Contending for the Faith

[Intro narration] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God rightly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Singing in Yoruba] Jesus is safe forever. Hallelujah. He can never, never fail. He will never, never fail. He can never, never fail. Jesus is safe forever. Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] Say something wonderful to this God, our Father, the Lord that can never fail. The Lord that is the same today, yesterday, and forever. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the almighty God, the omnipotent God, the Lord Jehovah, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Shammah. Almighty God, you never fail. We bow down before you, Lord. We worship you. Lord, we worship you. You are worthy of our praise. We come again tonight to say thank you. Thank you, Father, for your loving-kindness. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you, Father, for who you are, for all that you are. We return all glory unto you. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we worship. Amen. Heavenly Father, here we are again, by your grace and mercy, because of your loving-kindness and faithfulness. We thank you, Father, for you daily load us with benefit. It pleases you again to bless us, and that is the reason why you have brought us again to bless us. Father, we return all glory unto you in the name of Jesus. Lord, we commit ourselves, everyone of us present physically and those with us online. Lord, we ask that the power of the Lord, the spirit of God, the spirit of truth, will reach out unto us in the name of Jesus. We bless us abundantly in the name of Jesus. We open our eyes to see Jesus, and our life shall never remain the same in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. We thank God for another time in His presence. The Lord has brought us here, made it possible for us to gather again today. We appreciate Him. By the grace of God, the Lord is going to speak to us on the topic, "Contending for the Faith." Contending for the Faith. And from that, we see that we are talking about the faith. There is a particular faith that we are to contend for. And our text will be taken from the book of Jude. The book of Jude. Jude has one chapter. And we quickly want to read, I think it's to 25, but I want to stop at verse 18. Jude 1: Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who are called, loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace and love be multiplied unto you. Dear friends, although I was eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write and exhort you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. For some men, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth. They are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into promiscuity and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord. A people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe. And He has kept with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment on the great day, the angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling. In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them committed sexual immorality and practiced perversion, just as angels did, and serve as an example, burdened with the punishment of eternal fire. Nevertheless, these dreamers likewise defile their flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme glorious ones. Yet Michael the archangel, when he was disputing with the devil in a debate about Moses' body, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." But these people blaspheme anything they don't understand; what they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, they destroy themselves with these things. Woe to them, for they have traveled the way of Cain; they have abandoned themselves to the error of Balaam for profit and have perished in Korah’s rebellion. It's talking about different apostasy amongst some people. These are the ones who are like dangerous reefs at your love feasts. They feast with you, nurturing only themselves without fear. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn, fruitless, twice dead, pulled out by the roots; wild waves of the sea, foaming for their shameful deeds; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever. And Enoch, in the seventh generation after Adam, prophesied about them: "Look, the Lord comes with thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict them and all their ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." These people are discontented grumblers, walking according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage. But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They told you, in the end time, there will be scoffers, walking according to their own ungodly desires. Let me quickly complete it. But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, expecting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. Have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them from the fire. Have mercy on others, but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I think it's important for us to read the whole text because that is very crucial to our discourse today by the grace of God. And from what we see in that place, the basic thing, the reason why that book was written by our brother Jude to the Church of Christ is because there is a need for us to contend for—them then, to contend for the faith. And