Truth and Enduring Confidence

[Intro Voiceover] [National anthem melody plays] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Test Ministries. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Spiritual experience that we were looking at two weeks ago. It looks like but what the Bible says is that, that was where we were looking at the beginning, you will receive power. So except Jesus was exaggerating or if Jesus meant that thing for information, anybody who believe he has the Holy Spirit and cannot believe that he has power, it's not the Christianity the Bible region. You see, you will receive power after that the Holy Spirit come upon you. But we mentioned something there that he says, "This sign shall accompany them that believe. It follows them who believe." So if a man cannot believe there is power, one, he's not going forth to exercise the power. He may not know that there is power in him. Those are the two things. Today we don't believe there is power. We believe we are just, I don't know, I don't know what we really call ourselves, but we don't see ourselves in the light of the scripture that we have received power. And so sometimes we run from what we should not run from. We fear what we should not fear. What I just remembered? The incident I was telling you about the day we come to do the ties. You were around? You were around. [Speaker 2] Yes, I was around. [Speaker 1] Okay, you were not around. I was telling my son the same incident. "Daddy, what? And you still stay there? How can you stay there?" We fear what we should not fear. We wonder what we should not wonder about. The day we came to do the ties, I was trying to kill a lizard. I was trying to let a lizard escape, and it disappeared right from my very eyes here. [Speaker 3] Was it gecko? [Speaker 1] Lizard, big, mighty, old lizard. It did not walk away. It disappeared. I came in, we were to do the ties. The blocks, all the blocks, all the 19 blocks were here. A lizard was on it. In my usual style, I don't kill lizards, not because I grew up with lizards. I grew up in the bush. Those things are normal to me. I don't kill them. But as I wanted to allow it to escape, it ran into the block. So I was moving the block down one by one, one by one, until it remained two blocks. So I was looking at the lizard inside the block on the floor. I now said, "Okay, the best thing, let me remove the two woods that are inside so I can now remove the last block." As I removed the two woods, lizard disappeared. I looked inward. I wanted to be sure that it disappeared. So I removed the second to the last block, I removed it, I took it down. I was now looking inside very well. I searched, I searched, I did not see it. And then I raised the last block, in case it was under the block. The lizard was gone. So I knew that it was not just a lizard. Ah. [Speaker 2] What happened next, Daddy? [Speaker 1] I continued what I was doing. Ah, I went to another place. I went to another place. So it disappeared. I just placed my leg on where it was. Everywhere the sole of my feet shall tread has been given to me. I just prayed, offered some prayers. The tillers there came. I did not even tell them. They would not understand. Let's run away. But naturally, the first thing is fear. Jump back. But I just remembered, in the word of the king there is power. Who can say to him, "What doest thou?" Who can question me when it comes to the issue of power? The point I'm making that we don't believe we have power. That's a test factor. We don't believe. But this sign follows them that believe. We don't believe. So when we want to be doing things, like the day we were to pray for a woman in the hospital that was having pain in the ovary. It was hospital evangelism. I said, "Madam, we are going to pray for you, and this thing will leave you immediately." I believed it will happen. I believed I've received power. I'm not in doubt. It's not because, those who believe having not seen, those who are waiting to let me first touch, they will not see anything because Jesus said that, "Blessed are those who did not see but believed." And right there and then, we prayed for the woman. The cyst left. I said, "Madam, touch." She said, "The cyst is gone, sir. It's not there, sir." Ah, on the sickbed. The woman was normal right there and then and she said, "Ah, it's only Orokpo that can do that." I said, "Don't think like that, ma. But that thing that makes you think that way is Satanism. It's not Scripture. Anything that opposes the purposes of God is Satan." He said, "You are, you will receive power." That is what the Gospel ordained. That is the dispensation. He ordained that. Except the Holy Spirit you are calling Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit that we all received. Maybe your own spirit is a different spirit. But we said what we look today is that people seem to have received tongue-speaking, but they don't exercise power. And if you check all the scriptures about that prophecy, there was nothing that speaks to tongue. Joel 2:28 that was referred that day, he says, "It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions." There was no one that said they will speak in tongues. That doesn't mean that we don't speak in tongues. But I'm only saying that the essence of the Holy Ghost coming upon us is not just to be speaking in tongues. It's that we should receive power to prophesy, to declare the counsel of God, to see vision, to see afar, to know what God is doing. That is what it is not. I was speaking with them on Saturday at STU. They had to come and speak of power in evangelism. And I told them, I said, "If something is common to others and it's not common to you, don't you know that you are spiritual bastard? Omo ale emi ni e." I said, "Why is it that when people receive the Holy Spirit, they receive power, and you say you have received Holy Spirit, there is no power? Are you a bastard? Go back to God and say, 'God, I'm not a bastard.' Something must be wrong somewhere, but it can never be with the word of God." But if you believe there is power, we move from there to look at two things, two