Mf June 18 2018 Dying Daily

[Speaker 1] It wants us to see something very, very crucial. What is crucial? Crucial that you need to know that a mark has been set. And what do you need to do as a man? What am I to do as a man in my marriage? I must run this race with perseverance. Laying aside every... there are things that will not want me to love my wife as Christ loved the church. I must run it with perseverance. As the woman, what is before her? She must run this race with perseverance also, laying aside every weight. But in order to do it, what must they do? Looking unto... looking unto who? Looking unto Jesus. One great mistake couples make today is that they look to themselves. When you look at your husband, you won't be able to submit to him. When you look at your wife, you won't be able to love her as you should. But there is something that the Bible says: looking unto Jesus. There is a Jesus what somebody used like a triangle. They are both at the base. Jesus is at the top of the triangle. You understand me? When they both look at Jesus, what happens? What happens to them? There is a converging factor. Something will be pulling them towards themselves. Although ordinarily if they look away from Jesus, what will happen? They will be diverging. Even if they go straight, two parallel lines, what will happen? They will still not converge. But if they both look towards Jesus, what happens? They will be tending towards... the husband will be changing towards... it's not towards the wife. Please note that. Every man will give account of himself to God. Whether your wife submit to you or not, you will account for why you did not love her as Christ loved the church. God will not say, "Since I know you could not love her because she was not respectful, so you are justified." Nothing will justify you. There will be no reason why you should not have obeyed your Lord. The same thing for the wife. There will be no reason why she should not have obeyed her Lord. Because we must draw something that was drawn from last week so serious: It is not the wife that says, "Husband, my husband, love me." It is God that instructed. And when you look at the brother, it is not our sister should realize: It is not the brother that says, "Submit to me, I am your head." Is it the brother that says so? So when you disregard the brother, who is being disregarded? The Lord. That is why the Bible says every man will give account of himself to God. It is the same way in the Bible says do not return any man evil for evil. When people do you evil, and you say, "Tooth for tooth," an eye for an eye, Jesus said you have heard that before, but now I am telling you: what should you do? Love your enemy. Pray for those who despitefully use you, is it not? Do good to them that do evil, is it not? So that you will be like who? Your father. What I am trying to say is this: so that you don't become a spiritual bastard in your marriage, you don't look at your spouse. Or else you will become a spiritual bastard; you will not be like your father. [Native language]. I am just trying to make you understand why marriages are having serious issues. Instead of looking unto Jesus, and then the two imperfect creations, what happened? What happened to the two imperfect creations? They begin to converge. Jesus is what is converging them. The husband is not looking at the wife's thorn because she is still not perfect; she is still the church militant. The wife not looking at the husband's thorn. What are they both doing? They are just looking at Jesus, the person who gave the command. They are looking at their commander. They are looking at their commander. They are looking at their commander. The more they look at their commander, what will happen? They will be converging. So how exactly do they look at the commander? How did Jesus spell these things out? Now, let us ask ourselves: that thing that made God to say "Nevertheless," what is it? Why did God say, "This is a great mystery"? The mystery that there is a pattern. If you don't pattern after that, the marriage is a failure. It is not how many children, how many cars. No, it is a pattern. If it is not that pattern, the marriage is a failure. That is the mystery. This is a great mystery. That's the mystery of marriage: that the success is not in the material things; the success is in meeting the mark of the sanctuary. Now, it says "Nevertheless." God knows that there are issues with you. Nevertheless. He said, "I've talked about Christ and the church, look at the standard." Nevertheless, husband, love your wife as yourself. Wife, submit to your husband. Now, what is it in us that God is perfecting? What is it in us that God is perfecting? What is that thing that God is dealing with? What is in us that God is dealing with? Self. Is that not true? Is that not true? Is that very true? It is the self. Isn't it? And we say the solution is to look at Jesus. Is that not? So let's look at what are we to do