The Weapons of Our Warefare Are Not Carnal (part 2)

[Speaker 1] That a city's religious cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God will desire the godly seed. These are words of revelation and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministries. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord. Let's take this song together, brethren, as we all connect together this evening. Our brethren who are here, our brethren who are joining us on Mixlr, our brethren who are joining us on Telegram. Let's take this song together. For this God is our God. [Singing] For this God is our God forever and ever. He would be our guide from now, from now even unto the end, unto the end. For this God, for this God is our God, is our God forever, forever and ever, and ever. He would be, he would be our guide from now, from now even unto the end. Two more times. For this God, for this God is our God, is our God forever, forever and ever, and ever. He would be, he would be our guide from now, from now even unto the end. One more time. For this God, for this God is our God, is our God forever, forever and ever, and ever. He would be, he would be our guide from now, from now even unto the end. [Speaker 2] Our Father, we are grateful unto You. Almighty God, we thank You. We give You glory, we give You honor, we give You praise, we give You adoration. We appreciate You for Your mercies and for Your love. We thank You for all who You are. We thank You for all that You are. We thank You, our Father. We say, be Thou exalted in the name of Jesus. Lord, unto You again we are gathering this evening. Lord, our prayer is that You will attend to us in Your mercy. You will meet with us where we need You most. Our brethren who are connecting with us on Mixlr, our brethren who are connecting with us on Telegram, we who are here, together as one people, Lord, please bless us. Lord, please, oh God, grant us encounter. Lord, please, we pray let there be a working of Your Spirit within our midst in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We started this topic last week: The weapon of our warfare, they are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. And last week, what we did was to try to understand the nature of this weapon of our warfare. We got to know that the weapon of our warfare is the Gospel. We got to know that the Gospel is simply that which God said. We got to know that Christ is the wisdom and the power of God, and that the word of life, the word of God, is actually the weapon of our warfare. That word of God. We saw that God can send His word to deliver. God can send His word to heal. God can send His word to save. God can send His word to rescue. We began to look at the various nature of this weapon of our warfare. We saw that the weapon of our warfare is quick and powerful, that is, it is alive. It can cause to be dividing asunder of the soul and of the spirit. That is, it can change a man's ambition, orientation, desire, affection, purpose, whatever the man is, his emotion. It can change it within twenty-four hours. We saw how the weapon of our warfare changed Saul to Paul in just one encounter. "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" After that encounter, Saul became Paul in just one encounter. We saw that it is through this weapon of our warfare that the universe was created. The Bible says by faith we understand that the universe was framed by the word of God, so that the things that are seen are not created from the things which appear; they are created by the word of God. We saw also that by the weapon of our warfare, it is the word of God that sustain, that maintain, that uphold, that propel the universe. So we saw that the whole universe is being maintained, is being guided, tele-guided by the word of God. We saw example of an individual who has a clear understanding of this weapon of our warfare, this word of God. The centurion. He told Jesus Christ, "Master, You don't need to come to my house. See, I'm a man under authority. I tell one servant, 'Go,' and he goes. To another, 'Come,' and he comes." He said, "Lord Jesus, You don't need to enter my house. You just speak the word only, my servant will be healed." Just speak the word. We saw that that man understood that the weapon of our warfare indeed they are not carnal. That the word of God is power. That the word of God is strength. That the word of God is healing. That the word of God is deliverance. That the word of God sustains the universe. That the word of God is life. That the word of God is sharper, is better, is stronger, is more sophisticated than the latest sophisticated weapon of war that you may want to talk about. We saw the power of the word of God. How I was telling people, where is the technology today in the universe that to-day that they have invented today that it can enter into a sea within seconds, turn the bed of that sea to dry land? Within seconds, divide the sea into two, make it a solid wall this way, make it a solid wall this way. And people will pass through it successfully. And when they have finished passing, they press the remote control. When the enemy want to pass, the wall that was built in seconds will collapse again and become liquid and will come back and cover the people. Tell me which technology is that today? We said there's no technology like that today. That was the technology that God began to use before the first century. God built that kind of technology in BC. Olorun wa soro, enikan lo l'idea. So, that was what we saw about the weapon of our warfare. And I said the reason