The Yoke of Jesus

[Speaker 1] Father, we thank you for how you have helped this program, Singles Club, through the first half of the year, January through June. We are very, very grateful. As we commence again this second half of the year, we are committing the program into your hands. We are saying, Baba, go ahead of us. Lord, be with us. Lord, help us, in the name of Jesus Christ. And Lord, as we gather this day particularly to fellowship together, to consider the topic, "The Yoke of Jesus," Lord, I pray that your spirit will work within us, among us, in the name of Jesus. Lord, we all connect together, we who are here physically, our brethren who are joining on Telegram, our brethren who are joining on Misla. Lord, we all connect together. And we say, Lord, meet with us all in the name of Jesus. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' most holy name we pray. Amen. So, we want to move on again today to consider another topic. Last month we looked at "A Pure Conscience," what a pure conscience is, the need to have a pure conscience, and then a biblical example of a man with pure conscience in the person of Abimelech. That was what we looked at last month. But for those of us who were not opportune to follow us last month, the message is on the website. It's also on our Misla page. You can get there to listen to the message. Today, we are moving on to the topic, "The Yoke of Jesus," particularly as it relates to young people, particularly because the Bible makes some categorical statements about the youth. And so, we want to look at some of these statements vis-à-vis the topic before us, "The Yoke of Jesus," particularly as it relates to our young people, our singles, brothers and sisters who are out there, bachelors and spinsters who are out there listening to us this morning. What is it about the yoke of Jesus? Before we begin to look at the matter into details, I like to just raise some background around the matter, particularly when it relates to young people. The first one I want to call our attention to is the very familiar one that we are virtually all familiar with, which is Ecclesiastes 12:1. "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth." "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth," that's New King James. Amplified: "Remember earnestly also your Creator, that you are not your own but His property, now in the days of your youth." When we look at it in the Message, it says: "Honor and enjoy your Creator while you are still young. Honor and enjoy your Creator while you are still young." NIV: "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth." NLT: "Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator." We are looking at the yoke of Jesus and we are trying to look at it in relation to youth, young life, singles. And I'm trying to make us have some background that fundamentally the Bible warns, the Bible encourages, the Bible exalts that it is very important for us to remember, for a young man, for a youth to remember, because there are several factors that will make you to forget. But the Bible is saying, remember. There is a need to remember. There is a command to remember. There is an advice to remember. There is an exhortation to remember. Please don't forget. "Remember now your Creator," not later but now. When you leave that and you come to the book of Joel, the book of Joel chapter 2. I take it from verse 28. Look at what the Bible says again in the background: "It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh." Then the Bible went to our sons and our daughters. It says: "Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. Also upon my men servants and on my maidservants, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." Now, in this portion of the scripture, it's telling us that the end-time move of the Lord when He says, "It will come to pass afterward." In Acts 2, Apostle Peter, quoting this scripture, made us to see that Joel, that scripture was fulfilled in the day, on that day that the Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost. He says, "But Peter," Acts 2 from verse 14, "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, 'Men of Judea and all you who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and heed my words. For these men are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day,'" that's around 9:00 a.m. Let me check another translation. It should be around 9:00 a.m., the third hour. Let me check that, it should be around 9:00 a.m. NLT: "Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true. It is much too early for that. People don't get drunk by 9:00 o'clock." Anyway, in our own day, in our today, since the Bible says even men and seducers will wax worse and worse, today I remember going to my office and I saw this young man that I asked to help me with my bag. That was around 8:00 o'clock. It was later I realized that the young man was drunk. He was staggering under the influence of alcohol as early as 8:00 o'clock. But as at this time, things have not gotten so bad in the days of Peter. He said people don't get drunk as early, this is just 9:00 a.m. "But this was what was spoken by Prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days,' says God, 'that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my men servants and on my maidservants, I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they shall prophesy.'" So, we notice that Peter made us to see that Joel, that prophecy was fulfilled the day the Holy Ghost came down, the Holy Spirit came down, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. So what am I trying to make you see? That the last days, the afterward, began on the day of Pentecost. What am I trying to say from all of this? That He says, "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." There is something about the end-time and our sons and our daughters. As the things of God gather speed, God need the strength of the young men. God need that capacity of the youth. God need them. God need to yoke them up. He need to place responsibility and burden upon them. "The Yoke of Jesus." He says the end, He says, "Upon your sons and upon your daughters I will pour my Spirit." He says, "Your young men will see visions." So you see that one thing about the end-time, if the Spirit of God is upon a young man, that young man, that young woman will be able to tell the mind of God. He says, "Your sons and daughters, they will prophesy." They will be filled with the mind of God. They will be able to dish out the counsel of God to their generation. Not only that, they will not be blind. They will not be short-sighted. They will be people that can see afar. They will be people that can see consequences. They will be people that can see implications. He says, "They shall see vision." They will be able to see what God is doing. They will be able to hear what God is doing. They will be able to perceive what God is doing. They will see vision. I'm talking about the spirit of the end-time. I'm talking about the workings of God in the last days. If you are out of it, that young man, that young woman, you are out of the core. Something is happening in the core of God's agenda. In the core of it is that there are young people. There are our sons and our daughters. Our sons and our daughters that are filled with the mind of God, that their lips are filled with messages from God. Our sons, our daughters that can see afar. It is not the one that cannot see beyond their nose, that can only see the immediate pleasure of sin. I'm not talking about young men that can only see that, "Give me porridge, Esau, I'm hungry." I'm not talking of young men that cannot see afar. The young men that the Spirit of God is upon, they will see afar. I'm talking about the young men that are yoked the yoke of Jesus. There is a yoke of Jesus. And that yoke of Jesus is saying that, look, our sons and our daughters, they will prophesy. Our young men, they will see beyond the immediate pleasure. They will not be sons and daughters that will say, "Give me porridge, forget birthright," and later be weeping again for that same birthright that they threw away at a point. They will be able to see consequences. I'm talking about the end-time, how the end-time will look like for the young people. How the end-time will look like for a young woman that is correct, for a young man that is correct. Of course, I'm not saying the old people are left out of it. You will see it talks about your old men shall dream dreams. But my focus today is about the reality that God has things to do, and these things will involve our sons, our daughters, our young men, our young women. That is what I'm saying as we try to look at the yoke of Jesus. That's our focus this morning, the yoke of Jesus. I'm just creating background for the topic. I'm just trying to make you see some things generally before I now zoom in on the topic. Again, what I want you to see was when Jesus was to call the first set of disciples. The Bible made us to see that Jesus was to start his ministry. I'm reading from the book of Matthew chapter 4 from verse 17: "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say..." after Jesus had declared that light has come. So he started the ministry. When he started the ministry, he began to preach, he began to say: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The Bible went further to say: "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen." Then he spoke to them: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." The hook that is in your life, there will be something about your life that your life will be able to hook men to the things of the kingdom. There will be something about you that will be a hook, that when men touch it, it will hook them to Jesus. It will become something that is magnetic, something that will hold them down. It will bring a fire into their bone. It will bring a burden upon their soul. It will bring a passion into their heart. I mean something about your life that is a hook that can hook men. I will still expand this matter. I'm just trying to make you see a background to something. What I want you to note was that the Bible says he saw two brothers. They were sons of Zebedee. These ones, Peter and Andrew, and he said to them, so verse 20: "They immediately left their nets and followed him," those two people. Then he went going from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. Jesus called the sons and the daughter. He left their father. Our sons and our daughters will prophesy. He took the sons. He took the young men. And Jesus went all through Galilee, teaching in their synagogue, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. You are a young man, you need to realize that there is a special place for you in the scheme of things in this last days that we are in. There is a special place for you. And I pray for you wherever you are listening to me, you will not miss your place in the name of Jesus. You will not lose your place in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, having said all of