His Cross (luke 9;23) Part 7;let Him Take Up His Cross

[Introductory music and announcement] [Speaker 1] Thank you, our God. Our Father, we are saying thank you. We exalt your holy name. We give you glory. We give you honor. We give you praise. We appreciate you for all who you are. We appreciate you for all that you are. We give you all the glory. We give you all the praise. We give you all the honor. We say be thou exalted, our Father, in the name of Jesus. Lord, our God, we are committing ourselves into your hand. We who are here physically, our brethren who are joining us online on Telegram or Mixlr, Lord, we commit ourselves into your hand. Our Father, we pray let your presence be with us. Lord, that we may—the Bible says, in your presence, there is fullness of joy. Lord, the blessedness of your presence will be our portion this evening in the name of Jesus. We will encounter you, Lord. You will meet with us. You will bless us. Lord God Almighty, you will attend to our situations. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. We thank our God again for another Monday for our discipleship class. We appreciate the Lord for his mercies and for his love. We thank him that we are gathered again and we trust him that just as it has always been him, even today again, it will yet be him. We have been looking at the matter of his cross and we have been considering the statement of Jesus in Luke 9:23 particularly. And we have been looking at each of the matters the Lord raised for anyone who desires to follow him. And we have been able to come to a conclusion of "let him deny himself" last week, and we also started "let him take up his cross." And in looking at "let him take up his cross," we have tried to separate the matter of "let him take up his cross" from "let him deny himself." That even though they want to look similar when people talk about these things—people seem to collapse them into one—they are not actually the same thing. A coin will always have two sides: the head and the tail. A coin will not just have head and head, nor tail and tail. To be a coin, it must have head and the side and the tail. So "let him deny himself," "let him take up his cross," they are actually two sides of the same coin of this matter of following the Lord. And we also last week, we were able to come to a point of connecting the matter of the cross and the faith. And that is where we will be picking up the matter today. But as usual, we like to try to give a brief summary and again, tell our brethren, particularly who are online or who are here also physically, if—we have been able to conclude the matter of "let him deny himself." If there are questions that are related to that, we will try and speak to around maybe quarter after six thereabout and see if there are questions that we need to take, you let us have it. But please, for brethren who are online, if you already have a question you intend to ask, please send the question now. Let the technicals be aware. You either paste it on the WhatsApp group, Family Tent WhatsApp group, or you place it on the Mixlr link or the Telegram link. Once the question gets to them, they will bring it and as we continue in the program, we will address such questions. And if our brethren who are here too have questions, please note it so that if you already have it, we are aware that there is a question to ask, then we will be able to create time to answer it. When we don't have—where there is no such awareness, we will just continue as though there is no question. Please, I want us to note that so that we can properly address questions if there are questions. So, I don't know whether there's anything we want to say as to maybe a major lesson we learned last week from brethren who are here. Let everybody come in. Brethren who are here, if there's any question you intend to ask or anything that—I said question, any point of lesson, anything that was a high point of lesson to you, you want to say one or two things about, if there are. Okay, there is none. So let's go to the scripture that we have been studying, Luke 9:23. That has been our text of study. Now, it says, "Then he said unto them all, 'If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.'" And we are looking at this matter of "his cross daily." His cross daily. If we take it from where what we have discussed last week, we said when Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever look at him will be saved, whosoever believe in him will be saved." Now, so you will see—please let's go to that scripture, John 3:14. [Speaker 2] John 3:14-15: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." [Speaker 1] Now, when we look at the Numbers 21—we couldn't read the scripture last week because of time—Numbers 21 from verse 4. [Speaker 2] Numbers 21:4-9: "Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.'" [Speaker 1] I hope you know what they are calling worthless bread? The manna that God has been giving to them. May we not be ingrate in the name of Jesus Christ. Says their soul loathes this worthless bread. Of course, what they said caused God angry. "So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died." Now, it means the venom of this serpent were actually capable of death. Please don't forget Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death." Romans 3:23 is "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." 6:23 is "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, so you notice I'm showing you a what we call parallelism. Two things that are similar. Now, in this place, they were bitten by snakes and they died. We were bitten by serpent and we died. I'm connecting some things for you. We were bitten by the serpent. The serpent was more subtle than any other animal that the Lord has made and having lured the woman to eat something, and the woman was overtaken—the Bible said the woman was deceived—the man disobeyed and then you saw how death came. Now, we are seeing another figure again of serpent. Now, the same thing again, they were bitten by the serpent and they died. Please don't forget what we are trying to discuss: "let him take up his cross." If his cross don't be a daily thing, I want to tell you, you cannot daily experience the life of God in your life. We are supposed to be victorious on a daily basis. And I'm trying to give you a picture, I'm trying to create a clear picture today because we are trying to zoom in, we are trying to zero in into the matter of his cross properly from this meeting. Last week, we were just trying to talk generally because we didn't have so much time, we were rounding up. So, I'm giving you the foundation of the discussion. Now, you notice that in Numbers 21, they were bitten by the serpent and they died. We were bitten by the serpent and we died. Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." The gift of God is eternal life. Where we are coming from in John, "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believe note will not perish but have eternal life." For God so loved the world. So God so loved the world that he decided to lift up the son of man the way Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that we believe will not perish. Now, what is going on here? There was fiery serpents and the people were perishing. What brought this death was sin. What brought our death was sin. I'm explaining "let him take up his cross." Now, it says, "Therefore the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned. We have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he may take away the serpent from us.'" So Moses prayed to the Lord, maybe prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. It shall come to pass, it shall come to pass, if anyone, if anyone who is bitten by the serpent, when he looks at it, shall live." Please get something here. For Jesus, "whosoever believe." Here, "when he looks." So the looking here, because it was something physical, they have to look at that physical thing. When it came to that of Jesus, Jesus did not say "whosoever look." He said, "whosoever believe." So for them to experience this power of salvation of life that is in the fiery serpent, it is in looking. For us to experience the power of salvation that is in another parallel thing again, Jesus, who is lifted up as the serpent, is believing. So theirs is looking, something physical. Ours is believing. We are going to believe. So believing and looking comes together. Looking in the Old Testament, believing in the New Testament. Now, please note, what they were fundamentally dealing with in this place was death. They were dying. What Jesus is offering us is life. Now, look at it. If Jesus is offering us life, then that life is against death. It means, he said, will not perish. What does it mean to perish? To perish is to die. So you are noticing something that the offer, the matter in Numbers 21 and the matter in John 3 is about what? It's about life. The offer of life. Life was offered. But when you look closely again, what brought death in Numbers 21? What brought death was sin. So life was offered as a solution for the consequence of sin so that if we—look at what they did. Please look at the matter. Look at the matter so you can get it. The people—verse 7 said—"Therefore the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned.'" So what have happened? They have repented. Repentance. "Hey, I am sorry." But even though they are sorry, they have repented, that cannot give them victory over the snakes. Are you following me? There can be no victory over the snakes. They have repented. They have realized that they were wrong. Many people are sorry about sin but they discover that they could not have victory over the sin. But they keep repenting. "Lord, I am sorry. Lord, I am sorry." And for years, they are still repenting. There is a step further. There is repenting, they repented. They were sorry. When they were sorry, they came to God to express that "we have sinned." Or what does it mean when a man say "Ah, I am sorry, I have sinned"? What had he done? He's repenting. He's repenting. But do you notice that repentance alone is not the victory here? There was something they needed to add and that is what I'm trying to make you see. And I'm showing you that of our salvation in Christ. Jesus said, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." Repent. They repented. They came to God, they came to Moses and said, "We have sinned. We have spoken against God and against you. Pray to God to take away the serpent." And what I'm showing you is that many times when people repent, when people come to God, when people say "Okay, repent from your sin, give your life to Christ"—am I correct? That Jesus is the way. That Jesus is the way. Now, that Jesus is the way, you are saying that they have sinned against God and they should not continue in their sin. There is a need to move away from sinful life. Now, but having sinned, there is a consequence of sin, which is what? Death. And that was going on here. Now, against that death, there was a provision. What was the provision? Moses was to make this fiery serpent. Now, when the fiery serpent was made, you will notice that even if a man repent as we have it here, they repented and they