Single With a Difference

[Music] [Speaker 1] Churches 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 Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. What a wonderful day in God's presence. What a wonderful day. Let's have our seat. I want to welcome every one of our brethren that are online and everyone of us are here seated. I believe that today is going to be a wonderful day. The Lord is going to reach out to every one of us. The Lord is going to reach out to us and the Lord is going to bless us. I want us to pray. I want us to pray before we go into the session of the word. Welcome to today's Singles Club. Indeed, it's a time for singles to mingle, to talk, to interact, to ask questions, to air your mind. And I pray the Lord will give us that grace so that every one of us will be able to have something to say. If at all you are online, you want to say something, you can as well reach us. I pray the Lord will make it a time of conversation indeed and a time of blessings, a time to learn a new thing, a time to know the call and the purpose of God for our life. Let's pray. Let's appreciate God this morning. I want us to appreciate God. To be a single is not an accident. It is not accidental that you are a single. God ordained this purpose. God ordained this time for you and I. I want us to appreciate God. Let's appreciate God. Why you are here, you are single. Let's appreciate God. Let's give God praise for the privilege. It's a privilege for the opportunity given to you to be a single at this point in time. So many are there. They are single, but they are not single. You will understand by the time we go on our discussion. You'll understand what I mean. They are single, but they are not single. I want us to appreciate God for the grace of God upon your life. Give God praise. Worship God. Thank the name of the Lord. Appreciate God that you are single and you are standing. And you can say, "Yes, indeed, I am single. I am single and I know God." It's grace. Appreciate God. Appreciate God. Give God praise. Give God glory. So many singles have been battered. So many singles have been tattered. Their life has been destroyed. Their life has been destroyed. That's why I said some are single but they are not single. Why? Their life has been destroyed. They have been defiled. So they can't tell if they are indeed single. I want us to appreciate God for your life. Where you are, your life has not been defiled. God's hand is upon your life, helping you to live day by day. Appreciate God. Appreciate God. Give God praise. Daddy, we thank you. We praise you. You are a living example to others. If indeed you are a living example to others, why don't you appreciate the name of the Lord? Give God glory for His grace upon your life, for His mercy, for His goodness. Daddy, we appreciate you. We bless you. Daddy, we give you all the glory. [Singing and chanting] [Speaker 2] I want us to ask God, "Lord, here I am. I don't want to see man. I want to see you. Lord, speak to me this morning." If you are here, you are thirsty. The Bible says, "He that thirsts, let him come." You have come, not by accident. You have come because God drew you to come. You have come because God wants something tangible, God wants to deliver something tangible into your hand this morning. And I want you to cry to God and say, "Father, I have come. As you have bidden me to come, Lord, speak to me. Speak to me this morning. I have come, oh Lord, that you will speak to my heart. Speak to my heart. I don't want to hear the voice of man, but I want to hear you speak to my heart. I want to hear you speak to me that my life will be transformed. Lord, send your word to me this morning. I need transformation in my life." I don't know, maybe you need transformation. If you need transformation, why don't you cry to God and say, "Father, speak to me. I don't want to hear the voice of man, but I want to hear your voice. I want to hear you speak to me expressly. I want to hear you open my eyes expressly. I want to hear you speak to my heart. I want to hear you speak to my heart this morning." In the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, precious Daddy. Lord, we give you praise and glory. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Our Father and our God, we want to thank you for this beautiful morning. What another day in your presence. Thank you for last month. Last month we were here, you spoke, and we received your word. Lord, we have come again this month, Lord, to hear you speak again. Father, we pray that you will speak to us. You will speak to our heart. You will give us the entrance of your word. Your word will give us understanding in the name of Jesus Christ. You enlighten us by your word this morning in the name of Jesus Christ. Daddy, I submit myself to you. I ask that you will speak through me. More of you, but less of me this morning. I pray that you will take all glory at the end of today, Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, precious Daddy. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Once again, I want to welcome every one of us to this month's Singles Club. I want to appreciate God for this opportunity to bring the word of God. It's a privilege. I count it a privilege because every time Daddy beckons on me to come and do something, I always ask myself, what capacity do I have? What ability do I have to speak the word? But I have learned over time that when opportunity beckons, don't say no. Take it. Because you are not the one that will, you are not going there with your own strength. Trusting in the Lord and He's going to help you. And that is why I'm here, trusting in the Lord that God is going to bring the word of God to us this morning in the name of Jesus Christ. In this Singles Club, the Lord is going to reach out to you in the name of Jesus Christ. To every of our brethren online and to everyone that will hear this message thereafter, the Lord is going to touch you. The Lord is going to speak to your heart in the name of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. Briefly, we are not going to take much of our time this morning, but I want us to discuss something. It's a burden in my heart. This burden, before Daddy called me to come and minister, this burden has been in my heart. Every one of us will say something. I want to hear you if you have the, I know every one of us will have been seeing what is going on all around us. And at times when I look at it, at times when I see things, I shed tears. And I keep asking myself, "God, God, is this how we are going to be going?" But the word of God has said it at this end time, so many things will be going on. If you have studied Matthew 24 very well, you know that everything that is going on in this generation has been prophesied. Jesus Christ has mentioned them. It's not new. But the dimension at which the whole thing is going baffles me. The dimension at which our generation is going down every day baffles me. And that is a burden of my heart that as a Christian, as a minister of God, as a teenage teacher, as a youth teacher, what are we going to do? As much as we can salvage, because the Bible says, "Go into the world and preach the gospel." As much as as many as we can salvage, what can we do to salvage them? And this is the burden of my heart this morning. And for every one of us that are here, thank God that we are born again. And to everyone that are not born again that will be listening to this message, I think there is a call for us to sit down and examine and re-examine what is going on and ask ourselves questions. The decay in this generation, hope it's not affecting me? It's not getting to me? Is my life still standing? Or is there anything that I need to do? Do I need to restrain my life? Do I need to examine myself and see what is going on in our generation? Hope I'm not part. And that's what brought about today's message. And I want us to look at it. Every time I'm on social media and I see things happen to singles, to youth, and I ask myself, what is going on? I will ask every one of us to say something about what is going on around us. This generation, we have Gen Z, generation what generation are we now? I know Gen Z, Gen Z is going and it's another generation. What generation are we now? Is it still Gen Z? Young generation coming out that are not Gen Z again. So let's look at it. And the question, what is going on in our generation? We have the baby boomer, we have the millennial. Every generation has their challenges. There is no doubt about that. I've tried to look at the picture, I've tried to look at different generations. We are going to look at that. I've tried to look at different generations, what happened in those generations. But I have come to discover that despite the fact there are corruption in each generation, some are still standing for God. Now I look at this generation. I look at the kind of damage the devil is causing. The kind of things going on in this generation and I ask myself, why is this generation so worst? Now before you say a to this generation, they will finish it for you. Before you quote a scripture, they will finish it for you. But you see the kind of life we live and we ask ourselves what is going on. They ask you all manner of questions. When you say this thing is not good, they will ask you, "Why is it not good? Tell me. Why should I not do this? Why should I not do this?" I was in a place, I want you to start thinking of what happened. You are in school, some of us are in school. You see what happened. I want us to share because every one of us, every one of us will talk. I want us to talk before we go into the word of God. I was in a place, in a fellowship, and immediately the minister finished ministering, being an older of the place, I was called to come and round up. And by the help of the Holy Spirit, I was able to say one or two things and the Holy Spirit moved shortly and corrected some things among the brethren, the young people. And after the message, people started coming to tell me, "Ah, pray for me, brother. Pastor, do this and that." And a lady came to me and said, "Sir, I want you to help me pray between these two guys, who is the right person?" I don't like doing that. And I have to pray. I want to pray, Holy Spirit restricted me not to pray. It was unusual. And the Holy Spirit ministered to me. And I said, "Lady, these guys have been sleeping with you." She said, "Yes, he's been sleeping with me. This one, I love this one." I was like, you ask me to come and pray when you have been sleeping with a guy? So what will of God do you want to know again? She said, "This one is the one paying my school fees and I don't want to lose her." I said, "If you want me to pray for you, first thing you need to do, you must be born again. You must dedicate your life to Christ and you must leave those guys." But the word was so hard, was so hard for her. She said she can't leave this guy, he's the one paying her school fees. I said, "Can't you trust God? Can't you trust God?" I was in a place also and a lady walked up to me. She said, "Is God a God of second chance?" I said, "Yes, God is a God of second chance." She said, "Okay." I said, "What happened?" She said, "No problem, it's my friend and something happened to her. I just want to ask the question so that..." As I was about going, Holy Spirit pricked my heart that she should not go. I called her back. I said, "Come, please come." I called my friend, "Sit down." Three of us sat down. I was like, "What happened? Speak. Just call her." Then she began to cry. She said, "My boyfriend, I just came from his house this morning. He said he cannot marry me again, that his family said he can't." I was like, "This guy slept with you over and over and he said he's no longer doing it. And here you are, you said you want to go and commit suicide." Something just asked her to sit down here. And immediately she heard us praying, she just asked us to call us and ask us if God is God of second chance. We have to minister to her and speak her life to Christ. At the other time, I was ministering to somebody as a form of evangelism. She was like, "Don't disturb me and all that." Holy Spirit helped me and I began to open some things. She was like, "How do you know?" "Well, it's Holy Spirit." When she began, she got broken and she began to confess about six men she had slept with. And I was like, "Redeemer, what is left of you?" She has aborted once. "What is left of you? Single." You see the reason why I said some are single, but they are not single? Because why? Their life has been battered. Their destiny has been destroyed. It can only take God to bring them back. I look at if you are online, if you are conversant online now, TikTok and all that, we all have phones. You see all those prank stars, what they do. You see the kind of art this our generation is having. At times I look at myself and say, what is going on in our generation? What is going on? You see because of money, lady have to say yes. Because of money, guys have to do all manner of things to please lady to make money at all cost. I want us to share what we are seeing around and what has been coming to your heart. And what do you think as a Christian, what can we do to salvage the remnant of Israel that are out there under the siege of bondage of the wicked and all siege of the wicked, rather? I don't know, maybe you are seeing what I'm saying. Are you seeing what I'm saying? Just have you encountered anything? Every one of us, I want us here to discuss. This is Singles Club. This is not Bible study. It's not. I want every one of us to say something. In your school, what have you been seeing? And every time you have been seeing something, what has been coming to your heart? You can't tell me that you have not been seeing anything. Please, please, I want us to talk and that is why we are here. Say something. You can't tell me that things are okay. Things happen in Futa. I can tell you experience that I had in Futa. They are not palatable experiences. Let me tell you one. I was with a photographer, I handled photography some times ago and I was talking. And I was talking to about two young ladies. And they were like, I said, "Please don't allow boys to get you." She said, "What do you mean? Are we the ones even doing boys? Shabi boy's not going to do no boy can do us." I said, "Why are you saying that? You are different." She said, "No, oh, no guy can break my heart. We are the ones breaking their hearts." And I was like, "Guy, what is going on?" Everybody there, the elderly people there was like, "Wow." If you see the way they were talking and I was like, "God, and these people are Christians. They go to church." So I want you to share what have you been seeing and every time you see these things, what has been coming, some thing will have been coming to your heart. What do you think we can do? Please, I want you to share your experience. We are here, this Singles Club. We may not necessarily finish this message, but I want us to talk. [Speaker 3] All right, thank you, sir. So for me, one of my friends have always been telling me this, the things that we see around us, it's more like the standard has actually been so much reduced and then we are used to it already. I mean, the standard of purity now, that's what I mean. [Speaker 2] Yeah, your friends. Yes, I quite understand the background. People that surround you, they are godly people, so you have a standard, you have a value. So you have stabilized it so you don't look out there. But there is always, there are things going on around you. [Speaker 3] Yeah, that's what I'm saying, sir, that he has been telling me that and of course I have been noticing that the things that we call normal are the things that the society has accepted as the standard and it has been brought so low, like so, so low. Okay, I would like probably cite an example, dressing and everything for everybody. I mean, before people could not do this at certain periods of times, but now you find even believers actually doing them. That's because they think it's the norm. But then one thing remains the same is that the standard of God is always sure. So I think what we can do as a solution is that we know what, like we stay close to the word of God. It's the word of God that dictates what we are meant to do, not the society. So that is my point. [Speaker 2] Thank you. Let me hear. I understand. There was a time I was talking to some people. I said, even to my wife and some group of young people and I was like, the normal has become abnormal. As a Christian, you are abnormal in this generation. Because what they called normal from the context of the word of God is abnormal. But now because it's a norm, it's a standard in our environment, everyone now see it to lie is a normal thing now. To steal is a normal thing. To do hookup is a normal thing. Am I lying, Sister Day Spring? You see them out there now. To do hookup is a normal thing. If you are not doing it, they look at you and say, "Are you crazy? Are you in this generation that you are keeping your virginity? Are you in this generation?" Because now the normal has now become abnormal. To embezzle money now to strictly change things. No. Let me hear the low. [Speaker 4] Okay, thank you, sir. I don't think that what is happening now for believers is any different. If you read the Bible, the Old Testament, the people of Israel, they were God's chosen people, surrounded with different nations with their different practices. And God has always said, "Okay, I'm not going to remove you from among them. I want you to live a certain particular way even though among them." And so even now, irrespective of what is trending, irrespective of what people are doing, the believer really has a map already, which is the Bible. And the important thing is to live according to the map. I think the reason why most Christians are not, or should I say most, the reason why there are Christians that fall victim, I want to use the word intentionally living against Bible because I believe that there are different classes of people. It's not as black and white as we look at it. So there are people that are believers that are living according to God's word. There are people that are believers that respect the standard of God's word but are falling short in one area or the other. And then there are those that are believers, they are Christians, and they really don't care what God's word say. And then they are unbelievers. I feel like that's like the broad class. And the way to, there's really no way to know the difference between them apart from the two extremes, an unbeliever and a believer that is living according to standard of God's word. And so there's really no way to know. But for people that are intentionally not listening to God's word, not following God's word, it's because they've not been taught that at the end of the day, it's God that created us. And if Samsung produces a phone and says, "This is how you should use the phone," you cannot know more than Samsung. So if God created us and said, "This is how you should use your body, this is how you should use your mind, this is how you should live with society," we cannot know more than God. And so trying to live like God is not actually a sacrifice. It's just the wise thing to do if you are thinking. Yeah. [Speaker 2] It's just the wise thing to do for you to stand out. It is wise. You have to say something, Sis. Say something, say something. Just tell us something that you know. No, probably as a Christian, what do you think we can do, probably to salvage some of your friends you know, some of your friends in your class that you know are these people? What are you doing to help them? [Speaker 5] Well, okay. I feel like you can escape these things by your association. Aside that you are a believer, they said iron sharpeneth iron. So if you walk with the wise, you will be wise and the companions of fools will be destroyed. So if you have friends that even if you are falling short, if you have friends that can call you back to order, then you know that, "Okay, this is it." But if you are with the crowd, you will lose your way. And of course, focusing on the Bible, reading God's word, staying with it, knowing what right and wrong is and all of that, shabi, you will be fine. [Speaker 2] God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. The association we keep determine what happens to you. Brother and Bless, can we hear you? Do you want to say something? Yeah, come, come, come. In UI, what are your experience with what we are relating to what we are seeing and as a Christian, what do you think we can do to overcome to stand out in all of these things? Share your experience. [Speaker 6] Praise God. Hallelujah. I think as believers, our major anchor should be that we should be led by the spirit of God. We should not do things based on how we feel. Men that are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God. So we should always ensure that all our directions, all our movements, all our, the things we do are led by the spirit so that we would not fulfill the desire of the flesh. We'll be able to stand out because the spirit of God is an enmity with the world and by submitting to the spirit, we are going to be different from the world and then our life to shine to everyone. [Speaker 2] Thank you. Thank you. You have all spoken well. Allowing the Spirit of God to take over. If you joined online like I did, you know that the topic of last month was so touching relating to what we are saying here, what Brother and Bless just said just now. No, last month we talked about discernment and capacity. For you to succeed in this generation, you must discern. It takes discernment to build capacity to resist. The Bible said in the day of adversity, your strength is small. But when you have the Spirit of God in you and you can discern that this is good, this is bad, the capacity will come to resist, to say no. So many things are out there, not even the kind of economy that we have now. Some ladies have to go extra mile to succeed, I mean, to survive. They have to sell their bodies to do all manner of things. Guys have to do all manner of things and they are all around us. At times they intimidate us. You see your friend using what you cannot use and you are like, "God, are you answering my prayer? God, provide for me now." God, provide for me now. And you are like, but when you have the Spirit of God in you, you know that contentment is a great gain. Godliness and contentment is a great gain. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We have all spoken well. I want to hear us. You see also, look at what is going on in the church. My summary about everything, every time I reason, every time I think, my summary of everything is Jesus Christ has said it, that the church of God is marching on and no gate of hell will prevail. No matter how they try, the church of God will continue to march on. We'll have people that will be salvaged. We'll have people that will stand for God. I look at all the generations in the Bible, people standing, even just one or two, they will stand and say no, we are not going to do this. And I believe God is raising an army in this generation, an army that will say no to the devices of the wicked, an army that will stand for God. And we are among the army that God is raising. That's why we have to look at, I came up with this topic: Single with a Difference. Single with a difference. You are single, but you are different. People must see the glory of the Father can be seen in the Son. And who are you? You are the sons. And as many as are led by the spirit, they are the sons of God. Because you have the Spirit of God in you, you are the sons of God. You are single, but you are a son. So you are different. Single with a difference. I want us to look at this. Briefly, then we pray. I really want us to pray. I really want us to pray. I don't want to take much of our time but I have a lot. If I cannot finish, I will, because it's a burden. And I have to sit down and start looking at it. A lot. If I have to do this teaching for three times, I will. Three different, I will. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's something that one cannot finish. Single with a difference. Let me show you the beauty of singleness. Singleness is beautiful. I remember when I was single. Singleness is beautiful. In Genesis 1:27, the Bible says God created them, part B of it, male and female He created them. Male and female He created them. God did not create married man and his wife as He was creating He said you are married man. No, He created them male and female. Singleness is beautiful. Why? It is the time to build capacity for the future. It is the time to drive the course of your life in God's presence. It is the time of strength. The Bible says the glory of the youth is in their strength. It is the time to serve God more. Paul was saying something in 1 Corinthians, he was advising. He said it's not the command, it's not from God but it's his own advice that if they can stay single. Because a single man will devote himself or herself to God, serving God. But a married man probably may be distracted. Why am I saying this? It is beautiful to be single. It's a phase of life though, but it's the best phase of life to young people. Because it's the time for you to know where you are going. It's the time for you to discover your purpose. It's the time for you to know if God is calling you to do certain things. It's the time that distraction should be reduced but nowadays we see distraction everywhere. Internet distraction, social media distractions. But for them that do know their God, what does Daniel say? They shall be strong and do exploits. Singleness is the time to know your God better. Though as you grow in God, you grow in power, you grow in grace, but the best time to know God, to be strong and do exploits is early. I was in a conference, I was listening to a message and the man of God was shouting, "Early to rise! Early to rise! Early to rise is early to shine!" He was talking to the youth, the singles. Early to discover whom you are, better for you. Better for you. And I come to see people that stood their ground in the scripture, know God early. We are going to look at men like that in the Bible as we go. Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:7, God created Adam, put him in a garden, he named all the animals. Verse 20 to 21, he named all the animal. In 21 God saw that he's alone, that he needs help. He's alone, he needs help and God have to create Eve from one of his ribs. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. At creation, God first and foremost created two separate, distinct individuals, male and female. They are distinct individual and that is what singleness is all about. Distinct individual. Praise the Lord. You are not a mistake or an accidental being. You are single for a purpose. And my question to you this morning is, have you discover your purpose as a single? Are you walking in that purpose? Singleness is beautiful. It's a period of discovery. Have you discover that? Singleness is a season in your life. Ecclesiastes 3:1, "To everything there is season." Now I can be sharing testimony of when I was single. Now I can't say I'm single again. Now I'm a married man. But there was a time I was like you. If I had failed to use that time very well, probably I will be regretting now. The question is, now that you are single, what are you doing with your singleness? Are you investing it to a right course? Do you know God? What are you doing with your singleness? Are you allowing what is going on out there to distract you? Praise the Lord. Genesis 8:22 said, "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease." So to every time that I see there was a time you are a baby. Now you are youthful. The question now, in this season of your life that you are youthful, you are singles full? I wrote an article many years ago, "Youthful but Useful." And I was saying so many people are youthful but they are useless. But my article directed to the Christians that they are youthful and they are useful. So many Christians are youthful, they are not useful. You are youth, are you useful? What are you doing with your singleness? The meaning of single, what does it mean to be single? To be single means to be a whole, distinct, and a successful individual, capable of initiative and having the capacity to contribute and to enrich other person's life. In that thing that is going on around you, what is your place in it? What are you doing? There was a time in my life when I saw all these things I was praying, "God, what have you called me to do in this decayed generation? What is my place?" I was crying, "God help me not to lose." Because to everything that happen, there is a place God wants you to take to salvage people. There is a place, there is something God wants you to do to help others. Now when we say single, he's a whole distinct and a successful individual, you and I. Though I'm no more single, don't let me use I again. There is a place for you. God has given you capacity as a born again Christian to affect others. That's what single is all about. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defined single as unmarried people. People who are not married and do not have romantic relationship with somebody else. Hello. When I look and see dictionary is also say this, a single person is unmarried person that does not have romantic relationship with anybody else. Now the question is, we are single, some of us are in a relationship. That relationship is not romantic. We have not been touching what we are not supposed to touch. Yeah, when you get to a point, you want to marry. We grow to that point to marry. But when you are still single, that you are in relationship does not give you ticket to be committing sin. And I look at it when I look at what dictionary said, "Wow, not having romantic relationship." You can be in a relationship and not having a romantic relationship. But what we have today, singles, if you have to count, you have to take sample, majority even in church that are in relationship having romantic relationship. "Shabi I'm engaged." You are engaged, does it give you license to be doing rubbish? Is it not time to pray and get to know each other if you are in a relationship? Is it a time to be having romantic time or relationship? No. So we have to understand what single is all about. Yeah, they are unmarried people, but not people that are in romantic relationship. You can be in courtship. I like courtship. Yeah, you can talk, you can profess your love to one another. But the day you start touching what you are not supposed to touch, you know that you are going against your boundary, beyond your boundary. Praise the Lord. Understand whom you are. God have designed you at this point in time to make a difference. You are single, but God have designed you to make a difference. Now the question is, are you making that difference? Let's look at 1 Peter 2:9-17. [Speaker 7] Verse 9, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Verse 10, "Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." Verse 11, "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul." 12, "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." 13, "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme," verse 14, "or to the governor as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good." Verse 15, "For this is the will of God that by doing good you should put silence to the ignorance of foolish people." 16, "Live as people who are free, not choosing your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God." Verse 17, "Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor." [Speaker 2] Hallelujah. 1 Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen generation." In this generation, you have been chosen. We know each generation have their own evils. But in this generation, Gen Z generation, that all manner of evil are out there both in church and out there, God is saying, Peter is saying here, "But you are a chosen generation." Others may, you are not because you are chosen. In those days, my former workplace, this is what we tell ourselves, "Others may be stealing, but we are not. Others may defile themselves, but we are not." We are not supposed to. Why? We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. Revelation 5, he has make us priests and kings to himself. A holy nation, His own special people. Can you see who you are? Can you see why you are a single with a difference? There are a lot of single out there, but for you, you are single, but you are different from others. Why? You are a chosen generation. God decided to choose you that you got born again. It's not a mistake. It's not because your parents gave birth to you to be a Christian. No, a lot of Peters out there, a lot of names in the Bible out there, been destroyed. But for you, it does not matter what you are called, but I want you to know that the reason why you are single that you must be different is God has chosen you for a purpose. You are a holy nation to God, and God will not be happy to see you putting your hand in things that others are doing. Praise the Lord. "That you may proclaim the praise of Him who called you out of darkness." Isaiah, darkness may cover the earth, gross darkness the people, but for you, what is going to happen? The light of God will shine upon you. Can you see who you are? I want you to develop that mentality this morning. It does not matter what is going on around us. You must make up your mind that you are going to stand for that which is right. You must make up your mind that you are going to stand for righteousness. You must be a light. Praise the Lord. "Into His marvelous light." You have been called to His light, so it is expected of you to shine this light that God has called you to anywhere you find yourself in that class, in that school, in that fellowship, in that career path, in that office. God has called you from darkness to His marvelous light. And what do you do to light? You shine it. Don't hide your identity, sir. If you are single and you want to be different, the day you start hiding your identity, that's the day you start sinking. Let people know whom you are. Nobody light a light and put it under bushel. You put it on top of a thing so that it can shine. "Ye are the light of the world, the city set on a hill that cannot be hid." That is whom you are. Single with a difference. Praise the Lord. "Once you were not a people, but now the people of God." The people of God are different being. They are unique being. "Who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." The man is now begging. "Beloved, I beg you as a sojourner. Brothers and sisters, you are foreigners and aliens here. You don't belong here. You are not of this world. So I warn you to keep away from evil desire because they fight against your very soul." Can you see what they are doing? They are going everywhere to fight against our soul with their songs. They are fighting against our soul through their songs. Every little songs out there you see it in church. Every dance step out there you see it in church, importing them to the church. Why? What are they doing? This is their strategy. Fighting against your very soul so that you will be confused. So many Christians are confused. They don't even know their right from their left. They don't even know to do one that is good or right. Why? Because they are not getting the truth. So everything that happened in the world, boom, they bring it. "Standard is normal. It's our generation. Our generation is unique. We have to do the way they are doing so that we can get them." Good, if you can. But I must tell you, sir and ma, the Bible cannot be broken. Dear brother and sister, you are foreigner and alien here. You don't belong here. So you can't imitate them. You can't copy them. The day you start doing that is the day you start sinking. Be careful. Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Single with a difference. There are all singles out there, I told you. There are singles out there. Now the Bible is telling you, be careful how you live among unbelieving neighbors. Even they may accuse you of being wrong, they see your honorable behavior and they will believe and give honor to God when He comes to judge the world. Praise the Lord. Can you see whom you are? You are a chosen generation. I want to go to 1 Timothy 4:12. Praise the Lord. "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in the world, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity." Don't allow anybody to say you are foolish and you are the only one in your generation that is doing this. Accept it. That you are old school. It's better to be old school and make heaven. It's better to be old school and protect your sanity than to be new school and not have testimony tomorrow. Sir and ma, I want to plead with us. Be an example to your friend. When they see what is coming out of you, they will come back later. Let your life win them. Let your life win them in conduct, in love, in purity. Let your life win them. Stop loving the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh. Can you see what is in the world? The lust of the flesh. Everybody, the lust of the flesh. Everybody want to have boyfriend, girlfriend. Everybody want to keep that sexual appetite high. The lust of the eyes. Everybody want to make money. The pride of life. Everybody want to show that they are there. They are there. Even some Christians believe that if you don't have a car, if you don't have this thing, God is not blessing you. Is God blessing you by a car? Is God blessing you by a house? Is God blessing you by a beautiful cloth? They may be part, but that is not the real blessings. Yeah, if God blesses you, all these things will come. The Bible says, "First seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness and every other thing," including the car, including the house, every other thing that God will add to you. So must we now leave what is primary and beginning to run after every other thing as a single? Because that is what is going on in your school. You can tell how many people that are using car. You ask yourself, "What are they doing?" If at all you are doing a legit business, a sensible youth will want to invest more than to use car to distract himself while studying. And they tell you that "who school help?" "who righteousness help?" shabi? But I must tell you that it help. Why? "They that do know their God shall be strong and do exploit." When I was a single like you, I got born again early in life. You have heard testimony of Daddy. Daddy got born again early in life. And he was so dedicated to God and we can see what God is using him to do. Life that God is using him to bless today all manner abroad. We've heard testimony of what God have used him to do. When I was single, I make up my mind that I'm going to serve God. God or nothing. When I was in school, Lagos State Polytechnic, God directed me to the fellowship I will go. I knew that God asked me to go this place and I told God, "God, I'm going to serve you but you have to do three things to me." I have to work to pay my school fees. I have to go through all manner of things to pay my school fees and I said, "God, I don't want to suffer." Why? Because I know that I have to do everything to pay my school fees. I don't want my school fees to, and I don't want to have any problem. I can't forget those three things. And I was there serving God with all my heart. To a point they are calling me Brother Fire. Sir, those seed those days are speaking today. I was with somebody on Thursday, Daddy Akubuaje, if you guys may knowing him. We were together in the night and he was also sharing his testimony of how he was a youth in Futa, those you have mentioned, those places where they prayed. How he met mummy, mummy Akubuaje. It was awesome. So and he was telling some of their friends, all of them are doing well. Some of my friends too that we were dedicated serving God at our youthful age, at our single time, we are all there doing well today. Sir, if you can make use of this season of your life, you will have peace tomorrow. The peace I enjoy in my marriage is as a result of preparation when I was young, as single like you. When I was in school, I told him, I said, when I got to school, out of everything God told me, God did not tell me that I'm going to get a woman when I was in school. So I don't even bother looking for a sister. I just see them at the gate of the school, give life to Christ, come to fellowship in the class. One lecture finished, I ran there, Jesus Christ loves you. I was investing. I have peace today. Why? Because God saw the labor of love. He's rewarding and He's still rewarding. I remember one of the day, I collected salary, I gave it, we want to do a crusade. I gave it out for a crusade. And I said, "God, I'm giving you this, please. I don't want to suffer for once. I don't want to leave a job for once. I don't want to be out of job, rather." I don't want to be out of job, sir. From then till date, I was telling him, I said, now three jobs, about four jobs now. As I was leaving one, I may leave Friday and I resume another one Monday. Leave one, resume immediately. Not that maybe I'm staying at home for a month, two months before I got. No. It's a seed, preparation for the future. Praise the Lord. I want us to prepare for the future. And as you do so, the Lord will help you in Jesus' name. 1 John 2:15, "Stop loving this world." There is nothing to love in this world. And all that it offers. It offers lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life. Is that what you want to get? They are temporary enjoyment. They destroy life. They don't give anything to life. Let's go to verse 16. "For the world offers only lust of physical pleasure, the lust of everything we see, the pride in our possessions. These things, these are not from the Father. They are from the evil world. And this world is fading away along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever." Can you see that? If you do the will of God, these things are fading away. You see some of these guys running mad. Everything this world is bringing together, they are fading away with time. It will not last. I was telling somebody, I said, "Go and look at those boys driving car in the next ten years, see what becomes out of them. Voice to those lady that they believe that hookup is the best way to make money. In the next ten years, they will be the one that will wear rags that will put gele and be looking for pastor on the mountain up and down, praying for them." And they will tell you they need deliverance. Why? They have joined themselves to so many animals. So they have become animals. And men too that join themselves to different people having sex up and down like a dog. You know what happened? You have the spirit of dog and you begin to behave like dog up and down. And you see them in church today. So it is not by accident. Go and look at those mama that die on the mountain, die on the, go and trace their life to when they are single. Ask them what do they do with their singleness? They will tell you that if they know, ah, they would have listened. I have seen people said that to me. "Ah, if I know, I would have listened. If I know, I would have obeyed. I would have done, I would have give thought to correction." I have seen marriages destroyed then, "Ah, if they had listened, they wouldn't have entered into that marriage." Why? They failed to listen to the word of God. They failed to do what the Bible tells them to do. They believe pleasure is the best. They believe romantic in single age is the best. They believe lust of the flesh is the best. Not knowing because they are blind to the truth. You will not be blind to the truth in the name of Jesus Christ. You will not be blind to the truth in the name of Jesus Christ. I want us to sit down and look at our life deeply, deeply, and ask yourself, "Am I not being the way? Am I still on the right path?" Praise the Lord. "We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the power and the control of the evil one." 1 John 5:19. We are the children of God, but the world around us under the power of the evil one. But as children of God, in that evil world, you can stand out. And that is the essence of today's burden. Single with a difference. The question is, you are in the world, though you are not of the world. But when you speak the way they speak, you do the way they do, you dress the way they dress, you act the way they act, you dance to what they dance to, would they see Christ in you? So what makes you different? What make you different? When everything they do is what you do, are they going to see God in you? You know that hymn that says, "Let people see Christ in you." That hymn that we used to sing, "Let men see Christ in you." I had to sing it. Are they going to see the Christ in you? When you do the way they do, you speak the way they speak, in the context of "we have liberty to do anything we do, we have been liberated." Yeah, you have been liberated. But when you do the way they do, you speak the way they speak, you act the way they act, you even dress the way they dress, would they see Christ in you? Praise the Lord. "In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother." That's 1 John chapter 3. There are people that will be children of God, that will be children of the devil. But when you practice righteousness, you stand out. Praise the Lord. Quickly, because of our time. Let us look at young men that serve God in their generation. Young men, singles like you that stand out, despite the fact there is evil in their generation. Let's look at them, just few of them. If you go through all the Bible you see them. You know them. Before I even talk, some of them are coming to your heart. You know them. I just want to talk about them so that you know that no matter what is going on around us, you too can still stand. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. If you look at 1 John 3:12, you will be surprised that why am I using them as an example. But I just want to that's the first generation after Adam and Eve. 1 John 3:12, "Not as Cain, who was the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his work were evil and his brother what? Righteous." So in that generation, we have two people from the same womb. One is evil, one is what? Righteous. God adjudge one to be righteous and one to be evil. So killing that somebody is killing lady to make money is not new. A brother kill his one brother. I saw a video, the guy invited his mom to come and see his new house, not knowing he wanted to kill the woman to make, to do ritual. He brought out knife to kill the mother. The mother struggled, struggled, she started cutting the mother. The mother struggle and ran out of the house. She block people have to rescue the mother. They do not know that this is what he wants to do with him, I mean, her son wants to do with her. In this evil generation. You ask me, after the fall of Adam and I ask myself, who told Abel that he needs to be righteous in that generation? But he decided to stand out. Probably the parents have informed them what they did why God sent them out of the garden. And this one decided to say, "No, if that is the case, I must love this God oh." And as at this point in time, they are not calling on God. But this man, can you see? Was adjudged to be righteous in that generation where they are not calling on God. Now in this generation, we are here, we are hearing the word of God all the time. What are we still doing with what we are hearing? Our parents are Christians. Do we study them? Do we watch them? And do we do what they tells us to do all the time? Or are we going our own way? Sir, everything you sow, you will reap. So be mindful of what you are sowing now. Be mindful of what you are sowing because in years to come, you will reap them. There is this thing that I used to tell people, young people, after I preach I will always say it. I will say it here again. That the best time to sow a seed was twenty years ago. Go and ask some of my friends, some of my mates, twenty years ago that are doing big guy, big boy. Some of them I know where to be find today. If some of them if at all they make money, ask yourself, "Would they have peace?" But I have this good news for you. The best time to sow another seed as a Christian, sir, is now. Because in twenty years' time, you will look back and say, "Father, thank you for taking that decision twenty years after." I want to beg us. Take a right stand for your life, not because of today. Because every day is a seed that will produce tomorrow. Tomorrow when you get there is a seed that will produce next tomorrow. So watch what you want to do with your life as a single. Know some people are regretting today that are married and say, "Ah, if I had known I would have keep my virginity. I lost it." Now they have children that is doing rubbish and their conscience is like, "Ah, what guts do I have to correct my daughter now? Because I was like this when she was when I was I was doing like this then when I was like..." That is the kind of some people now. I have seen someone told me and said, "Ah, my God, if only I had stayed with Jesus in those years, my life wouldn't have been like this." It's someone that is close to me. We will not regret in the name of Jesus Christ. We will not regret in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's look at Enoch. Because of our time. If you look at Genesis 5:24, the Bible said Enoch walked with the Lord. We all know that. In that generation, there was nobody recorded in the scripture that walked with the Lord except Enoch. And that's the reason why God have to take him. Because the I believe that generation would have been believe and said "this boy for him not to go by let me quickly take him oh." And Jude verse 14 and 18 reckon about Enoch. I wish that we can go there but the time. Jude have to reckon about him, that he was the seventh generation after Adam. Jude verse 14. Praise the Lord. "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men. Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all harsh things which ungodly sinner have spoken against him." Can you see? These are gamblers, complainers, verse 16, "walking according to their own lusts and they their mouth great swelling word, flattering people in gain advantage." Can you see what they are doing in their generation? But this man decided to stand out, speak against this generation. Single with a difference. I don't know, maybe I'm talking to somebody this morning. You are single, are you different? I'm showing you men in their generation, men in their generation like you. They decided to take a stand for God despite the fact there are evils around them. They decided to be different. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Let's move forward. You look at Joseph. You look at Genesis 37:2, Genesis 39:1, verse 10, verse 11, verse 12. We won't be able to go there. We all know the story of Joseph. This man decided to say no. In verse 2, the Bible says he will see the wrongdoing of his brothers. He will run back home and say, "Daddy, Daddy, come and look at my brother what they are doing. This is not what you taught us." And they hated him. A man of purpose. Sir, when you have purpose and you take a stand for God, devil cannot kill that purpose. You will definitely fulfill your purpose if you just take stand for God. Just take stand for God. It does not matter how far they can go. God will be there to defend you. What happened? Despite the fact all that he went through, just for the devil to stop his dream, he got to a Potiphar's house. I believe, Daddy explained this last month, Potiphar probably Joseph will not be the first person that the man that the woman will have pointed out. Maybe she has been doing it to male servants in her house. Now he now saw Joseph again. But the guy said "no." If you look at from NLT, the Bible says "persistence." He was she was persistent to get him. But this man stand for God. When the opportunity to commit sin beckon on you, what do you do? And when the when the something persists and you are like, "There is nobody looking at me, I will go and confess my sins later." I've seen people like that. "I will do it, I will go and confess my sins later." Brother and sister, let's think about this very well. Let's think about this very well. In every generation there are young people that stand out. Joseph stand out. You will stand out in the name of Jesus Christ. Another one that touches me most, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel chapter 1. Now look at from verse 1 of from verse 3, we see the king decided to call his servant to gather the seed of kings from Israel, the young guys. Let's open it. Let's open it. Verse 3, "The king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles, young men in whom there was no blemish." Can you see who the devil is looking for up and down in this generation? Young men, the singles that was no blemish. To do what with them? Let's go. "But good-looking, gifted in all wisdom." Do you know that what devil is looking for in you is because the deposit of God in your life? They want to truncate it. They know that you are going to be dangerous to the this generation. So all they are looking for is to take that which God have deposited in you. I want to ask you a question, will you allow devil to take it away? The virtue of God upon your life, the anointing of God upon your life, the wisdom of God, the power of God. It's only tree that bear fruit that people throw stone at. Unfruitful tree people does not move close. Do you know that you are a fruitful vine? That is why the devil is looking for doing everything to get you. To get you. Devil will not get you in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's go forward. Verse 4, "good-looking, gift in all wisdom, possessed knowledge, and quick to understand, who had ability to serve king palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of Chaldeans." They have their own language. Why did they want to change their language? What does the devil is he's doing? Exchanging our language through song, bringing new songs, different song in the world, bringing it to church. Bringing it to church. Bringing seduction through song to church. Changing our language. You see all manner of slang, even on the altar. I love church, I don't condemn church, but we must be careful what we do, what we listen to. The mission of this king is to change their language, is to teach them their own word so that they can forget their where they are coming from. Praise the Lord. The enemy will not change your language oh. He will not change whom you are. That is why you are different. Praise the Lord. What happened? Verse 8, "Daniel purposed in his heart." Can you see a man that is single and different? "Purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacy, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Sir, is that your testimony? Is that your mission? Is that what you are standing for now, that in this generation, I'm not going to defile myself? Come what may, I'm not going to bow, I'm not going to defile myself. I'm going to keep myself for God because I'm an instrument in His hand. I will be a voice. I will be a voice. Is that your prayer? Is that your passion? Is that what you are thinking about every day, that I want to be a voice in God's presence? Sir, I will not defile myself. I will not defile myself. I will not bow to the gods of this generation. I will not bow. I want you to pray for yourself. "Lord, I make up my mind. I will not bow. I will not compromise my stand. I will not. I will not. I will not. Others may be compromising, but for me, I will not compromise my stand. I will stand for God. I will stand for God for the days of my life. I will serve the Lord. In my single days, I will serve the Lord. I will serve the Lord. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. I will serve the Lord. I will love the Lord. In the name of Jesus. I will not compromise my stand. I will not compromise my stand. I will be a voice. I will be a voice rather. I will be a voice. I will not compromise my stand. I will be a voice in the name of Jesus Christ." Thank you, precious Daddy. Praise the Lord. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Like I said, we cannot finish it. We cannot finish it so that we can entertain question, we can still discuss if you have anything to add. If some of us brethren online, if you have a question, as our custom is, you can send a question or you have contribution, you can send, you can type it. Bro, and Bless, help us check. If you have a question, if you have a contribution, please you can send it in. It's 11:30 already. Please you can send it in. What must I do to be truly different in this generation? This message will not be complete if you don't mention one or two. Are numerous. You have mentioned some. We have mentioned some. We must pray, we must study the word, we stay on the word, we pray, we allow the Holy Spirit to yeah, they are fantastic. They are the things that we must do to keep ourselves. But the question, are we doing them? You know one of the strategy the enemy is using right now to kill spiritual life? You just want to check something five minutes before you know you have spent two hours. And you can't regain two hours again. That two hours you can't regain it again. Let's be careful. Praise the Lord. What must I do to be truly different in this generation? Number one, you must know Christ. I want to congratulate us that we know Christ. But for every brethren online that have, I want to congratulate every one of us. But should in case you are hearing me and you have not have truly encounter, true encounter with Christ, please there is an opportunity for you to pray for yourself and ask God to come and ask Christ to come into your life, to forgive you your sin and have a new start. Peradventure you've given your life to Christ, you know, you know that you know that you are not something has happened. You can come back to Christ. He's a lovely Father. Praise the Lord. Let's open our Bible to 1 Corinthians. I must, we must look at it. I will be fast within fifteen minutes we will be off. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 11, "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus." So the foundation of your being different in Christ is Christ. He has laid a foundation for all you need to do is to accept him and let him have a good foundation for you. Let him have a good foundation for you. Let him build your life for you. 2 Timothy, one of my favorite scripture in those days. In those days, I even have something in my house that I that I put there, very big something, just put there and I put this scripture. 2:19, "Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stand, having this seal: the Lord knows those who are His and let everyone who name the name of Christ depart from iniquity." Sir, if you want to be different in your generation, you must do what? Depart from iniquity. Yeah, you are born again, good. Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stand. You can't shake it. You can't move it. Like you said the other time, my brother, no matter what is going on around you, the standard of God is still the standard of God. The standard of God will not bend for any generation. "Now this generation, they are baby generation, so let me bend my standard. Let me bend the word of God a little bit so that they can understand." No. The standard of God is still the standard of God. God stand, having this seal: the Lord knows who, those who are His. The question, are you on the Lord's side? The Lord knows who are His. If you are faking it, the Lord knows. With time it will tell. Time will tell. If you are truly serving God, time will tell. But I want to beg us to examine our life, to ask ourselves certain question, to take stock of our life and ask if truly I am still standing. The Lord knows who those are His. And they that have been called the name of the Lord must do what? Depart from iniquity. If you are still committing any iniquity, you are not of His fold. Remember His fold, He knows. They hear His voice. You are the Lord. You know, if you belong to God, you will know. You will know. If you are not sure, that means you are not. Praise the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:17, "When a man is in Christ, he is what? Therefore, so therefore when a man is in Christ, he's a new creation, isn't it? Old things, the old ugly things have passed away." If they are things in your life, please go back to God and make amendment. Number two, you must be consistent. You have said it, we must pray, we must study the word of God. I'm standing on this premise. In that pray, in that praying, in that word of God, in that service, you must be what? Consistent. Not doing it today, tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow today. You must be what? Consistent. You must be persistent and you must be deliberate in serving God. Because devil is doing everything to bring us down. So we must be consistent. We must be persistent. We must be deliberate. Praise the Lord. Jude 20, "Building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost." Jude 20, building yourself. So the building must be consistent. The building must be persistent and the building must be deliberate. Praise the Lord. I believe I'm communicating. I believe I'm touching somebody this morning. Praise the Lord. You will have testimony. You will have testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. You will have testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 3:1, "But know this that in the last day, perilous time will come, dangerous time will come." Know this. You should know this, Timothy. Paul was talking to Timothy. You should know this, Timothy, that in the last day there will be very difficult time. What time we are? Difficult time. That abnormal has become normal. Normal now has become abnormal. All manner of things out there. People say, "What's wrong?" they will tell you what is wrong with it. Different things. I don't want let's move forward. "For men will be lovers of themselves, lover of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and unholy." Can you see what is going on? Are they not the thing going on around us? Paul was telling Timothy, "See, in this end time, these are the thing that you are going to be seeing." You are a single, hope you are still obeying your parent. The best blessing you can ever have after the blessing of God is the blessing of your parent. Don't joke with it. I deliberately position myself to be receiving God's my parent blessing through what I do. Don't say you are not working. That little thing, you are coming from home from school, they have been paying your school fees. To appreciate, you just buy probably a cloth and say, "Mommy, I just want to come and appreciate you." Do you think she will cause you for doing that? What is she going to say? "God bless you." That word goes a long way. Don't joke with it. Praise the Lord. "Unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control." What are we seeing? Young people that cannot control themselves again. Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Traitor, see friend, betraying friend. Hasty, lover of pleasure rather than the lover of God. These are the thing that is common around us. Are we doing them? Let's ask ourselves. The Lord will help us in Jesus' name. Matthew 24:12 said, "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will what? Will grow cold." Lawlessness. Is that not what we are seeing in the government, in the church, among the youth? Many, their love will grow cold. You know, like I said, last week message and June message, the same thing. June message says, value system. Value system and priority. Sir, one of the thing you need to do to be different is to have a value. What is your value system? Go and listen to that message again. What is your value in Christ? See, you need to place value on yourself. One of the value I place myself on then, sister don't come to my house. I'm sorry, I may be old school. Sister don't come to my house early I have good house early as I was working going to school I have flat. You don't come to my house. If you want to come, ah, you will take permission. In fact, you can't even come. You don't check me. Why? I'm protecting my destiny me. People abuse me for doing that. That was the reason why they call me Brother Fire. It does not matter. But I'm protecting my posterity. Today I can share the testimony. Please, place a value on yourself. Have limit to which people can access you so that they will not take you away from God. One of the value is the kind of friend you are working with, the kind of company you are keeping. You can make up your mind. There was a time, a year, I make up my mind. I said, "I will only choose my friend. My friend will not choose me." So I go to people that I want to make my friend. I don't have friend. But that year I went to my friend. I know that these people are they are pastors today. I say, "Can you be my friend? Do you want to be my friend?" I know them. "This year I don't want so many people in my life." I place a value on my life because I know I have a future to fulfill. Today, my best friend is my wife. People may call me, no, I have received all manner of name. It does not matter, but I know where I'm going. Praise the Lord. Invest on, let me let me round up. Let me stop from here. Invest in yourself by taking responsibility. You want to be different? Invest in yourself. The best time to start investing in your life is while you are still single. Start investing now. Those days, every of my birthday, every June 19, it's either I'm on a mountain or I lock myself inside the room. Ah, those diary, I could not lay my hand on them. I wish that I can bring them. You see those birthday dates, what I put down about my marital life, about things. I was investing. I was buying books. Some of them I have not I'm still praying that God should help me to go back there and start reading. My brother, my sister, invest. Now the reading culture is going away. But you have soft copy of books inside this phone. Quite a number of soft copies. Now we have voice reading. You can download all these things and let them be reading to you if you cannot sit down and read. Invest, know the truth. You are preparing for marriage. How many truths have you know about marriage? How many things have you know, how many things have you studied about marriage? Invest. Invest. Invest. Invest in your spiritual life. Invest in your do you know that if you wake up, let's assume and you wake up every five o'clock every day? You pray and study the Bible till six o'clock. Five o'clock, you pray and study probably six-thirty. When do you start lecture? About seven. And you do that for one hour thirty minutes. You read one chapter or two chapters. You read probably two or three chapters of a books every day. And in a week you have time that you are fasting. And you are consistent with it. You know that your spiritual life will grow. You are investing. Invest in your life. Invest in your emotional, invest mental to develop capacity through mental, no mentally invest in yourself. Build yourself up mentally. 2 Corinthians 2:16, if you look at that, we have the mind of Christ. For you to have the mind, you have to build up. The Bible says, "Out of you shall flow rivers." What is that river? The word. Build it up. Study to show forth yourself approved in workmanship that is not ashamed but rightly dividing. What is that dividing? The word of truth. Tell them, temptation comes, you know the right word to counter it. Anything throw to you, you know what to say before they come. Study to show yourself approved. Develop, invest in your mental capacity. In your chosen career, invest in your mental capacity. My wife was challenging me, is it not last week that, "Now, step out as an accountant. Do you don't you think that now you should start you should start going doing service as a financial adviser?" I said, "Yes, it's true." So there is need for me now to go and begin to develop myself. No, I know, but I need to go and gather unnecessary materials, equip myself so that I can position myself out there. In that career, invest in yourself. The Lord will help you in Jesus' name. Invest in your emotion. Invest in your character. A man without character with time will fail. If you have anointing without character, hmm, it will destroy. You will not be destroyed in the name of Jesus Christ. I want to say this then I close. I can't go further. Be patient. Be patient. What did I say? Our generation is not patient. You want to make things fast. You want to make money fast. Men are in phases. The phase that you are is a single phase. You are going to leave that phase. Be patient. Make sure that everything you need to know in this phase, know it before you move to marriage. People are impregnating themselves why because they are not patient. They want to become father. By the time they now get pregnant, they now know that ah, it's another world entirely. My wife used to tell her sisters that marriage is not something that you can come back for and say you want to become a single again. That we have single mother out there, but their experience is not palatable. As a Christian, you will not be there. Be patient. Learn what you need to learn now. Prepared for it now. Praise the Lord. Look at Hebrew as we round up. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 10. I'm sorry our time is already chapter 6, verse 10. Let me let me rush it. "For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name. In that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show same diligence to the full assurance of hope until now, that you do not become sluggish but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promise." Our forefathers, they went through Joseph went through a lot of things, but they stand. David Daniel went, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that fire faced them, scary, but because they trust in God they decided to stand. Those who through patience they obtain promise. Sir, ma, your generation need to be patient. Face life as they come in God, trusting in Him what God is going to show you. Every phases has their own challenges. Wait and face it. There is a green light, beautiful future ahead of you. No one beyond your God. Allow God to take you as you go. Some of us we left God behind and we are running and we are beating against the wind. Let's wait on God. Let's allow God to help us. Be patient. I want to beg us because I realized that we are no longer patient. There was a time Holy Spirit was ministering to me and I was like, "Ah, hope I'm not behind?" Mm-mm. This is a phase of life for you. Just wait. There is a better future ahead. Just keep going. And I have realized that over twenty years my life has never remained the same. Every day, every year, even since I've married, eight years now, every year things are getting better for me. It's a phase. Just keep going. Be patient. Praise the Lord. Let me say something about time then we pray. The fact about time. There is time for everybody. We have some people at the age of 20, ah, they become rich. But before 40, they died. We have some people at the age of 40, before then they are still struggling. Do you know that we have some people in school that graduate at the age of 40 something? Some have graduated at the age of 15. Everybody has their own time. As a single, as a youth, wait for your time. Don't compare yourself to anybody. You have your destiny to fulfill. You have your life to live. Brother and Bless have his life to live. Sister and Day Spring have her life to live. You can't say, "I'm Bless can't say, because my brother, the way my brother live his life, that's how I'm going to live my life too." No. Wait for your time. Be patient. You can never stop time. You can never control time. You can never resist time. You can never compromise with time. You can never repossess time. You can never buy time. You can never show time, you can never slow time down. You can never speed up time. Until death, you are stuck in time. So wait for your time. There is time for everybody to rise. There is time for everybody to shine. That time that you have not shine, maybe God probably God want you to learn some things. God want to prepare you for some greater future. But if you run out beyond time and say, "Yeah, I want to get there," you will realize by the time you get there you look back and you know that, "Ah, I have failed." That is why you cannot speed up time. And you cannot slow time down that "Ah, I won't enjoy single years, my God, time don't move me, let me enjoy now." No. Wait for your time. Let's rise and pray. Let's appreciate God. I don't know maybe I've said something to somebody. I don't know. I don't know maybe I've said something to somebody. I don't know maybe you've learned something. Or I don't know. I want you to cry to God. Having from last week prayer from last month prayer, "Lord help me. Help me, Lord. Help me. Help me. I don't want to fail." So many youth are failing. So many youth are failing for me. So many singles are failing. Lord, for me, I don't want to fail you. I don't want to fail you. Lord, help me! Help me! Help me, Lord, in this time and season of my life. I don't want to fail. Help me to do! Help me to know what to do! Help me to know what to do! And doing it! And doing it! And doing it! In the name of Jesus Christ! I will not fail God! I will not fail ever! I will not fail! I will not compromise! In the name of Jesus! Thank you, precious Daddy. Hallelujah. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. I believe the prayer this morning. Pray, "Lord, there is a purpose, a design for my life in this generation. Bring me out as a light to bring others back out of darkness to your marvelous light." Help me to stand! Help me to stand in the name of Jesus! Lord help me! Help me, Lord! To stand in this generation. Help me to stand! In the name of Jesus Christ! Lord, I don't want to be sluggish in spirit. I don't want to be sluggish. So many singles are sluggish. They are sluggish in spirit. They are sluggish. Their spiritual fervor is not there. So as for they cannot discern. Why? Because the spirit is not there. They cannot discern. They cannot hear anything. They cannot hear anything. They are blind. I want you to cry to God. "Lord, Lord, Lord, revive me again. I must not be sluggish in the spirit. I want to be fervent in the spirit, serving the Lord. To be fervent in the spirit! To be fervent in the spirit in the place of prayer! To be fervent in the place of prayer! To be strong in the place of the word! Lord help me! Revive my spiritual life again! To be strong in the spirit! To be strong in the spirit! To be strong in the spirit! In the name of Jesus Christ! Thank you, Father. Hallelujah. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. I want us to pray. "Lord, for the future, please, I submit myself under your authority. As I prepare for the future, I submit myself to you, oh Lord. I trust in you. I trust in you. I look up unto you." The Bible says for they look up unto him and they were enlightened and their face were no longer ashamed. Father, I look up unto you as I prepare for the future, as I prepare for the next phase of my life. Lord, take over. Take over. Take over, Jehovah. I have come to the end of myself. Take over. I want us to cry. "Jehovah, I have come to the end of myself. Take over. Jehovah, I have come to the end of myself. Take over. Jehovah, I have come to the end of myself. Take over. Jehovah, I have come to the end of myself. Take over." Is somebody crying? Is somebody praying? "I have come to the end of myself. Take over, Lord. Program my life. Possess me, Lord. Take control of me. Oh, Holy Spirit, program my life. Possess me, Lord. Take control of me. Oh, Holy Spirit, program my life. Possess me, Lord. Take control of me. Oh, Holy Spirit." Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Let's begin to appreciate the name of the Lord for answering our prayer. Let's give Him thanks. Let's give Him praise. Let's magnify Him. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Father, in Jesus' name, thank you for what you've done for us. Lord, we pray for these young people that you will help us in discernment. You will help us in awareness of you. Help us to take the right decisions for you. Help us to consecrate ourselves towards you. Lord, we pray that you will help us in our actions, in our decisions. We acknowledge you and we live according to your ways. Lord, we pray the discipline to give ourselves to study, to give ourselves to prayer, to give ourselves to the fellowship of the brethren, and to do it consistently. You grant unto us, Jesus' name. Lord, we pray that in twenty years' time, we will be proud of the seeds we sow now in Jesus' name. All glory, Lord, we thank you for Daddy. We pray that you will continue to enrich him in Jesus' mighty name we pray. 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 God's goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives, and we dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. [Music] [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission hit. Our regular activities are the discipleship class, every Monday, 5:00 PM; adolescent and singles club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; family life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp, by the first bridge, Ilara community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Igbara-Oke road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 080-338-61136, 070-333-613848. God bless you all.