This Gospel of the Kingdom (foundation of the Gospel 2)

[singing] [Speaker 1] Son, we thank you for quietness, for peace, for rest. We thank you for sense of purpose and direction. We thank you, our Father, for your help, for your mercy, for your goodness, your providence, your support, assistance. We thank you, Lord our God, for salvation. We thank you for adoption. We thank you for justification. We thank you, O Lord, for the hope of eternal life. Lord our God, we worship you. We say, Lord, accept our thanks in the name of Jesus. Unto you, O Lord, again we are gathering this evening. Brethren online, Telegram or Mixlr, we that are here physically, unto you we are gathering. Lord, we say let your spirit work among us, within us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord our God, grant us understanding in scriptures in the name of Jesus. Cause the light of your truth, O Lord, to displace the darkness of our life in the name of Jesus Christ. Give us instruction and direction. Correct us, O Lord. Instruct us in your ways. Lord God Almighty, that we may be established in thy truth in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Now, we concluded last week at Galatians. Who can remember what was our point of conclusion in the book of Galatians? What were the things we said about scriptures? That was the point where we left the matter. One, that God is particularly intentional with the scriptures. God is intentional with scriptures. Okay. What did we notice again about scriptures from our last week? The gospel of the kingdom. We were looking at the foundation for the gospel. We began with something about Abraham. We were discussing, looking at it from the life of Abraham, what looks foolish to him, what looks impossible to him, what looks unreasonable to him. Then we connected that with what the Bible says in Galatians about the foundation of the gospel of the kingdom. Then we concluded something about the scripture. One, God is intentional about scriptures. Number two, we must learn to attribute divinity to scriptures. You must see scriptures as divine. For you to enter into the fullness of the gospel of the kingdom, you must see scripture as the word from God. Not just the word of God, but the word from God. You must attribute divinity to scriptures. Once you don't give scripture divinity, there will be problem. Once scripture is what you think, "Anyway, can this thing be true? Can it really be like that? Can I? But it was Moses that wrote this thing. After all, Isaiah too wrote a part. This is the word of Isaiah." Are you understanding me? Once you don't attribute—the first one we said is you must learn to see that God is intentional with scripture. Number two, we must learn to attribute divinity to scriptures. Divinity. What I mean by that is what I am just trying to explain. I normally like using this very simple illustration. There was a day I wrote test questions and then I wrote on the board, "Answer question one and any other two questions." Then after collecting all answer booklets from everybody, there were some students that did not follow the instruction. We moved from hall to hall writing it. Imagine a student, when he was asked that, "Ah, why didn't you do what was said?" and the student said, "Actually, what was said was written. It was not said. It was just written." So, that student is justified? Is that student justified? Just because it was not said, it was written. So the question is that, what was written, how is it different from me? Whether I say it or I write it, is there any difference? There is no difference. And that is one thing that must dawn on us about scriptures: that a man is equal to his word. The word of God is God. When he didn't follow that instruction, he didn't follow me. It is as simple as that. You are equal to your word. If you are leaving the house and you write something to your servant, "When you come, cook rice and beans for me," and then you put it, and the person came and read it, then the person sat and then he made amala and efọ. When you came, you said, "Ah, why? Didn't you see this thing?" He said, "But you didn't say it, sir. You only wrote it down." Will you justify that servant? No. And that is the point we are making. You must learn as a believer to attribute divinity to scriptures. One, God is intentional about scripture. Attribute divinity to scripture. What did I say again last week? Are you remembering then now? We must give supremacy to scriptures. You must give scripture supremacy. You must come to that point in your life where you see the word of God as supreme. And the last thing I said is that what? You must give authority to scriptures. Authority to scriptures. Now, any individual that is struggling with these things that I have just said can never, never—note my word—that person can never, never experience the life that is made available by the gospel of the kingdom. We said the gospel of the kingdom did what? What is the first thing? Abolished death and then brought what? Life and immortality. For you to experience that, we are showing that the basis of the gospel is what I'm showing you. If these bases are not there, the gospel cannot, it cannot abolish death in your life, and it cannot bring life and immortality to light in your life. And I'm going to show you a few things about these things. I'll show you a few things. We are still looking at the foundation of the gospel of the kingdom. That's what we are still looking at. I want to show you why it looks as if the scripture changed certain people. They began to have victory and they are experiencing God, and that same scripture did not profit some people. I want to show you why. The Bible says something in Hebrews. Look at what the Bible says in Hebrews. Hebrews 4. Are you there? Hebrews 4. Look at what the Bible says. [Speaker 2] [Hebrews 4:1-2] "Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them..." [Speaker 1] King James says "did not profit them." Am I correct? NIV says, "but the message they heard was of no value to them." Are you seeing that? Another translation? [Speaker 2] "It did them no good." [Speaker 1] It did them no good. May that not be the summary of your life. You see, the gospel did them no good. And there are many people today who are in that same situation. This gospel of the kingdom, I'm trying to make you see why it is not doing good to some people. Why it could not abolish death in their life. Please don't forget what I called death. I have taken time this week to define death. I believe we are on the same page about what death is. We have discussed that before, what death is. Why it could not bring them to a point where God is consistently their shepherd. Why it could not bring them to a point where God can give them direction and instruction. Why it could not bring them to a point where God is their guide. Why it could not bring them to a point where self is dying daily and Christ is being formed daily. Why it could not bring them to a point where the image and the character of God is now appearing in their life. And they have spent years—when did you get born again? They will tell you in the days of Mungo Park. But when you look at their life, you can't see anything. You'll be wondering if these are believers. You can't see the image and the character of God. They are not becoming like God. The essence of the gospel, if I'm to make it very simple to you, is becoming like God. That is what the gospel should make you become. We are becoming like God because that which is born of God should be like who? Should be like God. Should be holy, should be upright, should be godly. He should only say what he means and he should mean what he says. Are you understanding me? Integrity, righteousness, loving—that is who God is. Merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abundant in mercy—that is God. Then when you see people who have spent donkey years, say they are choir master, they are pastor, they are G.O., they are this, they are that, and you still see them malicious, full of revenge, insulting, abusive, quarrelsome, self-centered, selfish, unholy, ungodly. And they have spent years running from prophet to prophet seeking direction. No light. God is not the guide of their life. Why? What is happening to them? Death was not abolished. So, that is what I'm trying to discuss with you, that why you will find that the gospel, for some life, the gospel is not doing them any good. It's not doing them any good. For some life, the gospel—for NIV—is of no value. For some life, the gospel had no profit. It will be because some of these basic things about the foundation of the gospel is not clear in their life. When we say, "Bro, the Bible says love your enemy," they say, "Look, that one is Bible. Let us face reality." What is happening to that person? To him, the scripture is not divine. If it is divine, the scripture is not supreme. If it is supreme, the scripture should be given authority. Are you seeing it? And so when we preach the gospel to them, it's of no value. So, I'm trying to show you that we are not the first generation that the good news will be preached to. There was a generation—the Bible said, "Look, let us be careful." There was a problem they had and we are looking at those problems. That's what we are learning at the foundation of the gospel. It said the gospel did not profit them. NIV says it was of no value to them because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Another translation? [Speaker 2] "It did them no good because they didn't share the faith of those who listened to God." [Speaker 1] It is not mixed with faith. They did not share the faith. There is a faith. And that is where I'm going. There is a faith that made the gospel profitable. That's why I'm discussing this foundation. A faith must arise in your heart for the gospel. It's what we are trying to discuss. Then you must understand that scripture must be divine or else faith will not arise in you. Scriptures must be supreme or faith will not arise in you. Scripture must be given authority or faith will not arise in you. Scripture must be seen as God speaking intentionally or faith will not arise in you. And the last thing I said last week is that you must understand that what you call the gospel, the gospel came to us as promises. It's promises. It's embracing promises. It's promises. Embracing promises. Everything that God is offering us is a promise. It's a fulfillment of a promise. God promised that Jesus will die for our sin. Jesus came to die. It was a promise and God has fulfilled that promise. Will you believe it? Now, so, we are looking at this matter of the foundation of the gospel and last week, I have just mentioned those four things as—understand this as the foundation. In Abraham, we saw issues about how the gospel was coming from its very foundation, how God was relating to Abraham and his own preoccupation why he could not believe God nor follow God. Why he could not see the green—the pasture of God. God had to make him lie down in that green pastures. And I said there is a making of God when it comes to the gospel. There is a making of God. Now, we want to take some step further today. And the way we are going to take this