she sometimes do some seemingly nutty things that, "What is she supposed to wear? What is she supposed to do? What is she supposed to do?" As little as those things are, it is a practice to want to. So if you have not understood one, the eternal plan and purpose of God, you don't know where you fit in the entire jigsaw puzzle like the whole picture, you don't see the whole picture of what God is doing and understand where you fit in it, then there's a saying that I used to hear that anything that is done outside Jesus is nothing. But the doing outside Jesus is not that you are doing it outside of the name of Jesus. Some things we want to do, we now wrap the name of Jesus around it. For example, I want to marry now. I saw a lady that I like. And I didn't pray, I didn't do the normal that I know I'm supposed to do, seek the counsel and the mind of God concerning this. And I now wrap the name of Jesus around it with a Christian wedding, with a blessing of the fathers and all and all and all of that. The Jesus is wrapped around it, but is it the doing of Jesus? So if we don't get the whole total picture as it were, it's just like this where we are standing. If it does not have a plan, if we don't have a base, we won't know where to put block, won't know where to put window, we'll just be doing things. And the truth is, we will do something. Because every other thing that we want to do that is an activity, that is now the gathering in the midst of brethren which according to what God "Forget not the assembly of the brethren." Living peaceably with all men. We will fix window, at least we will fix window. We will fix door. But are we fixing windows and door where they are supposed to be? No. So we are doing something that is expected in quote. But if the basis of everything is not understood, every other thing that we build on it is not correct. It's not correct. Because if you want to hear things of righteousness, you will be hearing things about acts, doing, am I correct? Works, work in love and some other stuffs. But all of those things that you want to do that are they are in righteousness. But the basis of it, which is the will of the Father, the eternal plan and purpose of God for your life individually. If you don't get that one, every other thing, every other practices is unrighteousness. God placed Adam in the garden to establish the divine mandate. That's why Jesus told His disciples that "Men ought always to pray." Prayer in its sense is not you need shoes. "Oluwa, help me. Oluwa, ran mi lowo." Yes we pray, we pray for God's help. We pray for needs. We pray for our personal needs, we pray for so many things. But prayer in itself is a tool, is one of the platforms, let me not say the only platform because it's the major platform where we can stand side by side with God to do labor. To labor with God. To bring down the plans and the purposes of God on this earth. It's in the place of communion. Adam was able to do what God had in mind in the garden because he had communion with God. So prayer is not the time to gather and do the needs, the demands. When you gather, not sometimes when you sit down at family altar and the family altar as it were and you pray. Look at the content of your prayer. Do we have needs? Yes, I have needs. I need money. I want to marry. I have a lot of things that I want to do. But there is a Jesus said, "seek first the kingdom of God." Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The kingdom that we are seeking is the will of God to bring that which is up to bring it down. So when we engage in the bringing down of that which is up, down, then every other things o ma add. So when we pray as it were, most times I pray in my understanding, I pray in tongues, I try to let me not talk about that. Prayer as it were, prayer, prayer. You know why prayer if they say we should if we show a movie now, a movie, a funny movie, or we bring Bro Mike's video, that is video that has 3k view. If we bring it here now and we are gisting concerning that video and we put it on a loop and we are playing it, I have watched that video many times, and we are playing it and playing it, everybody will be active, will be enjoying it. Why? Because it suits us. But when we say "let us pray," men our hearts will you know why? Let me debunk it. It's because we have made prayer an act. "Oluwa, God." Prayer is communion, simple. Talking to God. You can do it anyhow. Though we do it with reverence to God because we hallow His name. But if you understand that it is talking to God. When I asked Daddy that "Why don't you wear cap?" I asked him personally. "Why? You are wearing native." I was sewing for him one time. "Why don't you wear cap?" So he smiled. He said he does not have a personal doctrine against cap, that he will have to put it on and remove it, put it on and remove it every time he wants to pray. And that he had to keep praying and talking to God. If you hear my prayer point as in when I pray, you might not want to pray, you'll be discouraged. Because the way I talk to God is