His Cross (let Him Deny Himself 2 Luke 9,23)

[Speaker 1] Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for you. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] Eyin l'oni se iyanu. D'ansa ki o. We praise You Lord. You are worthy to be praised. Ani kabi o si ba ba. Eyin l'oni se iyanu. D'ansa ki o. We praise You Lord. You are worthy to be praised. You are worthy to be praised. You are worthy to be praised. My Redeemer, You are worthy to be praised. Oh Lord, You are worthy to be praised. You are worthy to be praised. My Redeemer, You are worthy to be praised. You are worthy to be praised. You are worthy to be praised. My Redeemer, You are worthy to be praised. Oh my Redeemer, You are worthy to be praised. Oh my Redeemer, You are worthy to be praised. We are gathering together unto Thee, unto the Lord. We are gathering together unto Thee, unto the Lord. Unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto Thee, unto the Lord. We are gathering together unto Thee, unto the Lord. We are gathering together unto Thee, unto the Lord. Unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto Thee, unto the Lord. We are gathering together unto Thee, unto the Lord. We are gathering together unto Thee, unto the Lord. Unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto Thee, unto the Lord. Our Father, unto You we are gathering. Unto You we are gathered. We that are here physically, our brethren joining us on Telegram, our brethren joining us on Mixlr, Lord, unto You we are gathering, and unto You we have gathered. Precious Father, we pray, You who give seed to the sower and You who also minister bread to the eaters, we pray, let there be seed for the sower this evening. Let there be bread for the eaters this evening. You said the house of Jacob will not seek You in vain. Lord, our gathering will not be in vain. Rather Lord, You will meet with us. You will answer to our situation. You will instruct us. You will correct us. You will lead us in the path of righteousness for Your name's sake. Lord, our eyes are on You. Walk in our midst. Build Your church, oh Lord. Glorify Your name. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. We thank God again for another Monday. This should be the second Monday now in the month of August. We trust the Lord again that as we gather this evening, the Lord will meet with us in the name of Jesus Christ. We began to look at Luke 9:23 last week. We actually took our background from "The love of God constrains us." Nobody can deny himself, nobody can live for the Lord who does not understand the love of God for him. It's a very difficult thing to do. Until you can comprehend how much God loves you, it becomes difficult to be constrained by that love. You find many people today, they are constrained more by fear: fear of hellfire, fear of God will kill them, fear of there's nothing wrong about that because the Bible also says "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom." If we don't begin to fear God, we are not wise. To fear God is to be wise, to have this fear that, "No, how can I do this against God?" But much more than that, that love is perfected when that fear is a product of love. It's coming more as a reverential fear. Because of your love for him, there's this reverential fear you have for God. Based on that background, that it is the love of God that makes us to be able to deny ourselves for him, we moved on last week. As our usual practice, I normally ask people if they have one or two things to say before I move on to proceed from where we stopped last week. So, I don't know if anybody from what we discussed last week, you have something you want to share, you have something you want to say, there's a high point of lesson that was a challenge to you or that was a blessing to you and you want to say something about it? Okay, so we'll move on. We'll just go straight to where we left the matter last week. Luke 9:23: "Let him deny himself." That was our focus last week. We want to press on on that matter today. Let him deny himself. That is the first thing Jesus said. He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." We noted last week that that matter was coming from Luke 9:18. Let's read through the text again and then we will concentrate on what we want to look at particularly today. It happened as He was alone praying that His disciples joined Him and He asked them saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah, others say that one of the old prophets has risen." And He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Then Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." Then we noted last week that He strictly warned them and commanded them not to tell this to no one until He has gone to His cross, until He had been crucified and lifted up on the cross. Until His resurrection, Christ should not be preached. So we saw that the power of the cross, the power of Jesus, the preaching of the Christ is centered around the cross. Until He is crucified, they cannot preach Him. He said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and chief priests, and be killed and be raised the third day." So Christ can be preached after the cross. Everything about Christ is centered in the cross. Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what profit is it for a man if he gains the whole world and he himself is destroyed or lost?" Now, that was the text last week. Our focus on this matter of "let him deny himself," we came to a climax last week when I said that the matter of denying ourselves, the matter of our life primarily for the glory of Jesus or our life primarily for the purpose of God, the reason why that becomes very crucial is because ordinarily, our life, before we met him, actually there was no value in our life. It was Christ that gave our life value. Whatever you think is valuable in man is Christ in him. Once you remove Christ from a man, even if he has money, he has riches, he has wealth, he has children, marriage, cars, buildings, the Bible says that man is hopeless. He's a hopeless person. So, we said what gave our life hope, what makes our life to have any value, is the Christ that is in us. So, the reason why the life must be centered on Christ is because that is the only thing that gives it value. Once you don't live for Christ, the life becomes valueless. That is why He said, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" Because once you remove Christ, the soul has lost all its value. That's where we climaxed our discussion last week. Our life must be built on Christ. Our life must be centered on him. Our life must be the single thing that makes up our life should be to glorify Jesus, to please him, to die for him who died for us and rose again. That is the only thing that gives our life a meaning. We noticed that the Bible addressed this matter further. When you come to Romans 12, the Bible addressed that same matter again, looking at it from another angle. It begins in verse one. "I beseech you therefore brethren..." Every other translation different from that? In the NLT it says, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you." NIV says, "Therefore I urge you." Therefore. What I'm trying to bring out is that you will notice that Romans 12 is not the beginning of the discussion. Romans 12 is a continuation of a discussion. So, to understand Romans 12 properly, you must go back to eleven to know why he's saying "therefore." Why are we saying "I'm begging you therefore, so my brothers"? There is something he was discussing. Now let's look at that. We couldn't get there last week, but it's very good that we look at that matter again on "let him deny himself." The first aspect is that to deny yourself is centering your life to glorify Jesus. Centering it. You don't have... you can only live for Jesus. And the other aspect of "let him deny himself" what I want to address today, but there's a passage we could not look at last week because of time. I want to take it this week before I now go to the second aspect of "let him deny himself." In Romans 11, the Bible makes it clear, we will not look at all the verses, but we need to read from verse one to know what he was talking about in verse 12. "I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I am also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." So if God had cast away Israel, Paul should not have been saved. I hope you get the point he's trying to make. "God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleaded with God against Israel saying, 'Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left and they seek my life'?" But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed their knee to Baal." Elijah thought he was left alone. He didn't know that apart from him, there were still people in Israel. It looks like nobody again was serving God. But God had to correct him that there are people serving God. They are those whom God reserved. "Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace," that remnant, if it is by grace, what did it say? "Then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace." I don't want to go into all these verses commenting on each of them. But that is what some people still don't understand about the New Testament. They don't know that grace is of no effect if we try to revert to works in coming to God. If something is by grace, if salvation is by grace, if justification is by grace, if righteousness is by grace, if atonement is by grace, if communion is by grace, if restoration is by grace, if adoption is by grace, then it is not of works. Otherwise grace will no longer be grace. But if it's of works, it is no longer grace. Otherwise, work is no longer work. So this place is, what is this place proving to us? Works and grace, they are mutually exclusive. If you want to be by works follow God, then you need to forget grace. If you want to be by grace follow God, then you need to forget works. One great mistake today is matching what Jesus was trying to say. He said the best way to preserve an old wine and a new wine is to pour an old wine into the old wineskin and a new wine into a new wineskin. If you pour a new wine into an old wineskin, two things will happen. It will break the old wineskin. You will not have that old wineskin. And when it breaks the old wineskin, what will happen to the wine? It will spill. That is what is happening with so many people today, so many people today. And so they could not work in this justification that is by faith because they are still bringing legalism into salvation. Salvation is not by works. Salvation is strictly by grace. Now, the reason why we are saying this is that, don't forget where are we going? Romans 12. We want to understand twelve. So number one in Romans 11, the Bible makes it clear that works and grace are mutually exclusive. And the remnant for Israel, by what are they saved? By grace, not by works. Good. Now, verse seven. "What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it." Which elect is he talking about? That remnant that God reserved. The nation, they want to get it, but they could not get it. But God have reserved a group, a number, simply by grace. So the nation could not get it, but the elect got it. "And the rest were blinded." Till today, as a nation, is Israel serving God? No. As a nation, I think I can still remember when a friend of mine traveled down to, you know they go there for this Jerusalem pilgrimage and he said the Israeli that was taking them round, he was making reference to Jesus, Yeshu. He said "Don't mind that stupid boy. He just came to scatter the tradition of the elders." He was calling him stupid boy. He was trying to describe Jesus to the people that came on excursion to Israel. And he was talking of, in the 90s, calling him the stupid boy that came to scatter all these things for them. But they have preserved it. That as a nation, what they know was Moses, the Sabbath, and all of that. He's just a stupid boy who came to scatter all these things for them. But they have preserved it, they do all those things. That is as a nation. But we thank God