this, we now come to the other side of the matter, "The Yoke of Jesus," which is our topic. It's a yoke. And why are we talking about the yoke of Jesus? The matter came up in Matthew 11 from verse 28. Jesus was speaking and he said: "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." NLT: "Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens. I will give you rest. I will give you rest.'" The Message: "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. I'll show you how to take a real rest." Amplified: "Come to me, all of you who labor and are heavy laden and overburdened, and I will give you rest. I will ease and relieve and refresh your soul." So you see Jesus in this place talking about people coming to him. And immediately he said, "all you that labor, all you who are heavy laden, I will give you rest." Immediately he added something. He said, "Take my yoke. Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul." So we are seeing something very important here, something very crucial coming out from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is saying that, look, whether you like it or not, everybody is yoked with something. Whether you are on his side or you are not on his side, you are yoked with something. He said, "Come to me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your soul." Now, the point of that scripture is when we are talking about yoke. Yoke simply means a kind of responsibility. It simply means a kind of duty, a kind of divine assignment, a kind of divine instruction. A divine instruction can become a yoke. Yoke is talking about a responsibility that somebody is expected to perform. Something that is a duty, something that you are yoked with, you have that responsibility to do that thing. It is your duty to do. Now look at what our Lord is saying. He says, "Come to me, all you who are heavy laden." It means everybody is carrying some kind of yoke. Everybody is carrying some kind of yoke. But the reality is this: there is a yoke that when you take that yoke, the yoke will give you rest because that yoke is easy. You see that in verse 30. He said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul." Why will you find rest for your soul? Because the yoke is a yoke that is easy, and the burden is a burden that is light. Any other kind of yoke, you will not find rest. Because those yokes, they are not easy. Those yokes, they are not light. Jesus said, "Come, take my own yoke." Everybody that is carrying one kind of burden, can you put down that burden that you are carrying and come and put on my own burden? By the time you put on my own burden, you will find rest for your soul. Why will you find rest? Because my own burden is nothing compared to the burden that you were carrying before. The burden that you were carrying outside Jesus or you are carrying outside Jesus is a burden that is not light. It's a burden that is not easy. It is a burden that actually you labor under. He says, "All ye who labor and are heavy laden." Whatever yoke that you are carrying that is not the yoke of Jesus is a labor and is a heavy burden. The yoke is a yoke that will not give you rest. One thing about the yoke of Jesus is that it is a yoke that gives rest. I pray for you your life will not lack rest. Young man, young woman that is listening to me this morning, what I'm trying to bring to you under this topic is that there is rest in the midst of all the confusion that is going on today. There is so much restlessness among our youths. There is so much confusion. There are so many things around our young men today that when they begin to think, "Will I make it in life? Will I have a settled marriage? Will my children come out well? Which career can I do that will make me to be able to live above the average Nigerian?" The average Nigerian is in hunger. That's the reality that we are facing today. The average Nigerian is living below poverty level. Not even around poverty, he's living below poverty level. The average Nigerian cannot eat three square meals. So when you now go to the below-average Nigerian, you are dealing with dead bodies. Because I take the average Nigerian as the civil servant. That's my estimation. If you see look at what is happening with the average Nigerian worker today. I mean the average worker. I'm not talking of those who are the over fifty percent of Nigerians who are not gainfully employed. I'm not talking of those ones in private schools where they are paying graduate twenty thousand Naira. I'm not talking of the ones in POS shop running business for someone where they are paying them twenty-five thousand. I'm talking of the worker that they said is basic salary is thirty thousand minimum wage. Restlessness! Something jump in his heart: "What exactly can I do in life not to be in poverty? What can I do not to be in the midst of all of this confusion that is going on?" When the young man again turn this side and look into marriage, and look into relationship, and see how husbands are killing wife and wives are killing husband, and he see how even so-called men of God are divorcing their wife and changing them as if they are changing shirt. And you begin to see what happened even among religious leaders, Christian leaders, that you feel should be an example. The young man getting confused that, "What exactly is going on?" When you begin to see how difficult and how challenging it is to raise children. Something is dumping in your heart: "How I hope by the time I have my own children, they will turn out well." So many things by the