Understanding Fundamentals of Intimacy with God (Part 3)

[Music playing] [Speaker 1] Unto Thee, O Lord. Jesus 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 on Family Tents Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Congregational singing] Unto Thee we are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord we are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord we are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord we are gathering together unto Thee. Unto the Lord shall the gathering of His people be. We are gathering together unto Thee. [Main Speaker] Lord, unto You we gather this evening. Unto You we come. Unto You we are bringing ourselves. Unto You, O Lord, we are gathering, not unto ourselves. We are gathering alone and alone unto You. We are not gathering unto any man. Lord, as we all connect together, we who are here physically, our brethren who are joining us on Mixlr, our brethren on Telegram, everyone connecting with us this evening, Lord, unto You we gather. And because we gather unto You, we shall meet with You. The speaker, the hearer shall meet with You. There will be seed for the sower, there will be bread for the eaters, in the name of Jesus. Lord, as we press on on this matter of fundamentals of relationship with You, of intimacy with You, Lord, we pray more and more and more and more You will speak to our hearts. Lord, we pray You will light up our darkness. Lord, Your light will shine into our darkness, every dark area of our lives, everywhere that needs light, every area where we need to understand what You are saying properly, everywhere we need to see the opportunity You are bringing our way, everywhere we need to understand what You are telling us to enter into, everywhere we need to better know what You are saying, what You are telling us to grasp to lay hold of. Lord, there shall be light. There shall be light. Give the speaker light, give the hearers light, in the name of Jesus. Lord, it is our year to make gain. It is our year to profit. We shall profit by God. By the Lord, we will profit. There shall be no loss. There shall be no loss. In the name of Jesus. Thank You, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Yeah, we move on again this week where we left it last week on fundamentals of intimacy with God. And last week we began from the very fundamental place, that is the place of the family. The family is the king. The family is key. And we were looking at all the things about who gave birth to you, who is your brother, who is your sister, relationship with fellow brothers, fellow sisters, your connection with that person, how we were able to see that indeed and of a truth, there is a strong link from biblical point of view. The reason why we are not taking these things for granted is where I am starting from today. Before I start from where we want to start today, which is Romans chapter 15, I just wonder if anybody has some reflections they want to make. Reflections from the house, reflections during the week, testimonies, anybody speaking? Okay, so let's have testimonies and reflections, whichever one. Let's have you. [Speaker 2] Praise the Lord. What stood with me last week was that you may die in obscurity, not because God has not anointed you, but because of lack of obedience. He used the example of King Saul and King David as an instance that their fathers sent them on an errand, and it was that errand that showed them to the world. In the case of David, David had been anointed in secret without the knowledge of Saul, but if he had not gone to the battlefield to give his brethren food, he would have just been using the anointing to be shepherd in obscurity. So that point stood with me that we will die in obscurity if we don't obey God. [Main Speaker] Yeah, we may remain in obscurity, we may die in obscurity if we don't obey the Lord. And if you look at the obedience we are talking about last week, it was just what looks very simple: honor father and mother. If father said go, don't say "Oh, no, let it be." You may just die in obscurity that way. That would have been somebody who had been anointed to the nation, would have remained in obscurity not because God did not want him, but the design of God to bring him to limelight was something he did not take advantage of. Okay, let's have the second person. [Speaker 3] Praise the Lord. Mine is the fact that no matter how heavily anointed a man is and no matter how graced a man is, his relevance will only be obvious in his relationship with people. For instance, if a man is anointed to preach, is it not people he will preach to? No matter how heavy the gift, how anointed the head, the relevance will only be obvious as we relate with people. So I should not undermine people around me because the ministry, even if we talk about ministry, is to people. Our ministry is not to angels or to God; it is to people that God will send us to. [Main Speaker] Wow, thank you so much for those comments and reflections. Honestly, as the matter is coming to you, it has been coming to me in diverse ways. And the way it keeps coming to me on and on and on is that this matter of your getting closer and closer to God, if you don't understand it in relation to people, all the profits you will make that God has designed for you to make, you may not make them. And the losses you will also make is also in how you relate to people. The profit God wanted David to make, there was a profit God wanted. What was the profit for that year? God wanted to announce David to Israel that he is anointed. That was how he was announced to Israel. That was the profit for his life. But how did God arrange the profit? Just go on an errand for your father. If you are thinking that the profit is in the air, you just think in a place of prayer, it just drops profit, forget about it. That thing that God wants you to profit is about something that connects you and somebody. And the first thing you must not talk about is don't undermine those around you, beginning from the family. Don't undermine your fundamental relationship