for the elect, that there is a reservation. Even still among them, there is a reservation. There are people that God have been able to meet by grace that are Israelites that are actually born again. But the nation Israel is blinded. I hope you're getting the point he's making. Now, but that reservation is not by works. It means it's not because they were better than the others. But God just decide to have mercy on those ones and allow them to know that Jesus is the Christ. And for that reason, they now took them to a particular part, that my friend said they took them to a particular part. He said on that part, they have been people putting their dead bodies, because they believe that the Messiah is coming. Not that foolish one that came. When the real Messiah will come, he's going to come through this path. And as he's coming, he's going to wake up all of these people. So they are waiting, waiting for when he will come and take captivity captive. That tells you, I'm just trying to paint the picture in the recent time what is going on. So they are still waiting passionately for the Messiah. Waiting for him to come. But there is an election that has been saved by grace. Now, the rest were blinded. It says, "Just as it is written: God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see, ears that should not hear, to this very day." Please brethren, what does that tell you? What does that tell you about grace? It tells you, brethren, that once you can perceive the things of God and you can perceive them correctly, don't attribute it to yourself. Don't ever do so. Don't ever do so. Once you notice that you could recognize Jesus as the Christ, and you are living for Jesus, and you are loving Jesus, don't begin to think that, "Look at those stupid people, they don't want to believe in Jesus. Me, I believe in Jesus, what can be more better than that? Look at that idiot. Is that how to live a correct life?" It is because you don't understand grace. If you understand grace, and you understand it properly, you would not in any way be thinking and talking like that. That is why you notice the Bible says that we should speak evil of no man. But we should try and live peaceable with all men. For we ourselves, we were once deceived. We were not different from them until the grace of God affected... telling you that what makes a difference in your thinking now is grace. What is making a difference in your life is grace. What simply means is that it was because God particularly gave attention to you. Do you get the point I'm trying to make? Are you understanding grace? That it's not because you were anything better in yourself. There was really nothing better about you that should have made you to be saved. So that it was not because you love God, that's why God saved you. No. It was not because... no, there was nothing like that. It is that thing that the Bible was trying to teach in chapter nine that had a lot of confusion, talking about Isaac and Jacob, that ever before they do anything good or evil, that it has... you see, grace is simply grace. What is grace? Grace is simply grace. There is no work to grace. There is no that I prayed better. There is no, there's nothing you did, there was really nothing you did. It is simply grace. And if you understand it that way, it will humble you. And that is why you notice, when you see arrogance going with Christianity, that person did not understand grace. When people talk as though they were able to become better and godly people because of certain thing about themselves, it is because you don't understand grace. And so the reason why I'm saying this is that I want you to understand the depth of the love of God. If you begin to try to comprehend it, it cannot but change the way you think, the way you appear, the way you reason. I'm showing you the depth of God's love for a people under a covenant that was rooted in a man who missed God at some point. That God had to tell him, "Walk before me and be thou blameless." Yet the covenant with him, God could not compromise. Will God ever compromise what is rooted in God? Our salvation is rooted in Christ. If what is rooted in Abraham cannot be compromised, is it what is in Jesus that will be compromised? So some people are talking about their salvation. "Maybe God have forgotten me, maybe..." I said look, you don't understand something. I'm showing you people that are even rebelled. God preserved for himself. God was making their fall a blessing to some people. Then God is coming back to them. And do you even see how God even in their unfaithfulness, but He remained faithful? And those men themselves, they misbehaved severally. And God says, "Okay, because you have misbehaved, I will punish them with the weapon of men, but that I will never forsake them." And those men themselves, they misbehaved severally. And God is like, "Okay, because you have misbehaved..." Now I'm looking at my Savior who from start to finish was the fulfillment of the will of God. His birth was to fulfill Scripture. His daily life was fulfillment of Scripture. His death was fulfillment of Scripture. His resurrection was fulfillment of Scripture. Will God break the covenant that He has with Him? Certain things are not just possible. It's not, they are not possible, because it is this same God. The Bible says the same yesterday, today, and forever. He told them this covenant is forever, despite the misbehavior of all His children, He could not break that covenant. And then we're talking about a man who offered himself once for us to God and by one sacrifice perfected forever those who by him come to God. Now, but please don't forget why I am saying all of this. We are trying to explain Romans 12:1. The reason why by the Spirit of the Lord, the apostle said, "Looking at this matter, brethren, I am begging you." He was taking from something why he was now begging us that "look, if any man want to follow Jesus, let him deny himself." I'm wanting... I couldn't get to this point last week. This ought to have been part of last week's discussion