why we were looking at this thing is so that as believers we may come to know, we may come to appreciate, we may come to value, we may come to believe, and we may come to put into practice this weapon of our warfare. Because many of us don't know it. Many of us don't appreciate it. Many of us don't value it. Many of us don't believe it. And so we don't put it into practice because we don't even know it in the first place. That was our concern last week. That's what we look at last week. Is there anything I have not said? Those of us who were around last week, is there any contribution you want to make from what we said last week? Okay, they said I've properly captured it. Now, we want to move on from that point today. That's where we want to move on from. I was actually reading a story, an encounter in the Old Testament. And I read it, and the Holy Spirit called my attention. He said he wish that we believers properly understand what this King Hezekiah understood. That he wish that we would look at this story again, and then the matters began to multiply and multiply and multiply. And that is where we want to go to today. To look at the King Hezekiah. Hezekiah, Sennacherib, and the matter of the word of God. This weapon of our warfare. We want to look at it together. Let's go to the book of 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles chapter, let me open my notes, 2 Chronicles chapter 36, I read from the verse one. Even though our emphasis is verses four, five, and six. 2 Chronicles chapter, oh, please I'm coming, let me check my notes. I hope I'm not mixing anything up there. We have the story, oh, sorry. Let's read the story in the Isaiah version. It's in 2 Chronicles 32, 33, 34, but let's take it in the Isaiah version, please. In the Isaiah 36. It's not 2 Chronicles 36, it's Isaiah 36. It is in the Isaiah that we have it in chapter 36. The book of prophet Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 36. I read from verse one. [Speaker 3] "Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field. And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder came out to him. Then Rabshakeh said to them: 'Say now to Hezekiah, thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this in which you trust? I say you speak of having plans and power for war, but they are mere words. Now in whom do you trust that you rebel against me? Look, you are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, "We trust in the Lord our God," is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar"? Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses if you are able on your part to put riders on them! How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master's servants and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? Now, have I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, "Go up against this land and destroy it."' Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh: 'Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.' But Rabshakeh said: 'Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?' Then Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew and said: 'Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord saying, "The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make peace with me by a present and come out to me. And every one of you eat from his own vineyard and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you saying, "The Lord will deliver us." Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?' But they held their peace and answered him not a word. For the king's commandment was, 'Do not answer him.'" [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord. I believe you followed the story. It was a very interesting story. A very, very interesting story. The story continues in the next chapter. I will just speak to that one. We will speak to it. Of course, eventually Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. Of course, the Lord sent just one angel overnight, this day that they were speaking. Over the night to the following morning, one angel was sent. And the angel went that night and killed all the mighty men that were in the camp of Assyria, of that king. All of them, every mighty, no one was left. And when it was morning, the Bible said he went back to his country in disgrace. When he got to his country, one of his son killed him while he was busy worshipping his god. And that was the end of the story. So one arrow did not even enter Jerusalem. I don't want us to read that long story again, but I want to call your attention to our own topic. What is our topic? The weapon of our warfare they are not carnal. They are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. And I want to make you see how the world outside there, men who don't know God, and I pray that you will not be like that in Jesus' name. May you not be a believer who don't have a clear understanding of the nature of the weapon of our warfare. That was why that was what we first did last week, the nature of the weapon of our warfare. Why we say it is not carnal. Why we say it is powerful. Why we say it is mighty. Why we are saying so. That's what we did last week. Look at something that happened. Let's go again to the beginning of that story. This time we want to emphasize verse four and verse five. Verse four and verse five. The New King James, please be listening to this reading. I will read in two different translations so that you can appreciate it. And if possible, we might take more translations. Look at verse four in New King James: "Then Rabshakeh said to