Mf 08th June 2019 My House His House

[Speaker 1] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home from. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] At a point, Sarah said that the woman and the child should be cast away, that they must not inherit with Isaac. And then, when that was said, the Bible said the thing was grievous to Abraham. And so ordinarily you will feel that Ishmael is the firstborn. He is supposed to inherit. We said if we are to judge it, let's leave God apart. If we are to look at it logically, you are the one that asked them to sleep with the lady. The lady brought the firstborn. And now you are the one that is saying that this firstborn should not inherit. And in that culture, the firstborn should inherit. Not only that, you are also saying that cast off the firstborn and the mother of the firstborn. But we notice that as logical as that is, logically everyone will support Abraham, logically speaking from the point of view. But when God showed up, what God said was that Abraham, go and listen to Sarah. So, some things may look logically correct, yet they are not the truth. So sometimes when we want to run our marriages and our homes, we run them from the point of logic. *To ba wo na, to ba se bayii, to ba se bayii, to ba se bayii, to ba se bi eleyii, se ko correct bayii?* It may look very, very logical. People will say, "Heh, *Oko lo correct. O ti e le ma ronu be yen, o po lo ni iyawo yen.*" But as far as God is concerned, the truth is that God doesn't have any agenda with Ishmael. It was Abraham's agenda. The truth is, *ati iya o, ati omo o*, let them be cast out. So we said we need to be careful. We need to be very, very careful about that which looks logical, that which looks reasonable. Aside from what I mentioned then, many times too, truth always appears as what looks weak. When truth appears, sometimes it looks weak. It does not look like a good method to follow. And I gave an example then and I said that where the Bible says if they slap you on the right one, turn the left, does it look like a way of solving the problem? It looks like a way of continuing in the problem. So sometimes when truth appears to us, truth may look very weak. Truth may look very, very inconsistent, very weak. But we need to understand that it is the truth that sets free. Anytime we abandon truth because we are trying to look for what is reasonable, what is logical. I can think to several cases, several cases, several cases. I remember this very case that always comes to my mind, this one in Lagos, where the husband—there was no issue in the marriage. And logically speaking, the elders gave a logical explanation that we are differently talented and differently graced. Some people have the grace to wait without having a child, some don't have the grace. And so those of us who don't have the grace, God expects that they should do something. Telling you elders' counsel in a Pentecostal church. And so the young man was advised that you can get issue according to Yoruba culture. *Ta ba bi si ile, a bi si ita, asa tiwa ni yen. Yoruba o kin fe ako aja.* And that looked very, very reasonable. And that was the advice that the young man followed. *Lati lo wa bo se ma bi si ita.* As reasonable and logical and culturally acceptable as that is, it is still not the truth. It is not the truth. I remember being in one meeting and one of the ministers came out and said, "Sir, what of if you have a wife, you discover that that wife don't want your progress? And you be able to know that that wife is actually seeking your destruction?" And I borrowed him a word, I said, "The wife is Satan incarnate?" He said, "Exactly, sir. What are you supposed to do in such situation?" I said, "Love her." He said, "Her?" Because that does not look like the way forward. Then he quoted the scripture when he was asking his question, that the Bible said suffer not the witch to live. What I was trying to say anyway is that in summary, what we were trying to look at that constitutes the theme of this ministry is that the truth sets free. I was trying to establish what the ministry is based upon as we begin to go into different issues about marriage. I want people to know that the matter we will be raising in our different meetings, they may not be sounding reasonable. They may not be sounding logical. They may not be sounding—they may be looking very weak. Can this method solve my marriage problem? Can it solve my—can it give solution to my life, my marital life? Can it somehow bring solution? This one is not appearing high-sounding. But it is important to know that two things mark the truth. The truth is one, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." The truth is first a person. The truth is not a reason. The truth is not a logic. The truth is not a guess. The truth is a person. So to live by truth is to follow a person. It is just to follow the footsteps of somebody. That's what it means to live by truth. So it is important to know that truth is not what we reasoned out. Truth is not what is logically right. Truth is not what we guess is okay. Truth is first following Jesus. What did Jesus say? What did Jesus do? How did he live? Where did he go? And secondly, it is important to know again that the Bible says, that is John 14:6, the other one is John 17:17, that the Bible says, "Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth." So truth is again not what we reason, it is not what we feel, not what we are constrained to do, it is not what is attractive, but truth again is simply that which God has said or that which God is saying. So anybody that wants to run his life or his marriage outside the truth, we are saying that it is truth that sets free. Outside truth, what we will have is bondage. And as I've just spoken, something just—as I said before, something just runs through my mind. Abraham thought the Hagar method was looking very, very logical. My womb is dead, I can no more ovulate, I've entered menopause. The culture allows that you can take the slave girl and marry her as a wife. Abraham, why not sleep with Hagar so that I can have a child by her? Please, what is wrong about that suggestion? As far as righteousness and godliness is concerned as at that time, is anything wrong with that? No. It was logically okay. So Abraham did not think twice and immediately he prospered. I tell people that as somebody is wrong does not mean he may not prosper. He has been sleeping with Sarah all these years, there was no child. He slept once with Hagar and what happened? Only once. *Abi e de ranti osu ni? Eko kpere, o di omo, omo kini o pe, kini omo n pe omo okunrin jare ni Yoruba? Omo tan ba sope lantilanti...