looking at different behavior, actions, different scenarios, things that were mentioned here that the people, even in the church of God, were doing, you want to wonder how. But you will agree with me that we even have worse scenarios in our time now. And that is the reason a lot are the apostates, the past and the present apostates, how people crept into the church, how they deceived many, how they lure others, how they come in a crafty way. And that is the reason why he said, "I found it necessary to write and exhort you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all." We are to contend for the faith. Why must we contend for the faith? The first thing is that the aim of this, the objective for this study is to challenge you and I, believers, that there is the need for us to do what? To contend for the faith. And to understand why we should. Why we should contend for the faith. And quickly, let me talk about what is this faith we are talking about. And looking at the word of God, we know he said "that was once delivered." This faith was passed to us. It's the faith that was delivered by God the Father to Christ as a mediator. We know the salvation story, how God in His infinite mercy thought it wise that man should be saved and that there is nothing anybody can do about that when it comes to human being except a saint, blameless without wrinkles. So the Lord now delivered this faith to our Lord Jesus. He delivered by God the faith to Christ. And Christ is how Christ came into the matter is that He came to do what? To pay the price as a mediator. And by Him, this faith was passed to—who were the immediate, the first recipients of this faith? The apostles. And by them, what happened? They were faithful. They did not bring the faith that was delivered to them into extinction. They passed it down to us. And that is why we have the gospel preached to somebody like me and many of us that are hearing today. If the apostles had failed, if the apostles had not contended for the faith—remember the faith was really faced with challenges, tribulation. Many of them laid down their lives. In fact, all of the apostles, except that of John we know, even it was persecution that took him to the land of Patmos where we don't really know how God handled. But every other, each and every one of them, they contended for the faith with their lives. Their blood were shed for you and I to get the gospel, to get the gospel of our salvation, which is the good news, which is Christ coming to die for us. And when that was preached to us, we have the doctrine of faith. That is, by faith, by faith we come to God. And that is the gospel. As many that come to God must believe that He is. No one come to the Lord—Jesus is that way. And you know this gospel was preached to us. And this gospel is our most holy faith. In this faith we are talking about, we also have the doctrine of the truth. The word of the Lord is the truth. That is still part of the faith we are talking about. So when I'm talking about faith, don't only think it is just about faith to move mountain, faith to obtain miracles, they are all inclusive. It starts with the faith of believing in the finished work of Calvary, then it continues in the doctrine of the truth, the word of God, the truth that has been given to us. That is also the faith. The faith we are talking about is also the deity and sonship of Christ. Some people contend that. That it's not possible. *Allah o bi enikan, ko bi enikan.* This faith we are to contend with is to also stand to make men know the deity and sonship of Jesus. There has not been anyone on surface Earth that the heaven will publicly acclaim, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him." When Jesus was being baptized, Bible say everyone there, it wasn't a spiritual thing that was done in the hidden. They saw it. They heard the voice. A dove descended. There has not been anyone. That is still part of our faith we are to contend with, that Jesus is the Son of God. Part of our faith is also the divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit. These are things we are to contend with. These present-day believers, I can remember in those days when I gave my life to Christ. Immediately after being born again, baptism was arranged for us. And after that, even from day one, we were taught how to hunger and thirst for the personality, the personality and divinity of the Holy Spirit. To ask the Holy Spirit to come with the manifestation of speaking in tongues. And with all desire, we were praying trusting God. Some of us, our own baptism came by laying of hands. Some people, so much sold themselves into prayer in their closet that even as they were praying in their closet with nobody laying hand upon them, there was baptism of the Holy Spirit. But today, you see many convert believers all alike. You'll be shocked when they begin to tell you that it is not that important. When the Bible tells us, Jesus told us, that these signs shall follow them that believe. I've heard believers telling us that if you like, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit without the sign of speaking in tongues. Can you see how the faith is gradually being eroded? So that is also what we are to contend with, the divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit. The Lord will help us in Jesus' name. The faith also include the act of grace. The act of grace of the Father, Son, and Spirit towards men. It is not