them: 'Say now to Hezekiah, thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this in which you trust?'" Now, do you know why he's asking this question? The background story is in Isaiah 34 and 35. I don't want us to read all of those stories because I want to see if possible I want us to round up this topic today. You know what happened? The king, it was like Herod. You know Herod first killed James, and he saw that it pleased the Jews. What did he now do? He now stretched forth his hand to pick Peter. But this time they told him the weapon of our warfare they are not carnal. They are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. The believer went into the war room and he began to fire missiles. It was going. They were firing it. They were standing on the word of God in prayers. And that weapon that is not carnal, you saw it where Peter was sleeping. The chain gave way. Peter got up. He thought he was in a vision. He moved towards the gate. Prison gate said, "Yes, sir." It opened at its own accord. The city gate opened at its own accord. The soldiers were there, but as far as they were concerned, everything was intact. They passed through. Peter got to the door of those who were praying. They did not even understand the taking not appreciate the extent to which that weapon of warfare could work. When he said it is Peter, it was Rhoda that went to the door. What did they tell her? They told Rhoda when she said Peter is at the door, she said, "You must be daydreaming." Is that not? How can Peter be at the door? Peter is inside prison. They are praying for release. Do you know that it can happen that way? When they saw that he kept on knocking and when Peter came in, they could not believe their eyes. What I'm trying to make you see, that is what happened in this place. King of Assyria, Sennacherib. The fortified cities all around Jerusalem, you know fortified city, when a city is fortified, it means that it has garrison of soldiers all around it. So all the fortified cities that you first need to conquer before you get to the capital, he has captured everything. He is now at the capital. Do you get the point now? He has laid siege. You know what siege mean? Today, you may not understand what siege means because you are in twenty-first century. What it means in that century is that everybody live inside the cities. But farmland and food, they are away from the city. So you have to go to the farmland to farm, to bring food into the city. Do you get it? That's why they have watchtower. The watchtower is up. They will be seeing far away into the farmland when any enemy is coming, they can see the enemy coming. So Sennacherib have advanced and advanced and advanced such that nobody in Jerusalem can go out again to farm. Are you getting it now? All the fortified cities he have already captured it. It remained only where the capital is, where Hezekiah is. So his thinking was that what is remaining? I have captured all the fortified cities. Is it not enough to tell you that there is nothing again to trust in? That is why he was telling them when I was reading the story. He said, "Look, have my master sent me to only you people or to everybody who are going to eat their waste?" Because by the time you cannot go to the farm to bring in food, that was what led to famine in Samaria when there was a siege by the army of Syria. You remember? That they began to eat themselves before Elijah said, "By this time tomorrow, things are going to change." I hope you are understanding it. So he has laid siege. That was why he was telling them, "Come, Hezekiah, I don't understand you. What is your confidence? Immediately you saw that I have destroyed all the fortified cities, you should have sent messengers to come and say, 'Okay, what is the condition for peace?' Are you getting it now? What is condition for peace? Okay, I'm going to collect twenty million dollars. He said, 'Okay, we will supply. Give us three months.' Then the king, you will now become a tributary state paying royalty to that other king." That's what he was expecting. But funny enough, the king that is having just few army left, it now remain the capital guard, those are the ones that are remaining. Do you get it now? That's why he was saying that, "Look, my master will give you two thousand chariots and horsemen if you can put fighters on them." He knows the people inside they cannot be up to three hundred. So he was mocking them that don't worry, for us even to fight the war, we will give you chariots, we will give you horses, two thousand. Get men to put on it to come and fight us if you can even win the war. He knows that. So for him, it is a finished battle. It was a finished battle. So he could not understand why Hezekiah, that king, why he's still holding forth. He could not understand it. But he understood something about Hezekiah. That is where we are going: the weapon of our warfare they are not carnal. Look at what he said about Hezekiah when he said, "What confidence is this that you trust in?" Let me read it for you in NLT. NLT says, "Then the Assyrian king's personal representative sent this message to King Hezekiah: 'This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?'" Please, is there basis for confidence again? But he understood something about Hezekiah. That's where we are going, the weapon of our warfare. Look at it in NLT. NLT: "Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill? Do you think that mere words..." So what is he calling the prayer and the confession of Hezekiah? What is he calling it? Mere words. And do you know that