In His Image 71120

[Music Playing] [Speaker 1] Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for him. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] God kept us and is still preserving and keeping us. We bless him for his faithfulness and for his mercies. Today, we are here for another Singles Club. Last month, we were looking at the importance of remaining in Jesus above all other things you might be pursuing. Our brother Innocent took time to expand this matter very practically, particularly for the young people on the need for us to develop a very strong character as the basis of lasting in whatever God may want to do with our lives. Today that we are here for another Singles Club, our focus this morning is the matter of the image of Christ. The matter of the image of Christ. We are looking at "In the Image of Him" or "The Image of Him." You might also call the topic, in his likeness, if you so wish. But we want to look at the matter of the image of Christ in us. It is so crucial we look at this today because so many things are happening around us today that look like things that should ordinarily take precedence over the matter of his image. But I want to call the attention of our young people again to understanding the fact that the basic thing about your life is this matter of his image. If the matter of his image is not in you, then there's a big problem somewhere. There's a big problem to solve. The problem is not just that your life will not be useful so much for the Lord, but the problem is also that you are also at the vibe of losing everything that will relate to your eternity. That is why I want to consider this matter of the image of him. Let us have a word of prayer. Almighty God, we thank you again for today. We bless your holy name as we come into the scriptures. Lord, we pray that even as it is written, "Paul plants, Apollos waters, it is God that gives increase." Lord, give increase to this meeting this morning. In such a way, O Lord, that your people, our brethren online that are connecting with us and we that are here physically, will be blessed in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, blessed Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. The image of him. I first want to take you to the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis, I want us to look at how the whole thing began. Look at Genesis. The matter of his image came up in Genesis. In Genesis chapter one, at the point of creation from around verse two, three, four, five, six, the creative work of God was going on. And for everything that God was creating, the Bible says there was evening and there was morning the second day. But eventually, the matter came to the creation of man, which was on the sixth day of creation. And then we notice that God said in that verse 26 of Genesis chapter 1: > "Let us make man in our image." (Genesis 1:26) Now, what I want to make you see fundamentally as we begin this meeting today is that the factory setting of man is the image of God. The factory setting. I believe you understand that language. I mean the default. The default. What man was actually made—he says, "Let us make man in our image." So, the making of man was in the image of God. The default, that is, any time you see a man and you cannot find the image of God, that man is not the man that God made. What I’m trying to say is that it's not the man that is reflecting the originality, the stamp, the image, the seal. Let me put it in another way. Recently, there was a document that was circulated online of a vice chancellor of a university and the registrar signing a particular document that students should follow as an instruction. But a close consideration of the letter shows that the signatures, the two signatures, were not the signatures of the VC and the registrar. It was something that was a work of deception, something trying to look at it but not it. So I want to ask you, what happens to that letter? It means that letter is not an original letter. Even though it contains instructions and every other thing, but because the person signing it out is not the person who is supposed to sign it—it is somebody else impersonating that person—so you will know that everything about that letter is not original. What I'm saying is that anytime you look at a man, anytime you look at human beings, you look at a male, you look at a female, you look at any of them, and you cannot find the image of God, that life has lost its originality. That life is fake. I pray you will not be a fake brother and you will not be a fake sister. No matter what you may be doing, that's what I want to show to you this morning. No matter what you may be doing, either doing for God or seemingly doing inside church or some seemingly Christian activities, the important thing about any life is, is this life in the image of God? Once we cannot stamp that, once we look at it and we cannot see the image of God, this signature of the image of God, I will advise, I will encourage whoever is relating with that person to know that the person is dealing with what is fake. That person you are relating with is not original. That person you are relating with only looks like us, but the person is not one of us. By us, I mean those who are disciples of Christ indeed. Am I very clear about this matter? So what I want you to see in the beginning is that at the very conception of man, what God said is that this man that we want