step further is that I want to get to some scriptures I could not get to last week. And then gradually we will now enter fully into—please still remember we are discussing the foundation of the gospel of the kingdom. We are looking at that this gospel abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. Look at something about why we are saying give authority, give all of those things we mentioned last week. Look at Revelation 1. I want you to just see something. It's actually in the greeting, but I want to just call something to your attention there. Revelation 1. Are you there? Revelation 1. I'm reading from verse 1. It says: [Revelation 1:1] "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his..." To show to who? Servants. How many? Is this servant or servants? Servants. Servants. The revelation of Jesus Christ is something about Jesus. Please don't forget that Jesus is the gospel. I've established that at the beginning, that the gospel is Jesus. Anything outside Jesus is not the gospel. Now, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus is to be revealed. This matter is about Jesus. Now, God gave it to who? God gave him, to do what? To show to his servants. His servants. What must soon take place. Now, look at what he now did. He, that is Jesus Christ now, he made it known by sending his angel to who? Are you following something? The revelation God gave him to show it to his servants. He, Jesus, when he was given that revelation to show it to his servants, what did he do? He now gave it by sending the angel to show it to John. The revelation is meant for who? It's meant for the servants. But it was given—it is revelation of Jesus Christ. It is not the idea of John about Jesus Christ. It is not the thinking, the suppositions, the assumptions, the assertions, or the philosophical position about Jesus that is coming from John. No. It was a revelation of Jesus that God gave Jesus. So it was emanating from who? From God. God gave it to him to show to his servants the things that are to take place. Please don't forget, this gives the same pattern for the gospel. The prophet spoke about what was to take place. Jesus came fulfilling what the prophet said. Are you getting me? Now, but in bringing it down to men, it was meant—God gave him to show to the servants. But Jesus did not stay in the sky and then just wrote it in the sky, "Servants! Servants! Read after me!" Is that what Jesus did? Jesus gave it by sending an angel to who? To John. It was for the servants, but given to a servant. So when you see it as the conception about Jesus coming from John, you are in error. When you see it as what John thinks about Jesus Christ—the whole thing that John was talking about was not his idea. Was not his words. I'm trying to make you understand the scriptures. When you say this is the word of Isaiah, you are a blind person. You will be in error. Isaiah knew nothing about God. It was God that gave it to Isaiah. Are you understanding me at all? I'm trying to make you understand something about the scriptures. It was something meant for the servants, but it did not come to the servants. It came to a servant. And when they came to him, what did they tell him? They said the things that you see, the things that you hear, do what? That was how the scriptures came. Are you getting me at all? So that when you look at the scripture, when you look at the matter that somebody said, "You see, you don't need to mind Paul. Don't mind him. Because he did not marry, that's why he said to suppress women." Who told you that what Paul was writing was Paul's idea? A man said, "I am the 21st-century preacher. You see, when people prophesied, they prophesied according to the level of their faith. Isaiah was talking about God, he didn't know God, and was saying that God can create evil. That was his level of faith. God cannot create evil." Are you following me at all? What has happened to that man? He is already in error. Somebody said, "Ah, isn't this not fabulous? How can a fish swallow a man and he'll be in its belly for three days?" You know what I told the person? I said Jesus himself said, "I will not give any other sign apart from the sign that God gave that generation." That as Jonah was in the belly of the fish—Jesus said it was God that gave the sign. You are looking at the story of Jonah. Are you following me? I will show you another one. Let's see something. I mentioned this sometimes back, but I'm just trying to emphasize it again. Please go to Genesis. I'm just trying to establish some things that must not be compromised about scriptures. If this foundation is not in you, every time that scripture want to make you, it won't be able to make you because it will not profit you, because it will not mix with faith. Talking to a husband, I said, "Husband, you need to love your wife." He said, "But well, to what extent?" I said, "Till death." He said, "God forbid." He said, "Brother, no, God forbid." I said, "Why?" "Ah, me till death? Ah, when I'm not a fool." I'm serious. Another one someone told me, a discussion I had with a Christian brother. I said, "Brother, I don't understand you. The Bible says husband love your wife, and the Bible described how: as Christ loved the church by giving up himself for her." I say if you don't love her to that extent, then you are disobedient to God. Christ loved and loved until he died. That's what the brother was saying. "Nobody can—who will? What kind of thing?" But that's exactly what Christ did. Why is he having problem with that thing? Because scriptures is not divine. I'm trying to make you see why scripture cannot change people. Why the gospel cannot profit men. It looks simple, what I'm trying to show you. They look very simple. But you see, they are like the foundation that once you throw away this foundation, you will not grow. These were the first thing that God helped our life to take in. So that when we were growing up at some point, "Gbile, what is wrong with you? Ah!" I said, "Look, I can't find that in the Bible. The Bible says the Lord will keep..." "Don't be taking it like that. You better be careful." They are making us see that we cannot just believe scriptures. "If God will provide, God will provide. You don't know what tomorrow holds." I said, "You don't understand. The God who said he will provide, he declared the end from the beginning." I remember just after my secondary school, I went to visit a brother too who became born again. And as we are talking—I think the dad came in, or was it the dad or the uncle, I can't remember. And as we were talking, he said, "Children, children, children. You see, this gospel you are talking about..." He was a reverend. He was a reverend. He said, "Look, you have to take these things gently. This gospel, if you go and check it originally, the way to actually put it is that it was supposed to be written by John. It may not be written by John." He was a reverend. And I looked at him. I said, "Sir, whether supposed or John, what I know is that God has spoken to me in this word." I'm trying to make you understand why the gospel could not profit people. I remember discussing with a sister. She said, "Sir, is it really true that a wife should submit in everything? You mean everything? Sir, is it everything?" I said, "Sister, let's read the Bible." We read it. So, "Wives should submit in everything." She said, "Does that mean everything? Please, what again is everything?" Is there any way to define everything? But why is she struggling with everything? Why could that thing not profit her? Because she could not give authority, divinity, supremacy to scriptures. And so for her, "I will submit, but this everything? This everything is not part of me. I will give some things." So, when you do like that, you see—know what I'm making you to understand, brethren—is that if for something to be true, it must be consistent. If you don't believe the scripture in one area, it's as good as you do not believe any area of the scriptures. You have to take all together. We must get that very clear. Now, I want to show you something in Genesis. Please look at this matter in Genesis. And we want to look at something very also very simple, but that speak volume. Look at Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2. Are you there? I take it from verse 23. [Genesis 2:23] "The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." I want you to look at that scriptures. Look at it very closely. Who is speaking in 23 and 24? Adam. Adam. Verse 23, look at your Bible. "For this reason a man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." And the man said, "This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man." Who is speaking? Adam. Adam. Now, can we turn to Matthew chapter 19? Matthew chapter 19. Are you there in Matthew chapter 19? I read from verse 3. [Matthew 19:3-5] "Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?' 'Haven't you read,' he replied, 'that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"?'" Who was speaking in Genesis 2? Is it Adam? Is it God? Are you following a technical thing? Are you seeing what I'm trying to point attention to? Genesis 2, if we don't put Matthew 19, who was speaking? Adam. Or if we divide it this way, that Adam said, "This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man." Then the other thing there, it was Moses that now said because Adam said this, Moses now concluded that "For this reason..." I'm showing you how people have reasoned. It was just Moses was assuming that for that—or Moses that wrote it. But when you came to Matthew 19, what did the Bible say? "He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female and said..." For Jesus, whether you say Moses, whether you say Adam, for Jesus, who was speaking? God. Are you following what I am trying to bring out about scriptures? Now, having said all of this, having said all of this, I want you to begin to appreciate something about the foundation of the gospel. That in laying the foundation for the gospel, we notice first and foremost that there is something that came out about the gospel that the Bible said that the Lamb of God was slain when? When was the Lamb of God slain? Before the foundation of the world. That is in Revelation, isn't it? The Lamb of God that was slain before a foundation was laid for the world. From the point of the gospel, there was redemption before creation. Are you—am I confusing you? When was the Lamb slain? Before the foundation of the world. When was Jesus crucified? Over 2,000 years ago. Are you seeing something? You know what first I want you to see? You know what I want you to quickly see? That you must appreciate that the foundation of the gospel was actually eternally settled. The foundation of the gospel was not laid in time. It was laid where? In eternity. You see, these are things you need to understand. So that when you want to—if you want the gospel to benefit—if you want to enter into the fullness of the gospel, I want to make you see why people struggle with so many things today. Don't you see that even from its foundation, what we are saying does it appear logical? Does it making sense? That actually you must appreciate that the gospel was actually eternally settled. The