so that we don't die in obscurity. I pray we will profit this year. I said we will be starting from Romans chapter 15 today. Why we are not taking these things for granted, why we seem to be emphasizing it on fundamentals of intimacy with God, we said it's about people. And the first thing we did last week was to connect it with what we have in terms of our relationship with fellow human beings, and we said the first thing begins from where? From the family. And Romans chapter 15, look at why we are not taking this for granted. They are very simple, popular scriptures. Romans chapter 15, verse 4. In the New King James, it says, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime," why were they written? They were written for our learning, that through the patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope. NLT says, "Such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us." Whatever you see in the scriptures that are written, they are not just stories. And that is why it pains me today that people are not taking time to familiarize themselves with Bible stories. These stories, even if people don't know the stories, I'm not saying if you know the story, you now know the revelation. That's not what I mean. But at least revelation will now come from the stories that you know. At least know the stories. These things were written for our learning. Some of them are simple stories, some of them are pathetic stories, some of them are laughable stories, some are interesting stories, some are stories of love, some are stories of war. God put all those things there so that we can learn. Please, those things you are seeing about David, about Saul, about Samson. I want to say something about Samson as I move on to the second level of relationship today. Now, look at something about Samson, brethren. You know the Bible said that the spirit of God led Samson in terms of marriage to a Philistine. Now, when he led him to the Philistine, the father and the mother, what did they say? They said, "Is there nobody among your people that you could marry from? Why are you trying to go to people that God has said we should not marry from?" What did Samson say? He said, "Leave me alone." But the Bible now recorded something. Let's look at that story because some of us are not familiar with the story. Please, let's familiarize ourselves with Bible stories. The stories of Samson in Judges chapter 13 and Judges chapter 14. At the end of chapter 13, the Bible says that so the woman bore a son and named him Samson, and the child grew and the Lord blessed him, and the spirit of the Lord began to move upon him. Then in chapter 14, it now told us about the marriage issue. "Now Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and his mother, 'I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore, get her for me as a wife.' Then his father and mother said to him, 'Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren or among all the people that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?' And Samson said to his father, 'Get her for me, for she pleases me well.'" Look at something. "But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel." Do you get something in this place? God was the one at work. God was moving Samson to go and take the Philistine lady. Now, but why was God moving Samson? God was not moving Samson because of marriage. God was moving Samson to find an occasion against the Philistines. This is what we need to understand. That's why I tell people we should be careful about superiority complex. Humility is wisdom. This "I have so much revelation, you cannot learn from anybody again," and as the person is speaking, you are judging, "No, this message is not correct," nothing blesses you again. No, that doesn't mean that we should not discern the things that we are hearing and listening to. The Bible says the fool takes all that he listens to, but the wise will sieve it and take the good one out of it. So don't think I'm saying that everything we hear is right. But I'm talking about a spirit of arrogance, a spirit of superiority complex, a spirit that makes a man not to become teachable. Now, God was seeking not marriage. What was God seeking? An occasion against the Philistines. That was what God was seeking. And if you look at how the whole thing worked out, Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyard of Timnah. Now, to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. The spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; of course, he killed that one. Then verse 7, "Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well." After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. He took some of it in his hands. Of course, he didn't tell his mother; that was what we saw last week. Watch your life when you begin to hide from those you are accountable to; you're on the path of destruction. I'm talking about hiding because you know something is wrong. What I'm trying to make you see is that as you walk with God and God begins to increase your life, God expects you, if you must remain in light, to remain accountable to people. This time, he told his father and his mother, didn't he? What does that tell us? Samson did not remain in darkness this time. There was nothing in darkness. So he told father and mother, "I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore, get her for me as a wife." Then his father and mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren or among all the people that you might go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" What followed? And Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she pleases me well." God was seeking an occasion against the Philistine. That was what God was seeking. And look at how the whole thing worked out. "So his father went down to the woman, and Samson gave a feast, for young men used to do. It happened when they saw him, they brought 30 companions to be with him. Then Samson said to them, 'Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within seven days of the feast, then