with the self. Husband, what are you to do with the self? Wife, what are you to do with the self? How do you handle self? What are you to do with that self? Can we quickly look at something? Can we look at the Bible quickly? The husband love the... it means the husband loved the wife unto death. Am I correct? Am I correct? Am I correct? Because Christ loved the church unto death. Is that not the standard? Okay. It means the wife submit also unto death. Am I correct? Am I correct? The true church will die where? At the post. Am I correct? So let's look at Luke 9. Luke chapter 9. Are you there? Let's try every translation that we can, but I'll be using the Amplified translation for our discussion. Luke 9, let's look at verse 23. It's a very popular scripture, but many times it is not a reality in our marriage. You need to tell yourself, can you tell yourself, "I must die daily." Let us pray one minute. God, teach me and help me to die daily. Lord, so that my marriage can be a success. Lord, teach me the wisdom of dying daily. Lord, help me. As you teach me the wisdom of dying daily, help me to die daily. Help me daily; the dying is a daily thing. It's a daily thing, that's what we want to look at. Lord, help me; strengthen me to die daily. That is the life of the disciple. We die daily, that is the self must die daily. You must be giving way daily for the Lord. It's a daily thing. Daily the self will be dying. It's a daily thing. From glory to glory he is changing us. Ask the Lord, "God, help me, that daily self will be giving way and you will be increasing. Daily I will be decreasing. Jesus will be increasing. Lord, that I may decrease daily, that I may die daily, that you may increase daily. Daily, Lord. Daily, Lord." In the name of Jesus. Thank you, Blessed Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Let's look at the scripture. We'll try several translations but be rounding up with the Amplified. NLT. [Speaker 2] He said to the crowd: Any of you who want to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily and follow me. [Speaker 3] Then he said to them all: If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. [Speaker 4] And Jesus spoke to all the people that were there. Perhaps someone wants to obey me, he said to them. That person must say no to what he wants for himself in this life. He must live every day like a person that has only one day to live. He must obey me, and he must become my servant. [Speaker 1] I like that, the way that thing came, although I'll be using Amplified. Please take it again. [Speaker 4] And Jesus spoke to all the people that were there. Perhaps someone wants to obey me... [Speaker 1] That's the word that is interesting to me. What is "perhaps"? Suppose. Supposing. Possibly. In case. Peradventure. Because the truth is that in many of the ventures, we don't obey him. In many of the ventures, we set him aside. He said, "But if in case... if I become a matter in your heart, if in case you feel like following me in your marriage. If the case... if the case in your marriage..." You understand me? There are several cases. Are you following me? There are several marriages, there are several cases. But if the case... that's what interests me in that translation. It just touched my spirit. If the case, because honestly, I was speaking to a brother, and I said, "See, bro, it doesn't matter what she has done. The instruction is that you need to love her." He said, "Sir, it's like you don't understand what I'm saying." I said, "This woman..." I said, "Bro, until your heart agrees first with this matter, we cannot go forward." There is a matter your heart has not agreed. He said, "To which extent do we need to love?" I said, "Until we die." He said, "God forbid." So there is a matter that he has not settled. But if the case... there are several cases in many marriages. But I'm asking you, what is the case in your own marriage? And listen, for those of us who are not yet married, who are not yet married, you need to ask yourself the question: what will be your case? What will be your case? There was a case we were discussing some times ago and the young lady said, "Sir, my own is not for better for worse; it's for better for best. If the young one is not ready, me, I'm not ready... we can divorce and remarry." That was her case. I don't know what your case is. But the Lord was raising a case. He said peradventure. I don't know whether you understand the strength of that English. The strength is that you have a choice to do otherwise. Obedience is not true obedience until the person obeying has an opportunity to do otherwise. If I put sword at your throat and I say, "Now, give me your money! Give me your money now or else!" If you obey me, it's because you cannot do otherwise. Do you understand me? So that's not true obedience. True obedience is, "Put this thing down for me, if you so choose." So he now chooses whether he wants to do it or doesn't want to do it. The matter I'm trying to raise with you is this: to follow the pattern of the Lord in your marriage is a choice. Young people who are not yet married, see, it is a choice. There are some things you must decide before you enter. He says that man that wanted to build a house, what's the best thing for him? First count the cost. See whether you can complete it. I'm telling you, several singles will have lived a better life if they did not marry. But they want the joy of marriage, but they don't want the responsibility of marriage. Somebody is praying, "God, give me a husband. Papa, I am 33 years now. Papa, show me mercy. Won't I have a wife? Brother Comfort married five years ago; he has four children now. We left school together. God, remember me." Now you will be asking God for something. Are you understanding me? It was a cry for something. And now when you got inside, God says, "This is a cell; you see, it's not the way you want me to run it." Are you understanding me? It is good to count the cost. The reality of the Christian faith is that Jesus did not deceive anybody. Am I very clear? Jesus did not deceive anybody. The matter is clear. When they told him about marriage, for those of you that came for the very first meeting, and when he spoke about marriage and they said, "Ah, if the matter be like this, then it is good for a man not to marry a woman." Jesus Christ said, "This is not given to everybody but for those who will take it." Jesus did not say, "I know, you see, no, still marry, it's not as difficult as that now. Why are you... no, I'm just trying to..." He did not lower the standard. He didn't change his mind. He said not everybody can do this. Not everybody will do this. But he didn't say that, "You see, no, the case is not as difficult as that now. Why are you... no, I'm just trying to paint the picture, it's not that..." He didn't reduce the picture. The picture was just there. You see, what I've come to discover: if you are not strongly resolved about obeying the Lord, the nevertheless will not take place in your marriage. You know he told Peter, "Cast it down." He said, "Lord, I have toiled all night. Anyway, since you say so." He said, "Nevertheless, since the Lord says so." You will find it difficult because... Lord, how will I love a woman? Nevertheless, since the Lord says so. You will find it difficult because, for those of us who are married here, my [unclear: wura], I'm always very pleasant. [Sound of clapping] Wow, isn't it? You can see her laughing. There are times when it looks like, "Do I stone this young man against the wall so that he can be wiser?" Oh, that's the reality. People paint wrong picture about marriages. And that's why many people don't enjoy their marriages. They will paint a picture of walking by Caribbean sea, the boy is an angelic host, he's just moving, just perfect in your dream and in your thoughts, and he's just cool like going by by the Holy Ghost water and everything is just still in your soul. It's not like that. It's not like that. Marriage is work; it's hard work. The Bible says seek peace and pursue it. You are thinking it is running away; you keep pursuing it. [Native language interjection] How do you say seek peace and then pursue it again? What is that telling you? As you are finishing in the morning like this, another one's again in the afternoon. You are seeking the peace, it's running; you keep pursuing the peace. You try to overrun and take hold of Mr. Peace, or else your home will not be peaceful. So don't let people deceive you with having time in our homes; it looks like God, this woman... Lord will say, "Son, be not quick in your spirit to anger, for anger rests in the bosom of a fool. Don't be foolish." Okay, Lord. Okay, Lord. That is the reality of marriage. But as we obey the Lord, you see the two of you tending towards each other, and that is the joy of it. Before you find out, the two of you are tending towards each other as you are obeying the Lord. Before you know it, you're tending towards each other and then you now begin to... ah, what you think, I'm sorry, a good wife should not do like this. I'm sorry, my wife, a good husband should not do like this. This is how Jesus... they are both tending towards the Lord. They are both tending towards the Lord. And that is it. That's the mystery. They are both tending. But if they leave the Lord out of it, and everybody is going parallel, go and watch it and see what will happen. So please, don't forget where we left the matter: perhaps, in case. What is the case in your life? Singles, if the case is that I will not follow the Lord, please don't marry. You will enjoy your life being single. You still have a choice. You still have a choice to decide yes or no. You still have a choice. Innocent, you still have a choice even though you are engaged. You still have a choice. So count the cost. [Native language]. But please, the reality I'm trying to play is that don't let anybody deceive you about