like it's not a "Oluwa, Lord, we have come, Lord I've come, Lord" you will be tired, you will be exhausted. The way you gist with friend, if you see ladies they sit down and gist, they can gist for four hours non-stop. They can talk. They are not talking anything serious though. They are just talking. You see that guy? You see this thing? You see that car? You see? They are just and everything you are when we pick up our phone and we see "Buhari has banned Twitter in Nigeria," "Oh this Buhari self, Lord help our country." You are praying. You are talking to God about Nigeria. You are concerned because you understand that this is your allocation. Being a Nigerian is not a mistake. You can be in China, you could have been anywhere, God could have allowed them to direct you anywhere. But you're in Nigeria at this time, for such a time as this, that's why it started. But instead we have learned to complain the way our fathers did in the wilderness. I was on a long call with someone yesterday night when I came back from Lagos and she was complaining bitterly about her job and all that they are doing for her, all this that this that. And I stopped her that, "If you don't have any other thing to say except complain for this job, I want to sleep, I'm tired." And she was like, "Ah don't you want to listen to me?" I want to listen to you. But one, be grateful you have a job. Two, be grateful you can learn. Three, pray. Learn. If God wants you to start up your own and you are seeing fault in a firm that you are working with, calm down, learn every of the fault so that when you start your own, you will not be able to replicate that in your own. It's an avenue for you to learn and grow and get better. But we have been designed. The system and the structure have patterned us in such a way that our thinking is just to complain about the system that we are here to fix. All unrighteousness is a sin. And the Bible says that "Blessed are those who thirst and hunger for righteousness for they shall be filled." "Blessed are those that thirst and hunger for righteousness for they shall be filled." The template and the structure before you start building every of the acts that surround righteousness on it is for you to understand your positioning. It's just like when we serve and they gave us there was when I went for service, Nigerian youth service, they gave us PPA. Where my PPA was, the bike from where I was staying, family house to my PPA was 600 Naira go, 600 Naira come. And there was one school beside my house that we can just walk in and teach. So I went I went I went to the woman that was the principal of the school was a federal school, Federal Secondary School. I told her that, "Ma, I can't be coming. I can't I cannot come here." You don't understand. I can't come here. The woman look at me. She said, "This is your place of primary assignment." She emphasized the primary. "Primary assignment. Find a way around it." And I wanted to go and do, you know we know the prophecy that was said concerning Nigerian youth service that copers will be sent to preach and all and all and all of that. I wanted to go and do that which I believe I should be doing. And I and this according to the NYSC letter they gave me, this is my primary assignment. I should be here. I didn't go. I didn't go. First week, school has resumed, I didn't go. Second week, I didn't go. Third week, I didn't go. The principal now called the LGI, the Local Government Inspector, that "this boy Adelani Innocent has not resumed. He this, he's this. We are not rejecting him. He's fit for the job and he's-" so my LGI told me that you want to do another thing whereas you have an allocation to be done. You are going to have extension. That you think they gave you jungle boots for nothing? All of these things is for you to do this assignment. Until I pleaded, I prayed, I talked to so many people, I begged until they changed my place of assignment. What am I trying to say? I wanted to do what was in my mind. But I was sent on an assignment to a particular location to go and do a job. But when I got to the place, I saw that the spheres and the arena is not on bike, on this place. "Ah my life, I cannot give it to Nigeria like that though I love the country but not just to put it on the street." But the other attraction aside what I'm supposed to be doing was more interesting than what I'm supposed to be doing. Then I had issues. I had a cousin one time that got married and he married a man that the man known he had known that God does not want him to work. It's just to sit down, intercede, and he was doing a lot of things that the hands of God was moving and there were people were bringing in gifts, offering, but it was not enough to manage a family in quote, according to the demands of the cousin that I had. And she was ranting and says she was persuaded that this is the will of God to marry the brother, but that ah you will not husband will not come and work. You see this ministry that you want to do, it's not going to it cannot survive us. We can't