Reflection of Micah 6 Part 2

[background music] [Voiceover] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly homefront. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] We thank our God for His goodness. We thank Him for His mercies. We thank Him for His grace. We thank Him for life. We thank Him for preservation. As we gather again this Monday for our discipleship class, we trust the Lord to meet with each and every one of us. Our brethren who are here physically, our brethren who are connecting with us on Mixlr and on Telegram, we trust that everywhere you are, everywhere we are located, the Lord by His power and spirit will reach us all in the name of Jesus Christ. We have been looking at—we started the matter last week, a reflection on the book of Micah, and we are supposed to proceed on that reflection today. So let's have a word of prayer then we go straight to Micah chapter 6. Abba Father, we are grateful unto You. We thank You for Your love. We thank You for all You are and all that You are to us. We bless You, O Lord, that You are in our midst. That is the name You have given to us. We are trusting that You will instruct our heart. We are trusting You, Lord, that as we read Your word, You will meet with us. Lord, do so in Your mercy in the name of Jesus. Do so in the abundance of Your goodness in the name of Jesus. Lord, we pray for light and direction. Give us light and direction as we fellowship together with one another, as we fellowship with the scriptures. Give us light and direction in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, everlasting Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Yeah, so we go straight to the book of Micah chapter 6. Micah chapter 6. And for those of us who are here physically, I don't know if there is any particular reflection or lesson or particular takeaway that you had last week and you may want to share with us before we move on to start looking at—before we move on to our study this week, Micah chapter 6. So is there anyone of us that has something in relation to our last week discussion that you want to share with us? Maybe a particular lesson, maybe something that occurred further around it in the course of the week or something you particularly took home from the reflection we started last week? Okay, let's have you. [Speaker 2] The things I took home last week was when we read Micah chapter 6 verse 8 that was talking about the things that God requires of us—to do justly, to do mercy. And also when we read from 1 Samuel chapter 15 where King Saul went to the war with Amalekites and then he took of the spoils that from the war. And then God told him that obedience is better than sacrifice. So we were talking about how that before we start laboring for God, before we start serving God, the first thing that we have to make sure is that we are actually obeying God because he said that if we don't obey God, then all the services that we have rendered to God is not meaningful at all without obeying God. And also we also read from Romans chapter 13 verse 8 talking about the fulfillment of the commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. So we were talking about how that we should owe no man anything. So in relation to the Micah chapter 6 verse 8 that we read about doing justly and in another translation doing what is right. So when Romans was talking about that we should owe no man anything, we were talking about that we should not owe any man honor, we should not owe any man forgiveness. We should make sure that we are just and we are right. That means in everything, if anyone—if honor is due to any man, we should give them honor. If forgiveness is due to any man, we should give them honor. If respect is due, we should give unto them. And the most important thing is that God is our priority in our life because if He is not our priority, everything that we are doing is just all for nothing. [Speaker 1] Thank you very much. There is something we made reference to last week in Micah when I was saying that while God looks at the laborers in the vineyard, we labor for the Lord, at the end of the day, God is checking the work, which sort of work it is. And we saw that because God is going to check the sort, which type of work did you do, it is very clear. It is working for God according to God's pattern. There is a pattern. And that pattern is that we should live a life of obedience to God, we should walk in His ways before we begin to labor for the Lord. There is this scripture that later came to my mind about our discussion last week. The scripture is in Proverbs chapter 15 verse 8. Let's look at Proverbs 15:8. Please if you are there, just read. [Speaker 3] "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight." [Speaker 1] Are you seeing something? Which one is costlier for God? To accept sacrifice or to answer prayers ordinarily? Easy, I just collect sacrifice. But Bible says that the sacrifice that the wicked brings is an abomination. God has more delight even when the righteous is making request. You can see that. You can have your seat. You can see that. That the sacrifice of wicked—when you are laboring for God and your life is not in obedience, that sacrifice you are doing for God, what is God seeing? Abomination. Abomination. I'm just talking about God will look at the sort of work, whether they are abominable works at the end. Whether the works you are doing now, the labor you are laboring now, whether they are abominable or they are not. How will they be abominable? What makes a man wicked? Is when the man thinks that to give sacrifice is more important than obedience. That was the foolishness of Saul. "Ah, we have to sacrifice to your God, we have done..." No, I'm not interested in that sacrifice. I wanted you to kill everybody. My instructions were clear. Kill everybody. So you have disobeyed. Whatever you have brought to me is nonsense, it's abominable to me. Look at the second reading. Proverbs 21:3. [Speaker 4] "To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." [Speaker 1] Are you seeing that? Can we have it in another translation? The Message. "Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors mean far more to God than religious