by work. We are saved by grace. The faith also talk about the doctrine of everlasting love of God. Is that still preached? Do people still believe that the love of God is eternal? When you surrender your life to Christ, the love of Jesus for you is unconditional. Because in the first place, you did nothing to merit that love. It was only given to us by grace. That is also the faith we are to contend it. What is the enemy telling you about the love of God? That you have to earn it. That is part of the means by which the devil want to make of no effect the faith we are talking about. Part of the faith is also our eternal election. We also find that in the Bible. Bible say we have been predestined from the beginning of the Earth. The Lord has called us to eternal calling. He has predestined us. "For whom He called, He has chosen, He called, and He has predestined us unto life." So eternal election. Part of the grace is the covenant of grace, I mentioned that. Particularly, redemption, justification, justification. The reason why many of us struggle to live the Christian life is because we don't know what we have received in the first place. One of the way to overcome the sting of the serpent is to keep looking up. And that is where the place of redemption and justification comes in. He said as Jesus was lifted up in those days, as the serpent was lifted up, so the Son of God shall be lifted. As many that look up to Him shall be saved. Having surrendered your life, if genuinely you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your justification, your redemption is complete. What you need to do is to keep looking up. And in doing that is also contending. Because what the enemy want us to do is to look down. The enemy don't want us to keep looking up to what Jesus have done. When that challenge, when that temptation, trial, come to us and we look at the thing at the face, maybe things I've been doing before. Let's say before I tell lies. When I come to Jesus, all these have been taken care of. I've confessed and I've surrendered my life. I'm a brand new person. And again, when I'm faced with a situation and possibly maybe I fell into it and I come back, where you have to contend is to stand as you repent in that mode. You tell yourself, you are a new creature. Old things are passed away. New creation. Jesus has delivered me from lies. Jesus has delivered me from the work of darkness. You insist on the finished work of Calvary. That is also what is expected of us for our faith to stand. Praise the Lord. I also want us to know, I'm still coming to contend, what it means. I'm still talking about our faith because many a times we don't even know the faith we are contending for. The faith we are contending for is not an invention of man, but is an invention of God and an eternal gift from Him which He gave to you and I as a trust. That's another important thing. This faith we said our fathers, the apostles, they were given. It was a trust and that was why they laid down their life to make sure it must not end with them. They pass the baton. What about you and I today? What are you doing about the faith that has been given to you? Or do you think it will end with you? If it will end with you, I'm very sure the Lord Jesus will not smile at you when you get to heaven. Because it's a trust, you are to pass it on. Pass it to generations to come. Pass it to others around you. So it's an eternal gift from God which He gave us as a trust. So in order for us to keep it, to hold it fast, and to pass it on, pass it on. No wonder the enemy is contending for it because he doesn't want it to be passed on. But the Lord will not make our life, my prayer is that our life, through our life, this faith will come to generations until the Lord Jesus comes in Jesus' name. And quickly, I want to talk about what does it mean to contend. We are talking about contending for the faith. From the meaning that I have here, it said is to strive. When you strive. When you strive for something, that is contending for the faith. When you contend is to strive in retaining something. You strive, you struggle, you courageously sustain it, you preserve it. So when we are talking about contending for the faith, the faith the Lord has given to you, how are you supposed to contend? You are to strive. Bible talks about Jesus. It said because of the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despised the shame. And for us, it said we have not yet resisted to the stage of shedding blood. And until we come to know that this is a thing we are to strive for, we won't be able to sustain our faith and pass it on to generation. So we are to strive in retaining the faith. We are to courageously sustain and preserve it. Courageously because you are going to be faced with challenges, ridicule. In doing this, we must we encounter continuous warfare. Our faith is a faith that has been given to us and for us to sustain it, to retain it, to be able to pass it on to generation, it must be a continuous warfare for us to be able to maintain our faith. If you are not fighting the good fight of faith, that's what Bible talks about, we must fight the good fight of faith. So it is a warfare. It is a thing that you have to make up your mind to fight for you to be able to sustain and maintain your faith. Praise the Lord. Then in contending, we must know that faith has been delivered to us and we have obtained this for a purpose. Faith has been delivered