survive on this. So she was praying. And while she was praying, God spoke to her heart that she had two options to take. One, is either God like she allow God to take him if he cannot do what God has allowed him like let me just bring him back home. Since he cannot function in his place of primary assignment, let him come back home. Let him redeploy. Or you allow him, because they were just married less than few months, or you allow him do the work and I will give you grace and enablement to make enough resources and I will bring resources towards him and your family will not go hungry. She had to choose, ah two months marriage becoming a widow? Ah no, Lord let Your will be done. Divine resources have kept us alive till this moment. Most of us have left our place of primary assignment. When when my mom was passing away, she said something that, "When you were born, they had given you to Jesus." And I said, "You can't give me to Jesus, it's not your giving to give." She said that you don't have another choice. It's either you pattern yourself in this line and then I've not given my life to Christ. Like she's just saying her own. That is either you pattern yourself to this angle or I don't know what will happen to your life. The two weeks after that she died. So most of us are just living. We are just freelancing. Enjoying the things that came that we are enjoying. As far as you have the capacity to reason, to understand to give your life to Jesus as your Lord and personal Savior, to understand that God has an assignment for you on earth no matter your age, you should find your assignment. The assignment of you know we all have assignment of general, generic go and preach the word of God, we go and do this, but there is specific ounti Oluwa ti so nipa aye e. The Bible says, "I have come to do the will of God according to the books." According to the books, to the letter, to the letter. And how can we understand all of this? Because it's looking very big that how is it possible? Yes it is. The place of communion. Don't turn your prayer altar to a you I understand the concept of warfare even though we are seated with Christ far above principalities and power. I understand that we have needs. I understand there are so many urgent prayers that we should pray. But the fact that put communion in understanding what God want to do first. And when you understand it, pursue it. And as you pursue it, things I went somewhere and I group of friends, believers, and we were to see them cryptocurrency and then we were talking about so many things and so many things. And one of my friends asked a question that, "Ah we will all be rich o." So I left cryptocurrency, I enter scripture. And I now gave an analogy that if you want to send three people on an errand, like three people want to go to different places for you. One is going to Oja Oba here in Akure, one is going to Lagos, and the third one is going to England. So do your assignment. None of the three assignment is lesser than the other. They are very important. If the one in Akure is not done, the work is not complete. The one in Lagos is not done, the work is not complete. The one that is going to England is not done, the work is not complete. The one going to Oja Oba, he does not need a thousand dollars. He need a money for taxi go and come. The one going to Lagos, if he has a car, he fuel it. That is the resources needed. If he does not have a car, take cab, take taxi, take public transport. That is the resources needed. If the one going to England, he cannot ride bicycle. He will not get there. He needs a flight plane, a plane or a jet. So the allocation that is going to the three of them is different. So when we are in the race of "I want make am, I want to make it," it's a will I say ignorance in a way? I know a man that when he married the wife, he told her that we are going to be this is what God has told us that we are going to be missionaries and we are going to the interior. That is where our life. And the sister was like, "When I was on campus, that was all God told me too. We are two war. It's gain before. We are going together, we are marching like we're going to do the will of God all out." But when they got to the interior, they could not make ends meet. Things were hard. So the missionary headquarters gave him an offer to come over to Lagos and be doing mission field on in Lagos and be preaching to the brethren in Lagos and wearing your suit and cruising your Benz. The sister was not happy. She was crying every night according to his testimony that, "what's happening? We were in were in the interior, there was no money. We were not and now you are here. And everything is jolly. Our children can go to better schools. We have a lot of resources in our around and all of that." She said she told him that we are not the people we are not supposed to be in Lagos. This is not our allocation. We are we don't belong here. We are going back. When he told when she told him, he could not sleep that night. He had to tell the headquarters