Choices

[Speaker 1] Church fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for us. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] Don't enter your eyes, you cannot see. That’s why in a dark place, you will say "Bring light, bring light, bring light! Something is moving! Bring light, bring light! Bring torchlight, bring torchlight! Bring it! Hey, what is here?" But if it is daylight, you will see the thing. Do you get the point I'm trying to bring out? Are you following me? Now listen. The Bible says, "In him was life; the life is the light" of who? [Men!] So when you remove the life, when you remove Christ, when you remove the life that is by the world, that is incarnate, when you remove it from a man, how will the man see? Are you following it now? It's telling you that anytime you remove the life of Christ that is molded by the Word of God, because in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God. It is in that Word that is life. You can't separate life and the Word. As it says in John 6:63, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." The Word and life, they cannot be separated. "Let there be light," and there was... you understand. That Word brings life; it’s also life. When you separate it from a man, do you know how the man is living his life? The man is living his life how? He has eyes, but the eyes is inside what? It's inside the dark. So imagine that the man want to make choice. You are to put green ball, yellow ball, white ball, blue ball inside a room. And that man wants to make choice. He wants to choose the green ball from the blue ball. How is he going to choose it? How is he going to choose it? [Foreign Language] Am I correct? Am I correct? No, just try it. Put a green ball, a red ball, a black ball, a yellow ball inside the dark. And then everywhere is dark. Open your eyes, then try to pick out the green one. What will you be doing? What will you be doing? I think green ball normally have V shape. Let me feel the shape. Oh, no, no, it should have a U shape. Let me... you will be trying a lot of things. That is why the Yorubas describe marriage as [Foreign Language]. Because the life that is in Christ is not there. But if the life that is in Christ is in you, it's not [Foreign Language]. Are you following? I'm coming to choice. I’m entering into choice. So I'm trying to make you see something, that the way God actually created man, the way man is designed... I want to quickly jump now to somewhere in Genesis, but I will just take something there quickly. Now you remember, maybe we should, please, let's go there. I’m trying to stay within the confine of time. I don’t want to go too late, too many foundation. But these are important things for you because we are discussing choice, the making of choice. How do I make choice? And I can be sure that I want to pick a red ball, it's a red ball. I want to choose a black ball, it's a black ball. Do you get the point I’m making? That's what we are discussing. That's our focus. We have been able to see something fundamentally. Man, if the eye is single... sorry, if the eye is single, then the man have no problem. But if it is double, we talk about singleness of intention and purpose. Quickly, I took you to something again to look at the fact that the light that is in man, lighting that eyes, comes from Christ. I took you to that point. I hope you are following me. Then I want to come to understanding humanity. I'm just joining all the topics together fast-fast, but I want you to be following me. I want you to understand who you are. Who are you? I want you to know yourself a little about this matter of choice. Now I want to now take you quickly to who you are by default. Who are you? What is man? Now if you look at Genesis, look at Genesis quickly. Look at chapter 2. I want you to see verse around verse 15, 16, thereabouts. Now look at it. Genesis 2:15: "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it." Which man was that? The man that he has created. Are you following it? Genesis 2:16-17: "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.'" I want to show you who we were, what actually was created. Now quickly look at the fall. Genesis chapter 3. When they ate it. Genesis 3:6: "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of it and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." What now happened? We have come back again to the matter of eyes. We are back again to eyes. Are you following me? We have come back again to the matter of eyes. Then what now happened? "Then the eyes of both of them were opened." So when they were created, how was their eyes? I want to talk about this matter of choice so that you understand who we are. I want you to just make you see what can help you, what can carry you through life. One of the most troubled institutions today is the marriage institution. I'm telling you. The dimension and the trend of marital instability, particularly within the body of Christ, is worrisome. It is something that is disheartening and heart-rending when believers begin to physically abuse believers. When the so-called brother begins to beat the so-called wife. When a brother said he is in marriage and then he's still trying somebody outside. Persistent guilty of office romance because the home is not stable. So many things are happening today and they are happening so fast. But it is because we thought that we are in a fast age, that the principles can be thrown away and we move fast. We don't understand that in life, when it comes to the matter of life and peace, direction is more important than speed. Direction is more important than speed. It's not how fast; it's whether you have direction. Now so I’m trying to just show you some basic, simple, simple things. Things I feel you should be able to relate to. Because as I look through, while some are much older, some are much younger. I’m trying to bring some very, very simple things for you to understand. Now when you look at it, you ask yourself, if when they ate that thing their eyes were now opened, how were they created? It means when they were created, they were created with their eyes closed. But they were seeing. Were they not seeing? They were seeing. Because it said, "when the woman saw that it was good for food." Are you following me? I’m not confusing you. I’m talking about this matter of eyes so that you don’t think that Jesus is speaking about just the literal eyes when he was speaking in Luke and in Matthew. There is something higher than that that he was talking about. The woman saw it was good for food. It means they were seeing. But the Bible says when they ate, their eyes were opened. So it means there was a eye that was closed, there was a eye that was opened. Are