to you and you have obtained it for a purpose. So if you don't set your purpose at heart, or you don't know that I have a purpose to fulfill, you will not see the need to contend. So we must contend. Then another way to contend for our faith is to care for it. Do you care for your faith? You care, you know what it means when you take care of yourself. You provide all necessary thing that will make you—if it is to take care of your stomach, you know what you will do. You won't put cement inside bone. That is how you contend. If you want to take care of your stomach, you will look for good food for you to do that. So if you want to also contend is to take care of your faith. How do you do that? This word, the word of the Lord, through daily nurturing yourself with the word of God, you take care of that. Your faith can only grow by faith. Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. Praise the Lord. I want us to see, now we have talked about what faith and to contend is about. Now we want to talk about how to contend for this faith. How? How can you and I contend for this faith that has been delivered once for all? That means no see another time, no see another kind of faith. When you have it, it is expected of you that keep this faith. That is just the copy that belongs to you, so keep it. How do you contend? How do you fight this warfare? Number one, let's open our Bible to Titus chapter 2, 7 to 8. Titus 2:7-8 says: "In everything, make yourself an example of good works, with integrity and dignity in your teaching. Your message is to be sound beyond reproach so that the opponent will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us." 1 John 1:1-3: "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. That life was revealed and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. What we have seen and heard we also declare to you so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." Praise the Lord. How to contend for the faith? From the passages, what do you see there? These people were bearing experiential testimony about the faith. You cannot give what you don't have. For you to be able to contend for the faith to the end and not lose your faith, it must be that your life have the experiential effect. That is, you yourself experience God. He says here, "What we have heard, what we have seen, what we have observed, what we have touched, that life was revealed, that we have seen and we have testified, declare to you." What have you seen, what have you touched about the faith? What have you touched about the kingdom, the life of Jesus? If it is the basis of your faith is what people have said—thank God for testimony, Bible say all these are written for our examples. But for it to last with you, it must be your experience. If we says God has the power to transform life, since you have been in Christ, is that power available in your life that you can say, "Oh, the things I used to do I do them no more." You won't be able to pass it on if you don't have that experiential testimony. For us to be able to contend and stand and say, "Mama bo, Jesu dudu, Jesu gbala, owo so," you must also have experienced that. I could remember sometime before I gave my life to Christ, I wasn't a religious person. I'm not a church girl. I wasn't a church girl. Our environment, our parents, nothing bad, they can ask driver to drop you for party, it's not compulsory you go to church. But when we now by the grace of God I met Jesus, that was when they began to see, "*Kilo se?* What is the meaning of this? No fellowship." You know what I told my daddy? I said, "Daddy, what I have experienced, the only thing that you can do to stop me, it would have been that you never allow me to experience it. That was the only thing. But what I have experienced, ah, there's nothing anybody can do about that." What gave me that confidence? I knew who I was, and when I met Jesus, I said, "Daddy, *eba ti je ki n mada, ki n mase ti ni mi fa, koda Oluwa*. What I'm talking about." Experiential testimony. If your life has not experienced this faith, this grace, the power of God—Bible say it is not in eating and drinking, it is the demonstration of the power of God. Can you boldly tell somebody your life can be transformed? You know that you are a prostitute, you that you are a hard-core criminal, you can be changed when you yourself you have not experienced that. So for us to be able to contend and stand and say, "Mama bo, Jesu dudu, Jesu gbala, owo so," you must also have experienced that. The Lord is challenging us to go to the—to Him, to come to Him. If it is only by head knowledge, what people say, just as a basis of our faith, I can assure you it will not last. Some persecution will come where you will run. But when it becomes your experience, your testimony, may we all experience God and the life of God indeed in the name of Jesus. So from this passage we saw how they were able to declare. No wonder they could die for it. No wonder they could make sure, "Ah, no, this must get—it must not end with us" because of what they have seen, what they have heard, what they have experienced. The Lord will take us into this realm that we will see the invisible, we will hear the inaudible, we will experience God and that will help us to be able to stand when the gate of hell is saying, "No, no, no," you say, "What? It's like you don't know. You don't know the resolution I have made. You don't know who you are talking to because