My Peace I Give Unto U the Path to Peace (biblical Examples 2)

[Speaker 1] [Background music] Churchism and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God rightly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] "The chastisement for our peace was upon him." And so you could say that. And last week we were looking at the implication of how we can obtain this peace. We began a fortnight ago, and we continued on the matter on the path: how do we obtain this peace? We saw very clearly a fortnight ago, we said Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden," he said, "I will give you rest." Then the next thing was "take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul" in Matthew 11:28-29. And we saw that if we must obtain this peace, this rest, the simple thing is to just do what he says. Just do what Jesus says. You will find peace. People are not having peace today because they are not doing what he says. And last week, we were looking at the implication of what he said in Philippians 4:6-7, where the Bible says, "Be anxious about nothing, but in everything through prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard, will be a guard to your mind and to your soul." And we saw very well last week that we must understand that when we bring our matters to God, God don't first address the seemingly situation of the dying girl which we saw in Jairus. The first thing God addresses is our heart. The peace of God will first deal with your heart. God don't first change your situation; God first change you. The first thing is that you will experience change. After God is through with changing you, then you will start experiencing changes in your situation. And we were able to come to a close on that matter last week using also the example of Jairus, that in the case of the dying girl, Jesus first addressed the heart of the father. Now, I want us to look at something in the book of Genesis. Genesis—that was the journey of Israel when Israel needed to journey and go down to Egypt. I believe we are familiar with the background story. Joseph was sold by his brothers to Egypt with the belief that they have destroyed his destiny. But God was with Joseph. We saw how everything turned and Joseph became a prime minister in Egypt. So at this time, in every other part of human settlement, what was going on? There was famine. So people were traveling down to Egypt. That brought his brothers to Egypt to come and buy grain to sustain the family. Of course, when they got to Egypt, Joseph recognized them, but they could not recognize Joseph. Of course, he was fully in Egyptian regalia. Moreover, they saw him last when he was 17. Now he's 30. 13 years after, the teenager would have beards; a lot of things would have changed, no more like the small boy they used to know. But Joseph would recognize them very well because, but for his attire, I'm sure they would have still been able to recognize him in a way. And also in their wildest imagination, they would not think that he's still alive. They would not even think that if he's alive—any slave, maybe one—there's no connection between the Joseph they met and the Joseph in their wildest imagination. So they could not have connected it, but he recognized them. And then we are familiar with the story: Joseph dealt with them one way or the other, "bring your brothers," and eventually, Joseph revealed himself to them. And then when eventually he revealed himself to them, Joseph told them something. That is in Genesis 45. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?" But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come near to me." So they came near. Then he said, "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. I am the person that you sold into Egypt." So it's not a ghost talking to them, it's not a scam, it's reality. It's Joseph. "But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years, the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and save your life by a great deliverance. So now, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Hurry, go up to my father and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children, your children's children, your flock, your herd, and all that you have. Therefore, I will provide for you there, lest you and your household and all that you have come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.' And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you have seen, and you shall hurry and bring my father down here." Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him. Now the report, all of that came and then when you move down to Genesis 45:23: "And he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys loaded with good things of Egypt, ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, food for his father for the journey." So he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, "See that you do not become troubled along the way." So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you again for your continuous presence in our midst. The Bible says where two or three are gathered in your name, you are there. Lord, unto you again we gather today. Unto you our expectation looks to. Lord, we pray, meet us at the points of our need in the name of Jesus Christ. As we look further and further again into this matter "my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives." As