Instruction (1)

[Speaker 1] Church fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God will ever desire a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tents Ministry. May you be blessed as you receive. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord! Praise ye the Lord! We thank our God again for this morning. We give Him praise, we give Him glory, we give Him honor and adoration. We thank Him for a time again, our second meeting in the year 2005, our Singles' Club for today. And as we start this morning, I want us to appreciate the Lord wherever you are. Our brethren joining us on Telegram, our brethren joining us on [unclear: Mixlr], wherever you are. And we who are here, let's begin to thank the Lord. Let's thank Him, let's appreciate Him for another time again in His presence. Let's give Him glory, let's give Him honor, let's give Him adoration. Indeed, our God is good. Indeed, He has been merciful. We thank Him for taking us through the month of January. January ended yesterday, and here we are in a new month, the second month of the year, today being the first day of the month. Let's appreciate God. You are Alpha and Omega. We worship You, our God. You are worthy to be praised. You are Alpha and Omega. We worship You, our God. You are worthy to be praised. We give You honor, glory. We worship You, our God. You are worthy to be praised. We give You honor, glory. We worship You, our God. You are worthy to be praised. Our Father, indeed, You are worthy to be praised. You are worthy to be worshipped, You are worthy to be adored. You are worthy, You are worthy. We thank You for taking us through the month of January, bringing us to the month of February, the second month of the year 2005. Lord, we are really grateful. We thank You for our first edition of Singles' Club and today we are having our second edition. We are committing into Your hands our brethren, our young people, young men, young women who are joining us on Telegram. Lord, we commit them into Your hand. Those joining us on [unclear: Mixlr], we commit them into Your hand. And we who are physically here, we commit ourselves into Your hand. Lord, we pray that we all together, by the working of Your spirit, there will be impartation, oh God, upon our lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we are at different points of needs in our lives. Lord, we pray, meet individuals at the points of their own needs in the name of Jesus. Lord, please instruct us. Lord, please speak to our heart. Lord, please lighten our darkness in the name of Jesus Christ. Let it be a time of refreshment. Let it be a time of instruction. Let it be a time of blessing in the name of Jesus. Thank You, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Praise the Lord! Praise ye the Lord! We want to thank the Lord again that we are here this morning. All of us, we are connecting together. Our brethren joining us on [unclear: Mixlr], you are all welcome. Our brethren joining us on Telegram, you are all welcome. And we who are here physically, we welcome ourselves. We thank the Lord for this brand new month, the month of February. And I pray for us wherever we are listening to me this morning that it will be a month that the Lord will grant grace and glory. The month will be fruitful for us all in the name of Jesus Christ. Our focus for this morning is the topic "Instruction". That is our topic. Last month, we were looking at where sin abounds, grace much more the more abound. We saw last month that it is very, very important for us as believers to know that even though darkness is taking a very, very serious turn, it looks like darkness is covering everywhere. It looks like wickedness is taking a dimension and a magnitude that is alarming. Yet, the Bible says, where sin abounds, grace much more the more abound. So as a young man, you must make up your mind. As it says in Daniel 11:32, the people that know their God, they shall be strong and they shall do exploit. I believe that you must make up your mind that you will not be among those that will be exploited, but you will be among those that will do exploit. May you do exploit for the Lord in the name of Jesus Christ. Today, for the month of February, our focus is instruction. And if you look at what I sent out yesterday, I said the month of February Singles' Club will focus on the place of instruction in our walk with God. May you be blessed as you come in the name of Jesus Christ. And please do not forget, we normally attend to questions from 11:30. So please, as we normally do, as we are speaking, once you have instruction—for brethren who are online—please send it to the Telegram page so that when it is 11:30, we will just start attending to them. Do not wait until 11:30 to send your question. If there is a question, there is something you want us to attend to as it is generating from what we are discussing this morning, please just put your question online. By 11:30, we will just check what is online and we attend to them. If we do not have a question by then, then we will just be rounding up the meeting. So we are looking at instruction. And you will be wondering, what exactly is instruction? What is the place of instruction? What I want to do in looking at instruction is first to define it and then to look at the place of instruction in our walk with God. What is instruction? Ordinarily, what is instruction? Instruction simply means what you are told to do. That is instruction. If I say "come", "come" is an instruction. If I say "go", "go" is an instruction. So instruction simply means that which we are told to do. So when you are told to do something, you will say "I have been instructed to do it" or "I