gospel is something of eternity. The gospel had been—the Lamb was crucified before time was. Are you following me? For us in time, when did we see Jesus crucified? When was the Lamb crucified? Over 2,000 years ago. But in the actual sense of crucifixion, when was the Lamb crucified? It was crucified even before time began. Now, when you look at this, you will begin to appreciate something about the gospel: that the gospel is a mystery. Isn't that true? That Christ is a mystery. That how can somebody be incarnated in Mary, was crucified some 2,000 years ago, that same person we are speaking about was slain again before time was. Are you not confusing us already? I'm talking about the gospel. And that is why you notice in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Are you there in Ephesians chapter 1? If you are there before me, please just read verse 3 and 4. [Ephesians 1:3-4] "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in every place in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world..." So when were we chosen in Christ? Are you—are you following me at all? That is the gospel that some individuals want to use logic. "How will I love my wife as Christ loved the church? How will I die? How will—how will somebody slap me and then I will turn the other one?" You are trying to reduce God to common sense. You are talking, you forgot that you are in time. The thing you are talking about was before the foundation of the world was laid. What we are talking about, the mystery that Jesus is showing to you. When he said "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth," ordinarily, does the meek inherit the earth ordinarily? Who inherit the earth ordinarily? If you are to look at it logically, who normally inherit the earth? The survival of the fittest. If you don't know how to fight, you just leave here there. "Anyway, God will keep—I will not take vengeance. I'll leave vengeance to God." Ah! Jesus said you are the one that will possess the earth. Does that make sense to us? It doesn't seem to make any sense. Now, what I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in time. The gospel is not a thing of time. The gospel is not something we can comprehend looking at time. Because the gospel is outside time. The gospel is not something you can logically begin to want to comprehend and follow and appreciate. The gospel is something to be believed. Because you cannot truly, really, really—was it in this meeting I gave an example of somebody I was preaching to? And I said, "Man, you know we are sinners because Adam sinned." And he said, "Please hold it there. I don't understand you. You said Adam sinned and then we are sinners." And he said, "Are you a father?" I said, "Yes." He said, "If you have three children or four, if one of them sin, how many sin?" I said, "The one." He said, "Once. Will you beat all of them?" I said, "No." He said, "You see, look at the foolish thing you just said. That Adam sinned, everyone are sinners. So God does not have common sense again?" And you know my simple answer to him? It was not to defend the gospel. You know what I told him? I said, "Until you believe this foolish thing, you will die in your sin." That is the truth of it. Because how do you also comprehend that somebody was killed before time was? It was before time was and then again he came, came again over 2,000 years ago. Are you not confusing us already? I'm talking about the gospel. And that is why you notice in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Look at what the Bible says there. 1 Corinthians 1. That very popular scripture. 1 Corinthians 1. I read from verse 18. [1 Corinthians 1:18-19] "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved..." Please note that word. To us who are being saved. May you be in that category in the name of Jesus. I want you to note, "who are being saved." We are daily being saved from death, and we are daily experiencing life and immortality. Who who are being saved. The gospel is what? For those who are being saved, it is what? The power of God. Are you seeing that? The gospel is what? The power of God. Look at what it says, verse 19. "For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.'" I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. Do you know what that means? Can we take it another translation? Another translation. [Speaker 2] "The message that points to Christ on the cross seems like sheer silliness to those hell-bent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation, it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerful as it turns out. It's written, 'I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I'll expose all these cool specialists as the muddleheaded fools they are.'" [Speaker 1] Are you trying—do what? [Speaker 2] "I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head." [Speaker 1] That's what I want you to see. There is a conventional wisdom. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. Do you know what it means to baffle somebody? Baffle somebody. [Member] Surprise. [Speaker 1] Baffle is more than surprise. To baffle somebody is to confuse somebody. "No! It should not be like this! No, it—it! No, I don't get it anymore." That is it. That is what God intend to do with the gospel. "He will completely defeat it." Do you see it? "I'll frustrate, I'll foil, I'll make it appear as stupidity." You see? That's what God intend to—I want to show you again that a person says, "No, it is like this." Come, that's what God intend to do with your own life: to confuse you. I am showing you the gospel. "Ah, how can I love my wife unto death? Okay." You will be baffled. You will be confused. You will be truncated. You will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Mmm, sweet. You see, ha, yeah." Where have the world find themselves today? I'm trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will find himself more and more confused. That's what it is. But the person who believed the gospel—and go and check something. You know Jesus said something when he appeared in the temple. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." You know he read that Isaiah. He now said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled." Please check that thing. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to do what? Preach what?" To what? Poor. Some will say the poor, please check it. The poor or the meek. Do you notice it at all? Do you notice it at all? That's Isaiah 61, am I correct? Verse 1. Please check that scripture for me. [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." Do you see it? The gospel is not meant for the rich. I'm not talking of rich in terms of material riches. That's not what I'm talking about. Not rich in terms of material riches. Poor. When the Bible is using the word poor, needy. God will deliver the poor, God will deliver the needy, the poor and the needy. It's talking about in a state of heart. A state of heart. It says that what? Blessed are what? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God." Go and check it. Go and check it. Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." Do you see it there? Have we all seen that now? Matthew chapter 5. [Matthew 5:3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you notice it? Anybody who is rich in spirit can never get God's kingdom. The gospel is meant to be preached to the poor. Those that does not have. "God, I don't know, you're the one that knows." "Lord, I don't have, you are the one that have. Thy way not mine, O Lord." "Lord, I don't understand, you are the one who understands." It's talking about the poor, so it's not talking about material. Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out now? He said "The Sovereign—that spirit that is upon Christ brings the gospel never to the rich in spirit, it's to the poor in spirit." For the rich in spirit, that's what he's saying there. He will do what to the wisdom of the—what will he do to that wisdom? He will baffle it. He will render it useless. So when you come with your own, say you are rich, what you want to do with your own, he will confuse you, he will disgrace you, he will render you useless. And that is what God has done severally. God allow men to go on with their choice. With their choice, let them move on, their choices. We keep making our choices. Don't you see it today? Go and check it. As we keep heading on with our choices, and we are moving and we are moving and we are moving, do you notice how things are going? Adam in the days of Adam, it is when you are about 400 years that you will marry. The more we are heading away, even the physical body began to die. As we continue in immorality, in fornication, in wickedness, in all of those and we are giving ourselves to the devil, you see how we are cutting ourselves? Do you see it? And now if somebody die at 90, say, "Ah, oku agba!" Somebody die at 90 in the days—are you understanding me? Are you following me? We keep reducing, we keep cutting it, cutting it, cutting it, cutting it. The more away, away, away, away, the more we are moving in our—you know—go and the more we keep moving away, the more we keep reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing. We came up with technology, we say we are moving forward. But please, after again what are we telling ourselves? When we see the effect of technology. Microwave, everything fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Yeah, we are back, we are away from the days of our father. Everything is now fast. Now when everything became fast, fast food, fast this, fast that, what did we see again? Say thank the beginnings of cancer. We say let's go back again to the traditional food. Let's go back to—so are we really going forward? We are confused. That's what I want to make you see. We are confused. He will baffle the wisdom of the wise. In a summit, in a summit, public health on sexuality. That's my area of research. World summit, international conference of fourth summit. What is the way forward in terms of how to deal with AIDS, how to deal with HIV? Globally, public health professionals, researchers, scientists, they all came to a point. They said the best way to deal with sexually transmitted disease, the first and the best way is abstinence. What God said before century began, they are just coming to that conclusion. After all their research, after all their research they run, run, run, run, run, run, run. They have now made progress. They have progressed. We now come back to say it is this. They come back to the conclusion in the 20th century what God had concluded from when? When God had said all that. Do you know that in the days of Moses, God said a girl that have sex in her father's house, when he marry a husband and her husband said, "Ah, my wife is not a virgin," what should they do? They should take her out of her father's house and stone her to death because she did not keep herself while in her father's house. God have said that since which century? We are now after doing all our research, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. We have now made progress. We progressed. We now come back to say it is this. The second option will be to use condom. But