we look further again at biblical examples of how you handled these matters with men, with our fathers of old, oh Lord, we pray, address the situations of our heart in the name of Jesus Christ. We pray to every storm around our lives, around our homes, we say peace be still in the name of Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, be a strength unto your people, particularly at a time like this in our history as a nation. Lord, be a strength unto your people and bless your people with peace in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Now, we saw the background to our discussion for today in that reading. The background was that messengers were sent to Jacob. Who were these messengers? The brothers of Joseph. They were to go and bring their father because there's still going to be how many years more? Five years more. They have just journeyed into two years. And within that two years of journey into the famine, which is supposed to be for seven years, they came to Egypt twice. So you can still see that if nothing is done quickly and they connect with Egypt, what is going to happen to all of them? They are going to perish. So it was God's design. It was an eternal arrangement ahead of the chosen people of God. Don't forget, God chose them in Abraham their father. That race was chosen in Abraham. So it was God's arrangement. Remember God told Abraham in Genesis 15:13, "Know for certain that your descendants will be in a foreign land." It was God's arrangement that he's going to call Israel out of Egypt because the Bible says Jesus was called out of Egypt, in fulfillment of the word of God, that out of Egypt I will call out my son. So the whole journey to Egypt was not just an accidental occasion. It was a divine arrangement. It was something God began to arrange. God was the arranger. He arranged the whole thing. And he told Abraham years, years away that this thing is going to happen. So Joseph and Moses, they were just incorporated into an eternal plan and purpose of God. I hope you get the point I'm making. So I'm trying to situate this matter within the divine agenda and plan of God for the people of God. Now, don't forget also that just as these people, they were the elect of God, separated from every other person. It is in the same way that the church, we are the elect of God separated from the world. I hope you're understanding me. Now, in that arrangement of God, the only way God had planned in his divine agenda was that Israel would be sustained in Goshen in Egypt. It was a divine plan of God. Now, on the occasion that we are reading here was God gradually bringing his people into a divine agenda. And that agenda, as far as God is concerned, was the agenda with which not just that Jacob will be sustained. They are still going to spend years. Please, I want you to look at something again. We'll come back to this Genesis 45 that we are reading; we want to enter into 46. Look at chapter 15 of Genesis, verse 13 where the matter was raised. It says, "Then he said to Abram, 'Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs. They will be strangers in that land. And they will serve them and they will afflict them 400 years.'" Please, I want you to get something well. The affliction is for how many years? So those two lines that you read in Exodus chapter 1 and 2, that "there arose a new king that did not know Joseph and all that he has done," and then "they began to oppress them, they gave them taskmasters"—don't be thinking it was a two-year program. Are you getting what I'm trying to bring out? It was not that Israel lived there 400 years, but they were afflicted 400 years. Their affliction did not start when they first got there. Their affliction started when a new king arose who did not know Joseph. You see, what I'm trying to make you see, please brethren, we are talking about the path to peace. Like I said last week, may the Lord help us to see as God sees. Because that is the basis of our peace. If we cannot see matters the way God sees them, we cannot have peace oh. I mentioned last week that our peace is not in God changing the situation. Our peace is in God changing us. We must get that very clear. It is a peace that you can have in the midst of trouble. God may not have touched the trouble at all, yet [speaks Yoruba - wa wa lalaafia]. I mean peace calm way even though God has not touched the situation. So I am showing you something—I want to go into something about Jacob—but I'm trying to make you see that the matter about Jacob was not just an accidental matter. The matter about the suffering was not an accidental matter. So while they were suffering and it looked as if heaven could not do anything, it's not as if heaven cannot do something. While everything was going on and they were busy arranging and they were selling Joseph and there was a Potiphar that was blackmailing Joseph, if we are to see everything from God's standpoint, was there any reason for emergency? Please, was there any reason for emergency? But if you are looking at it from the point of how it happened on a daily basis, if you look at it from the point of life, everyday life, when it was happening to these people is what I want to show you. But I just want to make you see how God is seeing the whole matter. The whole matter of Joseph getting to Egypt, go and bring Jacob, bring him to Egypt, all