was instructed to do so". Instruction simply means what we are told to do. So if we are looking at instruction in relation to our walk with God, we are simply saying instruction in our walk with God simply means what the Lord asks us to do. That is instruction. Instruction simply means what the Lord asks us to do. That is the simplest way I can define it. But our focus is not the definition. Our focus is the place of instruction, the place in our walk with God. Let me say this in the background. In the background, I want to say that when I personally sit down to reflect, not just thinking—I have thought about it many times, but over time I have also reflected. Thinking is what is in your mind. Reflection is thinking about what is in your mind. So a man is reflecting when he is thinking about what he is thinking. That is reflection. So I have thought about this matter of instruction, and I have often reflected about it. I have taken time to look at this thing that I am thinking about. And I want to say this in the background, that from my reflection, I saw something very serious about history. When I say history, history simply means what had happened, past events. So I was taking time to relate instruction to history because you must appreciate that if your life is devoid of history, you cannot become anything in God. Because the things that are written down, they were written down for our learning. So there is—the Bible is a book of history. It told us what happened, how they happened, the response of God to these things. So in a way, the Bible is an historical book. The Bible is an historical book. Now, being an historical book, looking at the Bible as a historical book, look at what the Bible says. Romans chapter 15, verse 4. Look at what the scripture says. The scripture says, "For whatever things were written before, they were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scripture might have hope." I read it in the NLT: "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and encouragement of the scripture we might have hope." Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Look at what the Bible says in verse 11. "Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages have come." So what exactly happened to them? Read this from verse 1. "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. I do not want you to be ignorant. I do not want you to be unaware that our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they all drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were overthrown in the wilderness." "Now these things became our example that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted. And do not become idolaters as some of them, as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat, drink, and rose to play'. Nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. Nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpent. Nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages has come." So do you see that any life that is devoid of history cannot become anything with God? Because these things were written down for you to know the history. So it said you should not be unaware, you should be aware of what happened. You look at what happened. They were written down for your learning. So the Bible as historical is not just written for us to just look at history. It is written so that when you look at history, what should you do? You should learn from the history. This is my reflection. What I have learned in my reflection about instruction is that men do not learn from history. History, history. The purpose of history is so that we can learn. On my reflection about instruction, I have come to see today that we, we today, we are not learning from history. We are not learning from the things that were written down. We are not learning. That is what I first want to say in the background, that when I began to reflect about instruction, I realized that we are not learning from history. If instruction says, "Moses, if anybody is bitten by a serpent, go and make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole. Put a pole in the temple, and on that pole make a brazen serpent. Go and put it inside the temple. It will come to pass if anybody is bitten by the serpent, let the person run to the one inside the temple and shout 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus'." What will be the safety? Once they are bitten, they will run into the temple to go and shout "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus". If God had said, "Moses, if anybody is bitten, stretch out your rod and touch the place," what will happen? It will be stretch out your rod, touch the place. If instruction had been, "If anybody is bitten, Moses, lay your hand and pray. Just say 'Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah'," what will happen? If they are bitten, they come to Moses, he lay his hand and they pray. Now what I am trying to make you see is that when God said if you are bitten, look at the brazen serpent up. If somebody is bitten by the serpent and the person run to Moses, "Moses, you are man of God, please pray for me, please pray for me, I have been bitten by the serpent," and Moses begin to pray and he is praying. Will the person live or die? The person will die. Why? Because that is not the instruction. What I am trying to make you see, there is nothing particular about the serpent. What make the serpent particular was that that is what God said. So life is in what God says. What I am trying to make you see is that instruction carries life. The place of instruction. Embedded in everything that God tells us to do is life. Embedded in everything that God asks us to do is honor. Embedded in everything that God asks us to do is peace. Embedded in everything that God asks us to do is life. We are looking at the place of instruction. What I am trying to make you see is that there is nothing particular about the tree of knowledge of good and evil. There is nothing particular about the serpent on the pole. There is nothing particular about the objects. No. What made those things particular was that there was an instruction. Do you know what I am trying to make you see? Look at Proverbs chapter 4, verse 13. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 13. Please look at Proverbs chapter 4, verse 13. Look at what the Bible says about instruction. I want us to see that scripture. Let's see different way of rendering that scripture and of looking at it. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 13. I read from here, Proverbs 4:13 from NKJV. It says, "Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; keep her, for she is your life." The place of instruction. Look, instruction is our life. So the place of instruction in our walk with God is that instruction is our life. Instruction carries the potential, the seed, the power of our life. Instruction is our life. It says, "Take firm hold of instruction, do not let her go; keep her, for she is your life." NIV says, "Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life." Guard it well, it is your life. The place of instruction in our walk with God is that instruction is our life. Every time instruction escapes us, what escapes us is our life. Every time we are exchanging instruction, what we are exchanging with instruction is death. Because that thing that is going is your life. Whatever takes it away, takes life away from you. Whatever takes instruction away from you, actually takes life away from you. Whatsoever takes instruction away from you, please get me very clear and get me very clearly. That thing that is telling you "do not mind that thing that Baba said, do not mind that thing that God said, it does not really matter, it is not that serious, it is not as fundamental as you are thinking," I want to ask you, what is not fundamental about life? Please, what is not fundamental about life? Something want to take life away, he says it is not that serious. Something is taking life from you and he is taking he says it is not serious, it is not serious, it is just one of those things. Something is telling you that I am taking life away but it is not serious. What I am trying to make you see is the place of instruction. That is our focus for this Singles' Club. Young man, young woman listening to me, I want you to understand something. In my reflection, I realized that the Bible warns us severally, over and over, that we should look at history. That men who joked with instruction actually died. Even though we are seeing this history, we are still joking with instructions. That is why I said, when I reflected on instruction, I realized that our generation is not learning from history. It was lack of instruction that destroyed Samson. It was not taking heed to instruction that finished us at the beginning—"do not eat". There is nothing particular, I keep telling people, there is nothing particular about the tree, but the instruction is what matters. The instruction is "do not eat". So what makes that thing to become a matter is that there was something God said. Because I am telling you, that is why I said that if God had said, "You can eat of it, but do not swallow it," what would have been the problem? Eating and swallowing. If God had said, "You can eat of it, but when you want to eat it, you must cut it into three, throw one part into the sea, throw another one into the land, the third one is what you can eat," if they get there and they eat everything, the problem would not have been "why did you eat?", it would have been "why didn't you cut it into three?". That is what I am trying to make you see. That what carries life is instruction. The power of life is in instruction. And if you are there, you are somebody who jokes with instruction, can I quickly inform you, you are joking with life. It is not about the thing. Please get me right. I give you a good example. I was somewhere one day and I spoke on the place of honoring parents. It was a meeting of young people. At the end of the meeting, a young man walked up to me and he said, "Sir, I have this very personal challenge." I said, "Okay, what is it? Let's discuss." He said, "If you have somebody, although he gave birth to you, but you cannot describe that person as a father. That person is so useless. That person is, in fact, like a curse to your life. That person is something you do not pray to reckon with in your life. If that is the kind of person that gave birth to you, am I supposed to honor such a person?" And I said, "Young man, I have this simple thing to tell you. That person you are describing the way you are describing, I know you are talking about your father." He said, "Yes." I said, "Please look very well at the instruction. It is not your father that said 'honor me'. It is God that said 'honor your father'." I said, "When you look, when you read down again, the instruction says, 'Father, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they become discouraged'." I said, "Do you notice that?". He said, "Yes." I said, "Do you notice that there is instruction for children and there is instruction for parents?". He said, "Yes." I said, "Listen to me. Your father disobeyed God in provoking you to anger." I said, "You, you wanted to respond and you said, 'Okay, since my father disobeyed God in provoking me, God, me too I am going to disobey You in