performance." All these "I'm praying to God, I'm working for God, I'm singing for God, I'm in the choir, I'm in the technical, I'm in the Bible study, I am here, I am a minister, I am a discipler, I am discipling people, I am preaching"—look, to live clean and to do justice means far more to God than all those things that you are doing. It means far. These are crucial things we must understand in life. And that is why I was speaking somewhere, I told them that God is more interested in the life of the laborer than the labor of the laborer. God is more interested in the life, the kind of life the laborer is living. God is more interested in that life than the labor of the laborer. So you see that scripture. I like the way the Message put it. Is anybody having NLT or something to let us have that? [Speaker 3] "The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer Him sacrifices." [Speaker 1] Are you seeing that? The Lord is more pleased when we do right and just than when we offer Him sacrifices. You don't go to examination hall and then ask your neighbor for answers and then by evening in the fellowship, you are there to lead praise. That sacrifice is useless to God. What God wanted is that all unrighteousness is a sin. Why don't you live clean before you give me things? These are very, very crucial things for us to note as believers. At the end of the day, God is going to test our works. He's going to check whether those works they are coming from a life that is clean, a life that is just. So the life is very, very crucial when it comes to the matter of God. Can we see a similar scripture? Proverbs 21:27. We couldn't read all of this last week but they are crucial to what we discussed last week, so I felt it's good we read all of them. Proverbs 21:27. [Speaker 4] "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord; how much more when he brings it with wicked intent?" [Speaker 1] How much more when he brings it with wicked intent? You know there is a way you want to give people something, but you are giving this as a bribe. You want them to know that this brother cares. It doesn't mean anything to God. How much more when you now bring it with wicked intent? You can see the point I'm making. When you want to create impression. You know sometimes you are asked to lead prayer. You have finished, you have not forgiven your brother for some things that he has done. You carry that to lead prayer. And you lead the prayer again. You want to do it so that people will say, "Ah, that brother when he leads prayer, ah!" And then you want to create impression. How much more when you now bring it with wicked intent? When you bring it because you want to popularize yourself, you want to make yourself. How much more? The fact that you are bringing it and your life is a problem, how much more when you now bring it with another dimension to the problem that is already there? It is important to see all of these things in our life as Christians. That's why I keep telling people, it's not about church attendance and religious activities. It's about a correct lifestyle. Incidentally, I was in the car this afternoon. I was driving home and two women—as I was entering to a particular junction going home—two women, they said, "Please sir, please sir, can you help us? At least live us to the distance that they want to trek." I said, "Anyway, me I'm going—by the time I get to that junction I'm going left." They said they are going right but at least I would have helped them to the junction. I should please. So I took them. You know inside the car they were just discussing. And they discussed to the point of the recent thing going on on Facebook, the death of a singer. They both of them were discussing. "Ah, it's in fact a serious thing oh! How will a man—anyway, police will deal with him. Since he said he knows how to kill people, they will kill him too and all of that." Then the other one now responded, "Anyway, if there is anything that she sees to this matter, we we will want to marry, we must not marry Christians oh!" The other one now responded, "Abeg! Leave all those nonsense! Christian, who told you they are Christians? Abeg leave all those nonsense that you are talking about! Are they not Christians? They are Christians oh! The great—Abeg!" I was just following the conversation. I'm trying to make you see the reproach that mere religiosity, not living the life, brings to the name of the Lord. When our life is not correct and we are offering sacrifices, our life begin to bring reproach. The name of the Lord becomes blasphemed among the Gentiles because of such a life. And that is why God is first interested in correctness of our life before the issues of sacrifice. Not that God is not interested in sacrifice. Is that what it says? No, it says God is *more* interested. So God honored our sacrifices, our labor, but certain things come before certain things. That's the point we are making. So I felt it's good we read these other scriptures in addition to our discussion last week. So let's get back to where we were. Micah chapter 6. A reflection on Micah chapter 6. That's what we have been doing for brethren who may just be joining us this week. And we are just trying to fine-tune some of the things this week as we proceed on the matter of this reflection since last week. So I just read from the verse 1 again for the sake of brethren who may just be joining us this week either on Mixlr, Telegram, or physically. "Hear now what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O you mountains, the Lord's complaint, and you strong foundations of the earth; for the Lord has a complaint against His people, and He will contend with Israel. O My people..." That was the contention. That was what took us into discussion last week. What was the Lord's contention? "O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord." He was trying to tell them that if there is anything, I have done my best to you honestly. That's what God was telling His people. Why follow after Baal? Why are you worshipping Asherah? Why are you following other gods? When I have not done you wrong? I redeemed you. I sorted you out. I am a source of blessing to you. I gave you leadership. I defended