very vital things again. He said, first of all, God want prayer to be prayed because God wants all men to be saved. Then two, to come to the knowledge of the truth. That's another thing the Gospel ordained. God want all men to be saved. And we said anybody who towards the unbeliever, his primary priority is their salvation, that person does not have the heart of God. He's not carrying the burden of God. Then the second one is that God wants all men to come to the knowledge of the truth. Because except we know the truth, we cannot truly be free. That was our discussion. Except you know the truth, you can't be free. And when we're talking of freedom, we described it in John chapter 8. He says, "He that sin is a servant to sin, and the servant cannot continue in the house forever. It is the son that continue in the house." If the son shall set you free, you'll be free indeed. And we said any believer who is still a servant to sin is just marking time in the Kingdom. He will not stay here forever. They will soon throw him out. The servant cannot stay forever. That's the word of the Lord. They were saying, "Ah, but we are Abraham's children. How are we born?" He said that if we know truth, it will set us free. And he told them, "He that sin is a servant to sin, and the servant cannot stay in the house forever. But if the son shall set you free, you'll be free indeed." We're talking about freedom from sinful inclinations, sin tendency, from sin, its inclinations, its power, its hold, its grip on life. Because "Blessed are the pure in heart, they are the ones that will see God." Without holiness, no man will see God. So the servant, those who are still servants to sin, will not continue in the house forever. And the only way to be free from sin is to know the truth. No amount of prayer can set you free. If we lay hands on you, demons run. You need to know truth. You can never experience freedom from sin beyond the level of truth that you know. You can't. Look at this simple, let me give this simple analogy in marriage. A couple that was having serious issues with themselves over a simple thing as to the usage of toothpaste and brush. The husband was the one working, the wife yet to get a job. They were newly married. And one day the husband saw the wife, toothpaste from beginning of the brush to the end of the brush. And the husband said, "Dear, this is not how to use toothpaste. You just put small like this." He's looking at the fact that so that the thing can be economized. He said, "I'm the only one working, and then the money was not much. So the marriage is young. Please let's learn to use things the way they should be used." Now so the wife was surprised honestly. The wife was shocked. She said, "No, this is how to use it." Husband said, "No, omo wasteful ni ti ẹ tẹ yii." Husband said, "No, this is how you use it. From beginning of brush to the end." Husband said, "No, you just put small." What happened was that the wife came from a very well-to-do family. They normally take toothpaste from the beginning to the end. The husband came from a family where the father was a farmer. So in growing up, they normally just put it. So he grew up with that socialization that it's just put. And you know, he has never really experienced seeing it. There are some things you grow up with that are wrong, that are very wrong. You just think that is the way things are done. So the wife was surprised. She said, she said, "No, it should be." Wife husband said, "No. Even the Lord Jesus," he now brought scripture. "When there was waste, he said there should be no waste, that they should gather the waste. That the Lord hate wasting. That this can wash, the remaining is waste." The wife said, "No. The scripture says, 'Our God shall supply our need.'" Now the wife was seeing this as a need. The husband was seeing it as a waste. But by the time they both sat them down and they were made to realize the truth that neither party was right. It's just that everybody was arguing his upbringing. Say, "Oh, I see. You only say I was brought up to use this this way. You don't say this is the way to use it." Oh, and they both apologized to themselves. But for the truth, they would have been bound. That would have been a problem. That's how they would have continued, what they are spiritualizing and quoting scripture was irrelevant. And I see how ignorance of the truth... he says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." God want all men to come to the knowledge of the truth. It's a desire of God. It's a thing that the Gospel ordained. So if you are not growing in knowledge of the truth, it is contrary to the ordination of the Gospel. If you are just growing in church service. I told I was discussing with somebody sometimes ago. He was said that there are two sisters, two people in his life that I don't know which one I want to, I've just been thinking about them. And I said, "But what do you think the Lord is saying?" She said, "Ah, does God talk?" I was shocked. Somebody who has spent... I had to ask her, "How many years have you been in church?" She said about ten years. "Which unit are you?" She said in the choir. "Which church?" It's not a living church, oh, our normal regular, it's not a dead church, our normal regular church, I don't want to mention names. We don't, we are not promoting church against one church. I said, "You are asking whether God talk." Sister, we must be a spiritual bastard. I said then you are not a Christian. She said how? I said the scripture says, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me." "As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the children of God." I said if you cannot be led by the spirit of God and you cannot hear his voice, then you are not one of us. Do you know that looked like the first time the sister was hearing that? The desire of God is not for men to grow in commitment to some organizations we call church. "I'm committed to a church." I'm not saying we should not be committed to our churches. We need the fellowship of the brethren. Don't we? He said, "Not forsaking the assembly of one another as