marriage. Some people talk about compatibility; I tell them there's nothing like that. After you think you are compatible, the boyfriend-girlfriend thing you do, "Ah, my sweetie, my sugar," by the time you marry... that sister will always dress one way because you are always a stranger when you come. When you are now both together, you discover that the sister has some other things. What looks like beauty was just for public... people go out, they dress up. Don't you understand me? When people are going out, what do they do? A lot of things are covered. They dress up. But when they get back, what do they do? They become themselves; they undress. That's why you don't take a man by his good sermon on the pulpit; to know him, go to his home. He may be very gentle on pulpit; he may be a wild lion at home. Because at home, what will he do? He will undress. Do you know why we dress up when we go out? A lot of things are at stake. For some of us, we don't want to lose our job, so you must dress up. Do you understand me? But when you get home, nothing seems to be at stake. If you misbehave, isn't it my marriage? Isn't it my life? But in the office, even if you have headache, you manage to continue. "Ah, why didn't you rest?" "No, I want to make sure..." You want to be sure that your boss don't sack you. You don't want query; you want promotion. So we dress up to go out. [Speaker 1 laughs] You know, so it's very important to know that when you get into the house, what do people do? They undress. That sister that looks... what do they do? They undress. They undress. What does that mean? The brother who normally look well-shaved, cool hair, good suit and all of that, by the time you both enter into the house together and you both see for the first night... Innocent, sleep well. You know you never saw that. Oh, there are many things. Compatibility, you will work it out. There's nothing like... you work... you make yourself compatible. The ingredient of incompatibility is selfishness. You work at compatibility. You work it out. You work... you work compatibility. Because after you have done all the outside decoration, by the time you come inside, there will be fresh discoveries. My wife never knew that I'm a bad organizer of money until we married. Thank God I didn't... maybe that's why God said I should not read accounting. Maybe I will have become one useless manager and then they will have thrown me behind the bar, even though I did not steal money. But when it comes to organizing money, it was when we got married that I knew that... no. So at a point, I have to hand over the family account to her because several times we run into crisis. Not because I'm dishonest about money, but you know, you just keep spending. You don't talk about, "Heh, this is what is left; this is what you cannot do." You... when I discovered that... so we have to hand over to save the family... Are you understanding me? That's the brother that is preaching to you now that looks like a perfect brother. There are practical things of life about people. Apart from this, preaching, teaching, it's just gifts of God and grace. You are marrying a person, a person, not a spirit. Human being. [Native language]. You are marrying human being. So you're not marrying spirit, you're not marrying grace in the man. You're marrying a man who have the grace of God and that grace is changing him. But what you marry is not the grace in him; it's the man that grace is changing. And you give birth to human being. So it's the human being. And what God said about that human being is what? He said he gave some to be apostles, some to be what? Prophets, some to be what? Evangelists, some to be what? Pastors, some to be what? Teachers, for what? For the perfecting... so what did God say about his saints? If they are perfect, will God still be perfecting them? So God did not hide them when he was giving... when God said marry my daughter, he didn't say I gave you a perfect... I gave you a perfect being. God never said that; he said I'm perfecting him. And so when you marry the boy too, God didn't say he... he said I'm perfecting him. So why did you enter into it and you just expect heaven everything, perfect expectation, perfect thought? Bro. You know what I tell people? We enter into marriage with what I call unjust and unfair expectations. And we want them fulfilled. Enter into marriage with a moderate expectation. I'm marrying a brother; despite all his grace, he still have... he still have things that God is perfecting. I'm marrying a sister; despite all the [unclear] that is in the fellowship, it's not in the home. You will soon know. By the time the first baby is coming and you say, "Ah, sister, [Native language]," [Native language]. Tomorrow again, you say, "Sister," [Native language]. A brother had to call me that, "I don't think my wife is spiritual again." Yes. He said, "I married a spiritual sister, a sister who was spiritual." So I... it was the sister that