Following the Lord

[Choir singing intro] [Speaker 1] Glory to Jesus. We thank our God again for another opportunity and privilege of the addition of September Singles Club. We give him all the glory for life. He has kept us through last, the first Saturday of the month of August and has brought us into the first Saturday in the month of September so that we can have another edition of our Singles Club. To him be all the glory in the name of Jesus. In the month of August, our focus was "Youth, understand the time." Young man, young woman, understand the time. There is a need for you as a young man, as a young woman, to understand the time, to live with such appropriateness in life that will make you to be ahead of situations. We considered that topic and we particularly considered some young men in scriptures. We considered the life of Joseph and particularly the experience of the butler and the baker. They both had dreams but they did not know the meaning. And because they did not know the meaning, both the butler and the baker were sad. And we said it was not a correct situation. Was the butler to understand his dream, he would have been rejoicing. The only person that should be sad about the dream should be the baker. But because the butler also did not understand the dream, he couldn't interpret it. So the lot of the baker was also the lot of the butler because of lack of interpretation. And we noted very categorically that when a young man cannot interpret circumstances, situations around their lives, when a young woman cannot understand, interpret situations around their life, their responses will not be correct. Their responses will not be right. We also did mention that Joseph also told them that interpretation belongs to the Lord. In other words, it is God that gives correct and actual interpretation of situation. And we said it is so unfortunate that for many people today that have God as Father, there is still the problem of interpreting, there is still the problem of understanding situation, the problem of looking at situation. And I noted in the month of August that one important and major reason why we must be understanding the time as Christians is because of the matter that the Holy Spirit by Apostle Paul raised in 1 Thessalonians 5. He said, "But concerning the times and the season, brethren..." Actually, the matter was coming from the end of chapter 4. In 1 Thessalonians 4 from verse 13, that was where the matter that he continued with in chapter 5 began. He says from 1 Thessalonians 4:13, he said, "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the cloud to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words." When he entered into 1 Thessalonians 5, he was now making reference to that taking away. He said, "But concerning the time and the season, brethren, you have no need that I write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, 'Peace and safety,' then suddenly destruction comes upon them, as labor pain upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape." But when he got to verse 4, he said, "But you, brethren, you are not in darkness, so that the day should overtake you as a thief." So and I said in the month of August that one pressing reason why you as a young man and as a young woman should do everything to be understanding the time is that a lot of things will be happening towards this time that we are in unexpectedly. A lot of things will be happening unexpectedly. Things you could not expect to just be coming up, and they will be having serious implication in terms of the politics of the nations, in terms of the economy of the nations, in terms of the security of the nations, in terms of the peace of the nations, in terms of stability of nations, in terms of every ramification of society, in terms of family structure, family life, everything put together. They will be having implication. So one important reason why you must be understanding the time, which I mentioned in the month of August, is that you must be careful that even the rapture itself is going to be something that will happen to the world unexpectedly. It will miss the world unexpectedly. But if you are understanding the time, then it becomes an impossible thing for the rapture to meet you unawares. So I said one major thing, young man and young woman, why you must be taking time to understand the time is that while several things will be happening, like it happened with coronavirus, other things are still coming up. Other things are in line. Things that will look strange and sudden, things that will look unexpected, having serious implication for society, having serious implication for men and women, having serious implication for the family, having serious implication even for the church, for fellowship, for Christianity, for Christian life. The same way the rapture too will take place, having serious implication for the Christian life. So it is very, very important that the young man, the young woman should be able to understand the time. It is very, very important. And lastly, I did note in the month of August that the things that will be happening will not be completely new things as new things under heaven. For instance, even the rapture is not a completely new thing. Elijah had been taken to heaven before, so it is not a completely new thing. Enoch walked with God, he pleased God, and God took him away. So the rapture too is not completely a new thing. Some people have experienced similar things before. Being caught up by the spirit, Philip had experienced it. Philip experienced it. So it is not something that is completely new. So I said something in the month of August that the things that will be happening is not as if