Fear Not My Little Flock Your Father is Sovereign 05102020

[Speaker 1] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly 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. [Speaker 2] What we considered was "Fear Not, Little Flock," and our consideration was biblical examples of men. We saw men who missed it and men who got it right. We saw that people like Deborah were able to get it right. Somebody like Barak did not get it right. Daniel got it right. Saul, Saul missed out. And on and on like that, we considered examples from the scripture. One example that I would like us to look at, just before we pray and look at our focus for today—our focus for today again is still "Fear Not, Little Flock. Fear Not, Little Flock, your Father is sovereign." But before we come to that very specifically, a fortnight ago when we were looking at biblical examples of men, how some men got it right and some men got it wrong, one important example that I still want to make reference to that I mentioned somehow in the course of prayer was the example of the widow that came to Elisha. She came to explain a very difficult situation. It was a situation of financial distress. In that distress, the woman was trying to explain to Elisha that, "Look, my husband was among the sons of the prophet. And being among the sons of the prophet, he died and he left us in financial distress. That is, he was in debt. And the creditors, they are around. They want to take away my sons now. I don't know what to do." Then what Elisha told the woman was, "What do you have in your house?" And she said, "All I have is just a container that has oil inside." Then she was given the instruction that she should go and borrow as many containers as possible. She should go and borrow them, borrow as many as possible. And go ahead, take the one that contains the oil which was with her, begin to pour inside those containers. And she went. She did exactly what she was told. And of course, at the end of the day, the oil ceased to pour at the point where the container she borrowed finished. Sometimes I just say in my heart, I wish the woman borrowed so many. I wish she got so much for her abundance. You know what I'm trying to say is that may we not by our expectation limit our visitation. You get the point I'm making. Just imagine that the container she borrowed was three times what she was pouring. What would have happened? The thing will keep pouring and keep pouring on and on like that. But that was all she borrowed, and that was where it stopped. Telling us that it is very important for us not to, by our calculations, limit God. But what I really want to bring out about biblical examples of men from that, and I want to compare it with what Jesus told them at the marriage at Cana. You remember too that there was a hopeless situation. The wine got exhausted. There was nothing to get more. And then Mary went to Jesus and told him that, "Please, do something. Their wine is no more. They don't have. Please, do something." And then Jesus went ahead, gave them instruction, and they carried out the instruction. What I want to bring out of these two situations as an example for us is this: In our situation where it looks as if everything is hopeless—you must not forget that we were taking the example from the fact that if you look at our faith, what was born at the peak of hopelessness? Now, if you look at the widow's situation, the situation was indeed hopeless. It looks like, "What kind of thing is this? How do I go about it?" It was a situation that they could not move forward. But you notice that the way out of that hopelessness was that the woman was given instruction. There was an instruction: "Go and do this." If you notice again, the marriage at Cana, what was the way forward? Mary told them, "Anything he tells you, just do it." If you take your mind back again to that case of Deborah, what was the way forward? There was an instruction: "Tell Barak, take 10,000 men, gather at so-so place. I will draw Sisera to you." You remember that case too. What I'm trying to tell you is this: In every situation of our hopelessness, God's intervention normally comes with what? There will be an instruction. It is something you must look out for. It is something you must watch out for. An instruction will come from God. So in whatever situation that you are in, no matter how it seems there is no way forward, it seems there is no light, it seems "What do I do? How do I do it?" the way forward is this: be expecting an instruction. Just be expecting an instruction. An instruction will come that "Do this, don't do this. Do this, do like this, don't do that." The truth is that at the peak of our hopelessness, hope will be born. Against hope, you can hope in hope. But what I'm adding from the biblical example is that it is crucial for you, when it looks as if everything is dark, what you should be looking out for is divine instruction. Be trusting God, be expectant, be looking out, be trusting God for an instruction. There will be an instruction that will say, "In this your situation, this is the way forward. In this situation, this is what you should do." It is so crucial because if you miss that instruction, it will be looking as if your hopelessness did not turn to hope. No. It will only just be because you missed the divine instruction that will convert your hopelessness to hope. So in the midst of darkness, there should be so much hope. Hope that makes you to wait to hear what He will tell you to do. Instead of throwing away hope, what I'm saying is this: it's not just you are hoping. As you are hoping and you are waiting, be attentive because the way forward is that there will be an instruction. There will be an instruction. And I pray that for every situation that looks like a situation of hopelessness, that divine instruction you need to turn things around, you will not only receive it, you will understand it and you will step into it in the name of Jesus Christ. So having been able to wrap up, I just wanted to try to tidy up that our discussion before I move into still in the series anyway, "Fear Not, Little Flock. Your Father is sovereign." That's our focus for today. "Fear Not, Little Flock, your Father is sovereign." "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Fear not, little flock. Look at biblical examples. Now we are looking at "Fear Not, Little Flock. Why? Your Father is sovereign." Your God is the Almighty. Can we just have a word of prayer? [Speaker 1] Precious Father, as we move on in this series, Lord, we are praying, we are asking that You will speak to us in a way that our soul will receive comfort and consolation and direction in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Almighty Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. [Speaker 2] So we are looking at "Fear Not, Little Flock. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." That's where we've been picking our topic from. And today I said we are looking at "Fear Not, Little Flock, your Father is sovereign." We've been taking this series from Luke chapter 12, verse 32. Luke 12:32-40 (KJV/NLT): "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth." Let me continue the reading from NLT. "Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you are waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready." So the point we are making about this matter is the readiness of the servant. The readiness of the servant at the point of the coming here. I'm not looking at His coming as the ultimate coming of Jesus. I hope you are understanding me. I'm looking at the coming to mean a coming of God visiting you. A coming of God turning your situation around. You understand me? That's the coming I'm talking about in this context. There's a coming of His coming. But the point I'm talking about about this readiness here, He says He will reward those servants who are ready. You will notice that by the time the Lord came in the days of Barak and Deborah, Barak was not ready. Deborah was. By the time the Lord came, Saul was not ready. He had already done the sacrifice. By the time the Lord came, Daniel was ready. By the time the Lord came, the widow was ready. Only that she limited the amount of the visitation. She just went and put—they said, "Gather as many as possible." I just imagine that the woman gathered and gathered and gathered and gathered. I just wonder how much abundance she would have enjoyed much more. She would have enjoyed so much. And it's so important. And you see, those things, they may look very, very simple. But I will show you that in the things of God, may we not limit God by our expectations. Do you remember that it was a similar thing between this king now, I've forgotten the name of this king now, who came to Elisha when he was ill? And then Elisha told him to shoot arrows. And then he shot the arrows. Then he said he will take the spear and beat. And then he did *bam, bam, bam* and stopped. The prophet got so angry and said, "Why did you stop? You should have done it, done it, done it, done it. Oh, you should have just continued and continued." He said, "See you now. You would have gotten victory over the Assyrian until you totally defeated them completely. But now, you will only defeat them how many times? Three times." So you see, in the dealings of God, in the ways of God, it's so crucial to understand some of these things. It's so crucial. That's why I said that may the instruction of God come to you in a way that you will understand it and in a way that you will fully enter into that instruction in the name of Jesus Christ. Because sometimes by your own action again, you may limit how much of God you receive when God is visiting you. But that will not be our portion in the name of Jesus Christ. So I'm only trying to expatiate, I'm trying to clarify what I actually meant by "He may come in the morning, He may come in the night." You understand? He may come just before dawn. For Saul, He didn't come in the night. He came in the middle of the night when Saul thought that it is not possible to wait again. Instead of waiting, he made the sacrifice. And just as he finished, Samuel arrived. It was actually for that case of Saul, He came just before dawn. Do you agree with me? He came at a time when you would just feel the day is over, cold, nothing can—the time when you will love to sleep. He came at a time when Saul felt, "Ah, if God wanted to do something, He should have done something before now. Samuel cannot come again." And he just as he finished, Samuel arrived. Just as he finished. I pray we will not miss our visitation. We will not be weary. We will not be weary. Bible says do not be wearied. Do not be weary so that in due season you will reap if what? If you faint not. There is a due season. There is a time. And I want you to note that. There is no one God forgets. God—I don't know how to put it. But you see, it will be impossible for God to forget you. Do you know why I have that confidence? Even when sometimes it looks like "Hey, hey, ah, ah." But you know, because you overcome by the word of our testimony. The faithfulness of God in the past has taught me in more recent times, no matter how dark something is, something will just keep telling me I cannot be stranded. Help will arise from somewhere. Help will come out from somewhere. And I will just be waiting for that help to come. And somehow, the help will come. The help, it will come. It will come. It is so crucial. It is so crucial. Anyway, let's move on for today. Now we are looking at "Fear Not, Little Flock." Why must you not fear? I said your Father is sovereign. Your Father is sovereign. Your God is the Almighty. You know what I want us to do today? I want to take you through the book of Revelation. We are going to look at some things in the book of Revelation. I just want to make you see how sovereign your Father is. How sovereign your Father is. You know one thing? Something occurred within my spirit now, even though I shared this in the course of the week, but I just felt I should say it again. If you look at two passages of the scripture in Ecclesiastes chapter 8, please let's see that. Ecclesiastes 8:12-13. Are you there? Ecclesiastes 8:12-13 (NLT): "But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off." I know that those who fear God will be better off. Those who fear God will be better off. It says—let me take it in KJV: "Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him." I want you to look at this scripture, compare it with Isaiah chapter 3. Isaiah chapter 3, look at verse 10 and 11. Isaiah 3:10-11 (KJV): "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him." I want you to look at something very, very closely. Please look at it. When He says, "Say to the righteous, it shall be well with thee," why will it be well? Why will it be well? "For they shall eat the fruit of their doings." Do you notice the same thing in Ecclesiastes? A sinner may do evil a hundred times and it looks as if they are better off. He said no, I know that it will not be well with the wicked. Those who fear God, it will be well with them. They will be better off. The same thing is in Isaiah. He said to the righteous that it shall be well with thee, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him. What do you see? For the reward of his hand shall be given him. I want you to explain that, these two statements here by God. He said, "For they shall eat the fruit of their doings." Now what is a fruit? A product of a plant. A product of a plant that is maturing, not a young plant. If you plant corn now, you can't be eating the fruit. There will be time between the time of planting and the time of harvest. Are you getting it? So when He says they shall eat the fruit of their doings, what is God saying? You get the point. You cannot be planting corn, planting corn, planting corn, planting corn, and suddenly at the end you begin to reap apple. Is it possible? No. There is a reward for them who fear God. There is something when a man fears God, there is a fruit that it brings out. There is a fruit, there is something you must harvest if you fear God. There is something you must harvest. That's what I want to show you, what you will harvest. That's why He said, "Look, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings." It means that the righteous will not always be in haste. Because it's a fruit, there will be a time lag. Don't get agitated. Don't ever think, "No." It's just because there is a time lag. There is a time between the time of planting, the time of growing, the time of maturing, the time of fruiting, then the time of the thing getting ripe, and then the time of plucking it to eat. God is trying to say that, look, tell the righteous it will be well. Things may look somewhere somehow, look like, look like, look like, but tell the righteous it will be well. It will be well because there is a fruit of his doings. There is a fruit of righteousness. There is a harvest that comes from righteousness. So it may just be a time lag, but you will get it. For the wicked, He said the reward of his hand will be given to him. You know what that means? That's why the Bible says do not fear the sudden destruction that comes upon the wicked. Have you read that before? You know what it's trying to say? At the least time when they expect evil to happen, that is when it happens to them. So suddenly, suddenly they'll just discover that they are cut off. At the least time, at the time when they least expect—in fact, it may just be a time when they are thinking that, "Wow, hey, hey," and then it looks like everything will just something will just snap. If you want to understand it again about the matter of the wicked, look at Isaiah 33 where he says, [speaks Yoruba] which means it looks okay with you. [speaks Yoruba] "Woe to him that spoils but that is not spoiled. Woe to him that deals treacherously, insincerely, with deceit with people that is not dealt with like that." The person you are dealing with is sincere to you. You are thinking that, "Ah, hm, you think that yeah," the person looks innocent, you look smarter, you take it from them, you take it in back. You are good at making explanation, you can easily win argument, and the person look like he's the person who did wrong because you have quickly argued around the person and the person looks "Ah, okay," and then you look "Yeah." Bible says when you will cease, when you will now want to rest, when you want to rest like, "Ah, thank God I made it," when you want to rest, that is when God will now arise that, "No, you cannot rest." There is no rest for the wicked. You cannot rest. That is why you notice Yoruba's call it "Egun ashale," "Egun to n ba ni l'ojo ale," that is something that comes in the morning, looks as if everything is well. As you are going, it looks as if everything is well. You will now begin to see later in the night when you want to rest. Later in the day. The night can be anything. It may not be in terms of old age. Night can be anything for anybody. You can just imagine a man who has raised all his children with stolen money and then when the man gets to 70, the children begin to die one after the other. And they begin to wonder. Look, may God not visit us in our night with evil. Because it's something, it's something—that's why I tell people there is so much about the fruit of righteousness than the reward of the hand of the wicked. Because it will come when they don't expect it. It will come when they least expect it. It will come at a time, just like the way hook will just take a fish suddenly and he's out of the water, and that is the end of his life. So for the righteous, He said you will eat the reward. Now look at that scripture, look at Proverbs chapter 1. I just want to put this matter in the background as it occurred within my spirit. I think it will serve a good background for what we want to look at. Look at something about that Isaiah chapter 3. You know I said the fruit of their doings, abbie? Now let's look at something about this fruit of their doings. I want to read Proverbs chapter 1, I want to read from verse 24. Please just follow, it's just God speaking about two people. Two people. I want to show you the fruit of righteousness because righteousness is hearkening unto God, is that not? Righteousness is living in the fear of God, is that not? Look at something. Proverbs 1:24-33 (KJV): "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;" Is that the wicked or the righteous? The wicked. "But ye have set at nought all my counsel," that is their way of life. Are you getting it? Their own way of life. What makes them wicked. "And would none of my reproof." The wicked will not take the counsel of God. The wicked will not take the reproof of God. Look at it, verse 26: "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;" Do you see it? If you don't fear God, then your fear will come. Are you following it? "I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early," that is earnestly, "but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:" Are you seeing it now? That when a man rejects the counsel of God, when a man rejects all those things about God, the man did not choose the fear of God. "They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them." Look at how it concludes, verse 33. That's the one I want in several translations. KJV says: "But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." Amplified: "But whoso hearkens to me shall dwell securely and in confident trust and shall be quiet without fear or dread of evil." "But all who listen to me shall live in peace, untroubled by the fear of harm." Do you get that? Not untroubled by harm. Hope you know the difference between the fear of harm and harm. What's the difference? They will be untroubled from the fear of harm. Harm is even a distant thing from them. Even the fear of it, not the harm itself, will be far from them. I'm showing you what is the fruit why God is saying, "Say to the righteous." Why is God saying that, "Say to the righteous it will be well"? Why is God pronouncing that they will eat the fruit? What is the fruit? They will live peacefully, untroubled by the fear of harm, not even untroubled by harm. Even the fear of it. The sovereignty of God guarantees it. And we are going to look more into the Bible to see that the sovereignty of God guarantees these things. The first thing we have seen today is that every natural disaster is under His sovereignty. [background noise: thunder sounds] Mention any of them. Are you afraid of thunder? Go and read Job. Thunder is just a messenger of God. So when you see lightning and thunder, don't run. They are just going on a message for your Father. Hallelujah! Let's close the meeting tonight. I want you to pray. I want you to pray. As a disciple of Jesus, what you need to check in your life is not "Hey, hey, what is going to happen?" No. What you need to check is that, "Am I a disciple indeed? Am I living in the fear of the Lord? Am I throwing away His counsel or I am living by His counsel?" You see, they who none of His counsel, they will not take His rebuke, they will not treasure His laws, they will not take His commandment. God will say this, he will do another thing. That is what should be—don't be worried about the future. Be worried about whether you are living in line with His counsel, in line with His reproof, in line with His instruction, in line with the knowledge of the Lord. Whether you are living according to what He has said. Whether you are looking at the cross. Whether you are living by faith, the faith of the gospel. Whether you are looking into Jesus. Whether you are looking unto Jesus. Whether you are living by Jesus. Whether you are growing in life eternal. Whether you are growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord. That is what is important. It is not "Hey, what will 2021 be? By the time I retire, how will my life look like? By the time..." Look, all of this fear should not be the thing that you should be preoccupied with. Be preoccupied with securing your future in God. Be preoccupied with whether you live in the fear of God. God has assured that you will eat the fruit of your doings. The fruit of the fear of God is that you would live peacefully, untroubled by the fear of harm. That is why I said you only need to fear if God is not your fear. You only need to fear if God is not your fear. Talk to the Lord this evening. Talk to the Lord this evening. There is a place where fear don't abound. There is a place where the fear of harm don't abound. There is a place—our fathers, they got there. These men, they got there. They go to this place. How will people be looking at fire and they are not afraid? They said go and in the fire seven times and they were not afraid. They stood. They understood the sovereignty of God. They could see it. And what I'm trying to show you today is about natural disaster. It's about natural things of life. Things that happen that look like by chance. "Two people died in this car was destroyed, that life was destroyed, this state was affected, this..." and then you begin to live in fear, fear, fear, fear. There is a place that is higher than that. Grow in the knowledge of God. Grow in the grace of God. You need to grow. You need to grow. You need to move on from the level where you are. I need to grow. I need to grow. You need to grow. Thank You, Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. Thank You, Almighty God. In Jesus' name, we pray. Eternal Father, King of Glory, we thank You so much for the abundance of Your word. Thank You for how You have sent Your word to us again, reminding us the fact that You own all things. And Lord, if anything should happen, it is not outside of Your will. We thank You, we bless Your name for the understanding You have given to us. Our earnest prayer is that, Lord, You will help us to walk in the light of this truth in the name of Jesus. The time we are in, O God, is the time that fear, even mere fear, are killing people. But Lord, we pray, because we fear You, help us not to fear our fears in the name of Jesus. Help our eyes to be fixed on You, no matter what happens around us in the name of Jesus. Help us even in the face of hopelessness, help us to be expectant of You because we know You are faithful in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Everlasting Father. Lord, we pray that Lord, You will drive more this word into our hearts that our understanding will be perfect in the name of Jesus. Thank You for Your son that You have used for us again today. We are asking that the Lord will bless his life abundantly in the name of Jesus. You will bless his life abundantly in the name of Jesus. All-around blessing, all-around prosperity, all-around favor, all-around light and life in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Lord, for hearing us pray. For it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. [Speaker 3] 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 aid. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 PM; Adolescents and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp, by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Veri Joy filling station, along Ijayere 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.