you following me? Now but let's, so that you can understand it, I want to speak to you in a way you'll be able to understand these spiritual things. Now if you close the eye, try to close your eye. Close both eyes. Then you want to come and meet me. What will happen? You start doing like this. If you try to go alone normally, what will happen? You will fall. Is that not so? Now if you now want to go home from here, and you must get home safely, what will happen to you? They will say "Bro Laolu, come and take Bro Kunle o." Are you following me? Do you notice that what God said they should not eat was the tree of what? The knowledge of what? Good and evil. Choice. I'm talking about choice. Now let me even use physical things. [Dramatization begins] Come, my sister, come. You come. You also come in blue, please come. Don't be afraid, it's just a small drama. You don't need to be in drama ministry to act it. Come. Stand and face the congregation. Okay, my brother, please. You want to make a choice of a wife. I know you will be at the other side. You are the one to make choice. You want to make a choice of a wife. But unfortunately, you don't have the knowledge of good and evil. You don't know which one is good, which one is evil. You don't have that knowledge. Are you understanding it now? It was when they ate that thing. God said, "Don't eat it. The day you eat it, there will be problem." So something was lacking in them. What was that? The knowledge of good and evil. So this is the man. He wants to make a choice. But there was no knowledge of which is good, which is evil. And he wants to choose the good one. So how will you choose? How will you choose? He has no knowledge. He wants a good one, but he does not have knowledge of good and evil. So how will he choose? How will you do it? [Speaker 3: I will invite God.] You will invite God. Do you get the point? Man was created never to make decision independently. He was created to make decision by who? By God. Because he doesn't know good from evil. So anytime he is to make a choice, he will need who? He will need to invite God. That was the original man. Are you following this thing? Please most of you go and sit down. Everybody go and sit down. Now look at that same chapter 3. Look at towards the end of chapter 3. Are you there? Verse 22. Genesis 3:22: "Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever'—therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken." Are you following something? After man ate that thing, what did man become like? He became like what? I want to ask you, was he not created in the image of God before? How was he created in Genesis 1:26? "Let Us make man in Our own image, after Our own likeness. Let them have dominion." Is that not? But now God is saying, "See, man have now become like Us. He now knows good from evil. Let us send him away." So man was created in the image of God, in the likeness of God, but he was not made to be a being that can act without counsel. If he must take decision, he needed to be counseled. That was how he was created. But now God now says, "See, he has now become like us. He will not rely on us for counsel. He can now act on his own. Lest he go and take this tree of life and live forever in this state. No, let's drive him out." Are you following me? What I'm trying to say, every man that still see himself as having capacity to act without a total reliance of God is a dead man. When man was like this, he was in the state of deadness. When man was alive, can he act independent of God? Can he? He needs to rely on God. And let me show you the very place of choice. When man was still very much alive and he was not acting independently and he was in that relationship with God. I want you to know, I want to quickly mention three things to you. Number one, you notice that when God brought Eve to Adam, Eve was not the first choice that God brought to Adam. Are you aware? He says, "It is not good for the man to be alone. Let Us make for him a help suitable for him." Is that not? So what did God bring? You should be Bible student now. Look at what God brought immediately. Genesis chapter 2 around verse 19. What did God bring immediately? Look at your Bible. Genesis 2:19-20: "Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him." Are you seeing it? So what did God first bring? Animals. And he wants to make a help suitable for him. But God did not first bring Eve. I'm showing you the ways of God. God brought gorilla, he brought elephant, he brought tiger, he brought lion, and man was naming them. Look at this one o. You, you are tiger. Fit for Brother Tiger. Oh, sister tortoise, sorry, you are fit for Brother Tortoise. Oh, Brother Gorilla, you are standing like me but you are not like me. We are very different. Sorry, you are for Sister Gorilla. Chimpanzee, you have intelligence but not like my own. Sorry, go that way, you are chimpanzee. And he was naming them. Are you following me? He was naming them like that. And after he was through with naming them, there was no one comparable to him. Are you following something? I'm showing you real-life situation. The brother goes through primary school, he goes through secondary school, he's in the choir now, several sisters around him. The sister goes through all of that, several brothers around him. How are you naming them? It depends on how much of life is in you will determine whether you name them correctly or you name them rightly. He was naming them. And after he was through with the naming, there was no suitable for him. God now made him to sleep. When he slept, God now brought who? God was through with making Eve. God now brought Eve. And if I am to display it again, let me use another sister. Sister in cap, come. Come, let's use you for this other illustration. Come and stand where everybody can see you. Come to this position. Stand where everybody can see you very well. Brothers, open your eyes very wide. Look at her intensely. Please, can you see bone? Brothers, you are not talking. Look very well, maybe you are not seeing well. Can you see bone? What do you see? You can only see flesh, abi? You cannot see any of her bones. But Adam said, "This is the bone." Can you see bone? No. Adam said, "This is now the bone." Is this thing bone? Look at her very well. So what was Adam seeing? Adam said, "This is now the bone of my bone." That is too serious. Was he seeing any bone? He was seeing flesh. It means Adam was not seeing the container; he was seeing the content. Are you following something? He wasn't seeing the flesh; he was seeing the bone. And then he was able to see the bone to be his bone. Then he now went further again. That was too deep. "She was taken out of me." Uh-huh! Sleep is a