Latest / Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons / Staying on Fire for God pt 2

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Staying on Fire for God pt 2 · Near East Christian Fellowship Sermons

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Welcome to NECF. We're thrilled you're here.
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Make sure to stay with us till the end, where
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we'll share some great resources to deepen your
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faith. Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.
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Amen and amen. Well, welcome to the midweek service.
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I know some of us is a new location. So my first,
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we are like, well, it seems to be orange, but
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now it's blue. Praise God. Praise the Lord. I'm
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very, we're very happy that it doesn't, it doesn't
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stop us from worshiping. You know, there's some
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people that when you go to orange oil, you don't
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see anybody. You say, ah, what happened? Have
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we been raptured or something? But we are, we
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persist, right? We, we, we, it doesn't, nothing
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stops us from fellowshipping. Nothing should
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stop you from fellowshipping. Even a change in
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location should not stop you. Praise God. A change
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in location should not stop you. And that's the
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kind of believers that God is making us into.
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That's the kind of believers that God is building
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us into. And He will continue to build us even
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better and better in the name of Jesus. So the
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teaching continues, staying on fire for God.
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Staying on fire for God. And on Sunday, we say
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that we're staying on fire. You know, sometimes
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you have to define what fire, because nowadays
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there's a lot of fire, fire everywhere. You want
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to be able to define what the fire is. And we
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say that this fire is a passion, is a commitment,
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and is a zeal for God. And it's not just for
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God. It translates into a zeal and a passion
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and a commitment for others, for the work he
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has called us into. There's a passion for the
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work he has called us into, and there's a commitment
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for the work he has called us into. There's a
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commitment for the people he has called us to.
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and the ministry has called us to, the things,
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the different things he has called us to, and
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we need to be part of it. This commitment is
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not half -hearted. This commitment is a wholehearted
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commitment. Praise God. Let's not be distracted.
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Let's not be distracted. Let's just pay attention.
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So this commitment is a wholehearted commitment,
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and it requires fervency. It's all about fervency.
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Once you're fervent about something, it is evident.
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I said that on Sunday. It is evident and it is
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contagious. If you're doing something that you
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want everybody to be part of, if you're not fervent,
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if you're not zealous about it, you will not
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have people come into it. You will not have people
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even be trusting what you're talking about. So
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we need to shift and up, up. our fervency and
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our commitment and it's going to show in every
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area of our lives. It's going to show in every
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area of our lives. Nothing is going to be lacking
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that because it's a muscle that we're going to
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be building up in this season and God is going
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to help us to be able to do that. And we say,
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why is this important? I want us to echo it because
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I taught this. I said, why is it? What's the
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first reason I say it's important? Huh? So the
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work requires it, right? The work itself requires
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it because if we want to witness to the world,
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the world will not hear you out if you're not
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passionate about the things you're talking or
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discussing about. The world can't, nobody, if
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you, you do that a lot. When you, first minute
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of a video, you don't, the person is not coming,
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the way it does though, you skip. You find somebody
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else that has something that has that, that marks
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what exactly it is you're looking for. So there's
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a fervency that the walk of ministry requires.
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And if you don't have it, it's going to be hard
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for you to make that impact, to be effective.
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Praise God. And then we say for personal growth,
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right? That was the second point. We say for
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personal growth. And I repeat myself over and
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over again. If you say you're fervent, it's not
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going to be something we're struggling to find.
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Praise God. We're not going to be struggling
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to find it. It will show, and I said this in
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closing last week, it will show in... How early
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you show up for that thing. It will show in how
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you take notes. Some of us, we come to church,
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we say we love God, but we're not taking notes.
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We say we want to grow, we're not taking notes.
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There's no way you can make any effect if you're
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going to be effective. So it means that we have
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to, it's something that has to happen and know
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that if you're not, if you're not, you know,
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when you're not fervent, But it's just a matter
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of time. Once something happens, we don't see
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you again. Praise God. Because there was never
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any form of variance. And that is the challenge
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we have with most people. You just show up on
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a Sunday. Your life is only on a Sunday. So it
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means that you're on your way out. When Pastor
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Victor was sharing one time about... the order,
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the lists, you know, the way the disciples are
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arranged. You know, sometimes we take for granted
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that some people are behind not because of, there's
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a reason why they are behind. Because when they
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are looking for, they are the ones that easily
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you will not see again because they are somewhat
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outside. So you want to be ahead in your work.
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You want to be ahead in your desire. You want
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to be ahead in your passion. And you shouldn't
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stay in one point. You know, there's something
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about when you stay on a place for too long.
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You become comfortable. You become comfortable
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and from that comfort, you become cold. And from
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that cold, we don't find you anymore. And that's
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why in your work and in your fellowship, you
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have to up it. If you're doing one, you want
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to do two. You want to do three. That's why there's
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a count. You want to up it and make it a bit
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more challenging. Praise God. And you want to
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seek to do the things you've never done before.
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Praise God. You want to seek to do the things
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that you've never done before. And our key text,
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we said, is in Romans 12, right? Romans 12, verse
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11. And I'll read from the New King James. I'll
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read it again. It says, not lagging in diligence.
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Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit.
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How many of us have seen, how many of us, when
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you're watching something and then the thing
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is lagging? You're trying to watch something
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and then the internet is poor. And then the thing
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is just, it's buffering, right? There's a bit
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of a lag. You know, Over time, you just want
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to skip or restart. You want to find something
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because it's frustrating. It's frustrating. You
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are doing something that requires energy and
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then somebody does skip. And then it's like,
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even you yourself, you're like, what is going
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on here? There's nothing good. You don't even
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think of, you're just stuck. Praise God. You're
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stuck. You are not moving. You're just there.
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You're just looking. And it's just a matter of
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time. People walk away. Praise God. So the NLT
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says, never be lazy. Never be lazy. I say this
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all the time. A lazy person is useless to God,
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is useless to the devil. Like you are both ways.
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The devil cannot use you because the devil needs
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people to be active. The devil too thrives on
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activity. Even in his kingdom, even in his work.
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So when you are lazy, you're just there. Praise
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God. And this is an instruction. Apostle Paul
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is saying, never be lazy. Never be lazy. Anytime
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you look at yourself, I think during the time
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when we're praying, you know, as we're praying,
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you just see somebody else come. You know, you
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just come and you're just looking around. The
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activity at this point in time is prayers. And
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then you're just... And it's not like you're
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watching... you're watching a child or you're
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doing anything, you're just there and you spend
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a lot of time looking around, not praying. You
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know that is an indicator for something. That
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should come for something, praise God. That should
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mean that, that should communicate to you that
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this activity is not, I don't, I'm just here
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because I have to be here. I'm just here by,
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I don't even know what brought me here. That's
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almost like what you're communicating to us.
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But we can tell that this person, or we can tell
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that you already have, There's going to be a
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problem. And it's just a matter of time, as I
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said. You will have other things to be worried
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about or you have other things to be concerned
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about. Praise God. It says, never be lazy. It
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says, but work hard. I'm reading now from the
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NLT. But work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
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Enthusiasm. You want to put in that fire, that
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passion. Praise God. And the TPT says, be enthusiastic.
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to serve the Lord. Keep your passion towards
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him boiling hot. Keep your passion towards him
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boiling hot with the glow of the Holy Spirit
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and let him fill you with excitement as you serve
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him. Let him fill you with excitement as you
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serve him. Praise God. Then we talked about why
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do we lose our fire? We talked about why we lose
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our fire. What was the first thing I... I'm just
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doing a quick recap before we... Why do we lose
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the fire was the first thing. So, exposure, I'm
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assuming that we are saying exposure to honor
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and keeping... I'm assuming it goes... It can
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be a way to just say, yeah, that thing did what
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we all said together. But it's good. So, exposure
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to dishonor and keeping the wrong association,
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right? Exposure to dishonor and keeping the wrong...
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And how many of you have started to watch that?
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How many of you have started to watch it? How
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many of you have started to watch, like look
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at the people you're subscribed to, the people
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that you listen to very often. Are there people
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that drop a hint of here and there? You watch
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them. Over time, you will not realize that you're
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entering a place where you just find it natural
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to just say certain words to people and you don't
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feel anything. You don't feel anything. And you
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have just made yourself. made it normal to you
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to just hear people, criticize people, and then
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you don't just go ahead. You're not even giving
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constructive criticism. You're just destroying
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them. Praise God. You're just destroying them.
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And there was a second one that we discussed.
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So we said they're distracted by your past and
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then there's over -familiarity with what you're
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experiencing presently. And that one is a key
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thing and we looked at a couple of scripts and
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we said, That in itself is characterized by some
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form of, I guess, you're now going back. You
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know, when we're praying, I think we're praying,
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there's a renewing of the mind that happens.
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And that, if you're not renewing your mind, you
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have a tendency to go back to a mind you had
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before, which is a carnal mind. You go back to
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carnality. Praise God. So there's that sense
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of, if you're not making, because you know, if
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you're not renewing your mind this way, things
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don't stay like that. There will be an exposure
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to the... or the things that, because you can
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imagine the children of Israel. I don't know
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whether you imagine or you think or put yourself
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in that situation because sometimes you can see
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all those children of Israel, they are just unbelievers,
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you know, just throw things, just criticize them
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and then you don't know that even in your own
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life, there's a subtle, there are subtle things
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that you do that even brings you, you might even
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be worse than them. Even your situation, praise
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God, it will be worse than them because you can
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imagine this when we say that there's a mix,
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because of when you mix things up, If you're
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not very careful, you'll find yourself preferring
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to go back to what you had. You had fought to
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get out of. Praise God. You had fought to get
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out of. So we said, I think Romans, I want us
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to just look at Romans. Romans 6, Romans 8, sorry.
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Romans 8, 6 -2. Now, those of us that used to
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look for scriptures, so we say, never be lazy,
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right? Open your Bible and read it. Open your
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Bible and read Romans 8. Romans 8, 6. So it says,
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so let me read it from the New King James. So
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it's 6 to 8. It says, For to be carnally minded
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is death, but to be spiritually minded is life
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and peace. Because the carnally mind is enmity
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against God, for it is not subject to the law
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of God, nor indeed can be. It now says, so then,
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those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
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Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
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So you want to ensure that you are fervent in
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spirit and your desire and your passion is for
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God. So hence, certain things are not introduced
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into your walk. And then things like we saw the
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children of Israel complaining. We saw them complaining.
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We saw them murmuring. We saw them doing all
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those things that will not even allow for, because
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all those things are things that you do when
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you are carnally minded. Praise God. You can
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be spiritually minded and then you take time
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and you're complaining and there's no part of
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you says, let's look at the best. Let's look
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out for the best in the situation. Let's look
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out for how. And that's the key thing that we
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talked about when we talked about making excuses.
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You know, most of the times when people complain
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or people, they are always wanting to make an
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excuse for something. You always want to make
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an excuse. Oh, the reason why I wasn't able to
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do this is because of this and that and that.
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And then you start complaining, you start adding
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other things to the equation and you don't make
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any progress. And excuse, excuse is one of the
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things that extinguishes fire. Look at the person
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that makes excuses a lot. If you find the person
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that makes excuses, they never grow. And the
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thing is that this person makes excuses for the
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things that they want to. Some people are smiling.
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They're smiling at me. If you're smiling at me,
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you know what I'm talking about. It hits home.
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Praise God. It hits home. You make excuses for
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almost everything. Why did you come? I was down.
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I was down. You don't even know how my day went.
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But if that same person, the same thing was making
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excuses for not showing up. If we switch it up
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a bit, spice it up, say, okay, they're going
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to donate. There's money for everybody that comes.
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They'll be the first. And that speaks about what
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you prioritize. Praise God. You don't prioritize.
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You prioritize some things over the things of
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God. Praise God. And as we say, excuses will
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extinguish a fire. You don't want to make excuses.
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So the third point now, which you'll be adding
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to the list already. So let's see how we can
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work from there is, Offenses and broken relationships.
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Offense and broken relationships. Offense and
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broken relationship. And I want you to, because
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this is one thing that will extinguish your fire.
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Because whether you like it or not, you need
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people. And when you are burning bridges instead
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of making bridges, you will end up losing the
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path to persons or the things that will help
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you to grow. Pastor Victor had, in his teaching
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and in several of the pastors, we echoed that.
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That God uses people. God's method, God's strategy,
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I think Pastor Koston included, method, strategy,
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the means by which God will use to help you is
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through people. And not that, going to the points
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I raised earlier, the means by which the devil
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will help to destroy you is through people. So
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it means that the devil's strategy is still using
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human beings. That's why we say you have to watch
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your relationships, right? You have to watch
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your relationships. The relationships you should
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break. Remember on Sunday I was saying block
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them, right? I gave us the analogy of who? What
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is it? Apostle who? The analogy of Apostle Paul,
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right? I said if Apostle Paul decided after his
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Damascus encounter and then Assyria connect with
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brother Ananias and then he says no. The people
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I will connect with are my people from my viewers,
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you know, the people that he goes together to
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persecute. You know, when they call him up and
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say, ah, brother, we need to go to, you know,
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Damascus did not go down. Let's go to another
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city. Let's go and kill. Then you, you now, you
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now be telling them, you say, okay, when are
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we going to meet? Or you now start, you want
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to just, so that you don't have to explain to
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them, you know, they might not understand what
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you experienced. You just don't talk too much.
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Just block, disconnect. Those are the relationships
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that you want to because they are not going to
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help you to make progress in the areas you want
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to now make progress in your life because there's
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a new season. Praise God. The people that knew
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him before cannot recognize him now because things
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have changed. So if things have changed, it means
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that the relationships that you now prioritize
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has to change as well. So you can't be expected
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to make progress this way and then you're keeping
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those relationships. And some of us, we're very,
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you're like me. When you have had a friend, you
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don't know how to. Well, really, you have to
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be radical about it because if you don't do it,
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you're not going to make progress yourself. Praise
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God. So just think about it and I hope that will
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help some of us. And I hope some of us have acted
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on it from Sunday. You know, when you're struggling
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to take an action, you've already decided what
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you're going to do. And many a times you will
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not act on it. So there are certain relationships
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that you don't want to. In fact, some people,
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because you're doing that so that you're not
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even seeing their status, because some people,
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seeing their status doesn't even help you to
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grow spiritually. Praise God. Some of us, we
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just feel like this. And then when you have like
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10, 20, 50 of those kind of friends, and then
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you like going through status, when you do that,
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you would not understand what is happening. You
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open your Bible and then, you know, because you
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have seen certain things that you're trying to
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filter. Praise God. So you want to... And I say
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this to say that relationships that you should
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prioritize are godly relationships, right? Relationships
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you should prioritize are godly relationships.
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And you want to ensure that you don't use your
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hand to destroy those relationships because you
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can be offended over a brother that is, remember
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I told us of the prophet Eli, right? Where Anna
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was now, he misjudged the situation. And then
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if she was like, All these rubbish men of God,
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they're not sensitive. They're not sensitive
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to how we feel. Can you imagine I'm crying and
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then I'm trying to pour my heart out to God and
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he's saying I'm drunk. If he's a man of God,
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wouldn't he have known what I'm missing? How
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would he not know that I'm going through? But
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not that she did not use it as an opportunity
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to dishonor the man and she received it. That
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passage that we read, we say 18, she went home
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not sad again or happy. And then she got the
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result and she brought it back to the same, you
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know, see the relationship just kept going on
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and on. This was the same person that trained
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Samuel. Praise God. So you don't want to destroy
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a relationship because you don't know where they
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lead. Praise God. You don't know where they lead.
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And I think Joseph is an example that we're going
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to spend time to look at in this study because
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it's very important that we notice that Joseph's
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own, you know, some of us, when we have friends
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that you can, you know, sometimes when family
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are the ones that offend you, it's harder. How
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many of you have noticed that it's harder to
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let go of family, parents, people that you love,
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you trust them. And then you're like, no, how
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can they do this to me? You're now become, it's
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the impact. You know, I was sharing with my wife
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in a WhatsApp group. I'm in a WhatsApp group,
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our secondary school WhatsApp group. And there
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was a misunderstanding. When you read the chat,
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you know there was clearly a misunderstanding.
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And then the funny thing is that the WhatsApp
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group is a combination of believers and non -believers.
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And the people that you expect more from are
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who? Believers. Believers. So this misunderstanding
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is amongst believers in the WhatsApp group. And
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then your boss, he always says, in fact, I'm
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not going to. He says, if in heaven, our houses,
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your house should be far away from Lusaka to
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Moscow. My concern was not about the fact that
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they had a misunderstanding. My concern was,
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what are you, like the people that are watching,
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tomorrow if you come and you're trying to, they'll
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be like, you that can't even control your, like
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what are you talking about? You have just put
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God's name to this. And the funny thing is that
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the next year, someone had organized, he's an
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unbeliever. that said, let's organize a meeting
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so we can trash. I was in a meeting. I was hearing
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this guy talk. I was like, hello, this is what
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a believer should be doing, not the other way.
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And sometimes it's because we're not fervent.
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We are not discerning. We put ourselves in a
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situation where tomorrow now when you have gotten
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yourself and then you come back, that thing you
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have done is now haunting you. It's not allowing
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the person to see past the wonderful, the good
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news that you're giving to them. Because what
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they had seen was bad news the day before. So
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I'm just giving us reasons why you should be
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fervent. You should not allow a season of your
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life because you say, I was going through, there
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should be some form of restraint that the Holy
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Spirit is able to provide when you want to explode.
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Because you are fervent. You're sensitive, praise
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God. You're discerning, praise God. So dealing
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with offense, I think my pastor, if I had taught,
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I think last year, I think around May of last
21:43
year, if you want to go back, you can go back
21:46
and listen to the message. He has taught on dealing
21:48
with offenses. He was beautiful. He explained
21:52
to us dealing with offenses. And it's something
21:54
that we should pay attention to because offense
21:57
can really extinguish a fire. If you have, and
22:02
some of us, we have a lot of people in our hearts.
22:05
I don't know how you do it, but there's this
22:07
person. And the capacity of it, you want to add
22:11
more people. Like this is what I say, say you
22:15
too. And you're adding and you're adding. And
22:23
you're not allowing. And Joseph, I would love
22:26
us to just look a bit. I don't want us to draw
22:28
so much because we have to go to how to. Not
22:31
in Genesis 37. Verse 23 to 28. Let me see whether
22:36
we can do that one quickly. Genesis. Let's go
22:39
to Genesis very quickly. Genesis 37. So it came
22:48
to pass when Joseph had come with his brothers
22:53
that they stripped Joseph of his tunic and the
22:57
tunic of many colors that was on him. 24. That's
23:00
37 versus 24 now. He says, then they took him
23:04
and cast him into a pit. Note that this thing,
23:08
his brothers are the ones that are doing this
23:10
to him. He says, then they took him and cast
23:12
him into a pit and the pit was empty and there
23:15
was no water in it. 25 now says, and they sat
23:19
down to eat a meal. Then they left, they lifted
23:22
their eyes and looked and there was a company
23:25
of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their
23:29
camels, bearing spices, balm, myrrh. on their
23:33
way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said
23:38
to his brothers, what profit is there if we kill
23:43
our brother and conceal his blood? 27, come and
23:48
let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not
23:52
our hand be upon him. For he is our brother,
23:56
our flesh, and his brothers listened. 28 now,
24:00
which is the last. Then the Midianites, the Midian
24:04
traders passed by. So the brothers pulled Joseph
24:07
up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him
24:11
to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver.
24:14
And they took Joseph to Egypt. Praise God. And
24:16
you'll be wondering to yourself, like these brothers
24:18
are very, like it's bad enough that they put
24:20
him in, they put him in the pit, allowed him
24:24
for dinner. Somebody now said, and you'll be
24:26
thinking, I think what Pastor Emma taught us,
24:28
you'll be thinking that that was just mere coincidence.
24:31
But all of that was part of the plan. And that's
24:33
what when Joseph was speaking to them in Genesis
24:35
15, verse 19 to 21, where he says, you planned
24:39
it out for evil, but God turned it for good.
24:42
Because you can see that they had a plan. They
24:44
would say, okay, let's, then let's, you know,
24:46
somebody does come, you think it's a brilliant
24:47
idea. Say, let's just sell him so that we can
24:49
make money off him. But all of that was building
24:52
up to the plan that God had for him. Praise God.
24:55
And what I want you to see is that he was sold
24:58
into slavery. He was in Egypt. You know, it would
25:01
be a good thing for him to come and start explaining,
25:04
like complaining about how his brothers were
25:08
wicked, how they just, how can I have this hapless?
25:12
Imagine they wanted to, and then when I thought
25:15
they were bringing me out, they changed their
25:16
mind and they now sold me. And then he spent
25:20
time, you know, some of us can be going, we can
25:22
be going through stuff and we spend time sulking,
25:26
crying, complaining. Rather than keep our eyes,
25:31
Joseph was faithful even in Potiphar's house.
25:35
Everywhere you placed him, that man was still
25:38
faithful. You didn't meet him and then he was
25:40
like, you know, some of us, there are things
25:43
happening in our countries and we spend time
25:45
complaining about those things. Instead of us
25:48
to find how we'll be solutions, we'll just spend
25:50
time complaining. Instead of us to work on ourselves
25:52
and see how God will help us. to meet the needs
25:55
of our countries, we spend time complaining.
25:57
Nobody builds, you know, when you have a mindset
25:59
of complaining, you can never build it, you cannot
26:01
be productive. You cannot make anything, you
26:04
cannot make progress in any area at all because
26:07
you're complaining. It's not like you're, you
26:09
know, going back to the WhatsApp group. When
26:11
we had that meeting, the amazing thing about
26:14
that meeting, because we're trying to resolve
26:15
a problem, and then somebody comes and he's still
26:18
complaining about, so the chairman of the meeting
26:22
had to stop him and say, Please, what is the
26:24
way forward? How can we resolve this issue? And
26:27
then I was in that meeting. I was listening.
26:30
I was like, that is the mindset most of us have.
26:32
We come to God for solution or we come to God
26:35
to help us resolve. And then we're still complaining
26:37
about the things that we're experiencing. And
26:40
this is God wanting to change the situation.
26:42
But we spend more time not understanding that
26:44
if we don't let go of the thing and move past
26:47
it, we will not see the solution. Praise God.
26:50
And as a believer, you want to be aware. You
26:55
want to, because it will start over. You're just
26:56
trying to state the facts. Praise God. And that's
26:59
where it starts from. We're stating the facts.
27:01
This thing is not working. That thing is not
27:02
working. Over time, you just find yourself on,
27:06
you're going on and on. Meaning of course, we're
27:07
victims. It's when somebody calls us to order,
27:10
you see, and sorry, it looks like you're complaining
27:13
about this thing and then we stop in our tracks.
27:16
But if you, and when somebody tells you that
27:18
you want to be able to say, oh, it's true. I've
27:20
spent like 10, 20 minutes. Some people even one
27:22
hour. not even saying, this is the way forward,
27:25
this is the best thing we can do. And that is
27:27
how you catch yourself doing things that will
27:28
not help you grow. Because after, and it's not
27:31
like you spend that one hour praying. You may
27:33
say, let's pray for one hour now. You can't,
27:36
you will be, praise God. So you want to have
27:40
that consciousness of the fact that you can be
27:42
bitter about something because it doesn't allow
27:44
you to make it, and it introduces some level
27:47
of coldness. I don't know if you have noticed
27:49
that when you complain for a long time, after
27:50
you just be quiet. Praise God. You just be quiet.
27:55
And that introduces coldness and it doesn't allow
27:58
you to be off. Because if Joseph had been in
28:00
it, okay, now, let's move it a notch further.
28:03
It's bad enough that he was sold to slavery.
28:05
Then next minute, he's all by himself. Then Potiphar's
28:07
wife now came into the picture. And then you'll
28:10
be thinking to yourself, like, what did he even
28:12
do wrong? And then he was imprisoned. He should
28:15
be in that prison and say, Lord, why me? All
28:17
this while I've been very faithful to you. I
28:19
have take dinner. And then why did I now, you
28:22
know, some of us were, we're in this and we're
28:24
like, God, what did I do wrong? I've been faithful.
28:26
And then all of a sudden, I don't have school
28:28
fees. I've been faithful. And all of a sudden,
28:32
I'm struggling to pay my, like, like how, oh
28:34
God, please. I thought you see, you know, you
28:37
now go all, but you don't understand that all
28:40
of this had something that it was worth. There
28:43
was the end goal. If, if you were to see, The
28:48
whole, like if Joseph was to have been shown
28:50
how everything was going to pan out to be, and
28:53
Joseph was just strictly doing one thing, which
28:55
is staying faithful. Praise God. We're just staying
28:59
faithful and we're called to do the same. And
29:01
the way we can be is when we understand that
29:03
God wants us to be fervent in and out of season.
29:07
God doesn't want our situations and circumstances
29:10
to be what would determine our response to the
29:13
things that we're experiencing, our response
29:14
to all of that. Praise God. So very key thing,
29:18
let's not destroy relationships. Even when people
29:22
hurt us, offend us, it should not stop us from
29:26
staying on course, doing what Christ instruct
29:29
us to do in God's word. Praise God. Then the
29:32
fourth point there is neglect and complacency.
29:39
Neglect and complacency. Neglect and complacency.
29:44
And know that You don't lose fire just by itself.
29:50
And I want us to look at Acts 28. I want us to
29:56
do something very practical. Acts 28 verse 2.
29:59
I don't know whether I read this on Sunday, but
30:01
I think I did, or I alluded to it when I was
30:03
speaking. Acts 28 verse 2 says, And the natives
30:08
showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled
30:13
a fire and made us all welcome. Because of the
30:17
rain that was falling and because of the cold.
30:23
But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks
30:26
to lay them on the fire, a viper came out because
30:30
of the heat and fastened on his hand. Praise
30:35
God. I want you to notice something. Notice something.
30:39
That the fire was kindled for that fire to continue
30:44
to burn. What do we see Apostle Paul do? He had
30:50
to put wood. Not that for a fire to keep burning,
30:53
you have to, there are things you have to, anytime
30:55
you neglect to put wood into the fire, will you
30:59
be surprised that the fire goes out? Will you
31:02
be surprised that the fire goes out? No, you
31:04
shouldn't be surprised because once, in fact,
31:05
when you want to put it, I think those of us
31:07
that are in training center, that time we were
31:08
using Well, listen, notice that we have to be
31:11
adding wood to the fire. Anytime you just leave
31:13
it, before you know it, there's no fire again.
31:16
And in our spiritual, there are certain things
31:18
you have to add when we come to how to maintain
31:20
the fire. There are certain things you have to
31:22
add. I'll just give you. Note that if you are
31:25
not adding consistent prayers, you are not delighting
31:29
in God's word. You're not engaging in disciplines.
31:32
Those are the things that are the wood that you
31:34
put into a fire to maintain the fire. Praise
31:37
God. The moment you cannot, you know, some of
31:40
us think some of our spiritual addition is just
31:42
automatic. You just sit down and the Lord is
31:44
doing it. You know, everything is just working
31:46
out. You know, I just sleep, wake up, and then
31:48
all of a sudden, I just see that there's this
31:50
unusual zeal. See, the Holy Spirit put it in
31:53
there. Sorry, that's not how it works. Come back
31:57
to reality. There are certain things that you
32:00
have to do to be able to ensure that you... Guard
32:04
the things that God is doing in you, God is doing
32:06
through you. Because know that it will be...
32:09
Let's just leave it for later. Know that it's
32:14
very important that you notice what is happening
32:16
here. And I love this passage because you see
32:21
that the fire or the heat exposed this viper
32:27
that was lurking in there. Because if there was
32:30
no heat... And if there was no heat, you wouldn't
32:33
have seen, the snake wouldn't have come out.
32:34
Certain creatures, you know, even us, we don't
32:39
like places that, you know, when we came to this
32:41
place, this place was a bit cold. You know, we
32:43
don't have a problem. But if it's hot, you will
32:45
notice, you know, there was a time during the
32:47
believers conference where the place was hot.
32:49
You know, you could see people trying to keep
32:50
themselves as warm as they could be. Praise God.
32:53
Know that heat makes certain things uncomfortable.
32:56
We understand that. Everyone, every normal person,
32:59
Once the place is hot, yes, you can, you know,
33:02
a couple of us, we can withstand a bit of heat.
33:04
Some of us, in the heat, we can be normal. I
33:06
think when my university days, we used to, there
33:10
are times where they would tell us to do long
33:12
walks. We would do, in fact, we used to do, there
33:15
are exercises they used to force us to come and
33:18
do. Most people hated it, but some of us, we
33:20
had no choice but to love it and enjoy it as
33:23
it goes. And sometimes it will require you to
33:26
walk for long distances in the heat. So we, I
33:29
think I had two, three of my friends, we said,
33:31
you know, we cannot say we're not going to do
33:34
it. So let's just make it as good as it can be.
33:37
So a friend of mine said, let me tell you something
33:39
to do to ensure that you don't feel the heat
33:42
much. He said, when you're paying attention to
33:44
the heat, that's when you feel a lot of the heat.
33:46
But when you decide to focus on something else,
33:49
so he said, let's just look at the ground. Let's
33:50
just pay attention to the ground. Let's look
33:52
at the ground. Just admire the ground. All of
33:55
a sudden, we were paying attention to the ground.
33:57
we were lost in another world. We started feeling
33:59
cool breeze. I was like, this is a good, this
34:01
is a good, this is a good, good, this is a good
34:04
trick. It's just, you're now not distracted by
34:08
the heat that is around, but you're paying attention
34:10
to something else and then you're, it's almost
34:12
like the cool breeze appeared. I was like, is
34:15
this witchcraft or something? Because I can't
34:17
explain how I'm feeling the cool breeze after
34:19
that one. So, and that is a very important lesson
34:22
to think about. when you're complaining about
34:25
the heat in the environment, it doesn't change
34:26
anything. Because you're not enjoying it anyways.
34:29
Praise God. You're not enjoying it anyways. But
34:31
you want to focus on the things that will help
34:33
you get better. You want to focus on the things
34:36
that will help you get better. And we see that
34:38
Apostle Paul here wants to keep warm. The goal
34:42
is to keep warm. At least the people in the place
34:45
welcome them by setting a kindling fire for them
34:47
to keep warm. Even though at least they went
34:50
into some form of, you're like, ah, this by what,
34:52
this snake by it. And know that because of all
34:55
of this drama, I want you to see what happens
34:58
in verse 6, I think. 6, yeah. I want you to see
35:04
the things that happen in verse 6. So it says,
35:07
let's look at 7. Let's look at 7. We'll see seven,
35:18
eight, and nine. Let me read six. However, they
35:22
were expecting that he would swell up and suddenly
35:24
fall down dead. But after they looked for a long
35:29
time and saw no harm came to him, they changed
35:33
their minds and said that he was a god. It says
35:38
in the region, there was a estate of the leading
35:42
citizen of the island whose name was Poblos.
35:47
who received us and entertained us cautiously
35:52
for three days. And it happened that the father
35:56
of Phoblos made sick of a fever and dysentery.
35:59
Paul went into him and prayed and laid hands
36:03
on him. We talked about laying of hands, laid
36:05
hands on him and healed him. Nine now says, so
36:08
when this was done, the rest of those in the
36:12
island who had diseases came, also came and were
36:17
healed. Praise God. It says, and they also honored
36:21
us in many ways and we departed and they were
36:24
provided usual things, provided such things as
36:29
were necessary. Praise God. I want us to see
36:32
something. Note that this was, it was never in
36:35
the plan for them to arrive at Malta. They experienced
36:38
a shipwreck and they found themselves in Malta.
36:39
But regardless of that situation, God still used
36:43
it to do the things that he did. where the leading
36:48
citizen of that place had a sick father that
36:52
ended up being healed. Because know that it built
36:54
up from something. Them welcoming them and then
36:58
allowing for all of those things that happened
37:00
leading to the healing of the person that was
37:02
sick and many others afterwards. Meaning that
37:05
everything that's happened in your life, going
37:07
back to the Joseph situation, you want to always
37:09
be ready for an opportunity. And ready for an
37:12
opportunity means that you... You have positioned
37:15
yourself for what God is going to do in and through
37:17
you. You don't want to be that person that, oh,
37:20
they say, okay, we want you to do this, we want
37:22
you to do that. You say, ah, no, I'm not on fire.
37:25
You know, I need to take like one week. I need
37:29
to take like two weeks to sharpen and to ensure
37:32
that things are put together before that happens.
37:34
You want to be that believer that is always ready.
37:37
Praise God. And you want to be that believer
37:39
that knows that regardless of the situation they
37:42
find themselves, God is able to walk in and through
37:44
them. Because if someone is sick, it's through
37:48
you that that healing will come through. Remember
37:49
we said you are God's method, right? So you want
37:52
to always make yourself available as God's method.
37:55
Praise God. You want to always make yourself
37:57
available as God's method. So you don't want
37:59
to be complacent. Remember we said there's a
38:02
neglect, there's a complacency. Let's look at
38:04
Leviticus. Leviticus 6. Leviticus 6, verse 12.
38:11
Let's look at Leviticus 6, verse 12 and 13. It
38:13
says, of the peace offerings. Praise God. Know
38:41
that even the priests themselves have to put
38:43
wood, have to ensure that they keep that fire
38:45
burning and this wood that they used to keep
38:47
the fire, just to reiterate the point I made
38:49
earlier. If you neglect it, you will not see
38:51
any fire. If you neglect putting the wood, you
38:54
will not see any fire. Remember we said, just
38:55
imagine it as the things that you do on a daily
38:58
and they see it every morning. So it means that
39:01
your work or your spiritual, when we say you
39:04
don't want to be that believer that will spend
39:06
two days. In fact, even one day, you should be
39:10
able to know that something, it should not be
39:14
normal for you to spend a day or two, in fact,
39:19
a day is a problem, two, without having that
39:22
fellowship. Praise God. You don't wait and then
39:27
yours is once in a week. When we come, midweek
39:30
service, when they say pray for, then that's
39:32
when, and then we will know because there's not
39:34
something you're familiar with. You don't know
39:35
this road. Praise God. So it's something that
39:38
you don't want to neglect it. You don't want
39:40
to be complacent about it. You're not a believer.
39:42
The first thing that goes off the list is fellowship.
39:46
When they say, okay, maybe I'm busy. Let's remove
39:48
fellowship. Or let's remove... You have to have
39:51
a... This is what I want us to understand. You
39:53
have to have a routine that certain things are
39:56
stamped. They are solid on it. You don't want
39:59
to have... You don't want to be allowing things
40:01
hit you from left, right, and center. And the
40:03
earlier you start to do it, the better for you.
40:04
Praise God. We used to say it in this church.
40:06
You will... you will keep getting busier and
40:09
busier if you don't have a structure that ensures
40:12
that you pray, you study God's word, you do disciplines.
40:17
It's amazing that you have believers that can
40:20
go for a whole year and they don't even engage.
40:23
I would say a whole month. You don't have times
40:25
where you fast. And remember, we just told you
40:30
this. You're not fasting to be able to see heavens
40:32
or see heavens open. That would be beautiful,
40:36
but you want to ensure that you have a discipline.
40:40
You want to ensure that you engage spiritual
40:41
discipline, and it's very important for you to
40:44
grow, for you to be fervent, for you to be zealous.
40:47
Those things have a way of setting you up for
40:50
the things that God, and by the way, know that
40:51
you don't come accidentally into this. There's
40:54
always that training. Notice that all of these
40:57
individuals, they are trained, and then the occasion
41:00
presents itself, and then there's a manifestation.
41:03
Praise God. And many of you, NECF is where the
41:06
training is happening. When you show up in a
41:09
particular place, you will not be surprised at
41:11
the things that you are going to be seeing. Even
41:13
here, we're not surprised at the things we're
41:14
seeing because you have stayed under teaching
41:16
for a long period of time. So there are certain
41:19
things we expect of you. And for some of you,
41:21
you're just complacent about it. You're not even
41:24
trying to act or engage what you have been receiving.
41:27
Praise God. And it doesn't help you. And for
41:29
some of us, When we say don't neglect, during
41:32
the Believers Conference, some of you had given
41:34
word for the first time and it was exciting.
41:36
But it should not stop there, praise God. It
41:39
shouldn't stop there because the moment you neglect
41:41
it, you'll lose the fire in that particular department.
41:46
Praise God. So you want to engage it. And by
41:49
the way, nothing stops you from speaking to a
41:51
person and then having something. And don't make
41:53
it spooky. Because for some of us, as I was just
41:58
talking now, The Holy Spirit just spoke to me
42:00
on my left ear, right ear, and then you just,
42:02
all of a sudden, all of a sudden, hey, what's
42:03
this? Oh, it's going crazy. And then you make
42:06
it spooky. You can just, you can see it as though
42:08
a thought came to your mind, like what about
42:11
this and what about that? You don't have to make
42:14
the person now, creep the person out. Praise
42:16
God. You want to be able to, you want to be able
42:19
to engage. And the moment you say those things
42:22
and the person confirms, ah, just not long ago,
42:25
I was on the call with my mom. and this and that
42:27
and that and that. That in itself even makes
42:29
you like, yeah, just keep at it. And then you
42:32
engage and engage and doing times of evangelism.
42:36
Those are the things that makes it beautiful.
42:38
Praise God. Those are the things that make it
42:39
beautiful. So you want to be able to engage that
42:42
and prayerfully believe God too. One very key
42:45
thing I want to pay attention to is the fact
42:46
that God disciplines, right? Disciplines are
42:51
what helps us to keep the fire burning. Discipline.
42:55
Discipline. is what helps us to keep the fire
42:56
burning. If you're not a disciplined person,
42:59
and I was sharing with some people, I say, it's
43:02
very easy to spot a person that is not disciplined.
43:04
They are all over the place. They can't put,
43:07
they are all over the place. And a couple of
43:08
people, if you don't train yourself to be disciplined,
43:10
you will not be. And how you train yourself to
43:13
be disciplined is by doing, by trying to have
43:16
a structure. And we're not saying that you should
43:18
now... your life should not be revolved around
43:20
structures. We're saying that you want to have,
43:22
at least have a structure because if God wants
43:25
to interrupt the structure, he has something
43:27
to interrupt. Praise God. But some people, they
43:29
are just, everything is just scattered. And not
43:33
only with that discipline, that discipline now
43:34
brings about consistency. That discipline now
43:38
brings about consistency because without discipline,
43:41
you will struggle to be consistent. And for many
43:45
of us, we don't. have consistency and many of
43:47
us struggle with consistency because it's not
43:49
something that comes on you by the Spirit of
43:53
God. Praise God. And that's why if you notice,
43:57
the things that we're doing in church is to build
43:59
that consistency so that you have a consistent
44:04
prayer life. You have a consistent study, all
44:08
the different things, the canonicals, all of
44:11
those things we're doing so that you have something
44:13
you do this year, you do next year, before you
44:15
know it. We get used to the rhythm. For some
44:16
of us, it's a struggle, but let it not stop you.
44:19
Keep at it. I say many of us, I think it was
44:22
2019, I think when I reached, when it was, I
44:27
think it was COVID. God sent COVID to help some
44:29
people's spiritual life. Praise God. Because
44:32
some people, they have spiritual life because
44:34
now you don't have anywhere to go to. You don't
44:36
have anywhere to go to. Some people with these
44:38
movies are now took the opportunity. God presented
44:40
the opportunity. They now say, no, we don't want
44:41
to take it. And then that was the first, I think
44:44
that was the time that we, you're able to be
44:45
consistent. I'm speaking for myself, able to
44:48
successfully do it. And then it now kept up.
44:50
You want to be able to put that in and continue
44:52
at it. Because you will not, you might not necessarily
44:55
see the effect in that first year. You will not
44:57
see effect in the second year. But you want to
45:00
keep at it so that you have something that you
45:02
are doing on a regular. Praise God. Because it's
45:05
very hard. Nobody will tell you that it's easy
45:07
to be, discipline doesn't come by accident. It's
45:10
conscious. Praise God. I know that consistency
45:13
is something that is not fueled by your feeling.
45:18
You don't fall consistency by your feeling. What
45:21
falls consistency is your desire to be consistent.
45:24
Some people will say, I feel like I'm not just
45:26
consistent and it stays the same way. But once
45:29
you have desire, you say, no matter what happens,
45:31
I'm mostly consistent. Praise God. You will find
45:34
yourself wanting to do the things that will ensure
45:38
that you are. And when you are failing on it,
45:40
you don't wait for it to be one whole year before
45:42
you put yourself back there. You want to ensure
45:44
that any small, you see yourself drift away,
45:47
you bring yourself back in line. Praise God.
45:50
And that is how you stay consistent. That is
45:52
how you burn. The moment you just notice that,
45:54
ah, when they say let's pray, it looks like it
45:57
takes me like 20 minutes to calibrate. And then
46:00
the whole prayer is 50 minutes. And then all
46:02
of a sudden, it's only 30 minutes I was able
46:04
to go up. You should already know that there's
46:06
a problem. And then you say, ah, God, let's work
46:09
on this thing. But for some people, it will be
46:12
like that until something will hit you. Then
46:13
you now come and there is prayer team that is
46:15
going to be busy because now you know that there
46:17
is nothing in the tank. But that is not, that
46:19
shouldn't be what, that shouldn't be how you
46:21
run your life where it's like this. You're just
46:22
going like this. Let it be like this. Praise
46:24
God and stay there. So now very quickly, let's
46:27
do how to maintain the fire. How to maintain
46:31
the fire. How to maintain the fire. So Paul's
46:38
instruction is that we are to be fervent. It's
46:42
like he said, never be lazy. Never be lazy. So
46:48
to maintain it. So the command is not just this.
46:51
The command is for us to be fervent, right? The
46:54
command is for us to be fervent. And when God
46:56
instructs us, he gives us the ability to do so.
46:58
Praise God. Any instruction God gives us, there's
47:01
the ability to do it. But you have to desire
47:05
to do it. Praise God. You have to desire to do
47:07
it. If not, you're not going to see it. So first,
47:09
the first point there is to stay active in spiritual
47:13
disciplines. I've been talking about it. Stay
47:16
active in spiritual disciplines in all seasons.
47:19
It means that you have to have a routine. Stay
47:21
active in spiritual disciplines. Stay active
47:25
in spiritual disciplines. The first is praying
47:29
without season or pray without season. From 1
47:31
Thessalonians, I think. Pastor Kostian had taught,
47:35
I think I listened to that day. I think it's
47:37
not the longest, just 30 minutes. He taught that
47:39
in, I think that was 2022. That was, I think
47:42
it was 2022. Fervency in prayers. He taught us
47:46
on the subject. How many of us remember that?
47:47
Those of us that are around 2022. Fervency in
47:50
prayers. It's a very good shot, but there was
47:52
a lot of things that were very impactful. Something
47:54
that you should go and do. Praying without ceasing.
47:57
But fervency in prayers, the point there is praying.
48:02
without ceasing, praying without ceasing. First
48:04
Thessalonians, we're going to read, we're going
48:06
to spend a lot of time in 1 Thessalonians. 1
48:08
Thessalonians 5, verse 17. 1 Thessalonians 5,
48:12
verse 17, that's praying without ceasing, fervency
48:14
in prayers. And then I think Pastor Ephraim also
48:17
taught us on why do we pray. It's very important
48:19
that we know why we pray so that we can be able
48:21
to stay in the place of prayer. Because most
48:24
of us, if we don't know the why, we don't know
48:25
the how, we don't even, in fact, there's no desire
48:27
to do, we don't even go out. go about it. So
48:29
you want to know why you're praying. You want
48:31
to understand why prayer is important and then
48:33
you engage it. Praise God. You're engaged. So
48:36
I gave us those teachings so that we can go and
48:38
just refresh ourselves and sing on it. And then
48:41
the second is have a routine of reading God's
48:43
word. Have a daily routine of reading God's word.
48:47
Some of us, we read it anytime. They say we are
48:49
the spiritual. Your father, your mother calls
48:51
you. Then they now say, have you read your Bible?
48:53
Then it becomes important to you. You want to
48:55
have a daily routine. of reading God's word is
48:58
a discipline, daily routine of reading God's
49:00
word. And you want to, let me read, let me just
49:03
quickly read for us Matthew 4, verse 4. It says,
49:08
but he answered and said, man shall not live
49:11
by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
49:14
from the mouth of the Lord. It means that you
49:16
want to prioritize the word of God or God's instructions
49:20
to you over. your food, over the foods that you
49:24
eat, over the, you want to discipline yourself.
49:27
And sometimes you want to make these things a
49:29
challenge. I was telling, I was sharing with
49:31
some people, I said, you know, some of us spend
49:34
time on social media. We spend a lot of time
49:38
on social media. And those times that we spend
49:40
on social media, it doesn't amount to anything
49:42
productive. Like you can say, I spent one hour
49:45
on social media and then I was able to get this.
49:47
Something that you can hold on to. And you visit
49:50
social media almost all of us. Is there anybody
49:52
that doesn't visit social media like any day?
49:55
You don't visit so many, right? Okay. Very few.
49:58
They're not even here. Like I said, I'm going
50:01
to visit social media. You know WhatsApp too
50:02
is social media. Yeah, it's all right. It's all
50:08
right. It's all right. It's all right. I don't
50:09
do Facebook. I don't do the... It's all right.
50:12
I'm fully holier than thou. It's all right. So...
50:17
So not that you spend time in that, you want
50:20
to also prioritize ensuring that, because if
50:23
you can do that, it means that you can also be
50:25
in a Bible app for every day. Praise God. And
50:29
some of you are doing, yeah, yeah, yeah. It means
50:32
that you can actually enter the app and be there
50:36
at least. So let the competition, and I say this
50:40
because I do this. In a week, you know, some
50:42
of us, our phones will tell us your screen time,
50:45
right? It will tell you which app takes more
50:48
time. That's how I used to check my own. If I
50:51
spend a whole week, I check it and then my Bible
50:53
app is not competing with my social media, I
50:56
know there's a problem. Praise God. I'm telling
51:01
you what it is like because you want to be conscious.
51:05
You want to evaluate yourself. You don't have
51:07
to wait till when something happens before somebody
51:09
will now be communicating it to you. Praise God.
51:12
You want to be real to that level that you check
51:15
and say, If in a week, my app says I spent 12
51:21
hours on WhatsApp and then like three hours on
51:24
my Bible app, you already know that there is
51:28
a struggle. Praise God. And for me, I said, the
51:32
first three apps that is the topmost app, if
51:34
the Bible app is missing there, there's a problem.
51:37
And that is practical. And this is something
51:40
that you should do for yourself. I'm saying it
51:42
to tell you that this is what I do. And it's
51:44
a good thing. And I know it's a good thing. You
51:46
should adopt it. Praise God. You should tell
51:48
yourself, I will be conscious about it. In a
51:50
week, I want to... And some of us, we don't even
51:52
know the amount of time we spend on certain things
51:55
until the app shows you. You know, you want to
51:57
have something that tells you what exactly it
51:59
is. The way you cannot scale how your fire is,
52:01
but you can see indicators, you want to have
52:03
certain things that will help you to check that.
52:05
Praise God. So reading God's word is important.
52:08
You want to spend as much time there. And notice
52:10
that when you fail, you don't stay there. You
52:13
want to get back. And the earlier you do so,
52:15
the better. Praise God. Then three is rejoicing
52:19
always. Praise God. Rejoicing always. Philippians
52:22
4 verse 4. Philippians 4 verse 4. Philippians
52:26
4 verse 4. It says, rejoice in the Lord always.
52:30
Again, I say rejoice. What you want to do also
52:33
is to check your rejoicing. Some of us, we spend
52:36
more time, remember, complaining, lamenting,
52:38
and those things don't help you. And the church
52:41
will say rejoice. Rejoice. I think as Pastor
52:44
Koston led us in the song, we rejoice, we rejoice
52:49
for the thing that you have done. He has healed
52:53
us. He has restored us for the thing that you...
52:57
Thank you so much, sir. There are songs that
52:59
you... There are things that you do to help yourself
53:01
rejoice. Because you're not looking at your situation
53:04
to rejoice. You're looking at what God has done,
53:06
what God is going to do to rejoice. Praise God.
53:08
You want to check that. That's how... You stay
53:10
active. That's how you stay on fire. Then you
53:14
want to give thanks in all things. You want to
53:18
give thanks in all things. Remember, we say that
53:19
scripture doesn't say give thanks for all things.
53:22
You're saying give thanks in all things. And
53:25
that's the agency by which you do that is rejoice
53:28
in spite of what exactly it is you're going through.
53:30
In 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18, right? 1 Thessalonians
53:35
5 verse 18, it says, in everything give thanks.
53:39
For this is the will of God in Christ for you.
53:42
This is the will of God in Christ for you. Know
53:45
that you can't thank God and complain at the
53:49
same time. I'm yet to see a person that's able
53:51
to do that. It's either you're thanking God or
53:54
you're complaining. And murmuring or complaining
53:57
is one enemy of fervency. It's one very great
54:01
enemy of fervency. You complain, complain, complain,
54:04
and there are people that are complaining, like
54:05
every time we cut, it's almost like you can predict.
54:09
That the thing that will come over their mouth
54:10
is one complaint or the other. You want to be
54:13
very careful about it. You want to even check
54:14
it. You want to check it because it's a sign
54:17
of something. So all of those points are under
54:20
staying active. Remember we say stay active in
54:24
the things. So the B part now is seek continuous
54:28
godly influences. Seek continuous godly influences.
54:33
That's the B part. The first part is stay active
54:35
in spiritual disciplines in all seasons. Then
54:38
the second part is be continuous, seek continuous
54:41
godly influences. That's because you can't do
54:43
it alone. That's because you can't, this work,
54:46
you are never designed in the work of God to
54:49
do things alone. You're never meant to survive
54:51
by yourself. You're not a self -made Christian.
54:54
There was somebody that preached God's word to
54:56
you to get you saved. And then the same way to
54:59
maintain your spiritual life, there are people
55:01
that God has placed around. There's a church
55:02
family, there's God family that helps you to
55:04
do that. So you always will need help from others.
55:07
Praise God. You will always need help from others
55:10
and you should be humble enough to receive that
55:12
help from others. Praise God. So the point under
55:15
that is value godly relationships. Value godly
55:19
relationships. The scripture for that, because
55:21
the reason why we value godly relationships is
55:23
because we sharpen one another. We sharpen one
55:26
another. That is in Proverbs 27 verse 17. Say,
55:30
I unsharpened iron. Proverbs 27 verse 17. So
55:35
we sharpen one another. You want to also spend
55:37
time to cultivate relationships. Cultivate relationships.
55:41
Proverbs 27, 17. You want to spend time to cultivate
55:44
relationships because it's in those relationships
55:46
that you are stirred up. Right? You want to cultivate
55:49
relationships that will build your faith, not
55:51
drain your faith. Praise God. You want to spend
55:54
time with people that will build your faith.
55:56
You speak with your brother and then you're just
55:58
greatly encouraged. You can't explain it. You
56:01
don't want to speak with someone and all of a
56:02
sudden you're like, I like you. You just, you're
56:05
drained out. Praise God. And I want us to see
56:09
2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy
56:14
1 verse 16. Verse 6, sorry. 2 Timothy 1 verse
56:19
6. 2 Timothy 1 verse 6. It says, therefore, I
56:27
remind you to stir up the gift. of God, which
56:31
is in you, through the laying on of my hands.
56:35
That's Apostle Paul speaking to Timothy. Timothy,
56:38
the gift was Apostle Paul laying his hands, was
56:42
stirred up by the laying on of Apostle Paul's
56:45
hands. The encouragement is to stir up. Sometimes
56:49
it's a fan to flame. And that word there translates
56:51
to rekindle. So it means that you want to, that
56:55
stir up there translates to rekindle. It means
56:58
that you want to always, And the opportunities,
57:01
you know, because of the believer comfort, I'll
57:03
make reference to that because this was still,
57:05
it's not far away where it does. We're weak now
57:08
and thereabouts. So note that for many of us,
57:13
what happened in that meeting is that you saw
57:16
hands were laid on you and you saw certain things,
57:20
right? And for you to keep those things, you
57:22
want to hang around people that will spoil you
57:25
to do even more. Praise God. You want to have
57:27
relationships that will build you. You know,
57:29
if you have five friends and all of you are reading
57:32
the Bible and you are the sixth friend, you end
57:34
up reading the Bible. You'll be consistent with
57:36
that because those people will stay up to do
57:38
the things that will keep you in the faith. Praise
57:39
God. Very, very important. So, and then you want
57:43
to honor leadership. You want to honor leadership.
57:46
You want to honor leadership because if you're
57:49
around people that dishonor leadership, it will
57:50
be the same situation for you. You want to honor
57:52
leadership. In that 1 Thessalonians 5, Verse
57:58
12, it says, And we urge you, brethren, to recognize
58:01
those who labor among you and over you in the
58:05
Lord and admonish. The word there for admonish
58:07
is instruct you to esteem them very highly in
58:12
love for their work's sake. Be at peace amongst
58:17
yourselves. Be at peace amongst yourselves. So
58:19
that's 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 12. 1 Thessalonians
58:23
5, verse 12. So you want to be able to honor
58:26
leadership. You want to be able to honor. And
58:28
then you can also add 1 Timothy 5 verse 17. I
58:31
would have loved for you to just read it and
58:33
amplify it. Read it. And then also stay in fellowship
58:37
and service. That's the other point. Stay in
58:39
fellowship and service. We said you need people
58:42
to be able to grow. You need, you can't do it
58:45
all by yourself. So you want to be able to do
58:48
that. And the scripture for that is Acts 2 verse
58:51
42. Acts 2 verse 42. Acts 2. I'll read it to
58:56
us, to our hearing. Acts 2, verse 42. Acts 2,
59:01
verse 42. And they continue to state, firstly,
59:03
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and
59:06
in the breaking of bread and in prayer. So they
59:08
do all of those things. You want to be able to
59:10
stay in the fellowship and stay, and you don't
59:13
want to neglect gathering with God's people.
59:15
It's very important. Then let's do this. I will
59:19
skip some of it. Okay. So let's just do the,
59:24
The C part. The C part, which is the third part,
59:28
which is obey biblical instructions. Obey biblical
59:32
instruction. It's very key for you to... And
59:35
some of us have gotten words of prophecy and
59:38
we're not even living up to it. We've not even
59:41
studied anything on the things that we've been
59:43
given. It's very dangerous because the moment
59:45
you keep things aside, it ends up staying that
59:48
way. You want to ensure that you don't. You don't
59:52
keep the things, just put them at the side. Because
59:54
those instructions or those things, they protect
59:58
and keep you and guide you and ensure that you
1:00:00
do the work and do it effectively. Praise God.
1:00:03
One on the point is, it's one thing that I think
1:00:06
Pastor Emmanuel will say, which is what we'll
1:00:07
repeat over and over again, which is quench not
1:00:11
the spirit. And we say that that quench not the
1:00:13
spirit is not because you can't quench the spirit.
1:00:16
It's actually quench not the fire of the spirit.
1:00:21
Quench not the fire of the Spirit. That's in
1:00:22
1 Thessalonians 5. Please, let's go to 1 Thessalonians
1:00:26
5, verse 19. Pastor Emmanuel had taught us a
1:00:31
five, I think it was five, it was a five -part
1:00:33
series. That's last year. All of those teachings
1:00:36
are from last year. And then even the course
1:00:38
of the Believers Conference, Pastor Kostin has
1:00:41
told us that, look, when you pray in the Spirit,
1:00:44
when you do all of those, that's an elevated
1:00:46
discussion with God, and you want to ensure that
1:00:49
nothing stops that. You want to ensure that nothing
1:00:52
stops that. Nothing stops that. But now he says,
1:00:54
do not quench the spirit. Remember we said in
1:00:57
the course of that teaching, we said you cannot,
1:00:59
remember we said it has to do with fire, right?
1:01:02
It means that you have to put wood to the fire
1:01:04
to ensure that it keeps burning. You want to
1:01:06
ensure that you do that. And in 20, 20 says,
1:01:09
despise not. That is the second point. Despise
1:01:13
not. It means that even in the course of meetings,
1:01:15
you want to engage. You want to be active. You
1:01:19
want to treat. Prophecy, you don't want to treat
1:01:24
it casually. You don't want to take it and say,
1:01:26
oh, you don't want to receive it. You want to
1:01:28
receive it with respect. You want to honor it.
1:01:31
You want to desire it. You don't want to despise
1:01:33
it. Praise God. And then you want to covet earnestly
1:01:36
the things of God. You don't want to neglect
1:01:39
it. So remember we said, even Timothy was instructed
1:01:42
not to neglect. You don't want to make little
1:01:45
of the things that God is presenting to you or
1:01:47
has presented to you. And we say that. You want
1:01:49
to boil, right? You want to boil. You want to
1:01:52
have a continual earnest desires and passion
1:01:54
for that. Remember we said, for you to be able
1:01:57
to act on these things, you want to be cautious.
1:02:02
You want to write them down. Praise God. You
1:02:04
want to be able to note them down. You don't
1:02:06
want to forget because you prioritize it because
1:02:08
it's important to you so you note them down.
1:02:09
And when you note them down, you want to be able
1:02:12
to take strategic step on how you're going to
1:02:14
see them happen. And for many of us, that's the...
1:02:18
point where it ends for us. We don't take strategic
1:02:20
steps on how we want to see that happen. We just
1:02:22
allow it and then over time, that's what happens.
1:02:25
Then you now come back to the Holy Spirit. And
1:02:27
a couple of us, I think one or two persons shared
1:02:31
with me that they think that the word that they
1:02:33
got from last cataclysm is the same word they
1:02:35
got back again. And that's how you know that
1:02:37
God has not forgotten the plants yet. That's
1:02:42
how you know. You be like this. You haven't done
1:02:47
anything. Because how do you know that you have
1:02:50
done something? The person says, you have done
1:02:52
it and then you admit to add two or three or
1:02:54
four. But the same exact, and the point is, it's
1:02:56
a different person that is telling you the same
1:02:57
thing. And then even that itself does not give
1:02:59
you, does not shock you, does not even bring
1:03:01
you to a place of like, oh Lord, I'm sorry. And
1:03:03
then you now make amends. But some of us, the
1:03:05
way we are going, we are going to the next level,
1:03:08
we are going to the same level. Praise God. I
1:03:14
think there are some people that this thing is
1:03:16
real to them. Because this laugh, I know that
1:03:19
this laugh is real. So please, I beg of you.
1:03:23
I beg of you. The word of the Lord is coming
1:03:26
to you the second time. Some people it's the
1:03:29
third time. Some people it's the fourth time.
1:03:33
Please, it doesn't have to come to you plenty
1:03:35
of times for you to respond. Praise God. It doesn't
1:03:39
have to come to you many times. So you want to,
1:03:42
and the way you can get at something is to start
1:03:45
today. I don't want you to leave this place without
1:03:49
something that you're going to do to start acting
1:03:52
on it. And I bet you, the moment you take that
1:03:56
initiative, that I'm going to do something, you
1:04:00
will see things that will make you stay on course.
1:04:04
Praise God. You will see things. I'm telling
1:04:06
you this by the Spirit of God that you will see
1:04:08
things that will make you stay on course. The
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moment you just say this thing, Holy Spirit,
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help me to act on this and this and this. This
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is the first step. And please, don't overwhelm
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yourself. You know, some of you, because the
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thing overwhelms you, you have seen pictures,
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you've seen all of that, you now want to do everything
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one day. That is the recipe for, you never get
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back to it. Because you will scare yourself out
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of the things that God is wanting you to do.
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So you want to say, okay, I'll do this, I'll
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do this, I'll do this, and get on with it. Would
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you like us to rise up to our feet? Would you
1:04:38
like us to rise up to our feet? And I want you
1:04:40
to make an audit. Look at the areas of your life.
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Look at the things that need to make adjustment.
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And have a daily check. Remember, I told you
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that a daily check would mean that you have to
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ask yourself, am I rejoicing? Am I finding myself
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complaining? Am I praying? Am I grateful to God?
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Am I murmuring? Some of us, the stand -up is
1:05:03
now hard. Praise God. The stand -up is hard.
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Say, am I praying? Am I doing things differently?
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What are the things that need to change? And
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what the Holy Spirit is going to be doing is
1:05:15
that He's going to be setting people. He's going
1:05:17
to make people remind you of some of these things.
1:05:19
He's going to make people ask you questions.
1:05:20
He's going to make people seek to tell you to
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get things done and put things together. You
1:05:26
want to be consistent. You want to be regular.
1:05:28
You want to be consistent. You want to be someone
1:05:30
that is always on fire. I want you to pray and
1:05:33
just open your mouth and say, Father, there's
1:05:35
fresh hunger. We're thankful you joined us today.
1:05:41
Don't forget to subscribe so you're always connected
1:05:44
to our latest sermons. You can also explore more
1:05:48
about NECF on our website or follow us online.
1:05:52
We look forward to having you with us next time.
1:05:55
God bless.