Sc Oct 6 2018 the Perils of Experience

[Music: Glory, glory, glory to the Lord. He is coming, after He is coming. Each and every nation of the world. He has conquered, He is coming, He is coming, He is coming, He is coming. Glory, glory, glory to the Lord. He is coming, after He is coming. He’s coming after the church, each and every nation of the soul. He has conquered, He is coming, He is coming, He is coming, He is coming.] Churches and 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 Truth Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Amen. Amen. It’s from the Bible, I’m not very sure. [Group] I can see the glory of the Lord, He’s standing in my life to bless me one more time. I can see the glory of the Lord, He’s standing in my life to bless me one more time. I can see, I can see the glory of the Lord, He’s standing in my life to bless me one more time. I can see, I can see the glory of the Lord, He’s standing in my life to bless me one more time. I can see, I can see the glory of the Lord, He’s standing in my life to bless me one more time. I can see, I can see the glory of the Lord, He’s standing in my life to bless me one more time. [Speaker 1] Eternal Father, King of Glory, You are the God of all blessings. [Group] Yes, Lord. [Speaker 1] Lord, from Your hands, all blessings flow. We thank You, we bless Your name because You do not gather people in vain. You gather them to bless them. Lord, we have gathered unto You again this morning. We ask that You open Your heart, You open Your hand, and You bless us indeed in the name of Jesus. [Group] Amen, Lord. [Speaker 1] Lord, cause our ears to be open. Cause our hearts to understand. Help us to see what You want us to see. Help us to take caution where we are failing. Help us to correct our ways where we are found wanting. And help us, oh Lord, to see clearly to Your heart this morning in the name of Jesus. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] Those who are still on the way, we pray You hasten their steps so that we can all be blessed together. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] Thank You, Everlasting Father. Our ears are open to You. Speak, Lord, Your servants listen. Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] Since the beginning of this year, God has been telling us He wants to visit us. He wants to do peculiar things in our lives, especially long-standing expectations. God has been—he have not been in the fellowship for so long, but in the discipleship class and every of our meetings, it has been what God has been sounding. And I see Him preparing us towards that to get what He has said. The Bible says God is not a man that He will lie. God does not lie. Whatever He says, He will do it. But so many times we do not get what He says or we do not experience it because of so many things. And some of them is what we have been discussing over time. And this morning again, God is going to be pulling our ears. And I see it, He says, "The Perils of Experience." I was taken aback when it came to me, "The Perils of Experience." Experience means what has happened before, either to us or to someone else. And from there, there is a mindset that we carry because of our past experience. Experience can be good; it can be bad. Both good and bad experiences can pose a peril to a person. We thank God for experiences that are good in our lives that can propel us, if we really handle them well, that can propel us to greater heights. But there are so many experiences, as I look into the scriptures, that put the people in danger of receiving afresh from God. And I see God pulling our ears and saying, "Be careful." And I pray as we go together, the Lord will give us understanding in Jesus' name. I want us to read from 2 Kings 6. 2 Kings 6 and I will quickly read from verse 24 down to 2 Kings 7. [Speaker 2] 2 Kings 6:24. Some time later, however, King Ben-Hadad of Aram mobilized his entire army and besieged Samaria. As a result of this, there was a great famine in the city. After a while, even a donkey's head sold for two pounds of silver, and a cup of dove's dung cost about two ounces of silver. One day, as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, "Please help me, my lord the king!" "If the Lord doesn't help you, what can I do?" he retorted. "I have neither food nor wine to give you." But then the king asked, "What is the matter?" She replied, "This woman proposed that we eat my son one day and her son the next. So we boiled my son and ate him. Then the next day I said, 'Kill your son so we can eat him,' but she had hidden him." When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair. And as the king walked along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing sackcloth underneath next to his skin. "May God kill me if I don't execute Elisha, son of Shaphat, this very day," the king vowed. Elisha was sitting in the house at a meeting with the leaders of Israel when the king sent a messenger to summon him. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, "A murderer has sent a man to kill me. When he arrives, shut the door and keep him out. His master will soon follow him." While Elisha was still saying this, the messenger arrived, and the king said, "It is the Lord who has brought this trouble on us. Why should I wait any longer for the Lord?" Chapter 7. Elisha replied, "Hear this, hear this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord says: By this time tomorrow, in the markets of Samaria, five quarts of fine flour will cost only half an ounce of silver, and ten quarts of barley grain will cost only half an ounce of silver." The officer assisting the king said to the man of God, "That couldn't happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!" But Elisha replied, "You will see it happen, but you won't be able to eat any of it." [Speaker 1] And we know it's long. But I want to stop here. We all know the story how it ended. The officer—it actually happened. God used four lepers and then food became just like Elisha said it. And truly the officer was trampled upon and he died. Now, oftentimes we blame the man, this officer. "That he doesn't have faith," "he doubted," "he was not even an Israelite," we can say so much. But as I was looking at him, I realized and I saw a man who was hampered by experience. Look at what we just—that's why I took us back back to read that volume. This is a city where they were even eating what they ought not to eat. Can you imagine that they carry a pigeon and buy the poop? What is inside pigeon poop that somebody will be buying? And for so much. What is in the head of a camel that somebody will be—and then it's even degraded to the point where they were killing their children. That was the experience of that man. That was what he had seen and I don't know what length of time that went before salvation came to them. But that was their experience. Maybe it started gradually and they were trusting God, it will soon get better, it will soon get better, it will soon get better. And then it was growing and then it was growing and then it was growing. I didn't take time to know how long did this last to reach the point where they were killing their children to eat. And then suddenly, somebody just rose up and said—he didn't even say by next year. He didn't say by next week. He didn't say by next month. He said by this time tomorrow, under 24 hours, food will be everywhere in Samaria, such that even barley, good food, you will buy it for so cheap. The man, I'm sure the man looked back and thought back and said, "No, no. Two years ago we were praying. Maybe five years ago when this thing was starting, this economic recession, when it was starting, we were trusting. Maybe he had ever trusted God for a change." And then he was watching and watching and nothing happened, no change came around. The man concluded that this is how man will die. Maybe there is no help for us at all. And so when that word was coming, he was speaking from his experience. He was reacting from what has built up inside of him. And that's why it is a peril, because the man couldn't lay hope on what God had for His people because he doubted based on his experience. He said, "Even if God—" I'm sure he just looked and looked at Elisha as if to throw him away with his eyes. He said, "Even if God, God would open heaven, cannot happen. You don't understand our experience. You don't understand where we are coming from." And he missed God. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] I took time to give us the analysis of what might be going on in the heart of the man so that we can check our own hearts. What has our experience been like? What have we passed through over the years that has formed a mindset in us? I'm sure that thing has captured that man's mind. It has taken hold of maybe suffering, in spite of the fact that he was in a high position. You know we just saw that even the king was wearing sackcloth around to show that he was mourning. Things were not even good for those who are high and lofty. He was mourning. They were perplexed. They didn't know what next to do. And you heard the king say, "This thing is caused by God. If it is so, why am I waiting for Him again?" That means they have been waiting for God. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] That means they have been waiting, they have been expecting. Okay, it will soon change. Maybe they had even repented times and times and times, or they have been wondering, "Is it this thing we are doing, is it that one we are doing, maybe they have thought round and round and round." And yet nothing happened. So to them the conclusion is nothing will happen. And that's where we need to be very careful. Very careful with God. I said the experience can be positive, it can be negative. It can be that things were going on good for a man and God wants him to change side, and he was looking, "The way we have been doing it have been good. So why do we need to change?" Experience. Experience can pose a peril to a people, such that even what God has spoken will become like an abomination. Even in our situations and circumstances, we will not be able to see God again, as mighty as He is. We will now condition God to the level of our situation. We will now conclude on God that there is nothing God can do about this situation. But our God is great. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] Our God is great. I like the song we sang in Isaiah 25. His counsel of old are faithfulness and truth. He doesn't change. What He did of old, He is able to do even now. But we must be careful so that we don't block Him. We must be careful so that where we are coming from doesn't become a hindrance to where we are going. We must check ourselves constantly that our experiences do not form a mindset in us, either good or bad, that doesn't give us a wrong mindset of God such that we cannot trust Him for great things in life. There is nothing God cannot do if He has said it especially. If He has said it, He will do it. He wants to do it, no matter how great it is, no matter how big it is, no matter how mighty it is. I used to know a man in Jos, his daughter was in our school. The wife was working with the federal government in one of the federal government parastatals. But the man for years didn't have job. Didn't have anything to do. And in the midst of that, the wife was maltreating him