time you look all around you today. It looks like, "Which is the way to go?" What I came to announce to you this morning is that there is one way to go. That one way to go is the way of rest. And that one way to go is the way of the yoke of Jesus. That if you can identify the yoke of Jesus, if you can choose to reject every other yoke and you will take the yoke of Jesus, that yoke guarantees that you will have rest. That yoke guarantees that career-wise, financial-wise, health-wise, marital-wise, just be counting all the wises you want to count, he said, "Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest." That rest that you are thinking, "How do I get it? How do I get it financially, maritally, academically, spiritually, how do I find rest? How am I sure career-wise? In terms of location, where do I..." and so many things are jumping in your head. What I came to announce to you, in the midst of this political confusion that we are in, in the midst of this global confusion, in the midst of this restlessness that have plagued our society where men are just wondering, and that is why you see young people going into Yahoo, you see young people who say that, "Look, education is a scam, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that." You see young people look say, "Let everything go down, Esau, let everything just scatter." You see young men even in secular popular music, you see them saying all kinds of things about the state of the world. What I'm trying to make you understand that there is a way forward. That way forward is the yoke of Jesus. The yoke of Jesus. What is the yoke of Jesus? How do I take the yoke of Jesus? And I quickly want us to look at that scripture again a little closely. Let's just look at it closely. There are two things here about this rest, this yoke of Jesus. The first one is the general one that is to all classes of people. Whatever is your background, there is a general call. That general call is "Come to me. Come to me." Simply coming to Jesus. Simply saying, "Jesus, I surrender to you." Simply using your own mouth to call him and say, "Jesus, please come and help me. Jesus, I need you. Jesus, sort me out. Jesus, give me light and direction. Jesus, show me the way to go. Jesus, I give my life to you. Come and be my Lord, come and be my Savior. Lord Jesus, here I come." That is the first one that is general to everybody. Everybody should come. The coming is what I've just demonstrated to you. "Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Can you call upon his name? How do you come to Jesus? It's very simple, just call upon his name. Call upon his name wherever you are. Just call upon his name. Just say, "Jesus, I don't even know what else to say again. All I want to say is that please come into my life." If that is all you can say, you are already coming to Jesus. Now, he said "Come to me." Now, haven't come to Jesus, there's a specific one which is actually the one I want to dwell on more. Because as a faith-based ministry, our concern is more of trying to make the believer out there to get it right. That believer out there, that brother, that sister, my concern is for you. That young man, that young woman. Say, "I'm born again, I've known the Lord, the Lord is my Savior, the Lord is my Lord." Yes, this second aspect is particularly about you and that's why I want to spend a little more time. There are many of us who have come to Jesus, but we have not understood this matter of taking the yoke of Jesus. He says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me." And the first thing I want to get clear with you is for you to see this call here vis-à-vis what the Bible says in 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. Apostle John was saying something, something very useful for us all. 1 John chapter 5. I read verse 1 through 3: "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." That's the first one, "Come to me, all you that labor, come." "And everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His command." Verse 3: "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." I take that in NLT: "Loving God means keeping his commandment and really that isn't difficult. Really that isn't difficult. It is not difficult at all." I take NIV: "This is love for God: to obey his command. And his commands are not burdensome." Amplified: "For the true love of God is this: that we do His command, which is keep His ordinances and are mindful of His precept and teaching. And these orders of His are not burdensome, oppressive, or grievous." What is it that I want you to see? Is that just like the Lord Jesus said, he said, "My yoke is easy, my burden is light." We are seeing something here. He says, "His commandment are not burdensome." His commandment, they are not difficult. His instructions, they are not. So when we are talking about the yoke of Jesus, when he said, "Take my yoke," we are talking about what he command. The commandment. What he instructed we should do. What are the commands? What are his instructions? What are the counsels of Jesus? You see, many times the reason why a lot of us as Christian young people, we are having a big challenge in our hand. Honestly, it's a very big challenge. Marital challenge, financial challenge, career challenge, so many challenges here and there. It's because we have not taken time, we are not deliberately and consciously taking time to know what are the commands of Jesus, what are the instructions of Jesus, what are the counsels of Jesus. We don't know. When it comes to making