Reflections on the Book of Colossian (part 9).

[Music and Singing] Glory to God. We thank our God. [Narrator] Church fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tents Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] This evening again as we gather unto Him, we bless His holy name for His mercies, for His goodness, for His grace. We are grateful unto Him because it has always been Him, it is still Him, and it will yet be Him in the name of Jesus Christ. We want to welcome everybody again on board this evening. Brethren who are joining us on Mixlr, brethren who are connecting with us on Telegram, and we who are here physically. We want to say thanks be to God again for another time in His presence. And as we all connect together again this evening, I trust in the Lord that it will be a time of blessing and refreshment in the name of Jesus Christ. We have started again or returned again to our reflection on the book of Colossians. And we have been able to look at Colossians chapter one, two, and last week we came back to Colossians chapter three where we started from last week. And we were able to look at verse one to verse four, where the Bible reads—let me just read that again—where the Bible reads—I want to quickly open Colossians and just read chapter three, verse one to four: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on earth. For actually you died. The reality is that you died, and your life is hidden in Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” That was where we stopped last week. So we are going to continue from there today. Let us have a word of prayer, then we'll ask brethren who are here physically or brethren online, if you have any comment or any testimony you want to give or maybe a high point of lesson or something the Lord was making you to see a little better again about the matter of: if you have indeed been raised with Christ, set your mind on things above. Let us pray. Everlasting Father, we appreciate You for Your love and for Your mercies. We thank You for Your goodness. We thank You for Your grace. We thank You for all that You are and all that You do. Lord, unto You we gather this evening. Lord we pray, walk in our midst. Meet us where we need You most. Give light to our darkness. Strengthen our faith. Give us a deeper revelation of You. Thank You Eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we start with brethren who have comments. Anybody that have comment, whether you have comment, a testimony, or a high point of lesson, or something you learned further along the line after last week's discussion. Anybody that has anything to say before I move on? Okay, one person, two persons. Technical brethren online, are they saying anything? Okay, nothing online. All right, so let's have Gospel. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord. One of the high points for me is the intro that you made. You said nobody goes to market to get jara, that as a believer, we should not just focus all our attention on the consequences of following God, that we should focus on God Himself, on Jesus. And also in the book of Colossians, we talked about in verse four, it said, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with him in glory.” So the word that struck me was “my life.” It's not my life, it's Jesus's life, it's the life of Christ. And you later expanded on it that my life became Christ by union that happened. Because the Scripture says that he that is joined to an harlot is one with him, and he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. I should not look at my life as my own life; it's the life of Christ. So whatsoever that wants to happen, I should always remember that my life is Jesus's life. So that was powerful. [Speaker 3] One of the major points I took from last week's class was when you were talking about that since we now know that these are the things that Christ has done for us, then we should set our eyes on the things above and not on things on this earth. And one of the other corroborating scriptures was that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. That until we can transform our mind and our mindset to shift from looking at the things that we can see to looking at the things that we cannot see, the visible things, and focusing our eyes on the things of God, we'll not be able to live in the reality of the things that Christ has already made available for us. [Speaker 1] Yeah, that's very true. Thank you very much. That's the reality indeed of our life, that if we don't take time to set our mind on what has been done for us, then we may never enter into the reality of these things. And that is why, you will notice that the Bible says that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond all we can think or we can—other version says—that we can imagine. One thing like I mentioned last week, if God wants to use a man for anything, what God needs to work on is his mindset, the mindset. Gideon had a wrong mindset and so he remained in bondage. For him to live in liberty, God has to make him think the way he ought to think. He said, “Look, you mighty man of valor.” And I'm sure he looked at himself, “Me, mighty man of valor? How? But look at the circumstance around me.” God said, “Look, go in this might. You will conquer. You will bring victory for Israel.” And as we try to start today to move on to verse five, I want to make you see two individuals in Scripture, two individuals in Scripture. I want us to look at them because we want to look at: “Therefore put to death your members.” We want to go to the—you see, verse five is the action point. And the action point begins with the word “therefore,” which means the action point becomes completely impossible without the right mind. Once the mind is wrong, the action point will be wrong. So look at the action point of what it means—verse one to four is the sitting, what you ought to sit on, what you ought to rest on is the verse four. The verse four is on what you want to sit on. From verse one to four is talking about: look, set your mind on this thing that God has done. From verse five, it's the action point. Now in going to the action point, I want to show you two people, for you to know why it is possible for someone to be born again—even though the person is born again—yet not live life as expected of him. Look at it. Judges—we're going to again to that Judges. Judges is occurring so much in this our lesson. We have looked at Gideon the last time. We want to look at something again still about Gideon, but this time not Gideon himself, but the son of Gideon. Now let's look at what happened in the book of Judges—let me open here please—Judges. We're looking at chapter seven, chapter eight, and chapter nine, but I'm concerned more about the two chapters, chapter seven and chapter eight. Now let's look at what happened around verse 20. Yeah, let's begin from there. It said, “Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, and they held their torches in their left hand and the trumpet in their right hand for blowing, and they cried, 'The sword of the Lord and the sword of Gideon!'” Of course what happened was that every man stood in his place all around. Of course God fought the battle. He says, “When the 300 blew the trumpet, the Lord set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp.” That is the camp of the enemy. And the army fled. They fled before Gideon. So Gideon had to pursue them. Then the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, they pursued the Midianites. So everybody was pursuing them. He says, “Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the mountain of Ephraim saying, 'Come down against the Midianites.'” You know, everybody, fight, take over. So that was going on. He says, “And they captured the two princes of the Median, which is Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb and they killed at the winepress of Zeeb.” Then they kept on pursuing. Now when you enter chapter eight—I'm showing you what is going on, what are you seeing in this story? Gideon had gone to the battle. Victory has started, is it not? They're already on the winning side. They have already killed some of the kings. But look at the incident. The story continues. So now in chapter eight—now the men of Ephraim said to him, “What have you done?” You know, Midianites that you didn't call them to join us in the battle. Then Gideon was trying to pacify them. They came to Jordan, they crossed Jordan. He says, “When they came to Jordan, he and the 300 men who were with him crossed over, exhausted, but still pursuing.” They were still pursuing some of the enemy. So as at now, what is happening to the enemy? They were running. So in a way, when there is a battle and following the battle the enemy is already running away, the battle has been won. Is it not? Because you are just pursuing them and you are killing them. So in a way, they have been disarmed. Is that not true? Good. Please don't forget where we are coming from: having disarmed principalities and powers. That's actually what I want us to see by taking this story, that look at the sequence. People were fighting, they were so much in number, God had given the victory, the enemy already running, they were pursuing them. Now verse eight: then they said to the men of—anyway, that's just by the way talk. I want to move on to where really interests me. Now I get to verse 10. It says, “Now Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor and their armies were with them about [unclear: fifteen thousand], all who were left of the army of the people of the east, for 120,000 men who drew the sword had fallen. Then Gideon went up by the road of those who dwell in the tent on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the army while the camp felt secure. Then when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them.” Are you seeing that again? What's going on again now? The enemy had been captured and they are running. He said, “He took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army.” So where are the army now of these two kings? They have been destroyed. So the kings, what are they now? Prisoners of war, ordinary men. Their armies were no more with them. The two kings were just captured. So these two kings, how do you describe them? Powerful? Powerful as at now? Powerless? Is there anything about them? Nothing about them. Okay. Look at it. “Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the absence of Heres and he caught a young man of the men of Succoth and questioned him, and he wrote down for him the leaders of Succoth.” That's by the way. And then he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna about whom you ridiculed me saying, 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand that we should give you bread to your weary men, to your weary men?'” So he did that, he turned down that place on and on. I want us to move on to verse 20. That's actually where I'm going. I've given you the background story enough. Now look at what happened. Then—let me take it from 19. Then he said—no, 20. Then he said to Jether his firstborn—the firstborn of who now? The firstborn of Gideon. He said to Jether, “Rise, kill them.” Do you know who these boys was asked to kill? Those two kings. Who are they? Captives. Their armies still with them? No. And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise, kill them.” But the youth would not draw his sword for he was afraid, for he was still a youth. Are you following something? So Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself and kill us, for as a man is so is his strength.” So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna and took the crescent ornaments that were on their camels' neck. Are you following something? This was a boy, he said he was a youth here, he was not a small youth. A youth that joined in pursuing the armies. I hope you're getting it. In pursuing with the 300, okay they were captured and they were brought to this point. Now look at this youth here, he was but a youth, he didn't raise his sword. Now let's look at 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 15, 16, but I think I'm interested more in the 17. The whole story so I would just—15, 16 was when David was anointed and then he went to meet his brothers at the field, and then there was this Goliath who said, “Who are these?” And then David came out to fight Goliath. I'm sure you're familiar with that story. And that's why I left the whole of 15 and 16. Now when we came to 17, look at what happened. I take it from verse 38. “So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head and he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, 'I cannot walk with these, I have not tested them.' So David took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and then put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine.” Now are you looking at this one? This is another youth. This one was still in his father's house, he had not been going to war except that he had been killing goats, he had been killing bear and lions in the wilderness. That other one had been following them to war. The enemy had been captured. This person, who is he? Goliath. Has he been captured? The armies they were still with him, isn't it? Now let's read on. “So the Philistine came near and began to draw near to David, and the men who bore his shield went before him. When the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him for he was only a youth.” Is it not the same thing was said that he was only a youth here? He was a small boy. That's why I—let me check another reading. NLT: “When the Philistine saw the—okay—he sneered in contempt looking at the ruddy-faced boy.” He was just a boy! So he was wondering. I said he was a boy. He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. Now I'm trying to bring something to you about mindset. So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog that you came to me with a stick?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.” So David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel whom you defy. This day the Lord God will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcass of the camp of the Philistine to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the field, and all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel. Then all the assembly shall know that the Lord God does not save with the sword or with spear.” What did David do here? What's he doing? You don't understand the power of words. What you call enchantment. He was calling, speaking into existence the things that will happen. He was speaking. And that is where the believer are missing the point today. We are not scripture soaked. We are not soaked—you see, the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. The sword of the Spirit—the amount of the Word of God that transcends from the spirit, that's what creates the world. That's what changed the world. David was speaking. You would see the same thing in battle when people speaking and they are talking, they are speaking, because they understand the power of the spoken word. David went to the matter, David was telling the Philistine that God does not stand in the counsel of the ungodly, sit in the seat of sinner or in the seat of the scornful, but His delight is where? Is in the law of the Lord. And in His law, he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water. He will not know when heat come. In his season, he will bring—David understood the power of the sword of the Spirit. But what I'm trying to make you see the more is that it was this word that was the basis of the mindset of who? Of David. That was his mindset. The mindset was what he was telling Goliath. “Look, this.” And he was speaking his mind, exactly how he thought. He said to him—so it was. When the Philistine arose and came near to draw near to David, that David hurried and ran towards the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face on the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in his hand. Therefore what did David do? David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword, drew it out of the sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistine saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Now are you seeing something? In the other episode, this boy went to war, he said, “Kill the kings.” He could not kill them. The Bible said why? Because he was afraid because he was—who should be more afraid? David or this man? The enemy here had not been captured. David was coming with sword and he was running towards him. And when he has prevailed against him, he drew the sword. So when the Bible says that he was but a youth, what did the Bible really mean? It's not about the biological age, and that is why the reality is that so many people are growing old but they are not growing up. You may be growing old, you may not be growing up. Growing up is a different thing from growing old. This is just a boy and yet he was bold enough, mature enough, capable enough to capture and kill and pursue the enemy that was not captured. “I will disarm you, I will finish you. You will see as I kill lion and bear, that's how I'm going to kill you.” And the other one, the enemy was captured, they're already prisoners, they're just waiting to just put the sword in their neck, and he was shaking and he could not kill them. So let's go back to Colossians. I showed you those people because I want to make reference to something. I've emphasized last week that the Bible says, “If therefore you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.” How will you seek those things? How will you seek them? From our discussion last week? By setting your mind. It's about your mind. Set your mind on the things above, not on things on earth. So when you notice that you are incapacitated, you could not do what God wants you to do because of some circumstances around you, some things you want to say about yourself—you know my background, you know my personality, you know my age, you know me, I'm very someone that is—all those things that you are giving about your life for which you are not entering into what Jesus has made available for you, where is the bondage? It is in your mind. It's in your mind! That's what—where it is. Because you have died and your life is hidden in Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then you shall appear with Him in glory. Now, you now come to the action point. If truly you are setting your mind, if truly you are thinking the way you should think, if truly you are understanding that Christ is your life, if truly you know that you have died—not that you will die—you know, that was something that was a serious turning point for me many many years ago when I encountered this in Romans 6. You know, Bible says, “For he that is dead is free from sin.” It's not he that will die. No, the Bible says for you have died. I said, “But I'm alive.” He said, “Because that is the way you think you have died.” Begin to see that you have died, until you see as you ought to see you will not live as you ought to live. You must see the invisible, you must think the invisible to live the invisible. That's the reality. You must see and think and lived—the action point now. Having engaged the gear, what are you to do? Therefore what are you to do? Verse five: “Put to death your members which are on earth.” Why are you putting it to death? What basis are you doing it? “I have been raised with Christ, I have died.” So now what is he trying to make me understand? This thing—it's very basic, it's very fundamental thing. There is a body around me, there is a happening around me. Now the reality of my life is where? Is where? It's in the spirit. The reality is the spirit. Is that what actually the real me is not where? The real me is not the physical. The more the physical take dominance over you, it's because you have lost your identity. You didn't get that. You didn't get that. You know, when they want to identify you physically, remember the teaching on “Put on the whole armor of God” and we explained each of the armor. He says put on the helmet. You remember that teaching, abbi? You have to put it on the head. Why? Because that is your identity. You know, if somebody die you remove the head you won't know who the person is. So when he said “put on the helmet of salvation,” that is let your identity be that you are saved. You remember that teaching: your identity, so it covers the head for your identity. So physically if you want to identify me now—me now—say this is me. Once you see my head, once you remove the head you may not know who the person is, except maybe people who know the cloth I wore when I was going out. Without the head you'll be wondering who is this. Now we are talking about some more fundamental things. You see the actual person that you are—the person—or the physical environment that surround that person? The actual person that you are is not this brother Wole who has some way of life, who has some past, who has—there is a past me. There is a person that you are that everybody know you for. But you see when you come into Christ, the truth that the Bible wants you to understand is that you only live inside the body. You are not the body. The body is just a place that you live inside. That body is not you, you only live inside it. Because after some time you will put down that body but the real you is still alive. We are only wearing this body now. One major challenge for the believer is taking the ID, the circumstance and the situations of the body, the body that they dwell in. The real you, what the Bible wants you to think about is that no, when you say, “I'm someone who is this, I'm someone,” that is not who you are! That is inside what you live in. Because if you don't do that, if you don't think that way, there's going to be a challenge. That's why he said since you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above, set your mind on things above, Christ is your life. And they now come to look, “Therefore put to death your members which are on earth.” Why are you putting it to death? What are the members? What are your members? Your hand, your leg, they are just your members, they are not you. They are your members, they are not you. But you keep defining your life by your members. And you must get that understanding that no, these are just my members. Before you got born again, that was not yours because sin—it's actually a captive of sin. Whereas the believer is not a captive of sin, he only yield to sin. Do you get it? That's the difference between the believer and the unbeliever. When the believer sins, you know what they did to it. When believer sins, they are—what you call the total inability. They don't have ability to say no to sin. The believer have everything it takes to say no to sin. So when the believer sins, when the believer continue in the life of the flesh, it is a matter of what? Matter of yielding to it. It's not a matter of he cannot stop it. That's what the Bible wants you to understand, that it needs to have this understanding that it's not a matter of “see, Satan says.” It has changed! It has changed! You are not that person who cannot—there is a change. You have been set free! You have been set loose! You are no more—if you do, it's because you chose to do it. It's not because you cannot say no to it, you can say no to it. And the reason why that is important is because the flesh war against the spirit and the spirit war against the flesh. The flesh become the old man, the Philistine, the Goliath, the giant that looked at you, while the spirit is a new man, you know it's a young boy. That's why they call your flesh the old man. Have you ever heard that before in your Bible? It's the old man, ogbo-logbo okonrin—that's Yoruba translation. And that really made a lot of meaning to me. Ogbo-logbo Goliath is the old man! And because he's the old man, he want to tell you that “Come, who do you think you are? When did they give birth to you? Who are you?” There's always this war. The reason why the believer find themselves not able to live as they are to live is because of this matter. Now, look at what the Bible says. It says, “Therefore put to death your members which are on earth.” What are you putting to death? Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. So when you see a believer who is still covetous, believer who can do anything to get promotion, when you see people who can do anything to make government money, when you see people who can do anything, change their age, tell lie about themselves, about their certificate, corner people, do all of that and they are all inside church, and they are speaking in tongues, what actually is the problem? You see that the problem could be either that they were never born again, or there is a loss of identity. Their life is Christ. They are dead. Based on that, putting their mind on that, they are to do what? Put to death. But they could not put to death. And when you meet them sometimes, you know what they will say? You know what it will be? Do you know the typical thing they do? [Singing] “Give me grace to follow, abundant grace to follow. Give me grace to follow, Your grace is enough for me.” Lord! Give me power! Holy Spirit, come and take over me! There is nothing wrong in that prayer. There's just a challenge in the prayer. What is the challenge? The challenge is that the prayer is not a prayer of faith. It is not according to the will of God. The Bible says this is the confidence that we have towards Him, that anything we ask Him, what will He do? He will grant us because we ask according to His will. You will stay—you will pray that prayer for 30, for 10 years, for 15 years, you will say God has still not answered that prayer. At every convention they will come out for rededication. At every new service people to wait for God to answer that prayer, but there is no prayer to answer. It is not according to the will of God. So you will see—that's why Jesus said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you,” what will happen? “You ask whatever you will and it will be done for you.” But if His word is not in you, you'll be asking so many things but you will not get it. You are saying, “Give me grace to follow.” Heaven is saying, “We have given you grace to follow. We have given you grace to follow. We have given you grace to follow. Just change the way you think. We have given you grace to follow. Brother, we have given you grace to follow.” You are saying, “Give me grace to follow.” Holy Spirit is saying, “We have given you grace to follow.” So, that's why this—the problem is a fundamental problem because the brethren who do—the brethren who are like this, honestly sincerely they want to serve the Lord. That's one thing I want you to understand about brethren who many times come to conference—I know you think they are not serious, it's the last time they did—I'm telling you, it is because like with some of us some years back, what we were told: “ah, a le mo riko-rimaji” (we can't find who will lead us). That's what we were told. “You see, we are all sinners. We are just trusting God to help us. And we see God will help us. But you see these things except God help us.” And so we were going in that—I'm telling you, if not that the mercy of God came and God opened our eyes, we would not have been different. Do you get the point I'm making? So we too will be very, “Oh, Father, Father, make me a new creature in the name of Jesus.” We'll come for convention—ah, where there are better prayers to pray. We will say, “Lord, make me a new creature, make me a new creature, make me a new creature, Lord, Lord, Lord, I want to work with You, make me a new creature!” But God will just be wondering: are you in Christ? You are a new creature! There is nothing to answer, that have been done already. There is no prayer about that! You see, I'm trying to make you see that many times instead of sitting—I want to explain something to you about God. You will get this thing better, what I'm saying now. It's something that Watchman Nee wrote about. You can look for that book; the book is “Sit, Walk, Stand”—that is to sit down, then walk, then stand. Normally if you want to walk, what do you do? What do you do normally if you want to walk? You stand up to walk. But in the Kingdom, you sit to walk. If you must walk and be able to walk well, you must sit. That's what we are looking at here. You must first sit on what has been done for you. There is a Yoruba song. No man t'atun mu yi, ah, Baba, dakin this New Year.oluwa, ko s'ele mo, ko s'e—mo pinnu, I made up my mind, this one again. I know many of you grew up in Yoruba church, but as I began to know God more and more, those things I was singing in ignorance, they began to make a lot of meaning to me. That's why when I'm really, really lost in prayer, I just get lost. English just go off, back on. Because they were things I've done so much in ignorance. So when God wanted to help me, that was the beginning of my revelation. “Adura jati-jati lo n gba yi omo.” You know, they were—they gave me a 360 roundabout and they came more in Yoruba language because I was growing up in Yoruba church. You know, we'll be singing there, we say, “Jesu lo pe mi ti mo joko rẹdẹ-rẹdẹ.” I didn't know the meaning. “Jesu lo pe mi ti mo joko rẹdẹ-rẹdẹ. Tani o to bẹ kẹle o lẹyin Ọlọrun.” You know, that is: it is Jesus who called me, that's why I am seated. That you need to sit. Is it not that's where you are? You need to sit! “Ọmọ baba le mi ṣe.” Look whether deliverance was coming. Those song began to take another—another turn with us. When for—masturbation: “Ọmọ baba le mi ṣe, nipa igbagbọ.” You know, they began to—and before we knew it, it was not the acrobatic seven days fasting and prayer that set us free. It was revelation! We began to understand that “No, ọmọ baba le mi ṣe nipa.” It can't repeat again. I would just discover that six month have gone we have not gone back to masturbation. Ah! So this is the truth! For us it was like surprise, it was like, so this thing work? It was—let me tell somebody that this thing work. Some of them took us six years to realize them because there was no father, nobody to father us. We were only hearing people say, “ah, awa maje s'bi enu n jẹun, amọ af'Ọlọrun gba wa o.” Except God save us, you know we're all sinners, except God come and deliver us. So you will go again: “ah, God, me a sinner, please help me.” You know, there was nobody to help us. We wanted to go—and I'm telling you, I wish we knew these things immediately we got born again. But God in His mercy began to make us see that until you sit down you cannot walk. We have tried to walk, he said no, the first thing is sit down. If you must stop fornication, first sit. First sit on “ah, Christ is now my life.” Where are you coming from? You see that David sat. He said, “Look, I'm going to show you today that God don't deliver with sword and with javelin, He coming in the name of the Lord. The God of Israel whom you defy. That God, today”—David was fully seated. He said, “God who deliver me from the hand of lion and the hand of bear, ah, you will see! Today, today, not tomorrow, this your head, this your head, we are going to give it to the birds. All these Philistines, we are going to scatter all of you.” What was David talking from? He was talking seated. If you don't sit, not walk. Nobody have the power to conquer sin, nobody. We are conquerors through Christ who gave His life. None of us have the ability. That's why you see New Year resolution, I remember those—I became very committed, you know I was a—I also grew up to be very church person. You know, we would carry the swords, the cross, carry the wooden thing. “Jesu, Jesu.” And we would just be thinking—we were sincerely—and that is why, thank God for a high that sees, and do not despise those who are yet to see. Have a large heart to tolerate people's madness and people's confusion. That's why some people you don't even know what I believe about so many things when you see me live among people. Because it just—knowing that except God open people's eyes, there is nothing you can do about them. But we were really sincere. We were—we wanted to—we were going through all of that. We were so—so religious. We were so much! We do vigil night after night. I was in the—they call them “egbe-afadura-jago” (prayer warrior). You get the point I'm making? Then from prayer warrior, I joined evangelism team. I'm also a strong member of the choir. Very active in the church. And so, wanting—thinking that—to God in His—it was just like play, like play, the Lord began to open our eyes, began to open our eyes, began to open our eyes. Began to—and gradually, gradually, gradually, gradually we understood the secret that, look, there is—it is not by the will of the flesh. It's not by the will of the flesh, let any man should boast. It's not by saying I've made up my mind to stop lying and you see, I'm not like you. Me, I don't tell lies, you have been telling lies anyhow. Me I don't—I'm not telling lies! What do you mean? No man can decide to stop telling lie and stop. You see, I'm trying to make you understand that nobody—man can—all the resolution we did, before the end of January we have broken all the rule. New Year resolution. Say, “ah, Oluwa, odun eleyi t'atun mu yi, ah, Baba, dakin this New Year, Oluwa, ko s'ele mo, ko s'e—mo pinnu, I made up my mind, this one again,” before we finished the second week in January we have done it almost five times. I had to wonder, ah, o dabi adura ni, is it that God don't answer prayer? And then they will confuse you the more, there is a song we normally sing: “Onibo t'o se, boya ko ni gbagbo to ni. Eni l'adura ohun o gba, o ni bo t'o se.” That is there is a way you did, maybe you just didn't have enough faith. “Ah, Oluwa, mi o ni gbagbo to ni,” maybe I don't have enough faith, let me pray again with faith. I will not understand that what we were praying were useless prayers. All we needed to do was to sit. It was to sit. Once you sit, the rest follows immediately. You will put to death in your members. And how does that happen? It's the same thing I'll take you back to something I said many many years ago when we were looking at the cross. Do you remember the cross, the teaching on the cross? You remember I said that when the serpent was biting them in the wilderness, he said they should look up at the bronze serpent. Now when they look at the bronze serpent, they will live. And I remember I asked you then: what is it that takes away the venom of a living serpent? A living serpent, you were bitten by a living serpent and the thing is actually real. We were bitten by a serpent, by Satan, and it's real! Because you knew—maybe some of you don't know sin. Who is the first person who went so far we came back? You know some of you are just born inside one godly-un-godly there and there you may not know what sin is. We know what sin was! We know it! We went seriously into it before we met with Jesus. So we know what it means to be free. Some of you don't—you don't appreciate freedom because you were never in serious bondage. But we were in real bondage and we were struggling for freedom. So it's real! You were bitten by a serpent. You are told to look up. As you're looking up at that serpent, what happened to the venom of the living serpent? It goes! Tell me, I asked you then in that discussion, I said tell me: how did it happen? How did it happen? You're in the Word of God, you were just—so the point is as you look what happened to the living—to the venom? So what took away the venom? You are looking up, you obeyed to look up. But what now went to take away the venom? It was the working of God, is it not? So you discover what actually makes you stop fornication is the working of God. What makes you stop stealing is the working of God. Working covetousness is the working of God, it is not the will of man! So any person cannot boast. It is the working of God! That is why the Bible told us we should not speak evil against anybody. We should be patient towards them knowing that you yourself were once like that. Have you heard that before in Titus? Yes. He said not until the grace and the mercy of God appeared that brought regeneration, we were not different. Now, so you see what I'm trying to make you see that “therefore put to death.” Put to death your members which are on earth. What are you putting to death? Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. If you don't know what all that will mean, what all that will mean, please go and take your dictionary. Go and do your own personal Bible study. One time I took my dictionary and was checking each of these words to know what's really they mean. What the difference between fornication—if I ask some of you what's uncleanness? You say for your house to be dirty. We don't study Bible. Passion—just thin things, being in imaginary fantasies because you—you find pleasure in looking at the nakedness of women, nakedness of—that's uncleanness. It's not to do with the actual act of fornicating but surrounds everything that is immorality. That's uncleanness. Some people that you see that have not had sex with somebody before, they are more defiled than those having sex. Because they are so unclean, elede t'o mọ, they are so unclean! By the time you check their talk life, by the time you check inside they are so unclean. They can undress a woman by looking at the woman even though the woman is clothed. Uncleanness! But you can put it off! He said, “Put to death these things.” He said, “It is on account of these things that the holy anger of God will fall upon the sons of disobedience,” those who obstinately opposed to the divine will. It's on account of these things that the judgment of God is coming. It is because of these kind of things that God is about to explode in anger. KJV: “For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” NIV: “Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” NLT: “God's terrible anger will come on those who do such things.” And nobody is saying that, you say you're a Christian and you're fornicating, you say you see a sinning saint, the sinning saint. I then ask them: were there saintly sinners? When you become saint, that basis to sin so that they can walk. Instead of giving that you see, you know, we'll be managing to overcome—no, we have overcome! Teach people when people know the truth, the truth will set them free. When people know the way “see, we are managing, after all, David said if God is to search for—if God is to punish sin, who can be justified? You see, we're just managing the sin. You see God will help us one day.” And some people are not seeing the reason to put to death. Put to death, is it by our power? Is it by our might? It's not by anybody's power. God only came to save us so that we can serve Him in holiness all the days of our life. That is why He saved us. That's why we take it from next week. I'll start from the book of Luke next week. Know why God actually came to save us. And we must understand these things because of these things, Ibeinu Olorun bo (God's anger is coming), God's anger is going to be explode on these things. And we're playing about them mildly. We're talking about them as if they are just something that God is—God is, you know, managing with us. We talk—we don't talk about it the way the Bible talk about it. And that is why, you know, we still need to put to death these things. Put it to death. And we are able to put it to death, all we need to do is to do what? Change the way we think. Let us pray. Let us pray. Put to death. Put to death. God will not—God is not like the Egyptians' people. They will not give them straw and they were asking them to produce brick. When they went to meet them, they said, “No, you must still produce brick, but we will not give you straw.” God is not a taskmaster. Before God began to ask for holy conduct, God gave us righteousness. Before He was asking for holy conduct, He did something for us. So God is not asking us to do it by our power. No, He did it and said, “Look, I have done it, I have disarmed the enemy, now go and put to death in your members.” And you are saying, “I'm only a youth, oh God, ale mo riko-rimaji, you know, I'm still managing the sin, you know in my father's house, that is how we have always been, thing have always been there, I'm just managing.” No! God say look the enemy have been slaughtered, change the way you are thinking! Think your new life and slaughter this enemy! Draw your sword! The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God! Draw your sword! Draw your sword! Slaughter this Goliath! Draw your sword! Draw your sword! I want to invite my wife to close this meeting. Or Brother Pesu, are you—come and close this meeting for us. Let's start from here now. [Speaker 4] Father in Jesus' name, we are grateful unto You. Thank You for Your word. Thank You for speaking to us again, reminding us of where You have made us seated in Christ Jesus. Thank You, Lord, establish us in this truth in Jesus' name. Help us to keep holding on to the Word of God, renewing our mind, changing our mindset, believing, agreeing to what Christ has done for us in the name of Jesus. Father, we thank You because it is by this we will undo every seemingly things that are contrary to whom You have made us, to whom You have called us, and to whom, Lord, You have destined us. Help us to hold on to the Word of God. Help us to hold on, to keep believing and acting and living in the reality of what Christ has already done for us in the name of Jesus. Father, we thank You for Your son. We pray, Lord, that more and more, let this reality, let this truth become reality in his life in the name of Jesus. More grace, more unction, more of You in him, more revelation, more drawing from the well of salvation, from the living water. Lord, we ask that You release unto him in the name of Jesus. As we go beyond this point, Lord, please bug our heart. Help us to stand, help us to meditate, help us to keep chewing, digesting until this word become fresh reality, becomes us, becomes our life in the name of Jesus. Thank You faithful God, in Jesus' unfailing name we pray. Amen. 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 mercies 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! Hallelujah! [Narrator] This message is coming to you from Family Tents Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission help. Our regular activities are discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 PM; adolescent and singles class every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; marriage forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counsel, you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Inere Community, opposite Barryjoy filling station along Ijeare Road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles, familytents@yahoo.co.uk, familytentsministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentsministry.org. Our phone numbers are 0803 386 1136, 0703 361 3848. God bless you all.