I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing. But if you cannot explain it to me, then you will give me the same thing.' And they said, 'Tell us the riddle.' So it was. So he said to them, 'Out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet.' Now for three days, they could not explain the riddle." "But it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson's wife, 'Entice your husband that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so?' Then Samson's wife wept to him and said, 'You only hate me; you do not love me. If you have posed a riddle to the sons of my people but you have not explained it to me.' And he said to her, 'Look, I have not explained it to my father or to my mother, so should I explain it to you?' Now she wept on him the seven days while the feast lasted, and it happened on the seventh day that he told her because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people. So when the men of the city came to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, 'What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than lion?' And he said to them, 'If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.' Then the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed 30 of their men, took their apparel and gave the change of clothes to those who had explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused and he went back up to his father's house." And so what did they do? Samson's wife was given to his companion that bested him. Now, what God wanted to do, had God not started a battle? Had God not started a battle? But do you know where the problem is in this thing? If they had given the wife away because that was what God wanted to do, God wanted to start occasion. Samson now came back to collect his wife. That was how the fight started between him and them. That was the story. What I'm trying to make you see is that the point that the parents were making at the beginning to Samson, was that point not valid? The point was valid. But because Samson did not fully comprehend what God was doing, do you notice that Samson never went again to take a wife? Instead, what did he do? He began to sleep with these same people. He became so disoriented because of what they did that he never did again what was right. They took his wife away from him. They took that wife, he got angry, and then war began between him and the Philistines. What did he now do? If they have taken the wife and given to someone else, what stopped Samson from taking another wife? What stopped him? Nothing. But the very thing that stopped Samson from taking another wife was not letting go of what happened in the first occasion. Either out of disappointment, either out of the fact that he does not fully understand what God was saying, either out of not listening to the parents again. When that would have gone, we know what the parents will have said: "Why not take another wife?" Because it would have been better to marry than to burn. It would have been better to take another wife than to begin to sleep with prostitutes. But Samson never went back to that matter that the parents raised with him. He never revisited that matter again. God was seeking occasion against the Philistine. That was how God allowed that one. And if you look at the whole occasion, if Samson had gone ahead to take another wife from among the people, among his people, do you know what would have happened? Samson would have escaped Delilah. What I'm trying to make you see, brethren, what I'm just trying to make you understand, is that as we get more and more intimate with God, it is very important not only to be sensitive to what God is doing in our life, but also not to be an individual that disregards fundamental counsels. These were some things that the parents were raising with him. It did not work out, good, it did not work out. But the marriage did not work out does not mean that now you can just go because these people have done this. To the side of the parents, he didn't do what was right. He was so angry because of what they did. He got so disappointed because of what they did. And what did he do? He moved on. After spending all this money and then you took away this lady, there's no need arranging for another marriage. He began to live that life, brought Samson into error on one part, he didn't reengage what the parents said. On the other part, inability to forgive, to overlook, to set aside what some people did to him. Do you know that this was a similar thing too with Jonah? You remember Jonah? God came to Jonah very clearly. "Jonah, arise, go to Nineveh." Look at that depth of relationship. What was the thing that began to twist Jonah out of what God, the profit for his life? What began to twist Jonah? "These people, they are bad people. Why should I do good to them? These people, they will come to Israel, they will kill people. No, if I go and preach now, they will go and get born again." Selfishness. Not having kindness for those who have offended him. "No, they should suffer. If I go and preach now, they go and repent. They may escape God's judgment. But if they remain in their sin, God's judgment will come." He was just calculating based on what they have done to him. And unfortunately, what happened to Jonah himself? The profit for his life and ministry, Jonah took a 360-degree turn away from it. If not that God was merciful, what would have happened to Jonah? I just pray for us, both for myself and for you, may the mercy of God always avail for us. If not for mercy, what was to destroy Jonah was his attitude toward other men. And that is what we are looking at today. We have looked at the level of the family. What I'm talking about today about fundamentals of intimacy with God, I'm talking about don't forget where we started. What do we call the fundamental relationship with God? We said nobody has seen God at any time. Who has seen God? Nobody. But if we love one another, what happens? God abides in us. And what happens? His love is perfected in us. If a man says that "I love God" and hate his