believers." But we must not confuse spiritual growth with dedication to organizational activities. They are two different things. What the Gospel ordained for all believers is to come, "God want all men to come to what? The knowledge of the truth." The more we grow in the knowledge of the truth, then the more what happens? We become free. We become free. Now I'm going to take that now from there into what I want to add today. But as I want to add, that was why last week, two weeks ago, we were telling ourselves that if we want to maintain our spiritual relevance, we have to go and look at the life of Magdalene. That story at the tomb. The elders, they only saw napkin and they saw lining cloth to one side inside the sepulcher. When Magdalene looked again, she saw angels. We said men who can only see napkins and lining clothes inside the sepulcher will keep carrying wrong gospel. Peter and the other disciple that ran there with him, they told Magdalene, "They have stolen the Lord." And they believed that they went away. It was based on a belief but it was not based on revelation. And there are many men today who are carrying around based on some experiences, some things they are preaching and teaching. No, in Jesus' name, they are preaching it. But it is not based on revelation of the truth. And so such men, they find themselves struggling, struggling with sin, and then they will come and tell you, "No, nobody should be talking about that. Ah, if God is to mark sin, who will be justified? Elẹṣẹ ni gbogbo wa," because they discover that in their Christian walk, they are still servants to sin. So they find it difficult to speak against sin, to handle sin, because they, Jesus spoke to those who believe in him. "Except you know the truth, you will not be free, oh." And so we have men like that. But people that will be free are people when the seemingly spiritual, the seemingly elders in the field, the seemingly bishopric, the seemingly pastoral, what am I to make you see that revelation is not by title but about understanding your entitlement. There are some things you are entitled to as a believer, not because you have certain title. There are some entitlements that is yours, not title but entitlement. She refused to leave the place, she was crying. She was weeping. As she was weeping, that was what she was explaining. She was weeping and weeping and weeping and weeping. After much weeping, that's why we read Proverbs. She lifted up her voice, she cried. Lift up her voice, if you will cry out for knowledge. She prayed. "Can you weep? If you cannot weep, you cannot cry for knowledge." Those who seek, who hunger and thirst shall be what? Shall be filled. If you cannot hunger, if you cannot thirst as the deer pants for water, pant after this thing, you will not be filled. She was there panting and what happened? She looked inward again. What did she see this time? She saw angels, two angels. What looks dead and ordinary became alive and living. And the angels said, "Woman, what's the problem?" And then while she was responding to that, she looked behind again. You will hear a voice from behind you. That's what Isaiah said. "This is the way." And who is the way? That is Jesus. From behind again she heard from behind, the Lord said, "Woman," and then she said, "Ah, if you are the one who has seen my Lord, please tell me where." She thought the man was a gardener. But when he called her name, when he called her name, she recognized Jesus. He said, "Don't touch me yet. I'm still going up, but go and tell my brethren and your brethren that I go to their father and their father." You saw that men who tarry there, they will see beyond the napkin and they will encounter the truth, that is Jesus. That is the only way to sustain your spiritual relevance. That's the way to sustain it. Now what is actually my burden today? The reason why I have to put these things together because of those who have just coming. I want to show you something about this matter of coming to the knowledge of the truth. Connecting it with where we started from. "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Now why we must, why we must, I'm trying to make you understand why you must, like Paul said since the day I heard about you, I did not cease to pray. That was Paul, just apostolic prayer. He said I did not cease praying for the brethren, he said that the God of our father will give unto you the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him, that your eyes of understanding might be opened. Magdalene's eyes were opened. She saw beyond the napkin, she saw angels. He said that your eyes of understanding might be opened so that you can know what is the hope of this calling. That you can know it, there is a hope in this calling. But if you don't know what is the hope of the calling, you will not follow this calling. Because there is so much. I trust God that those of you that are here, I pray you are all on the website. I want you to listen to what we have in the school of this Saturday. Hear there is an end. Listen to it. Except you know, understand the hope of the... except your eyes of understanding are opened to know the hope of this calling, I'm telling you, you will change side from the fear of God. You will change side. Go and read, go and listen to that message, "Hear There Is An End." You will see except you can see the hope. Except you can see the hope. You must see beyond the fact that you are standing somewhere, you are not making progress. But you can see beyond the fact that even if I stay here till death, there is something great that anybody who remains here will get. If you cannot see that thing... even Jesus, how did he endure the cross? Scripture says, "Who endured the cross, he despised the shame... looking at the joy set before him." If you cannot see the hope of your calling, you cannot endure till the end. You cannot. The challenges, the trouble, the difficulty, and the problems that goes with the faith. The sometimes astounding and confounding. That's why you look at our father. God has to record their lives so that we can learn from their lives. Look