not honoring him'." I said, "Are you wise in your decision?" He kept quiet, he could not answer me. I said, "Do you think you are wise? Your father decided to dishonor God, and you said the best thing you will do in responding to him is to dishonor God." I said, "Is it God that offended you?". He said, "No." I said, "Who offended you?". He said, "Your father." I said, "So it is not your father who said 'honor your father', it is God who said 'honor your father'. So go and obey God. Leave your father. God will have a way to deal with him. But you must not disobey God because two wrongs will not make a right. The instruction for your own life is 'honor your father'. So you follow God's instruction. If your father do not follow God's instruction, God knows how to relate that with him. You cannot stand to judge your father because you are not the one that gave him the instruction." The point I am trying to make with that young man is that the young man is not understanding the place of instruction. He does not understand that look, the father have gone the way of death, and the best way to respond is not for him too to go and die. Somebody is dying, you say, "Heh, I want to revenge you, me too I am going to die." Are you revenging him or are you short-changing yourself? You are short-changing yourself! You are short-changing yourself! And I have seen several young men and women do this thing. "Look, that's my father, that's my father, I will go and deal with him." I just laugh. I will tell you look, you do not understand the power of instruction. Instruction in our walk with God, instruction simply means what God asks us to do. Instruction is not, it has nothing to do with men. What is it that God asked you to do? So whether men are doing their part or not, it has nothing to do with what God asked you to do. I have seen several young husbands too and young wives making this same mistake. "How will I love my wife when she does not submit to me? How will I submit to my husband when he does not love me?" And I tell them, "See, you are not understanding the power of instruction. You are not asked to love your wife because your wife submit to you. You are asked to love your wife as Christ loves the church. That is instruction." How did Christ love the church? Christ died for a church, not when the church was holy and good. Christ died for a church when the church was rebellious and disobedient. And eventually, he was able to love Christ because He first loved us. That is instruction to the husband. So whether your wife is submitting or not, that is not your cup of tea. Your cup of tea is that you carry the seed of an instruction. What is the instruction? "Love your wife as Christ loved the church." So even if your wife is disobedient and not obeying you, that is when Christ loved the church. That is when you are to love her! But I see several young men, they throw away the instruction. "I'm going to work this marriage, I will show her." But what is the end of that? It is death. Because every time you leave instruction, you leave life. Every time you neglect instruction, you are neglecting life. The instructions of God in your walk with God is the seed of life. The instruction of God in that walk with God is the seed that carries life. So the seed of life is not really about the object, it is about what God said. That is the seed of life. And when you see women too, when you see young women too rebelling against their husband. "How can I? Me, I will show him. I will show him that I'm a woman. I will show him. He said he's not loving, abee? I will show him." I just laugh. I say look, woman, you do not understand what carries life for you. And I want to ask you today, as people leave this instruction wanting to go their own way, what have you seen about most marriages today? Domestic violence. Husband killed wife, wife killed husband. Husband shot wife dead. I read one day before yesterday, the husband in anger took cutlass and cut off the hand of the wife. That's in Enugu State. He has been arrested anyway. The other time again, it was a wife that poured hot oil, boiling oil. She was having issues with the husband and then she went into the kitchen, boiled oil. After she had prayed and she boiled, the thing was boiling. She took it and poured on the husband. Unfortunately, the man died. She ran away but she was arrested. She now said, "No, she was just trying to tell him that she was angry." What am I trying to make you understand? Look, the seed of life is in instruction. The more we leave instruction, that is why you notice the affliction that is in the world is in the church today. Domestic violence now is also among Christians. Gender violence is among Christians. People that call themselves Christians, you find the same thing among them. Because we are leaving instruction. So the affliction of Egypt, which is not supposed to be among us, is now among us. Many of the afflictions which were upon the Egyptians, God said, "The affliction of the Egyptians"—talking about those who do not know God, those who are of the world—every time we talk about Egypt, please understand what I am trying to say, I believe you do. But in case you do not, we are talking about those who have not come into the faith. They have a portion—affliction and sorrow—because the way of a sinner is hard. Bible said the way of a sinner is hard. Bible says there is no peace for the wicked. But check for those of us who are inside today, how many truly have peace in their heart? How many truly have peace in their marriage? How many truly have peace in their home? How many truly have peace in their career? How many truly have peace? Because we have left the path of instruction! The seed for our life is in instruction. The seed for life is in instruction. So the Bible says hold on to instruction. Hold on to instruction. Do not let it go. Do you know why? Many things may want to let it go. Sometimes, like we are doing under our discipleship class, we are learning, we are looking at biblical concept of faith. There is always the trial of faith. There is always the trial of faith. There is the place, there is the place of the trial of faith. And when I say trial of faith, I'm talking about different times that God allow our life to be tested because He want to see what is in us. The Bible says God tested Abraham. God do not tempt people, but God make us to go through different things to see that which is in us. When God told Abraham to go and sacrifice Isaac, the intention of God was not to kill Isaac. The intention of God was to see what Abraham would do. When eventually Abraham went to do it, God said, "Now I know that you fear Me". He had been walking with God, but it was at that point that God said, "Now I know that you fear Me". Look at the case of God and Saul. He said, "Wait for seven days, Samuel will come to make the sacrifice". Day 1, Samuel did not appear. Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, he was yet to see Samuel. Now, by this time, the Bible says the Philistines were already marching towards the Israelites. I'm talking about pressure. Pressure! The Philistines were marching towards the Israelites. And the Israelite army and the people, they were scattering from Saul. Because they wanted a command, start fighting. Mind you, Saul had said they cannot start fighting until Samuel comes, offers the sacrifice, then the fighting can now start from their end. So seeing that no command was coming and the Philistines were advancing and the people were getting away from Saul, what did Saul do? The Bible says—that's in 1 Samuel chapter 13—he went and performed the sacrifice. Bible says immediately he finished presenting the burnt offering that Samuel appeared. I'm talking about pressure. There was an instruction: wait for Samuel. That was instruction. Wait for Samuel. When Samuel comes, then the sacrifice can be performed by Samuel and then the battle can start. But I want to open up to that place. I want to make you see what Saul said to Samuel when Samuel arrived. So that you can pick one or two lessons from what Saul said, and then we can use that as instruction for our own life. Now look at what Saul says—1 Samuel chapter 13, please, not 14. 1 Samuel chapter 13. I want to read what Samuel said and what Saul said. Look at what happened from verse 8. "Then he waited seven days according to the set time by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him". Why? Because the Philistines were advancing. Verse 9: "So Saul said, 'Bring a burnt offering and peace offering here to me'. And he offered the burnt offering." "And it happened as soon as he finished presenting the burnt offering that Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him that he might greet him. And Samuel said, 'What have you done?'. Saul said, 'When I saw that the people were scattered from me'"—you see the pressure. You see the pressure! "When I saw that the people were scattered from me"—this thing was not provocation, it was a pressure—"the people were scattered from me and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were gathered together at Michmash, then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made the supplication to the Lord'. Therefore, I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering." "And Samuel said to Saul, 'You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, that the Lord has commanded him and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people because you have not kept the commandment, the Lord, you have not kept what the Lord commanded you'." Are you seeing something? The seed of your life is in instruction. What made this man not to follow the instruction was what? Was what? Pressure! Pressure! The Philistines were coming, the Israelites were scattering. He was afraid. But I want to show you something. Look at what happened, verse 15. I just want to show you something. "Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin". Listen, it says, "And Saul numbered the people present with him, about 600 men". So 600 men were still present. Please, I want you to understand something. If you read this thing and enter into chapter 14, please take time to read this story so you can appreciate what I'm trying to say now. Number one, as at the time Saul felt that he was pressurized that nobody was with him again, there were still 600 men. Number two, if you look at how God gave Israel victory for this battle, it was just Jonathan and his armor-bearer, just two people that God used for the victory. Go and read chapter 14 of this story. Just read the story into 14. You know the Bible do not have chapters and verses before, it was just a continuous story. So read the story and continue with the story into chapter 14. You will see that what God intended to do was to give victory to Israel by just two people—Jonathan and the armor-bearer. That is all. Jonathan went into the camp of the Philistines with his armor-bearer and then he defeated the first garrison of Philistines. Then you know what God did? God caused the earth to start trembling and fear to come upon the Philistines so that they began to run. It was just two people that was needed for the victory. As at the time Saul felt—Saul said he was pressurized—there were 600 men. Beyond that, I want to make you remember the case of Gideon. That 30,000 came. God said they were too much, he should announce. When he announced, 20,000 left to remain 10,000. God said they were too too much. He took them to drink. 9,700 drank in a way that God said separate them. It remained just 300. God said with these 300, you will conquer the multitude of the Midianites that you want to fight. When they got to the battle, what did God do? God caused the multitude to start fighting themselves. Gideon only stood still and God gave them victory. So as far as heaven is concerned, there was no pressure for Saul. God give the battle with just two men. He gave victory with just two men. And if Saul still has 600, that is still too much for God to give victory. Because God can give victory with 300. God can give victory with 10. Can give victory—so for God, the instruction is "wait for me". And many times, do you know that we under this kind of disguise? "You see the reason why I have to, why I have to go to US and lie that I'm not married, and I came to Nigeria and told my wife to sign a document that we are not married so I can get citizenship, because of economic pressure." And you have so many so-called believers doing these things. Economic pressure. "You know the pressure in Nigeria is why—the pressure, the pressure, the pressure." "You see actually, I didn't want to cheat in the exam. It was because it was my final paper. And you—I have not done it before—but you see because of final paper and I was just thinking 'How will I now have carryover in my final year?', that was the pressure." We claim all kinds of pressure today. And one pressure that has become so common around us is economic pressure. My job, my career. Ah, look at what people are doing. Sometimes I ask some people—please don't get me wrong, I don't have any ill-feeling against leaving the country. We are not equally purposed. We are purposed for different things. Some of us, our purpose is in US, our purpose is in UK, purpose is in Canada. In fact, what God told me—please so that you can understand me, so that you can understand me very well—what God told me about this japa syndrome is this: that "I'm sending out missionaries to different parts of the world. I'm using it to send people to different parts of the world so that where the gospel will not get to, the gospel can get there." So I'm using the pressure in Nigeria to raise men and send men to different places. So don't think I'm against people leaving the country. No, please don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong at all. If the Lord is leading you to say move to Canada, move to move to US, move to Germany, move to—instruction given, please move on! Go! I don't have any problem with that. What I'm talking about is pressure that make us to sin in the name of going out of the country. That is what I'm talking about. So please don't get me wrong. It's different from leaving the country procedurally, correctly. There is nothing wrong about that. Even some of us that God is using now and say "be in Nigeria", next year may come and God says "move from here and go to UK, I have a work for you to do there". So please don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong at all. I don't have any ill-feeling about people leaving the country. But what I'm seeing as a pressure today is what I'm addressing. I've seen several young men who left this country for conferences and never returned. They just took a French leave. They went for a conference and then ran and abandoned themselves in US, and refused to come back when the 10 or 15 days they gave them for conference expired. They they began to look for political asylum, began to look for how to get documents and make their papers correct so that they can be this. No, that is what I'm talking about. I'm talking about several young men and women who are married here, left their wife and children here. Some even came back to Nigeria, came to make their wife to sign document that they are not—that they have divorced their wife so that they can get an American wife so that through marriage they can get papers. Economic pressure. When the instruction is, "All unrighteousness is a sin". When the instruction is, "A false scale, a false balance is abominable to God". So that is what I'm addressing. Different type of pressure. Some people are in their offices today, they told lies about their age to get the job. "Ah, you know if I don't lie about my age now, I won't get that job in the bank, even though look—" as somebody was telling me one time, he said, "Sir, age is just a number, one can just claim anything, it doesn't really matter." So if I'm 25 and I tell somebody I'm 27, it's just a number, I've not told a lie. Look, do not let anybody deceive you, little children. The person asking for your age is asking for when you were born. It is not just asking for a number. Telling me you were born in 1979 when you were born in 1970 is a lie! You say because you want to get a job. You know there is pressure. I see ladies because there is pressure—"Eh, all the young man wanted is for us to just sleep together. You know if I don't sleep with him now, he may not marry me. Let me just agree so that he can marry me." Pressure to fornicate. Why are you allowing pressure? And I'm showing you example in the Bible. Pressure! Pressure! That's why the Bible says, "Take fast hold of instruction, do not let her go." Take fast hold! Because let me tell you, young man and young woman, there are what? Provocations and pressure in your future. There are provocations and pressures at different junctions waiting for you. They are waiting for you to see what you will do! They are waiting for you to see how you will do it! Different provocations and pressure. They are there waiting for you! So you need to understand that I need to lay hold on instruction. I must not let instruction go. I must not let her go. I must keep her because instruction is my life. Why did the Bible say "Keep her"? Why did the Bible—all of these things, they are all verbs, action words. "Take fast hold. Do not let it go. Keep her." Three action words. Why are these action words coming? It is not only because of provocation, it is because of pressure. Pressure! Pressure! And I will give you example. Because pressure can come in different ways. Pressure. No provocation but pressure. I want to compare two people. I want to compare two people. Two people. And I want you to see some things about these two people. And then we relate it to two instances for you to see that God knows what He was doing. Just for you to see, because sometimes when you first look at these story, they look like, "Ah, what is this? What is this?". Because let me tell you, like we are doing under our discipleship class, we are learning, we are looking at biblical concept of faith. There is always the trial of faith. There is always the trial of faith. There is the place, there is the place of the trial of faith. And when I say trial of faith, I'm talking about different times that God allow our life to be tested because He want to see what is in us. The Bible says God tested Abraham. God do not tempt people, but God make us to go through different things to see that which is in us. When God told Abraham to go and sacrifice Isaac, the intention of God was not to kill Isaac. The intention of God was to see what Abraham would do. When eventually Abraham went to do it, God said, "Now I know that you fear Me". He had been walking with God, but it was at that point that God said, "Now I know that you fear Me". Look at the case of God and Saul. He said, "Wait for seven days, Samuel will come to make the sacrifice". Day 1, Samuel did not appear. Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, he was yet to see Samuel. Now, by this time, the Bible says the Philistines were already marching towards the Israelites. I'm talking about pressure. Pressure! The Philistines were marching towards the Israelites. And the Israelite army and the people, they were scattering from Saul. Because they wanted a command, start fighting. Mind you, Saul had said they cannot start fighting until Samuel comes, offers the sacrifice, then the fighting can now start from their end. So since that no command was coming and the Philistines were advancing and the people were getting away from Saul, he went and performed the sacrifice. Bible says immediately he finished, Samuel appeared. I'm talking about pressure. There was an instruction: wait for Samuel. That was instruction. Wait for Samuel. When Samuel comes, then the sacrifice can be performed by Samuel and then the battle can start. But I want to open up to that place. I want to make you see what Saul said to Samuel when Samuel arrived. So that you can pick one or two lessons from what Saul said, and then we can use that as instruction for our own life. Now look at what Saul says—1 Samuel chapter 13, please, not 14. 1 Samuel chapter 13. I want to read what Samuel said and what Saul said. Look at what happened from verse 8. "Then he waited seven days according to the set time by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him". Why? Because the Philistines were advancing. Verse 9: "So Saul said, 'Bring a burnt offering and peace offering here to me'. And he offered the burnt offering. And it happened as soon as he finished presenting the burnt offering that Samuel came." "And Saul went out to meet him that he might greet him. And Samuel said, 'What have you done?'. Saul said, 'When I saw that the people were scattered from me'"—you see the pressure. You see the pressure! "When I saw that the people were scattered from me"—this thing was not provocation, it was a pressure—"the people were scattered from me and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were gathered together at Michmash, then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made the supplication to the Lord'. Therefore, I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering." "And Samuel said to Saul, 'You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, that the Lord has commanded him and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people because you have not kept the commandment, the Lord, you have not kept what the Lord commanded you'." Are you seeing something? The seed of your life is in instruction. We give You glory, we give You praise, we give You honor, we give You adoration. Lord, we just pray. Lord, for every one listening to me this morning, Lord, I just ask, Lord, I just pray. Lord, we will get it right at the every junction, junction where instruction is challenged in our life. May we get it right. Thank You, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, 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. [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tents Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development and mission aid. Our regular activities are Discipleship Class every Monday 5:00 PM, Adolescent and Singles Club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, Marriage Forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, family life seminars, regular school outreaches and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite the Rejoice filling station, along Ijarere Road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytents@yahoo.co.uk, familytentsministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentsministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.