brother, he is a liar. How can a man say he love his brother, if a man cannot love his brother who he can see, then it is not possible for him to love God that he cannot see? It means if the physical does not make a meaning, the spiritual cannot be true. If the physical thing cannot make a meaning, the spiritual one cannot be true. And honestly, it's the same thing for everything. If somebody says "I've met with Christ" and he continues in sin, we begin to ask, "Have you really met Christ?" If the physical one is not true, because the fruit, "by their fruit know them," Jesus said the same thing. And what I'm trying to make you see, brethren, the Bible says something very clearly. As you have opportunity, do good to what? Let's see that scripture. Do you know where that scripture is? Galatians chapter 6. That's where we are going today. Fundamentals of intimacy with God. And I'm saying that this intimacy that we began with, build your personal one, we said your personal walk with God is the first thing we said. Then how do you know if that thing is growing? The first thing we said it there will be manifestation within the family. Now we are now looking at manifestation between you and other men. The other man, that's what I'm talking about now, the other man. Who is the other man? The other man can be anybody. And I'm beginning with by showing you Galatians chapter 6. Look at that scripture. Galatians 6:8-10. "For he who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap eternal life. And let us not be weary in well doing," another version says, "in doing good." And don't let us be weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to who? All men, especially those who are of the household of faith." So who is the other man? All men, especially the household of faith. All men. The other man is all men. Now, why is there a connection between all men, the other man and you, your intimacy with God and your profiting with God? What's the connection between? What we are looking at is fundamental of intimacy with God. Now, when we become intimate with God, there will be something that you do towards all men that can now make your own life to enter into what God had designed for you. That thing that God had designed for your life is connected to men. All men, not only believers, but especially believers. That profit you want to make in life is connected to all men. And look at what Jesus said. Let's begin with what our Lord Jesus said. Luke chapter 16. Are you there? Luke chapter 16. Verse 10. "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is also will be unjust in that which is much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?" NLT, verse 11 and 12. "And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people's things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?" If you can't trust you with worldly wealth, who will commit to your hand what? Heavenly riches. Are you seeing a connection between material things and spiritual things? True riches of heaven. They are not things we eat, they are not things we speak, they are not things we wear. What God has prepared for those who love him. He said these things we speak; they are revelations, they are insight, they are things. Look at what Jesus told the disciples. He said to them, "To you, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom." The real riches of heaven are the mysteries of the kingdom. He said if you have not been true in worldly wealth, who will give you the true riches of heaven? Wait, look at the direction of this discourse. This is the Master speaking. He's talking about your own. There is your own. There is your profit. There is your profit, spiritually, physically, materially; just think of everything. But the way God had arranged our life, the way God had arranged His eternal plan for your life, it is connected with people. That the ultimate of God for your life is connected with people and that if you are anybody, if you are somebody who relegate people, you will never enter the ultimate of God for your life. You may get things, though. It's just like let me give you a good example. If Joseph had killed all his brothers, he would have shined. He would have shined now. He will be in Egypt and he will die. But by the time he died, when he gets to heaven, what will they tell him? May you not be an eternal waste. I will not be an eternal waste in the name of Jesus. Let us pray for one minute that I will not be an eternal waste. I'm talking about people. Please, don't underrate this thing that we are discussing. These are things that are written in scriptures about intimacy with God. Nobody is an idol. There is nothing like "I am so spiritual." No, these things they are real, they are true, they are recorded for our learning. Let us pray who know God. I beg you, I will not be an eternal waste. Help me, Lord, open my eyes to those things around me, to that other, that other brother, that other sister that my own is connected to. That brother, that sister, that man, that woman that my own is connected to. Lord, may I not neglect, may I be true and faithful to them. That brother around me, that sister around me, my neighbor somewhere, the brother in the same fellowship. Because everywhere you are, all these brothers and people, they are located in your location. It is in your location. Oh God, I will not be an eternal waste. By the mercies of God, I will not be an eternal waste in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's move on, brethren. So we are trying to look at these things as recorded in scriptures and we are taking lessons from them. The first thing we see in verse 11, therefore if you have not been faithful in the case of unrighteous mammon, deceitful riches, money, possessions. What did He call it? Deceitful riches. You know that riches are deceitful. Are you aware? Sometimes you don't know, but let me tell you one thing that makes it to be deceitful. Sometimes because you are materially more prosperous than somebody, you think you are better than them. You are just self-deceived. That's one of the deceit of riches. You think somebody that have 10 cars have a better life than somebody that is trekking. It's a lie. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of what he possesses. The life of Lazarus was a better life than the rich man. Riches are deceitful. So you think that because you have it, God is blessing you, God is with you. You think God is more with you than the person that don't have it. It's a lie. It's a lie. Riches are deceitful. Sometimes we think that suits show that you are more anointed. I'm serious. In our year, it's not about how anointed you are. There are people who don't know Jesus; they have better suit than your own. So don't think that it's anointing. It's a deceit. It's a deceit. Riches are deceitful. Another quick one about deceitful riches is that when you tend to be prosperous more than some other people materially, you tend to be high-minded. Hello, "Ah, good morning." You'll be talking to the age of your father, somebody who is the age of your father, but because materially you are far better, "Stand up there when I'm talking, you don't talk." This is what wealth makes you have a kind of heart. You just forgot that your life is a breath. It is a deceit. Riches are deceitful. We need to be careful with riches. Be careful when you seem to be making it in life, when you seem to be prosperous in life. Be careful. Watch yourself much more the more. Why we need to watch this thing much more the more is that there is a true riches; there is deceitful riches. And the deceitful one can take the true one away from you. May you not make a wrong exchange in the name of Jesus. Deceitful riches, money, possession. He says if you have been unfaithful in those things, who will entrust to you the true riches? Normally, brethren, if God want to give you true riches, what will God first give you? The deceitful one. You'll first get the one that is not real. So the way you handle that one that is not real will now determine whether you will get the real one. If you don't manage material prosperity properly, you will never get heavenly prosperity. You will never get it. That's why Jesus said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. It is like the camel passing through the eye of a needle." It is the Master making this statement. And when he said it is sometimes, you know what we normally think? We just think of rich men driving 10 cars. You don't think of yourself. You don't think of areas where you know chemistry better than your sister, who is already richer. How do you handle it? Is why they brought the sister to their room and began to press their breast. Don't think of riches in terms of somebody carrying 20 cars. Think of that thing in which God has put in your hand and you are better in it. Think of all those things. God was showing in a revelation the true riches. This is the person you need to marry. And something was to take that from you. And the brother blocked off that; he was not ready for that. But thank God, that's why I said that may the mercies of God always avail for us. He was just speaking with me, and I said, "Bro, is your head correct? What is your problem?" We began to talk, we talk and talk and talk. Then he now came to himself and said, "What is even my problem? How did I even get to this point?" Deceitful riches. How did you get to the point where you begin to rate the life of a sister because he had a low TUT? So you have rated her life based on TUT certificate that I remember the best student in our set died when he was going to serve. Something that you have today that tomorrow is no more, is what you are using to define the life of a sister. I'm talking of you not that if not for God's intervention, that brother would not have profited that year maritally. God wanted him to profit. But there was a deceitful riches in his hand; there was something he was holding something that made him lose heavenly one. So what I'm trying to make you see, there's a connection between what's in your hand and where you are going to ultimately, in relation to how you deal with those things. Faithfully, trustworthily, or not trustworthily. That's what determines whether you will get to the ultimate thing that God had planned for your life. Because you must remember what God has planned for His children is an inheritance that is uncorruptible, that is reserved where? In heaven for you. Your inheritance is not here. Are you aware of that? But God has so arranged our life that it is how you handle the deceitful one, the money, the possession, how you handle that one that will determine whether you will get the correct one. That's why money will take heaven from some people. Intelligence will take heaven from some people. How you handle it, how you handle that one. The reason why some people will not enter into what God is saying, the work of God for their life, the purpose of God, why they will never understand their divine assignment in life was because they know maths better than every other people. It may just be because of maths, that possession. And because of that maths, they are unfaithful with a lot of people. For some people, what they possess is skill, and with that skill, they have exploited people. This same way, even your okada rider is rich in his own way. When you are trek and you need okada and he has okada, that is his own riches. How is he handling the riches? So when the Bible say riches, many times our mind goes to Dangote, Bill Gates. No, no, no. Every man has some kind of possession. Your handling of that thing in relation to people determines a lot of things. So that's why He said, "Money, possession." He said if you have been unfaithful in those things, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not proved faithful in that which belongs to another, whether God or man, who will give you that which is your own? That is the true riches. I hope we are seeing the matter. He's talking about your own. There is your own. There is your profit. That your profiting in life, that your own is a consequence is connected with faithfulness