temporary death. Death is a permanent sleep. Now if you are asleep, you are temporarily dead. Is that not so? When Adam was asleep, he was given anesthesia. I hope you know. God did the first surgery. He was made to sleep. After the injection, phew, the sleep of death, they started the operation. Even if you sleep ordinary sleep, not the sleep of death, if somebody take your phone, you can't say this is the person who took my phone. Am I correct? So I want to ask you, with what capacity did Adam... was Adam able to know that this person was taken out of him? How did he know? He was the only one in that garden. He saw another one like this. And he said "Ah! This is not chimpanzee, this is not gorilla o. This one is the bone of my bone. This one is... she was taken out of me. Uh-huh, [Foreign Language]." What gave him that capacity? Are you following me? Look at Job 32:8. Can we read this loud and clear? Job 32:8: "But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding." So what gave Adam understanding? What gave him understanding? [The Spirit!] What gave him understanding? [The Spirit!] Do you see that? It said, "There is a spirit in man, but if that spirit must understand, what does it need? Inspiration from who? Of the Almighty." [Foreign Language]. Do you know what I'm trying to make you understand? When we are talking about light for man, what are we talking about now? We are talking about what? Inspiration. There is a spirit in man. The Spirit of God gives him what? Understanding. Another one says "the breath of God," another one says "inspiration of God." What I'm trying to make you see is this. If you are to make choice, please listen, and this is where the borderline... Oh, sorry, thank you. If you are to make choice, please listen. If you are to make choice in light and not in the dark. Are you following me now? We are coming back now to the issue of light and darkness that we started in Matthew. I'm back there now. If you are to make choice in light and not in darkness, it is the matter of what? The breath of the Almighty. The inspiration of the Almighty. Are you understanding what I'm trying to say? The inspiration of the Almighty. It is the inspiration of the Almighty that gave Adam the capacity to see beyond what? The flesh, the container. He was able to see what? The content. What I'm trying to make you see about choice in relationship is that there are two ways of making choice. One of the ways is a function of what? We acquired something. What did we acquire when we ate the fruit? The knowledge of good and evil was acquired. The ability and the power to make choice without relying on the Lord was acquired. Do you get it? That's one way to make choice. When you too, you know what you want to do. He said "man has become like one of Us." Do you get it? In other words, man too became like who? Like God, who can act from himself. Man has become like Us now, he too can act from himself. Every time man acts like that, he becomes another god. But anytime man does what? Goes back to the original. What is the original? The closed eyes. By the closed eyes now, I mean the man who is not relying on what? That acquired ability. Are you getting what I'm trying to say? So when Jesus said "if your eye is single," he is saying that if you are constantly making your choice from the power of light, this eye that is inside. There was another eye with which Adam could see the bone. There was another eye. You know he was looking at her, but he was not seeing the flesh. What was he seeing? He was seeing the bone. If that, if that is the only eye that you have in life, your life will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, he is moving from that one to the outer one. He is... you understand me? The one that can see flesh and the one that can see bone. If you are moving between the two, if your eyes are bad, what will happen? Your life will be full of what? Darkness. And if that light is now darkness, if you don't have that one, how great is your darkness. Were you able to follow me? Now practicality. Practical things now to quickly relate to. It means in the making of choice... let's look at the practicality now. Proverbs chapter 3. In the making of choice. Proverbs 3. Practical things. How should I make my choice? How should I make my choice? Number one thing to do. Proverbs 3:5: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." I'm showing you how choice are to be supposed to be made by believers. But listen. When we say believers, who are we talking about? We were created with a life, isn't it? Even though the eyes were closed, we were seeing and we were seeing correctly. I hope you are understanding me. At a point, that eye, that inner one was taken away when we died. The outer one now took over and we were living by that one. What happened? When that happened to us, what actually happened to us was that we were dead. He said the day you eat it, you will die. Jesus came, John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have..." what? Everlasting life. He came to give back that life. So what was given to us actually was what? Life. The restoration of that eye that left. When that eye left, life left. Life is the light. "In Him was life, and the life is the light." It's the eye we are talking about. That life is the eye. That life in Christ. So God so loved the world, God looked at our situation that "Ah, it cannot be well with these people again. It cannot be well with them. What do I do to help these people?" Jesus, please come and die. Because if you don't restore that life, they will be in what? They will be in darkness. All their choices will be in darkness. All their making, all their doing of things is in darkness. Everything they do will be in darkness. It will look like they are just... it looks like they are choosing. They are but they are not choosing rightly. Because you cannot choose green ball, yellow ball, blue ball correctly in a dark place. To be sure of what you are choosing, there must be light. So God became sympathetic with our situation and said okay, Jesus, you need to die. Let's restore that. So what I'm trying to make you see is that one thing you must know, that as a believer, you are not on the same pedestal with an unbeliever. It's an unfortunate thing that you are using their method. Their situation is sympathetic. Their situation is pitiable. Their situation is a sorry case. But God now said "Ah, it can't be good for them like this. It can't be good ever. Let Me do something about their case." What did God now do? God decided to give life so that they can have what? Light. But today, we have become believers. And I want to ask you, are you sure you are a believer? Because that's the starting point. Choice. The