We That Are of the Day 3 ( Breastplate of Love)

[Music] [Voiceover] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God waitly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Singing] We are on the mountain Zion. We are on the mountain Zion. We are on the mountain Zion. We are here to worship God. We are on the mountain Zion. We are on the mountain Zion. We are on the mountain Zion. We are here to worship God. We just want to say Baba o ese. We just want to say Oluwa ese. We just want to say Lord, we just want to say. We want to say Baba o ese. We just want to say Oluwa ese. [Speaker 1] Everlasting Father, we are grateful unto You. We thank You again for another time in Your presence. We bless Your name again for Your mercies, Your love, Your goodness, Your grace. We thank You, our Father. As we gather unto You again this evening to look into scriptures, to fellowship with one another, our brethren who are here physically, our brethren who are joining us online, Lord our God, we thank You again for another time of fellowship. Lord, we pray that let Your Spirit work within us in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that You will meet us where we need You most in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord God Almighty, our desire, our expectation is that as Paul plant, Apollos watered, You, oh Lord, will give increase. Grant increase to this meeting in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord our God, as we start again today, we just remember our nation, Nigeria. Lord, we lift up the situation of the land into Your hand. Lord our God, we ask that Lord, You will frustrate the counsel of the wicked. You will bring to naught the devices of liars. And Lord God Almighty, You would in Your mercy not allow that sword, oh God, will overrun the land. Rather, Lord, You will grant that Lord, revival will overtake our land in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. We thank our God again for another time in His presence this evening. And for the past three weeks, for brethren who have been following us both online and those of us who have been coming around, we have been considering the topic: “We that are of the day.” “We that are of the day.” And we have been able to look at “We that are of the day,” understanding the matter of the day and the night, that the day of the Lord should not meet us unaware. If the day of the Lord meets anybody unaware, that person is not of the day. Then we moved on to begin to consider what are the things that characterize the life of men that are of the day. And the first thing we saw is that the Bible says, “Let us therefore be sober.” We look at the matter of the need for us to be clear in our thinking, the need for us to have a mind that is transformed, the need for us to be able to think straight and think right, the need for us to be able to center our thoughts on those things that are true, that are right, that are just, that are pure, that have good report, that have virtue, that have praise. These are the things we considered in the respect of sober reflection. And we noted very clearly that our thought life is the basis of our transformation. So if your thought, if you are not sober, if you don’t have a clear thought, if your thinking is perverse, if your thinking is vain, then very, very certainly, it will be difficult for you to be able to live unto God. And not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then we moved on last week to consider another subtopic, which was “We that are of the day: The breastplate of faith.” And we took time again to look into the matter of faith. We saw very clearly that without faith, it is impossible to please God. And then we began to look at how does this faith come. And we saw that the faith we are talking about is not a faith that has to do with rational thinking. It is not a faith that has to do with wish thinking or just trying to comfort yourself and console yourself about a matter. No. We saw that faith is a substance. Faith is something that brings certainty. This faith is living. This faith comes as a matter of an intercourse between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God. That was what we looked at. And we said that is the faith that is an overcoming faith. That once it is not a faith that is based on revelation, that is based on a fellowship between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God, then it will not be a living faith. It will be a dead faith. It will be a faith that cannot overcome. It will be a faith that cannot please God. It will be a faith that will be guessing. It will be a faith that will be wish thinking. It will be a faith that “Let me just console myself, after all the Bible said.” No. We saw that faith is a substance, and by it the elders, they obtained good report. And that without that faith, nobody can please God. No wonder the Bible says, “We that are of the day, we must put on the breastplate of faith.” So we are going back again to that our text to move on today, which is the fourth section: “We that are of the day 4.” Still moving on, considering what should be, what should characterize men that are of the day. So let’s go to the text we have been considering all the while. We have been looking at 1 Thessalonians 5. That’s the text we have been considering. We stopped at the verse 8. It says, “But let us who are of the day be sober.” We have considered that. “Putting on the breastplate of faith.” We have considered that. And then it now said, the Bible now says, “and love.” “Putting on the breastplate of faith and love.” So today, like I did, like I mentioned last week, I said that breastplate, that breastplate that we are to put on has two sides to it. One side to that breastplate is faith. The other side to that breastplate is love. The other side to that breastplate is love. So we have considered the side that is faith. Today we want to consider the other side of that breastplate that relates to love. It says, “Putting on the breastplate of faith and love.” And we did mention something last week. That the breastplate relates to the matter of the heart. Relates to the matter of the heart. We have mentioned that. So we have looked at the matter of the heart in respect of faith, and again we want to look at the matter of the heart in respect of love. Now, why are we asked again that in a bid to deal with this end time, in a bid so that we don’t stumble? We don’t stumble. You know we did mention at the background, at the first week in starting this discussion, we mentioned that actually we are in the night period. In the agenda of God, the church is in the night period. Because we noticed, like we said then, that the last day actually began the day the Holy Ghost came down. That was when they were celebrating the Feast of Pentecost. So on that day when they were celebrating that Feast of Pentecost and the Holy Ghost came down on the apostles, Peter did mention that this is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel, that in the last day. So we knew, like I said then, that the last day began from that time. So we said then that today we are in the latter part of the last day. So we are in the night. The night of God’s program started the day of Pentecost. Now, we have moved further into that night. So if we say Day of Pentecost is like 7:00 PM, maybe now we are around 10:00 PM in the night, in the agenda of God. Now, in looking at this night, in dealing with this night, the Bible says, “We that are of the day,” and not of the night. Even though it is a night period, the Bible is saying that yet we are of the day. Now, if we that are of the day will not stumble as a result of the night period, the Bible says again we need to put on the breastplate of love. And so we want to look around this matter of love, our work in this end time and love. Why is the Bible making reference to faith, soberness, faith, and love? We have explored why the Bible is talking about faith. We have explored why it is talking about soberness. Why the Bible making reference to love? Now, I want us to look at something very, very significant in 1 John. 1 John. Let’s see that scripture. 1 John chapter 2. We’ll look at something there quickly and then we’ll look at some aspects of chapter 3 and then we may also look at 4, possibly. But let’s first look at 2. Look at what the Bible is saying about our work with God. 1 John chapter 2, permit me to take the reading from verse 1. Even though we are going to a later verse in that chapter. But let us see the reading from verse 1. It says: 1 John 2:1-11 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. Now, this scripture is making us to see that there is something that is happening with us. We have put away darkness. We are now in light. It say the true light is already shining. We are no more in the dark. Now, look at what follows. Look at what follows about this true light that is already shining. It says: He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. I want you to link these two verses. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. Now, which means that something about our heart and our love and our salvation is that when there is hatred in our heart, the Bible immediately says it is not possible that we are of the day. The Bible is saying that once we are not walking in love, the implication for our life is that we cannot be of the day. There is a meeting point between ability to walk in love and ability to be in the day. Once you cannot walk in love, the implication for your life is that the situation of your heart, the situation of your everyday living cannot be the situation of a man that is in the day. It says, “He who hates his brother,” he says, “He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now.” He who loves his brother abides in the light, and what follows? What follows? It says there is no cause for stumbling. There is no cause for stumbling in him. I will take this in another translation. It says, “Anyone who loves other Christians is living in the light and does not cause anyone to stumble.” NIV: “Whoever loves his brother lives in the light and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.” Amplified translation: “Whoever loves his brother believes and lives in the light, and in it or in him there is no occasion for stumbling or cause for error or sin.” Now, you therefore notice, you are realizing that the reason why scripture is particularly insisting that if the day of the Lord will not take you unaware, if you must indeed walk and be sober, there is a need for you to put on the breastplate of love. It’s because as long as you don’t walk in love, there is occasion in you to stumble. You already have what is inside you that will make you to stumble. Somebody said something, and honestly, I agree with it perfectly. The person said: “Bitterness does more harm on him who treasures it than on the person upon which it is expressed.” Bitterness, it does more harm the person who have it. Why is it that there is occasion of stumbling in you? The first thing about it is that the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13, Bible says do what? “Watch diligently that no root of bitterness,” does what? “Spring up.” Let’s see that scripture. Let’s see that scripture. Hebrews 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Let’s see that scripture quickly. Sorry, Hebrews 12, not 13. Sorry, please. Hebrews 12, not 13. It was talking about the need for us to understand. Hebrews 12:15 Look at it, Hebrews 12:15. It says, “looking carefully,” looking how? “Carefully.” Be very, very careful. And I’m telling you, brethren, if you are not careful this last day, the rate at which people, when I say people, I’m not really talking about people that are outside the fold. I’m talking about people that are inside the fold. The rate at which offenses abound today, the rate at which simply fellow brothers and sisters are disappointing our expectation. If you are not careful, you will treasure bitterness in yourself. If you are not very watchful, the rate at which somebody you think is a bro, is a sis, the kind of disappointment we are experiencing today, the kind of expression, character deficit, even in some that we call Christian leaders. The rate at which some things are happening today. I was discussing with someone some months ago, and he said, “Look, as far as this thing is concerned, seeking any kind of godly counsel from any kind of so-called pastor is a waste of time.” He said, “Sir, let’s forget all those things.” But the truth is that the Bible says, “In the multitude of counsel, there is safety.” But what is pushing that individual to become so bitter was that he was disappointed, wanting to follow scriptures, and those who ought to give him safety are the ones who misled, are the ones who confused his path. Are you getting the point I’m trying to bring out? What I’m trying to say is that the rate of disappointment today, even within the assembly of those you call God’s people, if you are not very, very careful, you’ll begin to treasure all sort of hatred and offenses. But what you need to realize, Bible says, “Looking carefully.” This looking carefully is talking within the fold. It says, “looking carefully lest anyone fall short of grace, lest” two things. Number one, lest you fall short of grace. That’s the first thing. Looking carefully not to fall short of grace. You will soon see that walking in love is a grace. You will soon see. Then two, it says, “lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled.” So what happens when a man is not walking in love? What happens? There is going to be trouble, and what’s the next thing? Defilement. So the Bible is saying that we that are of the day, it is so important for you to obey God about your heart, that one, God enlarge my heart. Two, let Your love that have been poured abroad in my heart, shed abroad in my heart, let it constantly find expression. Because you must understand that at salvation, something actually happened. The love of God was shed abroad in our heart. God did that very deliberately. But you know something, you know something. If you put perfume inside the container, except you open the lid, I mean the cover of that container, or the thing got broken. Whichever way, there must be an outlet for you to sense the perfume. Even though the love of God has been shed abroad in our heart, if you are not broken, you will remain self-centered. If you are not a broken person, if they don’t open the lid, if they don’t break you, if they don’t give a room for that love to find expression, you will be so self-centered. Yes, at salvation, God did that thing for us. That is why He said, He said, “Look, the night is far spent, the day is here.” One thing about being born again is the capacity to love. That is the truth about it. But you need to grow in that capacity. You need to expand in that capacity. You need to daily be broken. You need to daily stay in His presence to have that capacity find expression in you. But if you don’t daily do like that, you will not grow in love. The love of God will not abound. It will look as if it is so, it’s so difficult to practice this love of God that is not conditional. You will notice that the human love is conditional. The human love, the natural love is conditional. You tend to love those who love you. You tend to hate those who hate you. These are natural tendencies. But look at what the Lord said. We’re coming back, we’re coming back to this matter of defilement. But I want you to make you see why the Bible insists that this breastplate has a dimension of faith, it must have a dimension of love. And that’s what we’re trying to establish. Look at Matthew chapter 5. Look at the tendencies in us and look at what the Lord said in Matthew 5. Matthew 5, I want to take the reading from verse 43. He says that, no, let me take my reading from verse 38. 38. He says, “You have heard that it was said,” what was said? “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” You do me, I do you back, God no vex. You have heard that. But that is a misconception. He says, “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. Whoever slap you on the right cheek, turn the other cheek also to him.” Brethren, is this thing a natural tendency in us? I want you to be sincere and genuine with yourself. We tend to resist evil people. You tend to create a way to give back to somebody who did not meet your expectation in different ways: in what you say, in what you do. You tend to do that. He says, “don’t resist evil person. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your clothes also. Whoever compel you to go one mile, in fact, choose to go two miles. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, you should love your neighbors and hate your enemies.” Natural tendency. What does it say? “But I say to you, love your enemy, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, who makes His sun to rise on both the evil and the good, and send rain on the just and the unjust.” Brethren, if an individual lacks capacity to express love towards somebody who ordinarily does not meet your expectation, somebody who you may consider as not doing you good, if you lack that capacity, you see that you are a spiritual bastard. He say, “So that you can be like your Father.” If we cannot express it, I’m going to make you see why the Bible says, “Put on the breastplate of faith and love.” What you need to understand is this, as the coming of the Lord draws near, iniquity is abounding, and if you are not careful, your love will wax cold. And you see, if your love goes cold, it is not fresh and alive. What happens to you? Occasion of stumbling. You begin to treasure bitterness, you begin to treasure unforgiveness, you begin to put those things in you. And as you treasure unforgiveness, your sins are not forgiven. As you treasure bitterness, you cause trouble and then what happened? Many are defiled. You begin to see that you begin to lose what it takes to be of the day. Because people that are of the day, they are people without defilement. They are people who are in the night but they are not drunk. They are not overtaken by anything. They are vigilant, they are sober, they are watching, so that the day of the Lord cannot take them unaware. So you notice, he says so that you can be like your Father. Look at what now follows for you to know that anybody who does not rise above this natural love is expressing a life that is not the life of God. Look at what the Lord said: “If you love those who love you, what reward have you? What does God want to reward you for?” He says, “Do not even tax collectors do the same?” Another translation of that scripture: “If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.” So how are you different from sinners? How are you different from the corrupt people all over the place? It means if you don’t have the capacity of this breastplate, “Let us be sober, putting on,” making sure you are putting it on. Because if you don’t put it on, we are in the night. A lot of things are abounding. People are hatred. I was discussing with someone recently. Even look among believers. Look at the level of marital disharmony today. How wives hate their husbands. I’m not even talking of people that are not your close. Look at the level of disharmony even in the fold. I’m talking of bitterness in the heart of wife against her husband, in the heart of husband against the wife. Look at all. Look, I’m trying to show you that. Now, if people, please, please listen, if people can treasure such kind of things against who God has commanded them that you are no longer two but one, what do you think they will treasure against those who are not like that to them? What do you think? If because of something, somebody who would be like your wife, your son, your daughter, there is a wish in you that you want to die, let him die. Then which kind of wish will be in you against another sister who is offending you? Yes, the Bible says love does not think evil. What am I trying to say? I’m trying to make you see why the Bible says, “Look, if you will survive this end time, let us beg God for the breastplate of love.” This love that could make, I did not know, I did not know how, how he grew in it. But by the end of his life, it was obvious that he grew in that. Because many times when I look at the capacity of these seven deacons, the apostle said we cannot be serving table. We want to focus on prayer and Bible study. They now appointed people to be serving bread and serving table. So ordinarily, who do we count those people as? People who are not in the first category of spiritual life ordinarily, from what the apostles said. Is that not? Since they were not able to give themselves to prayer and study like the apostles. Those ones all their life, praying, studying, praying, studying. Now, in the midst of those seven men was somebody like Stephen, was somebody like Philip. And now, even though he was somebody like that, people you may count as what do we call them? You not call them the mighty twelve, you call them the other seven. You get the point I’m trying to make? Yet that man at the point of his death, when those, when men rushed towards him and they were busy taking stone and stoning him to death. I don’t know the measure of pain. I don’t know how you quantify that kind of pain. Someone was speaking today, I was listening to it on the radio. He said it is better to just die once than to die gradually. That is it is better to just die once than to die gradually, gradually. That is what was happening to Stephen. And you will notice this thing when the enemy really wants to deal with who they call an opponent. They don’t kill the person once. That is why you notice the Roman way of killing criminals. They will flog them, flog them, beat them, pierce them, then put them on a tree, nail them to it, waiting for them to die, so that they can feel the pain of death. You get the point? What am I trying to bring out? Is that Stephen was going through that death gradually. Gradually. For you to know the measure of love. Because stone will not kill once. I don’t know who you can stone and the person will just die once. He feel the pain, pain, and then, and then, and then, and then the death will come. Yet, in the midst of that, I don’t know how to measure that pain, that brother have this breastplate of love. “Father, Father, don’t lay this thing on them. Lord, don’t commit it to them. Lord, overlook it for them.” Are you getting what I’m trying to say? I’m talking of that brother grew in this matter we are talking about. Capacity of this breastplate. Such men they will condemn our generation. Some things will happen and there is so much hatred in your heart for your brother, and you are wishing his downfall, you are wishing this, you are wishing that. Look at the, look at what that brother was going through, and look at how he was holding forth for his enemy. Is that brother different from his Master, who said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”? Is that not the life of his Master? That was the life of his Master. I wonder which life is yours. Which capacity are you having? What capacity are you building? And it’s so important for us to understand this thing. As the coming of the Lord draws near, iniquity is abounding, and if you are not careful, your love will wax cold. He said, “Iniquity will abound, and the love of many will wax cold.” Many will wax cold. And I will not be in that number. My love will remain fresh, the first love, remain fresh, remain strong in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. Another thing I want to point our attention to is this one is in Romans. Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. Love. The need to love. Romans chapter 13. I go quickly to verse 8. Romans 13:8. It says, “Owe no one anything except to love one another.” For he who loves another has done what? Has done what? The Bible say has fulfilled the law. NLT says, “You will fulfill all the requirement of God’s law when you love.” NIV says, “For he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law.” Amplified says, “has fulfilled the law relating to fellow men, meeting all its requirements. He who loves.” Then it now go ahead to explain it in the verse 9. It says: For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet.” And what do you see there? What’s the next thing? “And if there is any other thing that God ever commanded.” If there’s any other thing that God ever commanded us to do, they are all summed up in this saying, namely: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” They are summed up in it. Is there any commandment that has to do with our vertical relationship? Is there any commandment that has to do with our vertical relationship? That is God gave a commandment and said we should do this. Now, that commandment is fulfilled where? In our horizontal relationship. Is there any commandment coming from the vertical? Did God command anything concerning what we should, our life in relation to other human beings? Is there any commandment at all that has to do with our life and other human beings, that vertical commandment? The Bible says it is fulfilled in an horizontal relationship. How? Just in one word: Love your brother. So what is that trying to say? I’m trying to link this scripture with defilement. I want you to get it. So any time, please listen, any time a wife, a husband cannot love the wife, what is his problem? He does not love his neighbor as himself. Anytime a wife cannot submit or does not submit to her husband, what is the problem? He does not love his neighbor as himself. Move beyond that place. Anytime children don’t honor their parents, what is the problem? They have not learned what to love their neighbor as themselves. Anytime fathers provoke their children to anger, what is the problem? They have not learned. Just take it like that. Now go to other relationship. Anytime you cannot forgive people, anytime you backbite against others, anytime you bear false witness against people, anytime, are you getting it now? If you look at those things, the root of those things, the root of your inability to meet God’s requirement towards other human beings is lack of love. Do you get what the Bible is trying to say? The root why you could not meet up God’s expectation towards other human beings is not about the human being, it’s about you. It’s about you. It’s not about them. That’s what the Bible is trying to say. He said, “Owe no man nothing except the one that you cannot, except to love them.” Owe them nothing. So which means anytime you don’t love, who is the debtor? Who is the debtor? Is it not you? You know what that means? What the Bible is saying is that as far as our life and other human beings are concerned, there is no time, there is no time we are not the, they are always the creditor. We are always the debtors. There is no time you can finish paying it. There is no time. So what I’m trying to make us to know is that the reason why the Bible is calling this end time to that matter of breastplate of faith and love, and I’m trying to explain what this love is. This ability to be committed to the good of others, to the edification of others regardless of who they are, regardless of what they do. You chose to be committed to their good. That is how God loves the world. We were sinners, we were wicked, we were bad, we were evil, and He went to the cross. It is that love we are talking about. But if all your life the people that you are at peace with are those who you feel loves you, those who you feel greets you, know that you are not different from tax collectors. You’re not different from sinners. And another thing I want us to understand is this, the days are evil, brethren. The days are honestly the days are evil. The kind of disappointment we are facing today, if you are not careful, you will just lock up your heart and then have one kind of heart that everybody is a suspect, you