Cyf Cdc 14th April 2019 Nature of the Kingdom

[Music] A church's fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for these are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Teach Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Music] In our lesson two, we looked at the kingdom last time, and we saw that as far as Jesus was concerned, in all His preaching, in all His deeds, He was talking about a kingdom. "Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom." There is a kingdom that we are entering. Later, we saw that we are actually workers for a kingdom. We are not workers for a fellowship. We later also saw that we are actually redeemers of darkness into a kingdom. And in rounding up, we saw that it is crucial that our lives agree with the life of the kingdom, or else we don't have inheritance in that kingdom. So, we are looking at the theme "The Kingdom Lifestyle," the lifestyle of the kingdom. Now, having tried to establish the fact that we are taken from one kingdom into another, let us look at some of the things that are raised about this kingdom. What are some of the issues that were raised about the nature of the kingdom? Later, we will come to what is the power of the kingdom. Later, we will come to what is the implication of this power. Later, we will come to walking in the power of the kingdom. Later, we will come to establishing the kingdom and reigning in the kingdom. There are so many things about this matter of the kingdom, of the kingdom lifestyle. But it is good for us to look at some of the things that are said about the nature of this kingdom. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 from around verse 15. If you are there, please read. [Speaker 2] 2 Timothy 2:15-21: Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. [Speaker 1] Yes, keep on. We are stopping at 21. [Speaker 2] But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. [Speaker 1] We are looking at some of the things that are said about this kingdom. We are looking at the nature. What is said about the nature of this kingdom in terms of our entrance into the kingdom? This kingdom, entrance into the kingdom, what are some of the things we need to look at? What was said about the nature? You know we said that we are starting from one kingdom into another kingdom. So, we are looking at the nature of that entrance, the entrance into the kingdom. The first thing we are calling attention to—that is why I wanted you to read from verse 15—is that it talks about the need to study to show yourself approved. We will come to that later. "Establishing the kingdom," we will come to all of that later. Now, it says study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. It now talked about some people who preached some things that were not correct, and what they did to the faith of some people. What did they do to the faith of some people? They overthrew it. Look at it from verse 16. It says, "But shun profane and vain babblings." Let me read simpler English: "Avoid worthless and foolish talk. They only lead to more ungodly behavior. Avoid worthless and foolish talk. Study to show yourself approved unto God. Avoid worthless and foolish talk. They only lead to more ungodly behavior. This kind of talk spreads like cancer, as in the case of Hymenaeus and Philetus. They have left the path of truth, claiming that the resurrection of the dead has already occurred. In this way, they have turned some people away from the faith." There were false teachers among them. When we talk about false teachers, it is not a new thing. Some people rose at one time and they turned some people away from the faith. But that is not where I am going. I want you to read from that place. Nevertheless, "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." Now, we are looking at something about the kingdom that was said. This kingdom is established on truth. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Avoid ungodly talk, avoid useless things that do not agree. What makes them useless? It is not because they are not reasonable or sensible, but they don't agree with truth. When you look up, like I gave the example just now, and you tell somebody, "Don't mind them! Who told you that the earth is bigger than the star? Look up! Look up! Look up! Are you a fool? Look up! Look at the size of that thing. Look at where you are. Is it even as big as your room? Don't let them deceive you. Nonsense!" Now, the person who looks up and looks at the size of the star is more likely to say, "Yes, sir! They are telling lies. How can this small thing be bigger than the earth?" The person believes that because he does not have an understanding of the truth. That is the way truth and facts are. Truth is what God said, even when it does not look apparent. Facts are always apparent. They come with some evidence, as if, "Yes, this thing is correct." But you will discover after the process of time, what looks apparent will fade off. What looks non-apparent will become apparent. I hope you get the point I am making. One thing about this kingdom is that the kingdom, to be established in the kingdom, to find a way in the kingdom, to enter that kingdom, to stay in that kingdom, to walk in that kingdom, to remain in that kingdom, is about studying scriptures. It is about studying to show yourself approved unto God, a workman not to be ashamed. Because if you are not like that, you will be given to worthless and ungodly talk that will lead to what? Overthrowing of