of those matters, you know that God was not just working on a particular episode. God was working on an eternal thing that does not only touch Jacob but is going to touch the Messiah that was to come. Are you seeing the things of God? Until we can see matters from God's point of view, it becomes so difficult to work with God. I'm trying to make us see these things because my strong belief in the Scriptures is that whatsoever things were written down, they were written down for our learning so that through the encouragement of the Scriptures we can always have hope. Anytime—that's my belief—anytime you see a Christian becoming hopeless, the problem is not with the situation. The problem is that there is an encouragement of the Scripture that that person did not see. When God was bringing Joseph to Egypt and now God is making arrangement to bring Jacob to Egypt, God was not just working on one episode. It is just one of the scenes in several divine acts. A drama will have act 1, scene 1; act 1, scene 2; act 1, scene 3. So it is just one of the scenes in one of the acts. The whole act of God in this matter began from Abraham. And God is taking that design to touch Jesus. Because Jesus must be taken to Egypt. Jesus is to be brought forth out of Egypt so that the Scripture can be fulfilled, that "out of Egypt I called out my son." The same way, God is going to call Israel out of Egypt so that what God was doing with Israel was patterned according to a world that was to come, a reality that was to come. What God was doing with them can only be understood in reference to what is to come, not what was happening. Maybe I should use a more simple thing. When God said the Passover lamb, they should not break the bone. They should not break any of the bones. Why? Why did they not break any of the bones? Because none of Jesus' bone must be broken, isn't it? Why did God punish Moses so much for beating that rock twice? Because it was meant to die once. That rock was Christ. Moses struck the rock twice. It was supposed to be once. What was going on around them was not what they could understand by looking at themselves. The only way to understand it was to look at what is to come. If you ask Moses then, "Please, Brother Moses, why are you telling us not to break the bone of the Passover?" What is the answer that Brother Moses will be able to give? [speaks Yoruba - Olorun so pe ka se be]. But for why are we doing it like that? Say, "I don't know, but God just said we should do it like that." Ah, why will God just say it—do you know whether you are thinking the way I'm thinking? Do you think it is very easy to kill an animal and you don't break any of the bones in removing the meat? Brethren! [speaks Yoruba - Won ni ko p'eran, o kuku gb'odo kan], so how do you kill it in the first place? Now, if you kill it, you try not to break the one at the neck, [speaks Yoruba - abi?], they will do it, do it, they will not break that one. Then when you begin to cut it, you must make sure—do you know the stress? And they said, "Brother Moses, why must it be like this?" [speaks Yoruba - Ah, let it be like that]. Why? God said so. This God self. What is the meaning of this foolishness? Isn't that what it means? The only way we can reconcile that foolishness is to enter into the time of God and quickly time travel to the New Testament and see God says so that none of his bones will be broken. But in that their own time, they can never understand it. So, brethren, what I'm saying, you need to understand that our lives is just an insignificant part of a grand design. Our lives, they are but—if you are to look at Jacob's story in the whole story, how many years of that story does the whole of his life take? From Abraham to Jesus, the years of Jacob, how significant it is. So do you understand that the totality of your life is just one small thing inside a grand design? And you must be able to fit your life into that when God is dealing with your life. [speaks Yoruba - Bawo lo m'o? Bawo la se ma mo pe kini yi daju?] Look at Ephesians chapter 1. May the Lord be a strength unto you. May the Lord bless you with peace. May the Lord be a strength unto you. The Bible says the Lord will be a strength unto his people at a time like this when things are falling apart, the economy is failing, politics is failing, everything seems to be sinking. May the Lord be a strength unto you. May the Lord bless you and your home and your family and all that concerns you. May the Lord bless you with peace in the name of Jesus Christ. [speaks Yoruba - Enit' Olorun o ba fun l'alaafia l'asiko t'a wa yi o le l'alaafia o]. If God don't give you peace this period that we are in, you cannot have peace. You cannot. Everything, everything is shaking. And you need to know that things are still going to shake. The Bible said the earth will stagger like a man that is drunk. The earth is not staggering yet oh. So if we don't come to the level of God this period that we are in, you would have died many years before your actual death. [speaks Yoruba - Awon kan a ti pa'ra won health-wise, won a ti ku], they would have killed their blood pressure, killed their heart, killed everything; they would have become almost dead because of a lot of psycho-emotional stress before their day of real physical death. They will not really enjoy life. But the Bible's assurance, the Bible assured that the