Faith, Friendship, and Divine Guidance

Praise the Lord. Please can you be seated, please. 20 years ago, precisely August 13, 1995, I stopped believing in coincidences. I stopped believing in happenstances, that things just happen for the sake of happening. Because Romans 8, 28 says, for all things. For what all things work for good, for those who do what love God and are called according to what? To his purpose. I've learned to stop believing in happenstances because so many things have been happening in my life. When they happen, sometimes you don't understand the reason why they happen. But along the line, you get to realize that, oh, the hand of God was definitely in this. Let me start by telling you how I got born again. I don't know how many of us went to Bend State University, Epoma, during my time. I don't know. Okay, you did. There's a guy they call the bull, Victor Abulime. He was the head of, he got born again before me. He was the head of the secret court. in Bensu. And he became my friend. We sat together in Yola. So I was at home. I just came back from a party overnight. He came early in the morning to tell me to come and take him to church. And because he was my very good friend, I just stood up. I had not slept. I took him to church. And as I entered the church, the altar call was being made. I don't know what happened. I just walked straight to the altar and that was how I got born again. Circumstances, so many. Coincidences to some people. But I want to assure you the hand of God was always there. A month after I gave my life, I'm going to give you some, I'm giving you a testimony for maybe 5 to 10 minutes before I go straight into the world this morning. A month after I gave my life to Christ. I sat in church, I was on a Wednesday evening, and a young lady about the age of 20, 21 then, just said hello to me, and I was burning for the Lord. I knew where I was coming from. So when she said hello, I was like, hey, you know who you are saying hello to, don't take me back to the world, please. And she felt the embarrassment. She saw me, she saw the expression on my face, and she now said, ah, sorry, sorry that I... greeted you and lo and behold that person is my wife today so many happenstances how i came to abuja i was first transferred to cardinal i was in cardinal for three months that was between may 2005 no may 1997 and august 1997. I met a man of God. He's one of the popular pastors in Abuja today. I just met him. The pastor, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God came to do a program. And I went for the program. And I saw this guy. We were together in Freedom Hall in Lagos, Redeemed Christian Church of God 200, Pastor Tony Rapu. And I saw him. And we reignited fellowship. And lo and behold, a week after, God sent me a letter from Lagos. A letter of transfer from Kaduna to Abuja. Appostances, you will say. After some time, I became a minister. The man just started the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Abuja then. We started in a small parlor. He later became one of the biggest Redeemed Christian Church of God in Abuja. After some time, because I was his minister from the beginning, he encouraged me. I didn't want to go to Bible college. I just went to his house one day. He said, she's going to take my tie, run to the central parish, and go and join Bible college. I joined the Bible college. After I finished Bible college, I'm going to link up all this. I'm not talking about myself. It's a testimony that has something to do with the message that I'm sharing this morning. After The Bible College, he called me just about the time I was getting married and said, because he actually tutored me. in the Discipleship Training Institute, we call it DTI, Lagos then, that later became known as the School of Ministry in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. And he told me that, look, I know you, you understand the meaning of discipleship training. I wanted to start a discipleship training institute in Desire of Nations then called the Milk to Meat Institute. I started it and through me, so many came, were discipled about it. Six to seven hundred of them. For about three years I was in charge. Then along the line, the man left redeemed. Appustances. I left with him. Appustances. Coincidence. Then when I left with him, I wasn't, there was some shaking inside of me. So I felt, this is not where I should be. I went back to redeemed. Appustances. I didn't know what God was doing in my life. What God was trying to tell me then was that, Shegu, it is not time for you to leave. You will leave, but not now. I know the time has not come to its fullness. So I went back to redeem with my wife, and we went back. I was there for some time. We started some other parishes to the glory of God. One of them is one of the biggest parishes in Abuja now, the International Christian Center. So, what am I trying to say? Apostances. Apostances, again, one of those days. The first Sunday of July 2013. A man of God just stood up on the altar and uttered some things that I don't want to go into here. And after the church, I had a release. I went to meet, in fact, the pastor called the meeting and I told the pastor at the meeting, This is my last day in the redeemed Christian Church of God and I walked out. It was a bit acrimonious but I did. I walked out because I had a release and the Bible says out of the mouth of two witnesses the word of God is what established. When I got home I told my wife this is what happened at the meeting and my wife said I agree. We will leave. And that was the first time I would be leaving the church and my wife would be agreeing with me. So, July, around August, my wife traveled with the family for summer. I was alone at home. September 2nd or September 1st, I can't remember the day now. They were to come back from the UK. So I was painting the house. I just felt, let me just drive out while these people, they were to come back that same night. Let me just drive out while these people are painting the house. I drove out. Normally, I'm always tuned to 94.7. I love good music. And 94.7 gives me good music somehow. So I was, my... My radio is permanently tuned to 94.7. That Monday morning, I just heard this voice. This commanding voice. And you know the first thing he said? The first thing I heard was about grace. Grace. And it is the biggest, one of the biggest challenges for me, or used to be one of the biggest challenges for me as a Christian. So I got... interested. As I was driving, I listened to the program. Let me tell you the truth. I got a piece of revelation and tears welled up in my eyes. I had to park somewhere around Bannock's Junction to make a call. And I told the man of God, you have tremendously blessed me. You have answered the questions I've had for over 18 years about grace. And the man of God just prayed for me. That night, my wife came back from the UK with the family, and I told her, there's this program I'm listening to, and I think we should just go to the church the next day. We came to the church