were thinking that God take away the consequence for us. But you notice that God did not take away the consequence. What did God do? God left the consequences. It's still with them. Now, the consequences were there. What did God do rather? God effected something that can give victory over the consequences of their sin. God did not take the consequence away. He did not. Rather, something was given. The snakes were there. I'm trying to explain something about "let him take up his cross daily." Now, you will realize that since the serpent—the fiery serpent—were not removed, their repentance alone cannot sustain their victory in this situation. There was a need to do something. There was a need to look at this serpent as a basis of what? Of victory over the consequences of their sin. Now, it is when they begin to look at this one that is up that they will continually experience victory over the one that is on the floor. The point I'm drawing out is for you to understand this of our salvation. There are many times our mentality is that God should take away, take away, take away, take away from us. "Lord, take away lust. Lord, take away that. Lord, take away this. Lord, take away, take away." God's method is not a taking away. God's method is triumphing. Triumphing. Let me give you a picture of that. Psalm 110. Psalm 110 verse 1 and 2. What does the Bible say? The scripture says, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand, till I do what? Till I make your enemy your footstool.'" Are you getting something? What does that imply? It implies that all that the Lord needed to do to have victory over his enemies is not to fight. All that the Lord—it said, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.'" So the Lord needed to sit down and then what will happen? He will make his enemies his footstool. Now, he sits. So who is taking up the fight if the Lord is sitting? It means it is the Lord that said to the Lord. Is that not true? Look at the second verse. It says, "The Lord shall do what? Send the rod of your strength out of where? Out of Zion." Now, look at the matter. Sit down. I will make your enemies your footstool. Then the next thing was "the Lord will send the rod of your strength out of Zion." Where is Zion? We are talking about the city of God. We are talking about the mountain of God. Is that not so? From the midst of his people, the Lord will send a rod of his strength. You get the point I'm making? Christ is the head, the church is body. He said, "You go into the world. There's going to be a strength that will be sent out to go through his body, continue to conquer and subdue and expand the kingdom. You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Samaria, in this, in this, in this." Are you getting the point I'm bringing out? He will send the rod of his strength out of Zion. "Go into the world. All powers in heaven and on earth has been given to me. I'm going to sit down. Then you will do what? You are—" hope you get the point I'm bringing out? Go, subduing in Jerusalem, in Samaria, in Judea, to the uttermost part of the earth. You go. But look at the matter, please. When the Lord—when the Lord sent the rod of his strength out of Zion, what did he say? What did he say? "Rule where? In the midst of who? Of your enemies." I'm explaining we have this mentality of the Lord taking away. You know they were saying, "Tell the Lord to take away this serpent." Tell the Lord to take away this serpent. We are reading Psalm 110 verse 1 and verse 2. Now, you know we have this mentality: "Tell the Lord to do what? Take away this serpent." But what did the Lord say? Leave the serpent. Now, when he leave the serpent, what will happen? The serpent will be present, but the serpent will be powerless as long as they look up. They will rule in the midst of their enemies. That thing that want to kill them would not be taken away, but they will rule over it. That thing that want to destroy them would not be taken away, but they will rule over it. They are going to rule. It says, "Rule thou in the midst of your enemies." The nature of the victory that the cross is offering us—I want to ask you, we will talk about our enemies. Can we mention the enemy of man? Can we try to look at the enemies of man? What is the first enemy of man? Self. The first enemy of man is himself. The self or the flesh. Either you call it Mr. Flesh or you call it the old man or you call it—the Bible gives so many things to describe Mr. Flesh. Call it self, you call it the body of sin. Different way to capture that self. What's the second enemy of man? Sin. That's the second enemy of man. You see sin take advantage of the self to kill man. As long as man remember himself, he will sin. I hope you are getting the point I'm making. Sin. Then the third enemy of man is the devil. Then you now talk of the world. So categorically, man have four enemies. You mentioned them, but we thought we were wrong. No, you were not wrong. Is it in which order? I'm looking at the way they affect man. If self, if man can deny self, he has solved his greatest problem. The enemy of man, you see the world—the world, closest to the flesh. The enemy of man, you see Satan and the world, they use sin and self to fight man. That's why I placed those two at that end. Satan because he is active. The world because it is the weapon of the devil. You know all that is in the world is what? The lust of the eye. So Satan use the world. So Satan is more active than the world. Once you follow the world, you are now following Satan. I'm just classifying in respect of how it affects man. Somebody else will go another classification. But I'm looking at once man can die to self and man can overcome sin, then man have—man will have victory over the world and the devil. The only thing Satan can make you do is to sin. Once he cannot make you sin, his own is finished in your life. When he try and try and try and try and he cannot get you, he has this world around you, distraction, with the world he try to—it's like he try to take fish out of the water so that he can kill him. Once you can take fish out of the water, even if you don't do anything to the fish, after some time it will die. So once Satan can put you inside the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, very soon you will die. So these first two, once man can have victory over them, the other two, they actually take advantage of these first two. And when you look at it from the beginning of creation, the active person was the devil. The active person was the devil. Every other thing followed the activity of the devil. Man entered into sin as a problem. Sin became an issue with man because man did something God did not expect him to do. Hope you get the point I'm trying to bring out. That is why I looked at them from that angle. Now, so when you are saying that—when we are talking about the enemy of man, how will man deal with his enemy? Victory over his enemy? You see, if the man have repented and he tells the Lord that "I am sorry, I will not do something again, I will not do this again, I will not do that again," the enemies of man are still present just like the serpent in this place were still present. God did not take—once you repent now, "Father Lord, in the name of Jesus, I am sorry, I have been this, I have been that, O Lord, I have sinned against you, I come to you, O take my life, I'm so sorry, I come back to you Lord, I will not go back to this thing again." Very good. It doesn't mean that self, Mr. Self is dead. It doesn't mean that sin has died. In fact, Satan becomes more potent. He becomes mad. "You can't go anywhere, oh! This one want to escape." Are you—hope you get the point I'm trying to bring out? Now, what I'm trying to make you see is that the way the serpent were not taken away is the way after our repentance, our enemies are not taken away. Are you understanding me now? Our enemies, they are present. But it is not as if you have not repented. That is why you see some people very serious believers. They'll be coming out over and over and over again for dedication. I don't know whether you have seen such people? You will think that they are not serious. These people, when they came to Moses, they were serious. They apologized themselves. They were serious. But if the matter of the serpent is not dealt with, despite their saying they are sorry, they will still be dying. So God has two options: either to take away the serpent or what? Provide a way of escape over the serpent. And what we saw in this place was that God did not take away the serpent. That was not an option. And when we are looking at the method when—when they were talking about the Lord Jesus, "the Lord said unto my Lord, sit on my right hand till I make your enemy your footstool." The way the Lord said he will do it is that "I will send a rod of your strength out of Zion. That rod of your strength will rule where? In the midst of his enemy." In the midst of your enemies, you are to rule. People don't realize is that people talk about wizard, mammy water, occult, all those things, you people, all of that as their enemy. But they do not really have a clear understanding of these things. The truth is that these enemies that we have mentioned, these things that we have mentioned: the self, sin, the devil, the world, once you have conquered them, the Bible says, "Who can harm you if you are a follower of what is good?" It is given unnecessary attention to what is not necessary. It's given unnecessary attention. If we talk about human beings being your enemy, go and check, what you are still dealing with is the devil. They only become agents in the hand of the devil just the way people who have committed themselves to Jesus are agents in the hand of the Holy Spirit. When we preach, it is the Holy Spirit that use these people. When those that are given to Satan works, it's the devil that works. You see, these are things we need to understand so that we don't really have human enemy so to say as an active agent. They are just being used as vessel behind an operation just as we too, you are either with God or with devil. No man is free. So when you see people becoming actively wicked, seeking to destroy, seeking to kill, they're agents of who? The devil. So once you can defeat their baba, there's nothing the agent can really do. Now, so but the point I'm trying to make us see is "let him take up his cross." I'm trying to make you see that if they don't look up, despite their repentance, there is no victory over their enemies. Are you getting it now? If they don't look up, there is no victory over their enemies. The enemies are there. And that is why—you know I've seen it over and over and over again. You see—I know some people sometimes say that you need to become sanctified. And somebody was talking about sanctification in a sense that once you get sanctified, it means you can never sin again. And I said, "Look, the only person that is infallible is God." Nobody gets to any point in his life that he cannot sin again. Only maybe after death. You get the point? Nobody gets to a point that he cannot sin again. So what I'm trying to make you see is that the victory is that our enemies remains, they are around us, they are with us. And that's why—hope you have noticed the song of so many of the fathers of faith? They will tell you, "Be vigilant, be sober, your adversary the devil..." The Lord Jesus said, "Watch, pray, so that you don't fall into temptation." You get the point I'm making? You will notice it said, "Let him that think he stand take heed lest he fall." You see the Bible always telling us—you always see this matter constantly coming. Nobody give an impression that there is a time when we rule and the enemies are not there. We are to rule in the midst of our enemies. So that the only way a man can rule in the midst of his enemy is his cross. The only way he can continually have victory over sin, over self, over sin, over the devil, over the world is to do what? He should not just take his cross weekly or else he will be a weekly Christian. Am I making sense? He should not take his cross monthly. If he make that mistake of taking it monthly, then he is in trouble. He'll be overcoming monthly. Once you enter August, you live a Christian life. By the middle of August, no more Christian life again until September. First of September, you overcome. Then the remaining of September—are you getting the point I'm making? It said, "Let him take his cross daily." You take the cross daily. Why? Because victory must be what? On a daily basis. So, take up the cross is another way of saying look up at the serpent. That's what it means. Look up. Have you repented? What's the next thing? Look up. Look up. As you look up, they will still try to bite again. They are still there. The serpent just came and was biting them. So the serpent is still there. But for everyone who is looking up, who is daily looking up, when they bite you—as you are looking up, what happened to their bite? That is what happens to all the activities of witches, wizard, this, that, that, that people are paying unnecessary attention to. Instead of attention to look up. Know what they are busy doing? What people are doing, let me explain to you. They will look at the serpent, how it is working. "Okay, it has entered under that table. It is here." That is your study of witches, your wizard, your this, all those things that you are busy studying. You are giving attention to. The more you pay attention to what is down, the more they have victory over you because your victory is where? Is up. Your victory is looking away. Your victory is not in attending to them. The church has been so diverted today to be looking down. And that is why you notice the operation of death, operation of sin, operation of the devil, operation of the world is almost a permanent thing in our fellowships and churches because we have been so diverted to do what? Look down. And how did this thing happen? It happens among the religious that are not spiritual. It happens with "the cross is one stick you put on your neck as chain." They are carrying their cross daily like that. That's how those ones carry their cross daily. For some other people, it's anytime something want to happen, you do like this, sign of the cross. That is how you take up the cross. Among the religious. For some, it's every Sunday. It's not a daily carrying. Somebody carry it after the preacher. Jesus, you bow to the cross. Who wouldn't yield? Jesus. That's among those people. Among the relatively Pentecostals, that set, how does this thing happen? It's what I was trying to raise with you last week. We have gradually but ignorantly symbolized the cross with affliction. So when you are suffering, you know that's your cross. "Oh, I'm carrying my cross. So continue with the sorrow, keep praying to God." So you are practically the matter of how to only take cross has been taken away from us. And so you notice, what I'm trying to make you see is this matter that Apostle Paul raised with us very clearly. He said Ephesians chapter 6 from verse 10, he said, "Finally, my brethren, be strong." You see the matter, "in the Lord," not around the Lord or about the Lord, but in the Lord and what? "In the power of his might." Look at how he's going—look at something. After that, he said, "Put on, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against what?" Do you see it? Against the wiles of the devil. We don't have any fight with the devil. We have fight with his wiles. We have fight with his deceptions. We have fight with his cunning. Satan has been defeated. Haven't been lifted up? Those serpent had they been defeated? But they have wiles. Their wiles is to make you to be looking down. They have wiles to keep what they want to do—the purpose of the wiles is to sustain your attention span. As long as they can sustain your attention span downwards, their venom is effective. "Ah, eshu lagbara! Hey, aye ti daru! Ha, oti mu!" Because they could sustain your attention down. Then now look like "Ah, Satan is powerful. This one and then operation, hey, look, don't joke." So people relate more out of fear, another weapon. Another weapon. I was looking at this word of Pastor Kumuyi trying to translate fear. F for flee, E, F for flee, fear is F-E-A-R. Fear—I'm trying to remember. He used it in a way to mean that just leave everything and run. That's the meaning of fear. You get the point? He was trying to translate it that you know, many times we fear and you know when you fear, you cannot be in control again. You cannot be in control. You are only in control when you don't fear. When I remember that word, I will try and say it. Using official language, the word made a lot of meaning to me that said, "Wow, this is great." That this is just what the enemy does to make us just run. "Nothing is impossible again, run!" Whereas a lot of things are possible. Are you aware that the angels of the Lord encamp around those who fear him to deliver them? We will forget that there are angels. We forget that the Lord said, "I will not leave you." We forget that his hair—even one hair will not drop outside his will. We forget everything and we are running. And as you are running, what happens? It looks like the venom is effective. It looks like they are powerful. It looks like they are strong. "Hey, hey, ah, hey, hey, hey." And they bite. What happens? They are dying. That is what is going on around. So the Bible says, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may stand against the wiles." One thing that the enemy has been able to do so much with us today is that he has succeeded in tricking us to leave the cross. People are denying themselves, but they are not taking the cross. And you now discover denial becomes impossible. It becomes impossible. Because to deny yourself, you need to forget yourself. To conquer the self you want to forget, you need the cross. Are you seeing interaction? Relationship? Forget yourself. You cannot forget yourself that you have not conquered. You will keep remembering that self. And the more you remember that self, you will not deny that self. And you don't have the ability to deny that self. Where the ability is? Is up. That is why we say it is God that works in us both to do what? Are you seeing? And to do. We really cannot deny ourselves so to say. We really don't have the working. We are asked to do, but we must understand it is him that works in us. Okay, that's why you notice, I think I quoted this scripture, I can't remember which of the month. Paul said, "I strive." I strive—oh, let us let's quickly get—I think that should be is that not Philippians? Let me—let me—I want us that scripture just came to my mind now. I want to quickly get it. I'll get it almost immediately now. I want to get that scripture. Colossians 1:29. Colossians chapter 1 verse 29. Let's quickly see that scripture. Colossians 1:29. Colossians chapter 1 verse 29. If you are there before me—okay, I'm there now already. I want you to say you read from your end. You come and take the mic. But look at this. It says—I begin from let me read from 28 into 29. "Him we do what? We preach." Who is the Him that they are preaching? Christ. "Warning every man and teaching every man in what? In all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ." They are preaching, they are warning, they are teaching. Now, look at what it now said, verse 29. "To this end, to do this thing, to preach, to teach, to warn, to present people in Christ, to be example to do all those things, he said to this end I labor." That is what I'm working about. Maybe other translation that are here. "To this end I also labor, striving according to his working which works in me mightily." Are you seeing something there? Are you seeing something there? Can we have another translation, please? Colossians 1:29. Please use the mic. [Speaker 3] "To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." [Speaker 1] Please come again. [Speaker 3] "To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." [Speaker 1] So when a man don't take the cross, if they don't look up, can anything work in them? Please, can anything work in them? No. And if nothing works in them, can they conquer the serpent on the floor? No. Please, another translation. I'm trying to explain the cross. I'm trying to explain the cross. [Speaker 3] Amplified: "For this I labor often, to the point of exhaustion, striving with his power and energy, which so greatly works within me." [Speaker 1] Is that Amplified? [Speaker 3] Yes. [Speaker 1] "Which so greatly works within me." Are you seeing something? So the people that we are looking at, they will tell you "I did this, I that, I do this, I do that, I do that." But they are showing you the secret. Something is working. There is a working. But if you look at it with that that one of the serpent, as certain as that matter works for them, nothing will work except to do what? Except they look up. Except they look up, nothing works. And when nothing works, well let us let's have the mic. Now, nothing works. Why will nothing works? Because the working is in what? Is in what? Yes, it's in him. But the working of that serpent—we are looking at the serpent, it's a parallelism that we are doing. That serpent that is up, the working of that serpent for anything about that serpent to work is in what? Is in looking. There is nothing inside the looking. Everything is inside the serpent. But the thing inside the serpent becomes effective as they look. That is a mystery. The mystery of godliness. That's the mystery. The serpent is here. Everything about God is in it. If you are walking under it, you are there, you are going everywhere, it does nothing. As you are walking around, walking about it, even calling it—let's take a good example. "Serpent, serpent, deliver me." Will it work? It will not work. I'm trying to make something very clear. For that thing to work is look. Just look. As you look, it will work. So that every activities around that bronze serpent will only sum up to religious activities, not spiritual activities. The only thing that will be spiritual by spiritual that will bring to effect the power—the Bible says they have a form of godliness but they deny the power. The power of godliness is take up the cross. Take it. The power of godliness is the cross. Take it. Anything that is not teaching us, that is not making us understand how to take the cross, but that is focusing us on everything about the cross, everything about the serpent will not lead us anywhere. It will not take us anywhere. And so the matter said, "let him take up his cross." So that was why I raised a very fundamental matter last week because if you look into where we are coming from, Psalm 110, it said "rule in the midst of your enemies." Look at where we are coming from, if you come again to the New Testament, it said "in all these things, we are more than conquerors." Is that not what the Bible says? How? You see the matter again, "through him." We are more than conquerors through him. How are we more than conquerors? And how are they more than conquerors? How were they more than conquerors? How? For you to be a conqueror, what do you do? You fight to win. But go back to Numbers 21. They didn't have any business with the serpent. They were not fighting, but they were winning. They were more than conquerors. We are more because we are not fighting, but we are winning. They are not running from it, they are not challenging it, they just ignore it, they just focus on where they are going. When it is coming, it raise up his head, it does that, they are just looking up, he does this, he does that, he bite them, they don't even look at the depth of the bite. Do you get that? Do they need it? They don't need it. You don't need to look at the depth of the bite. All they need to do is what? Look up. And that way, they will be victorious. Now, the issue what I am connecting, what I am trying to connect is that "let him take up his cross." What I want to connect this evening and then we will pray is that you should write it down. This take up, the how is my concern. That's what I want to begin to concern myself with, very much so from next week. How, this what is this cross and how do we take it up? But let me draw our attention to something very quickly. You will notice that in in Numbers 21, what did we see? He said, "he who look," we live. Is that not so? In Numbers 21. Now, when Jesus was making reference to that Numbers 21, he said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must, even so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever just what? Believe." So I want you to get something very clear. That what is looking for them is for us what? To connect to that serpent, what did they need? To look. For us to connect to our own serpent, as the serpent, just as Moses lifted up serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believe will not perish. For God so loved the world that he gave his son that whosoever believe. So for us, it is what? Believing. It takes you the victory over self, over sin, over the devil, over the world, over everything that makes up our enemy is simply by believing. If there's anything that will make the power of God to operate in your life mightily, is believing. It is not certain tradition. It is not some activity. I want us to get some of these things very, very clearly. It's believing. You need to believe and we will not be looking at what are we to believe? What do we believe in? How do we how do we look at this? So, I'm trusting the Lord that taking the matter from next week, we will begin to look at practically how do we look in the New Testament. Because that is the issue. Anything that is not making you to look is not helping your Christianity. That is the reality of it. After you have repented, you have told God "I am sorry," the next thing is what do you do? Look. You notice they looking unto Jesus the author from the beginning to where? To the end. It's a matter of looking. Once you stop looking, you stop being victorious. Either over self, sin, the devil, or the world. So I want you to join us, I want to plead with us, it's a series. And I want us to try and let's sustain this series and see how we go gradually up the ladder. But I believe I've been able to bring you to a point to understand that the cross is different from self-denial. They are two different things. They are two different things entirely. Now, there okay, a question has been sent. Okay, you should have sent it quickly. Anyway, we are getting it out here. It says, "How do we practically look?" Okay, brethren online, we will be looking at that. We are starting that from next week. We will look at because I know that is the matter. How do we do it? That is the basis of this work. This is cross, honestly, it's everything to us. The cross is everything to us. So, brethren online, I will begin that as from next week. Please try and be present. We trust the Lord to help us connect. "Where is the place of spiritual warfare in all of these things that we are talking about?" Of course, all these things that we are talking about is spiritual warfare. All of these things that we are talking about. The Bible says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness in heavenly places. What is the first activities of all these powers? Is to substitute the cross with religion. Deception. Deception so that you don't focus. Put on the whole armor against the wiles. The first thing to fight is not to be deceived. That's the first spiritual warfare when it comes to Christianity. Until you know the truth, you can never be free. You must get that. That is what directly from the mouth of Jesus. He said, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Every man who does not know the truth about his freedom will remain in bondage no matter the level of prayer, no matter what they are doing for that man, do regardless of denomination or background or whatever. Until you know. So the first spiritual battle is to know the truth. We speak more on this matter, but I believe