to all men, trustfulness to all men, how you handle what belongs to other men. How you handle it will determine whether you will get yours. You will never get your own in life if you don't learn this secret. You'll never get your own in life if you don't learn this secret. This is the Master speaking. He's talking about your own. There is your own. There is your profit. There is your profit, spiritually, physically, materially; just think of everything. But the way God had arranged our life, the way God had arranged His eternal plan for your life, that's what I began from the first time I started. I said the ultimate of God for your life is connected with people. You remember that that's how we started? That the ultimate thing that God design for your life is connected with people. And that if you are anybody, if you are somebody who relegate people, you will never enter the ultimate of God for your life. You may get things, though. At the end of the day, it's not about what they are thinking. It's about where you are going. Battle, it's not about what they are thinking. "If you are the Son of God, prove it now. Come down now. You say You are the Son of God, You say You are the Son of God, come down, come down, prove it to us." Can He not come down? Can He not come down? He just come and then we'll go back so that you can agree. He just came down. "He's Son of God, oh!" They will now go back. Could He not do such thing? Is anything impossible with Him? It's not because You want to prove a point. You run out of God's purposes for your life. So it becomes very crucial thing to understand life. That God will be dealing with us in a way that you will never get what is your own, what is your own is connected with all men. That's what God did. And if I am to quickly run around to make you see this thing, which we would take time to look critically at biblical example of these things. So you'll be seeing narrow connection, and you will say that everything about God is connected to you and all men. You and all men. We are stopping with this teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ today. And I want us to begin to pray. He says if you are faithful in what is least, he is faithful also in more. If you have not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you have not proved faithful in that which belongs to another, whether God or man, who will give you what is your own? What is your own? And I want you to look at that really this year that God, You have designed profit for me. But my profit is connected to all men. That your profiting in life, that your own is a consequence, is connected with trustworthiness to all men, faithfulness to all men. How you handle what belongs to other men. How you handle it will determine whether you will get yours. Lord, 2024 I will not miss my own. I will not miss my own. But I'm showing you the part, this intimacy. So as you get closer and closer to God, as you stand at the place of your altar, look at it; they brought a message to Jacob, Joseph wanted you to come. Jacob could have said, "Tell Joseph that never! My father Abraham wanted to go to Egypt, God said no. My father Isaac wanted to go to Egypt, God said no. Me, I'm not going anywhere; we are staying here." Jacob and children would have died. God wanted to profit him. It was something to profit him. It was how he responds to that relationship from a call from his son. In the same way, as He is why not do it like this, bro? Sister, brother, help me with this. You'll just wonder. Oh, something just came to my head now. During the COVID when there was serious cash problem, a parent called me and said, "Please, I want you to help me pay my child's school fees." I said, "No problem, baba. I will help you pay. I've been paying before. COVID will not stop me. Anyhow, anyhow, we will see how we will pay." I said, "So what will you do? As usual, see how you get money, pay it into my account and then I'll be able to do that and get paid the child school fees for you." Before I could say that, "Oh, mo mi, I've gathered cash, 80,000. Over time, I've been putting it together. I'm thinking of bringing the cash to you so that you can now see how you pay it online." I said, "Okay, baba, no problem. Baba, bring it." Do you know that the baba brought that money? When he brought that money to us, that cash was a serious saving grace during that period that there was no cash for us. That was what God used to deliver us from so many things that period. The baba is not a Christian, though. I want you to pray, brethren. God, I will profit this year. God, who teaches us to profit. God, who teaches us to profit. God, God, give light to my darkness. Everywhere I have locked up people in my heart, help me, Lord, to open up people. As I open this gate, gate, open up the gates of your heart. In inner self-centeredness, self-absorbed, seeing the world only from your own, these are things that will limit you. Pray, "I am profiting this year." Lord, help me, Lord, help me, Lord, that I may be found faithful and I may be found true, in the name of Jesus. Thank You, blessed Father. Thank You, almighty God. Blessed be Your name, our God. Blessed be Your name. Let's take this song together as we close. I will live for Jesus day after day. I will live for Jesus let's come what may. The Holy Spirit I will obey. I will live for Jesus day after day. Day after day, I will live for Jesus day after day. I will live for Jesus let's come what may. The Holy Spirit I will obey. I will live for Jesus day after day. Let's close with the grace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. [Outro music] [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tents 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.; Adolescent and Singles class, 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 outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the First Bridge, Ilere Community, opposite Verital filling station, along Ijele 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: 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.