first thing about choice is that first you were conceived in sin. But at a point, we met with the Lord. Are you sure you have an encounter with Jesus? If you don't have encounter with Jesus, you cannot make this type of choice that we are talking about. There must be a personal, intimate, passionate, consistent relationship with Jesus. If you don't have that, you cannot come to this level of choice that we are talking about. You can't come to that level. That is the first thing. You will say "How is it the first thing?" What is the first thing in Proverbs? Trust in the Lord. Is that not? Now look at it. My brother, please stand up. If you don't know me, you don't know me, that I am the governor of Ondo State. You don't know me, but I'm the governor. Then I just met you one day by the road. I said "Young man..." I said "Oh, I'm a governor so-so-so. Okay, all right. Consider yourself employed by Ondo State. See me tomorrow." But you don't know who I am. If you leave me and you are going, what will be the state of your heart? [Unclear] You don't know the person. I made that promise to you. How will you hold that promise as you are going? [Unclear] You don't know the person. But if it now happens that you know that I'm the governor, and I tell you that "Okay, tomorrow meet me in my office. You are an employee of Ondo State Ministry of Agric. We are making you the director." As you are going from me, what will happen to you? Joy overflow! You begin to give testimony. Brethren, brethren, I'm now employed! [Foreign Language]. Is that not true? Why? Do you see that we cannot trust who we don't know? One major reason why the Word of God cannot guide you is that you don't know God. You cannot trust Him because you don't know Him. So when He says "My son, wait for Me," you cannot wait because you are not sure it's going to turn out well. So you see, the first thing is trust in the Lord. But God was saying that on the basis that you already have a relationship with Him. You cannot trust a God you don't know. And that is why you notice that many of our youths today, you are doing boyfriending, girlfriending... [Foreign Language]. You are not at rest because you don't know the Lord. You cannot trust Him. You cannot trust who you don't know. There is no work relationship between you and Him. You know that as a young man, there was not really a time I prayed about who to marry. Do you notice that in Genesis, it was God who said "It is not good for the man to be alone"? It was not Adam thinking of that he is not alone. He wasn't thinking that he was alone. No. Adam had the relationship with God and he was busy with God. Do you realize that when God becomes a matter to you, your life becomes a matter to God? Do you notice that when Joseph began to pay attention to the principles of God, God began to pay attention to the life of Joseph? But you see, our problem is that you don't pay attention to God. You are not paying serious attention. Joseph was just a boy of about 17. He was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah. Do you know what that means, why the Bible told that story? It was telling you that he was far, far younger than those people. And yet the Bible says, whenever they are in the field, Joseph will not join them to do evil. Rather, he will report them to their father. Joseph was not walking in the counsel of the ungodly. He was not standing in the seat of sinners or in the company of mockers. Rather, he was going home to report them. That boy began to pay attention to the principles of God. Honor father and mother. He was paying attention. He was paying attention to the Word of God and you notice, of all his brothers, God began to pay attention to him. He began to see into the future, the dream of who he is to become. When you begin to pay attention to God, you begin to dream into your future. God begins to open you into revelation, into inspiration, to know what you will become. And that is what makes you not to perish. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Do you see why people are busy fornicating today? Fornicating, boyfriending, girlfriending... it's because you don't have a vision. Joseph had a sister, elder sister, in the house that was busy parading her breast and bottom so that they can sleep together. Joseph's penis was not rising for sex. He was there. "How will I do this thing against God?" He had a vision. Our brothers today, even though the breasts are covered behind the cloth, they are still busy lusting. The matter is vision. We are the ones creating our own opportunity. Joseph had the opportunity; there was nothing he was taking advantage of. We today, we are the ones creating it. "Daddy, I didn't know... it's when I went to visit him, we were just talking. It's the devil. I don't know..." You see, Joseph will condemn us. He will say "Brother Kunle, what are you saying? I was in Potiphar's house. The door were locked. And yet you are telling me that when you went... why did you go into even visit?" I'm trying to make you see that there is something about our own generation. There is a poverty of vision. Our walk with God is very shallow. There is so much artificiality and superficiality. The first thing about making choice correctly is trust in the Lord. But that is supposed, it is on a basis of you know the Lord. You have a walk with God. You have a relationship with God. Instead of deepening your relationship with God, what do people do today? You are busy, you know, you give gift to this one. You start doing that. "Ah, Sister Abidemi, how was your night?" That was as early in the morning. By afternoon, "Sister Abidemi, how was your morning?" By evening, "Sister Abidemi, how was your afternoon?" By seven o'clock, "How was your late evening?" By morning, "How was the night?" If you have a pastoral ministry, why only Sister Abidemi? Are you understanding me? We are giving unnecessary attention to the opposite instead of creating serious attention with God. So instead of deepening our relationship with God, we are getting deep and deep and deep in things of our emotion. And that's why there is so much sexual perversity today in the land. You create unnecessary intimacies. You become too intimate, then you begin to hear the voice of your emotion. That is the first voice of error in our generation today. That's the first voice of error. I have counseled with young people now for over 30-something years. I know what I'm talking about. The first voice of error is the voice of your emotion. You are too close to an opposite sex. And you begin to think, "Ah, it looks like this is... it's like God is telling me, from the way we are close..." And from the way things are going with us... do you know that as a young