sometimes if you are not careful as a Christian, that is how you will be looking at the word of God. If you are not careful as a Christian, even when you pray, "Let me just pray, mere words." He was calling, that is why he was wondering. He expected the king to come out, but the king was just telling them, "No, our God will deliver us." That's why he was mocking, "Don't let him deceive you with mere words: 'Our God will deliver us.' Where are the stupid gods?" That was what he was thinking, mere words. And as a believer, I don't know how you are seeing the power of prayer. I don't know how you are seeing the power of standing on the word of God. When the Bible says, "He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. By His stripes we are healed." How are you seeing them? When the Bible says, "Who has delivered us from the powers of darkness," don't you still fear powers of darkness? Don't you still fear what somebody just carry one small horn now and say, "You," and you will begin to shake? Don't you sometimes begin to get afraid about the future when the Bible says, "Mark the perfect man, behold the upright, the end of that man is peace"? Sometimes when you see some storms, what do you do? Don't you think that scripture is mere words? "I believe, but you know, I believe but you see." Sometimes, is it not because of the fear of the future that make you to do some stupid and foolish things? Why do some Christians why do they steal? Why do they amass government money? "Ah, let me quickly grab this one like Gehazi. Ah, if I don't grab this one and finish that duplex before the Tinubu government take another four years, I will not be able to build another house again. Let me just grab this one," and you grab 4.5 million bribe because you want to finish your duplex. Is it not concern for the future? Is it not fear that you cannot breathe at the scripture says that, "Say unto the righteous, it shall be well with him," even when there is no house, when he has not finished the house, he's still in the rent? Are you getting the point I'm making? You see, I'm trying to make you understand, the Lord began to create a picture for me. He said, "Listen, son, many of My children, their spiritual capacity is exactly where King Sennacherib is. That is the message I am bringing to you, brethren. That is what led to everything we were discussing last week. And I was trying to show you the nature and the integrity of the weapon of our warfare. And I was saying that the reason why we are looking at this thing is so that you can know it." You remember? I said so that we can know it, number one. So that we can do what again? So that we can appreciate it, number two. What's the number three thing? So that we can value it, number three. What's the number four thing? So that we can believe it, number four. What's the number five thing? So that we can practice it. The Lord said, "Son, listen to me. Many of my people are not different from King Sennacherib in their thinking and in their belief." That's what the Lord told me. That many of His sons and daughters, their spiritual maturity is at the level of the king of Assyria. That's where their maturity is. He said they are just believers with their mouth. In their heart, they are Sennacheribs. He said, "Son, go and preach against the spirit of Sennacherib among My people." The attitude of Sennacherib among My people. The understanding of Sennacherib among My people. You see what he called what he called the power of confession. When the Bible says, "Who will believe our report?" The report of God. The report of God. When God says, "I'm with you to the end of the world," do you believe He's with you? When God says, redemption package, you have died to sin so that you are no more a slave to sin, many believers are still slave to sin because they still see that word as mere word. They are not seeing it in the reality of it. Some believers don't even come to the understanding when the scripture says, "The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much." That is why their prayer life is so weak. In fact, they believe in connection than in their prayers. They believe in, "Ah, let me quickly put this one, let me quickly look at what the Bible says. He says, 'Cursed is he who trusts in the leg of the horse.'" The Psalmist said, "Some trust in horses, others trust in chariots. What will we trust in? We will trust in what? In the name of the Lord." He said what? He said they are fallen, but we, we have risen up. He said they fell and they stumbled, those who trust in chariots, those who trust in horses. Later in Psalm, in Psalm 147, what did he say? He said, "Don't trust in the leg of a man. Don't trust in the leg of a man." When we get to Jeremiah, what did he say? He said, "Cursed is he who puts his trust in man, who make man his confidence, whose heart and hope depart from the Lord." You see, many of My children, they don't even trust in their prayers. They don't even believe in their prayer. Why? Because the spirit of Sennacherib is operating in them. The maturity of Sennacherib. Look at what he said: "Do you think that mere words..." Someone is saying, "The Lord will deliver me, the Lord is my healer." What is he trusting in? He trusts in mere words. Where is the stupid God? That was what he was thinking, mere words. My challenge to you, brethren, this evening, how are you looking at your prayers? Is it not mere words to you? "Shall God answer this prayer? Well, anyway let us pray." You know sometimes when we take family altar, "O Lord our God how excellent." When you finish the