choices and decisions, let me tell you, your choices and your decisions, they either make you free or they bring you into bondage. What actually brings into trouble, what brings restlessness, what brings trouble, financially, maritally, spiritually, career-wise, what bring all of this trouble are our choices. I was speaking with one young man, and he said, "Ah! This choice for this job was the beginning of my trouble." You see it? It was the choice for that job that was the beginning of his trouble. The point was that when he was taking his bearing for that job, he did not take time to know what is the yoke of Jesus for the job that he should do. What is Jesus counseling? What is the yoke of Jesus? What is the one that if you are doing, you are taking your bearing from Jesus? That's what I'm saying. The moment you are not taking your bearing from Jesus, it will bring you into trouble and affliction. What I'm trying to say, there is just one problem to solve. The problem of knowing the yoke of Jesus. There is just one major problem to solve in life. I was speaking with somebody just a few weeks back, just talking, talking to a group of people, and I said, "Look, listen to me." It was a group of men, young men. Another person was handling the young women, I was handling the young men. And I said, and they were talking about choices for relationship and people were saying different things, how choices can be made and all of that. And what I simply said, I said, "Look, young people, there are many people who are already married who are asking themselves, 'If I knew, I would not have made this choice of this sister.'" I say so, all these things that we are talking about and looking like if we are laughing and we are smiling, some people are crying. Some people are weeping. I remember somebody saying, "Ah! It was the choice of this woman that wrecked my life." I'm not talking about people who are unbelievers, I'm talking about people who are believers. You can't make a choice of a sister and that bearing is from Jesus and she will not give you rest. You can't make a choice of a brother and that choice you are taking your bearing from Jesus and you will not find rest. Jesus says when you take my yoke, when it is me that is giving you the duty to do, he said you will find rest for your soul. There are a lot of restlessness today already. That I am trying to stress something. That it is not what you are in that is giving you restlessness. It is the choice you made in getting into that thing that is making you to be restless. I don't know whether you are understanding me. There is so much trouble today among young people, and many times the young people, they are feeling that it is maybe their partner or their job or their career or where they are located. They are attributing their restlessness to something, to someone, to somebody, or to a particular event. That is not the Bible. The Bible is that if you see a man that don't find rest for his soul, it was a man that did not take the yoke of Jesus. So when you don't find rest for your soul, I want you to begin to take responsibility that you are the cause of your not finding rest. That's what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that I don't know where your life is right now. I don't know what decision you need to make right now. I don't know what is troubling your soul or your life right now. But I want you to first take responsibility as a young person. I couldn't find rest for my soul because I did not take the yoke of Jesus, simple. Until you come to that realization, you will be blaming everything, everyone, every situation for your predicament. You will not blame yourself. And that is stupidity. A stupid person don't realize, he does not come to a realization that, look, what I am inside is a function of my choice. It is your choice. It is your decisions. So stop blaming your restlessness on anything or anyone. Stop blaming your restlessness on "Ah, if not for Nigeria government, I would have graduated. If not for failure in society, I would have had education. If not for this, I would have lived a clean life." No, it is if not for your foolishness and stupidity. That's what I'm saying. Your foolishness or your stupidity is that you did not take the yoke of Jesus. That's what I'm saying. You did not take, you did not take, you for yourself, you didn't take your bearing from Jesus. When you were deciding that thing that is troubling you now, you did not take the yoke of Jesus. What I'm saying, is that if there is anything that is not giving you rest today, first come to a realization that I am the cause. That's first realization. That, look, it's about the decisions that I made. It's about the choices that I made. It's about the way I chose to react. I'm talking about, look, even simple, simple things. I gave you a good example. I entered a petrol station to buy fuel. A bike man was buying fuel. But the way he parked the bike is such that I was the next person in line, I couldn't properly park my own car for me to buy fuel. So I spoke to the young man, "Hello, please park properly, shift a little." And the young man just faced me, "I hope you are not stupid. I hope you are not mad. You want to oppress me, abey? Because you have a car, me I have a bike." And the young man was walking up to me, he was just walking up to me. And so what I simply said is, "Oh, sorry, don't be angry. I did not mean to oppress you. I just meant that I wanted to park well." When he kept on talking and he saw that I wasn't ready for a fight, he