because she’s the one to pay house rent, she’s the one to pay school fees, she’s the one that has the car they are using, she’s the one doing everything. Several times he will come and beg for school fees. When the woman is ready, in fact at a point the woman wanted to run away with another man. So she was like—when Abuja started, she was one of those that was doing wrong and the husband would—if the husband took the car out and he got—so you didn't fuel it even, she will be talking to the man as if she is talking to her houseboy. During the Jonathan regime, the man was appointed commissioner. Commissioner of Works. In fact at that time that I’m talking, he had one cubicle on hill where he was selling recharge cards. Because I’m his daughter's teacher, sometimes I will go there, he will give me one hundred naira to buy phone. So I know what I’m talking about. Under Agadama Junction, very close to Little Lamb School. In front of adjacent, that's where he was selling the recharge card. He didn't even have money to be selling accessories. The recharge card, that's where he stayed till 8:00 in the night. And suddenly he was appointed Commissioner. You see the mansion they are living in now before I left. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] When that man was in that position, if someone said, "Do you know you will build a mansion of your own?" there is tendency for him because of what he had gone through to say—he will say "Amen" but you know several "Amen" that we say that doesn't—several "Amen" you say "Amen, let's just say it's Amen." But the God that we are serving is a God that can turn situations around within the twinkling of an eye. He can turn a man around that the whole world will say, "Wow," and that's what He specializes in doing. That's what this man couldn't understand. He was blinded by situation. And the warning of God to us is that we need to be very careful so that we will not be blinded by our situation. There is another man that God destroyed because of experience. It was Saul, the king. Saul was chosen as the first king of Israel. He was a choice. God Himself chose him and he saw so many things. He experienced so many things to show that at a point he was prophesying like a prophet. Samuel took him through all of those and he saw it, it was obvious to him that he was a choice of God. And then Samuel gave him instruction, I think in 1 Samuel 10, gave him an instruction, "Wait for me for seven days. I will come and perform." You know, if you had never waited for anything before, you will not understand. If you had never gone through one of our friends said, "You know we have a colleague that is always reprimanding if any little thing you do like that," he says that she had never waited for anything in her life. So if you had never waited for anything, you will not understand the stance of Saul. He had waited first, second, and not that he was waiting peacefully in a corner of his house. He was waiting in the battlefield where the enemy—he was seeing the enemy as they were hovering around. He saw the multitudes of the enemy where they were and he saw Israel, oh no, so weak, nothing. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] So it was in the midst of that he was waiting. Not that the waiting was so comfortable for him. And then he was waiting and waiting, he wait the seventh day at a—it may be like maybe the sixth day he will say, "Samuel will come tomorrow, all of this will be over." And then he woke up, no Samuel. 12:00 midday, no Samuel. Maybe 3:00 PM, no Samuel. And then he saw that even his own army were scattering. They were afraid. They scattered. And then something entered into his heart, fear. Fear. If I don't do something now, these people will just—and that's the problem experience can cause in our heart. Because of the threat and then the situation has even brought some discomfort, some shame, some insult, and all of that. And then he said, "I think I need to do something to shake this shame away." And that's what happened to Saul. Before you know it, I don't know when, what time he went and offered sacrifice and burnt offering. And the Bible says as he finished offering the sacrifice, look at Samuel coming. That thing used to tear my heart. Each time I read that, I hold my heart that says God help me. The reason is because we are all susceptible to such. We are. Maybe we had a workshop yesterday from school. The man came from Lagos. He was telling about his school. In fact two schools, brothers who are—they have secondary schools. And then these miracle centers where they help children to do WAEC one time, one touch and all of that. He said they have been pressuring this man to be a center, he had been refusing for 25 years. But the year he now said, "Okay, let's consider it, how much, how do—" that year he lost his two eyes. He has been standing in righteousness and then that year he chose to compromise. He lost his two eyes for it. Another person lost his wife in that venture. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] So sometimes we stand aside from these people as if we are not like them, as if we don't have the same nature like them. And so because Saul was afraid of what might happen if he did not take a step, he quickly took a step and the step he took cost him the throne. It was one of the reasons why God rejected him forever. The Lord will not reject us in Jesus' name. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] We will not run ahead of God in Jesus' name. The grace to wait patiently till God comes, the Lord will give it to us in Jesus' name. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] So we must be careful how we handle our experiences and even the experience of others. "That's how that man did did did and he died." And in fact the church is not helping us, so many stories you hear that you are afraid. I heard one that said the one man he died and on his grave, they brought God opened the eyes of the man of God, people were bringing all manner, some brought car, brought money, brought this one, brought that one, brought that one. What is this? He said it was what he was supposed to use in his lifetime, he didn't use it. Do you think that will encourage people to wait on God? Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] But we must make up our mind as long as God has spoken, we must stand on what God has said. We must wait. Job in Job 14:14 says, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come." That was a man who was speaking from certainty of his heart. It was not because he didn't see trouble. But he was certain that God is on my side. That was his problem with his friends. That he was defending himself, said, "No, I didn't do anything wrong, God is in my matter." But the friends were say, "Are you sure?" He said, "All the days of my appointed time I will wait till my change come." And that should be our mindset. Has God spoken? Has He said anything? Our mindset should be, "Lord, all the days of my appointed time I will wait till You come. And I know when You come, my change is come." And that will be our testimony in Jesus' name. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] We will not be people who compromise along the way. Do you know that the darkest moment of the night is when the day is about to break? And I have said it several times. Sometimes you wake up 5:00 AM, you look through your window, everywhere is dark, everywhere is black. And then say, "Ah, the day has not broken." If you don't look at your time and go back to sleep, you may be waking up around 7:00 when you are almost late for work. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] Because the darkest time, the darkest night is when day is about to break. And the devil deliberately does it like that so that we will give up at the nick of time, we will give up when it's almost time for the change to come. The grace to keep waiting, the Lord will give us in Jesus' name. So how should we handle our experience? What should we do? How should we relate with our experience? It is one of it is what I have said, Job. Job said, "I will keep waiting until His word come." The Bible says He sent forth His word to heal them and to deliver them. He said the word that have proceeded out of my mouth, it will not come to me void but it will perform what I have sent them to do. We must have this certainty in our heart that the word of God will be accomplished. As believers, this should be settled in our heart that if God has spoken, He will do it. It doesn't matter what contrary things begin to happen. Look at the children of Israel. You will think that immediately God had said, "Leave Egypt and go to Canaan," they will just walk through it one time and they will enter and begin to enjoy. Is that not so? But no, there were oceans, there were mountains to climb, there were valleys to cross, there were crooked ways to pass and all of that. And that's why because they did not understand the fact that they needed to wait on God, that's why they missed it. So many of them died in the wilderness. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] They died because what they were experiencing looked contrary to what God has said. Look at Joseph. Joseph was a man who experienced God very early in his life, who saw visions, who God placed His light in his heart. God placed His vision in Joseph's heart while he was yet young. But the things he went through should have discouraged him and said, "No, I don't see this thing, that thing I heard, I don't think it is God that spoke." But this, we must form this certainty in our heart, we must allow it to settle in our heart, we must trust God to have this firm belief in our heart that if God has spoken, it will come true. Our heart should not be shaken. In Luke 5:4 to 7, we saw Jesus and Peter. Jesus and Peter in Luke 5:4 to 7. From verse 1, Jesus wanted to preach and people were pressing on Him beside the river and He said, "Okay, Peter, give me your boat to use." And Peter surrendered his boat to Him and He used it. Verse 4 says, when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Now go out where it is deeper and let down your net and you will catch many fish." "Master," Simon replied, "we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if You say so, I will try again." Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] Most of the time, what Peter said is our reply when God speaks. If God says a thing, you will know that it's contrary to what is natural. As far as Peter was concerned, what is natural in his business is that in the night, fish will be very plentiful in the sea, so you can catch. That's why they would normally leave their house to come in the night, not in the day time. But they have in the same river, in the same water, they have toiled all throughout the night and in fact what was on ground showed that he didn't catch anything. Nothing happened throughout the night when normally they would have gotten something. Nothing happened. And here is this man that is now saying broad day time, broad daylight, that the fishes have gone to rest and He said, "Oya, put your net." But I like the way Peter replied. Peter said, "Sir, maybe he took his time to explain. In our business, in the night, we get plenty fish. But during the day like this, nothing. You may even see them moving through under the water, but no, you can't catch them." But he said something that should be our language as believers. He said, "But at Thy word." It should be our constant reply to the word of God, even when we have the contrary opinion. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] If God is telling a man of 40 years who had never been to university before and said, "In the next few years you will be a prof," the man—first degree self I never get. How will it happen? But in the time of of announcing and expressing our natural instinct, what we think is natural, we should add to the fact that at Thy word I will let it down. Praise the Lord. [Group] Hallelujah. [Speaker 1] That suggests to us that we need to to take the word of God with utmost priority. We need to believe the certainty of the word even when it is contrary to what is natural and normal. Peter said, "At Thy word, I will let it down." And we know the result. He caught so much fish such that he couldn't even carry it up by himself. He had to call neighbors to come and help and they share it together. Everybody went home with plentiful fish. That's what God can do. The Bible says He calls what is not, He makes them to come to be. He can produce something where there is nothing. God doesn't need a byproduct to produce His own product. Because He is the originator of all byproducts. Praise the Lord. He is the originator of all raw materials to make what He wants to make. He is the Lord of all. So, and this can only our faith in His work can only be possible if we know Him. If we daily know Him, if we daily interact with Him, there is no way a stranger will give you a word that you will hold onto. You meet a stranger, he says as you are going like this something something will happen. You will retort it. Personally I will retort it. But if it is someone you have been interacting before and there is a way God works, He will keep reminding you of His word. He will keep reminding you of His word until it forms a pattern in our heart. I pray that the Lord will help us in Jesus' name. So we must be people who speak like Peter, "At Thy word, I will do it. At Thy word, I will go ahead. At Thy word, I will wait. At Thy word, I will—" whatever it is that the word is instructing us to do. But we must be careful, we must be leery of experience so that our experience will not hamper what God is intending to do. God has spoken to us this year that He is going to bring to pass great things. He has started in some corner, it will go round us in Jesus' name. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] But we must let the word of God overrule experience in our life. When He speaks, we must bring our—we must subject our heart to the power of the word so that it can work for us, so that we can experience it. And I pray the Lord will help us in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let’s pray. I like us to react to that word. Let's react to it. Let's tell the Lord, "God, help me." It is not an easy position. Sometimes when situations and circumstances come, it will be like, "Am I not fooling myself?" "Am I not—I hope I hope this way I'm taking leads somewhere." Sometimes it's too dark, you cannot even see the light in ahead. Yet God has spoken. Yet He said there is light ahead. But even at the moment everything in opposite direction. Just say, "Lord, give me the grace to trust You by Your word, to stand by Your word. Lord, give me the grace, give me the grace, help me. Help me, Lord, help me in Your purpose and Your mindset. By reason of my past experience or what I have seen in others or what is happening in society or what others are doing." The children of Israel were destroyed. They couldn't really hold onto God because of the experience of the nations around them. They want to become like them. Let's pray, "Lord, help me, help me to be focused. Help me to be focused, focused on Your word, focused on Your principle." As a young man, help me that Your principle will no matter who is questioning it, no matter what is questioning it, that the principle of Your word will be my way of life. That the principle of Your word will be my guiding principle, my living principle. As people in business, as people in one thing or another, let's say, "Lord, let Your word be my director. Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Help me, Lord, help me to hold onto tenaciously to Your word, to stand upon Your promises, to hold on Your promises until I see the daylight by the reason of the word." Help me, Lord. Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] Everlasting Father, we thank You for the power of Your word. Help us, Lord, to take caution. Help us, Lord, as a people, to wait on You. The Bible says those who wait on You will renew their strength. Lord, where we are waiting and standing day by day, we pray You renew our strength in Jesus' name. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] Where we are weary, Lord, please renew us in the name of Jesus. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] Where we are losing sight of Your word or what You have spoken, we are asking that Lord You will reveal them to our hearing in the name of Jesus. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] Lord, we pray that Lord You will help us to stand upon the power of Your word day by day in the name of Jesus. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] Let not our experience, oh God, destroy us in the name of Jesus. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] But like David, let it propel us forward to do greater work in the name of Jesus. [Group] Amen. [Speaker 1] Thank You, Lord, for hearing us. Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. [Group] Amen. Hallelujah. [Music ends]