you. I protected you. And we said last week, is there any difference for us today? If you look at all that God is doing for us, if God is not the first in your life, you are an unfortunate person. Then we now move to verse 6 where we say, "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" God, they were looking at how do we return then to God? What is the correct way if we want to return to God? What is the correct way to do it? And He began to explain it that, "Okay, if you have realized that I must come first in your life, how do you know? What are the things to show that the Lord comes first?" We have been able to look at "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what the Lord does require of you but to do justly." That was our focus last week. And we took time to speak extensively on this and the Proverbs that we just read further amplified this matter. So I want to move on to the next thing mentioned in that place. Now if God comes first in a man's life, if God is the priority in a man's life, if God, you love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might, with all your strength, and that love for God is real and genuine, the first thing is that it makes you to do justly. The second thing we are seeing is that it makes you to love mercy. It makes you to love mercy. Can we try different translation for that rendering, "to love mercy"? The first one is to do justly. The second one is to love mercy. Can we see some translation please for that "to love mercy"? [Speaker 3] NLT: "This is what the Lord requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy." [Speaker 1] So it did not change that word "to love mercy." It only changed "justly" to "do what is right." And we have explained that last week. The Message. [Speaker 4] "But what does He want from you? Working for men and women is quite simple. Do what is fair and just to your neighbor and be compassionate and loyal in your love." [Speaker 1] Okay, that's the third one. We are looking at the rendering of "to love mercy." So to love mercy is rendered as "to be compassionate." So when you notice that a heart is not compassionate, that heart does not know God. It's not a heart that knows God. You don't know God. These are very clear in scriptures. These things are simple, they are clear. They are very, very straightforward. He says these things are—and I love the rendering—"What does God want from men and women? It's simple." These things are they not simple? They are simple. But you notice that they are not things we pay attention to. Do you notice that we pay more attention to sacrifices? Let me give you a good example that will make you to know. You know one day I was opportuned to be somewhere and it was a Sunday. Opportunity to be—it was a Sunday morning. People were making haste, springing out of their street, making haste to be in church. You understand me? It was a Sunday morning. People—and if you see the eagerness, the you know the level of commitment to get to church and all of that. Of course there's nothing wrong about that. Please, there's nothing wrong about it. No. In the midst of all those eagerness to get to church, you know, in another scenario they were rushing to take a keke napep. You know keke napep? And then maybe about five people to somewhere that can take four people, you understand. And then when they get there and then they have rushed into each other, "Came you know I was—you know I saw it, it was because you overtook me, that's why you run you run faster. No, you this thing cannot go! Why will it not go!" Then they started, "Orie o pe! (You're crazy!)" with their Bible in their hand. "To n se pe o ri e daru ni! (You're confused!)" Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out? The haste to get to church. What I'm saying is that if the way we are eager in making these sacrifices, we can transfer some of this commitment to living right, Nigeria will be a better place. In another scenario, it was raining. And people were defying the rain to be in church. Of course the typical song, "Bi 'nu ba njo, emi o tele Jesu." (Even if it's hot, I will follow Jesus.) Of course, that defying the rain to be in church—please, we are not—we are saying these things because we must bring a balance. Not to insult the goodness of such action. I hope you are understanding me. Those actions they are good. We are only trying to say that you see when it comes to the things of God, I'm still going—we are going to read that very soon. You notice Jesus said something about in our worship of God, certain things take precedence over certain things. You get the point I'm making. That's what for example the Lord was trying to make us see in the story of the Good Samaritan. It's a long story, I will not want us to read that because of time. But I'll just make reference to it. You know what happened in that story, a man was traveling between Jerusalem and Jericho. We are not expounding the story itself but he had a wrong direction in his own life. He should be moving from Jericho to Jerusalem. He should not be moving from Jerusalem to Jericho. But that's not our focus this evening. Jesus just giving a parable. Now in that parable, the man was—he fell among thieves. Those thieves and robbers operated. And unfortunately for him, they left him half dead. They did not finish him. And then the Lord was talking about look at the classification. Look at the order. He said the person that first came was who? Are we familiar with that story? It was a Levite. Thank you. A Levite. Do you know who a Levite is? They are people that serve the Lord. So they are like who? If we were to look at them today? No, they are not like the pastors. They are like the assistant pastors, they are like the deaconesses, they are like the—while the priests are like the pastors. I hope you are getting it. You know the Levites was together with the priest. You get the point I'm making. So the Lord was doing the category. The first one was a Levite. Then the Levite got to the place and then he looked at the man and then when he looked at the man, what did he do? He went to the other side of the road and he went away. What would have been on his mind? "I don't want to be defiled." We are talking about doing justly and loving mercy. When we become so preoccupied—the way I call some of these things, I call them "fixed mentality" or "carved images." Some of us we have carved images about religion. That's why a man for example can be cursing somebody because he's running to church. Sacrifice is fixed in his head. Correct and clean life he does not understand. You get the point I'm making? Then we have carved, fixed mentality about how God should be worshipped. Images that God must destroy. The way they were destroyed in the Old Testament. Say God destroyed different images. For today they are imaginations. Wrong imaginations about how to serve God. When you are thinking that when you sacrifice to God, it's more important than living right. Fixed thought, wrong way of thinking. Imaginations that should be cast down because they exalt themselves against the true knowledge of God. Now the Levite took the other side. Then the same way, who came again? It was a priest. And then he looked at the man and then he took the other side. The Lord now said eventually there came a what? A Samaritan. I hope you know why the Lord bringing a Samaritan as the last person? Who is a Samaritan? Those that you will count as people who don't know God. People who does not know what God is all about. And that is why I normally someone said this and I agree with him. He said there will be so many surprises when we get to heaven. People you think that should be there you will not find them. People you think will never find them there you will see them sitting with Jesus by the throne. Then you will be wondering how, where, when, why? Because we are wrongly placing some things in the way we serve the Lord. What the Lord requires from us is simple. It's very simple and clear. In our worship of God as disciples, you will notice that—I'm putting a lot of things together because I'm trying to see possibly if this thing should not take us more than three or four weeks so I can finish all. There's so much to say about this thing. Now if you look at the church in Antioch, it was in that place they were first called what? Christians. Why were they called Christians? Because of the way they were living. They were living like Christ. These they said these people were talking—they were acting and talking like Jesus. So they were called Christians. And they were actually mocking them oh. You know Christianity—Christian is a mockery name. "Hey! Look at them like Jesus! Hey what's up with this one? They are trying to behave like Jesus! Look at them, look at them!" It was actually a mockery name. They were mocking them that Jesus have died, who are all these ones again? What all these ones trying to—eh—who? They want to copy Jesus. It's a lie. But they were called Christians. They saw the life of Jesus in them. So Christianity is not what we preach. It's a lifestyle. Now we are looking at something. He said the Samaritan, people you think should not do what was right. He said the Samaritan did what was right. The Samaritan went close to the man and then went ahead to take the man, wash him, pour wine, and having done that, he took everything, took him to a place where he could be taken care of. And then he also gave a message, "Please, take good care of him. If there's any extra, when I'm coming back I'll collect from you." Then Jesus asked all of these people, who is the man's neighbor? And the man said, "The Samaritan." Jesus said, "Go and do likewise." Trying to define some things. Trying to make some things very clear in our life. He says to love mercy. The first one is that we must be fair in everything we do or be just. In everything you do, you are bringing in sense of justice and judgment in all you do with people. You are making sure you are owing nobody anything. Every body you are owing no man nothing. And then the next thing He says is that there is again something God wants from you. Is to do what? Is to love mercy. Is to love mercy. And we said for mercy, it may mean to be compassionate. That was what we took in the Message. I don't know whether there's any other rendering but at least that was—that's a good way to also look at it. To be compassionate. And let's look at—I want to show you something about this matter of mercy that is so crucial for our lives. Look at the matter of mercy. Let's first look at the word of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew. Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. I read from verse 1. That's the beatitude. "And seeing the multitude, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, why? They will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." What is the next thing that follows? "Blessed are those—are what? Blessed are the merciful, for what? For they shall obtain mercy." You can see that the matter of mercy is one of the cardinal teaching of Jesus Christ. The matter of mercy. It's an issue with Jesus Christ. And when He was saying this thing, He was telling them what is the principle of the kingdom. The way the kingdom operate. You know He was introducing a kingdom. So He was trying to make them see—you know the beatitude represent what? The principles of the kingdom. The expected lifestyle of any man that want to belong to this kingdom. Now He said, "Blessed are the merciful because they shall obtain mercy." Telling us that one thing about men who belong to this kingdom, one thing about men who actually enter into God's kingdom, one thing that emanates from their life is what? Mercy. They are merciful. Now why I will—I will explore some things about this matter of merciful, I want to quickly make you see some other side of this matter. Some other side of these things. Look at something about salvation, about obtainance with God, about life, about survival. Look at something in Romans chapter 9. Romans 9. Are you in Romans chapter 9? Look at what the Bible says. I read from verse 6. Please I want you to capture something about mercy in this passage. "But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but 'In Isaac your seed shall be called.' That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: 'At this time I will come and Sarah will conceive and have a son.' And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, 'The older shall serve the younger.' As it is written, 'Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.' What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy." Verse 18: "Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He wills He hardens." I'm trying to show you something about mercy. The centrality of mercy in our walk with God is what I'm trying to show you. Look at the Old Testament. Psalm 33. Just exploring something about mercy. The centrality of mercy in our walk with God. Psalm 33. Are you there? I read from verse 16. "No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by great strength." What do you see in the verse 18? "But behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercies, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine." Please note something. Verse 22. I'm comparing verse 22 and verse 18 together. Verse 18: "Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercies." You get that? Look at verse 22: "Let Your mercy be upon us, O Lord, just as we hope in You." Please, how does a man show that he hope in God's mercy? Taking from beatitude where we are coming from. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. How do you show that you are hoping in the mercy of God? By being merciful. You see, when you don't have a compassionate heart, it is a sign that your hope is not in the Lord. If you are not somebody who is merciful, it is an indication. "Let Your mercy be upon us as we hope in that mercy." And He said, "Blessed are the merciful for they obtain mercy." Now, the Lord is teaching us something very, very serious. In Romans chapter 9, we saw that it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of who? Of God that shows mercy. So He have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He wills He hardens. Is that not? Now, it makes us to see—it becomes clear that actually, brethren, how did we get salvation? Titus chapter 3. How did we obtain salvation? I want scriptures to speak to scriptures. Look at Titus chapter 3. Are you in Titus chapter 3? I read from verse 1. "Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good works, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceful, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasure, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward men appeared," what do you see there, verse 4 and 5? "Not of works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." Are you following something? He saved us according to His mercies. He saved us not because of our works. So I want to ask you, on what basis did we get the goodness of God, the kindness of God, the compassion of God? On what basis did we enjoy it? Was it something that we earn? Was it something that we earn? That's why I went to show you from Romans. It's not according to our works, but according to His own mercy He saved us. If He was to give us according to our works, none would be saved. Are you following me? So what the Bible is saying is that when you see any man who relates to people fundamentally based on their works, that person does not know God. God's mercy is not a function of the works. I hope you are getting the matter. Why He's saying that He has shown you, O man, what is good and what God want from you. Because you became saved, you began to enjoy the goodness of God, not as a matter of your works, but as a matter of His mercies. So if people must enjoy your goodness as a matter of their works, you are godless. You are not like God. You are not like God. That is the matter we are trying to make you see why the Bible says He has shown you, O man. And that is why let me begin to make you see some things very clear. I will show you in our Christian life, then I will show you in kingdom marriage. But let me first show you in our Christian life, in how to live as Christians. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. He has shown you, O man, what is good. What is good? May we not be spiritual bastards. May we be like our Father. In the name of Jesus. Before we go to that Ephesians, let me show you something again about God. Matthew chapter 5. I read from verse 38. I want to show you something about God. Matthew chapter 5. You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Verse 39: "But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also." We are reading on, verse 40: "If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also." Your cloak also, that is the suit that they wear on the tunic. Now, "Whosoever compels you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to him who asks, and from him who want to borrow from you, do not turn away. You have heard," we are going somewhere, "You have heard that it was said, you should love your neighbor but hate your enemies." Listen oh. This thing that Jesus quoted is not in the Bible oh. It was over time that scripture was adjusted, adjusted, adjusted. It now became "You have heard that love your neighbor, hate your enemy." You get the point I'm making. He was not quoting something coming from the Old Testament as a law. He was quoting something that the people of that time have adjusted the word of God to become. You get the point I'm making? But that's not my focus for this evening. I will have said we go to Old Testament to check all of this reading. Fine, there is no place in the Old Testament where it is written that you love your neighbor and hate your enemy. There is no place like that. But let's go ahead. Let's see what He wants to tell us. "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, He sends rain on the just and the unjust." Are you seeing that? Are you getting a particular instruction? I'm still reading on, verse 46: "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even tax collectors do the same?" Can we have that in another translation? "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? And not even the tax collectors do that." Any other rendering? NLT: "If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much." Message: "If all you do is love the lovables, don't expect a bonus. Anybody can do that. If you say hello only to those who greet you," are you getting the point? That you are not different from tax