kept on insulting, I wasn't ready for a fight. He just eased and then took his bike. He didn't change his position. I had to wait until he finished buying, and then when he now move and left, I was now able to park well. Now, what I'm trying to bring out is that I could have left the yoke of Jesus when he says, "Do not repay anyone curse for curse or insult for insult." When he said, "Do not retaliate evil." When he said it is a good thing if for your conscience towards God you suffer wrongfully. I could have left that yoke and maybe when he said, "You are mad," "You too you are stupid, you are mad," and then a fight start. And as we start fighting, unfortunately maybe hit my head against the car, or he brought out an implement and used to break my windscreen. Please, which one is more expensive? To just say, "Sorry, mabonu," and my family rushing me to the hospital for a broken skull, or me taking my windscreen, everything to a panel beater? Which one is co... I'm talking about our choices, the yoke of Jesus. The yoke of Jesus. I'm using simple, simple things like this, and we can begin to multiply it. What did Jesus say about the job you want to do? What did Jesus say about that relationship you want to start? What is the position of Jesus? That is what I'm saying. That you can multiply these things on and on like this into every areas of our life. That there is a yoke of Jesus. And as I conclude this morning, I will just say two things in as I draw the curtain on understanding the yoke of Jesus. The first one about understanding this yoke, the first one about understanding the yoke of Jesus is Psalm 119:105. Psalm 119:105. It's a very popular scripture. 119:105. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Taking the yoke of Jesus, how do I get into the dynamics of this yoke? Are you already a believer? If you can just, like I told some people, I said if the kind of concentration you give to social media you can give that same kind of concentration to the scriptures, your life will be better. The way we... what I'm trying to say is that one way to understand the yoke of Jesus is taking time to hide his word in your heart. It's taking time to make his word a lamp to your feet, so it can become a light to your path. Treasure the scriptures. Treasure the scriptures. Sit down with scriptures. Lay them into your heart. Lay them, meditate on scriptures. "Blessed is the man who don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly, who don't stand in the way of sinner nor sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and there he meditates day and night." The Bible says he will be like a tree planted by rivers of water. May you be that kind of a tree in the name of Jesus. You know, a tree by water don't know drought. A tree by water don't know different season. I just look at our sugarcane that is by the stream here at Life Camp. There is no time their leaf is dry. Throughout the year they are evergreen. The Bible says when you make his word your delight and you are treasuring them in your heart, you make it your delight, day and night you try to make sure that his word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path, then you will be a tree planted by rivers of water. You will bring forth your fruit in your season. You will not be careful in the year of drought and you will not cease from bearing fruit. So when you see people who are ever fruitful, who are ever... they don't know when drought comes. They don't know when people are crying, "Downcast." God is just taking them through the situation. And it looks like, "Ah, this young man is lucky." It is not luck. It is not luck. I'm showing you the way to it. The way to it is: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path. What do you then do in relation to his word? You will find that in Proverbs chapter 11. As I round up this morning, I'm just showing you how to identify the yoke of Jesus. It's by the word, by treasuring up his word in your heart. His word is a lamp to your feet. When you want to take step, you are stepping by his word. The word, what he said, his instructions, his counsel. His commandment are not grievous. They are not grievous. Proverbs 11. What do you do in relation to his word? Because I'm just building on where we... some of the... where we left the matter with a good conscience last week. And this month, we're looking at the yoke of Jesus. Look at Proverbs 11, verse 3 through to verse 8. Verse 3, it says: "The integrity of the upright will guide them." When you know what the word of the Lord, when you know what his counsel says, stand in integrity of the word of God. "The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them." Many times what destroy young people is their lack of integrity. The word of God says you should be sincere in dealing with people. Yet in the way you got that sister, you were not sincere. In the way you got that job, you were not sincere. By the time you want to give all the testimony, you hide some part of the story because you know that we will query it. "Brethren, the Lord has done it, oh! Hallelujah! You see, he just... and like that," you just tell us the story. You leave out the part where you did not hold to integrity. And then we all we also say, "Eh, praise the Lord!" We begin to dance with you. But you see, suddenly destruction begins to come from that thing. "Brethren, please pray with me. Please join me in prayers. I don't understand." How did you get there? How did you get there? Integrity is very, very important. I'm talking about