that, "this this is a very wonderful offer. Myself and my wife and the children will be going back to the interior." It is not a movie. It is not a movie. It sounds like a movie abi? Like it's not realistic. No I like that question sincerely. It sounds like Mount Zion movie that can only happen in Mount Zion scenario. I don't really watch Mount Zion. Maybe except a few that I've seen in Daddy's place. Outside Daddy's house, I've not seen Mount Zion I don't really watch I the ones that I've watched Abioye and co is because I got it from this place and I you can't see me go to YouTube and watch. I don't have issues with Mount Zion, they are doing wonderful stuffs but I really don't know about Mount Zion. Have they written a story like this? It sounds like a Christian fiction abi? But it's not a Christian fiction o. The brother came as a missionary to minister. He was once sharing his personal story. And you would see a man you make money. You make a lot of money. And when you make money as a kingdom person, you understand that you are you are just a channel for that resources. I tell people there are missionaries in the in the field that cannot afford to pay their children school fees. Not because they are lazy. But because they're in their place of assignment. And your place of assignment is to make that money and send to them. And the question is balance. It's not for you to get a better suit. Better suit I like good suit too, good shoes. But you do it in proportion. So understanding the basis do you now see that your new Benz can be unrighteousness? I'm not saying Benz I'm going to buy a Benz okay? But if you don't understand that's why I'm saying that the basis the basis of it all. That placing yourself and understanding the will of God and getting the divine pattern for your life and understanding the global concept of of God and why we're on earth. If you don't understand every other act that follows after that is unrighteousness. And the Bible says that "Blessed are those that thirst and hunger for righteousness for they shall be filled." "For they shall be filled." So if you thirst and hunger, if you want to know. God is a Father. Like sincerely God is a Father. If you thirst and hunger for that righteousness that, "this thing, Lord, what will You have us do concerning this matter? I'm seeing this way, I'm seeing the other way. I want this way." You know sometimes we wrap our desires and our intention we wrap it around the will of God. It does not work that way. It's hard. Paul encouraged us to be as soldiers of Christ. The way of a soldier is hard. And our time on earth is brief. I really understood the brevity of our time on earth when we were in NCCF family house together. And the guy that we were sleeping together in executive room, our general secretary, he was always talking about his fiancee that, "ah omo, ti mba marry, heh ru." Like we just joke with it. Like marry hey! You know the way brothers can be. And December, he said he want to go and see his father-in-law that to know when introduction will be and all of that and so he went in December and we're expecting we didn't go. We're in family house, we were doing all the rugged together. When we expecting to let this brother come back, the Christmas is over. We just heard a call from home that he's dead. Like I was using the when I heard the news his NYSC uniform, the trouser, it's the one that I was wearing that day because I was fetching water. I was like, "This no no no no no no no. Like he's my guy, he's my guy, like he's my real guy. Like we sleep together, he want to marry, there's nothing wrong with him, he's alive. He's no no no no no no no. No no no." Nothing was wrong with him. He died. So understanding the concept of time and eternal perspective. If you know that time is just a you can't explain it. It's short to eternity. I had an let me share a personal experience. I had an experience one time and I I can talk, I can play with people. And there was this lady, let me share this personal experience. And we were we were close, Brother Innocent, Brother Innocent always nice to the sisters and the brothers, nice to everybody. And we got close and normal brotherly friendship. We got close and we were close. And it got to a level that she was saying, "Bro, you are not saying anything." So I was like, "I'm not saying anything. What am I supposed to say?" It was like, "No no no no." That she's attracted to me and all and all and all. So I I told her I told her that to me o, it's just brotherly relationship. So she said that she is willing to give her body. You understand? And as a man, I was like, "omo." I realized that omo this is a possibility o and God will forgive me o. Yes, very true. If I misbehave God, the God is gracious, He's plentiful, He's many things. I know all of that. But I I have come to that understanding that I am not supposed to defile her. It's not because there is a possibility that can happen. But when you when you know your place, when you are persuaded about your place. As I explained earlier about