faith. He said, "Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth them that are his." He is saying that the way this kingdom is, it is important for the truth to be known. It is equally true that some people who don't take time to know the truth, their faith would be overthrown. They will find themselves outside the kingdom. They will find themselves being overthrown from the kingdom. However, it is also important to know that no matter how people try to bring confusion, the foundation of that kingdom cannot be shaken. The kingdom can never be shaken. The kingdom remains intact. It is not a kingdom anybody can overthrow. You cannot pull it and turn it and turn it. No. It says, "The Lord knoweth them that are his." So, it doesn't matter how you turn it and turn it, it doesn't matter how you try to make the whole thing look anyhow, it does not. The Lord knoweth them that are His. And equally important is that let everyone that nameth the name of this Lord depart from iniquity. Let everyone. Note, He didn't say, "Let everybody depart from iniquity." Do you notice that? What is the difference? It is not compulsory that men leave iniquity. What makes it compulsory is that if you are naming God's name, if you are named by God, if you call on God, if you relate to God, you can continue with iniquity. But if you name the name of God, then you depart from iniquity. Matthew 13. We are just looking at some things about the nature of this kingdom. Matthew 13 verse 47. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." This is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous. So, what is that telling you again about the kingdom? What can you bring out here about the nature of the kingdom? At the point of entrance, everybody that enters has the same destination. Entering into this kingdom, that is why you understand why the Bible says as there were false prophets among them, there will be false teachers because at the point of entrance, some fish or fishes that were not correct actually entered with them. When you throw the net, God's kingdom, when you throw it like this and you want to catch fish, normally the fish that will be caught will be fish of every kind. The good, the bad, the ugly, the upright, the serious, the unserious, the sexually perverse—it catches everybody. And all of them will look like they are children of God. Is that not interesting about the kingdom? That is why we are looking at "Kingdom Lifestyle." Somebody said to me today, "But sir, you know this pastor, he is doing it now. They are Christians and they are doing it." I said you don't understand this kingdom. Hymenaeus and Philetus, who overthrew the faith of many, they were also inside the kingdom. And yet inside the kingdom, they overthrew the faith of people. So, another thing that should interest you about the kingdom is that the kingdom is like a kingdom that until you get to the final, final, final whistle—after all the injury time, after all the extra time—even during the injury time, there will still be those fishes that are going nowhere. It is when the final whistle is now blown that they say, "Okay, the good fish or fishes, put them there. The bad one, oh ya." That is why Paul said for some people, their sin comes behind them, while for some others, it goes before them into judgment. Do you know the meaning of that? Let me help you with something. Look at the rich man and Lazarus. Until the rich man died, was there anything about him that showed that he is a godless man? He was enjoying! He had the best of life. Things were okay. Things were fine. He wasn't suffering. He had the best of life. He had the good things of life. Everything was okay. He was living fine. For him, his sin, the sin of the man, came behind him. He first entered into judgment before his sin showed up. For some people, it goes before them. You know Herod? Herod the King? They were talking to him, he was talking, and as he was speaking, he just finished his speech and they said what? "It is the voice of a god! It is the voice of a god!" Right there and there, an angel smote him. He fell down and maggots finished him on the spot. For him, his sin went before him into judgment. There are some people who will die without having any scratch, any pain, anything. They got entrance into school, they graduated first class, the next thing: good job, good man, good marriage, everything! It looks like these people are the saints on earth. Yet when eternity opens up, you will pray that your life did not go like that. Because for such, for some people, their sin will come behind. You know, what I am trying to say is that I am explaining the nature of the kingdom. The kingdom is such that those that are inside the kingdom, those that the kingdom allowed to come—they come, come, be inside this kingdom—and we are all together. It looks like we are all going to the same place. You must understand that the fish that was caught was fish of every kind. Of every kind. The kind that want to stay with God and obey God; the one that want to obey God partially; the one that will stay around Jesus, do all the miracles, go all the mission, did everything, but with consistency still betrayed Jesus. You remember Brother Judas? He was among the twelve, but he had no way that he was going. He was among the twelve. So, these are understandings that we must have about the kingdom. So, when we are talking about kingdom lifestyle—that is why it looks like the life is complex, why it looks like, "Ah, what