at what the dealings of Abraham. At a point, what happened? He deviated. He quickly took Hagar. The wife had not finished suggesting, Abraham has gone to Hagar. He could not say no, no, God has told me that... Quickly. And for thirteen years God was not speaking. God had to appear to him again after thirteen years. "Abraham, walk before me and be perfect. Walk before me... what did I say? Where did you turn to?" But it takes, you were looking at that, counting the years, is there still anything after this thing? Is there still anything after this thing? And then once suggestion just came from the other line, what happened? He left the line that he was, he quickly jumped to the other line. Today we are still regretting it. You will alternate except you know the hope of your calling. So your eyes of understanding must be opened to know, you see, what is the hope of this calling. That is you must know the truth. There's a truth you must know about the world that is to come that will keep you going. There's an understanding. Why do you think, brethren, that the apostles... he said in fasting often, in patience often, in endurance often, among false brethren, among true brethren? All those things were going on. All those things were going on. But yet, what did they call everything? Light affliction. Can you describe what Paul went through as light? Can it be light? At a point, he said, in this we rejoice even though this outward one is dying every day, but the inward one is renewed every day. Those men that I talked about, do you think they are looking at the cars, the marriage, the money, the certificate? If you're looking at those things, will you be having a joy that the outside one is dying? Do you know how much distraction when we see the outside one dying? We always want the two together. I like being practical when I handle scripture. For men to get to a point where they say that in this we rejoice that though the outside one is dying, the inner one is renewed every day, and how we wish that we just drop this outside one and be free to go and meet the Lord? But we are constrained because of the saints, so that we can still be relevant to them. But we really wish... have you ever seen a Christian in our time wishing to die, wishing to go? Something has happened to them. That was why they were really praying for other Christians that God will open the eyes of their understanding that they may know the hope of this calling. Because if they don't know it, when the outside one is dying, you will deviate. Demas loved this world and he went away. Perilous times are come for men shall be lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Lovers of pleasure. Go and check it. The flesh is something we cannot cope with if we cannot see something beyond the natural. Any man who can only see napkin and lining clothes inside the sepulcher will not endure till the end. I stand to be challenged anywhere. Any man when anytime he looked into that sepulcher, all he can see is napkin, lining clothes, the eyes of understanding have not been helped once to see beyond the napkins and see angels speaking. Who cannot hear the voice of the way and say, "What is your confusion? Don't be confused. Go and tell them." I'm telling you, the arm of flesh will fail off. Except the Lord is building the house, they labor in vain that are building. Our eyes of understanding must be opened. God wants all men to come to the knowledge of this truth because until that knowledge actually comes, they cannot endure till the end. You must see the hope of your calling. You must be able to see... Oh, I remember this thing. Maybe I would stop with that because of time. Look at this story. I read it on WhatsApp. It was sent to a page I was reading. It said a young boy was waiting for the regular bus that come to pick people. But you know in advanced country, the bus stop are spelled out. You can't just go and stay anywhere. So the boy was waiting for the bus at a particular place, not the usual. Somebody called him and said, "Hey, hey, leave that place. The bus will not stop there. This is where you are supposed to stay." He said, "No. I'll be here. I know the bus will stop." The person shook his head and went away. After some time, the bus came. It stopped at the regular place, picked passengers, went, and then stopped where the boy is, and the boy entered. The boy was certain because the driver was his dad. He has called him ahead. Except you know the hope of your calling, you will be distracted. Except your dad is telling you, "Ma wọ're, ma wọ're, ma wọ're. This is it. Just wait there." Others will be thinking that you are hopeless. They will be thinking that iye aye ẹ l'eyi, the bus will not carry you. They will be thinking that you will be left abandoned. They will be thinking that there will be no hope for you. They will be thinking that for you all hope is gone. But you are certain that in that spot that look odd, because of your communion with the father, something is going to happen at that spot. And in reality it’s going to happen because God, God is real. Those that walk with him... Abraham look like a foolish man. He said, "Look, go into a place that I will show you." Abraham look foolish, and he was going. God called him alone. At the end of the day was Abraham, was he a foolish man? He looked so odd. It looked like, "Ah, where are you going?" Say, "I don't know. When I get there, I will know." That look like a foolish journey. But he was communicating with his God. At the end of the day today, everybody is praying, "Abraham's blessings are mine." That man that looked like a foolish man at the beginning is the man that has become a reference point of prayer, become a reference point for miracle because he was communicating. His eyes was open beyond the napkin. It was open beyond the napkin, beyond the lining clothes. He could see angels. He could hear the Lord. Sister, cry, cry that the eyes of your understanding must be opened. Brother, cry it. [Speaker 4] Thank you, Jesus. [Speaker 5] Thank you, our Father. [Speaker 1] Thank you, Jesus. Everybody please stand up for us.