Welcome to NECF sermons. Each message here is
designed to uplift and strengthen you in your
walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until
the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive
right in. in the faith, standing fast in the
faith, and we took time to explain or talk about
what doctrine is, what doctrine is, and how the
false doctrine is able to distort the actual
truth, the actual sound truth of God's Word.
And we see these warnings go out time and time
again in God's Word, and we stopped at Jesus'
instructions to his disciples to beware of the
doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
I want us to pick it up from there. I want us
to pick it up from there as we continue. And
if it wasn't important, the instruction would
have not been given. If the instruction wasn't
important, it wouldn't have been given. And he
had warned the disciples, he had stated, that
is in Matthew 22, he had warned and stated, and
even though they misunderstood, at first because
he said the will of the leaven of the Pharisees.
And that got them confused because they were
like leaven and leaven is yeast. And we know
that in the process of bread making, when you
put yeast in something, it causes a fermentation
process that results in the rising of things.
And thinking about it is a false rise, right?
It's just air. His air and he says beware of
it and then it's it took them a while and then
we see in 33 we see them get into To to note
what it was. They was talking about the doctrine
of the Pharisees. Praise God, but just we visited
we we said that the Sadducees are and the teaching
that is that most what they hold onto, the teaching
that they hold onto, and I think in Matthew 22,
verse 23, that's from the message, it says that
this party, it denied the possibility of resurrection.
That quote from the message, it says that this
party, they deny the possibility of resurrection,
and we know that there's a doctrine of resurrection,
and we had looked at how you can't be, you can't
be, a believer and deny, that is like one of
the core doctrines of Christianity. That's one
of the doctrines of Christ. In fact, Christ himself
had resurrected as proof of the fact that what
they are holding onto is invalid, is an error.
And they come and I repeated to us that the way
they approach the questioning, the way they approach
the questioning, and you want to not just Here,
people ask questions. When they ask questions,
they're coming from a place. And sometimes, in
their own case, there's that sense of, oh, want
to mock this whole idea, want to mock the idea
of you saying, and then you now create a story
around it to just make the idea look stupid in
a sense, make the idea look stupid in a sense.
Because once you structure it like that, one
woman, seven brothers, And then at the end, who's
she married to? You are missing the point. And
that's what he brought to your attention. You
are deceived, right? You are deceived. You are
mistaken. You are mistaken. So they did all of
that to place it. But Jesus Christ brings their
attention in answering their question. He brings
them to the real issue, right? He brings them
to the real issue. And he still uses the same,
he still uses Moses. Because they came to him
with Moses, right? He came to him with what Moses
had instructed and then he goes back and then
he reorders it. He reorders it because you notice
that the mindset they come with is a worldly
mindset. The mindset that they approach their
questions is a worldly mindset and it's flawed.
And you see that they are trying to place the
whole thing on like... the whole idea of marriage
that is of this world. And then they come and
then they say, okay, what the whole thing is
around is not around continuing the family line.
And even after now, it will not be about continuing
family line. The family line that you're saying,
okay, because in a bid to want to preserve the
family line, that is why they were having that
engagement. And we know that that family line
idea will not be something that we'll be talking
about after now. Because after the resurrection,
it's not about you preserving your family line.
There's a family that we're part of, praise God.
That's why when we talk about family, family,
yes, we have our family, which we do appreciate,
but we know that we're into this family now,
right? There's a family that we're part of that
shipens not our own culture now. There's a family
culture that we now have that shipens the way
we think. And there's a... There's a way we operate
in the family. There's a way we do things in
the family, which would be very different. Some
of our families, they are godly, right? They
are godly, so they adopt the way we do things
here. And the families that we have around the
world, most of the times, if the culture is worldly,
if it's worldly, the culture will be worldly,
praise God. But if it's godly, because the culture
we're in is a culture that is anchored and shaped
by God. and what God's will is for us. So he
brings them back to that. He realigns them. He
brings the attention to what is. And he uses
Moses. He says, Moses showed that the dead will
rise because by implication, he says God of Abraham,
right? God of Isaac, God of Jacob. He is not
the God of the dead or the God of the living.
For to him, all are alive. For to him, that's
invested too. For to him, all are alive. So you
will not be speaking of this individual if they
were not, in a sense, because of him, because
he brings, he presents the same thing, makes
it clear to them that look, what you are denying
is undeniable, right? What you're trying to deny
is undeniable. What you're trying to deny is
undeniable. Jesus makes it absolutely clear to
them. He makes his absolutely clear to them,
because not only will he resurrect, right? Not
only will he resurrect, because his work is majorly
anchored on him being raised from the dead. And
then in Luke's account of the same conversation,
Luke's account of the same conversation, in Luke
20 verse 36, what he adds to what Matthew's account
is, it says, And adding that, those who rise
can no longer die. Those who rise can no longer
die, for they are like angels. They are God's
children, since they are children of the resurrection.
Since they are children of the resurrection.