man, at a point they were calling me DWA, Directorate of Women Affairs? Because there were so many sisters that I had opportunity to minister to. If because of the way we are close I'm to marry all of them, then what kind of man am I to be? "It's because of the way we are close, it seems God is saying..." You see, some... I want you to make you understand certain things. Take time to build your inner man. That is your eye. That is the eye that must be full of light. Once that eye can see and you can see beyond containers, you will not call gorilla elephant. You will not call elephant monkey. Because in the things of God, it is in the ways of God not to first give you your own. It is in the ways of God to first give you what belong to others and see what you will do with them. It is how faithful you are with those things that will make God create your own. So that if at the choir level now, you are beginning to press sister's breast... you are both in the choir. You are already pressing... that sister may belong to Brother Felix later. You understand me? As a sister, you have begun to sleep with one brother. That brother may belong to Sister Bisi later. You are not naming... he said "Whatever Adam named it, God said that is the name." When Adam named something, that was the name. Adam was not calling love lust or lust love. No. "This is elephant." God said, "Yes, you are correct. This is this." Whatever you are naming, that is the correct thing. Are you living correctly among yourselves? But when you don't begin to live correctly among yourselves, you are living wrongly. That is not the name. Emotion, lust, all of that. Then you now discover that God can ever make you to sleep and create something for you. As it says in Luke 16:12, "if you are not faithful in what belongs to another man, who will give you your own?" Who will give you your own? Who will give you your own? How faithful are you? I'm talking about the practicality. Trust... I'm just speaking on trust in the Lord. That's what I'm speaking on. That's why I said that if we want to take this matter, it's not a one-hour talk. Just trust in the Lord. That's what I'm talking about. We don't have trust in the Lord today. We don't trust God with our life. We don't trust God in our action, in the things we do. You are supposed to trust in the Lord. Trust God and live correctly. Trust God and be upright in every whatever you do. Don't begin to do shallow shady things. Don't be giving sisters gift and say "no nothing attached," and yet there is a chain attached. Sisters with cooler ministry, parading food around brothers to tie them down. Trust in the Lord! You understand me? I'm telling you the reality of our today. Learn to trust in the Lord. Learn to live uprightly. Learn to live faithfully. Learn to serve the Lord correctly. It was in those service, serving from house to house, house to house when we were young. It was in one of those service, we serve and serve, we met some people. It was in one of those times, we were not even praying, when God said "That is your wife." I'm talking about my wife now. There was no time we were praying. I'm serious. There was no time we were praying "God, who do we want to marry?" We were just busy serving. In fact, when the Lord said it, do you know what I first said? "Satan, I come against you in Jesus' name!" I thought the devil was trying to distract me. Then I went to give testimony in the fellowship. "Brethren, the devil wanted to turn me away from what I was doing. But thank the Lord, I cannot be distracted." You understand? Because we were not even thinking about who to marry. But that continued after about two years. The matter keep coming. We begin binding. We do all the binding. The thing did not go. "What is kind of thing is this?" Okay, at a point I now say "God, or You are the one talking?" said "Of course, I've been talking all the while and then you refuse to listen." I say "But God, we are not interested in marriage yet. We don't want marriage. I don't want marriage. Marriage is not good. This is something that delay people. By the time you have children now, you have this, you have that, not be able to work with God again. You begin to give this one attention, that one attention. God, God, marriage is not good." Do you know what the Lord said? He said "If you go alone, you may travel faster. But I assure you, you will return." That was why I began now to consider the matter of getting married. I am saying this so that you don't think that some generation have not lived before your own generation. They have been sisters too all that time. There were sisters and there will still be sisters. It all depends on what you are doing with this matter of trusting the Lord with all your heart. Do you have a walk with God? Are you growing in that relationship? Are you growing in grace, knowledge of the Lord? Are you increasing your light? I was talking somewhere, then the young man they ask me "Please, sir. Now, if you say that it's by inspiration... but you know, sir, if we do if you are in a relationship... somehow there is a way it can now translate... we marry from among our friends and so somehow, you know, there is a way it can help you to now enter into courtship relationship." I said "That is your method." I said "How many days of boyfriend-girlfriend did Adam do with Eve to know the bone of his bone? How many days of girlfriending did he do?" So that's the thing. "If I don't have something close now, I will not be able to know." But what you don't understand, if there is something close, it will become a voice. It will become a voice. I know of a brother that was already close, very close to one sister, among my sons in the Lord. He was unnecessarily close to a sister. Eventually when God began to speak to him about who to marry, it became a matter. He now came to me and said "Sir, I'm confused. I am close to... let me just use fictitious name now. I'm close to Sister Labake, but it's like God is talking about Sister Bose. I'm just wondering whether it's really God." I say "See, these are the things we have been warning you about." He struggled with that, struggled with that. I say "Go back, pray." After about two weeks he came back again. He said "Sir, it seems... but I really appreciate Sister Labake o." I said "Look, you better go the way of God." I said "But this is something you should primarily should have avoided." But you know that eventually, after such stern warning that he should be careful of double-dating, that brother began to double-date. He proposed to this one and yet still remained close to the other one. I don't want to tell you the end of the story. It was not a good one. It was a very bad ending. The matter did not end well at all. Of course, today he's restored, he's fine, he's doing well. But that matter did not end well. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Take time to know the Lord to the point that you can trust Him. To the point that you can follow Him. To the point that you can work with Him. Make your daily devotion. For the past close to 30-something years, I have been rising up by four. My devotion is four to six. Do you have a time of... do you have an altar? Where is the altar of your own life? Where is your altar? Do you have a quiet time? How consistent is that altar? What is the fire on that altar? All my major... in fact, let me say most of my major decisions in life, they were taken at that altar. Do you have a place where God can meet you if God is to meet with you? These are the things you need to develop. Discipline that you must develop. I told a young man "Okay, for the next three months, do a consistent quiet time. Write down whatever God is telling you every day. After three months, come and show me." Just after about two, three weeks, you ask him, he say "Actually, I was trying, it could not..." These are the kind of youth you have today. They cannot be consistent in following discipline. They just live anyhow. And I tell you, if you are casual with your life, you will become a casualty. Don't be casual with your life. Be intentional. Be deliberate. Pursue the things of God. Take time to know God. Create time. In the morning, if you want to... if it's morning or any time you want to use, create a time. "God, this time is for You. This time I will meet with You and I want You to meet with me." And then as you are there... do you know that I was telling, I was speaking to some other group of people. I said "Look, I was in my 200 level when the Lord told me that NYSC is waiting for me and I'm to be one of their exco. I was in my 200 level when the Lord told me Family Tent Ministry." This ministry that we have been pursuing now since 1999. I was in my 200 level when the Lord said the name of the ministry "Family Tent." What are you seeing? You are just there. I'm not against Facebook or WhatsApp. But look at the amount of hours you put into those things compared to the amount you put into building your life. There is a eye that is inside. If that eye is dark, your life will be full of darkness. It means your choices will not be correct. You can't choose a green or yellow ball correctly in the dark place. It's not possible. It's not only marriage. Career, location, all of all those things. They all come into that choice. It's not only about who to marry. The choice of where to live, the choice of which career to pursue, the choice of your purpose in life. All of these things, they are choices you need to make. But you need to remember that God's original design is that man should be somebody that when he comes to making choice, he cannot act by himself. He is designed to look back and say "God, what do I do?" He receives inspiration and say "Ah, this is now the bone of my bone." As he receives, so he speaks. As he hears, so he speaks. As he hears... that was his design. But eventually when he acquired another ability, he said something. And God said "Hey, Adam! Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten that thing? You should not have a capacity to reason without me giving you information. Who told you? That was not from our communion. That was not from our fellowship. It was not from trusting the Lord. Where did you get this information? You must have eaten that thing." Because ordinarily, it is as God speaks that he speaks. And that is the life where choices can be correct. What am I saying? Develop a... and then when you develop that walk, say "do not lean on your own understanding." You understand it now? That acquired ability. That's the second thing to run away from. "Ah, you know Brother Tokunbo? He's very kind. If there's anything about him, it's his caring heart. You know, when you marry him, ah, you'll be a very lucky sister." All those things are your understanding. Brother Tokunbo can be a tiger when it comes to character, even though he's grace. Charisma is one thing; character is another thing. There are several brothers today and sisters that when it comes to operating their gift, they are wonderful. But when you touch their character, you will wonder whether they are Christian. I'm speaking from experience. I have worked with somebody that we are both pastoring. And there are times when, even though he is the leader, several times he would have finished beating the wife at home before coming to the pulpit on Sunday. This brother was graceful. I know there is no doubt that he's a brother. There's no doubt. But you see, gift does not tell you anything about a man. That a man is gifted does not mean that he really knows God. That is why you will understand that He said, "Some will say 'we did this in Your name.' I will say 'I don't know you.'" A man might be seriously gifted and be operating in that gift, and yet he does not share intimacy with God. So don't just look at people's gift and then begin to conclude that they are good people. No. They may not be really, really good as you are looking at them. So you must learn the second basis of... the second thing about choice for believers. We don't lean on our what? On our understanding. "Ah, Temitope, pastor ni baba e, pastor ni mommy e. Ah, omo yen ma niwa." It may not be true. There are several pastor's daughters and sons that are worse in character. "Ah, you see, if you marry somebody who is a medical doctor... ah, ma f'eni to n'ka Yoruba o, ma f'eni to fe je teacher o, iya ko ma je e ni. You will surprise." You may marry a medical doctor and still be struggling in life. And yet you marry a teacher and it's well with you in life. You have so much sufficient. There are so many things today about understanding. "Ah, Sister Bisi, two by four by five by six. Ah, Olorun pari ise lori sister yi. Oh, sister yi good." But you forgot that there can be a woman like Sarah, who is beauty absolute, and yet she is a woman of the night. Can you wait for her? There are several sisters like that that are women of the night. They are not designed to give birth early. They are to give birth much more later in life. You choose them because of their beauty. Yet you are a man of the morning. You're supposed to start far. But Christ sister, you cannot wait for her. You begin to look for one sister side to give you a child. There are several issues about choices. There are several issues about choices. And the best I can tell you about this thing is that if you put two eggs together, no matter how much you look at them, you can't know which one is cooked and which one is raw, except by