kind of people are there?" How do we now know the right lifestyle to live? Because that is where we are actually going. Our focus is kingdom lifestyle. I'm trying to make you see when there are a lot of complications today. This one says this, that one says this. So, which one now are we to take? All of those things, they are all part and parcel of the kingdom. But our journey, don't forget, is to get the lifestyle. But I am trying to show you the nature of this kingdom. Again in that same Matthew, we are looking at so many things about the kingdom. Look at again what Jesus said again about the kingdom. Matthew 13. A large crowd soon gathered around Him. So, He got into a boat, He sat there, and taught as the people stood on the shore. I hope you are getting it. The people were so much that He could not stay on the shore again. What did He do? He had to enter into a boat so that He could have more room to be able to talk to the people. Verse 3, "He told them many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: 'A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Others fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they did not have deep roots, they died. Others fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still, others fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.'" His disciples came and asked Him, "Why do You use parables when You talk to the people?" He replied, "You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to My teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But to those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. This is why I use these parables, for they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says: 'When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes so they cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to Me and let Me heal them.' But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn't see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they did not hear it." "Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their heart. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word. The seed that fell among thorns represents those who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as was planted." Now we are looking at Jesus telling us another nature of the kingdom. From this story, what do you see about the kingdom? Yes, we have seen all kinds of people, all kinds of fish and all of that, yes. But there is still more. This parable brings out something more. There are four categories of people. This one helped us to see four categories. So, we are still talking about the kingdom. She has mentioned something: that the matter of the different kind of fishes that we were talking about the last time is actually in response to the kind of hearts with which men received the gospel. The kind of heart with which you receive the gospel, and then how the gospel was received. That is one. The second thing you will notice is that there are four categories. Of the four categories, only one category was useful. Telling you what? What does that tell you about the kingdom? Compared to the number of people that hear the word and the number that will actually be the good fish that we were talking about, it is one-fourth. So three over four would be useless. Another way to put this thing is that about the kingdom, broad is the way and wide is the gate that leads to destruction. Many are there. But narrow and straight is the gate that leads to life. Few are there. It tells you that while so many will come into the kingdom by reason of preaching of the word of God, by reason of hearing people preach the word of God—when the word of God is preached, the power of God is present and Jesus is preaching—people gathered unto Jesus. So, Jesus is saying that, "Look, My interest is not in the multitude. My interest is in the few that will eventually be beneficial." It tells you that about this kingdom, while it would look like there is so much about the kingdom—there are so many people, many preachers, many believers, many Christians—we need to have an understanding that the nature of the kingdom is such that those that will fall into what we said at the beginning—"Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that will not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth"—they will be few compared to those who will not be established in the truth. So the amount of people that will look up and say, "Yeah! Shut up! The earth is apparently bigger than the star! Prove it to me! You look up! Look up! Can't you see?" People that will agree to that, they will be more. Because apparently, to those who are saying the star is bigger, it does not look apparent. That is one thing about truth. Truth does not entice. Truth don't entice anyone. Truth doesn't seduce. Truth does not entice. It doesn't look like something that is enticing people. "Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Ah! Eh! Oh! Ih!" Truth doesn't entice. Let me give you this thing for instance. If God wants everybody to believe Jesus today, God has to do only two things. Number one, by His special power, He makes everybody at the same time to see heaven and hell. Can't He do it? He can. Everybody will just look up everywhere, everybody everywhere you are, you will see heaven and hell. And then He will speak such that everybody will hear at the same time. And He will say, "Believe Jesus, enter heaven. Refuse Jesus, enter hell. Gabriel, stand at the middle. Some other