So those that are raised can no longer die. He
says, and he compares them to angels, kind of
similar to what Matthew, very similar to what
Matthew says, but at that moment they can no
longer die. He says, they are God's children,
praise God. Now he brings them to the actual
family that is most important, not the family
line that they're trying to, because they're
trying to preserve it, they start passing it
down. brings them to the family line that's important
because by virtue of us believing in what Christ
has done, we are part of a family. There's no
complicated process around it. There's no complicated
process around it. So he brings them back in
place, brings them back in order. And that's
how, when we see an error, we want to know where
the error is stemming from, right? And then because
you are very clear as to what you believe in,
you are able to address it. Praise God. And there's
a big problem when you don't even know what you
believe in. Somebody just presents something
to you. You'll just fall afloat. Because you
know that for every error, there's the consequences.
If you believe something, there are the consequences
of your belief. And if you just blindly say,
OK, for the sake of peace, for the sake of peace,
let's just agree. For the sake of peace, let's
agree. But by agreeing, you have agreed to all
the terms and conditions. Most of the times,
we don't agree. We don't go through terms and
conditions just for the stress, just the stress
of having to read the lengthy and the way they
make it very bulky. So you just accept, accept,
accept. But there's a consequence for you accepting
everything. Like those you're accepting, you're
open. They say, OK, because you have accepted
this now, we'll collect this percent of your,
you have accepted. You have agreed to it because
you have accepted and they didn't force you to
it. They assume that you should have read and
you are aware of all the details, all the nuances
before you. you click Accept. So the same thing
happens with Arrow. If you don't assess it properly,
you will be accepting and accepting everything
in the mix. Because once you have accepted, you're
coming back with, oh, no, I didn't know that
it entails this and this. That's why people maliciously
put certain segments. Make it very small so that
you can read it. Make it small so that you can't
necessarily see it or pay attention to it. And
then you go from there. And note that I want
to take us to something else that Something else
in the in the in the false letter to the church
in current as in the second Corinthians where
he brings the attention to something very important
about where he talks about Forgiven right where
it talks about forgiving and I am going there
because he says something that's very important,
right? You see something very important now read
it from the NLT in second Corinthians 2 verse
11 I want us to see it. This is in in the NLT
says so that Satan will not outsmart us, for
we are familiar with his evil schemes. We are
familiar with his evil schemes. So there's a
familiarity with the way a person operates that
makes you spot when there's error, right? There's
a familiarity with the way the person operates
that makes you, because if you are smarter than
the person that is trying to outsmart you, you
are at an advantage, right? Because you can be
able to spot with different ways they are trying
to outsmart you. I was explaining sometime, I
think I was explaining to, you know, just by
observation, you can see how people are trying
to be smart, right? You go into the market, the
way they position things is very strategic. It's
business, by the way. It's not, they're not trying
to, there's a psychology behind it and they understand
that and you don't understand it, you just flow
with it. The goal is to sell to you something
and the ultimate goal is that they are selling
something that they want people to buy. And then
you walk into the market, and you are about existing
in the market. It took me a while to understand,
because on this island, just being around an
island, you might not necessarily make sense
of what is going on. The way they position things
in the market is very strategic. Even when companies
come to place their product, the way they position
their own product as against those other companies
that don't come to position their product, very
strategic. They put yours at the back, put theirs
in front, because they are there to arrange it
for themselves. right? Such a way that there's
accessibility. The moment you can easily reach
for that thing, it's easy for you to buy it,
right? And then when you're exiting, notice,
how many of us have noticed where they place
the suites when you're exiting? It's not where
adults can easily reach. For most good amount
of market, they put it at that level where, when
the parent is going to pay for it, the child
will be fiddling, because the child will be there
with the parent, right? So it's very, it's at
the site level of the child. And once the child
picks it, you know, You know, if your child has
had like two, three sweets prior to coming to
the market, and then the child now wants to have
extra sweets, and then you now, it's a queue.
You know how that thing can be embarrassing where
you're trying to pick your child and get them
through the counter, and then there's a very
nice person behind us. You don't know the problem.
We'll pay for it. It's not that you don't have
the money to pay. You know that this child has
had several other suites before now. So having
that extra, so the smart thing parents will do
is just take it and keep it for them for later.
If the person insists that they do pay for that
particular thing. But you see that everything
around us is somewhat designed to get people
to engage with certain things. So the more you're
conscious of it, the more you'll be able to find
ways to navigate it. So if there's a challenge
and you don't know it's a challenge, you will
fall prey to it every time. Praise God. And the
challenge that Apostle Paul is trying to address
in this place is that thing of where you have
an issue letting go. Because forgiveness, unforgiveness
is an issue, right? Forgiveness is not something
that people very easily do, right? People very
easily do. Understanding, and Apostle Paul is
trying to address it here. And I want us to start
from 8 to 11. Let's read from 8 to 11. We will
do it in the New Kingdom, sorry. Let's go back
to 18 James, from 8 to 11. It says, therefore
I affirm, it says, I urge you, sorry, therefore
I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. That
is the person that has offended, because it's
the church now that's addressing the issue of
this person to him. To this end, as I also wrote,
that I might put you to the test, whether you,
whether you are obedient in all things, right?