I have experienced God." When somebody come to confuse you, you say, "You are the most—you, you talking is the confused because I know what I have experienced." Bearing experiential testimony of the faith. That is one of the ways to contend for our faith. Another way is praying for continuance and sustenance of this faith. Let's quickly see Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians 6:13 to 18. Praying. We cannot overemphasize that for us to contend for the faith, to preserve the faith. For you to be able to pass it on to your generation. For you to be able to hand it—and when you get to heaven, it won't be that *alase danu*, we have wasted resources. For you not to be an unprofitable servant, you have to continue praying. It's not just praying for a while. Praying for continuance and sustenance. That this faith will not go into extinction. When you look at what is happening today, you want to wonder that I hope when we look about when we look the next 50 years, even children of Christians, will they be in faith? The faith of their parents. So for us to be able to contend and keep this faith is to what? Pray continually. Ephesians 6:13-18. It says here: "When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit." I hope I—sorry, I'm on the place I'm reading. Ephesians 6:13 to 18. It's a popular place now. "This is why you must take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist the evil day and having prepared everything to take your stand. Stand therefore: with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation, take the shield of faith and with you, and with it, you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word. Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request and stay alert indeed with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints." So prayer does not stand in isolation. Prayer is effective when we put on all this armor. And you know when it comes to putting on armor, you can imagine if you are faced with—with your opposition, the enemy, and maybe you put on part and some parts are not there. Where will they target? Let the armor is not covering. The Lord is challenging us. This is the time for us to arise and put on our armor continually. Without that, we cannot achieve success in contending. The enemy is throwing arrow so that at the end of the day, this faith will make a shipwreck of it. But God forbid that we will not make a shipwreck—that we will make a shipwreck of our faith in Jesus' name. Standing in place of prayer, putting on our armor. The belt of truth, the—the armor of righteousness. Where are they today? Are you still dressing them on? Do you speak the truth? Is your life guided by the word of God? That is the truth. Is are you—is your righteousness still intact or have you traded it for mundane things? Is your feet sandaled with the readiness to preach the gospel? When you are always in the readiness to preach the gospel, you will not do contrary. You will not compromise because you will know that if I compromise I preach the gospel, *won ni gbo mi o*. Ah, I won't be able. So all the devil want us to do is that we live a compromised life so that at the end of the day, you won't even be able to stand before your friends and tell him or her about the Lord of Jesus and the coming King. If you are not ready at every point to preach the gospel, you are not putting on your armor. Shield of faith. Many a times now we are more rational. We want to—society have taught us to be rational. We want to even reason out God. That will not make our faith to last. That will not make our faith to be intact. That will make the enemy to do what? To take it away and make a shipwreck of it. It also talked about the flaming arrow and the sword, the helmet of salvation and that is very important at this point. Maybe you are there, the salvation is not there. You have not surrendered your life to Jesus. You don't have an helmet. You are not—you have not even started the faith. The Lord Jesus is calling you today. Surrender your life to Him. He said, "I'm at the door of your heart knocking." Anyone, irrespective of who you are, when you open, He will come in, dine with you, say with you, and that is how He will continue with you. So come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. And if you have come to Jesus, don't drop your helmet. You can imagine soldier, *ko ma de helmet sori*, that person will be what? An easy prey in the hand of the enemy. We also have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Then all these, we put it on, praying at all times. If you are not prayerful, you will not be able to contend for the faith. If you don't put on all this armor, you will not be able to contend. You will turn your back at the enemy and the enemy we are contending with is the devil. Praise the Lord. Then another way by which we contend for our faith is also to stand fast in one spirit as a body. Unity. Unity of the body of Christ. Bible talks about unity in Psalm 133: "How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." You know, we make our lives or the body of Christ an easy prey for the devil when we are divided. Remember when it's talking about the tower of Babel, they were planning to do evil and God said, "No one will be able to stop them with this kind of unity." Don't be part of those who divide the church. Contribute your own quota to make sure the body of Christ is united. A little gossip here and there, not