however, we need to conclude that condom does not remove the risk, it only reduces it. Are we not coming back to—are we not coming back to what God had said? So we are really researching. When we ran away from God, when we said, "No, fornication, yeah, let's move on," and now we are running back again to say let's go back again to abstinence. So have we moved forward? He would baffle the wisdom of the wise. What I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in—was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ah, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I am trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. What I just did now... he made them foolish and thwarted everything they planned. [shouting/background noise] Wait, wait, wait! You are going too fast for us. You are going too fast. Let's take those—you see, these are important things. Important things for you to understand. [Speaker 1] A young man was discussing with me. He said, "Sir, sir, you see, I have this little confusion." He was a teenager trying to comprehend certain things. He said, "Sir, I'm confused about something. God knows all things, right?" I said, "Yes. God knows all things." I said, "Yes." He said, "Then if God knows all things, it means everything that happens comes from God. Then why do we now say again that people will be punished for what they do? Everything comes from God." He was confused. "I will destroy, I will baffle." Are you following? And the simple thing I told him—very simple—God knows all things, everything comes from God, God is sovereign. But at the same time, man is a free moral agent. He said, "How?" I said, "That is the gospel." That is the gospel. Don't tell me you are understanding me. That is the gospel. "For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe will not perish but have everlasting life." Is that not a choice? At the same time, it is God that works in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Is that not another—is that not a contradiction? Ordinarily, does it not look like a contradiction? But it is not. We're talking about baffling. That is why I went to begin with you—I began with you by making you to see some things that you must first do if you must move on with scripture. You must first agree that—attribute divinity to scripture. Attribute authority to scripture. Attribute that God is intentional. God spoke intentionally in scripture. Don't try to use common—God spoke intentionally in scripture. Attribute authority to it. Understand that if you don't do this, it will not mix with faith. It will not do you any good. Then appreciate something about the gospel: that the gospel was not settled in time. So time, wisdom in time can never comprehend the gospel because the gospel was settled where? In eternity. Man came when? When time began. The gospel was before time began. The gospel will continue when time will be no more. So nothing in time can fully comprehend the gospel. Nothing in time can fully look at it. And that is why Paul said, after all his wisdom, what did he say? "We know in part and we understand in part." We must appreciate that about the gospel. We must appreciate that. But if you want to prove we are wise—I want to show you that God intentionally has decided that with the gospel, what God intend to do by doing that... you know why God did all these things that I'm talking about? Is because intentionally God has made up his mind that with this my salvation, the way I will do it, I will do what? Please now come up with what you have. Let's now have what you have. So take them one by one. Don't be too fast for us. [Speaker 2] "It is written, 'I will baffle and confuse and destroy the learning of the learned.'" [Speaker 1] "I will destroy the learned of the learned." Yes? [Speaker 2] "And frustrate and foil and make it as muddleheaded as fools." [Speaker 1] You see? That's what God intend to do. I want to show you—you want to say, "No, it's like this." Come, that's what God intend to do with your own life: to confuse you. I am showing you the gospel. "Ah, how can I love my wife unto death?" Okay. You will be baffled. You will be confused. You will be truncated. You will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ha, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I'm trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. That's what it is. But the person who believed the gospel—and go and check something. You know Jesus said something when he appeared in the temple. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." You know he read that Isaiah. He now said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled." Please check that thing. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to do what? Preach what?" To what? Poor. Some will say the poor, please check it. The poor or the meek. Do you notice it at all? Do you notice it at all? That's Isaiah 61, am I correct? Verse 1. Please check that scripture for me. [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Go and check it. He said that scripture is fulfilled. The prophecy, what was it? [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Do you see it? The gospel is not meant for the rich. I'm not talking of rich in terms of material riches. That's not what I'm talking about. Not rich in terms of material riches. Poor. When the Bible is using the word poor, needy. God will deliver the poor, God will deliver the needy, the poor and the needy. It's talking about in a state of heart. A state of heart. It says that what? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Go and check it. Go and check it. Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." Do you see it there? Have we all seen that now? Matthew chapter 5. [Matthew 5:3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you notice it? Anybody who is rich in spirit can never get God's kingdom. The gospel is meant to be preached to the poor. Those that does not have. "God, I don't know, you're the one that knows." "Lord, I don't have, you are the one that have. Thy way not mine, O Lord." "Lord, I don't understand, you are the one who understands." It's talking about the poor, so it's not talking about material. Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out now? He said he—the spirit that is upon Christ brings the gospel never to the rich in spirit, it's to the poor in spirit. For the rich in spirit, that's what he's saying there. He will do what to the wisdom of—what will he do to that wisdom? He will baffle it. He will render it useless. So when you come with your own, say you are rich, what you want to do with your own, he will confuse you, he will disgrace you, he will render you useless. And that is what God has done severally. God allow men to go on with their choice. With their choice, let them move on, their choices. We keep making our choices. Don't you see it today? Go and check it. As we keep heading on with our choices, and we are moving and we are moving and we are moving, do you notice how things are going? Adam in the days of Adam, it is when you are about 400 years that you will marry. The more we are heading away, even the physical body began to die. As we continue in immorality, in fornication, in wickedness, in all of those and we are giving ourselves to the devil, you see how we are cutting ourselves? Do you see it? And now if somebody die at 90, say, "Ah, oku agba!" Somebody die at 90 in the days—are you understanding me? Are you following me? We keep reducing, we keep cutting it, cutting it, cutting it, cutting it. The more away, away, away, away, the more we are moving in our—you know—go and the more we keep moving away, the more we keep reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing. We came up with technology, we say we are moving forward. But please, after again what are we telling ourselves? When we see the effect of technology. Microwave, everything fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Yeah, we are back, we are away from the days of our father. Everything is now fast. Now when everything became fast, fast food, fast this, fast that, what did we see again? Say thank the beginnings of cancer. We say let's go back again to the traditional food. Let's go back to—so are we really going forward? We are confused. That's what I want to make you see. We are confused. He will baffle the wisdom of the wise. In a summit, in a summit, public health on sexuality. That's my area of research. World summit, international conference of fourth summit. What is the way forward in terms of how to deal with AIDS, how to deal with HIV? Globally, public health professionals, researchers, scientists, they all came to a point. They said the best way to deal with sexually transmitted disease, the first and the best way is abstinence. What God said before century began, they are just coming to that conclusion. After all their research, after all their research they run, run, run, run, run, run, run. They have now made progress. They have progressed. We now come back to say it is this. They come back to the conclusion in the 20th century what God had concluded from when? When God had said all that. Do you know that in the days of Moses, God said a girl that have sex in her father's house, when he marry a husband and her husband said, "Ah, my wife is not a virgin," what should they do? They should take her out of her father's house and stone her to death because she did not keep herself while in her father's house. God have said that since which century? We are now after doing all our research, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. We have now made progress. We progressed. We now come back to say it is this. The second option will be to use condom. But however, we need to conclude that condom does not remove the risk, it only reduces it. Are we not coming back to—are we not coming back to what God had said? So we are really researching. When we ran away from God, when we said, "No, fornication, yeah, let's move on," and now we are running back again to say let's go back again to abstinence. So have we moved forward? He would baffle the wisdom of the wise. What I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in—was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ha, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I am trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. That's what it is. But the person who believed the gospel—and go and check something. You know Jesus said something when he appeared in the temple. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." You know he read that Isaiah. He now said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled." Please check that thing. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to do what? Preach what?" To what? Poor. Some will say the poor, please check it. The poor or the meek. Do you notice it at all? Do you notice it at all? That's Isaiah 61, am I correct? Verse 1. Please check that scripture for me. [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Go and check it. He said that scripture is fulfilled. The prophecy, what was it? [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Do you see it? The gospel is not meant for the rich. I'm not talking of rich in terms of material riches. That's not what I'm talking about. Not rich in terms of material riches. Poor. When the Bible is using the word poor, needy. God will deliver the poor, God will deliver the needy, the poor and the needy. It's talking about in a state of heart. A state of heart. It says that what? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Go and check it. Go and check it. Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." Do you see it there? Have we all seen that now? Matthew chapter 5. [Matthew 5:3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you notice it? Anybody who is rich in spirit can never get God's kingdom. The gospel is meant to be preached to the poor. Those that does not have. "God, I don't know, you're the one that knows." "Lord, I don't have, you are the one that have. Thy way not mine, O Lord." "Lord, I don't understand, you are the one who understands." It's talking about the poor, so it's not talking about material. Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out now? He said he—the spirit that is upon Christ brings the gospel never to the rich in spirit, it's to the poor in spirit. For the rich in spirit, that's what he's saying there. He will do what to the wisdom of—what will he do to that wisdom? He will baffle it. He will render it useless. So when you come with your own, say you are rich, what you want to do with your own, he will confuse you, he will disgrace you, he will render you useless. And that is what God has done severally. God allow men to go on with their choice. With their choice, let them move on, their choices. We keep making our choices. Don't you see it today? Go and check it. As we keep heading on with our choices, and we are moving and we are moving and we are moving, do you notice how things are going? Adam in the days of Adam, it is when you are about 400 years that you will marry. The more we are heading away, even the physical body began to die. As we continue in immorality, in fornication, in wickedness, in all of those and we are giving ourselves to the devil, you see how we are cutting ourselves? Do you see it? And now if somebody die at 90, say, "Ah, oku agba!" Somebody die at 90 in the days—are you understanding me? Are you following me? We keep reducing, we keep cutting it, cutting it, cutting it, cutting it. The more away, away, away, away, the more we are moving in our—you know—go and the more we keep moving away, the more we keep reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing. We came up with technology, we say we are moving forward. But please, after again what are we telling ourselves? When we see the effect of technology. Microwave, everything fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Yeah, we are back, we are away from the days of our father. Everything is now fast. Now when everything became fast, fast food, fast this, fast that, what did we see again? Say thank the beginnings of cancer. We say let's go back again to the traditional food. Let's go back to—so are we really going forward? We are confused. That's what I want to make you see. We are confused. He will baffle the wisdom of the wise. In a summit, in a summit, public health on sexuality. That's my area of research. World summit, international conference of fourth summit. What is the way forward in terms of how to deal with AIDS, how to deal with HIV? Globally, public health professionals, researchers, scientists, they all came to a point. They said the best way to deal with sexually transmitted disease, the first and the best way is abstinence. What God said before century began, they are just coming to that conclusion. After all their research, after all their research they run, run, run, run, run, run, run. They have now made progress. They have progressed. We now come back to say it is this. They come back to the conclusion in the 20th century what God had concluded from when? When God had said all that. Do you know that in the days of Moses, God said a girl that have sex in her father's house, when he marry a husband and her husband said, "Ah, my wife is not a virgin," what should they do? They should take her out of her father's house and stone her to death because she did not keep herself while in her father's house. God have said that since which century? We are now after doing all our research, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. We have now made progress. We progressed. We now come back to say it is this. The second option will be to use condom. But however, we need to conclude that condom does not remove the risk, it only reduces it. Are we not coming back to—are we not coming back to what God had said? So we are really researching. When we ran away from God, when we said, "No, fornication, yeah, let's move on," and now we are running back again to say let's go back again to abstinence. So have we moved forward? He would baffle the wisdom of the wise. What I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in—was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ha, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I am trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. That's what it is. But the person who believed the gospel—and go and check something. You know Jesus said something when he appeared in the temple. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." You know he read that Isaiah. He now said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled." Please check that thing. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to do what? Preach what?" To what? Poor. Some will say the poor, please check it. The poor or the meek. Do you notice it at all? Do you notice it at all? That's Isaiah 61, am I correct? Verse 1. Please check that scripture for me. [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Go and check it. He said that scripture is fulfilled. The prophecy, what was it? [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Do you see it? The gospel is not meant for the rich. I'm not talking of rich in terms of material riches. That's not what I'm talking about. Not rich in terms of material riches. Poor. When the Bible is using the word poor, needy. God will deliver the poor, God will deliver the needy, the poor and the needy. It's talking about in a state of heart. A state of heart. It says that what? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Go and check it. Go and check it. Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." Do you see it there? Have we all seen that now? Matthew chapter 5. [Matthew 5:3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you notice it? Anybody who is rich in spirit can never get God's kingdom. The gospel is meant to be preached to the poor. Those that does not have. "God, I don't know, you're the one that knows." "Lord, I don't have, you are the one that have. Thy way not mine, O Lord." "Lord, I don't understand, you are the one who understands." It's talking about the poor, so it's not talking about material. Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out now? He said he—the spirit that is upon Christ brings the gospel never to the rich in spirit, it's to the poor in spirit. For the rich in spirit, that's what he's saying there. He will do what to the wisdom of—what will he do to that wisdom? He will baffle it. He will render it useless. So when you come with your own, say you are rich, what you want to do with your own, he will confuse you, he will disgrace you, he will render you useless. And that is what God has done severally. God allow men to go on with their choice. With their choice, let them move on, their choices. We keep making our choices. Don't you see it today? Go and check it. As we keep heading on with our choices, and we are moving and we are moving and we are moving, do you notice how things are going? Adam in the days of Adam, it is when you are about 400 years that you will marry. The more we are heading away, even the physical body began to die. As we continue in immorality, in fornication, in wickedness, in all of those and we are giving ourselves to the devil, you see how we are cutting ourselves? Do you see it? And now if somebody die at 90, say, "Ah, oku agba!" Somebody die at 90 in the days—are you understanding me? Are you following me? We keep reducing, we keep cutting it, cutting it, cutting it, cutting it. The more away, away, away, away, the more we are moving in our—you know—go and the more we keep moving away, the more we keep reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing. We came up with technology, we say we are moving forward. But please, after again what are we telling ourselves? When we see the effect of technology. Microwave, everything fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Yeah, we are back, we are away from the days of our father. Everything is now fast. Now when everything became fast, fast food, fast this, fast that, what did we see again? Say thank the beginnings of cancer. We say let's go back again to the traditional food. Let's go back to—so are we really going forward? We are confused. That's what I want to make you see. We are confused. He will baffle the wisdom of the wise. In a summit, in a summit, public health on sexuality. That's my area of research. World summit, international conference of fourth summit. What is the way forward in terms of how to deal with AIDS, how to deal with HIV? Globally, public health professionals, researchers, scientists, they all came to a point. They said the best way to deal with sexually transmitted disease, the first and the best way is abstinence. What God said before century began, they are just coming to that conclusion. After all their research, after all their research they run, run, run, run, run, run, run. They have now made progress. They have progressed. We now come back to say it is this. They come back to the conclusion in the 20th century what God had concluded from when? When God had said all that. Do you know that in the days of Moses, God said a girl that have sex in her father's house, when he marry a husband and her husband said, "Ah, my wife is not a virgin," what should they do? They should take her out of her father's house and stone her to death because she did not keep herself while in her father's house. God have said that since which century? We are now after doing all our research, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. We have now made progress. We progressed. We now come back to say it is this. The second option will be to use condom. But however, we need to conclude that condom does not remove the risk, it only reduces it. Are we not coming back to—are we not coming back to what God had said? So we are really researching. When we ran away from God, when we said, "No, fornication, yeah, let's move on," and now we are running back again to say let's go back again to abstinence. So have we moved forward? He would baffle the wisdom of the wise. What I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in—was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ha, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I am trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. That's what it is. But the person who believed the gospel—and go and check something. You know Jesus said something when he appeared in the temple. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." You know he read that Isaiah. He now said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled." Please check that thing. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to do what? Preach what?" To what? Poor. Some will say the poor, please check it. The poor or the meek. Do you notice it at all? Do you notice it at all? That's Isaiah 61, am I correct? Verse 1. Please check that scripture for me. [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Go and check it. He said that scripture is fulfilled. The prophecy, what was it? [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Do you see it? The gospel is not meant for the rich. I'm not talking of rich in terms of material riches. That's not what I'm talking about. Not rich in terms of material riches. Poor. When the Bible is using the word poor, needy. God will deliver the poor, God will deliver the needy, the poor and the needy. It's talking about in a state of heart. A state of heart. It says that what? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Go and check it. Go and check it. Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." Do you see it there? Have we all seen that now? Matthew chapter 5. [Matthew 5:3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you notice it? Anybody who is rich in spirit can never get God's kingdom. The gospel is meant to be preached to the poor. Those that does not have. "God, I don't know, you're the one that knows." "Lord, I don't have, you are the one that have. Thy way not mine, O Lord." "Lord, I don't understand, you are the one who understands." It's talking about the poor, so it's not talking about material. Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out now? He said he—the spirit that is upon Christ brings the gospel never to the rich in spirit, it's to the poor in spirit. For the rich in spirit, that's what he's saying there. He will do what to the wisdom of—what will he do to that wisdom? He will baffle it. He will render it useless. So when you come with your own, say you are rich, what you want to do with your own, he will confuse you, he will disgrace you, he will render you useless. And that is what God has done severally. God allow men to go on with their choice. With their choice, let them move on, their choices. We keep making our choices. Don't you see it today? Go and check it. As we keep heading on with our choices, and we are moving and we are moving and we are moving, do you notice how things are going? Adam in the days of Adam, it is when you are about 400 years that you will marry. The more we are heading away, even the physical body began to die. As we continue in immorality, in fornication, in wickedness, in all of those and we are giving ourselves to the devil, you see how we are cutting ourselves? Do you see it? And now if somebody die at 90, say, "Ah, oku agba!" Somebody die at 90 in the days—are you understanding me? Are you following me? We keep reducing, we keep cutting it, cutting it, cutting it, cutting it. The more away, away, away, away, the more we are moving in our—you know—go and the more we keep moving away, the more we keep reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing. We came up with technology, we say we are moving forward. But please, after again what are we telling ourselves? When we see the effect of technology. Microwave, everything fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Yeah, we are back, we are away from the days of our father. Everything is now fast. Now when everything became fast, fast food, fast this, fast that, what did we see again? Say thank the beginnings of cancer. We say let's go back again to the traditional food. Let's go back to—so are we really going forward? We are confused. That's what I want to make you see. We are confused. He will baffle the wisdom of the wise. In a summit, in a summit, public health on sexuality. That's my area of research. World summit, international conference of fourth summit. What is the way forward in terms of how to deal with AIDS, how to deal with HIV? Globally, public health professionals, researchers, scientists, they all came to a point. They said the best way to deal with sexually transmitted disease, the first and the best way is abstinence. What God said before century began, they are just coming to that conclusion. After all their research, after all their research they run, run, run, run, run, run, run. They have now made progress. They have progressed. We now come back to say it is this. They come back to the conclusion in the 20th century what God had concluded from when? When God had said all that. Do you know that in the days of Moses, God said a girl that have sex in her father's house, when he marry a husband and her husband said, "Ah, my wife is not a virgin," what should they do? They should take her out of her father's house and stone her to death because she did not keep herself while in her father's house. God have said that since which century? We are now after doing all our research, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. We have now made progress. We progressed. We now come back to say it is this. The second option will be to use condom. But however, we need to conclude that condom does not remove the risk, it only reduces it. Are we not coming back to—are we not coming back to what God had said? So we are really researching. When we ran away from God, when we said, "No, fornication, yeah, let's move on," and now we are running back again to say let's go back again to abstinence. So have we moved forward? He would baffle the wisdom of the wise. What I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in—was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ha, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I am trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. That's what it is. But the person who believed the gospel—and go and check something. You know Jesus said something when he appeared in the temple. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." You know he read that Isaiah. He now said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled." Please check that thing. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to do what? Preach what?" To what? Poor. Some will say the poor, please check it. The poor or the meek. Do you notice it at all? Do you notice it at all? That's Isaiah 61, am I correct? Verse 1. Please check that scripture for me. [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Go and check it. He said that scripture is fulfilled. The prophecy, what was it? [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Do you see it? The gospel is not meant for the rich. I'm not talking of rich in terms of material riches. That's not what I'm talking about. Not rich in terms of material riches. Poor. When the Bible is using the word poor, needy. God will deliver the poor, God will deliver the needy, the poor and the needy. It's talking about in a state of heart. A state of heart. It says that what? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Go and check it. Go and check it. Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." Do you see it there? Have we all seen that now? Matthew chapter 5. [Matthew 5:3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you notice it? Anybody who is rich in spirit can never get God's kingdom. The gospel is meant to be preached to the poor. Those that does not have. "God, I don't know, you're the one that knows." "Lord, I don't have, you are the one that have. Thy way not mine, O Lord." "Lord, I don't understand, you are the one who understands." It's talking about the poor, so it's not talking about material. Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out now? He said he—the spirit that is upon Christ brings the gospel never to the rich in spirit, it's to the poor in spirit. For the rich in spirit, that's what he's saying there. He will do what to the wisdom of—what will he do to that wisdom? He will baffle it. He will render it useless. So when you come with your own, say you are rich, what you want to do with your own, he will confuse you, he will disgrace you, he will render you useless. And that is what God has done severally. God allow men to go on with their choice. With their choice, let them move on, their choices. We keep making our choices. Don't you see it today? Go and check it. As we keep heading on with our choices, and we are moving and we are moving and we are moving, do you notice how things are going? Adam in the days of Adam, it is when you are about 400 years that you will marry. The more we are heading away, even the physical body began to die. As we continue in immorality, in fornication, in wickedness, in all of those and we are giving ourselves to the devil, you see how we are cutting ourselves? Do you see it? And now if somebody die at 90, say, "Ah, oku agba!" Somebody die at 90 in the days—are you understanding me? Are you following me? We keep reducing, we keep cutting it, cutting it, cutting it, cutting it. The more away, away, away, away, the more we are moving in our—you know—go and the more we keep moving away, the more we keep reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing. We came up with technology, we say we are moving forward. But please, after again what are we telling ourselves? When we see the effect of technology. Microwave, everything fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Yeah, we are back, we are away from the days of our father. Everything is now fast. Now when everything became fast, fast food, fast this, fast that, what did we see again? Say thank the beginnings of cancer. We say let's go back again to the traditional food. Let's go back to—so are we really going forward? We are confused. That's what I want to make you see. We are confused. He will baffle the wisdom of the wise. In a summit, in a summit, public health on sexuality. That's my area of research. World summit, international conference of fourth summit. What is the way forward in terms of how to deal with AIDS, how to deal with HIV? Globally, public health professionals, researchers, scientists, they all came to a point. They said the best way to deal with sexually transmitted disease, the first and the best way is abstinence. What God said before century began, they are just coming to that conclusion. After all their research, after all their research they run, run, run, run, run, run, run. They have now made progress. They have progressed. We now come back to say it is this. They come back to the conclusion in the 20th century what God had concluded from when? When God had said all that. Do you know that in the days of Moses, God said a girl that have sex in her father's house, when he marry a husband and her husband said, "Ah, my wife is not a virgin," what should they do? They should take her out of her father's house and stone her to death because she did not keep herself while in her father's house. God have said that since which century? We are now after doing all our research, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. We have now made progress. We progressed. We now come back to say it is this. The second option will be to use condom. But however, we need to conclude that condom does not remove the risk, it only reduces it. Are we not coming back to—are we not coming back to what God had said? So we are really researching. When we ran away from God, when we said, "No, fornication, yeah, let's move on," and now we are running back again to say let's go back again to abstinence. So have we moved forward? He would baffle the wisdom of the wise. What I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in—was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ha, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I am trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. That's what it is. But the person who believed the gospel—and go and check something. You know Jesus said something when he appeared in the temple. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." You know he read that Isaiah. He now said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled." Please check that thing. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to do what? Preach what?" To what? Poor. Some will say the poor, please check it. The poor or the meek. Do you notice it at all? Do you notice it at all? That's Isaiah 61, am I correct? Verse 1. Please check that scripture for me. [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Go and check it. He said that scripture is fulfilled. The prophecy, what was it? [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Do you see it? The gospel is not meant for the rich. I'm not talking of rich in terms of material riches. That's not what I'm talking about. Not rich in terms of material riches. Poor. When the Bible is using the word poor, needy. God will deliver the poor, God will deliver the needy, the poor and the needy. It's talking about in a state of heart. A state of heart. It says that what? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Go and check it. Go and check it. Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." Do you see it there? Have we all seen that now? Matthew chapter 5. [Matthew 5:3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you notice it? Anybody who is rich in spirit can never get God's kingdom. The gospel is meant to be preached to the poor. Those that does not have. "God, I don't know, you're the one that knows." "Lord, I don't have, you are the one that have. Thy way not mine, O Lord." "Lord, I don't understand, you are the one who understands." It's talking about the poor, so it's not talking about material. Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out now? He said he—the spirit that is upon Christ brings the gospel never to the rich in spirit, it's to the poor in spirit. For the rich in spirit, that's what he's saying there. He will do what to the wisdom of—what will he do to that wisdom? He will baffle it. He will render it useless. So when you come with your own, say you are rich, what you want to do with your own, he will confuse you, he will disgrace you, he will render you useless. And that is what God has done severally. God allow men to go on with their choice. With their choice, let them move on, their choices. We keep making our choices. Don't you see it today? Go and check it. As we keep heading on with our choices, and we are moving and we are moving and we are moving, do you notice how things are going? Adam in the days of Adam, it is when you are about 400 years that you will marry. The more we are heading away, even the physical body began to die. As we continue in immorality, in fornication, in wickedness, in all of those and we are giving ourselves to the devil, you see how we are cutting ourselves? Do you see it? And now if somebody die at 90, say, "Ah, oku agba!" Somebody die at 90 in the days—are you understanding me? Are you following me? We keep reducing, we keep cutting it, cutting it, cutting it, cutting it. The more away, away, away, away, the more we are moving in our—you know—go and the more we keep moving away, the more we keep reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing. We came up with technology, we say we are moving forward. But please, after again what are we telling ourselves? When we see the effect of technology. Microwave, everything fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Yeah, we are back, we are away from the days of our father. Everything is now fast. Now when everything became fast, fast food, fast this, fast that, what did we see again? Say thank the beginnings of cancer. We say let's go back again to the traditional food. Let's go back to—so are we really going forward? We are confused. That's what I want to make you see. We are confused. He will baffle the wisdom of the wise. In a summit, in a summit, public health on sexuality. That's my area of research. World summit, international conference of fourth summit. What is the way forward in terms of how to deal with AIDS, how to deal with HIV? Globally, public health professionals, researchers, scientists, they all came to a point. They said the best way to deal with sexually transmitted disease, the first and the best way is abstinence. What God said before century began, they are just coming to that conclusion. After all their research, after all their research they run, run, run, run, run, run, run. They have now made progress. They have progressed. We now come back to say it is this. They come back to the conclusion in the 20th century what God had concluded from when? When God had said all that. Do you know that in the days of Moses, God said a girl that have sex in her father's house, when he marry a husband and her husband said, "Ah, my wife is not a virgin," what should they do? They should take her out of her father's house and stone her to death because she did not keep herself while in her father's house. God have said that since which century? We are now after doing all our research, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. We have now made progress. We progressed. We now come back to say it is this. The second option will be to use condom. But however, we need to conclude that condom does not remove the risk, it only reduces it. Are we not coming back to—are we not coming back to what God had said? So we are really researching. When we ran away from God, when we said, "No, fornication, yeah, let's move on," and now we are running back again to say let's go back again to abstinence. So have we moved forward? He would baffle the wisdom of the wise. What I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in—was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ha, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I am trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. That's what it is. But the person who believed the gospel—and go and check something. You know Jesus said something when he appeared in the temple. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." You know he read that Isaiah. He now said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled." Please check that thing. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to do what? Preach what?" To what? Poor. Some will say the poor, please check it. The poor or the meek. Do you notice it at all? Do you notice it at all? That's Isaiah 61, am I correct? Verse 1. Please check that scripture for me. [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Go and check it. He said that scripture is fulfilled. The prophecy, what was it? [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Do you see it? The gospel is not meant for the rich. I'm not talking of rich in terms of material riches. That's not what I'm talking about. Not rich in terms of material riches. Poor. When the Bible is using the word poor, needy. God will deliver the poor, God will deliver the needy, the poor and the needy. It's talking about in a state of heart. A state of heart. It says that what? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Go and check it. Go and check it. Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." Do you see it there? Have we all seen that now? Matthew chapter 5. [Matthew 5:3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you notice it? Anybody who is rich in spirit can never get God's kingdom. The gospel is meant to be preached to the poor. Those that does not have. "God, I don't know, you're the one that knows." "Lord, I don't have, you are the one that have. Thy way not mine, O Lord." "Lord, I don't understand, you are the one who understands." It's talking about the poor, so it's not talking about material. Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out now? He said he—the spirit that is upon Christ brings the gospel never to the rich in spirit, it's to the poor in spirit. For the rich in spirit, that's what he's saying there. He will do what to the wisdom of—what will he do to that wisdom? He will baffle it. He will render it useless. So when you come with your own, say you are rich, what you want to do with your own, he will confuse you, he will disgrace you, he will render you useless. And that is what God has done severally. God allow men to go on with their choice. With their choice, let them move on, their choices. We keep making our choices. Don't you see it today? Go and check it. As we keep heading on with our choices, and we are moving and we are moving and we are moving, do you notice how things are going? Adam in the days of Adam, it is when you are about 400 years that you will marry. The more we are heading away, even the physical body began to die. As we continue in immorality, in fornication, in wickedness, in all of those and we are giving ourselves to the devil, you see how we are cutting ourselves? Do you see it? And now if somebody die at 90, say, "Ah, oku agba!" Somebody die at 90 in the days—are you understanding me? Are you following me? We keep reducing, we keep cutting it, cutting it, cutting it, cutting it. The more away, away, away, away, the more we are moving in our—you know—go and the more we keep moving away, the more we keep reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing. We came up with technology, we say we are moving forward. But please, after again what are we telling ourselves? When we see the effect of technology. Microwave, everything fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Yeah, we are back, we are away from the days of our father. Everything is now fast. Now when everything became fast, fast food, fast this, fast that, what did we see again? Say thank the beginnings of cancer. We say let's go back again to the traditional food. Let's go back to—so are we really going forward? We are confused. That's what I want to make you see. We are confused. He will baffle the wisdom of the wise. In a summit, in a summit, public health on sexuality. That's my area of research. World summit, international conference of fourth summit. What is the way forward in terms of how to deal with AIDS, how to deal with HIV? Globally, public health professionals, researchers, scientists, they all came to a point. They said the best way to deal with sexually transmitted disease, the first and the best way is abstinence. What God