before we look at the other side "let him deny himself," which has to do with the suffering of the cross. That's another dimension to "let him deny himself." But the point I'm drawing today is this aspect of "let him deny himself," this living for Jesus. Being constrained. Why is somebody saying that "Look, I'm begging you be constrained to live for Jesus"? Why is somebody begging? Now, he said in as much as what will their fullness be? Verse 13. "For I speak to you Gentiles, in as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are of my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" Now, for if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you being a wild olive tree was grafted in... do you get what he's trying to say? Do you follow what he's trying to say here? What he's trying to say here is that actually, the root, the covenant, everything is still with Israel. We are just... they didn't uproot them. They were not uprooted. They just took us, some of the branches were just removed. They now grafted... I don't know if you know what it means to graft. When you cut a tree, you cut orange, you put it beside pineapple, you now tie it. So the orange is now living a pineapple life. That's what, so we are wild olive, we are not the natural one. We are Israel, Israel of God through Christ. But we are not the natural one. There is a natural Israel. You get the point he's making. Now, and you were grafted in, and with them became partakers of the root and fatness of the olive. Do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. Are you understanding that at all? Now, he says, "You will say then: Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off. And you by what do you stand?" You are standing by what? You are standing by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. Granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. Well, remember those branches were broken off because they didn't believe in Christ. And you are there because you do believe. Don't think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. Fear what could happen. Don't think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. Fear. I'm talking of where that "I beg you by God's mercies" came from. You need to fear. You need to fear. Why? Verse 21. "For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either." He may not spare you. If you think that you can just work outside faith. If you think you will not look at this matter focusing on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of your faith. Bible says "looking unto Jesus." Looking at what He said, believing Him for what He said, for what He did, for what was made available in Him. And Jesus said, "If anybody want to follow me, let him forget his own interest. Let him choose to live only and only for me." You need to fear if you are not looking at Jesus. You need to fear if you are living a life outside faith. You need to fear. You need to fear. Because God did not spare the natural one. God will not spare you. Now, verse 22. "Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off." What are you to continue with? His goodness. What is His goodness? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believe in this Son should not perish but have eternal life. Whoever... whoever will keep looking at this Son, whoever will put his total faith in him, whoever will forget every other thing and concentrate on this Son, whoever will follow his teaching, his dictates, what he said, what he made available in him. Whoever will believe him for what he made available to them, whoever will take his word for his word. And when that's why I tell people, you know, people are not sensitive to Jesus in simple simple things. People don't believe that. "Where two or three are gathered together than there," people don't believe that. "And with you always to the end of the world," we don't believe that. "I will never leave you or forsake you," we don't believe it. Surely unbelief here and there. "Continue in His goodness." Those what He gave you, continue in His goodness. That is, continue to stand by faith. Continue to take what He made available, what I told you last week. God freely gave these things to us. It's a goodness. God gave us many things freely. Remain in that thing. Don't go outside it. You have been justified, you have been sanctified, you have been adopted, you have been given righteousness, you have been given holiness, you have been given... continue in these things, focus on these, believing these, stay in these. Don't go outside these. Stay in these promises. Stay in His instructions. Stay in His demand. Stay in what He said. All of them, and most especially Jesus was the only part of this. You can't take one and leave the other. That is gospel. Gospel is one single package. One single package, Jesus is one single package. And it's all of those things that sum up to be the goodness of God. Therefore, consider the goodness, stay in it, continue, otherwise you also will be cut off. Verse 23. "And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again." Hallelujah. He's able to graft them in again. Look at what he now says to support that. "For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree again?" Which is easier? Which is easier to bring back? The natural one is easier to bring back. Very very easy, bring them back. Now, look at what he now says. "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." Are you seeing that? The reason why they remain blind is that God wants a fullness. There are Gentiles, there's only God that can open a window for the Gentiles. After when this window is over, this window will soon be over. And some things I just marvel at God. God open a window from the death of Christ. Please, is God not gracious? Is God not gracious? Look at when Jesus died. He purposely left a window for the wild one to be grafted in. Let's keep grafting. Please, keep grafting the wild one. Gentiles, keep grafting the wild one. And also what I want you to see, please brethren, what I want you to see in that