forbearing with one another. All this class, segregation here and there, they are all intentional. It is we children of God that we are not intentional in our practices. The devil knows what he is doing. He knows that when we are divided—divided we fall, united we stand. So for us to be able to contend for the faith, we must stand in unity. So don't contribute to the division we have. Go on your knees and pray and make sure you put in everything to make sure the church of God is united. That we are one. The Lord help us in Jesus' name. Another way is to preach this faith boldly, openly, fully, and prayerfully, and faithfully. When you preach the gospel, you are what? You are sustaining the faith. When you don't keep quiet, you are preserving this faith. When you preach it boldly, openly, fully, and faithfully. Don't preach half message. That is the problem we have today. Because of what I want to get from people that are following me or members of my church, I give them half truth. You have not given them anything. If Christ is worth serving, please let's serve Him well. Preach the gospel boldly, fully, faithfully, and openly. The Lord help us in Jesus' name. Another way of also contending for the faith—I found it very interesting when I saw it here. 1 Kings 18. It said: "By defending, no disputing and writing in defense of faith." Look at 1 Kings 18:16-40. It's the story, familiar story for us. 1 Kings 18 from verse 16. It's about the story of Elijah, Elijah's message to Ahab. You know what happened there, Mount Carmel scenario, when he said the servants of Baal, when there was a contest. And that is what—I don't want to—it's a long passage, it's a familiar passage for us. You know, that is disputing and writing in defense. When Elijah stood up and called the servant of prophets of Baal into contest. We are not saying we should now begin to say let's do contest, but in that—at that time, there was a need for it because a lot of people had been deceived by the prophet. But God reserved some people. Elijah even thought he was the only one remaining. What are you doing to defend the faith? What are you doing to defend the faith like Elijah did here? What? The Lord is expecting us, is calling us that we should be able to stand up and write in defense of the faith. We should be able to rise up and challenge principalities and powers, challenge authorities. But when we are—we are—we have failed in other aspect, we too we will go into hiding. May that not be our portion in Jesus' name. Praise the Lord. And lastly on contending for the faith, I have here, let's quickly go to Mark chapter 3. The most important, potent way to contend for the faith. All the other ones are very important, but this, it is in this one that you know when they said you lubricate engine when you use your vehicle, after some time you lubricate so that the engine will not knock. All these armor, all of this thing we are talking about has to be renewed, to be refreshed, and where is that? Mark chapter 3 from verse 13. It said, "Then he went up the mountain and summoned those who he wanted." It was talking about Jesus here. "He summoned those He wanted and they came to him," when He called the disciples. "He also appointed twelve. He also named them apostles, to be with him." He appointed twelve, He named them apostles, to be with him. That was the first thing, before to send them out to preach or to have authority over to drive out demons. What was the first thing? To be with him. And that is a very crucial way for you for your faith to stay intact. To always be with him. To always share intimacy with him. To always be a man and a woman of his presence. To learn of him. To take instruction from him. To renew your strength in his presence. It is when we are in his presence that we become like him. Because it is in that process that we are being changed. So if we are not men and women of his presence, we won't be able to go out to preach. Send Him first called them to be with him. He did all the necessary work. It is in the—when we are with the Lord. How is your personal quiet time? How is your personal walk with God? Have you considered the quality of time you spend in God's presence? Who is leading you to do what you are doing? Who is your instructor? Whosoever you yield yourself to is your lord. We are so quick to say the Lord, Lord Jesus, my Lord and Savior. Are you with Him? Does He even know you or know what you are doing? Is it only when you come, *ruru*, many of us we just come to God because of what we want to get. And when we are done with that, we just continue our life. We won't be able to contend for the faith. You will not be able to go out to preach boldly, fully, faithfully, if you are not somebody that share intimacy with Him. You will not be able to go in power and silence the work of darkness if you are not somebody that share intimacy with him. Jesus is not first sending you to preach the gospel. That was not his first primary purpose. To cast out demon, no. His first primary purpose is come and share intimacy with me. Come, let me breathe on you. Learn my way. You cannot do this thing unless you are always with me. That is where you get instruction. That is where you get strength. That is where you get direction. We could also remember in the Bible, Bible talks about Jesus. When people come, He will withdraw so that they won't—they won't crush Him. He will withdraw. No wonder when the Pharisees are thinking