allocation of resources and someone going to Lagos, Oja Oba and Johannesburg. That is why the person that is going to Oja Oba will not in any way envy the person going to Johannesburg or England. Because he knows that we're going there for message ni. All of this resources is for you to go and do something. I am doing the same thing. My own is even easier than your own. There is no need for envy because I understand my place and I'm staying there and I'm doing it in righteousness. I'm doing it diligently. So every other thing so covetousness can be unrighteousness. Abi? Daddy, am I correct? But why will you covet? When you know that oh this resources that have come to my in to my hand at this time is because it's what God has permitted for me to do this project at this time. When I'm doing bigger projects, the Lord will channel bigger resources. When I'm doing other things, when the Lord place some other mandates in my hand, I know He will provide. So there is nothing to covet about your neighbor. Nothing to nothing to worry about. So that is why I said the understanding of the basis is important. Very, very important. I pray the Lord will give us understanding in the name of Jesus. And one other thing I would like to chip in before I round up is that if the man going to Johannesburg or to England, sorry why am I calling Johannesburg? What's the Lord saying? So if the man going to England has been given a piece of paper like this, and it state that you are going to England with a thousand dollars or maybe a hundred thousand dollars wired into your account. And he has not read that piece of paper that is given to him. He has not or he has not acquired the skill or maybe the paper was written in a very small tiniest sense and you need a lens to see. Or probably that there were other things that is required for him to understand that which is written in that paper for him to know what he is supposed to do. And he has seen a man that is going to Oja Oba and because you have seen that man going to Oja Oba and you know that it's the same God that sent you, "Why now? Ah I have enough, let's go to Oja Oba together." Why is he doing that? Because one, he does not know. Did he have a relationship with God? Yes. Did he was did he get an assignment from God? Yes. Was he commissioned by God? Yes. But did he have a full in-depth of the understanding of what God has assigned him to do? No. That is why I mentioned earlier that it is the will of God that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. The truth about God's word, the truth about what is applicable, the truth about the plan of God for your life to the letter. As much as you develop your spirit, you pray in tongues for 24 hours, 48 hours, sit down, read the Bible, get knowledge, develop your body, spirit and soul for you to properly deploy all of them together. If it's to go to Johannesburg and it's to he was given a check for wire transfer a hundred thousand dollars. If he did not get the knowledge of how to go about that check, he will not get that resources, he will not do that assignment and God will still be judge. God will still forever remain faithful. So that is why the place of proper personal development G, your mind, your soul, your body. Keep your body alive to do the assignment of God. If you don't do it, when Jesus said, the Bible says that Jesus will wipe away their tears. The tears of those that He is wiping away are not those that in hell. It is those that are coming to heaven that are now seeing what they are supposed to have done on earth. They're like, "omo, am I the one that is supposed to have done this assignment? What am I doing here?" Beyond our desire to go to heaven, heaven is beautiful. We are all going to see Jesus at last. Amen. But more than going to heaven, we came from heaven. I mentioned earlier that we are not from this planet, we are aliens on earth. We are ambassadors of Jesus. So more than going to heaven, eh, because the way you will live your heaven is dependent on how you live your earth. So earth is as important as heaven. So doing all that God has planned for is also important. So get knowledge, know God, be passionate. And I pray that the Lord will help us in the name of Jesus. The Bible says that "if the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you, it shall quicken your mortal body," right? A man cannot do anything except he is aided. A man no no no no no no no. No man. No man, no woman can do anything except he is aided. Romans chapter eight says we know not how to pray as we ought to. But what? But the spirit, there is a quickening. See, I want to enjoy life too. I want to live large. No no no. I don't want to go to field. It's noisy there. But there is a quickening that can quicken a man. "What can make a man say if I die, I die?" It's not the man. It is the quickening. No, "if I perish, I perish." It was a lady that said it. Her name was Esther. What can make her face? We know. This thing is important. It's more important than me staying alive. It's a quickening. That quickening gives understanding. That quickening opens our eyes. It makes us see things in a different perspective. You see that this thing that I'm chasing is lesser compared to what I'm supposed to be doing. We'll pray. And sincerely we'll pray. That God, help me. Because there is help. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. They shall be filled." The filling is not for you to do it, it is for God. Because it is God who dwells in you that quickens you to both do and to will of His good pleasures. Let's just stand up on our feet and pray. That Lord, You will quicken me. That the quickening from my heart, quicken, quicken. Lord, You will quicken me in the name of Jesus. Lord, You will help my heart. You will help me to see, You will help me to understand, You will help me to see Your entire divine plan for my life in the name of Jesus. That I will not just go my ways. I will not just do things as it pleases me in the name of Jesus. Let's just open our mouth and pray. [Congregation] I will live for Jesus day after day. I will live for Jesus day after day. Let come what may, let come what may. The Holy Spirit, I will obey. I will live for Jesus day after day. One more time. I will live for Jesus day after day. I will live for Jesus day after day. Let come what may, let come what may. The Holy Spirit, I will obey. I will live for Jesus day after day. [Speaker 2] Our Father, we thank You for Your word. Our God, we are indeed grateful. The scripture says, "Blessed are your eyes because they see these things, and your ear because they hear these things. For unto him that hath, more will be given. And unto him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. They will be given to the one who already have." Our Father, we are praying this evening. You said we should seek first the kingdom and its righteousness. And we are confronted this evening with what should be the attitude of the kingdom. That "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst." Blessed are the individuals who place the kingdom over and above all other desires. Blessed are those individuals who place the matter of standing right with You, men who place it above all other pursuit in life. Such men are blessed. Lord our God, no wonder the confusion in the land today. Because the blessedness of this kingdom is not widespread. Several things are placed beyond the seeking of Your righteousness. Lord we are praying tonight. We are asking particularly tonight, just as the speaker said, that there will be a working of Your Spirit in us that will help us, that above all aspiration, all pursuit, all desire, may we place the seeking of Your righteousness, of Your kingdom above all in the name of Jesus. May standing right with You, may standing and seeking Your righteousness and living in that righteousness become a thing that matter to us beyond all material and financial pursuit in the name of Jesus. Oh Lord, may holiness mean greater things to us than riches. Lord God Almighty. Lord God, Lord God, Lord God, Lord God. May integrity matter to us, O Lord, than money in the name of Jesus. May there be, O God, a setting things right for our life. May we place the first things first in the name of Jesus. May we place the first things first in the name of Jesus. That the blessings of the kingdom, there is a blessing that goes with setting things right. You said, "Blessed are such men." Oh Lord, may this blessing be our portion in the name of Jesus. And Lord, we pray tonight that as we stand in the place of divine and primary assignment, Lord, may we be honored. May our life find expression. May our expectations not decay in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we say, Lord along with the saints above, that by Thy grace we will hold the fort. By Thy grace we will be true at our post. By Thy grace, O Lord our God, we pray, we will hold the baton as we ought to hold it in the name of Jesus Christ. As for your son, Lord we pray: more of Your hand upon him, more of Your grace upon him, more of Your Spirit upon him in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord as we go tonight, Lord go with us. Let Your good hand be upon us for good. Let Your eyes watch over us. Lord, we pray everywhere we turn, we will not be denied. Rather there will be favorable answers. There shall be favorable answers in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' most holy name we pray. Amen. Can we share the grace in fellowship? [Congregation] 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. Thank You, Father. [background music] 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. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday 5:00 PM; Adolescent and Singles' Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Family Life seminars, regular school outreaches and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location, Light Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community opposite Very Joy Filling Station along Ijede Road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.