sent the text to me. She said, "Bro. Wole, my house is on fire. If you don't come now, maybe the fire will destroy something." So I had to go. When I got there, the brother was preparing his own case. By the time brother present his own and said it's okay, I said, "Why do you say so?" The major thing was that morning devotion when they want to do it, the sister was not ready again for it, it was not... any time you see, she just sleeping, "We'll do it; leave me" and all of that. So I now asked the brother three questions. I said, "You see, what I'm trying to say... that this..." I said, "Question number one: When did this start?" He said, "Hmm, it is just after our first baby came." I said, "Okay." I said, "All right. When the first baby came," I said, "I see." I said, "What happens in the night?" He said, "I don't know, I'm asleep." I said, "Okay." I said, "Okay. Okay, you don't know what happened in the night." I said, "Okay." I now told the brother my story. I said, "You see that our first baby that is taller than me now? Let me tell you something. When we had him as a baby, we normally do shift. My wife will be with him from this hour to this hour, then so she can just sleep; then I will carry him for about three, four hours a day. We'll do shift, shift, shift, so that by the morning, we are both able to do quiet time together. Then we are both able to pray at family altar." He now said, "Ah, I didn't realize that." I said she was awake through the night; you are sleeping. And now when the baby slept in the morning, you know babies are nocturnal animals when they first come. I said when the baby now slept when it was becoming daybreak, she now wanted to sleep is when you are calling her for quiet time. I said if you didn't sleep through the night and they called you for morning devotion by 5 AM, will you do it? He said I did not realize that; I'm sorry. I didn't see it that way. I said so, bro, the expectations were not fair, they were not correct. The point I'm trying to say is that we live as if there are two spirits in the house. So Jesus said perhaps. That's the matter that dragged him since. Brethren, perhaps, in case. What is the case in your own? The case Jesus drew is that perhaps. Please after the perhaps, can we read on a little now? Read on a little. 9:23. [background noise] [Speaker 4] Perhaps someone wants to obey me, he said to them. That person must say no to what he wants... [Speaker 1] Number one, what did he say? He must say no. What does that mean? He must say no to what he wants for himself in this life. Please, what does that mean practically? Can we be practical with that? Please, is it the husband that is demanding this one? Wife, is it the husband? Husband, is it the wife? If anybody want to follow me, is it not? You want to follow Jesus. You need to say what? To what? Please, what does that mean practically? Can we practicalize it? Please demonstrate. Practical example. Okay, Amplified will amplify it for us. Amplified will amplify it for us. Okay. [Speaker 5] Uncle, it's like when you wake up in the morning and you are down down, and you want to do quiet time. You want to sleep; your body wants to sleep. But you must let go of sleep to do what is the responsible thing. [Speaker 1] Okay, that's one. That's one practical way to look at it. Okay, read on. Read on. [Speaker 4] He must live every day like a person that has only one day to live. [Speaker 1] Like he have only one day to live. A lot of things that will become important that are not normally important, is it not? If you have only one day to live... listen, what he's saying is that several things are important to us where you are going. But now you have only one day to live, you are to die tomorrow. What will be the most important thing to you today? What will become important to you? If you have only one day to live. Going to heaven. Pray. See in the last hour... pray, obey, and then do everything to the last breath. I won't even go outside. Somebody offend me... you know, all the teddy bear, take me out, let's go to [unclear] together, just to walk. You know Kind of things why we window shop? Window shopping is very unreasonable for men. How can I enter a shop and not buy anything? You know, those things that are quite impractical to a man. But this is your wife, and she wants it, and sometimes it's as if you are hurting her by not doing those things. And you have to actually go out of your way to do those things that don't come naturally to you. Window shopping may not be a priority, man. That's... it may not be a priority. All right, now. One thing that's so interesting to me is that the fact that it says if you have a day to live, the only thing that matter to you is how you will end. Other thing will not matter. So if you live as someone who had a day to live, then it means that you are living in view of eternity. To live in view of eternity is to live in view of the demands of the Lord and not your interest. You live in view of eternity. You live in view of what the Lord says. It's not [Native language]. Eternity is before you. What the Lord said. Can I take it again? It says let him deny himself, that is let him disown himself. Let him forget himself. Let him lose sight of himself and his own interest, refuse and give up himself. Can I take it again? It says let him deny himself, that is let him disown himself. Let him forget himself. Let him lose sight of himself and his own interest, refuse and give up himself and take up his cross daily. Listen, oh! Listen, oh! And take up his cross daily and follow me. Now, what's the Lord saying? The only way for a man to love his wife as Christ loved the church is to ever remember it is the Lord who commands it. Once you relate that thing to your wife, you will never live acceptably to the Lord. Once a wife don't submit as the church submit to Christ, it is not about the husband. What has she done? She have refused to follow the Lord. When he was talking about forgetting yourself, he's not saying that towards who? Towards your spouse. He's telling you what you need to do with the self that is in you. That thing that is in you, you need to forget it. You need to deny him. You need to refuse it and do what? Follow the Lord. So what happens generally today, you know what happens? What happens is that people enter into marriage as Christians but not as disciples. But the real word to use is that people enter into marriage as crowd. He was speaking to the crowd. He wanted people to come out of the crowd and become a disciples. There are several crowds today in marriage. They call them Christians, but they are crowds. They are crowds. If you want to move away from the crowd, he said he was speaking to the crowd. "In case you want to follow me, you want to leave the crowd." Among the crowd, what come first is themselves. Outside the crowd, who come first is the Lord. Among the crowd, so that the matter like she was trying to say, let's now put them together: I said the ingredient of incompatibility is selfishness. I want. She wants. If my preoccupation is to love her, if her preoccupation is to submit, what will really happen is that you'll be saying, "Okay, let me do it for you." She'll say, "No, don't worry, I'll do it myself." "No, sister, you are tired." "No, bro, I'm tired; okay, don't worry, I'll go and do it for you. No, sister, let me, I will be able to do it." That should be the struggle in the marriage. I want to go and cook, I'm tired. You are tired? Okay, don't worry, I will go and do it for you. No, sister, let me, I will be able to do it. No, don't worry, bro, I should be able to do it. That should be the real struggle in the marriage. It will not be if the consciousness is the Lord. Look, I have seen this among Christians. As a student, I had opportunity to live in a small fellowship of believers, of disciples. It is from all according to their ability, to all according to their need. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? So we cook in a common way, we do everything. You know what normally becomes as if we are struggling with each other? "No, don't worry, I will do the cooking tonight." "No, bro, you are tired." "No, bro, your lecture was from three to five. No, I've taken your own till seven; no, I should do the cooking. No, don't worry, bro, I should be able to do it." It was because they are disciples. They have lost sight of themselves. Among crowds, you know what will be the problem? "Now I go home last; somebody will have cooked the food." I'm talking about crowd. They call them Christians, but they are crowd. What we have today in most marriages are crowd, not disciples. You see, self is a matter that God is perfecting in us. It is still there. The self, sometimes you will see it come. But when the matter is forget... he says refuse him. It's not your spouse that will... no, it is you that will refuse. No, no, no, the Lord said. She does something. You feel like it is slap. He says do good to them that hate you. You turn it to good. Perhaps she slap you on the left and you say you turn your other one. Is it a feeling of love? Hallelujah. Is it that kind of feeling that you have? What's the feeling that you have? The feeling of revenge. Please, I want us to be... look, if you are not practical with Christianity, you will not live the Christian life. Until you understand that you must daily ask God for strength, you will always be a failure. You must daily ask God for strength to live the Christian life. Flesh and blood cannot live the Christian life. It is as we draw strength from the Lord. Because if somebody slap you, what is the feeling? The feeling is me, me, my... the true child of my father, ah, me! The first thing is a feeling to retaliate. Am I correct? Nobody do you evil and the person is the feeling... no, the first then something holds you back. Am I correct? You remember no, the Lord said. You begin to moderate, you begin to... the struggle now be with yourself. You feel like... you'll be struggling with yourself inside. Something will be... the self will be... then you bring yourself down. Because if you misbehave there as you are going... ah, I've not done well today. Lord, Baba, I've not done well. Because the true feeling would be that you start struggling... you'll be... it's not the person that will tell you to deny yourself. It is you and your Lord. You begin to have the struggle; you begin to hold yourself back. No, the Lord said. The thing is doing you, you say, "God help me. Ah! Oh, this brother... what this brother did, I feel like cutting his head. Lord, Lord." And as you yield to the Lord, what happens? Your emotion stabilize. That is what it means to die. You are learning to do what? To die. You must learn to die. What did I say? You must learn it. You must learn to die. The Bible says those who by reason of use, it is by use that you have your senses developed. Some people, their senses will remain as infants. They are growing old, they are not growing up. You will ask them, "When did you get converted?" They will tell you 2001. When you check their life, they're looking like yesterday Christian. In the way they talk, in the way they react to things, in the way they fight in the office, "Heh, heh!" you will be wondering, "Is this person?" No, it is because they are growing old but they are not growing up. They are not learning to... it is as you die daily that you grow up. [Native language]. Grow up. Grow up by dying. You die; as you die daily, you are growing up. You are growing up. Don't you understand that what makes God God is that he's slow to anger, he's full of goodness and mercy. What makes God God? I tell... two weeks ago we were saying go and read the Judges. They will sin now, God will punish them, they will say, "God, we are sorry, oh." God will release them again. They will sin again, God will punish them... do you understand me? Have you read Judges? You see, "Ah, God, don't you know that they will still go back? Is God foolish? Don't you know they will come again?" "Lord, we are sorry, we won't do it again." He'll save them again. When that one die, they will go back again. You punish, they will come again; you release them. This is you! Can you come back over and over again with person like that? Let me tell you what make... if you remove patience, mercy, and goodness from God, you'll find out that what we will have left is what we cannot understand. If God don't first love, we will not have known that God is powerful. If God has remained there without first loving us, coming to our level, nobody will have ever known that God is powerful, God is miraculous, God is holy. It was we first knew his love before we know his holiness. If David was there, "Heh, they have offended me. Yes! Hellfire! Adam, you disobey me? Finish for you," and he stayed there. Who will be worshipping him today? Who will say, "I adore you, God of mercy"? Who will be there to worship him? Let me tell you, your greatness will remain obscure until you can die to self. Your greatness will remain obscure until you die to self. The true greatness in you will never come out. The real you, the grace of God in your life, the giftings of God, the power of God in your life. I will show you next two weeks when we come together. Look, you can make the power of God effectual in your marriage by daily dying. Let us go home, let us go and think about those things about yourself that you cannot give away. Think about it. Think about it. The way the Lord started with me was that what is this if I ask you, Wole, that you will not do, that you will not be able to give away? And I began to think, "Eh, God don't ask me this. God don't ask me this," and I became so... so... I got to a point that I said, "God, do with my life whatever you want to do with it." By the time it was a fear to say that, "Ah! What if God go and say I become a taxi driver? Heh! Ah! What if God..." you know, God... God. I was suspicious of God. I was suspicious of him. I was afraid that he can just give me some kind of demand that you will not... but you must outgrow those things to know that even if God tells you to die today, it is for your good. Everything about God is love. Let us pray. We'll pick it from this place in two weeks' time. Please invite others. Invite couples. Invite husbands, invite wives. There is a need for a revival to start in our marriages. It can begin with you. Tell yourself, "I want to move out of the crowd." Move. Move. Move. There is a crowd. People who don't see the Lord, they don't want to follow the Lord. No, the... no, they have their own, their own. Can you refuse yourself? It's not about your husband or your wife. It's not about a brother. You are not obeying Jesus because a brother or a sister; no, it's about you and your Lord. You'll be accountable to him. Can you say, "Lord, Lord, in the matter of... in the matter of relationship with