In 10, he says, now whom you forgive, whom you
forgive anything, I also forgive, for if indeed
I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that
one for his sake, for your sake, in the presence
of Christ. He says, he now says, least Satan
take advantage of us. for we are not ignorant
of his devices." So he's trying to encourage
them to reaffirm their love to that particular
individual, to reaffirm their love to that particular
individual in verse 6 and 7. We see that in verse
6 of the same chapter. He says, this punishment
which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient
for such a man. That's the individual. It means
that this individual has suffered enough from
from the from yes yes probably has been afflicted
enough this seven now says so that on the contrary
you ought rather to forgive and comfort him least
perhaps such one will be swallowed up with too
much sorrow so he's encouraging them to forgive
and comfort so that they don't lose a brother
right so they don't lose a brother the end goal
is for the individual to be restored in other
words he says let's let's let's forgive this
person right Let's forgive this person and you
can get a sense that it's a situation that happened
in the church that they're addressing and then
he's bringing the attention to the fact like,
let's reaffirm our love for this person, right?
Let's reaffirm our love for this person because
we don't want to lose him in trying to reprimand
him, right? We don't want to lose him in trying
to reprimand him and he now concludes with saying,
right? At least Satan takes advantage us for
we are not ignorant of his devices means that
we are aware of the ways the devil want us to
but because broken relationship is what you're
trying to fix here the broken relationship is
what you're trying to see how you can restore
the Brother so I use that force to help to help
us understand that the enemy has ways Right the
enemy has ways that he can cross an offense cross
division make you go away from the core tenets
of the doctrine of Christ, make you go away from
all of that. And we know that if you don't desire
sound, what is sound? You fall for what is false,
right? You don't desire what is sound, you fall
for what is false. And even the understanding
of what is false will help you, right? Because
once you know what is sound, understanding what
is false will help you to easily deal with it.
help you to easily deal with it. And that's why
you continue to answer. Because the enemy is
not, he's not, he's always improving, right?
He's always trying to make the, max the deception,
make it very difficult for you to spot what is
an error. And you want to always be on your toes,
to be able to see the schemes of his schemes
and be able to make, understand and walk around
it and ensure that you are not, you are a lot,
praise God, and ensure that you are a lot. So
in 1 Peter 5, 8 to 9, it says, be sober, be vigilant.
That word there, we're familiar with it from
Sunday, that being vigilant means to be watchful,
to watch. It's the same word as in 1 Corinthians
16, 13, the same word there. They say because.
The reason why you are sober is because your
adversary, the devil walks. about like a roaring
lion. Emphasis on like a roaring lion. Seeking
whom he may devour. Seeking whom he may devour.
Resist him. Resist him. The Greek word there
is to stand against that. It's to oppose. It's
to stand against that or it's to oppose. Stand
against what exactly it is and how do you stand?
It says steadfast in the faith, right? Steadfast
in the faith. Knowing that the same sufferings
are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
Knowing that it's not like it's the same. The
methods, the strategies he'll be employing is
the same. Praise God. Methods and strategy he'll
be employing is the same. So the adversary, which
is one very important thing that I want you to
notice, he says, he didn't say, be sober, be
vigilant, because your adversary your brother
and your sister in Christ. Did he word it like
that? Was that what was stated? Because sometimes
we fail to understand who the true enemy is,
right? Because the fact that the enemy is walking
through a brother and a sister, it can be misleading.
Praise God. It can be misleading. Because you
want to be able to spot, because the person you
can see is your brother and your sister, right?
And you just feel like they're trying to just
get underneath your skin. They're trying to find
ways. to test your love work, to see if you are
genuinely a believer. Praise God. To see if you're
genuinely a believer. But not that we are encouraged
to understand that the adversary is the enemy,
as the devil. The person that is your brother
and your sister is not the devil. That person
that has done you wrong was empowered by somebody.
Praise God. Was empowered by somebody. So when
you want to retaliate, When you want to retaliate,
understand that helps you to calm down, right?
When you feel like, OK, I want to retaliate,
it helps you to calm down. Even though the person
before you is really, because the enemy is very
strategic in how he makes you miss the point.
He makes you miss the point, because now your
focus is on the, because when somebody does something
to you and you understand the person is not a
believer, you know, it changes the way you, because
this person doesn't believe what you believe
in. So why am I angry? Praise God. It helps you
just examine the reasons why you shouldn't even
be so bothered about a person's action. In fact,
most of the times, why you're greatly bothered
is especially when the person says, I'm a believer,
you feel like this person has just betrayed.
Has just betrayed and many times that is what
gets us and we need to spot what, why are you
offended, right? Why are you, like if you come
down to truly why you're offended, it helps you
build up from there, right? Because sometimes
we can't even, you know there's times when you're
offended, but you don't even know the reason
why you're offended. You just feel like, and
you cannot, you are just, you want to exercise
on the premise of the offense, but you want to
take a step back and say, why am I really offended?
Is what my actions or the actions I'm about to
take. commensurate to the offense. Praise God.
So when he uses the word lion, lion has a strategy
of attack. The lion doesn't attack the focused.
It doesn't attack the strongest. The lion attacks
the one that is isolated, right? The one that
is not amongst the pack. He observes. The lion
doesn't just pursue. I think if you watch wildlife,
you see that the animals are very, there are
certain animals that just hunger and make them
just hunt around, but the lion is very strategic
in how he hunts. The lion is very strategic in
how he hunts. Their focus, they look for those
that are weak, they look for those that are careless,
right? Animals that are careless. You're with
your pack, you decide to just wander and wander
away, and you're wandering away to your own...
Because the lion now spots that, rather than
me go against this whole group, there's one available
dinner or breakfast. Praise God. There's an available
dinner or breakfast. And he uses that to paint
a picture to us. And the strategy of the enemy
is the same. It's easy to attack somebody that
is isolated. Right? And many times we don't even
know this with even relationships. When people
want to mess, they drag you out. They will make
you fight with all the people that truly care
for you. Praise God. They will make you fight
with all of them. They will say, this person
doesn't mean you well. These are the reasons
why they don't mean you well. You will say, yes,
I see the reasons why they don't mean you well.
But you don't understand that all of a sudden
they don't mean you well. There's a change. So
you want to. Be aware that the enemy walks the
same exact way and the enemy uses the same, people
that do it use the same tactic of the enemy,
the same tactic. So what it really means is that
you have to examine yourself. When I'm in difficult
situations, what are my first line of action?
Do I isolate myself from the believer? Wrong
move. Do I decide that, okay, those times are
the times I don't attend church meetings because
I'm trying to do a personal examination of myself?
I don't want to be distracted. I want to just
focus on the Lord and myself. Praise God. Does
that sound like a very good strategy? Or your
strategy is making you even more. of a lunch
and a dinner. Very good. Notice that I don't
use breakfast, because it's early. Most people
come in the mornings. So you can give the lion
a run when it's morning, because the energy,
you are still up on your energy. And sometimes,
which is one of the strategies the enemy employs,
he makes you feel that, oh, why am I the only
one that is always attacked? Why am I the only
one that is always prone to all, you just feel
like, am I the only one that is, why should I
be the only one that is going through suffering,
right? Why should I be the only one that's going
through hardships? Why should I be the only one
that's going through difficulty? But you fail
to understand that those things are part of what
happens to people that are alive, right? Those
things are part of what happens to people that
are alive. The only people that have the best
time of their life are people that are just laying
down, sleeping and nothing. They don't care about
anything. Nothing bothers them. They're not functioning
systems. They're just there. But for you that
is alive, you'll be prone to those things, right?
And the fact that you are in a family, going
back to the whole idea of being a family, you
are secured, right? Because not everybody will
not be going through suffering at the same time.
Yeah, there are times where it happens, right?
But not everybody feels it the same way. Praise
God. So there's always going to be that person
that will help you through it. Praise God. And
that's why When we encourage us time and time
again, don't just say, okay, have close cycle
of friends in the church that you can run to,
right? That you can run to, that you can encourage
yourselves, that you can grow together, that
you can strengthen yourself, that you are very,
very vulnerable with. Praise God. You're very
vulnerable. It's very important because it helps
you. It helps you stand. It helps you stand.
And we'll talk more about that because we'll
see it in Scripture. The time that Peter and
John had that situation, he had people they went
to. They went to pray together. When Paul was
with Silas in the prison, he had Silas. When
we'll get to see... their Babylonian names. They
had themselves, right? They had themselves. When
Daniel had the, he came back to them. In Daniel
2, he came back to them. He came back to them.
So you want to understand that difficult seasons,
you shouldn't conclude when you have difficult
seasons. You shouldn't conclude that the Lord
has left you to sort yourself out. Don't conclude
that the Lord has left you to sort yourself out
because Difficult season the moment you open
your mouth and start talking about difficulties
You hear more other difficult situation has happened
to other people, right? So it's a major lie from
the enemy That makes you feel like the Lord has
left you to your own like just sort yourself
out But scripture time and time and again reminds
us that he will never leave us. Right? He has
that is not the way he operates. He doesn't say
Leave yourself, you know, today I was talking
to my students, I say, sometimes the way I look
at some people in the exam hall, it looks like
the moment they pick up, like the question paper
is dropped on the table, and then they look at
the question paper, the other part of themselves
will tell them, see you at home. It's like, that's
basically what it is to them, like, because they
will allow fear, make the most of them, and then
they will just feel like, I can't do this. After
you have studied, Like, you know, say, I can't
do this. And then it's like, see you at home,
please. Just handle it by yourself. And it's
the part that studied with them that leaves them.
So I was encouraging them. I said, when that
part of yourself wants to leave, just tell them,
please, we can't do this. I can't do this alone.
We have to do this together. Let's sit down and
ensure that we do the exams together. And for
some people, they feel it's like that. When there's
a difficult situation, ah. God now lives with
them. God is scared of this situation, too scared
that he abandons you in the line of fire. I want
you to reorient your understanding about God.
When God promises to never leave you no for sake,
what he means is that. He's not going to leave
you no for sake. So even in the fire, praise
God, he's there with you. Even in the fire, he's
there with you. And he didn't just even leave
you for... He places family, he places, he gives
you his word, right? He gave you family. He gave
you the church, the church family. He gave you
the church family. He gave you his word. He gave
you himself. Praise God. And I want that to be
a very strong encouragement to you that no matter,
no matter what you're going through, don't ever
get yourself or catch yourself thinking that
you are alone on the matter. And by the way,
note that you can think that you're alone on
the matter. But the actual fact or the actual
reality is that you're not alone. Praise God.
And that should be what you should reinforce
in your mind. That's what you should reinforce.
It can feel like you're alone, right? The situation
can make you feel like you're not alone, but
you are guaranteed. Your rest assured that the
fact that you have, even if you can't, God's
word is not making sense to you at that point
in time. God's people around you should make
sense to you at that point in time. so you don't
isolate yourself from them, praise God. In Psalms
55 -22, Psalms 55 -22, it says, give your burdens,
give your burdens, NLT, I'm using the NLT, say,
give your burdens, and that burdens is whatever
life throws at you, whatever life throws at you,
to the Lord, and he will take care of you, praise
God. It says, he will take care of you, and he
has been doing this for a while. He took care
of David. He took care of all the people. He
has been taking care of them. So he has experience.
So don't think that you are new. Like your own
case is very unique to you. God is struggling.
He's finding ways to take care of you. He doesn't
even know how to take care of you because your
situation is so complicated that God's mind just
gets blown away. That's not what he says. Praise
God. He says he will take care of you. He says
he will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
Praise God. Jude says he's able to keep us from
stumbling. He's able to preserve us. He says
all of those things to reinforce. And then the
New King James says, cast your burdens on the
Lord, and he shall sustain you. He shall never
permit the righteous to be moved. Praise God.
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
And note that in the earlier verses, the earlier
verse of 1 Peter, that's basically where he had
mentioned that. that has taken it from the Psalms.
David is the one that is saying this. And David
knows this for himself, praise God. David, as
someone who has gone to battle, someone who has
faced difficult situations, he knows this for
a fact. And when he says cast your burden, he
doesn't say you should, you know, sometimes you
can put it there and pick it back. You can put
it there and you feel like, oh no, no, no, it's
my problem, it's my problem, we take it back
again. That is in the 1 Peter 5 verse 7. It says,
Casting all your care upon the Lord, because
he cares for you. Casting all your care upon
the Lord, for he cares for you. That's where
the pita picks from the psalmist, picks from
David. The casting of the care, because he cares
for you. Because he cares for you. And I want
us to quickly see Daniel and his friends. I want
us to quickly see Daniel and his friends. When
Daniel was faced with the situation, and all
of us, technically, everybody was faced with
that situation, in Daniel 2 verse 1, New King
James, Daniel 2 verse 1, it says, now in the
second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar
had dreams, had dreams. And his spirit was so
troubled that his sleep left him. So he had a
dream, and he was so troubled. And I want you
to mark. The key word here is that he slept,
had a dream, he woke up, he couldn't sleep. Right?
Slept, had a dream, woke up, and couldn't sleep.
He said, then the king gave a command to all
his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, Chaldeans,
to tell the king his dreams. So I think I was
thinking about it one time. I said, it's interesting
how these kings surround themselves with all
these calibers of people. I guess, different
kinds of people, they surround themselves with
all of these persons because they don't want
to make a wrong move, right? They want to be
very, and for us, we are the ones that choose
to surround ourselves by ourselves when you're
faced with a talentless situation. But these
people, and if you want to, a king is someone
that you should observe, especially if a king
knows what he's doing, right? If a king knows
what he's doing, it's someone that should see
the way he operates, the way he does things,
and we see that this man, even though he doesn't
know God, right? But he puts himself around people,
at least he has people around him. You have Daniel
that knows God, so that if there's a problem,
but you have people around, you leave those people
and then you go to the people that don't know
God. What do I do about this situation? And what
do you expect them to tell you? Godly things,
godly steps to take, like they say, don't worry,
I know you fear God. So I will teach you how
to, they will teach you what the word of God
says concerning your particular. Situation is
that is that what usually happens? No, they will
give you the wrong thing or the best ways to
They would suggest to you the ways to get yourself
arrested ways to get yourself killed ways to
get yourself into more trouble than you started
with because when you assess yourself from when
you took the advice to win You can tell there's
a big difference and the difference is not a
good difference Praise God. So he surrounds himself.
He gets these people to want he sees so that
they can be so that they should so they came
Stood before the king and then he goes on and
on. I wanted to jump to 16 So we understood that
the king now says oh if you cannot get this done
You guys are gonna be killed like why do I have
you if you can't solve my problem, right? So
he threatens them and says, okay, you guys are
gonna be killed if you know so in 16 now it gets
to Daniel gets word of it of this and then he
says Daniel went in and asked the king to give
him time I was thinking to give him time that
he might tell the king the interpretation So
now Daniel is now having to, because the king
did not want to tell them what the dream was,
because anybody can cook up anything, and say
that's the, since you have told us the dream.
So the person is able to tell him, because he
wants to trust that you're not making up stuff,
because anybody, because you know that you're
gonna die, because you know that death is the
ultimate, you will have to make up something,
just so that you live to see another day, right?
But we see that Daniel now comes, and then in
17, so Daniel went into, went, to his house and
made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael,
and Hazariah, his companions. He made the decision
known to his companions. So it means that he
didn't just go by himself. He went to his companions,
his friends, right? He went to his friends, made
known to them, and in 18 it says that they might
seek the mercies from the God of heaven. concerning
this secret, so that Daniel and his companions
might not perish with the rest of the wise men
of Babylon. So Daniel and his companions will
not perish alongside. Meaning that in him being
able to, it's not like the rest are gonna die,
they're gonna be saved. All those other men too
will be saved as well. So that Daniel and his
companions might not perish alongside them. So
in 19, now it says, Then the secret was revealed
to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed
the God of heaven. So Daniel blessed the God
of heaven. So we see that Daniel and his friends
would have gathered. His friends would have come
together and they start saying, hey, what are
we going to do now? Hey, now that the king is
going to remove our heads, what are we going
to do? It was not a party of friends. They were
now warring themselves together, right? Let's
hold their hands and be crying. What they did
was that they sought the help of God, right?
And know that for God to be the one you go to
when you have a problem, it says a lot about
the way you solve or the way you deal with it.
And then someone says, when you are faced with
a situation, do you run to the phone or run to
the throne? So is your first line of action going
to God or trying to find a way to fix it yourself?
So we see that this man understood that this
particular thing, we cannot solve it. Praise
God. And that's the first thing you want to understand
when you're faced with a difficult situation.
Because sometimes you're faced with a difficult
situation, you cannot solve it. You are trying
to solve it by yourself. And it's a dangerous
place to be because it can get worse. Because
the moment you now come and find the people that
will help you, we will just be telling you if
you had contacted us earlier. it would have been
a lot easier, praise God. So you want to, and
I believe that even when you're going to a difficult
situation, you pray about it, I am very sure
that the Holy Spirit will highlight individuals
that you should go and talk about your situation.
I'm very sure, because you are in a family, right?
You're in a family. So these men prayed together
and then it was revealed to them. And note something.
situation is enough to deny them sleep. Do you
understand me? It's enough because if somebody
says they're going to kill you if you don't do
something and you know that what they're asking
you to do is impossible. I don't know about you.
Sleep will not be on the list of things that
you will do even after you're afraid. Because
if you're afraid and then the solution doesn't
come in that very place of prayer, you say, God,
I'm finished. Praise God. Because you just get
into panic mode, and everything just spirals
down from there. But we see that Daniel was able
to at least go to bed. Praise God. He was able
to go to bed, and he was in his sleep. Right?
He was in his sleep, because it says night vision.
I don't know when you say it. And other instances
in the book of Daniel Way makes reference to
that. But we understand that that was. That was
him having to rest, and then that happens. So
one key thing you can see from here is the fact
that no matter what it is you're going through,
sleep helps you to actually... Praise God. It's
very straightforward, very simple. If you don't
sleep, you probably will not even see the way
out. Praise God. The door can be in front of
you, you say, I'm locked up because you have
not slept. Praise God. So if you know that there's
a time to sleep, that's just so because sometimes
the cause of the problem is that you're sleeping
too much. Praise God. So we see that the dream
was made known to them and it just communicates
their trust. Going to bed, even when you have
a difficulty, it just communicates your trust
in God. You know, we say, cast your care. Once
you have casted it on him, you can sleep. Because
now it's not on you, it's on him. And you trust
that when you wake up tomorrow morning, it will
be a lot better. Praise God. And we see that
that was the case for them, because in a place
of rest, the revelation was able to be made known
to them. And then he comes, and then he presents
it to the king. I want to just go back to because
I I just did that so that we can come back on
it. So I want to go to James now and show us
something. James 1, 2 to 4. James 1, 2 to 4.
And I want to read it from the NLT, please. It
says, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles
of any kind come your way. When troubles of any
kind come your way. It says, when troubles of
any kind come your way. Consider it an opportunity.
for great joy consider it an opportunity for
great joy what does that mean in a sense means
that your attitude towards trouble should be
oh this is another opportunity for god to deliver
me right this is an opportunity for god to do
it's not when you now face trouble you say oh
god i'm finished you call god and then you see
you are finished praise god We see that you want
to consider it an opportunity for great joy because
it's going to end in great joy, right? It looks
like it's difficult, but it's going to end in
great joy. And the interesting thing about that,
speaking about the fact that you're standing
in faith, the interesting thing about that in
this sense now, the interesting about that is
that what you're experiencing does not make sense
with what you're thinking about, right? Because
what you're experiencing is trouble. You will
say a person is weird or you say a person is
crazy when they are going through difficulty
and they are looking forward to what God is going
to do in that situation. Praise God. They're
looking forward to what God is going to do in
that situation. And three now gives us something
very important. It says, for you know that when
your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance
to grow. Praise God. When your faith is tested,
your endurance, but we are in a world where Any
form of testing, we don't want tests. We don't
want challenges. Just give us the end. Just give
us the end. The end is joy, right? The end is
rejoicing. Just skip, let's skip all of that.
That part of suffering, delete, delete, delete,
suffering, delete, delete, delete. I wish it
was that way, where you have your life like a
movie script. You just cut out that part of suffering.
Just be cutting them out. Many people, they will
cut. Life is not like that. Because it tells
you that when, it did not say if, right? It says
when troubles of any kind come your way, consider
it an opportunity for joy. How many of us are
willing to see, you know, that is some, like
you have to deconstruct a lot of things to be
able to see suffering or see challenges and say,
God, I can't wait for what you're going to do
in this situation. And I guarantee you that it
will make the whole journey worth a while. Because
now you're going through every step of it, looking
for how God is going to deliver you. Not how
you're going to die in the process. Praise God.
Not how you're going to die in the process. It's
for you know. In fact, if the... Difficulty doesn't
do anything to you. It's an opportunity for you
to grow. The next time you see the same kind
of a thing, you'll be like, I've seen this before.
I've faced it before. And I used to tell people,
I say, if somebody has faced something before,
you don't have to. And he faced it, and he did
a good job of how he navigated his way around
it. You don't now have to now say, let me do
it my own style. You don't have to rework it.
because this person has already gone through
it so that you don't have to cry too much, suffer
too much to be able to find your way out of it.
All the bruises and all the, you know, he has
collected it all for you so that now you will,
praise God, so someone has gone through it so
you are able to even endure it and go through
it a lot. The phone now says, so let it grow,
so let it grow. When your endurance is fully
developed, you will be perfect and complete,
needing nothing. So the challenge now is to let
that, like, you want to grow, you want to let
it grow. So it says, for when you know that your
fate is tested, when your fate is tested, your
endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow,
right? Let your endurance through the situation
grows. And people that have been through difficult
situations, people that have seen difficult situations,
always have a stamina and a stability to them.
They are not easily moved when they stay steadfast
and immovable. Because regardless of what is
happening, they are doing the Lord's work. Regardless
of whatever difficulties they are facing, one
thing is constant. The work of the Lord will
continue to move forward. Because in doing that
work, every other thing that you feel like is
a problem, you're giving it the attention it
requires, by the way. You're not just ignoring
it. Because there's one other thing to ignore
the problem and act like it's not there. You
understand? Because Daniel did not say, OK, Nebuchadnezzar,
OK, don't worry. We'll just ignore what you have
said. Let's just sleep. No. They prayed about
it, right? They trusted that God was going to
deliver on the other end. And indeed so. Praise
God. So I want us to see that. And let's go back
and then look at a couple of issues, dangers
that Apostle Paul was trying to address. And
it will help us to be able to sift through. the
major issue or the what he kept on talking about,
and it's all, it comes down to the doctrine,
right? It comes down to standing fast on the
truth that you receive, because if you understand
the truth that you receive, every other thing
will arrange itself. The first thing which we
see in 1 Corinthians 1, 10 to 12, is that issue
around division, right? Now it's showing around
people saying I'm from this person, I'm from
that person, I'm from that person, I'm from this
person. So it's just divided loyalties. Where
one individual is just factions, this person,
it just messes up the beauty of the family. The
beauty of the family is so that everything works,
we work together. There's unity. There's unity,
there's one vision, there's no two visions. Praise
God. In 1 Corinthians 1, 10 to 12, it says, Now
I plead with you, brethren, by the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same
thing, right? Speak the same thing, not two things,
and that there be no divisions among you. And
speaking the same thing will mean that you're
all Muhammad. It says, but that you are perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. It says, for it, 11 says, for it has
been declared, it has been declared to me concerning
you, my brethren, by those of close household.
contentment amongst you. Now, I see this, that
each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos,
or I'm of Cephas, that's Peter, or I'm of Christ.
Right, or I'm of Christ. Then 13, now says, is
Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? You
know, he's trying to, like you know, sometimes
these questions help you to recalibrate. It helps
you to understand that, what are we even fighting
for? or why are we even doing all of this? We
should come together, right? We should come together.
And it says, was Paul crucified for you or were
you baptized in the name of Paul? So Paul is
using himself here because he wants you to understand
and look, there's no need for all of this. Let's
see what just, don't allow the devil make us
lose sight of the unity that we have in Christ,
right? Don't allow the devil makes us lose sight
of the unity that we have in Christ. So we see
also in first, Corinthians 3 verse 1 to 4. That's
Corinthians 3 verse 1 to 4. There's also an issue
where he addresses it slightly different. He
says, and I, brethren, could not speak to you
as spiritual people, but as carnal, but as to
carnal, as to babes in Christ. I have fed you
with milk, not with solid food, for until now
you were not able to receive it, and even now
you are still not able. Three now says, for you
are still carnal, for where there are envy, strife,
and divisions among you, are you not carnal and
behaving like mere men? For when one says, I
am of Paul and I am of Apollos, are you not carnal?
So we see that the carnal here now is you're
not You're not walking in flow, like you are
in Christ. We are doing something that is contradictory.
That's why he says, was it Paul that was crucified
for you? So you understand that the focus is
Christ, not any of this sort of person. And you
being God is like, you're not walking in the
Spirit, like in the truth that you have received.
Praise God. You're not walking in the truth that
you have received. So he's kind of bringing the
attention to the fact that the focus is in what
Christ has done. And we understand that even
Christ encouraged, in fact in this type of prayers,
he prays for them in 17, is that they are one.
He's not about the divisions. No progress happens,
no good and solid progress happens when they
are fractions. In fact, energies will be divided.
The energy that you use to walk in one straight
line, the other person will say, no, no, no,
no, I can't walk, how can I be walking with this
person? I don't like the way he operates. And
then the energy now that we'll put in doing one
thing, this other person will be doing his own
thing, the other person will be doing his own
thing, it will take us a long time to make progress.
Praise God. And that's why he brings the attention.
In 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14, he also says, but
the natural man does not receive the things of,
and that's to contrast the fact that you understand
that you are not now, you're not a mare. You
have the spirit of God, meaning that you are
able to, See, you're able to read God's word.
In fact, God's word is what has the authority.
You live your life on the basis of what is the
instruction. You live your life on understanding
of what the authority has placed around you.
You understand the importance of all of these
things. So you don't live your life anyhow. He
says, does not receive the things of his spirit
because they are foolishness to him, nor can
they know it because they are spiritually discerned.
Meaning that you know that, OK, this is God's
will. This is what we need to do in Christ Jesus.
A person that is not, it's like when a person
shows up here and he doesn't understand what
is going on here, he will be doing something
different from what we're doing, because he doesn't
understand how things operate in this particular
environment, but we are beyond that. And in 2
Corinthians 10, 3 to 5, 2 Corinthians 10, 3 to
5, I read it from the NLT, 3 to 5, it says, we
are humans, but we don't wage war as humans do.
We use the mighty weapons, not human. not worldly
weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human
reasoning and to destroy false arguments. And
to destroy false arguments. So we destroy every
proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing
God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and
teach them to obey Christ. We capture rebellious
thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. I want
to say something that when people are acting
out of order, it means that they are, as we see
here, as I said earlier, that the enemy is behind,
is walking behind. There's a doctrine that the
enemy is running. There's an active doctrine
that's walking in that particular individual.
And what you are doing is that you're using God's
weapon, God's arsenal, which is his word, the
teaching of his word, sound doctrine, to be able
to destroy every form of human reasoning and
every false argument, contrary to what the word
of God is. And any of, any, any Anytime you entertain
anything contrary to, you are slowly yielding
to something that when you now manifest, it will
now be like you don't know what the truth is.
And nowadays we have a situation where people
don't consciously know that once you are listening
to something over and over again, you are subconsciously
programming yourself to see that as the right
way of doing things. And it happens every now
and then. You just feel like that is the normal
way. That's the right way to do things. But it's
not. It's not. And you will be forgiven of it
because you have seen it so many times to think
that, OK, everybody does it like that. But you
understand that that is not the way people should
do it. That is not the way it is done. Praise
God. And it says, we capture their rebellious
thoughts and teach them to be good. We have a
responsibility to teach people, right? We have
a responsibility to make people understand what
we believe in and teach them. It's very important
that we make people understand what we believe
in and teach them I'm trying to find a place
where we can So there are two other things that
Apostle Paul addresses and one other thing is
that them compromising to like Compromising on
what they know to not be true, right? They yield
because you see that this person is saved He
knows that okay, I shouldn't be doing this, but
they just say okay. Let's just do it anyways
Like we're in Christ, right? We're in Christ.
So we see that form of compromise that happens.
And those are what he refers to as the levels
that actually levels a little bit. Little compromises
here and there. It's what takes you off. It's
what makes you lose sight. In fact, it's what
makes people lose confidence in what you say
you believe in. Right? It makes people lose confidence.
Because what you believe in is true. But your
actions is not helping them in any way. Your
actions is not helping them. And sometimes we
undermine how that destroys your ability to proclaim
the gospel. You undermine the importance of that
because people see, they see you more than they
hear you. Praise God. They see you more than
they hear you and then you're telling them something
and then they are like, it's all, and you're
forgotten. But people don't forget. People have
seen you so many times and they've seen you taking
certain actions and you don't forget. So, and
you see in their own case, There are issues of
sexual immorality, and that has been rampant.
We see that in 1 Corinthians 5, 1 to 2, and then
6. It says that there has been reported sexual
immorality among Jews, such as not even named
among the Gentiles. That is the height of it.
And tomorrow, you want to come and tell them,
Jesus, to be difficult for you to get past that.
It says that one now takes his father's wife.
That's the height of it. He says, and you are
puffed up. So you know, you have done something
bad. It's bad enough you have done something
bad, but you are now proud about what you have
done. That's why he's addressing it. And he's
addressing it. He says, and have you not rather
mourned? And that he who has done this deed might
be taken away from among you. In 6, he says,
your glorying is not good. Do you not know that
a little leavens leaven the lump, which is the
whole idea of like, because you are glowing something
that is evil. You're glowing something that is
evil. And you want to be careful not to give,
like make that a norm. That's why when there's
a situation here, if we accept it, we are like,
that's saying it's good. Everybody should behave
like that. So you want to be able to understand
that certain things that you should not even
tolerate at all. The same thing is because it
will undermine the faith that you believe in.
You can't say you believe in this and then you
are doing this. And then you are saying something
and we are seeing something else, different from
what you are saying. So it very much undermines
that and that's why I pose to Paul this. Because
all of those things are dangerous, praise God.
All of those things are dangerous and the fact
that you are living around a culture of people
like different cultures, different people that
are still holding back because you're trying
to teach them something new. But there's something
that has been running before. Because they have
their different cultures, the different things
that they do, they hold on to different system.
Just imagine you're trying to tell them that
Christ is the end of all the sacrifice and then
you have people that say, no, no, we love this
our sacrifice so much. We still have to be doing
the sacrifice. So it will be hard because you
have to keep on standing because it will go back
to the other way. It's easy for you to flow back
because you think we miss. We miss the times
where we go into the temple and bring our goats
and we miss those times. Well, we understand
that those times are not relevant in this time
because we have something greater than those
things. Praise God. So he's trying to bring to
them. And I wanted to get to a point where we'll
talk about the whole ways that we can make those
things idols. But that will be for some of the
time to be addressed by some of the pastors.
So I want us to just open our mouths and just.
We appreciate you being here today. We hope you
carry this worry with you throughout your week.
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you care about. Until next time, stay blessed.