thy word is a lamp to my feet. If you read that thing that is saying in that place in NLT, it brings it out very clear: "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity." People who are never straightforward. It is that thing that will eventually destroy them. Look at verse 5. "The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright." "The godly are directed by their honesty. The wicked fall beneath the load of their sin." I take it in NIV: "The righteousness of the blameless make a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness." Are you seeing it? What brings people down many times is their own hands, their choices, their decisions. Jesus said, "Take my yoke." I'm looking at it from this angle of taking the yoke and not taking the yoke. Take what the word of God instructed. Take what the word of God... make his word a lamp to your feet, a light to your path. It will deliver you. It will help you. Verse 6: "The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the unfaithful will be caught by their own lust." Do you see it? Lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, lust, lust, lust, unreasonable desire. I remember a young man that just left university and his mentor was telling him plain, and he was praying that his first job will be tens of... is it tens of thousand or tens of million? And then my question was that if you want to start life with earning tens of millions, then where will you grow to? Do you understand the principle of handling money? How do you know what it means to be responsible? How do you know this...? So many things. People just think that when God deals with us, it is a difficult thing for God to bless us. It's not a difficult thing for God to bless anybody. Joseph left in abject poverty the previous day, he woke up the prime minister the following day. God can change your story materially overnight. But the issue is this: it takes a man who have learned the principles of God to manage success correctly. When you have not learned principles and you are given success, the success will destroy you. You can see that even though Joseph was so successful, you see the humility. You see how that thing did not run into his head to kill his brothers. He's a man who have learned humility, who have learned forgiveness, who have learned that life is not about revenge. He's a man who was able to see God and know that, though men may mean you evil, but God can design that evil for good. For some of us today, if we were Joseph, all those brothers would have died at the first encounter. And then you too you would have lost your own purpose in life because he was there to preserve them. So there's need of learning principles. What do you do with the word? Integrity, uprightness. And all of that, these are ways to go. And the other side to the story of taking the yoke of Jesus is what the Bible says in Proverbs: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him." That's the other one, the action of acknowledging God. "Trust the Lord with all your heart." But let me tell you this truth: you cannot trust who you don't know. The implication of that scripture is that take time to know God such that you can trust God. One reason why many of us cannot trust God today is because you don't know him. Some of you you are afraid of God, that if I know God too much now, God may tell God may God may not allow my life to be good. God may go and turn me to missionary. Let me not know God too much so that... You have wrong pictures of God. And that is why some of us don't want to become so intimate, because you don't have a clear picture of God. Take time to know the Lord. Bible says, "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord." You cannot trust who you don't know. When we say trust in the Lord with all your heart, the reason why you cannot trust God is because you don't know him. "Do not lean on your understanding." The reason why you lean is because what you know is what your head can do. You don't know what God can do for you. Then the next thing is acknowledging: "Lord, are you pleased with this? Are you not pleased with this? Is this what I should do or not do?" The Bible now say then he will direct your step. That is a process. Enter that process. What I've just discussed with you is how to take the yoke of Jesus. And I pray for you as a young man, you will not be cut down. As a young woman, you will not be cut down. I pray for you that you will be established in all your path. I pray for you that you will not walk in the darkness of this life. I pray that you will walk in the light of life. May you fulfill purpose in the name of Jesus Christ. In every area of your life, may the Lord grant you rest. May you find rest on every side. Next month when we meet again, don't just listen to this for our next edition. Please invite someone. God bless you. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for this moment. We give you praise. We give you glory. We give you honor. We give you adoration. We thank you for this time again of looking to scriptures. Lord, we just pray. Baba, Baba, beyond the voice of the speaker, cause your people to hear your own voice in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, emphasize these matters again in our heart. Do not leave us. Do not leave us. Lord, please help us. Thank you, eternal Father. In Jesus' most holy name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace. 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. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen.