Unequal Yoke 3 (the Quiet Life of a General)

[background noise: religious choral music] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home for us. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [background noise: music] I will live for Jesus day after day. I will live for Jesus, let come what may. The Holy Spirit, I will obey. I will live for Jesus day after day. [Speaker 1] We thank God again for another first Saturday, this time for the month of October 2021. Another time again for our Singles Club. We bless His name for the privilege of gathering again to look into the word of God, to fellowship together. Our singles who are here physically and for those who are joining us online, we say happy new month and, of course, happy in the independence celebration of yesterday. We thank the Lord and we pray that for our nation, the Lord will grant true independence indeed, in the name of Jesus Christ. Let us have a word of prayer as we go into our Singles Club for today. Our Father, we are grateful unto you. We thank you, we bless your name, we lift you high. We give you glory, we give you honor, we give you adoration. We thank you for your preservation that has brought us into this new month again. We thank you, oh God, for your help and for your assistance. And Lord God Almighty, we say as we fellowship together again this morning, let your Spirit work within us, in the name of Jesus Christ. As we fellowship together this morning, Lord, we pray, meet with us where we need you most. Teach us your ways, oh God. Establish us in your truth, oh God, that we may walk in the path of righteousness, in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. We have been considering the series, "Unequal Yoke." Unequal yoke. And we began with seeing that ever from the beginning, God has always wanted to separate light from darkness. He said, "Let there be light," and the Bible says God separated the light from darkness. Ever from the beginning of creation, God had always wanted darkness to be separated from light. And then in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, we saw—which is our foundational text—we saw that he said, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers." We saw that that statement was not a counsel. It was not just an advice. It was a direct instruction. It was a command. "Do not be," because God doesn't want us to. And for the month of September, we saw that we narrowed the matter down to the matter of sexual purity. Unequal yoking and sexual purity. The need for us not to have sexual expression like the unbelievers. And we saw so many things that we need to watch in our life: the kind of friends we keep, the kind of values we have, the kind of association we walk with, the level of our intimacy with God, the need to hide the word of God in our heart. These are the things we considered in looking at unequal yoking too, the need for sexual separation. Because we saw that ever from the beginning also, when God was dealing with man, it was when God got to man that God said—the scripture says—He made them male and female. For the animal, he said He made them in their kind. So animals sleep across one another. There is no defined sex mate. There's no defined wife or husband. But when it came to man, he said He made man in His own image, and He made them male and female. The female was defined, and it was only in man that the female was made out of the male. And we saw that for man, God only intended the intention of God for man is to have a defined sexual partner, which comes at the level of marriage. But we can see that the world lives severally and diversely today. And that was why we were looking at the need to avoid unequal yoking as believers, not to have sexual expression like unbelievers. To look at the order, the divine order of God for man, so that we don't live like animals. We don't live like animals. We don't come down from our place of honor and live like animals. Today we want to move on in this matter of unequal yoking. You remember I did say last month that it is important for you to know some of the things that brings about unequal yoking in our sexual life. And I did mention some things that relate to character development, the need for integrity, the need for us to watch the kind of friends, to watch our values, and so on. Today, I just want to call our attention to the quiet life of a general. The quiet life of a general in the Bible. The general has a very, very quiet life. He was not well known. He was not well known. It was just in one chapter that we saw his life. But what we saw in that chapter about his life is something that worth mentioning for our generation. It's something that worth learning from. And I'm not talking about any other person apart from Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba. I think it is something for young people to learn today, something to learn from the life of that man as to the place our resolve, standing in our resolve, not to live like gentiles, not to live like sinners, not to live like those who does not regard God, who does not know God. Because that seems to be the common place today. Now let's look at the Bible's text, that's 2 Samuel in the Old Testament. 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel 11. I believe most of us are familiar with that story, but for the sake of emphasis, I will try to read the story and then now begin to emphasize some selected verses from that story. [Reader] It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked him how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. So when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.” So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also. Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war, and charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king, if it happens that the king’s wrath rises, and he says to you: ‘Why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’” So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent him. And the messenger said to David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field; then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate. The archers shot from the wall at your servants; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city, and overthrow it.’ So encourage him.” When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned her husband. And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. [Speaker 1] As we are considering this our fourth series on unequal yoking—the need for we believers, Christian singles, followers of Jesus, not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers—I said it would be good for us to look at the quiet life of this general, this general that his name is Uriah. We want to look at his life to see some things that can help us as single men and women, youth of today. Some things we need to build into our life so that when men fall, we will stand. When they stand, we will stand out. When they stand out, we will outstanding. There are certain things about men that make them to last. And that is what we want to look at in the life of Uriah, the life of this quiet general, as pointers to what can help you to stand your ground against the storm and the tide of unequal yoking. Unequal yoking today is something that is destroying so many of our youth. In recent time, particularly in the area of sexual perversion. In the area of sexual perversion, it is something today that is affecting seriously, bombarding the church. It seems to me that the enemy is bringing all kinds of armory, all kinds of bombardment upon the church in this area. And very few people, very few singles, Christian singles, are able to survive the bombardment. So, as we look at the life of Uriah, we want to see some important values, important things we can pick in the life of this man as a guide against unequal yoking. The quiet life of this general. From the story we saw what happened. David eventually slept with the wife. And just one or two comments on that before we zero into the life of Uriah. It is both ways we can learn something because there was a sexual perversion. And that is something we began to address in the month of September: unequal yoking, the need for sexual purity among Christian youth. Now we saw a kind of impurity there in the life of David. And so the quick thing to see, the quick thing to learn in that story from about the life of David is that one, marriage is not the antidote against sexual perversion. Marriage is not the antidote against it. You say, "Ah, you know the Bible says something in 1 Corinthians chapter 7." I'm not contradicting that. The Bible says—maybe I should just read it so that we can—I'm not contradicting scripture, I'm just trying to explain something. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, from verse 1, he says, "Now concerning the things which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual impurity, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband." So we saw that one purpose that marriage serve is that it helps for sexual purity. But marriage is not the antidote against lust, sexual perversion. David was a married man and he could not deal with sexual perversion. He could not deal with the lust. He saw something and he could not deal with it. Joseph was not married and yet he could conquer lust. He could conquer that seduction. So what I'm trying to make you see is that don't think that, "Ah, once I marry, God, once I just marry now, that will now solve the problem of sexual impurity." No, there is something more than that. It is equally good. Marriage is a provision of God, but in dealing with lust, in dealing with perversion in the heart, it is something beyond marriage. Because even married people are doing all kinds of sexual impurity like we saw in the life of David. That's the first I want to call your attention to. It's very, very important. So sexual temptation is not only a matter for singlehood. Sexual temptation is a matter for humanity. It's a matter for humanity, whether single or married. It's a matter for humanity. Now the other thing I want to mention by way of passing there in the life of David, just picking the lesson—I hope you are noting these lessons. The second lesson we are taking again in this thing is that Bathsheba did not deliberately expose herself. It was not a deliberate exposing of herself. Bathsheba did not deliberately say, "Let me set a trap for David so that the king can fall." No, that was not the matter. The Bible made us to understand that it was David that was on the roof. And you know when you are on the roof of a house, you can see afar. You can see to a large extent. So it was because of the position, the altitude where David was that granted him opportunity to see afar where a woman was bathing. And some few things I want to say about that is that if sexual perversion could come from a woman who is not careless with her nakedness, what do you think will happen for young people who are careless with their nakedness? You are putting on skirts like we mentioned last month that all your thighs are outside. You are wearing shorts, bumper shorts, to say you are—what are you exposing? People who were not even careless were harassed. Married people who were not careless were harassed. What of you that is single and you are careless? You put on blouse, one-tenth of the breast is outside. You bend down, everything is out for show. Skirt is so tight-fitting, we can see all your pants, all the shape of your buttocks, everything is outside. So people who are not even careless became victims. Then what do you expect for careless people? I'm not justifying rape. I'm not justifying sexual perversion, but I'm only saying that it is equally important. The Bible says, "Do not be unwise." Bible says be wise concerning what the will of the Lord is. The will of the Lord is that we should be decent in our dressing. Let us not be careless. Because even the careful, those who were not careless, became victims. And the other thing, other lesson from the life for that we may pick quickly from the life of David before we zero into our focus this morning, is that we should be careful why sometimes you cannot stop seeing, but you can stop looking. You cannot stop seeing. The way people are careless with themselves today, even inside our churches, our fellowship centers, you see all kinds of things. So much carelessness today. People are not careless with their phone, with their ATM pins, they are so careful not to expose it. And yet people are careless with their femininity, careless with their womanhood, careless with their breast, careless with all of that. I just wonder what society is turning into. But what I'm trying to say for the part of the men is that you cannot stop seeing sometimes because of so much carelessness today. But you can stop looking. When David saw, I wish he did not look further. Because it is in looking further that he was able to describe what he saw. He said the woman was beautiful to behold. You cannot see sometimes and be able to describe if you don't look further. He saw and then he kept his gaze, he began to look. And the Lord has warned us already that a man who looked at a woman lustfully has committed what? Adultery. Where? In his heart with her. So David was already guilty of the adultery even before the woman came. He was already guilty. And he did not stop there. He still went further to—he was also now also guilty even physically. And then we saw what happened. So it's important for us to learn. Be careful when you see careless sisters with their exposing their breast, exposing their hip, exposing their that. Be careful not to look. Learn how to run. Learn how to look away. Learn how to—turn your eyes the other side. Remember what Job said. Job said something, that should be in Job chapter 31, verse 1. He said, "I have made a covenant with my eyes, why then should I look upon a young woman?" You singles, go and make a covenant with your eyes. And in case any married people you are joining us to listen to what we are doing today with the singles, please go and make a covenant with your eyes. Job was a married man and even inside his own marriage, he understand that secret. The secret David did not understand. David did not understand that. Job made a covenant with his own eyes. Job understood that the eye must not see corruption. So he was careful with his eye, he made a covenant. So when he see them display one thing, he does not look. He turns his eyes the other side, knowing he have made a covenant. Learn to be radical with your life. Many of us are not—we are radical with some other things. The way we are excited about some other things—"Hey!"—and then we seem so to be excited about them, we seem to be radical about them. Please be radical about purity. Be radical about holiness. Be radical about it. Be resolved in your heart. Be radical. And that radicality is not anything strange. Look at what the Master said. He said if your eye will cause you to stumble, he said what? Pluck out the eye. It is better to enter into heaven with one eye than to have two eyes and be cast into hell. Is that not radicality? That's radicality. Not taking chances. Be hard upon yourself. That was what Job did. He did not just decide, he made a covenant. Make some covenants with your life. That's what I tell many young people. There are some things you have not decided about your life. And because you don't make decisions, you end up standing for nothing and so you fall for everything. Make some decisions about your life. Begin to decide before you get to the place. Take some decisions, decide about some things. I was quite—I don't think I was 20 when I made up my mind about never ever. Never ever to be alone with an opposite sex in any place. That I will never because I discovered that for immorality to take place, there must be a convenient place. Once the place is not convenient, it cannot happen. So, and one of the convenient place for anything to happen like that is when you are alone with the opposite sex. Once you are in seclusion, that is when your mind can begin to wander. Even if a girl undress and you are outside, you can't start touching the breast because people are passing. No matter how much your body is doing, you can't do anything. So I got to understand that the environment is a check on our sexual life. And so I began to work with that. And not through my life like that as a single person, I never had issue. Whenever I want to go and greet a sister, "Bro Philip, Bro Thomas, let's go and greet." Once I'm in the place and I come to greet a sister, and it happens that we are talking and this bro have to go, that one have to go, me too, I carry my load, I'm also going. They were always watching never to be alone. And it became a lifestyle. And over time when some things began to happen, one did not fall cheaply for those things because it has become a part of you. It has become a part of you. It has become a guide. I tell young people, make some decisions about your life. Begin to decide about some things early in life so that they will have become a part of you as you are growing up. Job made a covenant with his eye. What covenant have you ever made over your own life? Which covenant do you have? Look at the decision, which century did Job live? Job lived before the law. Before Moses, Job lived. And yet even before that time, men who walk with God, they are making some very strong decisions. And today we are talking about grace, we are talking about love, we are talking about the word of God, we are talking about the Spirit of God. People are so careless and useless, empty-headed, walking as fools, never as wise with their life. You see young boys, you see our youth, living so carelessly. Just you embrace sister carelessly, put yourself around ladies, and then you say you want to be morally upright. How can you be morally upright? You can't be morally upright because you're already loose with your life. Men who got it right, they were not loose with their lives. Point I'm making. They took some decisions. Made a covenant with my eyes. It was not when the lady came, she had already made a covenant. They were not loose with their life. That's the point I'm making. Don't be loose with your life. Be—you know—set a guide around your life and don't let down your guard. David was relatively careless in that point. He saw and when he saw, he looked. That is the general comment in that chapter as we try to look at the life of Uriah. Because our focus today is Unequal Yoke (3): examining the life, the quiet life of this general Uriah. Uriah was a man that you never heard of so much. There was nothing so much said about Uriah. That's why I said it was a quiet life. We heard so much about Joab, we heard so much about how David grew, we heard so many things about other generals of David. But about Uriah, we did not really hear so much about him. We didn't hear so much until we really came to this chapter that the life of this man began to bring out some truth that worth emulation, that worth for young people to copy, that worth even married people—married people should also copy some things to copy in his life. He was a man whose life was a quiet life in scripture. Very quiet in scripture. He was not here and there, his story was not here and there. His story was just in some few verses of the Bible. But it was a solid life. From what we saw in this place, we knew that this man had a what? A very solid life. A very solid life. He had a solid life. What I'm saying is that one thing is that this life is a life that is principled and a life that has strong integrity. This life is a life that is principled and a life that has strong integrity. If you look at that story, the Bible says that Uriah was at the battlefield with Joab. And of course what happened with David happened with David. And we understood from the scripture that the reason why David wanted him to come home and also go home is to make a cover-up. It was actually a snare. It was actually a snare. It was a trap. The Bible says, "Be vigilant, be sober, for your adversary the devil, going about, seeking for who to devour." Don't you know that you too, you have an enemy? You have an enemy that is busy trying to set trap for your life. You have an enemy that is busy arranging how your soul will be snared. You have an enemy that is arranging how you will fall. And that person may appear in form of one girl, one boy, one of your friends, one of your classmates, one immoral program, one pornographic website on the internet. It may appear in any way to you because you must not forget that one thing about the devil is that devil and his court, they are actually opportunistic spirits. They are opportunistic spirits. They take advantage of opportunities. They take advantage of opportunity. They take advantage of opportunity. So you must be watchful about that. Let's look at it. When did the devil come to Jesus to say "turn this stone to bread"? When he was hungry. Do you notice that when the Bible conclude that temptation of Jesus, what did the Bible say? The Bible says, it is recorded that he left him for another opportune time. He left him, he was looking for another opportune time. When did the opportunity another one we saw that came again was when he now came, he came this time in Peter and said, "Ah, no, why should you die? You should not die like that, not like that." And Jesus quickly said, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Do you see that even with your close associates, Satan can begin to use one kind of voice to be talking? Even in those who are close around you. You say, "Ah, it's not possible." I'm telling you it's very, very possible. Why will—some things people don't understand. Some people don't understand is that Satan don't have any original power. The power in Satan is still the power of God. Only that that power is not used in subjection to God. You must get that very clear. It was God that created Satan. So the power that Satan is using this power he's using to do whatever he is doing, is a power that came to him from God. God is still the source. We must get that clear. That is why many times when he is operating, he can operate like an angel of light. Because he was formerly in light. So when he's operating, only that now his purposes and intentions are corrupted. That power is used against God's kingdom. But it's still God's power. And that is why you can still see religion today. People can be so religious and yet they are not subjected to God. You understand what I'm trying to bring out? Look at the power of religion today all over the world. And yet religion is satanism. And religion looks as if they are serving God. So you must understand that. You can look at it both in operation and in different ways. Look at how darkness operate. Darkness operate by words. The power of words. Go and check when they want to do anything, it is by incantation. They must speak. They must say something. They must speak and speak and speak. Why? Because God said, "Let there be light," and there was what? There was light. God spoke and it was done. When God wants to do anything, the Bible says He will send His word. Is that not true? It's the same operation. He too cannot operate, they must speak. They must make incantations, they must talk and talk, they must do something. It's the same operation. You must understand this. The same way, for example, look at when Mary and Elizabeth, they were greeting themselves. You remember when Mary pregnant was visited six months after Elizabeth? And she went to visit Elizabeth. Elizabeth greeted her. In that greeting, the Bible says and the Holy Ghost came upon Elizabeth and she then spoke. It was a greeting but yet who was speaking through Elizabeth? It was the Holy Spirit. The same way, Satan can speak through people. You must understand this. And that is why he says it's not as if Satan is so powerful. What he used against the Christian is no more power because by the cross, the Bible says, "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public show of them." Against the believer, what he's using are his wiles. Bible says, "Put on the whole armor of God that you may stand against the wiles of the devil." His cunning, his wayo-wayo, that's what he use against the believer. So the way to respond to the devil is by being vigilant, be sober. It's not by fear. You don't fear the devil. No, you are watchful and you are vigilant. That's what we are talking about. So he can take any form. Satan and his court, they are opportunistic spirits. Opportunistic spirit. So you must, you must, you must understand, you must understand that and learn from these things that we are discussing. Understand that first and foremost you have an enemy and that enemy wants to get you by his wiles. His wiles. He's cunning. He will come in different ways. Understand that there is an enemy. Don't live in this world as though you don't have an enemy. And when I say enemy, I'm not talking about human beings. I tell people human beings are not your direct enemy. They are vessels in the hand of your enemy. There's no human being that is your enemy. No, no human being. I don't ever see human beings as my enemy. Also, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against what? Principalities and power. So when people are doing any kind of thing, I understand it's not by exchanging with them, "You are mad, you are stupid." No, it is just a design to get you. Understand that there is somebody behind the scene, drawing the string, to get at you. To get at you. And once you don't know, you become bitter against people. You become unforgiving against people. You enter your own prison. Because your own darkness is unforgiveness. Once you cannot forgive, you are already in a prison yourself. Understand there is an enemy. So learn to release people. Learn to free people. Avoid bitterness, avoid unforgiveness, avoid malice, avoid all those things. They are just devices to get you. Be on your guard. You don't have human as an enemy. Enter the place of prayer, fight it on your knees, prevail with God, and you will see. When the ways of a man please the Lord, even his physical enemies, they will be at peace with him. That's the bottom line. Go and make your way to please God. All those ones that "My mother-in-law, my daughter-in-law, my brother, my sister, my elder brother, my neighbor, my pastor, my this," it's because you don't know who your enemy is. So understand there is an enemy. That's what we saw in the life of this general. You have an enemy. Don't live carelessly. Number two is that the enemy use devices. You can see how David was turning, David was doing the thing, David was turning it, turning it, turning it. He works with devices. He works with devices. Number three that you need to see in this scripture was that eventually Uriah came. When Uriah came, the first device was to offer him comfort and pleasure. Be careful about food, about wine. Be careful about party, about relaxation, enjoyment. Wow, great, chill, whoo! Those kind of things. Be on your guard. Be on your guard. Be careful about party, be careful about pleasure, be careful about comfortability, be watchful, be careful about this thing, be careful about—be on your guard. Don't be honestly carried away. Just some people they say, "Ah, we want to do this thing, pamp-pam-pam, in three days you make five million." Ah! All your brain will just—you understand me? We just spark fire. Share, five million, five million, ah, three days five million. Be careful. Be on your guard with those type of offers. You understand me? He said, you know, when he called him, he said, "How is the battle going?" "Battle is going well." He said, "Okay, you can go home." And quickly, look at what the Bible says. He says and David said to Uriah, verse 8, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah departed to his house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. Oishi-reeshi, shawarma, suya spot. "Hey, let's go, there will be shawarma there. Ah, shawarma!" You know those kind of things? Be careful. Be careful. Some have gone to party like that and they never returned. They never returned. Be careful. Be on your guard. There is an enemy that is looking for what to use to attract you, what to use to get your attention. He's looking for something that will excite you, something that will make you "Heh, hey, ah, oje re, odre." He's looking for something to thrill you. Be on your guard as a single person. Be on your guard as a young man. Be on your guard as a young woman. Be careful when you see these things. Be careful when you see. You know many times when you want to kill a rat, you give free fish. Free fish. The Lord will deliver our young people in the name of Jesus Christ. From every snare of the devil, from every arrangement of hell against our purpose in life, the Lord will deliver us in the name of Jesus Christ. But that's the truth. That's the truth about it. You know when you want to kill a rat like that, you will just—I remember one of my friends, he said he went to buy this sardine fish that we call smoke fish. We call it alaran in Yoruba that have a lot of oil that they use for sardine, the Titus fish. He said he went to buy the one that was well roasted with the smell. He now took poison, put it inside the thing very well, put it inside the thing very well, and then he place it in different places in his roof. He said there was one snake there and some rat and all of that. He said after three, four, five, six days, all of them were dead. It was free food. So be careful with those things that excite. "Ah, young man, you see there is one business, all you need to do is just to make small—and nothing much. No, you just press one pin and then all you need to do, just register this, and just check it every month is three million." Say, "Heh! Ah! My money has come. Oh, I'm broken even. Yay!" Be careful. Be careful. Read things, they are never on the surface. Read things, they are never on the surface. So when they begin to tell you that gold is on the field now, that you can just pick, uh-uh, you should look at it as, "But normally people dig to get gold. How will gold just be on the field? Will somebody just place gold on the field without a purpose? Is there nothing to catch us with this thing?" That's what I'm trying to say. We don't need to fear the devil. Christians who don't live in the fear of the devil. We live—all we need to do is to be vigilant and be sober. We don't fear the devil. So what I'm trying to say is that be careful with those things that look cheap, that look available. Be careful with "Ah, this party, this food," because food, party, pleasure are ways to get people. Relaxation. Oh, I remember this incident that happened around us one time. It was a birthday party. They said it's even evening party, it's not a night party. That was the first bait. Evening party, no night party. And then the students went. But do you know that the organizer of the party, the very boy doing the birthday who was also a student, had also arranged with some of his friends that for all the girls that comes around, certain substance, drug, should be placed in the food that they are to eat? And so the girls do not understand that the rice that was served them was the one that something had been placed. And so they ate rice and everything, but they didn't know when they all slept off. They woke up the next morning to see that they have been slept with diversely and so and so. So with the—I'm just trying to say that it doesn't mean that everybody, every of your friend when they call you for party you say "Heh, you want to do evil against me." But I'm only saying that we need to be what? Vigilant and be sober. And then I want to ask for the ladies that are in that party, the question is who is your friend? How was they able to go to the party of that person who was their friend? And that party was not really a friend. Awon t'on se bi ore. If you are not careful, you will make your enemy your close friend. If you are not discerning. If you are not being very careful. If you are not careful with the people, you watch people's values. What are their values in life? Like what we discussed last month. What do they like? You begin to watch this person's things, you begin to—you know who would tell you a person to make your friend. Because the day it will set a snare for you, you will fall cheaply to it. That's what happened to those girls. Of course, for people who were not their friends, they could not invite them to that party. And that is why when people say, "I'm going to a party." "Which party?" "It's my friend's friend that is doing it." Say, "Be careful." It is my friend's friend that is doing it. Be careful. Be careful. I'm only talking about understanding this as a young man. Things that can make you to be sexually pure. Look at the life of Uriah. Look at what is happening around his life. There was an enemy crafting things. And I'm trying to show you how the enemy crafts it. The things that attract, the things that excite, the things that draw us, the things that "Wow," people applaud. Those are the things that normally used as a bait. Devil is an opportunistic spirit. That's why the Bible says be wise as what? Serpent. Iwon omo bi esu. Be wise as serpent, but don't be like him. Be harmless as dove. You too must also be put on—look at it, look at it very well. There's one rodent like that—I don't know the English name for it. I'm not sure I know the English name, but that rodent is a rodent that eats virtually all farm produce. That rodent is so wise that before trap can take it, the farmer will have tried and tried and tried. The rodent is so wise that it does not go around anything new in its environment. It does not go around once anything is new. It will avoid it for months. It will not go around it. Once something is not familiar, it does not. He move only within the familiar once something looks. So when the farmer set trap for it, they must work and work and work and work to make the thing not to be familiar. To make it to look like—if you don't do it, the thing will just be walking round the thing, it will not go near the trap. So that's the kind of wisdom we need. We will not be trapped by the enemy in the name of Jesus. So a mash of food went with him, followed him. Then we also saw something again. He says, so Uriah departed to his house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. It says, but Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. Why did he do that? The king now called him. "Ah, I thought you are—ah, you came from a long journey now. Are you not tired? Don't you are tired now? Please go home." Be careful sometimes when people are honestly concerned about you. Be careful. I'm showing you snares. "Ah, bro, you have been around one level of student all this while or tell me, 'Ah, ah, you're not bored? Don't you think that it's also good?'" Be careful sometimes of these things. Be careful with, you know, honest concern. It doesn't mean all concern is evil, but I'm only saying that you must be discerning. That's what we are talking about. What we are still talking about. Be discerning. Be discerning as a young person. If you will not fall, if you will not go into unequal yoking, you must be discerning. If you will not fall when others fall, you must be discerning. Look at the care. "Ah, you came from a journey. You're supposed to rest. Ah, so you went to the city again. Ah no, why should you? Ah!" "Please go home. No, no, no, no, no, no. My arrangement is that you should go home and that's the arrangement for you. Ah, why will one of my soldiers come home like that and go and be sleeping at the gate after fighting war for me? No, no, it's not good. Please go home, go home jare. It's not—don't stay around that place again." And it looks as if he was concerned about the man. He was trying to say he would push him into the trap. From every craftiness and the manipulative influence of the wicked, may the Lord deliver us in Jesus' name. The manipulative influence. These people who are manipulative, manipulative influence of the wicked, the Lord will deliver us in the name of Jesus. And then after that, we now saw Uriah said that. Uriah said—he now gave us the reason. I'm talking about principle. Principle. He said Uriah said, "The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and lie down with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing." Compare what Uriah did here with Proverbs 11. Look at Proverbs 11. Escaping the snare, so many snares today around us. But I know God is our keeper. He will keep us in the name of Jesus Christ. Look at what the Bible says in Proverbs 11. We want to look at verse 3, we want to look at verse 5, and verse 6. Can we try them—we'll try them in different versions. Proverbs 11:3, New King James says, "The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them." Any other translation? "Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people." (NLT) You see, honesty guides good people. Dishonesty destroys evil people. Honesty will guide. I'm showing you as a young man, the need to be honest. The need to be honest. The need to be upright. Yes, any other translation? "Good people are guided by their honesty, but crooks who lie and cheat will ruin themselves." (Easy-to-Read) Good people are guided by their honesty, but crooks who do what? "Crooks who lie and cheat will ruin themselves." So do you see that one thing that the enemy can use against you, if he has tried and tried and tried, it's not getting you, one thing that becomes a door for him is your own way of life. Once you are somebody too who is a crook and a cheat, somebody too who is not straightforward, you will experience this kind of thing. Look at—I want to read this in the NIV translation. It gives me one interesting reading. It says, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity." Double standard. Double life. Double standard, double life. You will find that kind of thing when you have double standard and you live double life. Be careful. Do you see that Uriah, if he was a man of double standard, he would have been gotten. He said, "No." He said, "Kings, don't you realize that normally, normally, kings, have you forgotten? Kabiyesi, ah, don't forget that anytime the ark is in the forefront, anytime the lord, the commander of the army, they are in the forefront, anytime Israel, they are in the forefront, even if the soldiers quickly come home, they are not supposed to go to their house." He had to remind the king. Are you seeing his honesty? If he was a man of "Ah, Kabiyesi lo kuku l'oki nlo, odi dandan." Let's forget that principle. "The king said I should do it now, the king said I should do it." He doesn't know that even that king want to destroy him. I remember when I was doing my PhD, my supervisor said something. Honestly, that thing as an academic, it gave me a lot of wisdom. He just said it one day. He said, "Olusoya." He said, "When the goings are good with colleagues, be careful what you do. Be careful there's nothing you do in secret with them, because when the going goes sour, they will use those things against you." That was what he told me. And I picked that wisdom from that my supervisor, Professor Samuel Aiyedele Jegede in University of Ibadan, Sociology department. Person picked that wisdom from him. Be careful when the goings are good with colleagues, because by the day you will need to draw—the day you will need to draw line, they will go and open up. "This man one day, he changed the score of students. This man one day," so be careful what you do. And that was what Uriah was saying here. "King, there's a universal rule that guides every soldier in Israel. The rule is that once the ark of God is in battle, and Israel is in battle, nobody goes to lie down with their wife until the battle is fought and won. King, have you forgotten? Kabiyesi, wake up from your sleep in case you forgot. Wake up o!" Look at that man. He wasn't ready to be taken by the shawarma, by the suya spot, by the five million in two days and his head did not spark. His head did not spark. He was not ready for that kind of five million because it is compromising what? An important principle. It's compromising it. That's why I said be careful with offers that spark your brains. "Wow!" All your coins start going "wah, wah, wah." Be careful. Be careful. Read things, they are never on the surface. Read things, they are never on the surface. So when they begin to tell you that gold is on the field now, that you can just pick, uh-uh, you should look at it as, "But normally people dig to get gold. How will gold just be on the field? Will somebody just place gold on the field without a purpose? Is there nothing to catch us with this thing?" That's what I'm trying to say. We don't need to fear the devil. Christians must not live in the fear of the devil. We live—all we need to do is to be vigilant and be sober. We don't fear the devil. So I'm trying to say is that be careful with those things that look cheap, that look available. Be careful with "Ah, this party, this food," because food, party, pleasure are ways to get people. Realization. Realization. Oh, I remember this incident that happened around us one time. It was a birthday party. They said it's even evening party, it's not a night party. That was the first bait. Evening party, no night party. And then the students went. But do you know that the organizer of the party, the very boy doing the birthday who was also a student, had also arranged with some of his friends that for all the girls that comes around, certain substance, drug, should be placed in the food that they are to eat? And so the girls do not understand that the rice that was served them was the one that something had been placed. And so they ate rice and everything, but they didn't know when they all slept off. They woke up the next morning to see that they have been slept with diversely and so-and-so. So there are—I'm just trying to say that it doesn't mean that everybody, every of your friend when they call you for party you say "Heh, you want to do evil against me." But I'm only saying that we need to be what? Vigilant and be sober. And then I want to ask for ladies that are in that party, the question is who is your friend? How was they able to go to the party of that person who was their friend? And that party was not really a friend. Awon t'on se bi ore. If you are not careful, you will make your enemy your close friend. If you are not discerning. If you are not being very careful. If you are not careful with the people, you watch people's values. What are their values in life? Like what we discussed last month. What do they like? You begin to watch this person's things, you begin to—you know who would tell you a person to make your friend. Because the day it will set a snare for you, you will fall cheaply to it. That's what happened to those girls. Of course, for people who were not their friends, they could not invite them to that party. And that is why when people say, "I'm going to a party." "Which party?" "It's my friend's friend that is doing it." Say, "Be careful." It is my friend's friend that is doing it. Be careful. Be careful. I'm only talking about understanding this as a young man. Things that can make you to be sexually pure. Look at the life of Uriah. Look at what is happening around his life. There was an enemy crafting things. And I'm trying to show you how the enemy crafts it. The things that attract, the things that excite, the things that draw us, the things that "Wow," people applaud. Those are the things that normally used as a bait. Devil is an opportunistic spirit. That's why the Bible says be wise as what? Serpent. Iwon omo bi esu. Be wise as serpent, but don't be like him. Be harmless as dove. You too must also be put on—look at it, look at it very well. Look at it very well. There's one rodent like that—I don't know the English name for it. I'm not sure I know the English name, but that rodent is a rodent that eats virtually all farm produce. That rodent is so wise that before trap can take it, the farmer will have tried and tried and tried. The rodent is so wise that it does not go around anything new in its environment. It does not go around once anything is new. It will avoid it for months. It will not go around it. Once something is not familiar, it does not. He move only within the familiar once something looks. So when the farmer set trap for it, they must work and work and work and work to make the thing not to be familiar. To make it to look like—if you don't do it, the thing will just be walking round the thing, it will not go near the trap. So that's the kind of wisdom we need. We will not be trapped by the enemy in the name of Jesus. So a mash of food went with him, followed him. Then we also saw something again. It says, so Uriah departed to his house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. It says, but Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. Why did he do that? The king now called him. "Ah, I thought you are—ah, you came from a long journey now. Are you not tired? Don't you are tired now? Please go home." Be careful sometimes when people are honestly concerned about you. Be careful. I'm showing you snares. "Ah, bro, you have been around one level of student all this while or tell me, 'Ah, ah, you're not bored? Don't you think that it's also good?'" Be careful sometimes of these things. Be careful with, you know, honest concern. It doesn't mean all concern is evil, but I'm only saying that you must be discerning. That's what we are talking about. What we are still talking about. Be discerning. Be discerning as a young person. If you will not fall, if you will not go into unequal yoking, you must be discerning. If you will not fall when others fall, you must be discerning. Look at the care. "Ah, ah, ah, ah! You came from a journey. You're supposed to rest. Ah, so you went to the city again. Ah no, why should you? Ah!" "Please go home. No, no, no, no, no, no. My arrangement is that you should go home and that's the arrangement for you. Ah, why will one of my soldiers come home like that and go and be sleeping at the gate after fighting war for me? No, no, it's not good. Please go home, go home jare. It's not—don't stay around that place again." And it looks as if he was concerned about the man. He was trying to say he would push him into the trap. From every craftiness and the manipulative influence of the wicked, may the Lord deliver us in Jesus' name. Amen. The manipulative influence. These people who are manipulative, manipulative influence of the wicked, the Lord will deliver us in the name of Jesus. And then after that, we now saw Uriah said that. Uriah said—he now gave us the reason. I'm talking about principle. Principle. He said Uriah said, "The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing." Compare what Uriah did here with Proverbs 11. Look at Proverbs 11. Escaping the snare, so many snares today around us. But I know God is our keeper. He will keep us in the name of Jesus Christ. Look at what the Bible says in Proverbs 11. We want to look at verse 3, we want to look at verse 5, and verse 6. We'll try them in different versions. Proverbs 11:3, New King James says, "The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them." Some other translation? "Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people." (NLT) You see, honesty guides good people. Dishonesty destroys evil people. Honesty will guide. I'm showing you as a young man, the need to be honest. The need to be honest. The need to be upright. Yes, any other translation? "Good people are guided by their honesty, but crooks who lie and cheat will ruin themselves." (Easy-to-Read) Good people are guided by their honesty, but crooks who do what? "Crooks who lie and cheat will ruin themselves." So do you see that one thing that the enemy can use against you, if he has tried and tried and tried, it's not getting you, one thing that becomes a door for him is your own way of life. Once you are somebody too who is a crook and a cheat, somebody too who is not straightforward, you will experience this kind of thing. Look at—I want to read this in the NIV translation. It gives me one interesting reading. It says, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity." Double standard. Double life. Double standard, double life. You will find that kind of thing when you have double standard and you live double life. Be careful. Do you see that Uriah, if he was a man of double standard, he would have been gotten. He said, "No." He said, "Kings, don't you realize that normally, normally, kings, have you forgotten? Kabiyesi, ah, don't forget that anytime the ark is in the war front, anytime the lord, the commander of the army, they are in the war front, anytime Israel, they are in the war front, even if the soldiers quickly come home, they are not supposed to go to their house." He had to remind the king. Are you seeing his honesty? If he was a man of "Ah, Kabiyesi lo kuku l'oki nlo, odi dandan." Let's forget that principle. "The king said I should do it now, the king said I should do it." He doesn't know that even that king want to destroy him. I remember when I was doing my PhD, my supervisor said something. Honestly, that thing as an academic, it gave me a lot of wisdom. He just said it one day. He said, "Olusoya." He said, "When the goings are good with colleagues, be careful what you do. Be careful there's nothing you do in secret with them, because when the going goes sour, they will use those things against you." That was what he told me. Be careful when the goings are good with colleagues, because by the day you will need to draw line, they will go and open up. "This man one day, he changed the score of students. This man one day," so be careful what you do. And that was what Uriah was saying here. That "King, there's a universal rule that guides every soldier in Israel. The rule is that once the ark of God is in battle, and Israel is in battle, nobody goes to lie down with their wife until the battle is fought and won. King, have you forgotten? Kabiyesi, wake up from your sleep in case you forgot. Wake up o!" Look at that man. He wasn't ready to be taken by the shawarma, by the suya spot, by the "Ah, five million in two days" and his head did not spark. His head did not spark. He was not ready for that kind of five million because it is compromising what? An important principle. It's compromising it. That's why I said be careful with offers that spark your brains. "Wow!" All your points have just been doing "wah, wah, wah." Be careful. Be careful. Be careful. He was not a man of duplicity and you see that he was not aware there was a trap, but that's not what did not put his leg inside the trap. He was an honest man. He was a man that said, "No, no, no, no." And so the same thing, "Come let's do this together again." "No, no, no." "It doesn't matter." "No, no, no. I can't do it. My parents had said this thing shall not be done. The university says this thing should not be done." "No, which one is university? Where are we? Are you kidding me? Why are you whining me? Let's forget all those things. Even Nigeria themselves, how many of them keep below in Nigeria? Do they—the people, our legislators, do they keep low? Abeg, Nigeria is already biased. Let's go, let's go, let's do what we want to do." Men of duplicity. Men of duplicity. I'm telling you things you need to watch in the life of this general. Very quiet life, but look at the kind of thing that is in this man's life. He was not a man of duplicity. He was not ready for quick gain. He was not ready for dishonest gain. He was not ready. It was a gain. I can imagine the type of food that would follow him from the king. Can you imagine the type of food? The king want him to—he knows why he was putting it. I don't know the type of food you will mention that will not be in that tray. "Five alive," mentioning them. It will not be Nigerian type of wine. It will be red wine. I mean, you understand me? The smell of the suya would be overwhelmingly tantalizing. But how that man was able to escape it. You can see principle. He was a principled man. A principled man. And so we saw the same thing in Daniel. They place—"Hum, ah, ah, hum, we eat leave and water. Leave and water. Just give us leave and water." You see that men who became something in life, they were those who were principled and disciplined. Be principled, be disciplined. Be principled in life. When I say principle, make decisions about certain things. Make decisions in your life. "No, this one cannot be. No, eleyi omo l'olohun o kii se. No, this is against—no, no, no, no, no." Set the principle. I tell people if you don't make decisions, you can never be responsible. That's the truth. Go and check irresponsible men. They are men that don't have decisions. Anything they just— "Yes, yes, yes, yes, anything, anyway the thing go. After all, it's the king who said so." Is that not a good excuse for you? It was a good excuse now! But a good excuse for a heart that is also corrupt. Good excuse. So get that. He was a man that—that's something to pick in his life. Another thing we need to pick in the life of this man is this other thing. We didn't finish that Proverbs. Look at verses 5 and 6 too. The same thing were there. It says, "The righteousness of the blameless will direct their way, but the wicked will fall by their own wickedness. The righteousness of the righteous will deliver them, but the unfaithful will be caught by their own lust." Let's see that Proverbs 11:6 in another translation. Let's have another translation. Proverbs 11:6. "The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their own greed." (NIV) Yes, "taken in their own haughtiness." "Lust." Thank you. Okay, "lustfulness." Thank you. Lustiness. Another translation. "The godliness of good people rescues them; the ambition of treacherous people shall entrap them." (Easy-to-Read) The godliness of good people rescues them. The what shall trap them? "The ambition of untreacherous people, unfaithful people." You see, ambition. "Hey, I become the next millionaire before I graduate from school." Ambition. Ambition. I tell people be careful. Be careful. Don't be ambitious. You say what do I mean by that? Somebody was asking me what do I mean by not being ambitious? I said get me right. I'm not saying that you don't have a plan. But I'm saying that the best way for a man is to discover God's plan for his life. Your life is a planned life already. Don't try to replan it. Just discover the plan and flow with that plan and see how wonderful it is. He said, "I know the thoughts that I have towards you." What? "Thoughts of good, not of evil, to give you a hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11). 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he said, "What eyes have not seen, what ears have not heard, what has not entered the heart of man, these God has prepared for them that love Him." And he began to reveal it to us by His Spirit. There's already a plan that God has for you. What eyes have not seen, what ears have not heard. Why not run in the concept of that plan than begin to run in the concept of your own imagination? There's a plan for your life already. Plan that eti o gbo ri, oju o ri ri, oju o ri ri, ti o enter the heart of man. Even that plan does not even enter your heart except God speak those plan to you. I tell people you are a planned life already. Don't replan it because you can't plan better than God. That is the truth about it. That's what I mean. Let us see what God wants to do with our life then let us key into it. He says where people can't see what God is doing, they stumble over themselves. But when they take heed to what He is revealing, they are most blessed. Begin to plan your life. Isaac was trying to plan his life when there was famine. He became ambitious. "Let me run to Gerar so that I can prosper there." What did God tell him? "Don't go there." Your problem is not where to go. Your problem is where is God. Solve your fundamental problem. It's not where are you going. It's where is God in your matter. Once you can be where God is, I'm telling you you will prosper. It's as simple as that. You will prosper. Just be where God is. Be where God is. And when Isaac dwelt in that land, in the midst of that famine, what happened to his land? The Bible says he reaped a what? A hundredfold. (Genesis 26:12). The Bible now gave us the secret of the success. He says because the Lord blessed him. That's what you need. The secret is the Lord. May the secret of our life be the Lord and nothing else, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. When your secret is God, nobody can scatter your secret because God cannot be scattered. When your secret—of your success is God, who can handle you? Who can defeat you? Nobody can do anything because the secret is God. Let them go and handle the secret. Let's see who can handle God. May we learn that secret in the name of Jesus Christ. So we saw something that it was—the New King James says the righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the unfaithful are caught by their lust. They are caught. If he had gone to sleep with his wife, what would have hooked his neck? He will carry another man's child as his own. That's what David wanted him to—so once he sleep with his wife, he says "Hey, when you now go back to the battle," then Bathsheba will say, "I am pregnant o!" "Ah, that day I went home. Okay, okay, okay. We'll do something about it." But if he does not sleep with his wife, the wife cannot tell him that she is pregnant. That's what David wanted to hook his neck with, but his neck escaped the snare. May we always escape in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. So we look at that 11 again as we try to round up now. The life, the quiet life of this general Uriah. Something to learn from his life. So good a lesson to learn from the life of Uriah. Look at the other lesson we want to pick in the life of this man. Verse 12 now: "Then David said to Uriah, 'Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.' So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his own house." Then in the morning it happened that David had to now look for another way to deal with the matter. Do you see something here again? You know the Yorubas have this adage. They will say, "ohun t'o ba wa n'inu eyan, ohun l'oti n pa'wa mo." What they mean is that even when you are drunk, when you are not normal, it is what is inside you that will still be coming out. It may be coming out in a confused way. Like I remember when one student on our campus had a little issue and we didn't know what actually happened, whether it was exam period, whether she over-read, I don't know what happened. But she just became imbalance and she was just shouting, "Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord! He's the Lord of all. You must give your life to Him." So we were wondering the way it started was that she was in the examination hall. Everything—thank God for the invigilator. She was just writing on all her scripts. They gave her exam booklet. Within 20 minutes, she said she was through. Ah! So the examiner was surprised that how can you be through? So the examiner opened what she wrote and all inside it: "See the way to eternal life is to accept Jesus. If you don't accept Jesus, you're going to hellfire." She wrote all like question one. Question two: "Repent from your sin. You no like that." Question three: "I pray to my Lord. When my Lord appears in the sky, my Lord will take me home." So the lecturer knew, ah, there is a problem already. Because she was one of our best students, but she's a believer. One of our very, very good students. We know her. Very, very good student. Ah! So she now called—she had to find a way to call her. "Come, come. You are going too early, eh? Let others finish before you leave for the exam. You cannot leave for this." Just to make her—find a way to make her sit. After the exam, now took her, took her to the office. Now began to talk with her. Now began to see that okay, there is problem. There is problem. So quickly, we had to call her parents. We made arrangements, took her to the health center. They had to give her a drug to make her to sleep and all of that. What I'm trying to bring out is that it is what is inside a man. That was what was inside her and that was what was coming out. I'm telling you that what is inside you is so crucial. What are the things you store inside your life? What are the things that are inside? That's what we are seeing in the life of this man. The king got him drunk and yet he still understand that I should not go to my wife. He was drunk o! He was drunk. A drunk man. It was done so that they will now gradually take him, find a way to take him to go and sleep with his wife. But they still could not take him, even though he was drunk. I'm trying to make you see the importance of building a solid life. I'll compare this with another life in Genesis. But because I want to round up, I'll just make reference to it. You remember the daughters of Lot? When they wanted to sleep with their father? After Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they run to that city, they run to that hill country, Zoar, and they left them there. It says the first daughter, they got their father drunk and they slept with their father. So God—the second one too got their father drunk, they slept with their father. You can see something that in the drunken state, you can make people do what they don't want to do. But this man was drunk, all the king's servants could not make him go to his house. I'm trying to make you see the quiet life of this general, this man called Uriah. Not so many references about him. But I'm showing you this place we are seeing that this man's life is very solid. Very solid a life. "No, no, no, no. Not go there. Not good. Let us sleep here. Sleep here. We are not going that side." And he was drunk! He was drunk! So I ask you today as a young man, what are you building inside? What are you storing? And what is inside you? What capacity are you building for your life? What spiritual capacity? What integrity capacity? What capacity are you building so that when men fall, you will not fall? They got him drunk, yet they could not make him go home. Why? He had built something in his life. Build capacity, build integrity, build honesty, build uprightness, build a principled life. Guide your life against lust. Make covenants with your eye. Make covenants with your—set correct priorities. Decide on some things now that you are young. Before you begin to face certain things, make some decisions over your life. Some decisions that "No, this will not be done." God help me with this. Make it a matter of prayer. Stand with it. And that way you will discover so many things that is causing unequal yoking today for many of our young people, many of our singles. Many of them, what is happening today? Bad stories in fellowship. Stories of this, stories of that. This of masturbation, that of fornication, that of uncleanness, that of this. You just be hearing stories. Drug abuse, different things among our young people. Begin to build capacity for your life. Begin to build it now before the day of temptation, before the day of adversity, before the enemy will come. Build discernment. Ask God for that. Increase my ability to discern. Holy Spirit, I want to walk close with you, a nearer walk with you, so that I can be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. When He says, "No, don't do that," I can be sensitive. Begin to build those things now. Because we have an enemy. If you fall into pieces in a crisis, there was nothing much about you in the first place. There was nothing much about you. So many crises today of sexual perversion all around us. It is because for many of our young people today, there is nothing much about them. There is nothing much about them. It's very, very important. Let's go ahead to pray this morning. Let's pray this morning. Oh, the quiet life of this general Uriah. Oh Lord, help me too to build capacity for my life. Then also resolve. I want you to also make up your mind. Make up your mind about some of these things this morning. Make up your mind. What are you resolving about? Can you leave this place with a resolve in your heart? "I'm leaving here to begin to build capacity for discernment. Capacity for sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Capacity for a closer walk with God. Capacity for integrity. Capacity for uprightness. Capacity for a principled life. Capacity to be aware that human beings are not my enemy, that I have an adversary, and that is the devil. Capacity not to be careless. Capacity not to be lustful. Capacity against lust. To make a covenant with my eye not to look even when I see. When I see, capacity to look away, not to look continuously. Capacity to look away from evil in whichever way, whether in ladies around me, in films, in advertisement, in whatever. Lord, I begin to build capacity." Make up your mind today. Make up your mind this morning. Make up your mind for capacity. Let me invite Jude to come and close the meeting for us this morning. [Speaker 2] Our Father, in Jesus' name. Father, we thank you so much for what we've learned this day. We ask, oh Lord, that this word shall bring forth fruit in our lives, in Jesus' name. Fruit that shall be abundant, that shall remain to the end, in the mighty name of Jesus. We shall not be like those who are ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. But Father, this word shall become flesh in our lives, in Jesus' name. Help us to build capacity for our lives, in the mighty name of Jesus. We also pray against the wiles of the enemy. That Lord, that you grant us the wisdom to be able to identify the wiles of the enemy, in Jesus' name. We'll always be vigilant and not relax when we ought to be vigilant, in Jesus' name. In your name we pray. We also pray for the speaker for today. Father, we pray that you continue to strengthen him in Jesus' name. Lord, your word says that he that waters shall be watered. We pray that, Lord, your word shall not be scarce in his life, in Jesus' name. For in Jesus' mighty name we pray. [Speaker 1] Amen. Let's share the grace together in fellowship. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. 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. [Speaker 3] 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 hit. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday, 5 p.m. Adolescents and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10 a.m. Marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10 a.m. Family life seminars, regular school out-reaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp, by the first bridge, Ijare community, opposite Rejoice filling station, along Ijare 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 0803-386-1136, 0703-361-3848. God bless you all.