Cdc 25th Nov 2019 Thou Will Keep in Perfect Peace 2

[Music playing] [Female Voice]: Churchy fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God waitly desires a godly home from. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tech Ministry. May ye be blessed as ye listen. [Music playing] [Speaker 1] I want to take you to some worship though. She said it takes a strong faith. Abey? Or else, something would have told Paul, "It’s not the devil speaking to you. How if it is God, everything should be smooth?" Imagine that in your house, God gave you a miracle child and then suddenly, Abraham... let us use ourselves... Tosin, take that only child I'm giving you, go and kill that child on a mountain I will show you. Looking at the fact that God had said something before Isaac came. Sending Ishmael away, what did God say? What did God say sending Ishmael away? He said, "My covenant is not with Ishmael, abey? For my covenant to be with who? Isaac." For it is in Isaac that your seed will be called, that your generation will be made. You finished that a few years back. Suddenly, the following year or the following month, you heard again, "Take that one." Could it not be devil speaking to you? That’s what I want to answer to. Take that child, go and kill him, eh, as a sacrifice to me. And the way the boy puts it, he put it in a way to show that he want to spite him. "Take your only child whom you love, go and kill him." Now, what made Abraham to know that it is not the devil? Was it not contradicting the initial discussion that they had? Are you following me? You see, in my little way of following God, I like to be real. I'm a realist. I like reality. And I see that deliberately, the way God tried to help the Old Testament saint is to make sure that the former things were written down for our learning. That’s the greatest help for the New Testament saint. That’s why you find that there are so many things about the Old Testament saint that God overlooked. You see the days of ignorance, God overlooked. There are so many things. Abraham took two wives. Abraham at one point told a lie. And God was very with... do you notice it? But Ananias and Sapphira, they told one lie and God killed them instantly. I'm meant to make you to understand something that the Old Testament saint, God overlooked so many things with them. And it is this saint that is giving the present-day saint problem when people want to go into error. Like one of my brothers, one of my former friends said, "Ah, Abraham took two wives and God was with him. God is not against polygamy. God wants us to marry as many as long as we can take care of them." That’s a Christian brother, preaching from that direction. I hope you know what is giving him problem: the life of the Old Testament saint. What I want to say is that if you look at the Old Testament saint, so many things went through their life, but deliberately God take time to pen those things down. God made sure that those things were penned down. He said, "Whatever written at former time, they were written down for our learning." That’s the greatest help for the New Testament saint. So that through the encouragement of the Scripture, we can have hope. Have you read that before in your Bible? Where is that in the Bible? [Speaker 2] No, First Corinthians is the one written down for our example. First Corinthians chapter 10. What of so that we can have hope? Where is it written? [Speaker 1] Romans chapter 15. Romans 15:3 and 4. Somebody can read it for us. Somebody can read it. I want to because she has touched on something very very fundamental that I want to respond to before we go into prayers. [Speaker 2] Romans 15:3 and 4. Verse 3, "For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, 'The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.'" Verse 4, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." [Speaker 1] Do you see? Whatsoever written at former time were written for our learning. They were written for our learning, and through patience and comfort. That we, we, we. Not them. We. That advantage was not given to them. It was given to us, that we through patience and comfort of the scripture should have what? Should have hope. Can we see another translation, please? [Speaker 2] For even Christ did not please himself. As the Scripture says, "The insults of those who insult you, Oh God, have fallen on me." Everything written in the Scripture long ago was written to teach us. And the Scripture give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled. [Speaker 1] Do you see? As we are waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled, you need something to give you patience and hope. You need something, you need something, you need something to... because like I said some time ago... I don't know whether it's this meeting... once you are hopeless, you will be faithless. Hope is the solid foundation for faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. So once you are hopeless, you will be faithless. The solid foundation for faith is hope. So the Scripture was written to give hope so that faith can be intact. Now, what I'm trying to bring out is that she said, "How... why was he able to... sometimes you think it is the devil and so we need strong faith." That’s what I want to try to address before we pray. We need strong faith to be able to see God. But Tosin, when Abraham was told to go and kill Isaac, was he using... was he looking for faith to be able to see God, or he was seeing God? Because there was an initial discussion. In Isaac shall your seed be called. And then there is another instruction. Go and kill Isaac. If at that point of "go and kill Isaac", he was trying to faith it, he will still be waiting until he can reconcile the altar. But he saw God and he was going. Let me give you another one. Elisha. When the host of Syria surrounded him and the servant woke up that morning and saw them, and the servant was shaking, "Ah, master, master, master!" Was Elisha trying to have strong faith so that God can be with him? What did Elisha say when the boy called him? [Speaker 2] Fear not. [Speaker 1] He said, "They that be with us are more than they that be with them." Why the boy was still shaking? Tosin, that’s our... that boy displayed the life of the New Testament saint. And when I say New Testament saint, I'm talking of today's church. Do you understand me? Today's church, we are like that servant. Don't forget where we started from. Silent fears. Silent fears. Things that are inside us that is making us afraid. Silent fears. Before we came to "He will keep in perfect peace", that the hallmark of God in the life of a man is peace. If there is no peace, there is something wrong about the kingdom. One thing about God's kingdom is peace. The other mark we saw is holiness. But because we are dealing with peace, so we are looking at peace in particular. Kingdom of God is not in eating and drinking, but in righteousness and peace. There is peace. Kingdom of God is first pure and then peaceable. There's always this peace, peace. That’s what we've been discussing. Now, what I'm trying to bring out is that when those... when that army surrounded him, was the peace of Elisha shaken? Was it not peace, peace that he was having? How do we know? Because when the boy was still troubled, he now prayed for the boy. He didn't pray to God. He was not praying for himself. He said, "God, please open his eyes." Which means Elisha was seeing the invisible. He was not trying to see it, he was seeing it. I'm saying all these things that these people they were men. They are not spirit. And they operated under a covenant that is below our own. But God wrote these things down for our learning, to make us see that even when we are surrounded with what will kill us, it's possible to be smiling. It's possible. That’s what God wants us to see as the New Testament saint. God wants us to know that there can still be hope when there's no reason to hope. That’s why he wrote down the story of Abraham. So that it is possible for you to know that even when logically something cannot happen, that thing can still happen. Because there's no logical reason why Abraham should expect that there'll still be a child again, the two of them having passed. But God made us to see that Abraham continued to hope when there was no reason to hope. And he wrote it down for our learning. Telling us that, "Look, I want you to learn something. Even when there's no reason to hope, Abraham still hope, hope, see hope." Now, they were written for our learning. But what I am to deal with is that our bondage is in our mind. We need, we need, we need to... you see, the level of the intimacy we share with God is to a large extent shallow in the church of today. That’s why it is so difficult for us to see God on the sea. The Old Testament saint, they could still see the step of God on the sea. Elisha could see God riding on the storm. That was why he was not afraid. He said, "God, open his eyes." But for us now, we are like that servant that needed to be prayed for, "God, open their eyes." For we, because we cannot see, what we'll be doing, we'll be trying to have faith. Let me have faith, faith, faith. But the basis for faith is hope. Hope! Let me just say this so that when we meet next week I'll talk more about it. You see, faith is not based on a vacuum. Faith is always based on something. That something on which faith is based is hope. That base on which faith rests is a product... that thing you call hope is a product of shared intimacy. It's a product of shared intimacy. Let me use this thing to illustrate it and then we pray. If Buhari tells you now, Tosin, okay tomorrow don't worry, come and collect two million naira. But you don't really know who Buhari is. You don't know him. Imagine that you don't know that he is the President of Nigeria. You don't know. And now say, "Tomorrow just come for a check of two million. And then a job in Aso Rock. A duplex accommodation, security and a driver." You say, "Ah, and I'm looking for job." He said, "Oh, you are looking for job, just come for that tomorrow." But you don't know that it's Buhari. You don't know. But you know me. If he says that to you that, "Come and get that tomorrow." But me, you know me. I tell you that, "Don't worry, Tosin, by next tomorrow I will give you ten thousand naira." Which one are you likely to believe more is likely to happen? His own or my own? [Speaker 2] Your own. [Speaker 1] Which are you likely to believe more? My own or his own? Why? Because you know me. Do you see that hope is a foundation of shared intimacy? Because we don't share intimacy with God, it becomes difficult to hope in him because we don't know the strength of his power. We don't know his awesomeness. We have not drunk into it to see it. Now, let's not leave that. If we now leave this meeting and then you're now discussing with Caleb that, "Now, in the fellowship, there's this man that was seeing by Bro Gbile. He said this and this and this and that. One man like that I haven't seen once and that." Caleb said, "Ah, Tosin, you know him?" Caleb said, "No, I don't know him oh." Caleb said, "You don't know him? Tosin, are you sure? Please be sincere." He said, "Yes, I don't know him." Caleb said, "Who is he?" Caleb said, "Ah, you don't know him. That’s the President of America now." What will happen to your hope? What will happen to your hope in what he promised you? You know instantly, "Hey!" You begin to say, "Hallelujah!" You have not seen the thing oh. But that knowledge that came about who he is... that’s the problem with today church. Do you get it? That’s the problem with today church. That’s why you see somebody like Paul saying "That I may know him". Having known him all this day, "That I may know him". They want to know him. Because we cannot experience freedom beyond the level of the truth we have seen, we know. We know the truth, it set us free. We know the truth, it set us free. We know the truth, it is on that basis of increasing knowing. That’s why I said our humanity is within the frame of our mind, and our becoming like God is a changed mind. Have I said something this evening? I think we needed to pray now. Let's go into prayers. Let's take time to pray. Let's go into prayers.