prayer, everybody is still dejected and depressed. After you have prayed about something. "Anyway, maybe God have heard." Even to you too, it's just mere words. Sometimes when you see the scriptures, "No, the Lord is with us. Anyway the Bible says so." Because it is apparent to you as a mere word. Every operation that brings us to the level of Sennacherib in our spiritual life, I pray this evening, may the hand of the Lord scatter them in the name of Jesus. He said, "Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Do you think so? Which of your allies will give you any military backing against the king of Assyria?" So what is he talking about? We are talking of chariots. We are talking about horses. We are talking about connection. We are talking about knowing Tinubu. We are talking about knowing the governor. We are talking about being PA to Lucky Aiyedatiwa. You, you are talking about prayer. What are you talking about? Do you know where you are coming from? Is that how people get job? Is that... and you too begin to tremble. Do you notice that even for Joseph that God was working around his life, he could not comprehend it? Because when the butler was leaving, he told him, "Please oh, mention my case to the king oh. I was here on innocent ground oh. I was blackmailed oh. I'm not supposed to be here oh. Please, mention my case." What did the Father do again? Make the man left that place. Angel Gabriel, please go and help me blow small wind on that man's head so that he can forget. I don't know how Father did it, but Father made him to forget. I'm talking about the weapon of our warfare, they are not carnal. The weapon of our warfare is the working of the mighty God who created the universe. That's what I'm trying to make you to see. Who is greater than the greatest, who is higher than the highest, who is stronger than the strongest, who is bigger than the biggest, who is wiser than the wisest. That's the weapon of our warfare, the Maker and the Creator, the Originator of the universe. That's the weapon of our warfare. It's not mere words. It's not. Prayer is not just mere words. Trusting in the word of the Lord is not mere words. Somebody made this statement, and I agreed with him. He said, "Brethren, until you begin to put faith in the unseen God, His unseen hand will not work in your situation." And I said, "Bro, you are correct, you are correct." Until you begin to put faith in this unseen God, His unseen hands will begin to work in your situation. Look at how mere words, mere words entered the camp of the Assyria and all the mighty men were dead overnight. Mere words. It's mere words, right? Was there no noise? I'm talking about the weapon of our own warfare. If you are to send someone to go and kill all the mighty men in a camp, will there be noise? If you send two million soldiers to go and kill them, will there be noise? Will there be shout? Before you can finish killing them. But this one, I'm talking about the weapon of our warfare which is not carnal. There was no noise. There was no shout. It was just [sound]. I don't know how He did it. I'm only trying to just imagine how You will kill over one hundred and eighty-five thousand mighty men and nobody woke up. They only woke up in the morning to see that they were dead. So what happened? Let there be no life, and there was no life. Because when He said, "Let there be life," what happened? There was life. The weapon of our warfare. The weapon of our warfare, they are not mere words. They are not. Prayer is not just mere words. Trusting in the word of God is not mere words. Somebody made this statement, "Do you think that mere word can replace for military skill and strength?" He was looking at the word of the Lord. He was looking at that which Hezekiah rested in. He was calling it mere words, you know. Look at what I said. I wrote something somewhere taking to what we what we said last week. You know last week we read 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 where he said the Gospel is the wisdom of God and the power of God. That the wisdom of God and the power of God is the Gospel. He said, but for us who are saved or who are being saved, the Gospel is our military skill. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know he was asking that can can mere words replace military skill? The Gospel is our military skill. The Gospel, the word of life, the word of God, the Gospel that brought that I'm going to show you something about the Gospel, that that destroyed death and brought immortality to light. That Gospel is our military strength. Yeah, that Gospel is the wisdom of God, is the power of God. In fact, moreover, that Gospel is our allies of chariots of fire and multitude of angels that cannot be numbered that surround us. That Gospel. You remember when the king of Assyria brought all his army to capture Elisha? That Gospel was a chariot of fire that surrounded him. This Gospel that you are talking about, brethren, as we close this evening. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 1. This Gospel. This Gospel. What did it do? What did it do? Look at what the Bible says. God, 2 Timothy chapter 1 from verse 9: "God who has saved us and called us with a calling, with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. But in the verse 10, how did it come to us? Can we read together verse 10? 'But has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who did what? Abolished what? Death. And brought what? Life and immortality to life through what? Through the Gospel.'" That thing you are calling mere words is that which abolished what? What did he abolish? Death. What did He bring to life? Life and what? Immortality. Brethren, let us pray. We want to close this matter in prayers. You want to talk to the Lord. Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, every time the operation of Sennacherib want to take over me, oh Lord, deliver my soul. Deliver my soul from carnality, for the weapon of our warfare they are not carnal. Lord, deliver my soul from carnality. Every time my mind want to become carnal, every time my thinking and my imagination, Bible says God is able to do beyond what we can ask, think, or imagine. Every time my imagination, every time my mindset, my thinking, it begins to experience the operation of Sennacherib. Every time that operation is becoming a siege for my spiritual life, oh Lord please deliver my soul. The weapon of our warfare they are not carnal. Let me always realize that the weapon of our warfare they are not carnal. They are not carnal, they are not, they are not carnal. They are mighty through God. What make them mighty is God. What make prayer mighty is God. What make confession mighty is God. What make believing mighty is God. What make them not to be mere words? What make them not to be mere closing of eyes? What makes even as you are praying now, how are you seeing your prayer? Ask the Lord to deliver you from every operation of Sennacherib. Every operation of Sennacherib. Every operation of Sennacherib. Every operation of the mentality and the mindset of Sennacherib. Everything that make you to see prayer as mere words, that make you to see confession as mere words, that make you to see believing the report of God as mere words. Every such operation, talk to them right now. That yeah, may I begin to see that the weapon of my warfare they are not carnal. May I begin to know that when I begin to trust in the unseen God, His unseen hand will begin to work in my situation. There is an unseen hand. There is a mighty hand of power. There is an unseen God. There is a God that can be manifested. He's Jehovah Jireh. He's Jehovah Nissi. He's Jehovah Shammah. He's Jehovah Tsidkenu. He's Jehovah El-Shaddai. He's the Almighty. He's the Almighty. He's wiser than the wisest. He's greater than the greatest. He's higher than the highest. He's bigger than the biggest. That is God. That is God. That is God. That is God. Lord, help me to trust my future into Your hands. Help me not to be carnal. Help me not to begin to do some foolish things because I want to secure tomorrow. I want to secure my life. I want to secure this. I want to secure that. Lord, help me not to be foolish. Hezekiah looked at the situation. All the fortified cities have been conquered. What is left was only Jerusalem. Hezekiah said, "Our God can deliver us." Sennacherib said, "Oh, this man must be foolish. Don't let him deceive you with mere words oh. How can he still deliver you? What are you trusting in? Can't you see that he's deceiving you?" Oh God, oh God, may we hold to You like our fathers of old. I want you to pray to God. Baba, wake up my spirit. Deliver me from carnality. Deliver me from worldliness. Deliver me from carnality. Deliver me from worldliness. Deliver me from the spirit of this world. Deliver me from the spirit of Sennacherib. Oh Lord, grant me oh God that I may be like our fathers, that I may be like Hezekiah. When he looked at everything is gone. When he look at there was no reason to hope. He began to hope. When there was no reason to hope, he was hoping when it was obvious there was no reason to hope. Ah, and the Lord. [Yoruba] "OBA TI O KI N DOJU TI AWON TI O GOJU LE" A God that will not disappoint those who trust in Him. Oh. That God said, "Hezekiah, Hezekiah, Hezekiah, you are holding to Me when there is no reason to hope. I will surprise you. I will surprise you. Angels, oh ya, go now. They will not shoot one arrow into Jerusalem. One arrow will not enter Jerusalem." Oh, may we trust God. May we trust God. May we believe God. May we believe God. May we believe God. May we believe God. May we believe God. [Praying in tongues] In the name of Jesus. Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Pick your Bible, pick your Bible. Look at Psalm 43 verse 5. You may say, "Uh-huh, this thing does not normally happens." Ah, the Lord spoke to me this morning. That's what the Lord was telling me this morning. Psalm 43. Psalm 43 verse 5. That's what the Lord was telling me this morning. That yeah, son, it can be possible. Sometimes the spirit of Sennacherib take over us. Look at what the Psalmist said: "Why are you downcast? (I'm reading amplified version) oh my inner self. And why should you mourn over me and be disquieted within me?" King James says it's even a song: "Why art thou cast down oh my soul? Put your hope in God. Put your hope in God. Put your hope in God. Why art thou cast down oh my soul? Put your hope in God." Now, what am I trying to make you see? The Psalmist said, "Why are you downcast oh my soul? Oh my inner self. Why should you mourn over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him. For I shall yet praise Him, who is my help." The Lord was speaking to me this morning. He said, "Son, son, you must always mind your mind. If you don't mind your mind, the spirit of Sennacherib will take over you. You can see what is happening to the Psalmist here. He has forgotten God. He became he became so downcast. He became so disquieted that at a point he began to tell himself, 'Uh-huh, what is wrong with you? What is wrong with you oh my soul? What is wrong with you? Why are you disquieted within me? What is your problem? Put your hope in God.'" That's when I realized. Lord was pointing my attention that see, you must be vigilant and be sober. If you are not vigilant, if you are not sober, at some point, the circumstance around you, the situations around you, they will become the the spirit of Sennacherib working around your mind. They will begin to intimidate you. They will begin to press you down. And before you know, prayers are becoming mere words. Your confession, the word of life that God has given you, you begin to disbelieve them. You begin to throw them away. What God told you about your future, you begin to throw them off. You begin to hold to life. What will happen now? You begin to shake. That's what happened to the Psalmist. But at a point, he realized himself and he said, "Why are you downcast oh my soul? What is your problem? Put your hope in God." I want you to pray this evening. Baba, Baba, Baba, You have told us to be vigilant and be sober. Oh God Almighty, oh God Almighty, Baba help me to always maintain my balance. When I'm being shaken here and there, Lord help me to maintain my balance. Oh God, oh Father, Baba help me to always maintain my balance. The Psalmist was already losing balance. He was already losing balance. But mercy helped him. Mercy called his attention and he came back to himself. "What is wrong with me?" Oh, let us pray. God don't leave me to myself. Baba don't leave me to myself. Baba always be there to help me. Baba always be there to help me. Let Your grace always be with my spirit. Let Your grace always be with my spirit. Let Your grace always be with my spirit. Let Your grace always be with my spirit. Oh, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, the operation of Sennacherib will not take over me. The operation of Sennacherib will not take over me. The operation of Sennacherib will not take over me. Thank You, Father. I want to hand over the microphone to my wife to close this meeting this evening. [Speaker 4] In Jesus' name we pray. Eternal Rock of Ages, we worship and exalt You. Thank You, Lord, for Your Spirit. Thank You for Your presence. Thank You for speaking to us again. Thank You for sending Your word. The word of life, the word that heals and deliver. Lord, we believe that Your word has healed us again and it has deliver us in Jesus' name. Father, we go in the strength of this word. Help us, oh Lord, to always know, oh Lord, that the weapon of our warfare are not carnal. Help us not to take Your word, Your experiences, the written, the spoken, our fellowship, our prayer, the access, every blessings, spiritual blessings, everything that You have given to us in which we are to profit with so that we can triumph here on this side of eternity, so that we can showcase Your glory and power, so that we can see Your outstretched hands, oh Lord, extended doing great miracles and wonders in our lives. All that You have given us in Christ Jesus, all these truths that You have made us to see, to know, Lord help us, oh Lord, to go in this strength, to believe, to value it, to act upon it, to live by it in the name of Jesus. We pray Lord we will not be of them oh Lord that will live a life that is in opposition to Your will. We come against every operation that is not the operation of faith. Any operation of of doubt, any operation of taking the things of God lightly. Any operation of Sennacherib, any operation that that lives by our senses, that that judge God by our in- about by our little mind. Lord, we stand against it in our life in the name of Jesus. We pray Lord we go forth oh Lord in the strength of the power, the power that is in the word of God, the power in prayer, the power in the truth, the power in the Gospel, the power that is in us. Bible says we have received power. Lord, cause us to go in this strength and go in this power, doing exploit, taking over nations, taking over territories, living our life to the fullness to the glory of Your name and the blessings of Your people in the name of Jesus. We will win all battles because we are fighting from an advantage position. Jesus has conquered the world and greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. Oh Lord, cause us to go in the full understanding of the Gospel in the name of Jesus. Oh Lord, beyond this point Lord please speak to us further. Lord, please strengthen us further. Please open our eyes further. Take us to another realm, a realm that is higher than where we are today in the name of Jesus. Thank You for Your son. We pray more of You oh Lord in his life. Oh Lord, more of Your revelation, Your breath, Your life in him and through him for the glory of Your name and the blessings of Your people in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Faithful God. As we go let Your presence go with us. Oh Lord, do not leave us. Continue with us, bug our heart, take us oh Lord higher and deeper, better and greater revelation that will be real and life, become hearts in the name of Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace in fellowship. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. [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 heat. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday, 5 p.m. Adolescents and singles club, every first Saturday of every month at 10 a.m. Marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10 a.m. Family life seminar, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere Community, opposite Rejoice filling station along Ijede 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 080-3386-1136, 070-3361-3848. God bless you all.