don’t see good in anybody, everything you say about people is just. If you are not careful. Yet the Lord said, I’ve not come for those who are healthy. Who did the Lord come for? Is it not those who are sick? You have forgotten that even God Himself don’t want the death of the wicked. Even the prodigal son that prodigal away, what is in the mind of the father? How will he come back home? That’s the truth of it. That’s the truth of it. That’s the truth of it. So why we must walk, we are looking at why is the Bible asking us to put on the breastplate of love. And I’m trying to explain what this love is, this ability to be committed to the good of others, to the edification of others regardless of who they are, regardless of what they do. You chose to be committed to their good. That is how God loves the world. We were sinners, we were wicked, we were bad, we were evil, and He went to the cross. It is that love we are talking about. But if all your life the people that you are at peace with are those who you feel loves you, those who you feel greets you, know that you are not different from tax collectors. You’re not different from sinners. And another thing I want our attention to, let’s come to the more popular scripture: 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Let’s see that scripture. It’s a very popular one. 1 Corinthians 13, we can take it from verse 1 just for the purpose of reading through. It’s a very familiar scripture. Look at what the scripture says: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Though I speak with the tongues of men and the tongues of angels, but I have not love, I become a sounding brass or a clinking cymbal. Look at that. Though I speak with the tongues of men and the tongues of angels. Like I would normally say, the tongue that we saw the apostles speak was tongues of men. The tongue that the apostles, that they were speaking on that day when the Holy Ghost came down, was it tongues of angels? Was it tongues of angels? It was tongues of men. Because people came and they were hearing their language. So the Bible is saying that even if your own is more than their own. Are you getting the understanding? If your own is more than the one the apostles received. While you will speak some of the tongues, it is a language on earth. You have even transcend that level. When you speak some of them, you are speaking the language of Michael, the language of Gabriel. That’s even your own level. But sorry, if you don’t have love, you are just a noisemaker. I’m not talking about what the Bible is saying. As far as heaven is concerned, your life is a noise. Your life is a noise. What is a noise? A noise is a disturbance. Am I not correct? If we are here now as we are talking and something is just doing “bang bang bang,” what will we say? We’ll say you are disturbing us. May heaven not consider all about your life and summarize it as a noise. May heaven not look at you as a disturbance to the programs of heaven. But why will you not be a noise since in you there will be occasion for stumbling and making others to stumble? Any body that does not walk in love, please go and note it, just two things are about them. In them is occasion to stumble and then occasion to make others to stumble. That’s the truth about such life. That’s the truth about such life. So such life anywhere they are, brethren, are they pillars or caterpillars? Anywhere you find such life, no matter how much they are gifted, no matter how much they can expose scripture, no matter what they can do, but they cannot just walk in love. What will they be in their fellowship? Will they be pillars or caterpillars? They’ll be caterpillars. They’ll be people that everything you can touch in their life is only when they express their gift. After expressing that gift, with the way they will relate with brethren, they will destroy all the things they have brought out from the Book. So they are noise. And so there is a need, I’m only emphasizing why scripture says put on the breastplate of love this end time. Put on this breastplate. Make sure your heart, that’s why He is talking about this is also about the heart. Watch your heart against bitterness. Watch your heart against anger. Watch your heart against unforgiveness. Watch it. Be careful. So many things are happening today. So many things are happening. If you hear what transpired by some brethren, if you hear some things people say, and when you hear it, you will almost say, “Anyway, we are all human, if it happens to me too, maybe I will not have done otherwise.” For when they narrate what happened. So it’s very important for us to understand that the reason why the Bible is calling this end time to that matter of breastplate of faith and love, and I’m trying to explain what this love is, this ability to meet God’s requirement towards other human beings. The root of it is that you have not put on what? The breastplate of love. That is one thing you must understand. If you are not walking in love, you and gossip, you will backbite. And go and check what the Bible says. It say, “Who among you want to enjoy life and to see good day? Let him refrain his tongue from speaking evil.” And one of the evil of the tongue is backbiting. When you see others talking about the person, “Don’t mind him. He is a very stupid person.” You just stay and destroy people. And these are God’s children, because of something they did or you don’t do, but you forgot that look, the Bible says in many things we all offend. Have you read that scripture before? In many things we all offend. Have people offended you? You too you have