to make, this man that is proceeding from us, this man that is our own, that we are designing, we are designing this man in our image. And so, the image of God is the default of man and the factory setting of man. God said, "Let us make man in our image." Now, if you look at it, why I said you may also term this topic "in his likeness." Do you look at the second thing that followed the image? He says, "according to our likeness." So, anytime the image of God goes forth, what will follow it is the likeness of God. The likeness. It will be like God. It will be like God. It will demonstrate like God. It will show up like God. It will display like God. It will show out like God. That is the matter. So you can say, in his image, the image of him, or you can say in his likeness. And why was God doing this? God said, in doing this, he was looking for something that would have dominion over all other things that God created before him. A lot of things were created before the sixth day when man was created. Now, God wanted somebody to be in charge of those things. Are you understanding me? God, having created all other things, God needed someone to be in charge of those things. And so there was a discussion in heaven, as we can see in verse 26. Then God said, "Let us." Of course, most likely, as it has been assumed and has been said in many quarters, the Trinity were discussing. The Father, the Son, the Spirit, they were discussing. Now, in this discussion, the discussion was that, "See, we have made all of these things. We have made the fishes, the animals, all those things they are there, the birds, the sea creatures, the land creatures, all of these things. But come, who will be in charge of these things for us?" Somebody needs to be in charge. Somebody must be on assignment for us. Somebody should be here representing us. Since we, we don't live in time. We live in eternity. And the things that we have created, we created them in time. Now, we will not be coming out of eternity to come and stay in time. It's just like when the apostles said, "It is not good for us to serve tables. Let us appoint seven deacons who can be in charge of these things while we give ourselves to prayers and to the ministry of the word." (Acts 6:2-4) Now, it's a similar thing that we are seeing here. God, having created everything, he felt that there is this understanding that we, we don't live in time. We are eternal. These things, the universe that we have created, is in time. So we need someone, something should be in charge here. But that thing that should be in charge should not be something that is less than us. It should not be something that is different from us. It should not be something that is not like us. Because the challenge will be that if that thing is not like us, that thing will not be able to relate to us and we with us in such a way that it can be in charge for us. I don't know whether you understand me. What I'm saying is that imagine that a man want to put someone in charge of his estate to manage the estate for him. You will notice that one very crucial thing between the owner of the estate and the manager of the estate will be what? Number one, they must be two people that can communicate with themselves. Two people that can relate to themselves, that they can relate. If, for example, the owner of the estate only understands English, or maybe only understands Yoruba language, he cannot speak any other language apart from Yoruba language, you will discover that in getting a manager, it is crucial and essential, one of the criteria of recruiting that manager will be that the manager must be able to speak Yoruba. Once the manager cannot speak Yoruba, no matter his skill and expertise and dexterity, no matter the level of his prowess, the owner will not employ him. Because the problem will be how will they communicate since he's in charge of that place for the owner. I'm trying to make you understand this matter of "Let us make something in our image." That thing should be like us. It should be someone or something that can relate to us, that can relate with us so that we will not have the trouble of being disconnected from our universe. And you will notice that after God put them in charge of that universe, Adam and Eve eventually, God will normally come in the cool of the evening. Do you see? Because he's still the owner of his estate. You remember that he came one of the cool of those evenings to come and meet them and then they began to hide. And that was after the fall, they began to hide and all of that. But for you to know that he normally comes, he comes around to relate to them. This thing that we are doing, he gave them, put them in charge of this, do this, do that. I’m trying to explain this matter of his image. Now, so you will notice that there is no way you can say a man is standing for God and with God on a matter and that man cannot relate to, cannot relate with God. He cannot be standing for God. Because at the onset, you noticed that God said, "Let him be in our image and in our likeness." Now, what do I want to draw out for you? What I want to draw out for you first and foremost, as we're looking at this matter of his image, is that anybody that will truly be in charge for God on any matter or in anything must be in his image and in his likeness. You cannot be in charge for God. You cannot be said to be in charge for God. You cannot be said that this person is handling something for God, the