* [Background laughter] Only once and he prospered. But as—and immediately was there no relief? Immediately, was there no relief? Please, brethren, was there no relief? There was relief immediately! Wow! And I can see how Abraham will be dancing that, "You see all this while, maybe if I've even gone earlier, I would have gotten two or three." I don't know if you try to understand what I'm saying. And I'm seeing Abraham planning again that, "Ah, when the mother had whatever, I should go in again for another one so that the children can increase." But as way forward as that looked like, please, are we not in the bondage today? Are we not just—is Ishmael not still persecuting Isaac today? Politically, look at what is happening with the Israel nation. Spiritually, look at what is happening between Islam and Christianity. Just look at—look at what—take cardinal case as a case study. I wonder what—I believe when Abraham looks down now from there, he would have said, "I wish I waited. I wish I waited." What we are trying to say, brethren, is that it may be easy to alternate truth, but let us remember the consequences are bondage. It may be easy to alternate truth, but the consequences are bondage. So today, having said that background for all our discussion, we will be taking a topic: "My House." My house. My house. My house. And I will be using very familiar scripture. My house. For the topic, my house. First, let us see what did God say about his house? What did God say about his house? How did God describe his own house? I said we'll be using very popular scripture, but we want to establish something about our life and about our home and about our walk with God. Jeremiah chapter seven. Let me read from verse one. I'm reading from the—let me read King James. Jeremiah 7:1-11 "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord." Let's compare that with Matthew, Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. I read from verse six. Matthew 21:6-13 "And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. Our topic is: "My House." Your house, my house. And we will be looking at "My House" from two important perspectives. We'll look at it from the perspective of 1 Corinthians chapter six. 1 Corinthians 6. That is the first perspective to it. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." What is first my house here? What is the first house we are looking at here? Our body is a house. My house. My house. My house. So the first house we are talking about is that house that house the spirit of God. That house that house the Holy Ghost. That house that—where God dwells. That is first the house of God. That is the temple of God. So my house. So in that way, it becomes my house is his house. Am I correct? So my house is his house because we have been bought with a price. So my house is actually his temple. My house is his house. I believe that is very, very clear. My house is his house. So my body is temple. My members is temple. My hand, my eye, my leg, my everything about me, my mind, everything that makes up the body is his temple, is his house. Then, the other house we will be looking at is the house that we are more familiar with. What is that house? The second house that we are more familiar with: our matrimonial home. Our house. So we are looking at two things. We are looking at it from two ways. One, the house where God dwells. Two, my house, the house where I dwell. Do you get it now? The house—my house is his house. That is this house, this body, this house is his house because it is his temple. Then my house again, when you say, "I am going to my house," you know where you are going to. I'm going home. My home. My house. My house. My house. And what I want to call our attention to, brethren, are some very, very simple but instructive matters. Very simple but they are very instructive. In Matthew 21 that we read just now, what did Jesus say about his house? Verse 12 and 13: "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of robbers." Amplified says the scripture says, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers." NLT said it. Now we were looking at something here. For God, what is written about the house of God? What is written about his house? "My house shall be called a house of prayer." Now, my house is his house. Ordinarily, what is this body meant for? What is written about this body? It shall be called a house of what? Of prayer. It shall be called a house of prayer. My house is his house. If he said my house shall be called a house of prayer, the place where I dwell shall be called the house of prayer. If God actually indwells you as a husband, as a wife, as a youth, as a young man, as a sister, can you be described as a house of prayer? Can you be described as a house of prayer? Remember, if it is not a house of prayer, it is a den of robbers. Now you see, the reason why I'm making some of these things clear, you are very familiar with this scripture, John 10:10. Let's quote it offhand. "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it abundantly." Many times when we talk, the thief refers to who? Who does the thief refer to many times when we are talking? But the robbers inside the temple, the thieves inside the temple, they are not the devil. They are human beings. Are you following me? When God was talking about thieves, he was not talking about the devil. He was talking about the activities of men. He was talking about what men do in his house. Said you have made it a den of robbers. It means inside the temple, before Jesus purified that temple, what was inside? Thieves and what? Robbers. Inside the temple were thieves and robbers. What makes them thieves and robbers? They were buying, they were selling inside the temple. Is that not? Those certain activities make them thieves and robbers. Are you understanding me? Now, but what is written concerning the house? It's supposed to be called the house of prayer. Now what I'm trying to tell us is this: is that do you know that there are things you can be doing with this your house? With the members of your body, your eyes, your hand, your nose, your heart, your mind, your body—I mean everything that makes up your physical life. There are things you can be doing with it that makes that body a house of thieves instead of a house of prayer. There are things you can be doing that will make God look at the temple and God will look at you like he looked at them and said you have made my house a what? A den of robbers. There are things you can be doing with your life that can make God look at you and say, "Look, you have made this temple a what? A den of robbers." You have made it a place where what? "The thief cometh not but to steal, to kill and to destroy." The things that you are doing, the things that you say, the things that—the things you carry out are things that kill, are things that steal, are things that destroy. The things you'll be doing with the body, they are things that takes away, they steal away. They steal, they kill and they destroy. What you are doing with the body—I mean what you can be doing with your personal life. I'm talking about, let's first put our spouses apart. I'm talking of you as an individual. Can God look at you by the things you do, either as a brother or as a sister, whether as a husband or as a wife, whether as a young man, whether as a young woman, whether as a lady, whatsoever angle you want to look at yourself, can God look at you and say, "This house is a house of prayer?" If God looks at you, can God say this house—because you must not forget, my house is first his house. This house, my body is his house. Can God look at you and say, "This house is a house of prayer?" A house of prayer, a house, I mean, a house of communion with God. A place where God is met, there's communion with God, there's interaction with God, there's discussion with God. It's a house of prayer. You see, when the house becomes a house of prayer, what happens? After Jesus made it—Jesus entered the temple. When he drove out all the other activities, he stopped the activities of buying, selling. I'll soon show us how we buy and sell. I'll soon come to that. But when Jesus stopped buying and selling, what did the Bible say happened in the temple? He says the blind and the lame—all the while, the blind and the lame have been there. But that house was not relevant to them. All the while, around your life, around your home, around your children, around your spouse, around your husband, around your wife, there could be several blindness and lameness. But because the house is not a house of prayer, it's not relevant to heal. It's not relevant. Several issues happening around you. Some of your neighbors may be blind. Some of them may be lame. Your husband may even be blind in some decisions he wants to make. I keep telling myself, where was Sister Lot? Where was Brother Lot when he was about to make a choice? And Brother Lot, I like the Yoruba translation. English *yen o dun*. Yoruba ni, "Lot si gbe oju re soke, o si wo si ile Sodomu, o si ri pe ibe tutu, o si lora." He saw the fatness of the place and quickly calculated, *pang-pang-pang-pang-pang*, if I go this way, before you know, just give me three years. My cattle and my everything will have expanded far beyond Abraham's own. And Abraham said, "So where are you choosing?" Said, "I'm choosing towards Sodom and Gomorrah." He choose all the fertile with the expectation that—you know they are all farmers—in a short while, everything will blossom. Abraham was left in Canaan where there was famine, where everything was dry. Where was Sister Lot? Where was Mrs. Lot? Where were the daughters? Even they were grown up. Where was nobody that could say, "Daddy?" Or the wife that will say, "Darling, God showed me a revelation. The decision you want to make about this our business, about this our life will not help us." That house was not a house of prayer. The blind and the lame, Lot was making a blind decision. He was making a lame decision for the family. And yet, the blindness could not be healed. The lameness could not be helped. And the whole family went in that direction. The Bible says shortly after they got there, there was war. And Lot and his whole family, they were captured. That was the first problem. Abraham had to organize deliverance meeting to go and deliver Lot. I hope you are familiar with this story that I'm talking about. Abraham ran with various soldiers to go and deliver him. We'll be running around to deliver some brethren to deliver them out of several things they entered into because of the decision that they took at one point in time. After the deliverance meeting, the Bible said, and it came to pass that God want to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And then eventually, what came out with Lot? How many *ketekete*? How many goat? How many sheep? What went again with Sodom? The wife went with Sodom. All the *ketekete*, all the properties, everything that Lot thought would have blossomed after three, four years, it was back to zero point. He became a loner as he was when Abraham took him. He was back to zero point. And then the daughters themselves, they could not place it again in life. They have to sleep with their father. And then we know what happened out of that. But how many decision led to all of this? Just one. A decision within the family. There was no house of prayer. It was a house of covetousness. It was a house of injustice. It was a house of lack of equity in dealing with his neighbor. That was that house. It was not a house of prayer. And the wife too was not a house of prayer. But look at how it brought the whole family down. What am I trying to say? The house of prayer. The house of prayer is your house. The first thing we are talking about, leave your spouse apart. Leave your neighbor, your boss, your oga, leave your—are you a house of prayer? Can God look at you and say, "This is a house of prayer?" Or when God looks at your life, he says, "This is a den of robbers." What makes a house a den of robbers? You saw what they were doing in that temple. They were buying and they were selling. How do we buy and sell? How do Christians buy and sell today? Such that individually, they are not houses of prayer. Individually, it helps when you are a house of prayer. I'm seeing how blindness can be dealt with, how lameness can be dealt with. He said they came into the temple and they were healed. I just imagine, let's look at the matter we gave example of, an example of in the case of Abraham that I gave, that example we gave, we're talking about truth, that truth may not be logical. Ordinarily, brethren, if it were to be a marriage of today and Abraham was not to be a house of prayer, he was to be a den of thieves—I'll soon explain what it means for our life to be a den of thieves. What activities can be going on in our heart, in our life, that God will look and say this is a den of thieves. And I'm telling you, no den of thieves in any way can be a good neighbor, can be a good worker, can be a good husband, can be a good wife. In any place where you play den with people, they are prayer points. I'm telling you. They don't match into anything. Every den of thieves. But when you can get people that are house of prayer—that's why I tell people, stop looking for people who will be praying, "Let me marry Brother Isaac and Sister Hannah." Because it take God to get a Sister Hannah that he can lead. He cannot lead Sister Peninnah because he will lead Sister Peninnah to wrong men. Peninnah ought to know that she's not to be a second wife. You see the point I'm making is this, that several things that are happening, if you are not a house of prayer—I'm trying to give the example of Abraham. Look at that situation. Look at that complication. Cast the woman away and her son. No, he will not go. It is contrary to the deal at first. This lady was innocent. She never came around me. You are the one that said she's your slave girl. She should come and let us see how we have her. And now she has given birth to the first son. You are saying that she should go. *Ibo na ti n se iru e?* If we are to put all logic and law into it, if Sarah insist and Abraham insists, what will happen to that marriage? And you know there are several homes like that. Lameness, lameness around their marriage. Before you know, say, "I regret that I married you, useless man!" It because certain lameness, certain blindness could not be healed because the houses were not houses of prayer. They were den of thieves. It take a house of prayer to resolve that matter. In that matter, it took that house of prayer. Abraham alone resolve the problem without any elder. Am I correct? Without any elder. Without anybody mediating. He was a house of prayer. "Baba, there is something I need to be healed in this marriage. Something is shaking our marriage. Something is shaking my relationship with my wife." He said it was grievous to Abraham. Go and read the story. Say it was grievous to him. "The thing is grieving me. I don't want to be grieved about my wife, but I'm grieved. This is pure injustice to this lady and this boy." And honestly that is the truth. Imagine that Abraham is a house of where people just buy and sell, where wrong activities are going on and not correct activities. And then he goes to the place, will he have been able to hear God say, "Go and listen to Sarah?" Will he be able to hear God say, "Go and listen to Sarah?" And that marriage would have scattered. And when you call all the elders of the church and elders, it take only a discerning elder to say, "Abraham, yes, everything about what Sarah said is wrong. But the will of God in this matter is go and put her away." Which we'll be able to come to that point, when culturally that is acceptable in that culture. Is that not how they raised the twelve tribes of Israel? Is that not how they raised them? So in that culture, that was what—that's what happened. That's what's acceptable. The lady is not wrong. A slave girl can be a wife through the wife. And that was exactly what happened. So how will you say they cast her away and the son? *Ibo na ti n se iru e?* Joy that was stolen before, joy have come back. The activities of the thief: steal, kill and destroy. Joy will be back again. Life is back again. Why? There was a house of prayer. I just see Sarah now feel very secure in her marriage. *Ehen, oya, e ru e, e ru e, e ru e, e jade!* Don't take my house from me. Go! And Hagar will be looking at Abraham. Say, "No, you have to listen to her. That is what we want." And the thing, you know how a woman can feel when she knows that she is having the full support of her husband on a matter. That home was secured and it was secured eternally. How many home have been secured like that today? Check how we are scattering today. I'm talking of believers, Christians. Look at how marriages are scattering. Look at how things are going on. Why? Because everybody is trying to shift blame. Nobody is a house of prayer. One person can resolve the problem of a marriage if it's a correct life. That's what I'm telling you this morning. Are you a house of prayer? I showed you that of Hannah. The husband faded away having waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. "Hannah, you know I love you more than ten sons, but not to the extent of waiting for you till the end. I must have my own generation. You know I love you, *ko se bi kajo ku*." He went and took another wife. And when that one came, what happened to the joy in that home? Was it not stolen? Peninnah will do what? Will mock and mock and mock Hannah. Why? Activities of the thieves were going on in the life of the man. I'm going to show you injustice where you are not fair to your neighbor, where you are not fair to your spouse. Activities of the thief and of the robbers. He was not fair. He was not fair. Isaac was fair to his wife. The wife was barren. He prayed, he was a house of prayer. The woman became pregnant. But that one went to look for solution. Brought Peninnah. And when that one came, and I just see the woman, maybe after you know, most time when you go into the bush, you prosper and you will think God is with you. Immediately he entered into Peninnah, first son, *goa! Ehen!* You see, thank God I went this way. And that one will begin to feel—one more again, *goa!* She will look at Hannah, "Big mommy, *e pele o*." *E wo, e se kuro ni ona k'e je ki a koja.* She knows Hannah is no more secure. She feels more secure. And she'll just say, "Ehen, okay, Julius, *sare ba mi ra...*" she want to send her son— "Can't you have your own? Please, don't start problem with me this morning." I'm just trying to make what will have made that woman cry and could not eat. I just try to imagine different things. For another woman to cry and cry, it says she does that continually. You see what has happened? The activities of the thief. Because someone was not fair to someone, the thief cometh not but to steal. Joy was stolen. Peace was stolen. Quietness was stolen. Contention came, argument came, sorrow came into that home because of the activities of the thieves. Activities of the thief is not about the devil. When God was talking about thieves and robbers, he was talking about the activities of men who instead of praying, instead of communing with God inside the temple, making this house as a house of prayer, they are making it a den of robbers. Going about with activities that does not bring God, the glory of God down. But then again, there was one life that was correct. That marriage was a scattered marriage, but one life again. I said it takes—if you can get one house of prayer, just one house of prayer, can resolve a problem of a marriage. That day the woman entered into the temple and then she started with God, she started with God, she started with God, she started with God. The woman touched heaven. And when she touched heaven, heaven came down. That woman not only solved the problem of her home, she solved the problem of Israel. A prophet was raised to replace the blind prophet. Why? She was a house of prayer. One woman. She didn't say, "What is it? Eh, *ema lo po mi lohun*, when you took me home, you said the solution was me, now you've gone to look for another one, *e lo joko ti e*." And then she continued like that until she grew old and died. Just what I'm asking you, are you a house of prayer? Are you a house of prayer? Are you a house of prayer? Leave your spouse, leave your neighbor, leave your boss, leave your oga, leave your—are you a house of prayer? I showed you that of Joseph. If Joseph was not a house of prayer to his boss, first God had blessed Potiphar because of Joseph. Am I correct? It was a house of prayer. And then again there was another offer again to sleep with the wife. But that house again will not go that way. It was a correct house. It was not a den of thieves. It was a place where men meet with God, where men can commune with God. You see when a man have communion with God, sin either take you from prayer or prayer takes you from sin. The two are mutually exclusive. If you are a house of prayer, then you are a house of holiness and righteousness. You are a house of godliness, you are a house of uprightness. Because you look at it, say who shall dwell upon the hill of the Lord, who shall abide in his holy place? Does it not describe the person? A clean hand, a clean... you can see! Those are the kind of people. That man did not lift his soul to vanity. "Ah, what an opportunity this is. If I sleep with this woman, wow! Opportunity! Nothing I want to eat in Egypt that I will not eat. She'll begin to speak well, do all kinds of things for my sake." But he was a correct house. He was not a den of thieves. And what happened? That was not husband and wife. It was a man and his boss. Am I correct? And what happened? That house was able to preserve the purpose of God. If that house had gone the other way, do you know the whole of Israel will have been wiped out? Because he was designed to preserve the nation and to fulfill a prophetic agenda of Jesus, to call out of Egypt they're going to call out Jesus. Just by one good decision, look at what that man purchased for his life. Just one. And I now begin to tell people when we take many, many wrong decisions. By just one bad decision, you can ruin so many things you cannot just imagine. Things you cannot just imagine. Just one good decision of a young boy. Look at everything that was preserved. Just look at how things would have just turned so, so amazingly if that boy went that way, the other way with Potiphar's wife. Do you see what would have turned? It's better to imagine that that shouldn't happen. God would have have to start another entire program. Do you know that? God will have to quickly run an entire new process because Israel will be terminated and God wants Jesus to be preserved. God will quickly, anyhow, anyhow, God will have to run because the purpose of God cannot be terminated. God will replace the vessel. God will quickly do something, something lesser than Joseph, maybe an Egyptian. I don't know what God will do, but someone will quickly be replaced to serve that purpose because Israel must be preserved in Egypt. But I'm only showing you how the activities of the thief, if that boy had done the activities of thief—I'll soon mention them to you now—if he had gone the way of the activities of the thief and he was busy stealing, stealing somebody else's wife by having sex, by getting somebody else's wife, that activity went on. What would have been taken away? The thief cometh not but to steal. Joy in that home would have gone, preservation for Israel would have gone. The purpose of Christ being called out of Egypt would have—just look at everything. The thief cometh not. I always want you to know, every time that activity is going on of the thieves, something is being stolen, something is being killed, something is being destroyed. Something precious, something great, something of God. And that is why God is against the activities of the robbers in the temple. He said, "Will you steal? Will you murder?" Different way of murdering. Backbiters. The Bible says there are some whose tongue are like the cutting of the sword. Have you read that in the Bible before? Whose tongue they are like what? The cutting of the sword. "I'm just baring my mind ni." I want to bare my mind, but actually you know you are cutting. You know you know when you are saying something because you want to destroy, you want to cut on somebody. I hope you know you know. You know when you want to resolve a matter and your heart is not because you want to wound the person. But you also know when you want to say that, "The thing, eh, if I speak for him, *were ori e a gbon danu ni*." You also know when you want to do that. Am I not correct? You know. And so you will say the thing because you want it to hit him. *Ki o fun t'enu pa da, ki o lo do'ri mu danu.* You know all of these things. You murder, you cut down. I'm talking about activities of thieves in the life of believers today. Things that are commonplace that have made several things not to be healed, lameness to remain. People cannot fellowship correctly with God because it can't be a house of prayer. Do you know that bitterness is a spiritual poison that does not allow your spirit to be free? The same thing unforgiveness. So many things just put it there, put it there, put it there. So lameness remains, blindness remains. You cannot see God, you cannot hear God, you cannot perceive God. And as that goes on, you know what follows the activities of the thief? In John 10, what follows the activities of the thief? In John 10? After talking about the thief, he now went down and down and now talk about the next activity. Have you—maybe you have not taken time to study it. When you read that same John 10, now talk about the activities of the wolf. He said the good shepherd, when the wolf attacks the sheep, the good shepherd will lay down his life. But the hireling will do what? Run away. It is that wolf now that is the devil. You notice that they strike Jesus, Jesus dies to save his sheep. Do you get it now? It is the wolf that is the devil. You see the activities of the thief is the thing they now promote the activities of the wolf. Do you get it now? You can see how, once we are not standing right, we allow the devil to have his way. So it is the thief that give room to the wolf. But the point I'm making, our concern today is activities of the thief. Let's leave the wolf. And that's why I tell people, if you can conquer yourself, you would have conquered the world and the devil and sin. The real enemy to conquer is yourself. The real enemy. There was this film by Evans, *Olori Ota. Ota ile, ota ode, then ota inu.* So *olori gbogbo ota yen* was *ota inu*, the one that's inside himself. You can take time to watch some of these things. The greatest enemy of a man is himself. The things troubling your life, troubling your home is first yourself. I'm telling you it's first yourself. I listened to a case like that, me and my wife we listened to a case, we handled the case. By the time we finished handling the case, we came back home and she just said, "Ah, SD, how did God even help us with this matter? That this matter never came up all through our marriage." I said, "I don't even know. But only one thing that I know was that I was just resolved as a young man to practice the truth. I was resolved to practice the truth." It was about money. It was about money. This—one account, two accounts, three accounts, this and that account. So the point I'm making—and I just think back to the point that there was a point one time when we newly got married that the matter came up. And I just remember that all that resolved that matter then was that, "Okay, if you say you will not join money together, you can be spending your own, but let us be spending all my own together." So we were spending all my own together. And then over time, I didn't know when her own entered into my own and there was no time again we ever discussed, until we just found out we are coming to a point now that nobody owns anything again in the house. But that was what was just said then at that point that, "Ehen, you can hold your own now, since you have learned that you should not share with Brother... men cannot be trusted." I said, "Please, just hold on to your own. But please let's be sharing my own." And when I bring my money, this is what I have, this is how we will do it, this is how we will do it. And when that went for several years, she didn't know when she turned. And I did not even know when she turned. It was after about 15 years into our marriage, we now just said, "Ah, SD, *gba owo yi, ka jo da gbogbo owo po nsin*." We did not even know the hour, we did not know the period. You see what I'm trying to say, look outside and look at the plant. Or ask yourself a very simple question: when did you become this tall? What hour? What day? This height that you have now, can you tell me the day of the year and the hour that you got to this height? Can anybody? Maybe the younger generation can try. I mean, can you tell us the exact hour that you got to this height? You get the point I'm trying to bring out. What I'm trying to say is that what is important is a continuous growth. Growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord. How matters are resolved many times you cannot tell. But once there is no growth, it is activities of thief. Steal! Taking joy away, taking peace away, taking communion with God away, taking fellowship with each other away. It's happening in families now, no quiet time again, no family altar, no this. Thieves! Thieves are just going on. By the time you come to many, many years later, what we will find is desolation. They have become desolate. What I'm trying to make you see is that before the wolf can act, the thief must have acted. And you are the thief by the activities that you—forget about the other person. You! What are your activities? Are you a thief? Are you stealing? Are you killing? Are you destroying? Or are you a house of prayer? You see when the correct—in temple, when we don't buy and sell, when we don't switch falsely, when we don't incense and, you know, following after idols. That one is very, very simple. How do we follow after idols today? He said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. These things shall be added." So how do we follow after idols? When there is something we prioritize more than the Lord. Is there something that is more important to you than the truth? I was talking to a brother about something with his—some of his workers. I said, "Bro, let's be careful. The Lord said if they make us to go one mile, we go two miles. Even if they take our shirt, let's give them the cloth with it." He said, "Ah, Bro. Wole, *e wo, e si'yan sile, Bible ni yen. Ma face won.*" Then I said, "Bro, this is not the Bible, this is reality." He said nothing can be more real than what Jesus said on this matter. He said, "Look, Bro. Wole, look, *e je ki a ko Bible si ibi kan*." What am I trying to say? Is there something more real to you than the truth? I hope you are not following other gods? Is God really your God? Don't forget what I said about truth in that last meeting. Truth is first a person. It is following Jesus. Can you just follow Jesus' instruction? Can you just do what he says? Can you just do what he is? Can't you stop following other gods? You are following your reasoning, you are following your mind, you are following philosophy, you are following—no, *won so pe awa ko ba won wi*—what did God say? I'm showing you activities of the thieves. Activities of the thieves in your life. And how it affects your home. And how does it finally fall on the home? How does it fall on the home? That's the last scripture we will read. How does it fall on the home? Another very familiar scripture again. Very familiar scripture. Verse one, Psalm 133 verse one. Let's go together. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Now we are talking about—we have finished now, your house is house. We are talking about now your house, now your home. Are we together now? How does it—you can see that all of these activities now, how does it affect the home? How does it make your home not to be a house of prayer? Can you call your home, your matrimonial home, a house of prayer? Can you call that your home—husband and wife, your relationship with each other—can you call it a house of prayer, your home? Is it a place where God is met? Is it a place where daily, encounter of life upon life? Your children, life is being imparted upon them. You do family altar, everybody is inspired. You get the point I'm making. You do devotion, inspire... you feel the presence of God in your home. You will know when your home is peaceful. Am I correct, brethren? Am I correct? You know! You know when your home is not peaceful. How is your home? That house where you dwell, how is it? How is it? How does it impact upon your home? It says—and I want to read these three verses into one because the message is in the last verse. Look at it. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." The factor that destroy unity is when the house is a what? Is a den of robbers. If the husband is a den of robbers, it destroys unity. If the wife is a den of robbers, it destroys unity. But as I've said, one correct house can also solve the problem. But what makes brethren not to dwell in unity is when activities of the thief is going on in either of the house, or in both of the houses. It's either that. But where those things are not going on, you see brethren will dwell together in unity. What scattered the house, the home of Jacob and his children? When the brother began to plan against Joseph, backbite Joseph, father love him this thing, that thing, love him, did that, love him, and the father too was not very, very fair. You are making coat for this one, you didn't make for others. And what happened to that home? Scattered. Activities of the thief. The children too further put it well. *Olori elosi e de ti de. Oya, ya k'a da danu! Omo ale.* And then they sold him off. What, what, why couldn't that home dwell in unity? Activities of the thieves. So what this scripture is saying that how good and how pleasant it is, if individually we can deal with the activities of—if our house can be called a house of prayer so that brethren can dwell in what? In unity. Individually go and deal with yourself. It's about you. It's about you. Is the cloth dry or wet? That is what we should be thinking about. If it is not there, it cannot be coming out. And when you say, "Ah, certain things are there by default because you are in the image of God," that's why we're talking about anger. And I show you when the spirit of God is working on it. You will become—you'll now see what the Bible says, when the Bible says, "Be slow to what? To anger." You will see slowness! And that is when the spirit of God has taken control. It will be so slow. God do get angry, but he said God is slow to—he will wait, he would have done it, then... but look at us today. *Ori e o pe ni? Se ori e o pe? Wo! Ma bi mi ninu o! Ma bo! Wo! Wo! Wo!* Say, "I've—look, I'm tired!" You have lived with your wife only six months, you are tired. God can wait for you for 17 years, waiting until he will save you. He's slow to anger. That's why the Bible says, "Be not quick in your spirit to anger, for anger dwells in the bosom of a fool." I hope I've answered the question. Let me quickly answer the question. You see there is a way many of these things—"He made me angry!" No, it is because it is there. When the thing is dry, when they squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze, nothing will come out. Go and check it today. Many of us say that, "Oh, he made me..." he made me—no, it's only because it's there. You see some people—another brother came to me, said, "Look, I'm fed up with—I don't even think I married a Christian. I'm fed up with this sister!" I said, "How old is the marriage?" He said, "Sir, it's about a year plus." I laughed. I said, "You don't have a problem in your marriage." Ah, he looked at me again. "Please, sir, like you don't understand what is happening." I said, "This sister, she really..." I said you don't have a problem in your marriage. He said, "So what is going on?" I said, "You are trying to marry." You have done the ceremony, now you need to marry. "Sir, what do you mean?" Till today, I met that boy years later. He said, "Sir, I keep remembering these things that changed my marriage." He came to me, I said, "Look at this. Look at this." I said, "Those things you are talking about your wife, they are her weakness. They are her weakness. Eh?" I said, "Look at this. Look at your hand. You have your hole. But do you notice that if these places are not there, will this hand be free?" He said, "No, it will not be free. It will just be like this." I said, "So would you be able to use them like this?" He said, "No." I said, "So because they needed to be free, is why these places are there. It is your strength that makes you weak. The same thing is your wife." I said, "You know what you will do? Anytime you see your wife's weakness, don't try to stay like this. Don't want to enjoy your wife's strength. When you get into your marriage, once you see something coming out of the weakness, eh," I said, "enter into it. This one, put this one there. This one, put this one there. This one, put this one there." I said, "After some time, let your wife too be doing the same." I said, "After some time you will become like this." I said, "So go and marry the weakness of your wife." Do you know years later, that brother came to me? He said, "Sir, our marriage has changed." You see the point I'm making is, the point, the point I'm making is just a critical—you know, a very critical point that many times we enter into marriage clothed, wet with activities of thief. So once the husband wine us small, "Say, you are the one causing it!" It's only coming out because the cloth is already wet with several activities. Anger, backbiting, impatience. You understand? It's wet with it. So any small whine, *o l'owo lohun.* "Heh! Heh! O l'owo lohun! Eni ti o l'owo sibe lo n s'ina re jade be yen. Ma j'aya de wara wara. Ta lo fe lo mi? Wara! In fact, ko to te die bayi, a ko ma san." "Look, like I mention then, look, this woman, just about a year plus, my mind—heh! Ewo, were ni ori e si da ru! Wo! Ko kuro ni ile yi! O n pa mi!" A believer! "I say ko kuro, wo! A ni kuro ni ile yi, o n pa mi!" Somebody you married just a year ago that you said, "Ah, oh, my sugar! Ah, I've found the love of my heart!" I said, "Bro, you told me just a year ago that you found the love of your heart. And now you are telling me just after a year plus..." I said, "The problem is not with this lady, the problem is with you." "O ni sir ekeji ti e!" and that is the problem. People don't understand so many things about self, the activities of the thief and their spouse. But you see, I want to beg you, who gave me this? If you deal with the activities of the thief, it's a good thing when brethren dwell together in unity. Oh, my time says two minutes past twelve. Please, let me close the meeting. Look at what the Bible—let me just play, let me read down. It says, "It is like the precious ornament upon the head that ran down the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirt of his garment." What is that? That is a comparison. Is that not? It's that when they dwell in unity, it will be like this. Is that not? Then verse three again. As the dew of Hermon. Is that not still a comparison? *Abi?* It has not—we are yet to see the end of the verse. As the dew that descend upon the mountain of Zion. It's that still a comparison? Are you following it? Still a comparison. Now, remove all the comparison. Remove it. It's like the precious ointment. Just read verse one and the last sentence in verse three. You will get the meaning of that verse. Let's go together now. Psalm 133:1, 3 "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity... for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." That is the meaning of that verse. Once we don't dwell in—once we cannot describe our home as a home of unity, what we are missing in our home is that the Lord cannot command life. He said, "I have come that they may have life." So you will not have life. The Lord command life when brethren dwell in unity. It is there. That's why I said it is the activities of the thief that is making life not to be commanded in your home. You see there the Lord commands his blessing, there! When they dwell there, there! Is your house a house where God command life? Is your house—look at your house. Is it a house where God command life? Those of us who are not yet married, what happens in your room with the opposite sex? What happens in your room? You and computer? Is it pornography, masturbation and all of that? Can God command life in such a situation? For those of us that are married, look at your relationship with your spouse. Look at your relationship. Can God command life when brethren dwells in unity? It is there. That's why I said it is the activities of the thief that is making life not to be commanded in your home. It's individual. How is your home? Is it a place where God is to command life? Is it a house of God? So you can look at it from both angle. My house, this body is house. Then my home, is it a place where God command life? He said, "I have come that they may have life." What is happening in your own home? What is being commanded? What are you passing on? When brethren come, when they come, what is being commanded in your home? Is it life? I went to this far area called Ibowo to visit a brother and a sister. It was around Lagos area here. And then we were just talking. And then I don't know what we were discussing. And then the wife said, "Ah, Daddy, you know we don't do quiet time. And the husband responded, "Is it only me? Can I do quiet time with you? You and I to do family altar. You are not the one that will do family altar. You and I, it's better I do mine alone. You and I in this house, it's killing." "Sister, what happened?" "Daddy, what you just saw now is what is happening." These are two sound believers. Then how does this command life? This one is saying this one, this one is saying that one. And I keep telling people, activities of the thief is about the individual. It's about self in us. It's about us. It doesn't only have to do with the other person. It has to do with you. Is the cloth dry or wet? That is what you should be thinking about. If it is not there, it cannot be coming out. And when you say ah, certain things are there by default because you are in the image of God, that's why we're talking about anger. And I show you when the spirit of God is working on it. You will become—you'll now see what the Bible says, when the Bible says, "Be slow to what? To anger." You will see slowness! God do get angry, but he said God is slow to—he will wait, he would have done it, then... but look at us today. *Heh! Ma bi mi ninu o! Ma bo! Wo!* "I've—look, I'm tired!" You have lived with your wife only six months, you are tired. God can wait for you for 17 years, waiting until he will save you. He's slow to anger. That's why the Bible says, "Be not quick in your spirit to anger, for anger dwells in the bosom of a fool." I hope I've answered the question. Let me quickly answer the question. You see there is a way many of these things—it's because it is there. When the thing is dry, when they squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze, nothing will come out. Go and check it today. Many of us say that, "Oh, he made me..." he made me—no, it's only because it's there. I want to beg you, if you deal with the activities of the thief, it's a good thing when brethren dwell together in unity. Oh, my time—let me close the meeting. Look at what the Bible—let me just play, let me read down. It says, "It is written," brother, what is written concerning you is that you are supposed to be called the house of prayer. It said, "It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer." That is what is written concerning you. That is what is written concerning me. He said, "My house shall be called the house of prayer." It shall be called the house of prayer. That is what is written concerning you. That is what your life should fulfill. That is what your home should fulfill. He said, "It is written." Can you speak to—can you speak to your home? Can you speak to your life and say, "Look, it is written concerning you, you are to be called the house of prayer." Can you prophesy to your life? Can you prophesy to yourself and say, "No, enough of the activities of the thief. I will no more be a den of robbers. Not be a den of thieves. It is written concerning me. It is written concerning the Christ is to be called the house of prayer. The house of prayer. The house of prayer. The house of prayer." Oh, Baba. [Speaker 1 singing in Yoruba] *Oluwa mo mi, mo mi bo ti fe* *Oluwa mo mi, dakun mo mi bo ti fe* *Bi o ba mo mi, aye mi a dara* *Bi o ba mo mi, aye mi a dun wo* *Alamo koko, aye mi o* *Oluwa mo mi, mo mi bo ti fe* *Alamo koko, heh, aye mi o* *Oluwa mo mi, mo mi bo ti fe* In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.