my husband, relationship with my wife, Lord, I want to move up from... from out of the crowd"? There is a crowd. I don't want to be the common thing where people fight, people quarrel, people beat themselves, people punch, that's what you hear everywhere today. "Heh, they are fighting. They are punching themselves. They cannot live peacefully. They are not compatible." That's the common thing. Can you move out of that crowd? Make up your mind to move out of the crowd. Move out of that crowd. Move out of the crowd. Take a decision. Take a quick decision in your heart. When I get into my marriage as a single person, no, I will move out of the crowd. I will not be among the crowd. I will not be among the commoners. The common thing is this: people are selfish, people are self-centered. [Native language]. That's the common thing. That's the common thing. But you can move out of that commoners. Leave the common life. Come to the life of grace and glory. There is a glorious life. Leave the commoners. Come... come out of the crowd. The life where the glory of God radiate and show forth. That is where we are called to. He said to show forth the praise of him who have called us out of darkness so that men may see your good work and glorify your Father. Your life should be a pleasure where you show forth the praise of God. People say, [Native language]. Does he not have feeling? Does he not have interest? Why is he so lost to himself? Why is he so forget... Ah! Does he not have emotions? Why is he like this? What kind of person is this? That is the mystery of your life. That is the light that shines in darkness. That's the light that shines in darkness. Take a decision and come out of the crowd. Come out of the crowd to follow the Lord. Come out of the crowd and say, "Lord, I will pattern my marriage." That's the pattern, the pattern of the sanctuary. Nevertheless, Lord, at your word. That's what Peter said: "At your word." Your word says I should love. Your word says I should submit. And as the... outside marriage, talk to God for your own life. And I said you have a choice to make. You can choose not to go that way. But I also tell you, it's not only in marriage that you need to die to self. The life of Christ will not come out of your life even in your daily Christian living. Your life will destroy evangelism. If somebody slap you in the market and you slap back, the following Sunday you're to go for evangelism and you meet the person, will you be able to preach? So even your Christian life will die. It's not only about marriage, but we are only saying how it applies to the matter of marriage. We are all called into discipleship to show forth the praise of him who have called us. It is a great mystery. It is a great mystery. And your marriage can reflect this mystery. Thank you, Everlasting Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Funmi, please close the meeting. [Speaker 6] Help us, Lord. Amen. Except you help us, help us, Lord. Amen. That we may die daily. Amen. Lord, help us. Amen. That we may die daily. Lord, you said we are... our essence is like grass that grows up and withers in a day. Help us to see ourselves outside of you as exactly what we are. Amen. So that, Lord, this life and everything about it will be more meaningless, so that dying is easier. Amen. Daily. Amen. Help us, oh God. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Father, Lord, I ask that your word will not leave us. Amen. Please, Lord, let this word not leave us. Amen. Let it go with us. Amen. Let it keep... help us to meditate on it. Amen. Let it keep being turned over and over and over and over in our heart. Amen. Until we see practically, Lord, that we are able to die. Amen. To self. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Lord, we pray for these meetings, we pray for this initiative, we pray for the empire, we ask that, Lord, it will grow. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen. We ask, oh God, we seek a revival. Amen. We seek a revival in home. Amen. We seek a revival in marriage. Amen. We seek a revival in family. Amen. We ask that it will start with us. Amen. And Lord, it will overflow. Amen. Beyond our imagination. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen. We ask that your blessing will abound over the empire. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Your hand of mercy and preservation will continually be around them. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Praise everyone of us as we depart from here that Lord, this matter will be a matter with us. Amen. Until we are more like you. Amen. We depart from the crowd continually and perpetually. Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you, Blessed Father. Amen. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. [Speaker 7] Can we share the grace in fellowship? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. Amen. Thank you, Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen.