Sc — 05 MAY 2018

[Music] [Voiceover] To achieve and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Ten Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Music] [Speaker 1] It is the first Saturday of the fifth month, the month of May 2018. We thank God again for another Singles Club. As we gather in his presence this morning, it would be good again, as our usual practice, to ask ourselves, what can you even remember for what he did in April, the first Saturday of April? So, what can you remember that is a blessing to you? I am not talking of the whole thing, but is there anything that is still striking in your heart that was a blessing from that meeting? [Speaker 2] I think from April, I grasped something that has stayed with me and that is the New Creation Realities. You said just act in faith and becoming an actor of the Word of God. How can one be able to obey God in faith? Ever since, and the Word of God came up, I saw the Word of God in a new light. I have to act it out for me to live it. So, it means I have to know the Word of God first. Ever since, in my personal study and in my personal prayer, I have always been praying that God should make me know his Word, give me a Word, a Word to act on. In so doing, I want to be able to act out this Word in faith so that I will be able to experience the New Life. [Speaker 1] Wow, so majorly getting the Word of God by faith, understanding it and acting it out. It was New Creation Realities and I said there are three major things about New Creation Realities, but we looked at one of them, and that is a new way of living, a new way of living. Can you still remember, was anything a blessing? [Speaker 3] New Creation Realities. Looking at my life, the way I am living my life, my life raises a lot of questions. My life is questioning me. I need to check my foundation. There are some things that go wrong as a result of a wrong foundation. [Speaker 1] When our life raises questions, there could be foundational problems. In fact, there is foundational problems. That describes several lives that are raising questions today. Every question today. Two major things that we could remind ourselves is the fact that we need to check, when our life raises questions consistently, then we need to check our foundation. Two, the Word of God is to be received by faith and acted upon for it to be beneficial. You cannot work in what you do not know. So, you must spend time to know, to know what has been written. You cannot be quoting what you do not know. You can only quote what you know. You can only believe what you know. You cannot believe what you have not known. There is a place of knowing, and that is where the enemy has sidetracked so many of our youth today and Christians. We spend very inadequate time with the Scripture. Inadequate time. We do not adequately stay with Scripture. We keep complaining that there is no time, there is no time, but we have a lot of time for so many other things. I think the problem is that our value system is wrong. There is a problem with our value system because the truth is that a man can only have time for what he considers important. As long as a man has not considered something important, he cannot have time for it. When a man keeps saying, "I don't have time for something," most times what he means is that in his considered judgment, that thing is not a priority. The thing that is taking his time is what is his priority. His priority. So, we must learn to look at our priority, our priorities, how we spend time, how we live our life so that we can have adequate time to dwell by the Word of God, to stay with the Word of God, to be changed by the Word of God so that there can be a full manifestation of the new life in Christ. Today, we want to move on again this first Saturday in the month of May. I know last time I said there are three major things about this New Creation Realities. We talked about a new way of living. We talk about a life that is in Christ. We talk about the joy of the Holy Spirit. But I will not be going those two other ways today. If you remember, the Bible says the kingdom of God is not in meat and drink, but in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17. So, one thing about New Creation Realities is the place of the Holy Spirit, the joy of the Holy Spirit. The two other things are the reality of a new life, a new way of living, and then the other one is new life in Christ. It is that matter of new life in Christ that makes us to become ministers of peace, ministers of peace. We are reconciling men. We have found peace with God. We are making sure that we are at peace with men. We are at peace with God and we are bringing men to be at peace with God. I am talking about this new though I am not, I will not be discussing those other two this morning. I have another direction I want to go. But I just want to, the day we will have time to look at the other two. We have looked at one which is the reality, a new way of living. If there is no new way of living, then like what she was saying, there is a foundational problem. It must translate to a new way. The Bible never says that there is a mid-way. It is either the old life or the new life, a new way of living. Then the second thing the Bible establishes again, apart from a new way of living, is about the new life that is in Christ. And you wonder what that really means? What that simply tries to make us to see is that actually we have been reconciled to God. He has given us the word of reconciliation and he has made us ministers of reconciliation. That is, one important emblem of New Creation Realities is that you will see this person who follows peace with men, who is at peace with God and who is bringing men to be at peace with God. Once you say you are a Christian and your life, you are not a peacemaker, you cannot be called the son of God. He said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." Matthew 5:9. We call Jesus the Son of God because the Bible says he came to make peace. Do you know where that is? What I just quoted now? Matthew chapter five. Check it. What does he say about the peacemaker? Verse nine. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. So, if we reverse that statement: cursed are the non-peacemakers. No, you can always, that is the way to learn truth. That is the truth about it. That is the truth about it. Bible says "Follow peace with all men." Bible says "As much as it lies in you," do what? Follow peace. Follow peace now. Follow peace with all men is in Hebrews. Then in Romans chapter twelve, "as much as it lies in you, be at peace." That is what he is saying, is that even if there is a trouble, as much as you are concerned, be making sure that you are not the one making the trouble to continue. He says, "Good morning," you say, "Get out, you idiot." You don't say, "I am an idiot, you fool." No, you don't need to do that. As much as it lies on your own side, making sure that you are not the one making the fight to continue. He says, "You get out of here, you idiot." The following morning, "Good morning." And then he walks away. I hope you are getting the point I am making. As much as it is lying in you, let it be that from your own side, you are not provoking, you are not the one. I hope you get the point I am making. You are not. As much as it lies in you, be at peace. That is why he said if he slap you on the right side, what did he say? Turn the left. That is, you be at peace. Be at peace. What if he slapped the other side and said, "Ah, me and you? Me? Do you think I am a fool? Christianity apart, I will deal with you." Something is missing. As much as you are not being at peace, you are becoming revengeful. You are giving evil for evil. You are giving. I hope you get the point I am making. So, I am talking about we will discuss it. Most people don't understand this thing about the kingdom. There is the reality of the new life, new life in Christ. There is a new life that makes us to be at peace with God. That makes us to be at peace with men, and that makes us to be people whose life is primarily to reconcile men back to God, to bring men to be at peace with God. That is why we can sacrifice anything for that. That is why I was giving example, was it in this, one of our discipleship meetings, a person that had a problem with somebody in the market. Actually, inadvertently stepped on the person. Before he could even say anything, the person just turned back and said, "You idiot, fool, are you blind? Crazy person?" I mean a lot of things had just gone. He wanted to say sorry, to turn, but before he could say the sorry, all the insults have been on his head. And then, feeling so bad, "who do you even think you are? Just ordinary stay, look at what you are saying." Before you know, they were saying like that. But unfortunately, the following week, they were to go for evangelism. He knocked door-to-door. It was that person that came out. "Good morning." "Sorry about the other day." What is making, what took power away from her? Because the life was not correct. There is a new life in Christ that makes us, we are sacrificing not because we are fools, but because we know that we have been made to bring men into peace with God. Jesus wasn't a fool when he was going through those things. Do you think he doesn't know his right? When he said, "Look, I can call legions of angels to finish them, but how will the scripture, how will it make peace?" Voluntarily he went through all. When they say, "Come down! If you are the Son of God, come down now! Come down, let us see!" You think he cannot come down? You think he cannot come down? He said, "I lay down my life and I take it up again." So, he can decide to come down. He just comes down and says, "Okay, I will show it to you that I am the Son of God." And then he comes down and everybody runs away. Okay, but then, that is the end. That is the end of making peace. He can't make peace again between God and man. That is where the ministry terminates. So, he decided, "No." When you see Christians bearing with evil, bearing evil people, it is not because they don't have direction. It is because what controls them is a new life, there is a life within. There is a power within. Most of us we don't spend time with God to have a power within. We are so empty inside, anything that hits us, boom, boom, boom, so we make noise back, boom! But if we are filled, boom, you won't hear anything because he is filled inside. He is filled with inside. There is a new life in Christ. One of these days we will sit on this thing, we will talk about them, we will expand it. Because people are not, honestly, Christianity has lost its savor because we don't know what the New Creation Realities are. We don't know them. So, you don't see people, honestly, you don't see people because we don't even understand what they are. So, one of these days, I trust God, a lot will be giving us burden and direction, we will be taking them. I just felt to sort for you to know that we still have things to discuss along those areas. Maybe one of the Singles Club meetings, that will be the next thing, and then another one, the third one will be the another one, we take it again. But today, I just want to, I just want to make us see something about understanding the time. Understanding the time. Understanding the time. Understanding the time. And we will just be looking at a scripture, just one passage of the scripture, 2nd Timothy chapter three. 2nd Timothy chapter three. We will read verse one to seventeen, which is the last verse. Verse one to seventeen is the last verse. I will read from the NLT translation, understanding the time. You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days, there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving. They will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that. They are the kind who work their way into people's homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. Such women are ever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth. These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. But they won't get away with this for long. Someday, everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as with Jannes and Jambres. But you, Timothy, constantly know what I teach you and how I live and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance. You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra. But the Lord rescued me from all of it. Yes, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived. But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught in the holy scriptures from childhood and they have given you the wisdom to receive salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. Praise the Lord. We thank God for the reading of His Word and for the privilege of having it to read. Something happened in Lagos. I don't know whether some of you followed the news. Two lawyers that are married. Did anybody follow the news? Yes, the case of. Yes, Udoka. The story was that they have been married for some time, there is no issue, although the woman has an issue outside the marriage before the marriage. So, the night preceding the morning that she killed the husband, she was just threatening the man that, "Look, I will just kill you, I will do this, I will do that." So, the man went to the neighbors and told the neighbors that, "Listen, look at what my wife said, oh god, something, something." And by the following morning, she made do what she had said. She killed the husband. She not stop at that, butchered the husband, brought out all the intestine, thin-out as if ice, cut the private part. She told the police I was told met her with the penis in her hand and began to stab herself to kill herself. She was rescued by the police. I am just talking about difficult times. You may check back on some of those people, they will tell you that they are workers in church. I don't know. You may check back and say, oh, they are Christians in the church. They married in the church. They did church wedding. There may be so many things they may say about them. I said so because there's an episode of one in Akure that had issues with the wife and then the pastors and the elders that did the wedding, I don't want to mention the church, went to the house to at least reconcile them. Sighting the elders of the church and the pastor, their pastor, he took cutlass and everybody took to their heel. Pursued them with cutlass and they should not come into their house. That happened in Akure. It was a wedding inside the church, they are both church workers. But with cutlass, she chased the elders and the pastor. See you again in my house, get out! So, everybody ran and that was the end of it. I'm just trying to talk about perilous times. I'm talking about understanding the time. But I am not discussing perilous times the way we discuss perilous times generally. I want to call your attention to something in this passage that we read. I'm looking at it vis-à-vis the state of the church, that's my concern. That's my concern. Like I do say, if a blind man, if you are selling something in the market and a blind man mistakenly ran over what you are selling and then everything is on the floor. If you get there very hungry wanting to ask but you saw that the man is blind. There is a way your hunger will diffuse. You may still be angry, but not be able to react as you wanted because you know that the man is blind. But it's a different ball game if somebody who can see come around what you are selling and say, "What are you selling? What is this person? What are you even selling?" and kick the first one away, and kick the second one away. If you want to react, it's going to be different from what you will do with the blind. What I'm saying is that ordinarily you will expect that those who enter church, those who are called Christians will be more responsible and live a better life. You will be thinking that when we say Christians, people who married in church, they did church wedding, these are among the brethren, they did the, you will be expecting that things will be different. But I just want to, for us again to look at what the Bible says in this place vis-à-vis the church. And I'm saying this much more the more particularly because of how these things seriously and strongly affect making choice today. You don't know those people did their wedding in church, I don't know. The lawyers, the two lawyers I'm talking about. But I'm just saying you will be thinking that when two lawyers marry themselves, there is a success, I hope you understand in terms of career, in terms of, do you understand what I'm trying to say? Ah, you will be expecting that, wow, this man is fortunate, this lady is fortunate, a giant is a lawyer, the husband is a lawyer, in fact! Before you know now, it will be cars, it will be houses, they will be, you know? I'm talking about in respect of how people make choices today. Cars, because the way I see people rush into relationship, I see young men so desperate about relationship. It bothers me that the same way you see many troubled relationship. I was handling one, I was discussing with somebody in the course of the week and the person said, "Look, by all standard, I know and have come to believe this husband was never a believer. Even though they married in the church, they married as Christians, I know the lady as a sister." You get the point I'm making. Not a believer. He was just among us. Anyway, let it be not a believer, just among us. The point I'm making is there's a need to understand the time. Like we are not understanding the time. Not as if the time is so radically different from our own time. No, but if you look at the passage we read, it said evil men and seducers, deceivers, they will do what? Worse and worse. So, it means if there were a way, if there were a way it was in our time, by time you move to the time of your children, then your children's children. You get the point I'm making? So, Bible creates a picture that evil is not going to stand still. That the dimension, the trend, the level of manifestation is going to be more keen such that what was needed to handle it ten years ago would not be relevant again to handle it now. I'm talking about somebody who was into politics. He said, "You know man is complex, as you make one device to stop men from stealing, man again will devise another device to outsmart that device. Then you make another device to outsmart that one. Then man make another device, that's what we have been seeing." It keeps going, growing, growing, growing, growing, growing, it is endless. Because honestly it is a bottomless pit. A pit that has no bottom. You just keep digging, you just keep wallowing, wallowing, wallowing, wallowing. So, there is a need to understand the time, honestly. There is a need to understand the time. So, when you understand the time, it makes us to, particularly as believers, it makes us to be wiser and act better. So, let's look at the reading again. Let's look at the reading. But now, I'm taking the Amplified, but understand this. You need to understand it. That in the last days will come, set in perilous times of great stress and trouble, hard to bear, hard to deal with and hard to bear. Hard to deal with and hard to bear. But when you get to the verse two, what do you first notice? What's the first word in verse two? "For." In another translation? "As." "As the end approaches." All of these words they are premises. Do you notice it? They are premises. They are premising something. When you say, "In the last days will difficult times come, for..." The reason why you will have that is because of, I hope you are following me? Is because of. Is because of. Now, what did he say? For men, because of, perilous times will come. It will come because men will be what? Lovers of their own self. What I first want to call your attention to and I want you to notice is the first thing the Bible mentions about this "for, for, for." The Bible says that "for men will be lovers of self and utterly self-centered." Now, what is that telling you? What is it telling you? I want to ask you, when you kill because of money, what are you working for? Self. When you are greedy for wealth, what are you working for? Self. When you are disobedient, what are you working for? Self. When you are ungrateful, what are you working for? Self. I'm just trying to list out so many other things. Look at Romans 13 from verse eight. Owe no man anything, but to love one another. Owe no man anything. Don't owe them anything. Except what? Love. So, what is that saying? You can't exhaust love. I know you have the answer but you have turned it the other way. You cannot pay the debt of love. That is the point. That there is no time you can offset the debt. That debt remains. There is a debt you owe men. Say owe men nothing except love. Because as far as love is concerned you are consistently a debtor. No matter how you have given it the day before yesterday, you are still a debtor today. You can never come to credit. You get the point I'm making? Owe no man nothing except love. Because every time they look at your legal balance, you are always what? A debtor. Every time they check your legal balance, you are the one always owing. Now, owe no man nothing except to love. Please read on. I'm trying to expand something to you. Don't forget where we are coming from. For men shall be lovers of self, that's where we are coming from. We want to see scripture, we want to compare scripture with scripture. Yes? For he that loveth another has fulfilled the law. For this: thou shalt not commit adultery. You should not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. You should not kill. Thou shalt not steal. You should not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. You should not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment... Listen, if there be any other one. Obey, don't disobey parents. Be humble. If there is any other commandment... it is briefly comprehended in this saying. What? Please read that word in another translation where it says it is briefly comprehended in this saying. You may not understand what it is saying when it says it is briefly comprehended in this saying. Tell me another translation so that you can understand it better. "For the commandments, you must not commit adultery, you must not murder, you must not steal, you must not covet, and other such commandments are summed up in this one commandment." They are summed up in this one commandment. Which means don't covet, don't steal, don't this, don't be arrogant, don't be proud, don't be this, be respectful, love your parents, obey them, don't be deceitful, don't steal, don't all those thing that we listed? All of them, they are actually branches of a tree. They don't stand on their own. On their own they die. They branch out of a tree. From which tree? Love your neighbor. So, every time you notice that you are greedy, it is because you hate that person. Every time you notice you lie to somebody, don't say you love the person because you hate the person. Do you get it? Every time you pursue your own interest above the other person, what is it? Because you hate the person. Because all those things, they are summed up, it is, they are coming out of one single thing. The only way to understand love is that I don't lie to you, I'm not covetous of your thing, I'm not greedy in my relationship with you. That's the only way you can, that's why if you jump again to 1st Corinthians chapter thirteen, a passage of love, you notice again it didn't put love in feeling. It said "Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not easily irritated. Love is not, does not seek its own. Love bears all things." You see it again that love, wherever love is, it's not an emotion. As far as the Bible is concerned, it's not an emotional thing. It's a dictate of the will. It's a dictate of the will. It's a commitment, it's a decision. The one you talk about that they say, "you know I feel, I feel, I feel," it's another level of love and it's a lower level. It's a lower level. That's not the love that makes the Christian tick. That other love is conditional. If, it's like a plant. Once the environment is friendly, good, wonderful, it grows. Once the environment is harsh, you get the point I'm making? It dies. That's the one with which most time unbelievers marry. So during courtship, "Oh, you are the butter in the bread, you are the cocoa in the flour, you are the cockroach running around, you are the bird in the rose, you are the only bird in Nigeria." In fact, you are the only AK-47, they will call everything. But let them enter into the house. The condition that makes that love to be there begins to go away because when most people marry they stop courting. Do you get it? You know courtship stops. Occasional also foolishness even for Christians, when they marry they stop courting. No, this married thing but by time some of you will be coming to marriage level we will need to talk so many things. But ordinarily you are not supposed to stop courting. Courtship is for life. You court your woman for life. But ordinarily people stop courting when they marry. So when they stop courting, the romance you say, "Ah, darling, in fact you see, my head is just rolling because of you." Now both of you are inside the house. The woman is in 2 by 5 by 6, now there's pregnancy, the belly is like this, you meet her sometimes she's so scattered on the floor, the hair she will make every time you come around, the hair is scattered now and you are just seeing her not at her best. You are now seeing her at her worst. So before you know, the romantic thing will die. In fact, I don't even know why I married you, you are so this, you are so that. That flower has died. It died with condition. That's the lower level of love. But there is a love, there is a love that we call the Christian love. That's what makes the Christian. That's what makes the Christian. Once that love is not, that love has nothing to do with emotion. It's a decision. It's character. It's a commitment to the welfare of the second person regardless of who the second person is or what the second person does. Now that is what he's talking about. So anything like "don't steal," all those ones, they are a decision. They give both of you, like the case of I don't know whether you also heard it on the radio, the two garage boys and one killed the other one. Somebody gave them one thousand to share. So the person that was given the money, in a bid to share, instead of making it maybe five hundred five hundred or four hundred because it says I think he's more elder than the other one, instead of making it six hundred four hundred, I think he gave that one hundred Naira of the one thousand and took nine hundred. So he now told that one that the money you were owing me, I think that one was owing him money, I was reading it on the radio, please take time to follow media. Just hear the news so you can know what is happening around, around you. Just listen to the news, it doesn't take more than thirty minutes, all these Toledo Co, all these thirty minutes and it's through. And then he now said, "No, no, no, I am supposed to give him four hundred and take six hundred." He said, "No." He said it was like that because of the money he was owing that he had not paid. That one now said, "No, no, no, it's not ready to pay now. That he should still give him four hundred." In the midst of trust, that one did not listen. That one now take a broken bottle, break it, now stab the other one in the chest and he fell down and died. Now, I'm talking about that looks like it's because they are unbelievers. It's not because they are unbelievers, it's because something is operating. What is it? Self. There is a self. There is a self. I want to make you understand the perilous time, that when the Bible open up and say, "Men shall be lovers of themselves," and begin to list so many other things. The Bible is actually listing those things as a consequence of self. Are you understanding me? Is listing all those other things as emanating once you love self. Certain things will begin to emanate out of your life. And whatever relationship that you have will soon become perilous. One-on-one relationship with one another will become perilous once I love self. Before you know, it will become, the relationship between me and my friend will become difficult to bear, will become something that is hard. Why? Because there is self. Are you understanding it now? Because what will begin to enter will be what? Those products that has to do with the absence of love. Once love is present, all the commandment will be kept. They are summed up in the love. They can only be comprehended in that love. The only way to understand love is that I don't lie to you, I'm not covetous of your thing, I'm not greedy in my relationship with you. That's the only way you can, that's why if you jump again to 1st Corinthians chapter thirteen, a passage of love, you notice again it didn't put love in feeling. It said "Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not easily irritated. Love is not, does not seek its own. Love bears all things." You see it again that love, wherever love is, it's not an emotion. As far as the Bible is concerned, it's not an emotional thing. It's a dictate of the will. It's a dictate of the will. It's a commitment, it's a decision. The one you talk about that they say, "you know I feel, I feel, I feel," it's another level of love and it's a lower level. It's a lower level. That's not the love that makes the Christian tick. That other love is conditional. If, it's like a plant. Once the environment is friendly, good, wonderful, it grows. Once the environment is harsh, you get the point I'm making? It dies. That's the one with which most time unbelievers marry. So during courtship, "Oh, you are the butter in the bread, you are the cocoa in the flour, you are the cockroach running around, you are the bird in the rose, you are the only bird in Nigeria." In fact, you are the only AK-47, they will call everything. But let them enter into the house. The condition that makes that love to be there begins to go away. Somebody say there is no mango tree in the whole Nigeria and he brought mango. I said he brought it from Nigeria and there's nothing like mango tree in Nigeria. He said, "This is Nigeria mango, will you take it?" You say no, he said, "No, it came from my garden." To your garden, take me to that garden, I want to see. And when you get there you didn't see mango tree, but he's brought mango. What I'm trying to say is that you can never see lie, adultery, covetousness, greed, arrogant, proud, all those things. Anywhere you see them, they flowed out of no love. You can't say there is love and then they exist. They are mutually exclusive. Once there, once you are loving, we cannot find them. Once we find them, it means there is no love because they are summed up in one word: love. They are briefly comprehended. The only way, the only way to understand love is that I don't lie to you, I am not covetous of your thing, I am not greedy in my relationship with you. That's the only way you can. That is why if you jump again to 1st Corinthians chapter thirteen, a passage of love, you notice again it didn't put love in feeling. It says love is patient, love is kind, love is not easily irritated, love is not, does not seek its own, love bears all things. You see it again that love, anywhere love is, it is not an emotion as far as the Bible is concerned. It is not an emotional thing. It is a dictate of the will. It's a dictate of the will. It's a commitment, it's a decision. The one you talk about that they say, "you know I feel, I feel, I feel," it's another level of love and it's a lower level. It's a lower level. That's not the love that makes the Christian tick. That other love is conditional. If, it's like a plant. Once the environment is friendly, good, wonderful, it grows. Once the environment is harsh, it dies. That's the one with which most time unbelievers marry. So during courtship, "oh you are the butter in the bread, you are the cocoa in the flour, you are the cockroach running around, you are the bird in the rose, you are the only bird in Nigeria," in fact, you are the only AK-47, they will call everything. But let them enter into the house. The condition that makes that love to be there begins to go away because when most people marry they stop courting. Do you get it? You know courtship stops. Occasional also foolishness even for Christians, when they marry they stop courting. No, this married thing but by time some of you will be coming to marriage level we will need to talk so many things. But ordinarily you are not supposed to stop courting. Courtship is for life. You court your woman for life. But ordinarily people stop courting when they marry. So when they stop courting, the romance you say, "ah darling, in fact you see, my head is just rolling because of you," now both of you are inside the house. The woman is in 2 by 5 by 6, now there's pregnancy, the belly is like this, you meet her sometimes she's so scattered on the floor, the hair she will make every time you come around, the hair is scattered now and you are just seeing her not at her best. You are now seeing her at her worst. So before you know, the romantic thing will die. In fact, I don't even know why I married you, you are so this, you are so that. That flower has died. It died with condition. That's the lower level of love. But there is a love, there is a love that we call the Christian love. That's what makes the Christian. That's what makes the Christian. Once that love is not, that love has nothing to do with emotion. It's a decision. It's character. It's a commitment to the welfare of the second person regardless of who the second person is or what the second person does. Now that is what he's talking about. So anything like "don't steal," all those ones, they are a decision. They give both of you, like the case of I don't know whether you also heard it on the radio, the two garage boys and one killed the other one. Somebody gave them one thousand to share. So the person that was given the money, in a bid to share, instead of making it maybe five hundred five hundred or four hundred because it says I think he's more elder than the other one, instead of making it six hundred four hundred, I think he gave that one hundred Naira of the one thousand and took nine hundred. So he now told that one that the money you were owing me, I think that one was owing him money, I was reading it on the radio, please take time to follow media. Just hear the news so you can know what is happening around, around you. Just listen to the news, it doesn't take more than thirty minutes, all these Toledo Co, all these thirty minutes and it's through. And then he now said, "No, no, no, I am supposed to give him four hundred and take six hundred." He said, "No." He said it was like that because of the money he was owing that he had not paid. That one now said, "No, no, no, it's not ready to pay now. That he should still give him four hundred." In the midst of trust, that one did not listen. That one now take a broken bottle, break it, now stab the other one in the chest and he fell down and died. Now, I'm talking about that looks like it's because they are unbelievers. It's not because they are unbelievers, it's because something is operating. What is it? Self. There is a self. There is a self. I want to make you understand the perilous time, that when the Bible open up and say, "Men shall be lovers of themselves," and begin to list so many other things. The Bible is actually listing those things as a consequence of self. Are you understanding me? Is listing all those other things as emanating once you love self. Certain things will begin to emanate out of your life. And whatever relationship that you have will soon become perilous. One-on-one relationship with one another will become perilous once I love self. Before you know, it will become, the relationship between me and my friend will become difficult to bear, will become something that is hard. Why? Because there is self. Are you understanding it now? Because what will begin to enter will be those products that has to do with the absence of love. Once love is present, all the commandment will be kept. They are summed up in the love. They can only be comprehended in that love. I can't say I love when I am greedy in my relationship with the person. I can't say I love when I'm proud, when I'm puffed up. I can't say I love when I'm ungrateful. I can't say I love when I despise what is good. I can't say I love. All those other things that the Bible is listing, we will still take them back again now. We'll just read through them again and then we will be praying. What I am trying to make you see, I want you to understand the time. I want you to understand the time. That while we are saying that nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, that against that, it is because self and self and self will more and more be sponsored. But actually, we were expecting a different thing inside the church. That is where I am going. We are thinking that inside the church is going to be peace. We are thinking inside the church is going to be rest. We are thinking if brethren relate to brethren, it's going to be peace because there will be no self. In that one, self will not be sponsored. It will not be paraded. It will not be fed. It will not be pampered. It will be denied. Are you getting the point I'm making? So, if you look at the scripture, look at what I'm calling your attention to. Let's look at that scripture again. It says "for people." Now, note that in the verse one, he said "but understand this, that in the last days, some version says it will be difficult to be a Christian." Which version is that? I don't know. But if you look at it, it now says "for men shall be lovers of their own self." Which men are being referred to here? Which men are being referred to here? Which men are being referred to here? Not that in the verse one, he said "but understand this, that in the last days, some version says it will be difficult to be a Christian." Which version is that? I don't know. But if you look at it, it now says "for men shall be lovers of their own self." Which men are being referred to here? Which men are being referred to here? Which men are being referred to here? As you begin to read downwards, the men will be clear. When he says "for men shall become lovers of their own self," he is not talking to the world primarily. He was saying that over time, instead of self to be dying among believers, self would be sponsored among believers. If you read downwards, let's go together to for to know who these men are. He says, for people will be lovers of their own self and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. This is what we expect to be in the world, but you cannot be talking of loving self in respect of the world because the world live by self. You don't expect love in the world before. You don't expect it in the world. Of course, we were living self life when God saved us. But he's talking about something, and that is where we are going. He says they will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving. They will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like this. He didn't say we stay away from the world. Are we going with the world before? We are not going on with the world before. We are in the church. You get the point I'm making? We are not saying there is no manifestation of these thing in the world, that is why the world is where it is today. But we are thinking that we will not see Christians using cutlass to chase pastors and elders. We were thinking that inside the church, we will not find people, another marriage that I intervened into, they married and within, I think within a couple of weeks, the wife went and came back, she went to work or something and came back. She went somewhere, either to work or something and came back, and met the husband another woman on their matrimonial bed. They did the wedding in the church. They are both, the husband is a chorister, I think she is in the choir. Just few weeks after the wedding, she met the husband and another woman on their matrimonial bed. And the husband now says, "So, what is the big deal now?" What's the big deal? You better relax. That husband was getting act crazy. He didn't even say, "Ah, please forgive me, I'm sorry." Big deal, relax. Relax. I don't know whether you are understanding me. I'm saying these things not to necessarily get you afraid of what or what, but I want to make you understand the times that we are in. The kind of time. Why it's becoming so difficult? Why we were not thinking it would be this difficult in Christian marriage, in Christian relationship? We were not thinking it would be this difficult, but Paul said "Look, perilous times shall come." He was talking about look, he was a minister, Timothy was a minister, and trying to tell Timothy that "Whoa, if you start work, it's not a small job, oh, because people will still love their, these people that you are pastoring, you will find among them this kind of situation." So, prepare your mind. Prepare yourself. Get ready for serious work. If with Jesus, it can be said one of you will betray me, and the man to betray said, "Ah, Lord, is it me?" That was with Jesus. The man to betray, the man who had gone to make arrangement. But Jesus was discerning. He said "What you do, do quickly." But if he was not discerning, say "Ah, no, no, no, no, John." You get the point I'm making? But he said "What you do, do quickly." So, it take a lot of discernment in that situation when the person too is weeping like the other, "Not is it me?" And he has collected thirty pieces in his pocket. So, if he says they will wax worse and worse, they will speak in tongues, they will pastor the church. This one I'm saying that the brother is not a Christian, he's serving as a leader over the church. This brother I'm talking about that the sister said "no no no no, it's not." I don't want to mention the church. I'm not talking of useless church. The church we know as church. That's why I don't want to mention, I don't like pulling down so they are not good story. I'm just talking about the church that we are in. The problems that we are in, what we are facing as Christians. You get the point I'm making? Now, he says "stay away from such." Now, look at what he now told Timothy at the end. He says, but you, Timothy, from verse ten, but you, Timothy, constantly know what I teach and how I live and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance. You know how much persecution and suffering I endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. But the Lord rescued me from it all. Yes, everyone who want to live godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men will go worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. So, for you to know that they are all around. They are all about. He will not be telling Timothy to remain faithful if those people are in, is Timothy in the world and somebody is pressing him from outside? They are inside. People, you must remain faithful. Don't join these men, you know what you have been taught. You know how I teach, you know my life. So, know how to know these men and know how to turn yourself. Don't make them your close associate. Know how to recognize them. You must remain faithful. If they are becoming unfaithful, you must remain faithful. Don't let them unnecessarily influence you. You must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know that they are true for you know you can trust those who taught you. Some people now want to say, "The pastor told me this." He said you can trust the people who taught you. You can trust me that I could not have deceived you with what I have taught you. So, don't leave it for some other teachers again, for some other influences again. These are very, very serious thing about the times that we are in, that the things that want to corrupt us, they are with us. They are all around us. You must understand the time. You must be discerning, you must be careful, you must rely so much of God so that we will not work in the path of men of error, the path of men who does not know God. They are all with us. They are all around us. Even my own local assembly have witnessed such kind of experiences. And so, you find it all around us, all around us. So, two things we are saying this morning, as we close the meeting, I want you to note something. If you don't begin to deny self, over time, over time, your mind will become depraved. If you don't begin to deny, personally now begin to deal with self for your own self, over time you will begin to, you will begin to pamper self, you'll begin to protect self. "No, no, you know when me I get angry now, I will scatter this place and you know me, oh!" You will think you are doing what is great. You say "Okay, no, no, bro, no, no, no, don't." You say "Ah, you coco know me!" And you'll be growing what should be your shame. So, let's, let's prayerfully identify self and deliberately be denying self in our own walk with God. What some people have done before they enter into relationship, they have so bastardized their life because they did not deny self, that when they enter, they cannot confess all the thing that they have done with their life. That's where secrecy first starts from in relationship. So, let's, let's live our life, let's live denying self. Let's live for the Lord so that we can be, we can be faithful individuals. And I'm telling you, the truth is this: like attract like. When you are consistently faithful, people who are not like that, they will not be able to associate closely with you. But if you are double, if you are both here and here, you'll be able to, they'll be able to, they will not be able to separate themselves from you. There are people who are, although we are Christians, we are born in the church, we stay in the church, but they cannot just be close to me. And they don't know what is even, some even think that one day evil will happen to this boy. It's because we are all Christians. It's because we have decided to walk and realize that we can't work together. Not because we are fighting, but there are things I want to be faithful to. So, you see, begin to, begin to, if you don't early begin to deny self, very soon you will join the other camp. One of the things that I've tried to make you realize that there are two camps inside. The faithful and the unfaithful. The dividing line, how it originated, is that in this camp, they consistently were following the Lord on his term and his condition, to deny self. The other camp started when men begin to follow the Lord, but not on his terms and on his condition. So, let's watch our life. Let's be careful how we live so that we can be faithful. Our lives can be, our lives can be true so that our life will find around our life men who are like us. And from those association, we'll get who to marry. Until you have faithful individuals, you cannot have faithful relationship. Until you have faithful relationship, you cannot have faithful marriages. The problem begins and falls, it rises and fall at the level of the individual. At the level of the individual. What you see later manifesting in marriage began at the level of the individual. What you see later in relationship began at the level of individual. So, please, let us understand the time. Let's live with understanding. Let's live with understanding. Understanding. Let's be vigilant. Let's be sober. Let's be careful. Don't let us walk as unwise, but as wise, understanding what the will of the Lord is. Let us walk as wise. Let's be wise. Let's understand the will of the Lord. Praise the Lord. Can we just pray? Can we just pray this morning? Let's talk to the Lord. I don't know what you have learned. I want you to just pray, talk to the Lord about what was a challenge to you, what was something that you are seeing in your own life, what is something you think you need to correct about your own self. Why not just turn it to the Lord in prayer? Just pray. Let's talk to the Lord about it. Talk to the Lord in prayer. Talk to him in prayer. Talk to him in prayer. Talk to him in prayer. Talk to him in prayer. You can talk to the Lord. Talk to the Lord. Thank you, Father. [Praying in tongues] Thank you, Father. [Praying in tongues] In the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, help us. Lord, help us. [Praying in tongues] In the name of Jesus Christ. Lord God, that we may walk in understanding. That we may walk in understanding. That we may walk in understanding. That we may walk in understanding. Understanding the times. Understanding the times. Understanding the times. Understanding the times. Understanding the times. Lord, that we may walk as wise, not as fools. Not as fools, but as wise. Not as fools, but as wise. In the name of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father. Oh, blessed be your holy name. Blessed be your holy name, Father. Blessed be your holy name. [Praying in tongues] Lord, that we may walk as wise, not as fools. Lord, that we may not be foolish. That we may be discerning. May we be discerning. Lord God Almighty, in all our network, in all our association, in the name of Jesus Christ. God Almighty, help us to follow you on your own terms and condition. Help us to follow you daily on your own terms and your condition in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, mighty God. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. [Music]