we have given some answer to this question for today. The other one, brethren from next week, we trust the Lord to help us connect. For now, we need to pray. Let's pray this evening. Let's pray this evening. Let's pray to the Lord. Oh, we thank God for the cross. We thank God for Jesus. Honestly, for God so loved the world. If you see what Jesus—what God did for us through Jesus, you will know that for God so loved the world. Honestly, if there is no Jesus, we are finished. If there is no Jesus, we are finished. If we don't have—look at what he's doing for us. He's making his cross our cross. Oh, Hallelujah! He said you can possess my cross. My cross can be your own. And I will show you how it works next week. I will begin to look at it as from next week. That is cross, it's available for you. It becomes your own once you come into the Lordship of Jesus. This cross you can become your personal one. Carry it personally. It becomes you don't need to be going to one point where you have to go and look at that cross again. No, you can now carry it everywhere. Oh, Hallelujah! We can go everywhere with it now. In the Old Testament, it is only in one—at one spot. But now, we can go everywhere with it. You can walk around. Anywhere you enter, you can enter with the cross. You don't need to be running. In the Old Testament, they will have to run. When it bites them in the market, they will run to where that serpent is. But now it is not so. When it bites them, they will be running to one spot. But now, Jesus said you don't need that. My cross is your cross. Take up your cross and make it available for you. You don't need to go somewhere to go and take that cross. The cross is yours. Carry it everywhere you are going and experience victory on a daily basis. Thank you. Let me invite my wife to close up the meeting this evening. Bukola Olame, please come and close up this meeting. [Speaker 4] Heavenly Father, we are grateful unto you. Thank you, Father, for your word that you've spoken to us. Thank you for a comprehensive package of salvation and victorious living that you have given to us in Christ. Father, we are grateful unto you. Thank you for this understanding again reminding us, oh Lord, making us to know that what said is the truth. Father, we give you thanks in the name of Jesus. Lord, we lift up our lives once again, oh Lord. Oh Lord, please help us to keep looking up unto you, to keep believing in that which you have done for our total redemption. To keep moving around, to keep carrying this victory, victorious cross that you have given us through your cross, through your death, resurrection and a total defeat you gave to the enemy. Help us to daily live by this truth and understanding in the mighty name of Jesus. Help us, oh Lord Jehovah God, not to invent for ourselves, for our self any other thing different unto us from the truth in the name of Jesus. Oh Lord, we pray for more of the understanding that you open our hearts. Open our hearts to understand the scripture. Help us, oh Lord Jehovah God, even as we deep further, dig further, oh Lord, cause us to be Berean Christians that will go back and search and dig further into the truth. And Lord, as we seek for you, Lord, please as you have said, as many that seek you will find you. Lord, reveal yourself to us in the name of Jesus. We pray Lord God Almighty that we will live the correct Christian living so that we can experience the correct life that we supposed to have in the mighty name of Jesus. We pray God Almighty, this is the kind of life that the apostles had that even on the street, if their life manifest what they profess. Lord, please help us that we will live by the truth. Let us not live by ignorance. Let us not live by deceit in the name of Jesus. We say everywhere, oh Lord, that we have believed in a lie, that we have believed in what is contrary, Lord, deliver us by your truth in the name of Jesus. Lord, make our heart comfortable for you, convenient for you to manage. Cause our heart, oh Lord, and our our understanding, oh Lord Jehovah God, not to be darkened in the name of Jesus. Let your light come in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, as we continue, we pray your presence will continue with us. Even in our homes, in our different places, closets, Lord, please continue with us in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you for your son, oh Lord, we pray. God, do not stop your work, your the revelation of yourself and the working of your spirit through him and in him in the name of Jesus. We pray Lord, let the heaven above him not be brass and the earth under him not be iron in the name of Jesus. We pray, oh Lord, fountain of living water, keep bubbling, oh Lord, and flowing in him and through him to the glory of your name and the blessing of the church of God in the mighty name of Jesus. Father, we thank you for hearing us. Thank you, Father, because you will do more than what we can ask. Oh Lord, please help us in the mighty name of Jesus. In Jesus' unfailing name, we pray. Amen. The grace in fellowship: 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! [Post-meeting announcement] 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 heat. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday 5 PM, Adolescents and Singles' Club every first Saturday of every month at 10 AM, Marriage Forum second Saturday of every month at 10 AM, family life seminars, regular school outrages, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ileyi community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Ijele 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.