angels, draw your sword. After the count of ten, anybody who is not believing, please execute and turn to this fire! Jesus, start counting: One!" He just goes, "One!" There will not be Muslim, there will not be [inaudible], there will not be secular. Everybody will say, "Jesus! We believe You!" But you see, truth does not entice. That's not the way of truth. You need to understand truth. Let me show you another good example. When Satan came, he said, "If you eat this thing... if you eat this thing..." that is the way some of these bad boys normally entice our sisters. "If you eat this thing, you look good, you know? High-flyer. Oh, you are the only one that has seen it recently that is looking like this. You are so beautiful." Over time and over time, I tell my daughter how beautiful she is, because I know some people, some parents so much starve their children with word of appreciation, that when they hear people appreciate them outside, they feel that, "Ha! Nobody has ever loved me like this." It is good to starve our children with words of appreciation and all of that. For the person, they enjoy for the first time, their head begins to swell. That was exactly what Mr. Satan did. "Hello! Since you look cool, this God says you should not eat this thing. Why did He say you should not eat it? And that you should not touch it? Wow." Satan got that! He knew she does not exactly what God said, because God never said they should not touch. That is why I tell people: "Study to show yourself approved." People don't pay attention to scripture. "God said you should not do that." "No, no, no, no, no, no. Listen coolly, coolly, coolly. Listen! You see, when you eat this thing, your eyes will be opened." Which is a fact. You know their eyes were opened? "If you eat this thing, you become like God." Another fact. You know they became like God? Lord, help Your church in the name of Jesus. Lord, make our heart wise. "Just take it. You cannot die! If God tell you that we will die, look at you." Nothing happened then. That gave her boldness because she does not understand that there's a difference between him and the man. But that's not our focus for today. She went to the man. "See, I have eaten this thing." Adam said, "What? What? What super-stupid thing have you just said? You ate what?" "Cool it, Adam, cool it! What are you shouting about? If God tell you that we will die, look at me! Did I die? Nothing happened again! Examine! Look round! Nothing! You are believing a lie! God is lying." The man said, "Oh, a minute. You made a very valid point! So you have eaten this thing and nothing happened?" He now thought that God was deceiving us. "God has been deceiving us. You are right, darling! Nothing happened!" Then the man took it and ate. Immediately he ate it, the eyes of both of them became open. It is only in the making of human beings that the male was the progenitor of the female. It was only in human beings that the female was made from the male. All other things that God created—the fish, let there be this—He made them in their kind, male and female. But when He came to man, God first made the man. The man was existing, working, doing things for God. God now said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a female for him." To make the female, God did not make an independent female. God made the man to sleep, and took a bone from the man, and then worked it into a female. So the woman is an extension of the man. She is not a new creation. The man was only extended. That is why it is only in man that the Bible says, "He made them male and female." Put your shoe. Your shoe. How many are your shoes? Look at your shoe. How many shoes do you have? Are you wearing two shoes? How many shoes are you wearing? Actually, when God was making man, He made man male and female. It's a pair. That is why we talk about the will of God in marriage. If I move this one and He will be like this, this is divorce. This is also mismatch. Where God don't link, you find this kind of marriage. He made them at the beginning, made them male. It's one, but that one is two. Do you get it now? So when Eve ate that thing, it is just the extension of Adam that took it. The real thing that was created had not taken it. That is why if you read scripture, that is why we tell you that the woman should cover her head and the man don't. It says a man ought not to cover his head because he is the image and the glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man. That is 1 Corinthians 11:7. The woman is the glory of man. When we say the man and the woman, they are not equal, we are not saying that the man is superior to the woman. We are saying that there's something about the man that is different from the woman. Just like your bedroom slippers and the one you wear out, the one you wear to church. Is it that your bedroom slippers is inferior to the one you wear to church? It's not about inferiority and superiority. It's about what? It's about purpose. What the one in the bedroom can do, the one for the church cannot do. What the one for the church can do, the one in the bedroom cannot do. You get the point? So the man is not superior to the woman. But what the man is designed for is to represent the race. What the woman is designed for is the multiplicity of the race. That is why when Adam sinned, the whole race sinned. When Adam sinned, it is whole race. That is why the Bible says, even though Eve ate it first, it says, "As by one man, sin entered the