in their heart, He knows it. Because the Spirit of God is the Spirit of discernment. The Lord would just be giving Him all the joker. It can happen to you and I. He said works that I do you will do; greater works. This is a dispensation of the Holy Spirit when greater work has to be done by us for the faith of our Lord Jesus, for this faith, the gospel of the Lord Jesus, to spread everywhere. But we are seeing less result. The reason is because we are not where we are supposed to be. He first brought them to Himself before He sent them to preach the gospel or to cast out demon. God first wants you to be with Him. Share intimacy with Him. Learn of Him. Take instruction from Him. Let Him breathe upon you. Let us receive inspiration from Him. Let your life be patterned when you are with something. *Ewe ba ba po la lose, nwon o di ose.* When you remove the *ewe*, drop it somewhere, take that away, you'll be shocked that the *ewe* will—so soapy. You can use only the *ewe* that they've used *ewe* to wrap the soap. After some time you drop the soap. Use the *ewe*, you will use it to wash whatsoever you want to wash. And that is the essence of being in God's presence. That is the essence of having intimate personal intimacy fellowship with God. Let us stop running around. The devil is giving us, many of us we don't know we are running a timetable of the devil with our lifestyle. The devil just submit a timetable for us and we are just running it. And they are legitimate at times. They are things that you say, "Ah." Yesterday in church we talked about Jesus is coming for a church without spot and wrinkle. Spot are sin, *abi*? Wrinkle may not be necessarily sin. It may just something good, weight that easily beset us. And when those things set in, their aim is that we don't fulfill God's purpose, we don't contend for the faith. And that faith can be taken from us or we make a shipwreck of it and there's nothing to pass over. And the consequence, when something is a trust, a time is coming when you will be called to answer. That's the last thing I have here: the consequence of not contending for the faith. It is a dangerous thing not to contend for the faith. What are the consequences? Number one, you are going to be called to give account. What are you going to say? Some people handed it over to you. What are you going to say? Will you be like the talent, the man with one talent, and began to say trash before the Lord? Was he justified? Apart from the fact that it was taken away from him, what later happened? He was thrown into outer darkness. It is a great—it will be a great undoing for your life and for the body of Christ if you don't contend for the faith. The Lord is going to call you into account. Revelations, the consequence of not contending for the faith. Revelation chapter 8 verse 10. I can read it. Chapter 8 verse 10. Praise the Lord. Okay, let me quickly take it here. Okay, "The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star blazing like a torch fell from heaven." I think I missed it. It's talking about here. Okay, I think I missed that off. I miss that off. But what I want to talk about is that every man will stand before the Lord to give account, *abi*? Of himself to the Lord. So that is very, very important. When you stand before the Lord, what account are you going to give? Is He going to say welcome? Is He going to say welcome, good and faithful servant? Or is He going to say depart from me? Praise the Lord. Another reason, another consequence is that if you don't contend for the faith, our adversary the devil—what will happen? Will have his fill. We are giving room for the works of darkness to take—to take over. We are giving room for the devil. We are going to disappoint God. Bible say the earnest expectation of creation await what? The manifestation of the sons of God. They are waiting for you and I, for their deliverance and transformation. When you choose not to contend, you have failed God. May we not fail God in Jesus' name. May we not fail God in Jesus' name. Okay, I talked about the we give account. Romans 14:11 to 13. Every man will give account. Romans chapter 14, if you are there before me, 11 to 13. 14:11-13. "For it is written: 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me and every tongue will give praise to God.'" So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Bear that in mind and arise. Arise. Arise to contend for the faith that has been delivered into your hand. And if you contend, what will happen? You have a crown of salvation. At the end of the day, you have a lot to gain. There will be a crown of salvation. There will be a crown of glory for you. The Lord will be—will be glad. You would have fulfilled God's purpose. You will be fulfilled in life. At the end of the day, you have a crown of glory if you contend for the faith. If you contend for the faith, you have a crown of glory. You would have fulfilled the will and the purpose for which you have been brought. And at the end of the day, the Lord will welcome you. And not only that, through your life, many will come to what? Will come to the light of salvation. Many will come to salvation. Many will come to know the Lord. Through your life, the gate of hell, the kingdom of darkness, will be depopulated. Through your life, you will do what? You bring to naught the works of darkness. You cause the kingdom of God to be done on Earth as it is done in heaven. You have a lot of great