grafting. Who is solely at work? Is it the olives that are grafting themselves to it? That's why I tell people, be careful about the way you reason about your salvation. Let us learn, let us learn to give all glory to God. It's a very very important thing. God is busy grafting. The person doing the grafting is God. And that is why the Bible could boldly say, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and the perfecter of your faith." He authored it, and whatever he authors, he will finish. That is my belief. Whatever he authors, he will finish. And that is why I believe my life will be a finished project. I believe it. It's a total belief, I hold to that. That he who authors is able to finish it. That is the goodness of God we ought to continue in and stop being afraid of this, afraid of that, fear this, fear that. He says, "Look, you worth more than many sparrows." And not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yes, one don't fall to the ground outside the knowledge of your Father. He says, "Fear not. Even the hairs of your head are numbered." God is not just counted, it's not that they are 200, but they are numbered. God knows number one, He knows number two, He knows number three, He knows number four. They are numbered. If God is taking time to know, He knows what He's trying to tell you: the slightest details of your life, they are with God. To the minutest details of your life. The minutest details. That is why you just see how God just puts some things in place about your life. I tell you just look at some things will just happen. Some you don't even pray about them. Do you agree with me? You just notice it. "Eh, thank God oh, look at what God just did for me. Hey, I wanted to go out, I just did not feel like going out again. I just went inside. Do you know that that moment, somebody just passed, I just heard a phone call and this..." If God is busy planning how you will eat and drink, planning how you will get some little things here and there, is it your eternal salvation that God will be taking trivially? Just look at some minute, some things that you are careless about. Sometimes you just feel like "Hmm, don't let me go, let me just stay indoors," it just starts raining. "Hey, thank God oh, if I have gone out I would have been bitten by this rain." God is just trying to take care that rain don't beat you. In all those kind of things, God is busy making arrangement. You are now talking about your life as a person. Is that one that would now be outside budget? Please brethren, can it be outside budget? He just threw away unbelief. Brethren, don't cast away your confidence that has a great recompense of reward because he has promised that he who will come, he will surely come. But the just shall live by his faith. The just shall live by his faith. Now he says all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob." And, "For this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins." Concerning the gospel, verse 28, "Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of who? For the sake of the fathers." I'm showing you how God stands by that promise that He made to their father. And you know, that is why you will notice that when Jesus is talking about us, what does He normally says? He says, "Father, these ones that You have given me out of the world." He didn't say these people who just came to me, "those ones that You have given me out of the world." Please understand who you are. Many of us don't know who we are. And that's why Jesus said, "All that my Father has given unto me, nobody can pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them to me is greater than all. None can pluck them out of my hand." And I keep telling people: if men who were engraved in the palm of God's hand could not be missing, is it these men whose life are hidden in Christ in God that will be missing? Let us stand in courage, brethren. Sometimes it may be very very dark. Sometimes it may look like how is it going to look like? But let us continue in this goodness. Let us stand in faith. Let us stand in faith. Don't let us slip to unbelief. It makes us to depart from the goodness of God. Let us stand in faith. I'm taking all this to just one important thing, Romans 12:1. The reason why by the Spirit of the Lord, the apostle said, "Looking at this matter, brethren, I am begging you. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God." So where is that mercy coming from now? Do you understand the mercy now? Which mercy? Which mercy now is he talking about? That mercy of being grafted in by the blindness God deliberately blinded some people so that He can have mercy on you. Look at what God did. God forgot His people. He left them, He abandoned them. He gave them spirit of stupor, threw them into darkness because He wanted to have mercy on you, and you're misbehaving? You are living stupidly and foolishly? God went out to look for you and then they brought you in and you are doing anyhow? You cannot deny all and follow Jesus? That's the point. So he said, "I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is" the only reasonable thing that you can do. Any other thing you do, you are unreasonable. Ori e ti daru. Any other thing you do, you are not reasonable, you have lost your senses. You're a stupid person. So if any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself. That's the matter here today. I couldn't proceed to the other dimension of "let him deny himself," but I think it's good, let's handle these things one after the other so that we don't rush ourselves into too many things. I'm showing you that if you understand the mercy of God, you won't live anyhow. If you understand the background, that somebody is begging you, that you need to fear oh, you're a wild olive oh. You were just grafted in oh. Remember, the natural one, they were not spared oh. Look at how mercy came to you oh. Look at all these things and be able to live reasonably. There was no reason why you should be saved, that is the point. There was no reason why you should come into the fold. There was no reason at all. And when there was no reason, God created a reason by himself. What was the reason? He created it by himself. He made His people blind so that He can have a reason to save you. God created the reason for our salvation. Look at what He did. Look at what He freely did. Look at how the mercy came. And then he says, "Is there any other reasonable thing to do than to present your body a living sacrifice for Him?" Is there any other thing? There's nothing else again to do. Any other thing you do, then you are not reasonable. I want us to talk to God this evening. I want us to talk to God this evening. I want us to pray as we close. It's already 6:25. I want us to be leaving here by 6:30. That's what I have said that we will always try to do now. By 6:30 I want us to be out of here. I want us to talk to the Lord. Respond to God. Respond to God. "If any man wants to follow me, let him deny himself." Can you forget yourself? Can you say, "God, I am sorry for placing my interest, for placing certain things above You or placing certain things before You, for making certain things feel too important to me"? Lord, Lord, I am sorry. There is no higher calling. There is nothing better than to kneel and to bow before His throne. We should be amazed at His glory, embraced by His mercies. Oh Lord, I live to worship You. I live to worship You. The only essence of my living is to worship You. The essence of my life is to worship You. My life have no any other essence. The only essence of my life is to worship You. I live for nothing else. I live for nothing more. I live for You in everything, seeking You first. In everything, You must come first. In everything, to please You first. In everything, You come first. You come first. You come first Lord. In the name of Jesus. Oh, thank You Father. Oh Lord Jesus. Oh Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, help us Lord. Help us Lord to live correctly. Help us Lord that we may deny ourselves. That we may forget ourselves. That we may forget our interests. That we may forget, nothing can be more important than our soul. Help us to forget, help us to forget what we ought to forget. Help us to remember what we ought to remember. Help us to lay aside what we ought to lay aside and remember Your interest alone. Your interest alone. That the love of God may constrain us, that we may judge that if one died for us then all are dead, that we who live will not live unto ourselves but unto Him who died for us and rose again. We will not live for ourselves, but we'll live for Him who died for us and rose again. We will live only for Him who died for us and rose again. In everything we do, in our work, in our job, in our career, in our marriage, in our home, in our academics, in our business, in everything we do, we will be living for You. We will be keeping You first. Abba Jesus, be pleased. How does this please Jesus? How does this please Jesus? Jesus first. Jesus first. Jesus only. Jesus ever. Jesus all, in all we do. Savior, Sanctor, Healer, Master, Lord, and coming King. Jesus only. Oh Jesus ever. Jesus all, in all we do. Savior, Sanctor, Healer, Master, Lord, and coming King. We worship You. Thank You, our Father. [Speaker 3] Dear Lord, we thank You so much for all that You have freely given to us. Thank You for the analysis that You have given to us today, to show us a little of all that You have given us. The extent to which You went to bring us to where we are to the saving grace that has saved our soul. Dear Lord God Almighty, You have made us to know that it's not by effort, it's not by our doing. Not that we looked for You. It was You that looked that searched for us. Father, we are grateful. We are sincerely grateful. Lord, we are grateful. Lord, we are grateful. Lord, we are grateful. Lord, we are grateful. Lord, we are grateful. Accept our thanks in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we come before You, we beg You. Help us to reciprocate this love that You have shown us in the name of Jesus. In the way we live, in the way we think, in the way we move around, in the way we relate with others, in the way Lord our lives give You pleasure, help us to reciprocate in the name of Jesus. Lord, we are praying that every day of our life, every moment of our waking and sleeping, let them bring pleasure to You in the name of Jesus. Help us by Your grace. Help us by Your power. It is not of him that wills, neither of him that runs, it is of You that shows mercy. Lord, we are still praying that You will show us mercy even as we are determined to live for You every day in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we are making up our minds that Lord, all we do, all we say, all we think about will be things that will give You pleasure. We are asking the Lord by Your Spirit You will help us in our inner man in the name of Jesus. Precious Holy Spirit, we commend our hearts unto You, oh Lord. It has pleased You to save our soul. Please save us to the very end in the name of Jesus Christ. Day by day, oh Lord, let our lives go on, when You look down on us, oh Lord, let it bring pleasure to Your heart in the name of Jesus. Thank You, everlasting Father. Please enlarge our understanding. Help us to see deeper into this matter so that we can better appreciate You more in the name of Jesus. Thank You for Your son that You have used again tonight. We are asking oh Lord that he will be a fountain of life. He will be a fountain of life, that life will continually flows through him to this generation in the name of Jesus. Thank You for hearing us pray, for it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. [Speaker 2] 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. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. [Speaker 4] 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. 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, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Idanre Road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are: 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.