offended several people. But if you are not careful, you will begin to hold your own and you will begin to think, you begin to think there is a justice to carry on, to carry on, and before you know, you begin to become occasion, and by the time you tell this one, and that one too also carry the thing, and when he sees that person too, he is taking that from what you told the person. You can see how you are causing defilement. It is the days are evil, brethren. The days are honestly the days are evil. The kind of disappointment we are facing today, if you are not careful, you will just lock up your heart and then have one kind of heart that everybody is a suspect, you don’t see good in anybody, everything you say about people is just. If you are not careful. Yet the Lord said, I’ve not come for those who are healthy. Who did the Lord come for? Is it not those who are sick? You have forgotten that even God Himself don’t want the death of the wicked. Even the prodigal son that prodigal away, what is in the mind of the father? How will he come back home? That’s the truth of it. That’s the truth of it. So why we must walk, we are looking at why is the Bible asking us to put on the breastplate of love. And I’m trying to explain what this love is: this ability to be committed to the good of others, to the edification of others regardless of who they are, regardless of what they do. You chose to be committed to their good. That is how God loves the world. We were sinners, we were wicked, we were bad, we were evil, and He went to the cross. It is that love we are talking about. But if all your life the people that you are at peace with are those who you feel loves you, those who you feel greets you, know that you are not different from tax collectors. You’re not different from sinners. And another thing I want to point our attention to is this one is in Romans. Romans chapter 13. Romans 13:8-10 Owe no one anything except to love one another. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. NLT says, “You will fulfill all the requirement of God’s law when you love.” NIV says, “For he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law.” Amplified says, “has fulfilled the law relating to fellow men, meeting all its requirements. He who loves.” Then it now go ahead to explain it in the verse 9. It says for the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet.” And what do you see there? What’s the next thing? “And if there is any other thing that God ever commanded.” If there’s any other thing that God ever commanded us to do, they are all summed up in this saying, namely: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” They are summed up in it. Is there any commandment that has to do with our vertical relationship? Did God command anything concerning our life in relation to other human beings? The Bible says it is fulfilled in an horizontal relationship. How? Just in one word: Love your brother. So what is that trying to say? I’m trying to link this scripture with defilement. I want you to get it. So any time, please listen, any time a wife, a husband cannot love the wife, what is his problem? He does not love his neighbor as himself. Anytime a wife does not submit to her husband, what is the problem? He does not love his neighbor as himself. Move beyond that place. Anytime children don’t honor their parents, what is the problem? They have not learned what to love their neighbor as themselves. Anytime fathers provoke their children to anger, what is the problem? They have not learned. Just take it like that. Now go to other relationship. Anytime you cannot forgive people, anytime you backbite against others, anytime you bear false witness against people. If you look at those things, the root of those things, the root of your inability to meet God’s requirement towards other human beings is lack of love. Do you get what the Bible is trying to say? The root why you could not meet up God’s expectation towards other human beings is not about the human being, it’s about you. It’s about you. It’s not about them. That’s what the Bible is trying to say. He said, “Owe no man nothing except the one that you cannot, except to love them.” Owe them nothing. So which means anytime you don’t love, who is the debtor? Is it not you? You know what that means? What the Bible is saying is that as far as our life and other human beings are concerned, there is no time, there is no time we are not the, they are always the creditor. We are always the debtors. There is no time you can finish paying it. So what I’m trying to make us to know is that the reason why the Bible is calling this end time to that matter of breastplate of faith and love, and I’m trying to explain what this love is. This ability to be committed to the good of others, regardless of who they are, regardless of what they do. You chose to be committed to their good. That is how God loves the world. We were sinners, we were wicked, we were bad, we were evil, and He went to the cross. It is that love we are talking about. But if all your life the people that you are at peace with are those who you feel loves you, those who you feel greets you, know that you are not different from tax collectors. You’re not different from sinners. And on another thing I want to point our attention to, let’s come to the more popular scripture: 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Let’s see that scripture. It’s a very popular one. 1 Corinthians 13, we can take it from verse 1 just for the purpose of reading through. 1 Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Look at that. Though I speak with the tongues of men and the tongues of angels. Like I would normally say, the tongue that we saw the apostles speak was tongues of men. The tongue that the apostles, that they were speaking on that day when the Holy Ghost came down, was it tongues of angels? It was tongues of men. Because people came and they were hearing their language. So the Bible is saying that even if your own is more than their own. Are you getting the understanding? If your own is more than the one the apostles received. While you will speak some of the tongues, it is a language on earth. You have even transcend that level. When you speak some of them, you are speaking the language of Michael, the language of Gabriel. That’s even your own level. But sorry, if you don’t have love, you are just a noisemaker. I’m not talking about what the Bible is saying. As far as heaven is concerned, your life is a noise. Your life is a noise. What is a noise? A noise is a disturbance. Am I not correct? If we are here now as we are talking and something is just doing “bang bang bang,” what will we say? We’ll say you are disturbing us. May heaven not consider all about your life and summarize it as a noise. May heaven not look at you as a disturbance to the programs of heaven. But why will you not be a noise since in you there will be occasion for stumbling and making others to stumble? Anybody that does not walk in love, please go and note it, just two things are about them. In them is occasion to stumble and then occasion to make others to stumble. That’s the truth about such life. That’s the truth about such life. So such life anywhere they are, brethren, are they pillars or caterpillars? Anywhere you find such life, no matter how much they are gifted, no matter how much they can expose scripture, no matter what they can do, but they cannot just walk in love. What will they be in their fellowship? Will they be pillars or caterpillars? They’ll be caterpillars. They’ll be people that everything you can touch in their life is only when they express their gift. After expressing that gift, with the way they will relate with brethren, they will destroy all the things they have brought out from the Book. So they are noise. And so there is a need, I’m only emphasizing why scripture says put on the breastplate of love this end time. Put on this breastplate. Make sure your heart, that’s why He is talking about this is also about the heart. Watch your heart against bitterness. Watch your heart against anger. Watch your heart against unforgiveness. Watch it. Be careful. So many things are happening today. So many things are happening. If you hear what transpired by some brethren, if you hear some things people say, and when you hear it, you will almost say, “Anyway, we are all human, if it happens to me too, maybe I will not have done otherwise.” For when they narrate what happened. So it’s very important for us to understand that the reason why the Bible is calling this end time to that matter of breastplate of faith and love. I want you to see that scripture. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. It just came to my mind and I think it is good we just look at it. Brethren to brethren. Brethren to brethren. Just look at something in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. He says, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to the law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgment concerning things pertaining to this life, do you not appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge?” He says you should call the least people, not even the great men, to judge these things. “I say this to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brothers go to law against brother and that before unbelievers.” Look at what he said. Please listen, that’s where I’m really going. “Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that go to the law against another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourself be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat and you do this even to your brethren.” Do you hear what the Bible is trying to say? He said that at the end of the day, we now decided that no, my interest, my that, I will not agree, I will not and both of you now find yourselves in court. It shows that both lives have problem. Somebody should have allowed himself to be cheated. Brethren, I want you to pray, the breastplate of love. The breastplate of love. “Me I no go gree, you no go gree,” no, until this, until that. It only makes you, it only makes you a life that have occasion to stumble and to make others to stumble. That’s the bottom line. Talk to the Lord. The Lord that gave you a capacity. His love has been shed abroad in your heart. Ask the Lord that Your love that I may abound in this love. Lord, break me so that this perfume of Your love can come out. Lord break me. Lord mold me. Lord use me. Particularly in this time of the night that we may be children of the day in the name of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. Let’s share the grace 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 forever more. Amen. [Voiceover] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involving in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission heat. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday 5:00 PM; adolescent and singles club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; 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, Ileere community, opposite Very Joy 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: 080-3386-1136, 070-3361-3848. God bless you all.