matter of his image and his likeness is very, very crucial. Now, look at this matter again. This matter of his image, this matter of his likeness. Look at—I want us to go to the book of Romans. Let's look at it again in another way. Romans chapter eight, I want to call your attention to something from around the verse 28. Romans chapter eight, from around verse 28. It says: > "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) So, are you seeing two things here? Number one, those who love God are also those who are called according to his purpose. There's a continuity between the love of God and the purpose of God. Those who hate God cannot be called to this purpose. The first thing is that those—they love God. And so they are called according to his purpose. I want you to note this. It moves on. Look at what follows. The first word in my own Bible here, the New King James translation, is "for." I don't know what is in the first word in some other translations, but we can quickly check. We can quickly check. Let me quickly open two other translations here of Romans chapter eight. We just want to check this matter of the first word. Yes, what's the first word there? No, the next verse. The first word in the verse 29. Do you see something? For. For. Another translation again. "We know this, but God." We know this. What do they know? They know that everything will work together for good. The reason why we know this is because—so what I'm trying to make you see is that the verse 28, the verse 28 is actually—sorry, the verse 29 is actually an offshoot of the verse 28. That's what I'm trying to show you. "For" is a statement of premise. That the verse 28 is premised on the 29. The 29 is an offshoot of the 28. Now, in the verse 29, it says, "For whom he foreknew." In other words, the reason why we know that all things is working together for good—and it did not say all good things. Because somehow, this generation seems to believe that it is good things that works for good. That understanding is an error. Because you will realize, for example, the Bible says he was wounded for our transgression. It was the wound, that wounding of Jesus that did something about our transgression. So for God, even things that are seemingly bad can work for good. Are you understanding me? The Bible says, the chastisement for our peace is upon him. So when they were whipping him, you know how painful that—and they were tearing his skin. You know how bad that was. Yet, it was bringing peace for us. So, I want you to understand the scripture that says, "We know that all things." It is not that we know that all good things. I just need to clarify that because I’m going somewhere about this matter of his image. Now, it says we know that all things work together for good. The reason why we know this is because God actually chose his people in advance. The King James says, "For whom he foreknew." He foreknew them. It says, "For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to" what? "To the image of his son." So, anybody that God actually foreknew, anybody that God was thinking about salvation for, anybody that God was putting in the agenda for salvation, anybody that God was planning from eternity that this life will be saved, anybody at all that is in that list that God designed to be—that his name should be in the book of life, what God was foreknowing them for is that they should become his image. Are you understanding me? What God was foreknowing them for, the reason for your selection to be in the kingdom is not because primarily he wants things to be good for him. No. Your selection was not primarily because he wants things to be good for him. But the ultimate end of everything put together is that eventually those people become exactly like the original that were made at the beginning. What I’m trying to declare to you, young man, young woman, is that God declared the end from the beginning. When God was making in his image, God was also hoping to conclude in his image. Are you following me? The estimation of God is that eventually everything will conclude again in his image. So that every other thing in between, it is for the purpose of conforming us to his image. Every other thing God will be doing with your life, every other thing God may be adding to your life or may not be adding to you, anything God may be doing with you, I want you to see that there's just one project in the mind of God. What is that project? That eventually you will be conformed to the image of the Son. Why? Because it is in the Son that the fullness of the Godhead dwells. So whosoever has seen the Son has seen who? Has seen the Father. I’m quoting John chapter 14. He said whosoever has seen the Son has seen the Father. So you realize that the concern of God is that on the long run, when God is through with the project of your life, God will give you different spiritual gifts, give you different assignment to do, God will lead you into marriage, give you riches, give you whatever God will be doing with your life. Where is God heading to? Where is he heading to? He's heading to his image and his likeness being perfected in you. So that whatsoever is about your life, whatsoever thing that is in your life that is not working together for this singular purpose, can I quickly announce to you that whatsoever that thing is, is an aberration. In the mind of God, all things, all things, everything, think of your life, everything about your life, they must be summing up, cumulating, climaxing, coming, coming, and eventually what it will be is a total conformation to the image of the Son. Now, it says, "For whom he foreknew, he also did predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he predestinated, these he called." Are you following something? He predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son. Now, those people that he predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Son, those people that he foreknew, those people that he was setting his mind upon, those people that he was setting apart for himself that he foreknew for the primary purpose of making them conform to the image of the Son, those—it is those people that he did what? He called. When he called them, he justified them. When he calls them, he went ahead again, he justified them. And in justifying them, he will also glorify them. So, that tells you, those who are called and justified in Jesus, what is the purpose of their call and justification? Is to become the image. There is nothing else. The ultimate, what is in the mind of God—you see, this thing is very crucial. We need to understand this matter. Now, I want to relate this matter to another matter again in the Bible. I just want to establish something today for you, to make you see something that actually a man, although we are differently talented, we are differently gifted, we are differently purposed, God purpose us for different things. One man for this purpose, Paul to the Gentiles, Peter to the Jews, you understand me? We are differently purposed. But what I’m trying to make you see is that those different assignments that we were given, for which we were given different giftings, for which we were given different enablement, for which we were given different background, different gender, and different sexes, are you following me? All those things, all of them, they are moving towards only one thing. What is the one thing? The image and the likeness of God. So, whatsoever you are doing where you are, whatsoever God has put in your life, becoming his image, once that is not the eternal thing you are looking at and you are pursuing, can I announce to you that you have lost the primary agenda of God over your life. There is a primary agenda. Maybe I should use another illustration before I go to that text I want to relate to. Maybe I should use a university setting again. Use a university setting. When, for example, let's take the VC of a university. When a professor is taken from among the other professors and is placed over them as the VC of the university, that professor become the first among equals. The other professors are his equals, but he has become the first among them by the privilege of that office. Now, when they assign him to that office, you will notice that there will be a lot of perquisite for that office. A driver, official car, official accommodation, just mention them, so many things will be attached to him. Now, all those attachment around his life by the reason of that office, you will realize that it is for the primary purpose of making him to fulfill the duty, the specific function slot of being a VC. That's the primary reason why that is there. The accommodation, the driver, the official car, all those things that are given to him is to make his work as VC possible. Now, if that professor that is given the privilege of being the first among equals decided to be using everything he was given for some personal interest and personal agenda, what do we call that? We will say abuse of office. Because all of those things, they were given for the primary purpose of being able to function well. Now, with this example at the background, look at Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. I want to take my reading from around verse 11. The Bible says, "And he himself gave some to be apostles," that is Jesus Christ. "Some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some as pastors." Why were these men given to the church? Prophet, evangelist, pastor, apostle—these were men that were given as gifts. So a teacher in the body of Christ is a gift of God to the body of Christ. Same thing a pastor, same thing an apostle, same thing a prophet. Now, God gave men as gifts to the church. But please, let us read further. Why? The Bible says, "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry." Look at the next thing. "For the building up of the body." Verse 13, what follows? "Till we all." Are you seeing something? It did not say till the saints, as if leaving out those people that were given as gifts. No. Those who were given as gifts to the church and the church together, it says "till we all," all of us together, "come to" what? "The unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of" who? "Of Christ." (Ephesians 4:11-13) So all the gifts that God gave to the church, what was the purpose of all these gifts? So that we can become again like what? The image of Christ. So, there is no apostolic gift or prophetic gift or pastoral gift or teaching gift. There is none of these things that stand in isolation. The primary reason for all of those things is so that both those who have the gift and those that the gift are a blessing to, there will be a working together in all of them all together in such a way that they all come to one bus stop. What is the bus stop? The fullness, the stature of Christ. I’m establishing something for you to get some of these things very, very correctly. So that whatsoever giftings that is in your life, whatsoever gift is operating in your life, whatsoever thing you think you are doing, if it is not about making you to become like Jesus, edification of the body, that gift, what has it become? It has become an aberration. It is useless as far as heaven is concerned. In his image, in his likeness. I am showing you that it take precedence over whatever you might be thinking of. I want you to look—this is men as gift to the church. Now, let's now look at the gift of the Holy Spirit again. The gift of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians chapter 12. First Corinthians chapter 12. Let's just look at the gift again of the Holy Spirit. We just want to quickly look at something there. Now, from verse four, it began to read that "there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works in us. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for" what? "For the profit of all." It is given to each one for the profit of all. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7) Now, the first thing I want you to see is that each one is given gift, not for the profit of each one. Each one is given gift for the profit of all. The same thing we read in Ephesians, for the perfecting of the saints, for the equipping of the body of Christ, for the profit of all. Now, it reads on. It says, "for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge," it began to mention all the gifts. Mention all the gifts until it gets to verse 11. It says, "But one and the same Spirit works all of these things, distributing to each individual as it will." Now, if you read on, it says verse 12, "For as the body is one and many members, but all the members of that body being many are but one body, so also is Christ. For we by one Spirit, we have all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek, whether slave or free, have drunk into one Spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member but many members. If the foot say but I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the ear should say because I am not the eye I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the smelling?" Now, look at what the Bible says. "But now God has set the members, each of them in the body, just as it pleased. And if they were all one member, where would be the body? But now indeed there are many members but yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, rather much those members of the body which seems weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think are less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor. And our unpresentable part have greater modesty. But our presentable part have no need. But God has composed the body having given greater honor to that part which lacks it. That there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one suffer, all the members suffer with it. And if one member is honored, all the members are honored with it." (1 Corinthians 12:12-26) Now, when you—I want to move down to the verse 29, 30. I will knock out the chapter in 13 and I will read into it. I’ll just read continuously. The Bible says, "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have the gift of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly seek the best gift. Yet, I will show you a more excellent way." (1 Corinthians 12:29-31) Talking about the best gift. The Bible now began, it says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and the tongues of angels, I become a sounding brass and a clinking cymbal if I have not love." (1 Corinthians 13:1) I’m trying to show you something that whatever a man is, whatever he is, if that thing is not making him and those around him to become more and more like Christ—edification of the body—that gift, what has it become? It has become useless. What I’m trying to make you see is that you can be carrying so much upon your life and yet heaven can define you as useless. Heaven can see you as useless. Why? Because everything that God does in a man's life, everything that God bestows upon a man, there's only one primary thing that God is working towards. What is it? Is that eventually you will be conformed to the image of the Son. So, whatsoever is in your life that is not working together for this singular purpose, can I quickly announce to you that whatsoever that thing is, is an aberration. In the mind of God, all things, all things, everything, think of your life, everything about your life, they must be summing up, cumulating, climaxing, coming, coming, and eventually what it will be is a total conformation to the image of the Son. Anything that is not working towards the image is not working for good. The Bible says we know that all things work together for good. And that good is that God is trying to bring his image out of people. So, whatsoever is in your life that is not working towards that in you and for those who are around you, that gifting in your life, as far as heaven is concerned, is working for evil. It's not working for good. What heaven defines as good is that which conforms a man to the image of God. So, what I want to announce to you is that the primary purpose of God for your life is to carry his image. The primary purpose of God for your life is to express his likeness. The more you can express his likeness, the more you can express his image, you are entering more and more into that likeness. You are entering more and more into the eternal purpose and plan of God for you. So, when somebody says I don't even know what the purpose of God for my life, I don't know what God wants me to become, I don't even know where I am going, I don't even know what God wants me to do. Can we quickly announce to that person that the secondary purpose may not be clear to you, but there is a primary purpose that is clear to all. And let me tell you one good truth: it is the more the primary purpose is established in a man's life that the secondary purpose becomes clearer. Once a man cannot relate to Jesus in such a way that Jesus is being formed daily and daily in him, that man also will not properly be able to define what is the secondary purpose of God for his life. There are several secondary things you can do with your life that God has designed for your life because if you look at it, the Bible says there are works that God have designed that we should work in them. God foreordained those work too. Good works that God has foreordained for us. But I want to announce to you that it is in becoming more and more like him that the other things can be clearer and clearer and clearer. Now, I want to relate on another verse of the scripture. That is Matthew. That's a very popular verse of the scripture again that is very, very common verse that is often read. Where the Lord said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many, many wonders in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" (Matthew 7:21-23) Just trying to explain something, just trying to put some things in place. People did work for God. Having done those work, they were expecting that there should be a reward. And the Lord is saying that the matter of confessing me as Lord, yes, it is good. It's okay. But there is one thing that makes that confession to have its meaning. In other words, when I confess Jesus as Lord, that confession of his lordship over my life, there is one thing that actually establishes it, and what is that? That one thing is that I’m doing his will. When I’m not doing his will, that I am calling his name, that I am calling him Lord, is not an established thing as far as heaven is concerned. It may be established to me. It may be established to men. But for heaven to see it as a matter that is established with heaven, that man must not just be saying Lord, Lord, there is something he's doing: he's doing his will. The reason why I’m pointing your attention to this verse and adding it to what we have been discussing is you need to realize that ever from the beginning of creation, God declared that "my will is to make man in my image, after my likeness." And again, God declared in the Son that the good thing that I’m making all things to work towards is that he be conformed to the image of my Son. I’m just trying to make you understand the will of God. The will of God. God is working something beyond the doing of miracles, beyond the doings of provision. God is providing for me, God did this miracle in my life—they are not wrong, please understand me. They are very good. If you check the life of the disciples and the multitude, I want to ask you: which people got more miracles? The disciples or the multitude? Which people got more miracles? The multitude got more miracles. The disciples did not get as many miracles as the multitude. Opening of the blind, healing of the sick, raising of the dead—all of those things that Jesus did when he went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil and doing all that—these things were done more for who? For the multitude. So that that a man is enjoying the miraculous of God does not really speak anything concrete about his life. I'm not saying it is not good, please understand me. But I'm saying that that is not the concrete thing. The concrete thing is not about that, as good as they are. It's not the concrete thing. Because you must understand: healing came with Jesus. He says, "By his stripes, we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5) But for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have eternal life. What he actually and primarily came to give us is life. Healing is just some of the perquisite of eternal life. It's just the life. And when we talk about the life, the life is in his image, in the image of him. So today, I want to call your attention to something. Young man, young woman out there that's listening to me, what is the primary thing you are pursuing in God? What is the primary thing you are pursuing in God? If God is to open heaven to you like he did for Solomon and say, "Ask me for one thing," what is the one thing you will ask for? Don't let me preempt you. Let me just say: what will you ask for? But think about it. Everything that God is doing with—everything in your life, your spiritual gift, your material gift, your financial gift, everything that God is doing in your life that God gave you and they're in your life right now, there's only one reason for them. It's to make you to become like Jesus. And so, there is a need, there is a need for you to ask yourself, how much of Jesus is daily formed in me? How much of his person, how much of his character, how much of—for example, the Bible says, "Let this mind be in you." I just want to mention a few things for this morning and then I will close this meeting. For example, the Bible says, "Let this mind be in you that is in Christ." And explaining that mind, it says Christ was equal with God. But he count it not anything to be equal with God, but humbled himself. (Philippians 2:5-8) I want to ask you, what is the level of humility that your mind exhibit? What is the level of humility that your life exhibit? To what extent have you been able to exhibit that humility? I’m just talking about the image, the likeness of his image. I want to talk about again, Jesus said, "I am meek and lowly in spirit. You shall find rest for your soul." (Matthew 11:29) I want to ask you, what is the level of meekness that your life exhibit? What is the level of meekness that your life exhibit? How lowly are you? Jesus said, "I am meek and lowly in spirit. Meek and lowly." To be meek is not to be revengeful. It's not to be malicious. It's not to give any man evil for evil. It's not to be somebody that want to pay people back in their coin, just like Jesus said, "You have heard it: tooth for tooth, eye for eye. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anybody slap you, turn the right cheek. If anybody want to take your—your coat, give him the tunic also. If he constrain you to go one mile, go two mile." (Matthew 5:38-41) I’m talking about meekness. What is the level of meekness that your life exhibit? I’m talking about the image, the likeness of his image. I’m just mentioning, it's not a time to discuss them. But I’m trying to show you that becoming like him—what I wanted to really show you this morning is that if you don't understand that in his image is the primary reason why God created you, you are lost. Because you will not focus everything in your life towards becoming more like him. You will not learn to prioritize everything around your life. You will not learn how to properly harness those things that are around your life. Instead of harnessing them for the primary purpose of God for your life, your life may be busy pursuing several secondary things. I want to admonish you today, I want to challenge you, I want to plead with you: whatsoever in your life is not working towards you becoming more and more conforming to his image, I’m announcing to you today, it is not working for good. And if there's anybody around you whose gift is not also bringing out that image in you, that person is useless as far as your life is concerned. The Bible talks about God is holy. What is the level of holiness that your life exhibit? What is the level of holiness that your life exhibit? He say you are rich in charisma, you speak in tongues, you do this, you do that. Yet, we still find small-small lie, small-small dishonesty. You're never faithful to your boss. You will get to office by 7:30, you will write 7:15, and you say you have charisma. Certificate in your hand—you Jacobed the university to get it. I hope you know what I mean by Jacobing. Jacobed, that is why God had to change him into Israel. Jacob mean a supplanter, somebody that supplants, that takes what is not his own. You Jacobed the university to get that certificate. The job you are doing now, you Jacobed your employer about your age and the state you came from to get it. And then you are saying, "Father, I declare that I love..." Where is the love? He said, "If you love me, keep my command." His command is that there should be no—there should be no lying in us. There should be no dishonesty. Brethren, you see, young man that is hearing me, I've told you that I cannot bring the whole matter of his image in one discussion. But I’m just talking about the character of God that should be in us. The things that our life—what we should primarily seek that our life should exhibit. When you enter fellowship, your tongue is the loudest. But when you get among unbelievers, the gospel of Jesus can—you cannot voice it. You just become chameleon. You just conform to the environment and just become like them. You don't want to be different. You don't want to be different. But in the fellowship, your tongue is the loudest. Your Bible is the biggest. You can expand scriptures when you enter the fellowship. I want to ask you, what is the usefulness of salt in the midst of salt? You say you are the light of the world. Inside the fellowship, you look so much like light. But when you leave the fellowship, you become something else. You cannot light the world. I’m telling you, that light you are in the fellowship is an hypocrisy. It's hypocrisy. If you are truly light, as we can see you in fellowship, you should be the light of the world. You should be the salt of the world. We should see you displaying it. Displaying the same thing, shining out there. And many times I asked myself, when I check the property in Joel 2:28, it says, "It will come to pass and I’ll pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters, they will prophesy. Your young men will see vision. The old men will dream dream. Even upon your handmaid and your manservant, I will pour out my Spirit." (Joel 2:28-29) Go and check it very well. In—on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came down, Peter said it was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. Isn't it? Now, when Peter said that, which means the day of Pentecost marked the beginning of the last days. Because he said, "in the last days." So, that day marked the beginning of the last days. So, right now, we are in the—we are in the latter part of the last days. I’m trying to say something. Now, what was the prophecy? Is that "my sons and daughters will prophesy." Now, when the Holy Ghost came down and these sons and daughters were prophesying, what did you discover? That day, it led to what? People who were before described as an untoward generation, they were added to the church. Was that not what happened? Men who were not in the image and the character of God, they entered into the school of becoming like him. When the gift of the Holy Ghost was operating upon those people, look at what it was leading to. Today, what do I see? It's like when the Holy Ghost come down on people today, it’s like we now need to rewrite that prophecy to say, "It will come to pass in the last days that I’ll pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters will be speaking in tongues." Because all it seems to me today is that it's just about speaking in tongues inside fellowship. And not about affecting a generation outside there. And not about edification of the church in the church. You are malicious. You backbite. You tear down. You pull down your brother. You speak evil about him. You do all of that. You are—instead of being a pillar, you're a caterpillar. You are pulling down the unity of the brethren. You're scattering the brethren. In the world, you tell lie. You are not a light that shine. And then, later, we see you doing all manner of things. I wonder, which type of Holy Ghost is upon you? Which type of charisma are you displaying? I’m only trying to make something very clear to you. I speak variety of tongues, so don't think I’m against speaking in tongues. But I’m trying to give you understanding of something. May your life not major on the minors. There are weightier things of the Lord. There are weightier matters of eternal life. The weightier things, the weightier things is that everything about us begin to work towards becoming more and more like what? Like Christ. We are seeing more holiness. Hallelujah. We are seeing more godliness. We are seeing upright living. We are seeing men that says—the Bible says, the grace of God has appeared unto us and is teaching us to say no to sin. We are seeing young people saying no at the face of temptation, standing like Joseph and saying no to that sexual advance. Saying no to that corruption. We are seeing people growing up, standing saying no to pornography, saying no to masturbation, saying no. That is what we want to see. Holiness, righteousness, upright living. Look at what the Bible says. It says "we, being delivered from our enemies, we may serve him without fear in holiness and in righteousness." (Luke 1:74-75) I’m talking about the image. I pray that on a daily basis, may his image and his likeness be perfected in you in the name of Jesus Christ. Please think about these things. Is your life just pursuing the secondary agenda? Pursuing the "as well as." Or you have left the primary purpose. I tell you again, the factory setting of man is the image of God. And when God will come back at last, it is to see that image again. It was that image that was corrupted in Adam by sin, and Jesus came back to restore that image. It's about the image of God. No man can truly be on assignment for God or stand for God or represent God in any matter who does not truly carry his image. Your charisma will not be able to stand for God with your charisma. Because with your charisma, you will still be telling lies, you will still be sinning, you will be doing a lot of other things with that charisma. You cannot represent God. It is first about his image. It was that image that was corrupted in man. And it is that image that Jesus came to restore. That's the primary concern of God, that the image of—that his image be restored in man, so that man can properly represent him. Man can properly be on assignment for him. Man can properly—yes, your charisma, your giftings, everything that God has given you cannot properly represent God until his image is formed in you. You cannot have a deformed image of God and be representing God with the gifts of God. It is not possible. Seek today the primary things so that at the end of the day, you can laugh at last. I pray we will not be a labor loss in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's close the meeting today as we pray. I want you to just talk to the Lord briefly about what you have learned. Talk to the Lord briefly. Talk to the Lord briefly. Talk to the Lord briefly. Talk to the Lord briefly about this matter of his image and his likeness being perfected in us. His image and his likeness being perfected in us. The matter of his image, the matter of his likeness. Thank you, Abba Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Almighty God, we just thank you again for this afternoon. Thank you for this Singles Club. Lord, I just commit all my hearers into your hands. I pray, Lord, beyond this meeting, follow up with us on this matter in the name of Jesus. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. See you again first Saturday of December. The Lord keeping us beyond then, in Jesus' name. This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, an equipped 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 hit. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday 5:00 p.m. Adolescents and singles club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m. Marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m. 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, Ile-Ire community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Igbere 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.