said before century began, they are just coming to that conclusion. After all their research, after all their research they run, run, run, run, run, run, run. They have now made progress. They have progressed. We now come back to say it is this. They come back to the conclusion in the 20th century what God had concluded from when? When God had said all that. Do you know that in the days of Moses, God said a girl that have sex in her father's house, when he marry a husband and her husband said, "Ah, my wife is not a virgin," what should they do? They should take her out of her father's house and stone her to death because she did not keep herself while in her father's house. God have said that since which century? We are now after doing all our research, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. We have now made progress. We progressed. We now come back to say it is this. The second option will be to use condom. But however, we need to conclude that condom does not remove the risk, it only reduces it. Are we not coming back to—are we not coming back to what God had said? So we are really researching. When we ran away from God, when we said, "No, fornication, yeah, let's move on," and now we are running back again to say let's go back again to abstinence. So have we moved forward? He would baffle the wisdom of the wise. What I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in—was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ha, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I am trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. That's what it is. But the person who believed the gospel—and go and check something. You know Jesus said something when he appeared in the temple. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." You know he read that Isaiah. He now said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled." Please check that thing. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to do what? Preach what?" To what? Poor. Some will say the poor, please check it. The poor or the meek. Do you notice it at all? Do you notice it at all? That's Isaiah 61, am I correct? Verse 1. Please check that scripture for me. [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Go and check it. He said that scripture is fulfilled. The prophecy, what was it? [Speaker 2] [Isaiah 61:1] "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news to the poor." [Speaker 1] Do you see it? The gospel is not meant for the rich. I'm not talking of rich in terms of material riches. That's not what I'm talking about. Not rich in terms of material riches. Poor. When the Bible is using the word poor, needy. God will deliver the poor, God will deliver the needy, the poor and the needy. It's talking about in a state of heart. A state of heart. It says that what? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Go and check it. Go and check it. Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." Do you see it there? Have we all seen that now? Matthew chapter 5. [Matthew 5:3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you notice it? Anybody who is rich in spirit can never get God's kingdom. The gospel is meant to be preached to the poor. Those that does not have. "God, I don't know, you're the one that knows." "Lord, I don't have, you are the one that have. Thy way not mine, O Lord." "Lord, I don't understand, you are the one who understands." It's talking about the poor, so it's not talking about material. Are you understanding what I'm trying to bring out now? He said he—the spirit that is upon Christ brings the gospel never to the rich in spirit, it's to the poor in spirit. For the rich in spirit, that's what he's saying there. He will do what to the wisdom of—what will he do to that wisdom? he will render it useless. So when you come with your own, say you are rich, what you want to do with your own, he will confuse you, he will disgrace you, he will render you useless. And that is what God has done severally. God allow men to go on with their choice. With their choice, let them move on, their choices. We keep making our choices. Don't you see it today? Go and check it. As we keep heading on with our choices, and we are moving and we are moving and we are moving, do you notice how things are going? Adam in the days of Adam, it is when you are about 400 years that you will marry. The more we are heading away, even the physical body began to die. As we continue in immorality, in fornication, in wickedness, in all of those and we are giving ourselves to the devil, you see how we are cutting ourselves? Do you see it? And now if somebody die at 90, say, "Ah, oku agba!" Somebody die at 90 in the days—are you understanding me? Are you following me? We keep reducing, we keep cutting it, cutting it, cutting it, cutting it. The more away, away, away, away, the more we are moving in our—you know—go and the more we keep moving away, the more we keep reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing. We came up with technology, we say we are moving forward. But please, after again what are we telling ourselves? When we see the effect of technology. Microwave, everything fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Yeah, we are back, we are away from the days of our father. Everything is now fast. Now when everything became fast, fast food, fast this, fast that, what did we see again? Say thank the beginnings of cancer. We say let's go back again to the traditional food. Let's go back to—so are we really going forward? We are confused. That's what I want to make you see. We are confused. He will baffle the wisdom of the wise. In a summit, in a summit, public health on sexuality. That's my area of research. World summit, international conference of fourth summit. What is the way forward in terms of how to deal with AIDS, how to deal with HIV? Globally, public health professionals, researchers, scientists, they all came to a point. They said the best way to deal with sexually transmitted disease, the first and the best way is abstinence. What God said before century began, they are just coming to that conclusion. After all their research, after all their research they run, run, run, run, run, run, run. They have now made progress. They have progressed. We now come back to say it is this. They come back to the conclusion in the 20th century what God had concluded from when? When God had said all that. Do you know that in the days of Moses, God said a girl that have sex in her father's house, when he marry a husband and her husband said, "Ah, my wife is not a virgin," what should they do? They should take her out of her father's house and stone her to death because she did not keep herself while in her father's house. God have said that since which century? We are now after doing all our research, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. We have now made progress. We progressed. We now come back to say it is this. The second option will be to use condom. But however, we need to conclude that condom does not remove the risk, it only reduces it. Are we not coming back to—are we not coming back to what God had said? So we are really researching. When we ran away from God, when we said, "No, fornication, yeah, let's move on," and now we are running back again to say let's go back again to abstinence. So have we moved forward? He would baffle the wisdom of the wise. What I'm trying to make you see, I'm trying to make you to appreciate something very quickly: that it is important for you to know that the gospel was eternally settled. The gospel did not begin in—was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be turned around. Because you don't want to believe that which God said as wisdom. You think there is a better way to live the life, but you forgot. Every time man thinks there is an alternative to God, he dies. That was how we started at the beginning. "Do not eat it." "Ah, you see, ah, this thing will make—if you eat it, you'll become like God. Apart from that, your eyes will be open. Apart from that, you will have wisdom." And the woman saw the thing. "Hey, let me step higher, below the level of God. I want to go above the level of God. Hey, me too now become like God. Hey, apart from that, my eyes will be open. I begin to—wow! Let's step." And they stepped. Where did they find themselves? Is that not the same thing with fornication? "Hoo, sweet. You see, ha, yay!" Where have the world find themselves today? I am trying to—I'm trying to make you appreciate these things. That God intend—I want you to make you see why the gospel did not begin with what? Was not in time. God eternally settled the gospel so that in time, those that want to comprehend the gospel will be baffled. Will be frustrated. Will be made foolish. Thank you, blessed Father. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Blessed be your holy name, our God. Blessed be your holy name, our Father. Blessed be your holy name, Jehovah. Blessed be your holy name. Blessed be your holy name. Blessed be your holy name. Let me ask Sister Comfort to close the meeting this evening. Sister Comfort, please come and close the meeting. [Speaker 3] Our Father in heaven, we thank you so much for your word you have fed us with today again. Thank you for opening our eyes to the authority of the scriptures. That Lord, until we accept this authority and we agree that it's divine, it may not profit us. What a fearful thing to hear. Father, we are asking of you, O God, as we stand from here, help our heart. Work in us both to will and to do of your good pleasure, even in this that we have heard, in the name of Jesus Christ. Eternal Father, we pray, O God, you further open our eyes to know that we cannot keep explaining the word of God. That Lord God Almighty, our understanding can be so limited. All we need to do is to accept the authority of the word and to run with it in obedience. Father, we are asking today, give us that grace and that resolution in our heart in Jesus' name. And as we go, O Lord, open our eyes to want to what you want us to do so that we can be the crop of people you want us to be in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, everlasting Father. Thank you for your son you have used again. Thank you for flowing through him. Father, we pray, O God, he will never be a rusted vessel, but Lord, day by day, you will cleanse him, you will purify him, and make your word to flow freely through him. Thank you for hearing us pray. As we go, let your presence go with us and your presence abide with us. Help us this year to profit with your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace together. 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. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah. [Speaker 4] 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 aid. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday, 5:00 p.m.; Adolescents and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; family life seminars, regular school outrages, and every day counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp, by the first bridge, Illere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Idjare 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.