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. We're praying. I perceive that someone
has a difficulty hearing on their right ear.
has a difficulty hearing in their right ear,
right now I speak to that ear. I said, every
blockage is open right now in the name of Jesus.
Every difficulty in hearing, we see that every
pain is gone. Every pain is gone in that ear
right now in the name of Jesus. Father, we thank
you. Father, we thank you for healing. Thank
you for healing. Thank you for healing. Thank
you for your healing power will continue to find
expression. Every time we're met with a difficult
situation or any form of sicknesses, we'll continue
to be bold to open our mouth and speak in the
power and the authority that you have given unto
us to cast out devils, to heal the sick. Father,
we thank you because we'll continue to press
on. We'll continue to insist. We'll continue
to seek more of your power, find expression in
and through us in the name of Jesus. In the mighty
name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Let's have a seat.
I want to thank God for this opportunity and
thank the pastorate, our lead pastor and the
ostrich pastors for the opportunity to continue
on the teaching, to teach. I think I listened
to the Sunday service and I discovered I was
probably a lot, it seemed like I was very fast
in the last Sunday. I think I was probably wanting
to get to the part where we pray. And I will
pick it a bit, I'll be a lot slower so that we
can be able to. at least make the most of it
and take proper notes on the teaching. So a topic
is still what comes next after the Believers
Conference, what comes next after the Believers
Conference. And what I want to start to do is
to make us see the reasons why we gather and
then the reasons why we must continue. That's
basically the two things we're going to focus
on, why we gather and why we must continue to
engage, continue to persist in the things and
continue to... absorb and let the things that
we learn always find expression because practice
is important. Practice is very important. If
you're learning and you're not putting into practice
what you're learning, you will not make progress.
There is nowhere that you, there's in fact even
skills that you learn that requires hand, that
requires you using your brain, using your hands,
they will always encourage that you practice
because It's in practice that you realize that
there's more. It's when we practice that we see
the need to improve. We practice that we see
the need to go back and check our notes. Praise
God. And this is just right after the Believers
Conference. And what this is meant to do is to
help us to be reminded that if we forget the
things that we have learned or the things that
we have received, we will lose it. We will lose
the things that we learned. And we looked at
Micah 4, 1 -5. Micah 4, 1 -5. And I read it to
us because it reads like a head, but we're reading
it in the now. Praise God. We're reading it in
the now. And in the New King James, Micah 4,
1 -5, it says, It has come to pass that on the
mountain of the Lord's house that we are established
on the top of the mountains. and is exalted above
the hills. People shall flow to it and people
are flowing to it. The house of Venice here,
people are coming to the house of Venice here.
And in this season, we'll see the increase as
the teaching of God's word. We'll see that in
scripture, we'll see that the teaching as people
spread and the teaching of God's word continues,
there's an increase. Two now says many nations,
many nations, many nations, many nations shall
come and say, come. and let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.
I said the emphasis is on this part. He said
he will teach us his ways and we shall walk in
his paths. So the teaching of his ways and the
walking in his paths happens when we gather.
Praise God. The teaching of his ways and the
walking in his paths happens when we gather.
Practice teaching and learning of God's word.
majorly. We'll see it all through scripture.
We're going to look at some passages. It happens
when we gather. It happens when we gather. It
says, For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Praise
God. It says, He shall judge between many peoples,
and rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into proning hooks. Nation shall not lift
up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his
vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall
make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken. For all people will walk each in the
name of his God, and he will walk. in the name
of the Lord our God forever and ever. And I emphasize
the fact that going up a mountain is not easy.
Going up a mountain is difficult. It requires
sacrifice. It requires commitment. And we say
that the whole process of teaching and learning
is also the same. On Sunday service, you have
a lot more people. On a weekday, you have people
because I saw our sister coming. You're coming
from somewhere. You had a long day. but you still
were able to say this place is important and
you made it here and it requires sacrifice. Anything
that requires sacrifice would require, would
demand more than the usual. Anything, any form
of sacrifice demands more than the usual. And
these people made it, they went to the mountain
to, as I said, there's a going up the mountain
and there's the, what are we going to do, right?
And we know that anytime we gather in church
like this, we gather to learn, we gather to grow.
And we know that it's important to us. That's
why we always make it a habit to show up or between
to show up. And even in the Believer's Conference,
when we gather, and that's the thing, when we
gather and we're stretched for that long period
of time, coming in in a week seems like, because
how many hours do we spend in a week and how
many hours are we able to put into that time?
Because if you compare and contrast, you see
the square, this one requires us to be stretched.
The Believer's Conference requires us to be stretched.
And then we... In that stretch, we're able to
see that there is more. Then when we now come
back to the routine, we have that sustained coming,
sustained meetings, and we have the times, our
personal times, where we learn and we grow, and
then we continue, and the process keeps building
us more and more. And they go up. We say that
there's a literal side to it where it's a mountain,
it's a location, and there's a spiritual side
to it because people go to make with God. Praise
God. And we say that there are times where even...
Because there's the practicality of the mountains,
there's the safety and security, even with regards
to war. The whole idea communicates a bit of
war. And if you're on an elevated platform, it's
easier for you to see the enemies that are coming
at you. So there's a practical side to it. And
even with regards to teaching, when you're on
an elevated level, it's easier for you to be
able to communicate. People see you and people...
hear you a lot easier there's if you've been
to and when you shout it says the waves take
your voice a lot farther and we talked about
that so i will just go into and i took us to
this situation in acts in acts 26 verse 14 where
i i took us there to help us see the apostle
paul's account of or recounting what happened
in acts and And we see that in that conversation,
we see that he was, at that point in time, making
efforts against the will of God. And the change
happens. And that change happened because God
had met with the individual, God had met with
him. And even when he met with him, which is
the point we're going to spend time and look
at, because we'll see the importance of the gathering,
we'll see the importance of people, because people
are who make up the gathering. And in Apostle
Paul's meeting with God, he had to meet with
an individual. It was our brother Ananias. He
had to meet with an individual. And you see the
importance and how it connects and how it kick
-started and jump -started his whole growth process
and his learning process because all of that
is in keeping with the fact that gatherings are
important. People that make up the gatherings
are important. If we undermine the gathering,
undermine people who will not make growth, will
not learn and will not progress. That's why we
encourage ourselves regularly as a church that
we should prioritize the people that God has
placed around you. Don't take for granted relationships.
Don't take for granted the moments when you have
people because you will not always have those
types of people. You will not even know the value
of those persons until when they are no longer.
They are prioritizing and making the most of
the meetings, ensure meetings and people, ensures
that we don't live after our regrets. We live
after our regrets. So I said we'll start to,
we'll go to how God uses, how God walks through
gatherings, how God walks through gatherings.
We said this is central to how God meets or walks
through his people. It's very important that
we see all true scriptures. So if... God is going
to do anything. He will do it in meetings and
he will do it through people. So first focus
on gathering because gathering is where we're
taught. When they said, let us go up to the mountain,
they're going to gather, praise God. And when
they gather, what happens in the gathering is
important or is valuable to what is necessary
for the growth of the people. And I mentioned
that the experience, you know, when I told us
of the Psalms of Ascent, which is the Psalms,
1 Corinthians to the Psalms. 1, 34. Those are
15. There are 15 of them. Those are the sounds
they sing on their way up. Meaning that the experience
or the excitement to go up is not, they are excited
to go up. You know, when David said, I was glad
when they said to me, let's go to the house.
It's an excitement, right? And that excitement
is what fuels the whole process of learning,
the whole process of the experience or the whole
process of going up because it makes the whole
journey worthwhile. I mean, I think that I remember
those times when we are going as a church, we're
going to either salamis or going to places, when
in the vehicle we'll sing, we'll sing, we'll
just join and sing songs and all of that. It
makes the whole process or the whole journey
exciting. Praise God. Just looking forward to
going to that place. And we say that faithfulness
is required for every meeting. Faithfulness to
every meeting is required for growth. Faithfulness
to every meeting and every word is required for
growth. Because we don't see growth without commitment.
We see growth with consistency. We see growth
with just being fervent. We see growth with just
putting more, just being committed, because that's
how we go on. And every of Jesus' disciples,
every of the disciples as well, and even the
disciples that were made afterwards, we see that
they were committed. We see that they were gathered.
They're always that team of gathering together,
that team of learning. that team of studying,
and that is what guaranteed that they grew. Praise
God. That's what guaranteed that they grew. So
I want us to look at Mark 3. Let's start off
from 13. We'll see the team of mountain, and
then we'll go down to 14. Mark 3, 13. Mark 3,
13, it says, And they went up on the mountain,
and he called him to those, and he called to
him those who himself wanted. And they came to
him, right? So he went up to the mountain and
he called them. And this is when he appointed
the twelve. So then he appointed the twelve that
they might be with him, right? And that he might
send them out to preach. So note that the very
key thing is that they had to first come to him.
He was on the mountain, come to him. They were
with him. They were taught before they were sent.
So it emphasizes the importance of meeting together
to be taught. And after we are taught, then we
are sent. Praise God. Meaning that after we have
learned all that we have learned in the course
of the week, we have learned it. So we are going
now. Praise God. There's a going that happens
afterward because we have done all the teaching
and the training. There's also the opportunity
to practice. Praise God. So meetings are important
because that is where we are taught. Right? And
then what we do after we are taught is that we
go and do. Praise God. We go and we do. So we
don't just come and learn to have head knowledge.
We don't just go and learn or we don't just come
and learn and say, oh, I know contextual, I know
canonical context, I know supernatural context,
I know immediate context. All of those things
are beautiful because the whole learning process
should translate into process, translate into
actions. It has to go beyond words. It has to
go beyond words. All that we've learned means
that When you see someone and an opportunity
presents itself, as we saw in Acts 24, 25, sorry,
Acts 25, 26, as we saw that Sunday, the opportunity,
he took hold of the opportunity. That word there
is, he has there is the laban, where he is not
just, he has the opportunity. He sees the opportunity.
He took hold of the opportunity to recount what
had happened to him in Acts, in Acts 9. He took
hold of the opportunity. It means that once you
have learned, you are always looking for an opportunity
to present that which you have learned. Praise
God. You're always looking for an opportunity
to present. So there is no breaks when it comes
to practicing what you have been taught. There
is no breaks. You don't go on holidays. You're
looking for an opportunity and then you'll do.
You're looking for an opportunity and then you
do. 2 Timothy 3 verse 14. 2 Timothy 3 verse 14.
And remember we said that Discipleship is a continue.
You continue in discipleship. You continue in
discipleship. Jesus' disciples, they continued.
They learned. He sent them out to practice. So
he says, but you must continue in the things
which you have learned and being assured of,
knowing from whom you have learned them. So he
says you must continue. You must continue. You
must continue. He didn't say you should take
breaks. He didn't say you should stop. He didn't
say you should just relax. He didn't say any
of those. He says you must continue in the things
that you have learned. Meaning that the persuasion
that you got must be sustained. And how do we
sustain the persuasion? It's by going back and
looking at it again. Going back and ruminating
on it again and again. Going back. And I know
for some of us, you know what would have happened
is that during the course of the teaching, there
are certain sessions that you missed. Praise
God. And your note has those spaces. You know,
I was looking at somebody's note. I was saying,
you have gap here, gap here, gap there. You want
to go back and commit to filling in those gaps.
Praise God. Because you want to have a flow,
not breaks. Praise God. Don't have break in it.
Because once you leave those gaps, you are likely
not going to get back to it. You want to go back
to it and use it as an opportunity to refresh
your memory and the things that you've learned.
Because that's how we're able to solidify and
take in what we are. learning or what we have
learned praise god because we have to be persuaded
right we have to be persuaded if you're not persuaded
about the things that you are saying you can't
convince anybody about it praise god so and the
more we get back to it the more we ruminate on
it the more we this in fact discuss because what
you can do it is what i will get around to is
creating like having a discussion like ask the
other person oh What part of the teaching excited
you? What part of it? Most of it, all of the
teachings are practical. And you can sit down
and have discussions around it. And that makes
it more exciting. Remember, I think we'll get
to it shortly. Remember that there is the beauty
of communities that we're together. And if you
want to learn or if you cannot remember stuff,
if you want to learn and be able to remember
stuff, you want to rely on... Brethren, because
when you discuss or study or gather around God's
word, there's a likelihood that there's no way
you will discuss about something again and again
or ruminate on it that you will forget. And once
you do that, you hold yourselves accountable
to practice. Praise God. You hold yourself accountable
to practice. And then the other point is continuing
in prayer. Continuing in prayer. That is in Colossians
4, 2 -4. continue, we must continue earnestly
in prayer. Colossians 4, 2 -4. We must continue
earnestly in prayer. For a good amount of us,
that's stretch. You know what happens with stretches
like that is that you are seeing yourself pulled
to a limit where you can never do that by yourself
in your house. You are able to do that effectively
because you are in a gathering. Praise God. You
are able to do that. effectively because you're
in a garden. And when you have had that experience,
you want to continue, right? You want to continue.
So if you have done, if you, those of us that
are around on Saturday, if you have prayed for
that long, one hour will not be too long for
you afterwards. Praise God. And it means that
you are going to continue. And note that you
are doing all of that to, as it says in the passage,
it says, continue endlessly in prayer. Being
vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Praise God.
Being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Meanwhile,
praying also for us, that God will open to us
a door for the Word. Meaning that in your praying,
you're not just praying and you're vigilant,
you're praying for others. Praise God. You're
praying for others because it says, praying also
for us, that God will open to us a door. of for
the word, meaning that you're praying for opportunities.
Remember what we said about opportunities? You're
praying for an opportunity to preach the word.
You're praying for your pastors. Different opportunities
and the chances we get to preach the word. You're
praying for your family. You're praying for your
siblings. Praying for an opportunity to preach
the word to them. Praying for an opportunity
to preach the word for their classmate. And that
is the way we will see. And because if you're
taking your time to pray for an individual, I
guarantee you that when the opportunity presents
itself, for you to minister to that individual,
you will not shrink back. Praise God. You will
not shrink back because you have been praying
and you're going to seize the opportunity and
minister to that individual who says, to speak
the mystery of Christ for which I am also in
chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought
to speak. Praise God. That the words that you
have all trans, that you are able to... Continue
to minister. And you're doing it, as the passage
earlier says, you're praying and praying with
thanksgiving. Praying for opportunities to evangelize.
Praying for an opportunity to minister. And we
don't want to take breaks. Praise God. We don't
want to take breaks because once you take breaks,
you're slowing the momentum. You're dragging
your feet back and you get back to status quo.
Praise God. You get back to status quo. And for
many of us, you want to fight the desire to go
back to normal. You want to fight the desire
to go back to normal. Because normal is easy.
Praise God. Normal is easy. But what is difficult
is switching to what is important for your growth,
what is important for change to happen. And we've
seen... Matthew 28, 16, 17, we see that the great
commission or the instruction to go and make
disciples was given in a gathering. It was given
where the people were gathered under instructions,
meaning that instructions will come for people
to go and do in the gathering. We'll come to
Acts 13, 1, but know that it's in the gathering
that we get instructions. And when we get those
instructions, we're able to go and follow through
with instructions. When Jesus Christ appointed,
when Jesus Christ instructed his disciples, he
instructed them to go and make disciples. He
instructed them to go and do all that he has
commanded them. He instructed them to go. And
we are actively instructed to go, right? And
seize every opportunity that we have to make
disciples, to bring others into and disciple
others. Disciple others is very key. And in your
discipling orders, you're taking your time to
teach what you have been taught. Praise God.
You're teaching what you have been taught. You
don't go elsewhere. You are teaching what you
have been taught. That's why if your notes are
not proper, if your notes are not, you don't
properly document the notes, your notes are like
a map. If your notes are not properly crafted
in such a way that you can be able to take them
of when a customer was saying, can you be able
to teach this thing that you're being taught?
If your notes are not documented properly, that's
why you want to. Pay attention to how you document
the things that you're learning. Pay attention
to how you're documenting the things that you're
learning because you are going to go and make
disciples and you make disciples by what you
have learned is what you're going to be teaching.
Praise God. And we said in Acts, which is what
I alluded to, in Acts 13, verse 1. Acts 13, verse
1. It's in gatherings where we get instructions
and we don't want to neglect or forsake gatherings.
So now in the church, that was at Antioch. There
were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas,
Simeon, who was called, neither, Lucius of Cyrene,
Manian, who had been brought up with Herod, the
Tetrarch, and Saul. It says, As they ministered
to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said,
Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the
work which I have called them. Meaning that it's...
In meetings like this, when we gather, we get
instructions. And for many of us, we got instructions.
Praise God. We got instructions. For many of
us, the instructions we got is a repeat of the
instructions we have gotten before. And it means
that if you are getting the same instruction,
you don't need any sign. Praise God. You don't
need any sign to do something about it. Praise
God. You don't need any sign to do something
about it. And in meetings like this, the Holy
Spirit will minister through. and people will
be commissioned, people will be sent out. So
we want to continue in the things that we have
been instructed to do, right? Instructions. Just
imagine Barnabas and Saul were given the word
and then they still hanged in. They still decided
to just chill a couple of weeks. They didn't
do that. They want to be able to get on with
it. Praise God. Get on with it. You don't know
how it's going to go. You just start. Praise
God. You start. You start. You start putting
things together and get to work. Praise God.
And then it's also in gatherings where we are
being disciplined. Right? It's also in gatherings
where we are being disciplined. It's also in
gatherings that we learn not to take offense.
It's in gatherings that we are disciplined. It's
in gatherings that we learn not to. take offense,
and we do a lot of learning and gatherings. You
know, for people that do things by themselves,
you can't understand how to work with people
if you just work all by yourself. And that's
why God has made it important for us to gather
like this, to learn from one another, to be taught
by one another, to have your brother offend you,
and then you deal with that offense. Right? To
have your brother offend you and deal with that
offense. We see in Matthew 18. 15 to 20. Let's
just read it quickly. It gives us a protocol
for how to match you. 18, 15 to 20. It says,
Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go
and tell him his faults between you and him alone.
So it means that you'll have to meet the person
one -on -one and try to go about resolving it.
And it says that if he hears you, you have gained
your brother. 16. But if... He will not hear.
Take with you one or two more, that by the amount
of two or three witnesses, every word may be
established. Meaning that you tried one person,
you go, it doesn't work, you bring two. He says,
and if he refuses to hear them, take it to the
church. Or if he refuses even to hear the church,
he says, let him be. to you like a hidden or
a tax collector. Remember we said that when you're
18, just going back to the 70s, it doesn't have
to be to you like a hidden tax collector. We've
been taught in the house that if it's to you
like a hidden tax collector, it doesn't mean
that you cast him out. You say, that one, no,
you're a non -believer. It's not that you cast
him out. And you want to ask yourself, how did
Jesus treat the tax collectors, right? How did
Jesus treat the hidden? How do you treat people
that do not believe? How do you treat the tax
collector, people that are... that people see
as corrupt. How do you treat them? If you didn't
treat them that way, then you should. He is the
example. Praise God. Then in 18, it says, Surely
I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will
be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on
earth will be loosed in heaven. 19, it says,
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
concerning anything that they ask, it will be
done for them by my Father in heaven. Then 20,
He says, where two or three are gathered together
in my name, I am there in the midst of them.
So we see that all of this comes down to agreement.
There's a protocol, there's the agreement, and
this just points to the fact that there's a protocol
for, there's a, just here presented, it's talking
about, in fact, you're trying to reconcile with
your brother. And in reconciling with the brother,
you are able to. employ different means because
that relationship is important to you. Hence,
you employ the tool of reconciliation because
it's important to you. So you have to prioritize
the relationship enough to be able to say, I
really don't want to lose my relationship with
this brother or sister. And it might not be,
it's not the easiest thing to do, especially
when you know that the person offends you. And
when you see the passage here, it's encouraging
us that Whoever you, the offender or the offendee,
you are supposed to, that is the posture, employ
everything. So we learn all of this when we gather.
You have people offend you, you learn, you go
by, you don't like it, but you still have to
because that person is your brother and you want
to prioritize gathering. So we don't, going forward,
have our offenses. We don't do that because it's
not going to help the work, it's not going to
help the fellowship, it's not going to help your
commitment to the things, to that brother. You
know, even sometimes, you know, the way God does
these things is that you are offended by the
brother and then you don't plan it, but you end
up sitting together. And during the time of prayer,
they'll say, hold the person next to you and
pray for that person. You'll just find out that
now you have been set up because you can't be
praying, you can't be praying evil for the person,
even if you are praying evil on your own. Praise
God. So, but you will have to be able to reconcile
or you have to see the need or see the importance
too. to continue in it. And gatherings are what
happens. You don't, you don't, gatherings, you
don't, you don't do, it doesn't happen in isolation.
We group, we gather together as a group. Praise
God. We gather together as a group because God
has created us for relationships to relate with
one another. And you don't, you don't need too
much to find that all two as a team in scripture.
As a team, we see that as a team in scripture.
That God himself wants relationship with us and
he wants us to have relationship with the people,
with the church, with our fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ. And we all are products of
relationships, right? From the time of our birth
to even the time of our, even to our spiritual
relationships, right? Our spiritual relationships,
we are a product of spiritual relationship with
God and also his people. Because you're first.
You come from a family, right? And in fact, that
family is, or family, as we see family, it models
that relationship that we have with God. Because
that's why we call God our father, right? And
the first, our introduction to fatherhood is
our earthly parents, right? And then we now come
to that point where we are able to have God as
our father. So by design, we're not designed
to live. Nobody's born in a test tube. Okay,
people are born, they actually do that. But nobody's
born in isolation. That's what I mean to say.
Nobody's born in isolation. During Pastor Victor's
teaching, when he was teaching us, he emphasized,
because he talked about it when he went to Ephesians
5, where he was explaining. We see that there
are different strata of relationships, right?
There's the relationship, there's a different
strata of relationship. There's the husband,
the relationship between husband and wife, there's
a child. The father's relationship, there's the
brother and the sister's relationship. There's
a relationship, the different status of relationship.
And we see that scattered through scripture.
And it's a we thing, right? Not an I thing. It's
like, it's a we together. And there's protection
in we than I, right? There's a protection in
we than I. And we are called to we, right? When
I say we're called to, we're called to this.
I think that was very interesting. We're called
to a communal lifestyle. We're not called to
an individual lifestyle. We're called to a communal
lifestyle, not an individual lifestyle. And that
is what sustains growth. That's what sustains
growth. That's what sustains increase. And even
as a church, the way we are to grow, or the way
we are to grow numerically is the same way. We
grow numerically on the premise of... You relating
with someone and bringing them to church. Right?
And if you are living your life, and you know
there are people that say, I'm an introvert.
I just talk to myself, I'm by myself, I go into
the class. And what I've learned in this short
time is that anybody can be anything. You decide
what you want to. Because you have lived your
life as an introvert, if you need a job, you
will speak. Right? You know, there's the hardship
and difficulty that will hit you, that will make
you open your mouth and scream. Praise God. That
will make you open your mouth and scream because
you cannot need help and see help, but people
do. You cannot need help and see help and you
desperately need that help and see help. You
will always get to that point where you do what
you have never done before. Praise God. So, that
desire for even... Being part of. Because naturally,
even when you come here, you are always, even
when you arrive at the island, by default, you
just want to be lit with your fellow people.
You want to hang around. You want to ask them,
so what's going on here? By default, you don't
come and then you don't know anything. You know,
people have missed their flights because they
are very, like, I know my way around. Like, you
have to relate with someone to get direction.
You have to be lit with people and that's...
the team. So, and in God's word, we see that
scattered around. We see it from Genesis. Genesis
127, we see that he created male, female. He
had already put that there in us, that union,
that partnership, that family. So, humanity,
making humanity in pairs is a pointer. It's not
a coincidence. He didn't just fit one person
with everything. There's a reason why he had
designed that so that It creates that sense of
interdependency, right? That you don't come and
wake up and say, I can do it by myself. It brings
us to that place where we are very dependent
on one another. And it's beautiful when you don't
rely on yourself for everything. It's very beautiful.
And that's what God wants to, God had started
to model for us so that we can be able to appreciate
it when appreciating in despair or in the realm
of... of the relationship that we have in God.
Praise God. So we see in Genesis, Genesis 23,
Genesis 2, 23. Genesis 2, 23 says, and Adam said,
this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh. She shall be called woman because she
was taken out. She was taken out of man. So he
says, this is now bone of my bone. That's Adam
speaking. This is now bone of my bone and flesh
of my flesh. And we see that most of the times
when we see that phrase, that phrase is used
exclusively, most people use it exclusively for
marriage. Anytime somebody says bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh, what comes to mind is
marriage because that's basically where it is
used. more often but i want us to see that that
is used in this sphere of relationship right
because remember we said relationships are different
relations but of different kinds you have you
have and and i was i think before the service
started i was talking to some people that sometimes
we as people in our daily dealings with people
we We fail to understand that you can have one
person, you can have different levels of relationship
with one person, right? Meaning that you can,
like some people here, I taught them, in the
class I'm their teacher. When I come to church,
they're pastor. When, like, outside of church
or just without, I can be their elder brother,
right? You can have all of those relations. And
sometimes you can, you know, you can be so used
to a person and you forget that that person...
The way you have access to that person, not everybody
has that kind of access. And you can do overlap,
right? When you should be relating with that
person in this space, because that's why you
meet somebody in the class environment. And then
I've had that thing happen several times because
when I walk into a class and then the person
sees me like a first year student, right? And
then... because I just walked in and the person
will assume I am at the same level as them until
when they see me or I come and then I set my
things up and then I'm starting to teach. And
then I think a lady one time, she almost wanted
to, I could tell she was very embarrassed. She
was just doing like this, like she was seriously
pleading. But it's like I said, it's totally
fine. It's not, you assume that the relationship
is to your fellow student. And it wasn't that
she was even rude. She just asked me, are you
here for the class? I said, yes, I'm here for
the class. Until she found out. I said, yes,
because I actually told her the truth. I'm here
for the class, but as what? Praise God. So relationships
are very, and especially in the church, where
you can be so cozy with somebody and then all
of a sudden, because you have to be able to tell
what the dynamics of relationship, because they
are different, right? The same way you are with
your father. You can't come and say, hey, what's
up? You know, you do that way. In Africa, at
least most of us here, if that's not the way
you roll with your dad, you will remember something
that you will never forget. You will get something
that you will never forget because they are different
classes or different strata of relationships
and you want to be able to understand that. And
we said that bone of my bone and flesh of my
flesh is used at different, we'll see that, that
will show us in. We saw, I think the first bit
is in 2 .23. We'll see 29 .14. Let's go to 29
.14. And this is Laban to Jacob. 29 .14, Genesis
29 .14. And I want us to see that again. So,
and Laban said to him, that's Jacob, you are
my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him
for a month. Praise God. And if that... To you,
it was marriage. You can just imagine a man telling
another man, you are my bone and my flesh. But
we understand that, what's the relationship between
Laban and Jacob? So his uncle and nephew. So
the relationship is that of family, right? It's
that of family because that and that place will
be communicating a relationship of like a blood,
relationship by blood because it was his mom's
brother, right? His mom's... So in that case,
we see that this is clearly not just marriage.
It's not just any way you see it. It's not blanket
marriage. And we also see it in Judges. Judges
9 verse 2. Let's look at Judges 9 verse 2. We'll
see Abimelech. Judges 9 verse 2 says, Please,
speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem.
This is Abimelech speaking now to all the men
of Shechem. He says, which is better for you,
that all 70 of the sons of Jeroboam reign over
all, or that one reign over you? Remember that
I am your own flesh and blood. So, him here is
saying, remember that we are part of the same
tribe, right? The same family, the same tribe,
so it's not. saying that, oh, we are married
together. Praise God. So he is just pleading,
he's making an appeal to the leaders of Shechem.
And we'll see it even in the case of David. We'll
see 1 Chronicles 11 verse 1, and this is between
the tribes of Israel and David. So all of this
is just to establish to us that when you see
a word, so 1 Chronicles 11 verse 1, let's go
there quickly, and you can see it. Similar thing
in 2 Samuel 5 verse 1. The exact same thing in
2 Samuel 5 verse 1. You can write that down in
your note. We don't have to read that one. So
in 1 Chronicles 11 verse 1 and then 2 Samuel
5 verse 1, it says, Then all Israel came together
to David at Hebron, saying, Indeed, we are your
bone and your flesh. Indeed, we are your bone
and your flesh. And we say, what relationship
would that be? What relationship would that be?
You see? Family. So they're the same because
they're the same tribe, right? They're the same.
So we're all out of, you see, where you're born
and you're flesh. So that's the tribes of Israel.
And we say the different tribes of Israel. So
we're related in that. So because you know that
the children of Israel, that was Jacob, Israel,
that are all the children. And David is one.
He's from the tribe of Judah, right? So we say
that that is. the relationship. So we see even
another incident. You can write it down. David
also appeals to the elders of his own tribe,
right? The elders of his own tribe. In 2 Samuel
19, 12 to 13. 2 Samuel 19, 12 to 13, it says,
it says, you are my brethren, right? You are
my bone and my flesh. You are my brethren. You
are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the
last to bring back the king? That is David 13.
And say to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my
flesh? God did so to me and more also if you
are not commander of the army before me continually
in the place of Joab. So he is... still stating
the appeals to Judah and also to Amasa. And then
he tells them that you are my bone and my flesh.
And then we've seen all that in the, let's see
it in Ephesians 5 verse 13. So this is Apostle
Paul using it in a relationship to, in the relationship
to Christ and the church. So 30, 30, 3 -0. So
he says that for we are members of his body.
and his flesh and his bones. We are members of
his body, his flesh, and his bones. So when we
see the word flesh and bone, or when we see the
word, because it's an idiomatic, when we say
flesh and bone, because you know that that's
not, it wouldn't make sense. Remember when we
said to kick against God, not gold or gold, it's
gold, toad, road. To kick against the gold. He
is saying to, it's useless for you to fight against
my will. So it means that it's an expression
that means something, right? So when we say we
are, when you say you are my bone and my flesh,
it means that we are close families or we belong
to, related in that sense, or we're from the
same tribe. So it's a difficult, and in this
passage, we know that it's communicating shared
spiritual identity, that they say we are, it
says we are members, right? It's a shared spiritual
identity that is anchored in Christ, right? shared
spiritual identity. And we know that it's not,
it's not by blood. Like it's not by physical
blood. It's supernatural. Praise God. It's supernatural
relationship. And that is, that is, that requires
a, like, you know, when, when you know this person
is your brother, your blood brother, you know
that there's a lot, but you need to know to be
able to hold on to a relationship that is not
like, you can't see the physical type. Right?
Because you understand what Christ has done.
You understand that this person is your brother
and sister in Christ. You will defend and fight
and pray for that person. You will be serious
with regards to that relationship because you
know what it costs or what brings you together.
Praise God. That makes the gathering so important.
When we come together, we come together as...
brothers and sisters in Christ, to worship, to
fellowship, and we're serving the same God. And
he says, God places in others what we ourselves
need. Meaning that it's very important to know
that there's a reason why we have a family. There's
a reason why we have different people, different,
and this church is functional. We have different
nationalities, and we're not self -sufficient
by ourselves, but we are. dependent and reliant
on, it's not a private work. Our work with God
is not private. And in fact, there's no passage
of scripture that will confirm the concept or
the idea or confirm the whole idea or concept
of working alone. Praise God. The work is in
a gathering. The work is together. And by design,
God did not, he places us in the family. And
that's why you see that team of family going
on and on. So we function and we live together.
And we move on now, walk on the basis of our
relationship with him, on the basis of our relationship
with his people, God's people, every one of us.
Praise God. So it is through people that we are
blessed, right? It's through people that we are
blessed. It's through men that we are able to
hear the word. It's through men that we are able
to be taught the word. It's through men. And
if you say, oh, take for example, the example
of Apostle Paul that went on Saul. If Brian and
I decided that I don't want to be persecuted,
and decided that he was not going to go and minister
to Paul, or if Paul himself decided to help with
anybody, I don't care. If God cannot come directly
and minister to me, it will be to his own detriment,
right? It will be to his own detriment. There's
an importance that we have to place on the people
that God has given to us. And no matter how small
they are, right? He did not say Apostle Ananias.
He says brother, right? No matter how small they
are, right? We don't want to undermine God's
ability to walk in and through that person. Same
applies to ourselves. No matter how small we
may think that we are, we don't want to undermine
God's ability to walk in and through us. Because
many times we can look at ourselves and fail
to look at ourselves through the lenses of our
identity in Christ. Our identity in Christ should
be the way we see and carry ourselves. Right?
Because God sees us that way. The way we see
and carry ourselves is the way we see because
God sees us that way and that should be what
is at the forefront of our minds. And there's
also the importance of being available. The importance
of being available. Meetings. requires that we're
there because there are several things because
you are there to be a blessing to the other person
the other person to be a blessing to you because
if you're not available there is no like you
will not be you will not have you will not have
the opportunity praise God if you're not available
you will not have the opportunity if you're not
available you will not be able to make the most
of the opportunity right and I think we're talking
who are we talking with I was saying I said you
see the most committed set of people or set of
objects let me use objects in This place are
the chairs because we leave them every time we
go, right? The chairs are always here for the
meeting because they can't be anywhere else but
in the meeting. But note that the chairs don't
necessarily participate in the activities that
we do. You know, when we're laying hands on each
other, the chairs don't lay hands. Why do we
lay our bags on each other? The chairs are...
So it means that... Availability goes beyond
your being there. Praise God. Availability goes
beyond your being present. Your availability
should translate into actions, into participation.
Praise God. Your availability to translate to
the participation. And you don't even have any
excuse. We don't have any excuse of not participating,
of not being present in every meeting, or being
present in every gathering, or being present
to. minister to one another. We don't have any
excuse. Because even Jesus Christ as a boy was
available for meetings. But at a very young age,
he was available for meetings. Let's see Luke
2, verse 46. We see him in the temple. We see
him in the temple being taught. Luke 2, verse
46. So now, so it was that after three days,
they found him in the temple, sitting in the
midst of teachers, both listening to them, and
asking them questions praise god so he was in
a temple listening to teachers speak and also
asking questions right so he himself prioritizes
or was and look he says so it was that after
three days praise god after three days it's good
so so it tells you a lot about the It goes beyond
just being available. It goes beyond that. This
person was curious to learn. He was curious to
learn. He was curious to take steps. And even
when it was time for him to start ministry, right?
Even when it was time for him to start ministry,
he also still did not say, oh, he attended meetings.
It was in probably, John the Baptist probably
had thrown a conference, right? Probably had
thrown a conference. because he was, and then
he showed up in the conference and you, you can,
and you know, you know the thing about relationship
where I said, he could have said, it's a cause.
It's a cause. You know, you know, it's funny.
It's not that boy. It's not my cousin. It's not
my cousin. You just, just talk down on the person
while it's, and you can tell that John the Baptist
did not have that. John the Baptist, even in
John 3 .30, he was like, no, right? He saw him
for who he is. John looked at him and said, behold,
the Lamb of God takes over. He did not look at
him as, behold, my cousin. Praise God. He saw
him and he was, and I just tied that in there,
but the point is this, that Jesus Christ was
very much there. He didn't ignore John the Baptist.
He didn't ignore him. who was there, who was
available, and that should communicate something
to us. That every meeting should be important
to us because something happens in every meeting.
And when you decide to, I said it on Sunday,
because the meeting is important to you, you
will show up even when you eat. You know, how
you know that something is important to you is
when there is no means to come, you will make
a way. Because they say when there's a will,
there's a way, right? You know that there's no
bosses. You know that there's, oh, you see, because
I don't want to meet, not because you are going
to function in that meeting or because there's
something that happens in that meeting that you
don't want to miss out on. And that is the, that's
how you know that there's growth. That's how
you know that you're learning because you know
that this meeting will not, you're not, you're
not, you don't cop out. You don't say, oh, we
can do something else and leave it at that. So
we see that, and we see that even when it was
time to select a replacement for Judas, it was
someone that was not just available for the meeting,
but was part and parcel of the different things
that we're doing. We see that in Acts 1, Acts
1, 15 to 26. Acts 1, 15 to 26. So it says, in
those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the
disciples. altogether the number of names that
was a hundred and twenty, and said, Men and brethren,
the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the
Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David
concerning Judas, who became a guide to those
who arrested Jesus. And for he was numbered with
us and obtained a part of this. He says, Now
this man purchased a field with the wages of
iniquity, and falling headlong, he busted open
in the middle, and all his entries gushed out.
19. He says, And he became known to all those
dwelling in Jerusalem, so that a field is called
in their own language, Akeldema, that is, a field
of blood. For it was written in the book of Psalms,
Let the dwelling place be desolate, and let no
one live in it, and let another take his office.
Therefore, of those men who have accompanied
us all the time, that the Lord Jesus went in
and out among us, beginning from the baptism
of John to that day when he was taken up from
us. One of those must become a witness with us
of his resurrection. I want you to notice the
fact that this is from the time of John, this
time, and the person must be there, not with
some time. A person shows up there and there's
no boss, there's no income, and there's no food
that morning, or there was no water, there's
no income. It says they proposed to, like Stephen
called. Basavas and the sign name Justus and
then Matthias and we know that it goes on and
on and then Matthias was the person that was
selected. Notice that all these persons were
not, they were committed to the meeting. They
were consistent in the gatherings. They were
there and then they said, okay, this too. They
had two persons that was there and then they
picked one of the two persons. So it means that
you, for any form of growth increase, for you
to be patterned, you have to be committed, not
just And it's not just you are close, you see,
you are close to the person and then that closeness
will translate to you being picked. That's not
how it works, right? Because, you know, sometimes
it's like, that's a corrupt practice, right?
Where on the basis of closeness, you are now
being selected. Most of the time, it's the person
that is selected on that premise will not even
get the job done. Praise God. The person will
not be able to get the job done because it takes
more than that. It takes more than. And we say
that availability is essential and very important.
Being available, and when I say being available,
it's 360. It's not just you being physical. I've
said this a couple of times. You can be physically
present, but your mind is somewhere else. I said
like the chair. It is present in every, like
we will leave the chairs, go out, we'll come
back, we'll see the chair. The chairs are the
first thing we see when we come in, and they're
the last thing we see when we're leaving. But
it doesn't mean that they're committed to the
work. Praise God. And the first thing we say,
the last thing we say, so you want to challenge
yourself to not be a chair. Always there, but
you do nothing. Oh, you just function as where
people sit on. Praise God. So God does not call
and equip people in isolation. Praise God. He
doesn't call and equip people in isolation. There's
always a network of our family. He has placed
us. In fact, when we come, we come into a family,
right? We come into a family from different nationalities,
but we are one in Christ. Praise God. And he
does that through our gathering consistently.
Our gathering consistently. And it's in our gatherings
that we are a tool of blessing to people. I remember
what I told us on Sunday as we closed. Remember
what I told us on Sunday? That these friends
that wanted to get their friend healed, know
that that friend was... For you to, you know,
when you are able to go out of your way and say,
see, this is our friend. We don't like his situation.
We want to see our friend get well. And then
go out of your way to the point that you had
several, you know, you can come and then you
see a crowd and you say, let's just go back.
Maybe we'll try some other day. But because you
want to see your friend, you will push everything
and anything on the path to get that person healed.
And I think I heard the testimony of someone
that wanted to get healed of a particular condition.
And they showed up in a meeting and they were
like, how will we have this? But they just stayed
there. And Holy Spirit just ministered to them
to just stay at the point. And they are staying
there because they insisted that something was
going to happen. All of a sudden, someone just
opened the door from the side and told them they
should come in. And that was how they were able
to. Because they knew that just waiting around,
by the Spirit of God, they knew that waiting
around there will... Somehow, they didn't know
how it was going to happen. These friends, they
pulled out the roof and ensured that he landed
where he would meet with Cillian. And you want
to be that faithful friend to someone. And you
yourself want to be that person that is postured
to know. You want to be that faithful friend
to someone. And you want to be that faithful
friend to your family member, to that friend.
Because that's basically what we're called. Because
we know what the solution is, right? And we're
able to communicate that effectively to anyone,
right? Because we say, when an opportunity presents
itself, it should demand that we go all in because
we know that the result is there, right? We know
we have been taught, right? And we know that
the gospel is this, this, this, and this. We
should be able to open our mouth and say, this
is the gospel. Opportunity presents itself. This
is what it is. Praise God. We should never be
scared to proclaim that which we have received.
We should not be scared to proclaim that we have
received because it is going to mean that someone
will miss out on. something that God has an abundance
of. Praise God. God has an abundance. God does
not delight in holding back healing that is going
to turn the situation of a family member, a friend,
right? But he requires that we are able to stand
our ground and say, okay, this thing has to change
and this is he who can change it. Praise God.
So I want us to open our mouths and just give
God thanks because we are not people that will
relent. We're not people that will hold back.
We are like those faithful friends. We appreciate
you being here today. We hope you carry this
word with you throughout your week. Don't forget
to check the show notes for additional insights.
Stay connected with us through our website or
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Until next time, stay blessed.