something external to you. If you put two eggs together, by... there is nothing about you by which you can know which one is cooked and which one is raw. It must be by another power that is external to you. And that is what I mean by the intelligence that rules the world. I'm talking about the intelligence of the Almighty. Say there is a breath of God that gives them understanding. I'm telling you that's the new way to go. That is the way to go now. The way of this intelligence that rules the world. Do not lean on your own understanding. What do you see next? "In all your ways." That's the third step. What's third step? Is it some of your ways? Is it some of your ways? "In all your ways." Do what? "Acknowledge Him." What does that mean? You don't only come to... you don't only bring... you know what I've discovered in this our generation? It seems as if it is only marriage matter that we are seeking for the will of God. Have you noticed that? Have you noticed that? We are talking about the will of God, the will of God. You are only talking about marriage. What of the will of God for the career you are to do? What of the will of God for the course you are to study? What of the will of God? Those ones they are not important. You are to do those ones yourself. So God who didn't speak to you about which course you should study, He didn't speak to you about which career you should pursue, He didn't speak to you about where you are to settle down, will now speak to you about who you are to marry. So all your life you have been a stranger to God. Suddenly at the junction of marriage you now become a friend of God. So we'll say that it's a lifelong process. What Joseph did in the house of Potiphar, he had been doing that in the house of his father. Did you get that at all? In the house of his father, he has not cooperated with evil. [Foreign Language]. It's something that started from small. God who has not spoken to you in the youth, He will not speak to you when you are old. What do you want Him to say? So he says, "In all your ways." Begin... that's why He said begin now with God. [Foreign Language]. Start now. Begin now, begin now, begin now with God. "God, Lord, what do You want me to do? Lord, okay, so You don't want me to do this? God, I will not do it. You don't want me to do that? Okay, I will not do it." As we begin to give attention to the things of God like this, gradually, thank you, gradually, you'll start seeing the voice. You start seeing the signal multiplying. Maybe, maybe I will try to round up with something now. You see, and He will do what? What will He do? He shall direct your path. Do you see that God don't just direct? He doesn't just direct. No. Look at the next thing. Look at verse 7. What did he say? "Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear God and depart from evil." And that is where I want to some things up for you. Why is the Bible saying that? That's where I want to stop. My time is up. Listen. 95%, if not 90%... I'm just speaking a percentage, please. It's not an accurate statistic. Let's say 90% of the things that God needs to tell you, they are already written. They are already written. Do you notice that from the birth to the death of Jesus? He said Jesus will do this so that Scripture can be fulfilled. So that Jesus can... you understand me? When He came to... wouldn't You call fire? He said no, how will the Scripture be fulfilled? He came to a point, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God." He was quoting Deuteronomy. Are you seeing Jesus? That even when He was tempted, He was quoting Deuteronomy. 90% of what God want you to know, they are already written down. Now the ones that will involve God speaking to you directly is just about 10%. I want to expand that last word: "Don't be wise in your own eyes." You begin to give attention to God. Let me give this example. I gave my students work to do. Then they were many. So I came into the hall, I just wrote on the board: "Answer Question 1" and other two questions. I just wrote like that and then I moved along the hall. By the end of the exams, by the end of the test, two people did not answer Question 1. They did three questions anyway. So I called them. I say, "Why didn't you do Question 1?" Question 1... I said, "Did you see what I wrote on the board?" They said they saw it, but because they didn't see anything when I wrote it. They said because they didn't see anything when I wrote it. That's why they didn't do the Question 1. How do you describe them? Don't you understand that a man's word is equal to the man? Your attitude to the Bible is your attitude to God. Your attitude to the Bible is your attitude to God. A man's word is equal to him. When the Bible says "Do not keep malice," you say, "Look, that's Bible. Me, I will... you know what you are saying, that is God. I'm wise in my own eyes." Your attitude to the Bible is your attitude to God. When God begins to see your attitude to the Word, God now determine whether or not He should give you revelation. Nobody cast pearl before swine. You don't give what is holy to dogs. When a man begins to neglect the written Word of God, that is he is trying to be wise in his own eyes. Certain things are clearly written. A young man came to me, took offer of two jobs. In one he had to adjust his age, but he is about 500,000. The other one 150, no age limit. he was saying that "Sir, I'm confused. I don't know now whether..." I said, "Are you confused or you are perverse?" I said "Young man, you are not confused. You are rather perverse. You are wicked in heart." This is not a matter of confusion. You don't need again to be asking God, "God, should I change my age?" He has said, "All unrighteousness is sin." Was that not the sin of Balaam? God said, "Don't go." When Balak now sent more people with more gifts, he went back again to God. "God, do You really say I should not go?" God said, "Go." And then God sent an angel to go and kill him. That is what is happening to so many young people today. We are wise in our own eyes. And so instead of God helping our life, we are experiencing frustration, like the ways of Balaam. That is the ways of Balaam. Don't be wise in your own eyes. The Word of God is clear about so many things. As it says in Ephesians 5:3, "But fornication, let it not be an hint of it. No hint. It should not once be named." But how many times are we naming fornication today among the brethren? He says, "Love your enemy. Do good to them that hate you." Check brothers, sisters... check them in the hostel. they cannot relate well even with their immediate unbelieving neighbors. "Yesterday I was fetching water, he did this and so we are keeping malice." Are those one Christians? I'm trying to make you to understand because we are wise in our own eyes. Go and check Job chapter 5. The Bible says "He takes the crafty in their craftiness." God don't help the crafty. God take them in their craftiness. You don't obtain favor. Don't be wise in your own eyes. The Word of God is clear about so many things. Basic things of life. Check your life. How many times do you tell lie? You say, "Nigeria [Foreign Language]... okay, continue, you will see how it will end. [Foreign Language] stay in that group. You forget that there was a Job under the law that Satan came to and could not accuse him of anything. That was not under grace, was under the law. You are busy saying [Foreign Language]. Be there and you are asking for divine revelation. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Don't be wise! When God sees that a man is wise, what did God do to Adam in that garden? He said "See, man have become like one of Us. [Foreign Language]." Every time instead of enjoying fatherhood, you don't enjoy it. Many of you don't enjoy the fatherhood of God. Rather, He cannot be a father to you. He said "Come out from among them and be separate, and I will be your Father." But we don't want to separate ourselves from the world. You are there, you have one boyfriend. You are there, you have one girlfriend. And then you now come to a point "Oluwa jor wa gbe mi." If God is to answer you, it will... He will scatter you. But you know God is not like us. So the best is that He will just be quiet. That's why I've been praying, I've been praying for the past six months. I don't even know what God is saying. I don't even know what God is saying. Look, that may be possible when you are still a young Christian. When you become a believer, it's just like a radio. Once you on the radio, there is first no clear signal. It will be "Shhhhh." But you begin to tune your life. As you begin to tune, when you get to 88.9, you will hear clearly. That's Adaba. You keep tuning your life until you come to the frequency of God. How do you tune your life? Don't be wise in your own eyes. As you are paying attention to the Word of God... [Foreign Language]... you note it down. I was telling a young man, since I got born again till today, up till this morning I was still taking note as I was reading my Bible. I still have all of my notes in my house. Since I got born again till today, my notes they are in my house. Now that I'm using this one, all my notes are here. You don't pay attention to God! Write down. "Ah, Word of God... okay, God want me to love my enemy." You note it. You don't need to wait for a voice to tell you that. [Foreign Language]... he has said "When your enemy is hungry, give him to eat. That is, you do him good." You don't need God to tell you that again. He has told you that. When God begin to see you acting like that, go and check what Jesus said. John 14:21: "He that have My Word and do it, is he that love Me. He that love Me will be loved by My Father. I too will love him, and I will reveal Myself to him." The reason why you don't experience so much light in your life today is that you are wise in your own eyes. Let us pray. We are speaking about making choice. And I'm just showing you the best way to choice. I'm just showing you the process of making the choice. I'm just showing you the way you ought to go. Please I beg you, look into your life. Look into your life. Look into your life. There is too much crisis today. In the church crisis, you will see father keeping malice with father. Family is keeping family... you know, malice with one another. You will see mother of mothers, enmity, gossip, backbiting. These are people who grew old but they did not grow up. [Foreign Language]. Don't become like one of this kind of people that will be dividing churches. Because there is no vision, they become divisional. They start creating some kind of division in our churches. The same thing division in the family. Husband face that way, wife face that way. Fight here and there. No peace, no rest. Because we are wise in our own eyes. I want to beg you, make the right choice today. Make the right choice today. Choose to start with God. I will trust the Lord with all my heart. I will not lean on my understanding. In all my ways I will acknowledge Him. Then He will direct my path. I will not be wise in my own eyes. Make up your mind today. And if you are there you have not given your life to Jesus... if you are here among us, you have not given your life to Jesus, please I want to beg you, this is an opportunity now. It's an opportunity if you have not started with Jesus. Jesus is that life. This is an opportunity to do so. If you are there right now you know you don't have a walk with Jesus, I am going to call you to come out. I want you to start from that point. Make up your mind now that "Lord Jesus, I repent from my sins today. I turn away. I don't have a relationship with You. Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Lord Jesus, come and be my Lord. Come and be my Savior. Come and be my Lord, come and be my Savior. I give my life to You this day. I give my life to You. I give my life to You." And if you have given your life to Christ, but you know that you are always wise in your own eyes, I want you to make up your mind today that "Lord Jesus, I want to change my pattern to choice. My pattern to making choices. I want to change my pattern. I don't want to be wise again in my own eyes. I am choosing this day. I am choosing this day, Lord, Lord, to depart from evil. To depart from evil. Your Word says this, Your Word says that. I am choosing to depart from evil. Oh Lord, Oh Lord, Oh Lord! I will not go the way of the world. I will not go the way of the world. Thank You, blessed Father. Thank You, Almighty God. Blessed be Your holy name. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Mighty God, we just thank You for this moment. I just commit this congregation into Your hand. I pray, as we take one or two question and answer from the congregation, Lord we pray still lead us on. In all of this, Lord, all we just ask is help us that our choices will be correct. Whether in relationship, in career, in life, help us not to walk in darkness. Thank You, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. [Applause] Can we celebrate Jesus? [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's Word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission hit. 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 out-reaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the First Bridge, Ilaro community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Idanre 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 080-3386-1136, 070-3361-3848. God bless you all.