collectors and sinners. You are not different from—that's why sometimes, brethren, I'm trying to make you understand basic things about Christianity. It's not the singing, the services we do in church oh. It's not those things oh. Those things are not wrong, please get me right. All of you here know how much I'm active in my local church. So you know I'm not condemning being active in our local church. But I'm speaking on the fundamentals of Christianity that transcend church worship. The matter is not about whether you belong to a church and you are rendering some religious service. The matter is whether you are a kingdom person and you are living the kingdom life. The kingdom life give recognition that anybody who is merciful is like his Father who does good to both the wicked and the good, who have compassion on whom He want to have compassion, who shows mercy, who does not look—who does not give His goodness based on the righteous work people do. Somebody would have killed people, killed people, killed people, you will think the person will die that way, and one day the person will become born again. Say, "Ah God, this kind person, ah! This person should die! This kind of person!" You see God extending mercy to people you don't think should be saved. And He said so that you can be like your Father. Anybody who is not like that is a spiritual bastard. He does not know his Father. You don't know who your Father is. I'm showing you God. I'm showing you God, who God is. And these are the direct words of our Lord Jesus Christ, trying to make us know who God is. That if you love only those who love you, only the lovables, those are those you can show compassion, you can do good to, anybody can do that. How are you different from tax collector? How are you different from sinner? Is that not how sinners live their life? If somebody says you are crazy and you say you are crazy too, how are you different from sinner? Is that not what they do? When somebody says you are stupid, and you say "Ah, I'm sorry about what happened. I did not mean to offend you. Sorry about it." Then I'm sure the person will recalculate because when you throw stone, you're already ready for a fight. Then imagine that somebody slaps you and then you slap back. How are you different from sinners? Is that not what they do? One of the elder in my church was discussing one day about one thing that happened between a brother. The brother was so by the conductor, I think it's about change, not wanting to give the brother the change and all of that. Brother got so angry and he just—the brother just—say, "Look, Jesus apart! I'm going to deal with you!" and he began to roll his shirt and to fold his trousers. And the matter is like can Jesus be apart? Can Jesus be apart at any time? He cannot be apart because in Him we live, in Him we move, in Him we have our being. If you only do good to the lovables, you only greet those that greet you, you can keep multiplying it. He says if you greet only your brethren, people that greet you, and you are just coming, some of you are like that. When you are walking in your street, your heart beat will just increase. I say "People don't kill yourself." You know when you are not at peace with somebody, your heart beat will increase. Have you noticed it? You have not suffered that bondage before. I've suffered those bondage. But now I'm free. What you don't know is that the weight, the consequence of bitterness, affects more the person who is bitter than the person you are bitter against. That's what most of us don't know. I've been free from that cage. I was once in that cage. Your pulse rate just quick, quick, quick. You know, then you notice you just change your look. If you have been smiling to people before, you just change your—I've explained these things. Practically, I've experienced this thing before. So you know that these are real things. And then you notice that you are no more talking freely again. It's when the person goes that your blood pressure will come down again. You now become a normal person. So who is in prison? You are the one who is punishing yourself. You are the one in prison. And you are like that. Imagine somebody in your neighborhood, "This one, when I greet her she does not answer. I've vowed I'll not greet her again. I'll not even pass." Because you want to revenge. How are you different from tax collectors and sinners? How are you different? I'm talking about merciful, being merciful. What's your heart? I'm showing you the heart of God. The kind of heart that our Father has. He says how are you different? The Lord want us to live a life that separate us from tax collectors, from unbelievers. But we are not different today. I was discussing with someone this afternoon. He said, "I don't know how to even overcome this problem. If anybody just drive anyhow before me, if I don't curse that person I cannot go as a Christian." He said, "Sir, how will I be delivered from this thing?" He said before he knows it he would have wound down the glass, say "You! what's your problem!" and the person—Oh God, what's my problem? Some of us we may need to visit the Lord again. Visit Him, say "God, God touch my heart. God affect my heart." We need to have tender heart. Our heart should be tender. I mean our heart should be compassionate. Very compassionate. Because it's a natural response. That is what it means to be carnal. Instead of slap back, that's what it means to be carnal. It's your natural—when we say people are carnal, we mean they are living as natural men. To be spiritual is to live contrary to the natural life. So carnality means living the natural life. Somebody do something, you—that's the natural. That is who we are as sinners. That is who we were as sinners. That is our life as sinners. So it's our natural life to sin. It's a life of sin. When you are like that, you are living your natural life. That's what it means to be a carnal Christian. And many Christians today, honestly, they are carnal Christians. Natural Christians. "Orie o pe! Orie o pe!" (You're crazy! You're crazy!) "Get out from here! Me? Me? Get out! You are a fool to have said that." We have it. We fight back. We resist evil. That's carnality. There is nothing spiritual in that life. You are a carnal person. And a carnal mind cannot please God. You can't please God because God said if you have returned to Me, the number one is that I find you to be just. Number two, what is it? I find you to be merciful. I find you to be merciful. Look at it among the Christian fold. Ephesians chapter 4. Let's go to that place. That may be where we might round up for today. Ephesians chapter 4. Are you there? Okay. Please I want you to quickly move to verse 21. Ephesians chapter 4. Talking about the heart. "If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus." If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus. Talking about who, as the truth is in Jesus. If you have been taught by Christ. Because some of us we don't have personal encounter with Jesus. We are just church attendees. We are church devotees. And it's a big problem today. It's a big problem today. It says if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off, concerning your former conduct, your former behavior, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed where? Where? In the spirit of your mind. Other translation for that: "be renewed in your thought and attitude." I tell people, some of us are born again but we are not converted. They are two different things. To be born again is one thing, to be converted is another thing. Conversion has to do with what Paul also said in Romans chapter 12. How did he put it? "Be transformed by renewal of your mind." It's the same thing he's bringing here. There is a mindset we have as sinners. Tooth for tooth, this for that, you do me I do you, God no vex. You know this kind of life, the carnal natural life, the corrupt life. It's that life that we normally live. He says we put it away. But to put it away is not just something that is possible if you don't renew your thought, your attitude, the way you think. I tell people, let Jesus transform the way you think, your whole life. Your bondage is in your thought life. Your thought has not been renewed. You think like Gentile. That's why you act like Gentiles. You think like them, that's why you act like them. In everything you find yourself expressing, it has to do with not dealing with your mind. If you have been taught by Christ, there is something you need to do. You must be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which is created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Now look at what it's now saying. Please be looking at these things. "Therefore, putting away lying, 'Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor.'" Are you seeing that? So do you notice that those who cannot speak truth with their neighbor, they have not put off the old life? Where we were coming from, to do justly. When you don't tell people truth, you are not just. Do you want people to tell you lies? You're not a just person, you're not a fair person. It says speak the truth to your neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, but do not sin. It didn't say you should not be angry. We are still human beings. He says but do not sin. How will you do that? He gave you the recommendation: "Do not let the sun go down on your anger." If you are angry today, and by tomorrow that anger is still there, you are not a Christian. These are practical things. No exaggeration. Be angry. The Bible did not because He knows that some people could do something that get you so irritated. You get the point I'm making. So God is not treating us as if we are robots. He can never be angry. No. God is not—He knows some things can get you so angry. Some things can get you but don't sin. That is, don't let the anger gain control of you. Don't let it gain control. Control the anger. That's why the Bible says, "Do not be hasty in your spirit to anger, for anger rests where? In the bosom of fools." Another one, that is Ecclesiastes 7:9. It says don't be hasty to anger for a fool than for him. What it means—it's more than—if you look at these things you see that God took time to address our life. So be angry but sin not. Let not the sun go down. When the sun goes down on your anger, you are giving place to the devil. That's how devil begin to work. Begin things says he will read it to that thing. You interpret it from that thing. And know because of what he said yesterday. You begin to give evil imagination. "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need." So you see that one thing renewed mind is what? Good sense of labor. Christianity is not against hard work. Work hard so that you can give to people. So that you can—because if you lack, you can't help people. So He said instead of steal, go and work so that you can be able to give to people. Instead of cheating in exam, go and study well and teach people. You see these are practical things. It's just that we don't practicalize scriptures many times. Many times we just spiritualize them. We don't relate it to our everyday life. Relate it to your everyday life. "Let him work with his hands what is good that he may give to those that have need." Look at the next thing. "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good and necessary for edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption." Look at verse 31 and 32. We are talking about being merciful, where we are going. What did he say? Let us read whatever translation you have. Can we read together? "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." You see it? Where we are going. That's your Christian life. He has shown you, O man, what the Lord needs from you. This matter of being merciful. When your heart is not tender, please you are a godless person. When your heart is not tender. We need to have tender heart. Our heart should be tender. I mean our heart should be compassionate. Very compassionate. So we will close here this evening. We'll take it here from on next Tuesday, a reflection on the book of Micah chapter 6. We'll take it here. In our next conversation, I will relate this, I'll take it from here, I will relate this to—Ephesians chapter 5, this same—we'll go to chapter 5. You will see how this relates to marriage. Why people are having serious problem today in their marriages. When you ask the husband, he says, "My wife is my problem." When you ask the wife, she says, "My husband is my problem." I want to show you who is really the problem of who. It's about this matter—you will see how it comes into marriage. This matter of whether you are merciful. You'll see how it comes. But I first show you how it applied in our Christian walk. This our general Christian walk. You can see that. So we will close with Proverbs chapter 3. That's where we close with today. Proverbs 3. I read verse 3 and 4. I will appreciate if somebody have the Amplified Bible. "Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so you will find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man." Those of you that are looking for favor with God and man, I'm showing you the path to it. Please, can you read that thing in the Amplified Bible for me? "Let not mercy and kindness—shutting out all hatred and selfishness." Oh, take it slowly. "Let not mercy and kindness." He now want to explain that mercy and kindness. What is mercy and kindness? In the bracket: "shutting out all hatred and selfishness." Things that should not forsake you in life. Things that must not forsake you in life. Things that you must tie to your neck. Things that you must never forsake in your life. Don't let mercy and kindness, which means to shut out all hatred and selfishness. And what's the second one? "And truth." What is truth? What does He explain truth? "Shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy and falsehood." Okay, don't let them do what? Forsake you. What should you do to them? "Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart." You see it? Write them on the tablet of your heart. What will happen to you? "So shall you find favor, good understanding, and a high esteem in the sight of God and man." Do you see it? Do you see how you can find favor with God and man? When you are not just and you are not merciful, you can't find favor with God and man. There are a lot of things people are praying for. "God favor me, God favor me, God favor me." Many of these things they don't come by just praying. There are things to do. There are things to do. I tell people, there are things to do. It's not just shutting yourself up in thirty days prayer and fasting. "I receive favor from God! I receive favor from God!" and yet you don't shut out hatred from your heart. You only greet those who greet you. You only do good to those who earn it. You cannot do good to those who don't earn. You cannot forgive people what they have done against you. You cannot let go, you cannot release. You owe men different kind of things. Your heart is not tender. Malice, bitterness, everything they are there. Your heart is tough. When you see your brother coming, your heart beat increase. Your pulse rate go higher. And then you are locking up yourself in a prayer and fasting. "Oluwa, Father, Father, Father, favor, favor!" You are deceiving yourself. Deceiving yourself. Don't be self-deceived. Let us close here this evening. We'll take it from here on next Tuesday. A reflection on the book of Micah chapter 6. Can you please talk to the Lord? Can you please say something to God? Is there something, our brethren on Telegram, our brethren on Mixlr, our brethren who are here physically, is there something—is there a way you want to react to the Lord? Is there something you want to tell Him? Is there something to repent from? Is there something to be sorry about? Please, take a decision today. I tell you this truth. One way to live a responsible Christian life is to learn to take decision. When you don't take decision you will never be responsible. For example, me and my son were discussing today and I was trying to explain something. I said if you don't take—if you don't decide that I want to do my quiet time so-and-so time, you will not be a responsible person. "I will do it anytime." Anytime can be anything. Why don't you say that okay—look at your academics. Why don't you go for lectures anytime? Why don't you write exam anytime? Anything that is anytime does not turn out well in life. What turns out well are things you deliberately plan. They will plan the timetable, they will plan the exam timetable, they will organize it, you will come. One way to be responsible is to learn to take decision. Take a decision. Decide on something and ask the Lord to help you. Decide on something. Let me invite Sister Comfort close the meeting for us. Sister Comfort, please help us close this meeting for today. [Speaker 5] Our Father in heaven, we thank so much this evening. You are molding our hearts by the power of Your word. You are sending forth Your word to heal and to deliver. We are grateful. Accept our thanks in Jesus' name. Thank You for those eye-openers You have given us tonight. What You are expecting from us. Some of us are weary. We are tired of sacrifices and it looks like the way of the Lord is hard because of what we have been taught in the past. But we are grateful because You are realigning our lives into Your purpose. Thank You Father in Jesus' name. Father we pray, You have spoken to us, O Lord. Father it is You that work in us both to will and to do of Your good pleasure. Please, work out these words in our lives in Jesus' name. As we surrender our hearts to You O Lord, let this word transform our mind and our heart in the name of Jesus. Let it bring O God a thorough renewal into our mind such that it becomes our practical life in Jesus' name. Thank You everlasting Father. Lord, we lift up Your servant, Your son who You have used again into Your hands. We are asking that Lord this word will bear fruit in his life in Jesus' name. The fruit will continually grow and grow bigger and bigger and larger in Jesus' name. Thank You Lord for hearing us pray. For it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace together. 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. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. Praise the Lord! [background music] [Voiceover] 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 hit. Our regular activities are the 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 Very Joy filling station, along Ijerre road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.