benefit for your life, for your—for your environment, for the souls of men and for God's kingdom. Let this be what is set before you, just like our Master, because of what was set before Him. Let all these also be what you will set before your face. That this must not end with me. God forbid that this faith will come to extinction during my time or in my lifetime. I will not make a shipwreck of this faith and will pass this thing on. I will contend for it because the gate of hell is really contending and I will contend. I will not give up until Christ, the glory of God, the kingdom of God is fully established on Earth. Praise the Lord. Shall we pray? I want us to speak to the Lord. I want us to cry unto the Lord this evening contending for the faith. Call upon the Lord. The Lord has challenged you. That that faith that you are just doing anyhow, it's not your own, oh. It's a trust. God has saved you to save others. God has saved you for His glory. That faith that you think it is just like that. The gate of hell is really looking out to get it, to destroy it. The enemy is not at rest. He is moving around seeking whom to devour. Is what he want to devour is your faith. He has nothing to do with every other thing you have. He's not concerned about that, but that this faith, this gospel of our Lord Jesus, this life of Jesus, this light will not shine. He will make sure it's off. Will you not contend? If that is what others have done, will you have received Christ? Will the light have come to you? We know the purpose of God can never be thwarted. But the Lord will not come down from heaven. He can raise up stones, but may He not raise up stones in replacement of us. Help us to Lord, help me. Help me to contend. Have you been snooping at Zion? Have you been living as if you are not on a warfare? If it's high time we come to realize that, we are on a warfare. Our everyday life is a battle. Battle for the faith. The enemy is not resting. We are resting. They grieve, we are not yet. You have not gotten to the place of rest. We are still on the battlefield. This faith must not go into extinction. Don't make a shipwreck of your faith. Don't let the enemy have His fill. We are giving room for the works of darkness to take over. We are going to disappoint God. Bible say the earnest expectation of creation await what? The manifestation of the sons of God. They are waiting for you and I for their deliverance and transformation. Call upon the Lord. Lord, help me. Let me have an experiential testimony of you. Bury it that what I have heard. I don't just want to be among the number. I want *abokun ti o po* Lord, please, let me be among those that Lord through my life men will come to know Jesus. Testimony about who Christ is will emanate, will be obvious and revealed through me. Ask the Lord that God please help me how to contend that even if it will mean dying. Said by dying for it. When God call, some people have died. Can you die for Jesus? Are you dying already? We are supposed to die daily. If you don't die daily, when the ultimate test will come in contention for your faith, you won't be able to die. But when you are dying daily and they say, "Now, your job, your money or compromise, or you sing. Your job, your money, your life or you sing." You will say, "I don't even have all that because they are dead already." Have to call upon God, help me. That is how to contend. That even if I have to die, contending for the faith is also for us to die for it. Call upon God. Even when I'm called upon to die for this faith, would I be able to do it? Help me, Lord. Help me, Lord. Help me to preach it boldly. Help me to preach it faithfully. Help me to preach it fully. Not half truth. Help me to preach it openly. Don't be a hidden Christian. Let people know who you are. Because the reason why you will be hiding is because you also want to compromise with them. Ask the Lord. Help me, Lord, to defend. Even if it will mean laying down my life for him. Help me, Lord. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me to pray always over my life and over the work of God. Let us also pray that the Lord will help you, help me, oh Lord. Help me to stand firm. Help me, oh Lord, into the church of God to be united. Help us, oh Lord, in the name of Jesus. Help us, oh Lord. Help us. Help us also ask the Lord that God, help me, how to contend that even if it will mean dying for Him, help me, Lord. The enemy will not silence my voice in the name of Jesus. Thank you, precious Daddy. Lord, we pray that you will continue to move Family Tent forward. Forward. In the name of Jesus Christ. That this fellowship will no longer limit. In the name of Jesus. Thank you, precious Daddy. That as we go, we go in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We return next week with testimony in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Let's together share the grace. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever. Amen. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. 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 p.m.; Adolescents and Singles' Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10 a.m.; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10 a.m.; Family Life Seminars, regular school outreaches, and every day counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere Community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Idjare 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.