world." Have you heard that before? That's Romans chapter 5 verse 12. "As by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." So you heard that? Eve did not become a sinner until Adam ate. Eve became a sinner by Adam. That is why truth and logic, they don't agree. Logically, the woman ate first. It should be "as by one woman." God says no. It is by one man. That is why truth is not seductive. Truth always seem to contradict human reasoning. That is why it is only few that find truth. Others are carried away by their reasoning, by their logical reasoning. As I was telling somebody yesterday, if you have four children, one of them do what is wrong, how many will you beat? But God, one person sinned, God beat everybody. Does that make any sense? No, because God does not make sense. I am trying to show you that this is the way God is with man. That is why it is difficult for man to follow God. Because the ways of God don't make sense to man. I want to establish this kingdom. This kingdom, people don't understand the nature of this kingdom. That's why when they come, it's not about facts. It's about truth. The fact is that the woman ate first, and sin is by the woman. As factual as that is, as apparent as it is, when the woman ate it, there was no sin. Why? Because God says so. Are you seeing complications? That is why so many people today—particularly if you listen to the great messengers—that is why they castigate Christianity. They say Christians are stupid people because how will they be saying a God so wise will let everybody to be a sinner by one man's sin? If a man sin, let Him sin! Why will He give everybody sin? They are so stupid! Listen to them, that's one of their major arguments against Christianity. That's a senseless argument. Baseless nonsense! How will a man sin and they say all sin? This is foolishness! But the Bible says through the foolishness of the gospel, God is willing to save all those who believe. I am talking about the nature and the same thing with salvation. Many people cannot establish God's kingdom today because they want to establish the kingdom by facts, not by faith. I hope I have answered your question? Okay, so the point we are looking at is that the kingdom is something that the majority—if you bring a hundred, only twenty-five will live right. I've just given an analogy from the parable of, you know, it's divided into four. Only one category was okay. So, you can multiply. If two million people enter the kingdom, five hundred thousand will be correct. By the time you mix the five hundred inside one point five, they will become non-significant. "Don't mind them! Ah! This one said He's holy! He's only His own that is different!" Because why? They are always in the minority. Truth is always in the minority. I'm making you to understand this kingdom. These are things you must know about the kingdom lifestyle, the lifestyle of the kingdom. You get to a place and you're the only different person, you will change. Am I not correct? You get to a place, this one comes, that one comes. Maybe where you are coming from home before, they have told you only this distance. Don't allow unnecessary touching. Ah! This one touch, that one touch, this one kiss, that one do. After some time, you ask yourself, "Hope I am a correct person?" Then gradually you adjust. You begin to adjust. You begin to adjust until you fit into what? Into the majority. And that is the challenge. That is the big issue about truth. One of my students one day, he came to me. He said, "Sir, is it really wrong to have a girlfriend?" I said, "Of course it's wrong! It's not correct! What do you need a girlfriend for?" He said, "But sir, it is not easy not to have one." I said, "Eh? Why?" He said, "I will be the only person that does not have one! I will be different! They will just be mocking you. When you go there and you say no, they will just be laughing at you. You don't have a girlfriend? Are you okay? So it's making me feel somehow, sir. Is it really wrong?" I want you to understand that once it is true, that's why the scripture says, "Do not join the multitude to do evil." It's important for you to know that the way of truth is solitary. If you are somebody who wants everybody's praise, you want everybody to like you, want everybody to love you, want everybody to follow you, everybody to do all those things with you, you can be sure you cannot follow the path of truth. Because if they are a hundred, you will find how many of them? Just twenty-five of them. You want to ask a question? Please ask the question, and we will close with that today. [Speaker 4] Daddy, what about some people... let's take for instance head covering... this person would tell you that the Bible said that a woman should cover her hair. Another person will tell you it doesn't matter, God looks at the heart. And also wearing of trousers, wearing of earrings... what about them? [Speaker 1] Very simple question. And the answer to that is very simple. Now, it depends on what you are talking about and what you are looking at. Now, for every matter, we are dealing with the matter of—okay, let me first separate it into two. In the Christian faith, there's what you call the general matters and there's what you call the specific matters. The general matters are those matters where the Bible established personal liberty but did not tell where the limit is. While the specific matters are things of our faith that the Bible is specific about. For example, specific: fornication