Lord will be a strength unto his people and that the Lord will bless his own people with peace. So [speaks Yoruba - to ba je eyan Olorun, to j'omo Olorun], you should click, you should enter into that place that God assured for his people. Somebody was telling me—I was discussing with somebody recently and said, "In fact, don't even understand, they have not paid them for last month." It was in the month of—was it not in the month of October? Said they have not paid them; they're expecting the salary for September, it has not come. "It's just wondering how things are going to look like." I said, "Young man, you are wondering how it's going to look like. Should I tell you when last I was paid?" I said, "If you are shaking like this because you are expecting last month's salary, me now who have not collected salary for the past six, seven, eight months?" So if you are already fidgety like this, if for one good reason you have to leave that job for the sake of Jesus, will you be able to leave it? Can you trust that God can handle your economy? These are matters. But one first thing I'm pursuing you to see is that please, as we look at Jacob, I want you to see your life, situate your life, that you are just a small aspect of a grand design. A grand design of God. A design that cannot fail. You must see your life as failure-proof. There is a grand design. [Sings/chants in Yoruba with background music - Ise oluwa ko le baje o, ise oluwa ko le baje o. Ko le baje o, ko le baje o. Ani ko le baje o, ko le baje o. Ah, ise oluwa ko le baje o. Ise oluwa ko le baje o. Ani ko le daru o, ko le daru o. Ko le daru o, ko le daru o. Ise oluwa ko le daru o. Ise oluwa ko le daru o. He, ko le dawo o, ko le dawo o. He, ko le dawo o, ko le dawo o. Ise oluwa ko le dawo o. Ise oluwa ko le dawo o.] Do you know you are the work of God? Bible says we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus. You are the workmanship of God. I don't know how you are looking at your life. You are the workmanship, [speaks Yoruba - ise oluwa o le baje, ko le dawo]. [speaks Yoruba - T'o ba ko 21-story building, t'oluwa ba fi ko 200-story ko le dawo]. And I'm showing you how God is connecting a building from Abraham to Jesus. [speaks Yoruba - Ise yen o de dawo, ko le dawo, ko le daru, ko le baje]. You are just part of that great design. Bro, look at your life. Can you understand that your life is not in isolation? [speaks Yoruba - Aye o k'owa sa], don't be looking at your life like that. You are not a wise person looking at your life that way. [speaks Yoruba - Aye o k'owa sa], you are part of a grand design. God is building an eternal building. The thing started in Mother Eve. He says, "Look, the seed of the woman is going to bruise your head." God began to build. And God is still building that thing. And when Jesus appears to take us home, that design will be coming gradually to an accomplishment. [speaks Yoruba - Ise oluwa o le dawo, ko le daru, ko le baje]. The Bible says in Ephesians 1:4 that "even before the beginning of time, God chose us in Christ." Understand the totality of your life. You are part of a great design. That is the truth about it. [Background music continues] [speaks Yoruba - Ko le baje o, ko le baje o]. Brethren, sing confidently. Look at your life. [speaks Yoruba - Mi o le baje, mi o le daru, mi o le dawo. Ko le baje o, ise oluwa ko le baje o.] Can you look at that challenge and say it to that challenge? [speaks Yoruba - Ise oluwa ko le baje o.] Can you look at that problem? Can you look at that situation and speak to that situation? [speaks Yoruba - Ko le baje o, ko le baje o, ko le baje o, ko le baje o, ise oluwa ko le baje o. Ani ise oluwa ko le baje o. He, ko le daru o, ko le daru o, ko le daru o, ko le daru o, ise oluwa ko le daru o, ise oluwa ko le daru o. He, ko le dawo o, ko le dawo o. He, ko le dawo o, ko le dawo o. Ise oluwa ko le dawo o. Ise oluwa ko le dawo o.] Bring it to yourself. [speaks Yoruba - Mi o le daru o, mi o le baje o, mi o le dawo o, mi o le daru o, ise oluwa ko le baje o, ise oluwa ko le baje o.] You are the work of God! You are the workmanship of God! You cannot collapse. The building cannot collapse. It cannot deplete, it cannot diminish, it cannot scatter. [speaks Yoruba - Ko le daru o, ko le daru o, ko le daru o, ko le daru o, ise oluwa ko le daru o, ise oluwa ko le daru o.] Now, bring it to yourself. Are you seeing Papa God? [speaks Yoruba - Oba wo l'ole se'se bi ti e?] Tell me one power that is like his own. I was talking with somebody and said, "You know, the devil is crafty." He said, "I know that the devil is foolish." I said, "Then you don't know the devil." [Laughter]. If you don't know the devil is intelligent and clever, then you don't know him. I now open Scriptures for him. Genesis chapter 3: "Now the serpent was more subtle above every other thing." Number one. Jesus said, "Therefore be wise as serpents." [speaks Yoruba - Mo ni se o gbo Jesu fun'ra e?] So you don't know the devil is wise. I said even the epitome of crafty wisdom was taken in his own craftiness when he killed Jesus. The baba of them all is the devil. I said even his craftiness, he was taken in that craftiness by wisdom that is above his wisdom in his killing Jesus Christ. That it was by his winning that the power of death was taken from him. They made him to be winning. He was dancing, "I am winning, I am winning." Only to get to the end to discover that the power of life and death has gone. I'm trying to explain something to you. [speaks Yoruba - Ogbon to ju ogbon lo l'owa n'nu baba t'wa.] That is the God that is planning your life. It cannot fail. Your life cannot fail. You are programmed into something. Understand that you are the workmanship of God created in Christ. Even when it looks as if darkness is prosper—darkness went for 400 years, yet Baba was there watching. And it looks like darkness is going to end. Until one day in the midst of the struggle, a child was born called Moses. And while darkness was still flexing his muscle, he was the one busy feeding the missionary to destroy it. Oh, brethren, I want you to understand the wisdom of this our God. Don't fear darkness. Don't fear the devil. Don't fear. Our God is a grand designer. Trust him. Understand it. Jacob was just an insignificant aspect of a mighty design. And the same way I'm telling you, brethren, you're just one small part of a mighty design. The design started thousands of years before you were born. And it is going to continue even after your death, if he has not come. It was when Jesus finally surfaced that Moses in heaven would be understanding why he should not break the bone. "Okay, Jesus is the Passover lamb. Oh, [speaks Yoruba - l'a se kan ese n'gba yen]. Okay." But in his own time, could he give explanation to it? Don't fear that you cannot explain. You have checked some things in your life, you could not fix it. You do it, and yet it's looking like what is going on? And I'm telling you, the thing is troubling you not because it is so dark, it is because you have not changed your focus. You are not seeing as God sees. The name of Jesus is above everything that is in this world. Hallelujah! And in the world that is to come. Now, I want to close for today. I want to close for today. Let's go back because we are looking at the matter of Jacob. Let's look at Genesis 45. Let me just close the meeting for today. Thank you Father. Thank you Jehovah. Oh, blessed be your holy name. Blessed be your holy name, our God. Lord, our eyes are on you this evening. Lord, help us individually. Help our heart. The hearts of men are failing them today. Economy is failing. So many things are just crumbling. Oh God, help us to see you. Help us to see you beyond our fears. Help us to see you beyond our challenges. Now, let's look at Genesis 45:26 to the end of that chapter. "And they told him [Jacob], saying, 'Joseph is still alive, and he is the governor over all the lands of Egypt.'" Do you see what the Bible say happened? What happened to the heart of Jacob? Genesis 45:26, "And Jacob's heart stood still, because he did not believe." NET, it says, "Jacob was stunned at the news, he could not believe." NIV, the same thing. The Message, it says, "He went numb because he could not believe." He could not believe what his ears was saying. But I like it in the Amplified: "And Jacob's heart began to stop beating. He almost fainted, for he could not believe." "But when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. Then Israel said, 'It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive, and I will go to see him before I die.'" What followed after this episode is what we are going to consider next week. What I want you to just come before the Lord this evening and pray. "Oh Lord, help me to see that you are boundless. You are limitless. Help me to see that even things that I have considered impossible, you can still do them." Joseph's story was a finished story. God, help me to see that you are boundless. You are limitless. Jacob, Joseph's story was a finished story. His heart stopped beating. It started to fail because he was looking at this God that is limitless. This God that nothing can contain. This God that nothing can limit. Not space, not time, no wickedness of man can stop it. No conspiracy of men can outfit God. God has planned that Jacob will still see Joseph. And despite all the conspiracy, despite all the powers of darkness, despite everything that went on, the heart of Jacob was failing. But Jacob got to a point where he said, "Ah, now I know that Joseph is alive." I am telling you that even things you consider dead, God can still visit them again. God can still turn them round again. God is a God that is boundless. My heart have no desire to stay where doubts arise and fear dismay. Though some may dwell where these abound, my prayer, my aim is higher ground. Lord lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven's stable land. A higher place than have as found. Lord plant my feet on higher ground. There is a plane, brethren, there is a plane oh. Let us covet to move to higher ground. Don't be contented to just be somewhere. Covet a deeper walk with God. Covet that the eyes of your understanding will be opened. Covet to see God beyond where you are now. [Speaker 1] [Background music] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are discipleship class every Monday 5:00 PM, adolescent and singles club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, marriage forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, family life seminars, regular school out-reaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite The Rejoice filling station along Ijede Road, Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all. [Background music ends]