they will be completely new, but it is the suddenness, the unexpectedness with which they will be taking place. Then I noted in the month of August that when you look at the life of Joseph, we look at the life of Isaac, we used that to illustrate something. I'm giving this background because I want to give response to a question that generated from the month of August. That is what I want to do today with our Singles Club. A question came up: "How do we follow the Lord?" How do we follow him? Following the Lord, that is our focus for this September. So I felt okay, following the Lord is a big topic on its own. Maybe instead of moving to something else in the month of September, October, November, I don't know, depending on how the Lord will help us, maybe we should try to respond to this question jointly and see how we look at how should a young man follow the Lord, how should young people follow the Lord, how do we follow the Lord so that we can understand the time. How do we follow the Lord? And that is the beginning, that's what we want to focus with today. So "Following the Lord 1" is what we are looking at today. Wherever we get to in the month of October, we look at 2, and maybe we have 3, 4, 5 or maybe we stop at 2, 3, I don't know now. But let's see how the Lord will help us. So I believe I've been able to bring all of us together, those of us who may just be coming in, the background to what we want to do today. And those of us who were here last month, I believe I've been able to also give a summary of what we did last month. So let us have a short word of prayer and then we go into responding to the question: How will a youth, how will a young man, how should young people follow the Lord? How do we follow the Lord? Let us pray. Oh our Father, we thank you. Our God, we give you glory. We give you honor. We give you praise. We commit today's Singles Club into your hand. We pray that as we gather to consider this important issue, "How do we follow you? How can we follow you?", Lord we pray that you will grant seed to the sower, there will be bread for the eaters also in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, you will by yourself help us to answer the question. You will help us. We are at different levels of maturity. So Lord, I am praying that at everybody's level of maturity, Lord, you will meet with them in the name of Jesus Christ. For everyone joining us on Mixlr, everyone joining us on Telegram, we who are physically here, Lord, I pray meet with us in your own special way in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. How do we follow the Lord? How do I follow the Lord? Now another way to look at following the Lord is "How do I walk with the Lord?" Walking with the Lord. Walk. How do I walk with him? Walking with the Lord, following the Lord. And I want to begin like this as I want to respond to the question. I want to begin with this general background in Ecclesiastes. Let's see something in Ecclesiastes just to buttress one or two points again and then we move on from there. Talking about the issue of time and season. In Ecclesiastes 3 from verse 1, the Bible says, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. "A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." Now the first thing I want you to appreciate as a young man is our God, our God is a God of time. And I want to let you know that there is nothing as wonderful as following the Lord in the days of your youth. There is a time for everything. And I'm trying to tell you that as a young man, this is the best time to follow him. That is the first thing I want to make you see. This is the best time. This is the best time. There is a time for everything. And I'm telling you that as a young man, a young woman that is listening to me, oh, the days of our youth is the best of time to pursue the Lord. What I'm trying to say is that time is in your favor in following the Lord. As a young man, a young woman, the Bible categorically says something again in Ecclesiastes 12. You will find it there again in Ecclesiastes 12. It says, "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth." Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come. So the first thing I want to open up with you this morning is that I congratulate you that you are asking me this question around this time, this period of your own life. That you are asking that this question is coming up in your mind now and you are thinking of, "Oh, I needed to follow the Lord. How do I follow him?" That it's coming to you and you are seeking for answers to such a question, I'm telling you you are blessed. Honestly, you're a blessed person. Because from the point of the scripture, your Creator himself is telling you that, "Look, seek me while you are young." What I'm trying to first make you see is that God himself is giving you a open check. As you want to follow the Lord, I'm first trying to make you see that God himself is interested in your following him. There is this interest of God. There is this purpose of God. There is this mindset of God. The mindset of God is that, look, remember me while you are young. Hallelujah. Remember me while you are young. Don't wait till you are old. While you are still young. Honestly, I want to be grateful to God that I met the Lord at the age of 17, that I met the Lord as a teenager. Honestly, it made a lot of difference. It made a lot of difference. It made a lot of difference. That before you enter, before you have wasted so much part of your life, before you have done too many mistakes and you have gotten so many things wrong, walking in darkness, that at a very early age you are meeting with the Lord. So the first thing I want to make this answer with is that God himself is interested. The days of your youth is also the days to seek the Lord. What I'm trying to make you see very specifically is that the desire to pursue God as a young person is also agreeing with the mind of God that, "Look, you should seek me while you are young." So following the Lord and desiring to know him, what I first want to tell you is that it is the will of God for your life. That is the will of God. If you want to ask me, "What is the will of God for my life as a young man?" The will of God for your life is that you should follow him. The will of God for you is that you should walk with him. God wants you to come. So God himself, what I'm trying to make you see is that heaven is waiting for you to come. So there is abundance of God already prepared. There is plenty in the house of God for you. That you are choosing to follow the Lord, God is delighted, God is happy. And I want to begin continuing with that, begin with that in saying that remember the case of the prodigal son. The prodigal son went away, walked away, he was away, he was misbehaving, walking in the bush, living the way he wanted, wasting resources, wasting his life, living anyhow, pursuing all kinds of fleshly lusts, living in all living a wasted life. The truth I want to make you see is that any life away from the Lord is a wasted life. It said a young man says, "Father, give me what belongs to me, I want to go." Every time a man goes away from God, not following the Lord, he's living a wasted life. It is a wasted life. But what the point I want to make you see is that at the point when the young man said, "Oh, I'm going back home. I want to go back home," you will notice that the response of the father was a great joy. The Bible said the father saw him from afar, the father jumped and the father ran, the father went to meet him. Old people don't run. There must be something cogent and urgent that will make old people to run. Even young men don't necessarily run. It is children that run unnecessarily. When a young man run, he runs because there is a purpose. Not to talk of older men. The Bible said the father ran to meet him. He ran, there was a running because something great was happening. What I'm trying to make you see is that when we say we want to, that determination, when you are making up your mind that I want to follow the Lord, you will get a response from heaven that says you are welcome. That's the first thing I want you to know. Don't let anything make you get discouraged, make you get afraid, make you feel that, "Oh, I want to follow God. Is God really, what is God saying? Does God want me to come?" I am first telling you that no, that your making up your mind to follow God, the response you will get from God is "Wow, come on, this man wants to follow me." There is a joy in heaven, there is a rejoicing. And what brought that joy, that rejoicing, step into following the Lord is that there is this place of fundamentally the first thing a man needs to do. The Lord said, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." I'm beginning from the most foundational level. There is a place of repentance. There is a place of saying I don't want to go the way of the world again. There is a place of making up your mind. There is a place of saying, "Lord, I'm turning away from not following you. I'm making up my mind to follow the Lord." And that decision is not something that is possible by your own ability. That decision must be rooted in giving your life to Jesus. So anywhere you are and you are listening to me, I am saying that there is a place of repentance towards God and faith towards Christ. That is the first step in following the Lord. There is a place of repentance towards God and faith towards Christ. You are making up your mind, you are saying the world behind me, the cross of Jesus before me. I don't want to go where anybody is going. I want to go where God is going. I want to turn away what are those things that your conscience condemns you for? What are those things you know? What are those sinful things you do? What are those things that are in your life? What are those things that are there? Repent from that point. Repentance towards God. "God, I am sorry about this, about this, about this, about that. I am turning from that." And more importantly, you are turning to Jesus. "Lord Jesus, when you died, you died for my sin. When you resurrected, it was for my justification. Lord Jesus, I'm giving my life to you. I'm yielding myself to you. Lord Jesus, into my heart come and stay, come and reign, come and be the Lord of my salvation. Come and be the bishop and the shepherd of my soul." There is a place of turning away from the world, a place of turning to God. You will see that same pattern, that same pattern in Psalm 1. The beauty of following the Lord. The similar pattern you find it in Psalm 1. Psalm 1:1. It said, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight..." So the first thing is a separation from the world. You are making up your mind that you want to come to the Lord. And you are turning in faith towards Jesus Christ. And what I want to make you to know, if you have taken, some of you that I'm answering this question for might have taken this step. Some of you might not have taken this step. If you've not taken this step of being born again, this step of meeting the Lord, this step of giving your life to Christ, that is the first step to take in following the Lord. That is the first command that God gave all men that want to follow him. He said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." So the first thing about the response of God to creation, the first about the response of God to man, is that God gave his only Son. That anybody who believes in him, anybody who puts their faith in Jesus and say, "Jesus, I put my faith in you for my justification. I put my faith in you, you are my righteousness. I put my faith in you." That is the first command that God gave to every man. That is the first thing. And for those of you who have taken that step and it looks like, "Oh, how do I follow the Lord?" if that is where you are asking the question from. "How do I follow the Lord?" You have taken this step now, you have given your life to Christ, you know that you are born again, you can say, "I got born again so-so date, I got born again so-so time. I'm a believer. I've given my life to Christ. How do I follow the Lord?" How do I follow the Lord? Now following the Lord, I haven't taken the first step. Haven't been taken. What's the next thing I want to call your attention to? Is a statement that the Lord Jesus made in Matthew 5. Matthew 5. I want to show you something there. Matthew 5. He says, I begin from verse 2, "Then he opened his mouth and taught them saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'" When he got to verse 6, he said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. For they shall be filled." Now what is it I'm trying to bring out of this place for you is the first about this being poor in the spirit. What that scripture is simply saying is that "Blessed are those who can see how much they need God." That's what it meant to be poor in spirit. Blessed are those who realize how much they need God. You see, one thing you must realize after you've given your life to Christ is that for you to follow the Lord, you must have a deep sense of your own poverty. I'm not talking of poverty in terms of not having money to spend. I'm talking of poverty in terms of your understanding, a deep sense of knowing how much you need God. You see, one thing that helps a man to follow the Lord is the realization that, "God, I need you." Is the realization, you see once you have given your life to Christ, you must come to this understanding that I have no power of my own, I have no strength of my own, I have no dream of my own, I have no plan of my own, I have nothing of my own. It is nothing all about me. Lord God, I need you. This deep sense of your need for God. How do I mean? What do I mean? You see the Bible says, "As many as believed in him, to them he gave the power to become children of God." You see one thing many times we don't realize is that becoming children of God, that becoming, I told you just now about faith towards Christ in your being born again. Most times we don't realize that everything about following God is actually a work that had been completed in Jesus. Everything about the totality of your life, everything about your life from start to finish, you need to understand that somebody now commands your destiny. Somebody commands your life from start to finish and that person is Jesus Christ. Every aspect of your life, everything you can become in life is in Christ. That's what I mean by understanding your need for God. You must come to this understanding that everything you want to become in life is in Christ. That the more you can know Jesus, the more you can understand Jesus, the more you can walk with Jesus, everything you are thinking about settling in life will be settled. I mean every question of your life will be answered inside Jesus. So you notice that the first thing that the Lord, when the Lord began to teach, the first thing he made the people to see is that "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The reason why so many people don't become born again and they don't find themselves following God is that they don't come to this sense of spiritual, this sense of poorness in spirit. And let me tell you what this thing translates into. What it translates into is that you become very deliberate. You become very deliberate. You see, it is when you understand that without Jesus, haven't come into Jesus, without Jesus I am finished. I am only complete in Jesus. Everything about my life is in Jesus. It is when you come to that understanding that you will now become deliberate and intentional about your following God. What I'm trying to make you see is that one, we give our life to Christ. Number two, we realize that we are complete in Christ. Number three, we become intentional and deliberate about our following God. Let me tell you one thing, a very simple thing. Somebody says he wants to understand, he wants to do very well in mathematics. What is the simple thing about doing very well in mathematics? The simple thing is that the person begin to give attention to mathematics. He begins to become deliberate about following the example, doing the sum. He begins to pursue it, begins to follow it. What I'm trying to make you see is that "Yes, I am born again. Yes, I have given my life to Christ." It goes beyond just I am inside the church. It goes beyond I'm in a fellowship. It goes beyond I'm in a department in my fellowship. It goes beyond all of that. Those things are very, very good. I will soon come to the power of association later. But one important thing you must get into is being deliberate, understanding that "Lord Jesus, I want to follow you." Come to a decision, come to a decision in your heart, come to a personal deliberate being intentional and say, "Look, Lord Jesus, I intend to follow you." So what comes, what comes next about this intention? I want to show you what you need to do next. What comes next about that intention is what I just read in Psalm 1. In Psalm 1, look at that scripture. It said, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful," or "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night." You are becoming intentional, you are becoming deliberate. What are you to be intentional and deliberate about? I'm trying to make you see is the word of God. What are you to be deliberate and intentional about? The word of the Lord. The word of the Lord. You see, the Bible says when we separate ourselves from the world in the verse 1, the next thing we need to do in the verse 2 is that our delight must now be in the law of God. What do we mean by that? What the Bible is trying to say is that meditating on the word of God, reading the scripture, studying it, meditating on it, and putting it into practice. What did I say? Reading the scripture, I'm saying you are becoming very, very intentional. You see, when I look back today, at that time I did not understand these things. But one thing that God did for me when we look back, when we gave our life to Christ, we were not privileged to find ourselves in fellowship. Because when we gave our life to Christ, the church setting then was looking at our experience as very, very strange. So instead of being embraced by the church setting in which we find ourselves, we were rejected. We were told that we have become fanatical. We are taking God too seriously. I remember then I was told that, "Look, this word of God is supposed to be written by the person who wrote it. Why am I being so, why am I taking it too seriously? Why am I paying too much attention to it?" That is what some elders told me when I got born again. That you don't put your life into it like that. You don't just put your mind, everything, just no, it's not like that. We are not too sure if it is the word of God. That was what they were even telling me. Yes, some elders told me that. But I am telling you that the right way to go, if you want to follow the Lord, is a deliberateness, a strong intention. The way you set time apart for your academics, the way you set time apart to learn a skill, the way you set time apart to learn something, in the same way you need to set time. You are deliberate. You create time. You tell yourself, "I'm going to meet with the Lord." Is it 30 minutes of a day, is it 1 hour of a day, is it 2 hours of a day, depending on your situation? You must build an altar. That's what I tell people. Build an altar over your life, you want to follow God. We meet with God at our altars. That's one mistake our generation is making. Young men will tell that "I pray any time. I read my Bible any time. I yes, I yes." Yes, there is a place of praying without ceasing. There is a place of studying the Bible any time I am in transit, maybe in a journey. I just take my Bible and I'm reading my Bible most time all through the journey. But that is different from a devotion. You to be intentional and to be deliberate is to be devotional. To be devotional about something is to create a particular time. What I mean is that one thing you must begin to build, I will show you that in the life of Abraham. Look at Genesis 12. Men who walk with God, you will notice these things in their life. They come in different shapes but just to give you an understanding. It says, "Now the Lord had said to Abram..." Please note that statement. The Lord was not just saying, "He had said." He had been told that before. Now, "Now the Lord has said to Abram, 'Get out of your country.'" So the work of Abraham with God did not begin in chapter 12. Chapter 12 was only making reference to what the Lord had said. Something that had happened earlier in the life of Abraham. And if you notice the matter, look at verse 11, so that you can get it clearer. In chapter 11, the Bible talks about Terah. He said now from verse 26, "Now Terah lived 70 years and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. This is the genealogy of Terah. Terah begot Abram (that is Abraham), Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot." Giving us their background. So the Lot we know with Abram or with Abraham actually came from Haran. So "And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land in Ur of the Chaldeans." That was how Abraham inherited Lot. Because Haran died at a very young age. So there was nobody to take Lot, like we normally do today. One uncle, one this will take the children where there is nobody. So Abraham took Lot. It said, "Then Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren, she had no child." The Bible now says, "And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, and his son Abram's wife, and they went out and went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan." Are you seeing something? A journey has started towards the land of Canaan. "And they came to Haran and dwelt there." So somewhere between the land of Ur and the land of Canaan, I'm talking about following the Lord. That's what I'm trying to show you. This issue of being devotional. Most young people are not devotional. The basic thing about following God is there must be an altar over your life. And I want to show you, men who work with God. You will notice these things in their life. They come in different shapes. They built altars where they call on God. They built altars, there were marks, there were those things in their life. So build your altar and your altar is very clear. Set this time apart. Create a specific time in your own life and be deliberate about that time. Tell yourself, "I'm going to meet with the Lord." A personal time alone with God. Alone with God. Not in the company of men, you alone. And say, "God, I have come." And what are you doing? What have you come to do? You have come to meditate, you have come to read, you have come to study, you have come to meditate. You have come to look into the word of God. What does this say? What is the word of... okay, the word of God says it. Oh, look at this promise for my life. You noted it down. Oh look, oh, so we should not keep malice. Oh, I will not be keeping malice again. So we should not do this. You are just doing those things. You are just following it. You didn't know that as you go along, there's still going to be greater light. There's going to be mystical voice. There's going to be vision. There's going to be trance. There's going to be dreams. There's going to be God speaking directly into our ears. We are going to have encounters with angels. I've had encounter with angels speaking to me, telling me to do things. But that was not my starting point. The starting point is you must build an altar. Build an altar. The altar is the place where you meet with God. The altar is your residential address. I will just use that very in a very simple practical way. If you want to give somebody something, you will say, "Where do we meet?" Do you understand me? "Now where do we meet?" He'll say, "Okay, either I live here or this place is my office." Then you will take it to that place. What I'm trying to say is that when you begin to create a deliberate time to meditate on scriptures, to use scriptures to respond to God in prayers, according to the word of God that you are reading, you find promises there you say, "God, I take this promise for my life," you find instruction there, "Lord, help me to do this," you find command there, "Lord, help me to follow this command," that becomes, you respond to God in prayer. You pray those words. You respond to God. Because prayer is useless if it's not according to the word of God. He says, "If you dwell in me and my word abide in you, you shall ask whatsoever you will." So prayer must be born out of the word of God. As you respond to God that way, and you are doing that as you are doing that, you will be surprised what will be happening in your life. You will be making your way prosperous. That is the beginning of making your way prosperous. That is the beginning of following God. That is what yes, that's how you follow God. The foundation of following God is responding to God by scriptures. What does it mean to walk in the spirit? That is what it means. Yes, people have asked that question. The Bible says, "Walk in the spirit, love not the lust of the flesh." What does it mean? Basically and fundamentally speaking, to walk in the spirit is to obey the word of God. Any walking in the spirit that is contrary to the scripture is not to walk in the spirit, it's just spiritism. You are not being spiritual, you are just practicing spiritism. There's a difference between being spiritual and practicing spiritism, which is in the world of demonology. But to be spiritual is to obey scriptures. So spirituality begins with obeying scriptures. But you cannot obey what you don't know. You cannot respond to what you have not discovered. You cannot respond to what you have not found. You cannot know the truth. The word of God is the truth. He said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Set you free from so many things. You begin, you build that altar. He said that would make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Look at something again about scripture. Look at Psalm 19. Following the Lord. Psalm 19. I read from verse 1. It said, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man that runs his race. His rising is from one end to the other end, and his circuit to the other end, and there's nothing hidden from its heat." Now, so having talked about the the the how, talking about the sun and it goes round, how nothing escapes it. I'm saying this because if you look at Psalm 84 later, it says our God is like the sun. Our God is like the sun. Now having talked about the capacity of the sun, having related the capacity, what the sun can do, how nothing can escape the sun. Having made reference to the power, God in creation, what God did in creation and how some things that God did, how they work and how they operate. He now came to the word of God. Don't forget that the word of God is God himself. Everything was created by this word of God. What did he say about the law of God? "The law of God is perfect." What is it doing? Converting the soul. You want a conversion in your soul? You want a conversion in your soul. You want to be free from so many things. You want to be out of some things that your soul have become a slave to. Do you want to be free? Do you want to experience freedom in your emotions? You are not a slave of lust, you are not a slave of anger, you are not a slave of bitterness, you are not a slave of hatred, you are not a slave to inordinate affection. Do you want a conversion in your soul? Look at what the Bible says. "The law of the Lord is perfect. What is he doing? Converting the soul." I'm talking about following the Lord. I'm showing you where where how these things, how they build. As you meditate on the law of God, as you put them into practice, as you subject your thinking to them, as you subject your mind to them, what happens to your soul? It experiences conversion. Look at the next thing. "The testimony of the Lord is sure," what do you find here? "making wise the simple." Do you want to be wise? It is as you read the testimony of God in his law. Go and look at his testimony, what God said about himself. What God said about himself. Like I just showed you something about God this morning, that it is his delight that you seek him while you are young. That is his testimony. For you to be wise, you must know what God the testimony of God, what did God say about himself? There are many people today who don't know what Jesus gave them at Calvary because they don't know what Jesus said. They don't know what he said. They don't give themselves to the scriptures to know what we are given, what are the promises, what are the privileges, what did he do for us by his death, what is available for us. They don't know. So they are not wise. He said, "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Do you want to be wise? It is by the testimony of the Lord. He said, "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." You want to understand the time? You want to understand the situation? You want to begin to know how to respond? You want your eyes to be open? You want your eyes to be enlightened? It is in the law of the Lord. He says, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgment of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned." You want to be warned? You want to be cautioned? You want to be prepared? It is by them. "And in keeping them there is great reward. In keeping them there is great reward." There is great reward. So what am I saying about following God? The first fundamental thing I am telling you today are these basic things I am saying. Take take your time to be sure that you are born again. Take your time to be intentional if you are born again. Take your time to understand who exactly you are. If you are not poor in spirit you cannot find the Lord. Anybody who is proud in spirit will not find the Lord. The rich he will send empty away, but the poor he will give the kingdom. You must understand that. If you feel you know how to manage your life, you know what to do, you know how to do it, you feel you know where you're going, you know, you are full of your own ways, you will not find God. But when you have this lowliness of heart, this lowliness of heart is a very fundamental thing about following the Lord. And then you begin to build altar. And fill the power of altar. Beyond this point, when I'll be speaking to you next, I'll be still speaking about following the Lord, some more things that are involved in it. What I've handled today is that that relate to you, you your person, you and your person. What are you doing personally? That's what I've handled today. There are still more things to it. But what I've handled today is at your personal level. What are you to do? How are you to do it? What are you to do at your personal level? What are the things to address basically at your personal level? And then as the Lord gives us grace, we climb again on some other ladders we need to look at again in following the Lord. But this basic that I've discussed with you, they cannot be compromised. If this basic is not there, the other things we want to start talking about, we may not be able to get them right. This is the first thing to get right. The first thing to get right is every vine, every branch must be connected to the vine. Every branch must be connected to the vine. There is just one Lord and one God. Nobody must think that he can build anybody or he can build on anybody who is not personally connected to his vine. The first thing about your life you must be you as an individual, you must be personally connected to the vine before other things can take their place. You must have a personal connection to the vine. Any branch that is not connected to the vine will dry off no matter what you are doing with that vine, that branch. No matter how you try to decorate it, no matter how you try to do it, no matter how you try to turn it, no matter how you try to put it. No, nothing goes on. The first thing is this connection to the Lord. Personally first connect yourself to the Lord. Technicals, I don't know whether we have any question that we need to respond to. Okay, I'm told that there is no question online that we need to respond to. So let's begin to talk to the Lord in prayer this afternoon. Let's begin to talk to the Lord in prayer. Need to respond to the Lord in prayer this afternoon. To the Lord. To the Lord. Oh. Our Father we thank you. Our God, we give you praise. We appreciate you. We give you glory. We give you honor. We give you adoration. Holy Ghost, do it again. Do it again in my life. Open my eyes to see Jesus who is seated upon the throne. Holy Ghost, do it again. Oh, Holy Ghost, do it again. In my life, do it again. In my life, do it again. Open my eyes to see Jesus who is seated upon the throne. Our Father we thank you for this afternoon again. As we begin to respond to the question of how do we follow you today, Lord I pray that beyond my voice, you will cause your people to hear your voice in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that beyond me, cause your people to see you. And every man who is just giving his life today or meeting with you today, just understanding these things today, Lord I pray let your mercy undertake for such in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our eyes are on you. Build your church. Build your church. In such a way that the gate of hell will not prevail against it according to scriptures in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. 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. [Speaker 2] 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 the discipleship class every Monday 5:00 PM, Adolescent and Singles Club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, marriage forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, family life seminars, regular school outreaches and every day counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location Life Camp by the first bridge, Ijere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Ija-Are Road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 080-3386-1136, 070-3361-3848. God bless you all. [Choir singing outro]