is sin. If anyone say fornication is not a sin, he's not a Christian. Jesus is Lord. Anyone say Jesus is not Lord, He's not Lord, He's just a prophet, you know it's not a Christian. Those are some of the things that are specific. Things that are general are some of the things you just mentioned now. Should we cover head or not cover head? Should you wear trousers or not wear trousers? Should we wear earrings or not wear earrings? Should we eat meat or only vegetable? You know there are some Christians who believe that if you are eating meat, you are sinning. Now, when men are telling you for the things that are specific, it becomes very, very important for you to know, that is why the Bible says study to show yourself approved unto God. You must be able to study your Bible enough to know the things where God is specific. Because those specific things, they don't have any other meaning different from what He has called them. There is no bending in between them. A lady came to my office sometimes last year and said He has an issue He wants me to advise her. A discipler, he went to be discipled, and the discipler asked her to unbutton her blouse. That sound very awkward and strange to her. I am telling you full life story, oh! I'm not telling you a story that I read in the book, I'm telling you a counseling session. She looked and said, "Unbutton the blouse? Ah." He now said, "You see, in discipleship, there is need for submission. The more you learn submission, the better. And submission covers everything. You submit to leadership." She said she was submission. Submission includes unbuttoning before a male? For what? What for? He said she refused. Then he now wanted to unbutton, but she eventually being a man, he overpowered her and unbuttoned it. 브라(bra) and breasts. Now said, "You see, just wanted to see how submissive you are. Now button back." She said she felt embarrassed, she felt confused, she could not relate it to submission. That was what brought her to me. It happened about three or four times. So she began to feel that she can't continue with this. So she now came to ask me questions. So, if you are in the environment where they say "study the environment" because the discipler says unbutton your blouse as part of discipleship, you study the environment and agree? Some other ones had seen that as not being wrong since the discipler said so. Now, to things that are specific. Now, the things that are general. You know that general, they are things that we call them matters that are controversial. Matters where some will tell you wear earring and you go to hellfire; some things if you wear it does not matter. So if you look inside the chapel, some of us wear earrings, some of us don't wear, depending on your background. Those are general things. You know why they are general? Is because the Bible says now abideth faith, hope, and love. The greatest of all is love. Now, the Bible said if I have faith so as to move all mountains and I have not love, I am what? Nothing. Now, He tells you something very clear: that there are things in which we express faith, but we may not be working in love although we are expressing our faith. One man's faith allows him to do certain things, another man's faith does not. That is why we talk about personal liberty. But we must understand where and how it applies. Let me tell you where it applies and it applies literally. Two sisters were to join a missionary in the field in a village. So when they got there, the missionary said, "Hey! Don't use that language again! Don't say sister." They were shocked. "Sister, Sister, Sister, no, not in the village here. In the village here, sister means prostitute. So if we are talking among ourselves 'sister, sister,' and we are to preach to them, there will be problem." So just call yourself by your name. They call Ophe, Jesta, Bukola, so that they don't create an impression before the people that they want to win that they are immoral. Do you see what is meant by studying the environment? So that is why I said that it is a principle of life, but we must understand where and how it applies. Let me give you a good understanding of it now to those general things that you have mentioned. Covering head or no covering head. In Nigeria, it has become a very controversial matter. Some churches don't cover, some churches cover. But you will notice that the people that don't cover, they don't have problem with those who cover. But the people that cover feel those who do not cover are disobeying God. So what does wisdom teaches you? Simple wisdom that I got from that is that if I am a lady, I would rather cover so that I will have the opportunity to preach to all. I will preach to those who cover and preach to those who does not cover. It is the same thing with earring, gold. I don't have problem with people whether they wear earring or you go to hellfire or not, but I don't use any gold. That is why I don't wear this, even my wedding ring, that's why I don't put it on. It's not because the Bible says there's nothing unclean of itself. "If He means anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." Because "to the pure all things are pure." God made gold. It is the wrong use of gold that is sin. Gold in itself is not a sin. But the reason why me and my wife, everything about earring, why we don't wear it is because today we have disciples, Deeper Life, we have them as our disciples in their numbers. Mountain of Fire and Miracle, we have them in their numbers. Agapé, IBC, we have them in their numbers. And we are discipling all of them. Because we took a position that is neutral. We just told ourselves, "Now abideth faith, hope, love. The greatest is love." So why not work in love? If I wear earring today, it does not make me more beautiful. If I remove it, it does not make me ugly. So if it's a problem to my brother, why don't I throw earring away and get my brother? If that is the love with which we are operating at the beginning, these things will not divide us into denominations. But now we are so divided against ourselves. A Mountain of Fire man see a Deeper Life man, "Look at them, children of the devil! You go to hellfire!" If you have twelve children and they are fighting among themselves, one now says, "You! You will die by accident!" You the father, will you say amen? That is why denominational spirit is anti-God. It's anti-God. Denominational spirit, because God has children. The children may be diverse, but what God want among His children is to have the same mind where they can come into unity. And only way they can do that is if they drop faith and work in love. But instead of preaching love, you know what people tell us? "They don't want to believe that this thing is a sin!" For me, "The Bible says..." You have faith, but if you have faith that can move mountain and you have not love, it means you are nothing. You are nothing! Go and read Romans chapter 14. You will see the whole thing there. In that time, what led to that kind of problem was meat offered to idols. Some believe that if you eat the meat that they sell in the market in those days, it will first be offered to the idol before they now sell it. So some Christians said it should not be eaten. The other one was Sabbath. Some believe that on the Sabbath day once you do anything, you have sinned against God. Some believe every day is holy. The church was now divided against themselves. So Paul now wrote them. He said look, "One man believe that the meat in the market, there's only one God, and by his faith he can eat the meat. The other man does not have such kind of faith. He knows that when he eat it, he's eating thing offered for idol, and does not eat it." He said look, "the person who eats should not condemn the person that does not eat. The one who does not eat should not despise the person that eats. Because God has accepted all children of God." He said, "Rather, instead of this division, make up your mind among yourself that anything that will divide us will be removing it from among ourselves. Because we are more important than meat, food. Is Jesus not more important? The person that Jesus died for, is he not more important than ordinary meat?" Paul now said, "Look, for me, I don't have problem with meat. I can eat meat. But if meat will affect my brother's conscience, I would rather not eat meat so I can have my brother." That was the teaching of the Bible. But I don't know how the church, our church fathers today, how we got to the point now that we are so divided. "This matter you just raised now, let's go to the Greek edition! Let's go! Let's take the original King James!" Just look at it, these are morons. Arguing over things that does not... if we were fighting like this and we were fighting demons, it would have been better for us. If we were fighting like this and we were fighting to win souls, it would have been better. We are fighting over whether we should wear trousers or we not wear. We are fighting over as if by the time we get to heaven, the ones who wear trousers will now become a thing that matter. These are great things to contend for. But this matter has so divided, we are so divided. There are some who will tell you, "God forbid, I can't marry me! I can never marry from this type of church because they are not Christians. These are the one that are Christians. I can never marry." And the enemy started dividing us against ourselves. We are so scattered. That's why we are not strong. Because as often as we don't work in love, we are nothing. Let's thank the Lord for how far God has helped us. Let's close for today. Let's just thank the Lord. Let's bless His holy name. Let's bless His holy name for what He has done. Let's appreciate Him. Let's give Him glory, let's give Him praise, let's give Him adoration. Let's appreciate the Lord. Appreciate the Lord. And I want you to speak within yourself. We are learning, we are looking at the theme "Kingdom Lifestyle," and we are looking at the nature of this our kingdom. You can see that this our kingdom is very, very, very mysterious. It's a mysterious kingdom. It's a kingdom that is not about man. It's a kingdom that is not about facts. It's a kingdom that is not about philosophy. It's a kingdom that is not about intelligence. It's a kingdom that is about truth. It's a kingdom that is not here to begin to entice and pull. No, no, no, no, no. It's a kingdom that is plain. It's a kingdom that is simple. The nature of the kingdom is that God knows His own. Those who name His name should depart from iniquity. We went to look at: in the kingdom you find all kinds of fish, different kinds. We went to look at they are divided into different hearts, four categories. Now in all of this, where do you fall? I want you to pray. God Almighty, that I may walk in the kingdom. Lord, establish me in the truth of the kingdom. Establish me, Lord, in the truth of the kingdom. Thank You everlasting Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.