the next day. We entered the church, and what happened? We saw life, the life of God. I had to go and meet Pastor Sholadi by after service, and I told him that Judah is great. Judah is really great. I could experience life. This is me that is coming from the origin of religion. I could experience life in the church. And by the time we walked out after church, I asked my wife, how do you see the church? She said, I love the church. I knew at that point that everything is settled. How many stances you will say? Coincidences. Well, let me tell you some things about these coincidences that actually have changed my life to today. The fact, the coincidence of bringing me into this church. It's no coincidence. I'm just using that layman's language. That brought me into this church. I came in. I was quiet. I went to introduce myself to the pastor because I know the principle of going to introduce yourself to the pastor of the church. So, the word kept coming to me. The word kept coming to me. Let me tell you some of those things that happened there. that you people don't know, that you may not know. I always get revelations from this church and the revelations have actually helped my businesses. They've actually helped my life. They've actually helped my life. They've actually shown me that God has been, the hand of God has always been in my life since that day in August 13, 1995. I got that revelation from this place. Well, is it the revelation of the day we were in a men's fellowship and the pastor preached and I had to come out and tell the pastor that, see me, the way I used to treat my first son and that I didn't treat him well. You won't blame me really, I have three boys, I don't have any girl in between and you have to be very stern with them. But I took my discipline overboard to the extent that there was a day I spanked this boy and he... He poo-pooed on himself. And the pastor told me something. He said, you should not provoke your child to rot. I went back home that day. I called my son into the room. I begged him. 13-year-old Ben is now 14. And to the glory of God, my wife is here to testify to that. I rarely spank my children again. Something happened last year that the usual me, when it happened, I would have. And I just called the three of them. The three of them, young boys, did something terribly wrong. I won't tell you yet. Sorry. They did something terribly wrong. And because of that experience I have in this church, I could call my sons. I sat them down, and they confessed to me. They confessed because I showed them love. I spoke to them in love. And just because of the way the pastor had shown them. revealed in the Word of God. I also want to tell you something about Pastor's wife. I've never said this before, but let me say it. There's this question, whenever we preach in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, there's this question that always comes up. Can you forgive and forget? And till that day, one Wednesday evening, I never knew the answer till I heard it from Mommy. What did she say? God has not given us the power to forget. He has not. And when I went through the scriptures, I realized that mommy actually gave me a sound revelation that day. Or is it when pastor came, that was in January, and said something about releasing the man to go. And I left the church that January and I told my wife, I said I released my father. My father was healed since around December. And somehow, I held on to him because my father became like a brass serpent to me. And I couldn't let him go because I was scared that if I allowed this man to leave, what would happen to me? What would happen to my business? Because, excuse me, because he was the source of my business. I will get over this. It happens once in a while when you preach, or when you've not preached for a very long time. So I couldn't release this man, but the pastor preached that morning, and I went out of the church, I got into it, I said I'll release this man. But the man waited for me, till I could make a very, very, very important trip to the United States. He didn't allow, because if he had died before then, I wouldn't have gone for that trip. I would have stayed back, and I would have missed a marvelous opportunity to make myself known in the world stage. And, In this church too, happenstances, through the word of God. There's one particular ministration then that pastor preached about the king and the prince of Tyre. I don't know if you were in mentoring session. It was a huge revelation for me for my business. I just came to realize that when we talk of business, you know, we talk of competition. Don't bother about competition. There is a God behind those princes of Tyre. You have to bind the strong man. You have to go and deal. You have to go beyond the princes. And that was what started happening in my business. That exposed me to a lot of things in the business world. And what am I talking about? So many. And a special one, I shouldn't forget this. Like I said, I'm going to link it up, sorry. One day the pastor came, he just, I don't know if it was the one that preached that day. He said, okay, I think it was the one. Then after preaching, he came back. He said, if you've not gone to Lisa, stand up. I didn't want to stand up. I'm telling you why. Because I've gone to Bible college, I was the head of discipleship training, blah blah, I felt. But I just said, let me, my wife stood up, let me, let me obey all righteousness. If you feel all righteousness, so I stood up. And the pastor said, we have to. He wasn't talking to us, he was talking to all the people that stood up. And after I looked at it, I said, let me come. And when I got home, the administration that came to me is that, I shared it here one day, that until a seed falls to the ground and dies, there is a dying. Please don't forget this scripture because I'm going to lay emphasis to it later. Until a seed falls to the ground and dies, there's a need for us to always die. a need for us to always do what? Die. So, until I see it, I said, maybe this is an opportunity for me to die and to rise again. So I came to Liza. Of course, I met so many young people. You know, I'm going to be 47 this year. Some people that are now up to 20. They became my friends. And, you know, I just saw myself dying to the world. I saw myself dying all over again, not knowing that the world had crept in without my knowing, had crept into my life without my knowing. I died to the world again. Why? Because of Lisa. And you know how I died? The Word of God cleansed me from the world. The Word of God cleansed me from the world. And what did I... Yeah, there's something very spectacular that I heard, the first last... Is it the first last? I can't remember. When the pastor said, Pastor Gabriel, he said, man was first created spirit. The full man, I'm going to go back to that soon. The full man that you see was first created spirit. I might have heard that word before, but it never registered in me. That man was truly created, first and foremost, the image of God that was created in man. It's not this thing that you see. is the spirit man and that he came back to me and so many other questions that i have along my christian life everything fell into place just by that singular revelation so what am i saying here i'm trying to share testimonies with you testimonies that will show you that if you are here consider yourself to be what to be blessed i'm telling you once let me tell you Those precious gifts from God are usually hidden. Don't follow the crowd. Don't follow the crowd. I have a pastor in Lagos, Pastor Escon Fon. He's of blessed memory now. He used to tell us something. He said, when you want to see where God is, when you see a crowd going this way, go opposite. When you see the crowd going this way, just go. the other side. Pastor Esco used to tell us that then. That was when we were redeemed. I'm telling you, you are in the right place. The type of revelation that you get from here are so enormous. I forgot one. When Pastor was to start mentoring the mentoring session, that was in 2014. I just laughed to myself. Before then, I built a small training facility in Shagamu in my hometown. And I decided that what I was going to do there was to impact life and to mentor people. The moment the pastor mentioned it, that mentoring was going to, I knew that God has delayed the starting off of that training facility because I needed to sit right under the pastor to learn from those mentoring sessions. Pastor, you don't know how many tapes of yours or how many CDs of yours I have in my house. Because I need to listen to them over and over again. I don't want to sound as if I'm flattering the man of God. I don't like doing it. It is not right, really. But really, sincerely speaking, I have been under men of God. There are so many that are awarded, though. I'm not doubting it. But I've seen ones that are awarded, but they do not have the zeal. I know so many of them. They will be saying so many things in Redeemed. And they will teach me so many things. And I will say, why are you still here? So they don't have the zeal to take the necessary action. But I have seen a pastor who can mentor me. And I am here to be mentored. Thank you, Pastor. So what are we saying? We are in the lighthouse. The lighthouse gives what? Illumination. It gives illumination. You need to have illumination in this hour walk with God. You need to have illumination. You need to know how God is going. Where God is going. When this politics started, Buhari, or no Buhari, I wrote something on Facebook. I was not a supporter of Buhari from day one. I was vehemently against him. And I remember writing something on Facebook. I said, how many of us have actually taken time to go back to God and say, Father, what is your plan? Where are you going in all this? Then Bwari was not yet the candidate of APC. I was vehemently against him. In 2011, I wanted to vote for Ribadu. Then I told people that either Ribadu or... Jonathan, but not Buhari. I don't want to hear anything Buhari. But after I wrote that in the Facebook, I said, how many of us have actually taken time to go and seek the face of God concerning this issue? And the thing about revelation is that you have to be in the place of light to get a revelation. You have to be in a place of illumination to get a revelation. I got my revelation in a very funny way. I just woke up one morning and realized that the biggest problem we have in this country is corruption. I just knew. Tackle corruption, so many things will fall into place. I want to say something about the brass serpent and the way I see Buhari. The brass serpent is, if you remember, the brass serpent in the Old Testament. When the children of Israel were being beaten by snakes, God told Moses to raise a brass serpent. And anybody that sees the brass serpent will walk. would be healed. So he raised the brass serpent. Anybody that sees the brass serpent becomes healed. Sincerely speaking, for me, Buhari is like the brass serpent of now. Because the brass serpent needs to be brought down, eventually. But there must be a brass serpent that once somebody sees it, ah! I told somebody this week, I said, look, let me, it was Sheik Gwandini, the popular, I said, look, why I voted Buhari? If I dare write something on Facebook that somebody collected right from me, something tells me Buhari will do, if he sees it. If he sees it, Buhari will do it. So like Pastor was saying, it's not because of Buhari as a person. And again, 2019 is just around the corner. So you need illumination. And one thing that this church does is that it gives what? Illumination. Illumination, especially at these perilous times. I don't need to tell you that we are in perilous times. Just yesterday or the day before yesterday in the Republic of Ireland, a holy catholic nation, they voted massively for... same-sex marriage. And you need to know the implication of that. The Bible says in Psalm 11.3, please, you can just put it up, Psalm 11.3, it says, once the foundation is destroyed, what can the righteous do? And the question now should be, what is the foundation of the world? For you to understand what is happening in the world now. What is the foundation of the world? You remember I told you about the man being created. Man was created as what? As a spirit man. When man was created as a spirit man, it was created both what? Man and woman. The man that was created as a spirit was both man and woman. I hope you know that was the complete man. So when God... He said, man is alone. So he now had to split man into two now. I hope I'm right. Sorry, like I told pastor yesterday, I'm a bit scared. I hope I won't be, you know. So he took from the rib of man and created Eve. So what does that tell us? It tells us that man is not complete without woman. It's not possible. Take it from me. Man is not complete without a woman. The same way, vice versa. A woman is not complete without a man. When you see them wanting to live alone, there's something wrong. Tell them that there's something wrong. And if you remember the charge in Genesis 1.28, Genesis 1.28, it says, Go into the world, be fruitful, increase in number, fill the head, and have dominion. You see, you cannot feel the earth if you do not replicate. A man of God in the Redeemed Christian Church of God told me something one time. He's a pastor on eschatology, the end time, the study of the end time. He said, the devil knew what he was doing. Some years back, close to 15 years ago, they started the issue of cloning. Now, if you have been following the issue of same-sex marriage and what have you, I'll be following it. I'll be following it because I'm also a student of the end time. One thing about the argument is that you see in the U.S. Supreme Court, they have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court and they have to bring out their arguments. One thing about the argument was one that was missing is the fact that they needed to convince the Supreme Court that look, the reason for a man and a woman to come together is for them to what? Procreate. Do you know that cloning has negated that? Because the other party, the defense now, that are for same-sex marriage, say, no, man cannot create after his own kind without having to do what? To procreate. So that is what is happening. So there is no way that law will get to the Supreme Court and you won't have a judgment against Christ. And when you talk about the Antichrist, you are talking about a spirit. The spirit of the Antichrist is a spirit that comes totally against what God has prepared or God has planned. And one of those things that God has planned is for a man and a woman. So now, man and man, woman and woman. And, you know the funniest part, and this is where I have a problem with some churches. Revelations are scanty. in churches today. Today, if you put anything about the end time, people don't even read it. You know, the truth is that the church does not even believe the end time. Some churches do not believe there is what we call end time, that the world will come to an end. That's the truth. Take it from me. They feel the world will continue. So many Christians now, when you tell them that Christ is coming, so many Christians don't see anything wrong in same-sex marriage. Am I speaking? Am I the only one that have noticed that? So many Christians don't say anything wrong in it. My prayer, like the five wise and foolish virgins, everybody, both of them slept. The ten virgins, they all slept. They slumbered. But there was one, there was a set that still had the oil. They still had the oil. So when the alarm sounded, they could relay to their oil. come, they could tap into their oil, they could meet with their master. And my prayer for us is that we'll be like those five wise virgins in Jesus' mighty name. So what are we talking about? We're talking about revelation that at this time, at this period, I'm not saying that, now don't get me wrong, please. I'm not saying that the world is coming to an end in 100 years, 50 years. But I just want us, nobody knows the time, but I just want us to be conscious of the fact that whether you like it or not the world we definitely this particular world we come we go for another one to come so i'm not saying that so but the essence of that world. It's for us to understand the meaning of revelation, the need for revelation and that is where the main message starts this morning. Like I told you I'm going to relate so many things but it's not going to take too much of it. I still have some time left and I believe I will do justice to this. Now the title of the message is the highest expression of sonship. The highest expression of sonship. Revelation. How do you get this revelation? How do you get to the point where at any point in time you know what God is going to do? Some of us, pastor knew it, you don't need to be told that there was going to be a change. And there was change. Some of us keyed into the change. before the change actually happened. So many people were on Facebook making noise. But you need to understand how God works. God does not work with coincidence. That's why I started with the issue of coincidence. He plans his things. Buhari was presidential candidate in 2003. He was in 2007. He was in 2011. That 2011 was very instructive. He needed to make... to mingle with a man of God. He needed to know. He needed to have a touch, a relationship sort of. And this thing needed to happen. And when we saw all these things coming, you would think there are circumstances that a man had been trying to become president since 2003. He didn't get it 2007. He didn't get it 2011. He didn't get it. By the time you seek the face of God, you will come to realize that God was doing something. The moment Buhari became the eighth presidential candidate, it was obvious to those that are discerning that this man is going to be the next president of Nigeria. So how do we get that revelation? Open Galatians 4, 1 to 7. Please, can you please open it? I'm not reading anything here, so that I can. Galatians 4, 1 to 7. Okay, New King James. He says, now I say that the hair, as long as he's a child, does not be far at all from a slave, though he's a master of all. But he's under guidance, underline that, guidance and stewards, until the time appointed by the father. Now look at the explanation. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time had come. God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as what? As sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart, crying out, Harbour Father, therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. What was Paul trying to do here? Now, I told you to underline guardian and what? Trustee. Now, in this house, you see this is an household, you have different people there. You have the child, you have the servant, you have the guardian and the trustee, and you have the father that is God. Now, in this scripture, the Bible makes us understand that the Paul made us understand that the guardian and the trustee was who? He's in the Bible there. It's Jesus. That was the guardian and the trustee. Go back. Please go back. Go back to the previous verse. That's verse 3. So that you understand what we're talking about here. Verse 3. I will use the Galatians 3. Let's start from verse 21. It says, Is the Lord then against the promises of God? God forbid, for if there had been... Let me use the NIV so that it will come live to us. Is the Lord therefore opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not. For if a law had been given that would impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin so that what was promised, being given through faith in Christ Jesus, might be given to those who believe. Before the coming, this is exactly where I was going, before the coming of this faith, we were held, we were in custody under the law, locked up unto the faith that was to come, would be what? Revealed. So the Lord was our guardian until who? Christ came. What has Christ come to do? Christ has come to replace the guardian in our life. Christ, through his word, has come to do what? To replace, to be our guardian and our trustee. Remember Psalm 23, he said, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He made me to lie down in green pasture. He made me to lie down in green pasture. still water, restores my soul. And the rod and the staff comforts me. The rod and the staff, we need to understand what the rod and the staff meant. The rod and the staff talks about the authority and the office of Christ, the word of God, that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God. Through what? Through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So what Paul was saying here is that... The guardian was replaced by who? By Christ. The guardian and the trustee, let me tell you something, when we were growing up as kids, children, our fathers had friends. Do you know that our father's friends knew more than we did? They knew because they are the ones that will, that father will tell them, look, if anything happens to me, they'll make them what trustees. You are my friend. You know everything about my estate, but who owns the estate? The child. But there is a friend that does not own the estate in the case of the world now. But in the other side, Christ has come to do or to be our trustee and our guide, and at the same time, being the first of the children of God. So what are we saying here? Christ has come to do what? To bring the revelation from God. Christ has come to bring light from God. That was the essence of the coming of Christ in the first place. That was what Christ meant in this scripture. And if you remember again, when Christ was to leave the disciples, he told them, he said, it is expedient for me to leave. And I will do what? I will send the Holy Spirit. What did he call the Holy Spirit there? A comforter. Who comforts? Your friends. The best person to comfort you is your friend. A child will not know how to comfort the father. It is the friend that comforts. He said the Holy Spirit is your friend. He said it is expedient for me to live, but I'm not going to leave you empty handed. I'm going to send something else, somebody else, to do what? To represent me, to be your comforter. It's the power of God that will come and be your comforter. What are we trying to underscore here? We are trying to underscore the fact that friendship means a lot to God. Friendship means a lot to God. Let me tell you something about friendship. I hope we know that our godliness is best expressed in our relationships, in the household of faith, and even in the world. You can shout hallelujah one million times. It doesn't show you to be a godly person. It is your relationship with your fellow human being that shows what? Your godliness. So it is our relationships, our friendliness with one another that shows our relationship with the Father. It is the way we relate with one another that shows the type of Christian, if we are truly Christians or not. And let me tell you some things about this relationship. Relationship or friendship comes with jealousy. Don't doubt it. The truth here is that just this week, no, two weeks ago, somebody wrote on Facebook that, no, we shouldn't ascribe jealousy to God. I said, what do you mean? The Bible, God himself said, I am a jealous God. Sorry to tell you this. If you have a wife or if you have a husband and your husband is not jealous of you, you better find out where that love is coming from. That is the truth. Eight times in the scriptures, I am a jealous God. Let me give you an illustration of what used to happen to me as a kid. Maybe three of us. I used to have a cousin that had a friend that was... We just didn't like each other. So anytime I'm in my cousin's place, we are very close, one of my closest friends, now, my cousin, and the guy is there. Do you know, I get jealous whenever the guy gives more attention to that his friend than he gives to me. That expresses the way I feel about My friend, Bible says enmity, sorry, friendship with the world is what? Enmity with God. There's no two way about it. You have to note those things about what? About friendship. God is what? A jealous God. He doesn't joke with us relating anyhow with people in the world. It is a relationship of friendliness. You see, a child cannot become a friend to the father until he becomes a son. It's not possible. But you know, there must be, if you go back to that Galatians 4, there is a stage that you have to go through, the stage of tutelage, from being a child to being a servant and becoming a son. The truest expression of friendship. It's when you become a son, after you have served the father. I used to tell people this, that it would be my wish that you may have house help in the house, but how do you feel when the person that brings the food to your table is your daughter? Do you feel, don't you think you feel a lot more satisfied? It's not because you are looking at her like a servant, but because she was the one that served you. So all our relationships are well expressed in that Galatians 4 from verse 1 to 7. That talks about us being a child. We don't know our left from our right. We become servants because we are put under the authority of servants. We are going to go in there now. You understand where I'm going. And one thing we also need to know is that pride, pride. must totally be absent in a relationship. When God said it in James 4, in James he said, I give what grace to the humble and I do what resist the proud. We need to understand the meaning of resistance. Resistance is not you are praying to God and God refuses to listen to you. Bible says the prayer of a sinful man is like an abomination before God. What he's saying is that even when you are praying, he's pushing back that prayer to you. That's the meaning of resistance. Resistance is not that he can't hear it. There's a resistance. You see, once pride enters a relationship, there is a big problem. Now, quickly, what are the hallmarks of friendship? We need to learn this so that we understand what we're talking about. The first one is truth. Jesus said, remember we said Jesus was the first friend. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father except through me. What are we saying? He says, I am the way, the truth. There must always be truth in friendship. There must always be truth in friendship. A friendship that is divided between truths and lies. One time you say the truth, the other time you lie. It's not a complaint, it's not friendship. There must always be truth. John 17 12 Jesus was talking to the father he said father those that you have given me I have kept unto the very end friendship comes with commitment Jesus was committed to the relationship he had with the disciples he says everybody that you have given me apart from the what the son of perdition because that one was actually destined to become a son of perdition he was committed to heaping that son unto the very end there must be understanding in friendship hebrews 4 15 let's read hebrews 4 15 please hebrews 4 15 there must be understanding in friendship for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin the high priest is jesus he understands the reason for our infirmities there's an understanding of our weaknesses. The truth about it is that when you know that your friend has weaknesses, you can live with that weakness. That is true friendship. You do not resist your friend because your friend has weaknesses. You pull him together. Once you know that this person has weaknesses, that this is his weakness, when the weakness comes like this, you already know. You say, okay, okay, it is Shegun. Why not? He will behave like that. But it does not affect your relationship. So it talks about understanding. Friendship, a friend is an intercessor. Job 6.14, a friend is an intercessor. He's always interceding for the other party, for his friend or her friend. A friend is one that loves at all times. Even when you are fighting your friend, your true friend, you know you still love the person. You know deep down in you. that you still do what? You still love the person. Friendship strengthens. Bible says, Proverbs 27, 17, iron does what? Sharpeneth iron. Friendship is strengthened. If you have a friend that's not strengthening you and you're not strengthening him, it is not friendship again. Friendship does what? Strengthens. Iron sharpeneth iron. Examples of stories of friendship in the Bible. Abraham and God. God said, concerning my servant Abraham, I can't hide anything from him. I can't hide any revelation. I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. How can I hide something like this from Abraham? Concerning Moses, he says, concerning this my servant Moses, I do what? I speak mouth to mouth. When Aaron and Miriam were fumbling and they had to come down to reprimand Aaron and he said, concerning my servant Moses, I speak what? Mouth to mouth. Concerning David, he said, a man after my heart. Because it's only the heart of man that God sees. He knows the purpose for everything that we do. So you can't deceive him. He said, concerning this my servant David is a man after my heart. I'm going to start rounding up this message with a very important scripture that we need to read today and understand. some things about that will underscore the need that God's need for friendship with us. That God needs us. He wants to talk to us. He wants to have a relationship with us. He wants to have a fellowship with us. He wants to tell you what is going to happen next week. It is possible. He wants to tell you what Buhari is going to do. He wants to tell you where Nigeria is going. God wants, and this is the end time. One of those attributes of the end time is that God is going to quicken his words. And that is exactly what is happening in Lighthouse. He's quickening his words. The revelation that is hidden from the world, I'm not saying it because I'm a member of Lighthouse, is here. I can see a change in my life because of the revelation I keep getting from this place. God wants to speak with us. Let's open our Bibles to Luke 11, I hope I'm right, from verse 15. The story of the prodigal son. Luke 11, 15, I hope I'm right. No, it should be 15, 11 then. Yeah, 15, 11. Okay. Then he said, a certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided to them his livelihood. Continue. And not many days after, that means that even after the son collected his own share, and don't forget, he said they divided to both of them, the young and the old. That's what the Bible is saying here. So, it says, and not many days after, that means that there are some days that even with the inheritance, the son was still with the father. Now, and not many days after, the young son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country. and they wasted his possessions with prodigal living and when they have spent all there arose a severe famine in that land and he begun to be in want then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine and gladly have filled his stomach with the paws and the swine that the swine ate and no one gave him anything but when he came to himself when he came to himself. Let me share a revelation from this when he came to himself. When the Spirit showed him a revelation, he showed him the glory of his Father. He had forgotten about the glory of the Father, but the Spirit had to come back to show him what? The glory of his Father. When he came, because, you know, he was a son of God. He was a son of the Father. So, the Spirit of the Father came back. to show him what to make him come to himself. When he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's servants have bread enough and to spare? And I perished with hunger. The problem with the prodigal son was not the fact that he collected his possessions or his inheritance. He was entitled to it. That was not the problem at all. He had every right to go to the father to say, like we always go to him to ask for part of our inheritance. The problem was that separation. The problem was the fact that he had to do what? To leave the presence of the father to go to a far country. If you read this scripture well, they said when the younger son was coming back home, where was the father? The father was waiting. The father was waiting for him. Do you know what happened there? The father missed fellowship. with this younger son of his. The father was looking for people to talk to. He said, come, let us do what? Reason together. Let us talk together. Let us share what I'm about to do. But the son, the younger son, I'm going to tell you something about the younger son and the older son, the difference. The younger son had a revelation and had a relationship with the father. The older son did not. And you will understand later. It was the younger son that used to go to meet the father. It was the younger son that understood that I can go to my father, that the veil of the temple has been turned into two. I can walk into the Holy of Holies and desire and demand anything from my father. He was the one that could fellowship with the father. The older son was just a servant. The older son was on the field while the father was outside waiting for fellowship. When the older son heard that the younger brother had come back home, what did he say? He went to meet the servant. So he said, what is happening in my father's house? He said, what is happening in my father's house? He would go to some churches and he would pray to angels and run away from there. What is happening in my father's house? He went to meet the servant. He didn't know that he had access to make what? inquiries from God, petitions to God. He had to go through Father. But the son, the younger son that had a fellowship with the Father, it was that fellowship that could make him tell the Father, give me my possessions. And the Father was denied fellowship by the absence of the younger son. Can you see where we miss it? Because we have denied God the fellowship that he desires. It is the desire of God for every one of us to have a relationship with him. It is this desire, you don't need to go to any kilometer something on Lagos if I don't express way. It's the truth. You don't need to go to any song water to get revelation. Where you are, you can have a relationship with your father. That underscores friendship. The father desires friendship. He desires fellowship. But what happened? The son forgot that song. I love that song that says, In your presence, I am content. In your presence. I am content. In your presence there is light, expressions of your love, revelations of your power and grace. In your presence I bring a love song offering. When I'm in the presence of my King. You forgot that down at your feet, O Lord, is the most high place. In your presence, Lord. I seek your face. I seek your face. There is no higher calling, no greater honor than to bow and kneel before your throne. I'm amazed at your calling, embraced by your mercy, oh Lord, I live to worship you. That is what we are called to do. We are called to worship God. We are called to become a friend with God. Friendliness is the highest calling of sonship. Can we quickly, as I round up this morning, open to John 15 from verse 13, and let's hear what Jesus has to say about friendship. This particular part of the scripture is very, very instructive too. It says, greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you what? Servants. For a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends. For all things that I heard from my father, I have what made known to you. You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you. That you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. That whatever you ask the father in my name, he will give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. Don't forget when I said, I said. The evidence of our godliness is in our relationship with the household of God and with the world outside there. And you know one funny thing about the way we express friendship now? We are always so... I'm scared of expressing friendship. It takes two to tango. You give. You expect the person to take. But sometimes you're afraid to give because you're afraid that that person may not be able to take. Let me give you a funny... I've given this funny illustration before. I remember there was a time before I got married, a friend of mine came to my house and told me that we need to go to somebody's birthday. The person was in our church. And I told him that I don't feel like going. He said, why? I wasn't invited. And he said I wasn't, I told him I wasn't invited. He impressed it on me that look, we are of the same household of God. Let us go to this party. We were not invited. We got there. It was the girl that was in the bed that day. The daughter of one of those former ministers. When we got to... It was one that was carrying the tray of cake. Myself and my friend is in Ireland now. When he was carrying the cake, when he got to us, he just carried the cake over us. You know, we wanted to show love, but the other person was not available to do what? Receive love. So what is happening in the world now? We have a situation where we are so scared to express love with each other. And when I started with those testimonies about testimonies about Lisa, and now I had to die. By the way, the younger son, do you know the reason why the father had to give him the ring, had to dress him in the robe? He told the senior brother, he said, this is your son, sorry, this is your brother. Can you, oh, that story is so funny. Do you know how the senior brother described the junior one? He said, that's your son. He said, that's your son. He didn't say my brother. That man did not understand the meaning of friendship. We have so many houses today. We have brothers that are not friends. Am I lying? He said, that's your son that went into a far country to waste your possessions. That's your son. But you know why the father had to give him all those things? A symbol of authority. It was because that man knew and understood the meaning of friendship. And relationship. Because he knew the meaning of friendship and relationship. He knew that God desires relationship. When he was to go back home, he wasn't going to go and meet with any other person. He was going to meet the father and say, look, let me, just put me. He wasn't going to say, servant, go and please help me beg my father. He was going straight to meet with the father. That was why the father could know the direction the son was coming from. Because the son knew the direction the father was. While the other son was where? In the field. While the other son was in the field. So what are we saying here? When I talked about Lisa and the revelations I got from this church, I just made it known to myself I'm going to be friends to people here. I can see my young friends there. I wasn't expecting them. God bless you. Any way that we need to express love, and by the way, we need to receive love. Don't let us make people that are expressing love feel so unwanted and unloved. That is the expression of our godliness. It's in the processes of doing that that we do what? We express the highest level of our sonship. Thank you very much. Thank you Pastor Shogun. How many of you are blessed with that? You may be seated. You know, you'll never find anyone minister like me. because there's no cloning in God's kingdom doesn't need to clone you but everyone will minister their own way because that's the way they've been fashioned by God and Pastor Shekin was ministering to be honest I sat down and said where is he taking us And you know, let me say this, there's a spirit of accuracy in this house. If you stand here to minister, you will flow in that spirit. Now, I say this because he took us on a journey. And sometimes when you're being taken on a journey, it may be difficult to trust the person leading you. Particularly when you're stepping into unfamiliar territory. but be patient and see whether or not you will get you won't get to the destination it can be very spiritual it's like that for a lot of people let's take a walk sometimes i say that to my wife let's go somewhere where are you taking me trust me I tell my wife often that she doesn't trust my driving. When I'm driving, she's pressing the brake. And she's not the one driving. I'm sure Paul, you too. She's saying, no, you trust him. doing all of that and i tell her look i travel alone sometimes i'm learning to stop that i go places have i ever had an accident no so why don't you trust me that i will take you to the destination says you drive recklessly i don't i'm careful i used to Trust me to take you there. I'll get you there. You may be doing 160, 170, but I'll get you there. The most important thing is that I get you there. How I get you there. You can trust that anyone who ministers in this house will get you there. Will take you where God wants. Get there perfectly. Friendship. There's so many things to take out of what was said. But for me, I think the crux of the matter, really, is when you begin to touch on friendship because we don't know how to make friends anymore. Most of our fellowship ends in church. And we can be so exuberant in church, hey how you doing? And that's where it ends. For so many people during the week you don't connect with one another. You're waiting for the next Sunday service. God did not intend that our friendships would be encased in four walls called a building where we only believe we can have fellowship. One of the scriptures I love so much is that he that must have friends must show himself friendly. So it means you're going to need to take the initiative to walk up to someone. Can we stand on our feet now and let's... Let's just demonstrate that. Let's just demonstrate. Let's put that word to practice. I want you to walk to someone. You don't know. Introduce. yourself and say, can I be your friend? Someone you don't know. When I'm with you, I'm free to fly out, free to love the world when I'm with you, I'm Free to worship, free to bow down, free to bow down, free to bow down, free to bow down, Lord, when I'm with you. Oh, I'm free Free to worship Free to find out Oh, I'm free to find out I'm free to find out I'm free

Praise the Lord. Please can you be seated, please. 20 years ago, precisely August 13, 1995, I stopped believing in coincidences.

I stopped believing in happenstances, that things just happen for the sake of happening. Because Romans 8, 28 says, for all things. For what all things work for good, for those who do what love God and are called according to what?

To his purpose. I've learned to stop believing in happenstances because so many things have been happening in my life. When they happen, sometimes you don't understand the reason why they happen.

But along the line, you get to realize that, oh, the hand of God was definitely in this. Let me start by telling you how I got born again. I don't know how many of us went to Bend State University, Epoma, during my time.

I don't know. Okay, you did. There's a guy they call the bull, Victor Abulime.

He was the head of, he got born again before me. He was the head of the secret court. in Bensu. And he became my friend. We sat together in Yola.

So I was at home. I just came back from a party overnight. He came early in the morning to tell me to come and take him to church.

And because he was my very good friend, I just stood up. I had not slept. I took him to church.

And as I entered the church, the altar call was being made. I don't know what happened. I just walked straight to the altar and that was how I got born again.

Circumstances, so many. Coincidences to some people. But I want to assure you the hand of God was always there. A month after I gave my life, I'm going to give you some, I'm giving you a testimony for maybe 5 to 10 minutes before I go straight into the world this morning.

A month after I gave my life to Christ. I sat in church, I was on a Wednesday evening, and a young lady about the age of 20, 21 then, just said hello to me, and I was burning for the Lord. I knew where I was coming from.

So when she said hello, I was like, hey, you know who you are saying hello to, don't take me back to the world, please. And she felt the embarrassment. She saw me, she saw the expression on my face, and she now said, ah, sorry, sorry that I... greeted you and lo and behold that person is my wife today so many happenstances how i came to abuja i was first transferred to cardinal i was in cardinal for three months that was between may 2005 no may 1997 and august 1997. I met a man of God. He's one of the popular pastors in Abuja today.

I just met him. The pastor, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God came to do a program. And I went for the program. And I saw this guy.

We were together in Freedom Hall in Lagos, Redeemed Christian Church of God 200, Pastor Tony Rapu. And I saw him. And we reignited fellowship.

And lo and behold, a week after, God sent me a letter from Lagos. A letter of transfer from Kaduna to Abuja. Appostances, you will say. After some time, I became a minister. The man just started the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Abuja then.

We started in a small parlor. He later became one of the biggest Redeemed Christian Church of God in Abuja. After some time, because I was his minister from the beginning, he encouraged me.

I didn't want to go to Bible college. I just went to his house one day. He said, she's going to take my tie, run to the central parish, and go and join Bible college. I joined the Bible college. After I finished Bible college, I'm going to link up all this.

I'm not talking about myself. It's a testimony that has something to do with the message that I'm sharing this morning. After The Bible College, he called me just about the time I was getting married and said, because he actually tutored me. in the Discipleship Training Institute, we call it DTI, Lagos then, that later became known as the School of Ministry in the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

And he told me that, look, I know you, you understand the meaning of discipleship training. I wanted to start a discipleship training institute in Desire of Nations then called the Milk to Meat Institute. I started it and through me, so many came, were discipled about it.

Six to seven hundred of them. For about three years I was in charge. Then along the line, the man left redeemed.

Appustances. I left with him. Appustances. Coincidence. Then when I left with him, I wasn't, there was some shaking inside of me.

So I felt, this is not where I should be. I went back to redeemed. Appustances. I didn't know what God was doing in my life.

What God was trying to tell me then was that, Shegu, it is not time for you to leave. You will leave, but not now. I know the time has not come to its fullness.

So I went back to redeem with my wife, and we went back. I was there for some time. We started some other parishes to the glory of God.

One of them is one of the biggest parishes in Abuja now, the International Christian Center. So, what am I trying to say? Apostances. Apostances, again, one of those days. The first Sunday of July 2013. A man of God just stood up on the altar and uttered some things that I don't want to go into here.

And after the church, I had a release. I went to meet, in fact, the pastor called the meeting and I told the pastor at the meeting, This is my last day in the redeemed Christian Church of God and I walked out. It was a bit acrimonious but I did. I walked out because I had a release and the Bible says out of the mouth of two witnesses the word of God is what established.

When I got home I told my wife this is what happened at the meeting and my wife said I agree. We will leave. And that was the first time I would be leaving the church and my wife would be agreeing with me. So, July, around August, my wife traveled with the family for summer.

I was alone at home. September 2nd or September 1st, I can't remember the day now. They were to come back from the UK.

So I was painting the house. I just felt, let me just drive out while these people, they were to come back that same night. Let me just drive out while these people are painting the house. I drove out.

Normally, I'm always tuned to 94.7. I love good music. And 94.7 gives me good music somehow. So I was, my... My radio is permanently tuned to 94.7.

That Monday morning, I just heard this voice. This commanding voice. And you know the first thing he said?

The first thing I heard was about grace. Grace. And it is the biggest, one of the biggest challenges for me, or used to be one of the biggest challenges for me as a Christian.

So I got... interested. As I was driving, I listened to the program. Let me tell you the truth.

I got a piece of revelation and tears welled up in my eyes. I had to park somewhere around Bannock's Junction to make a call. And I told the man of God, you have tremendously blessed me.

You have answered the questions I've had for over 18 years about grace. And the man of God just prayed for me. That night, my wife came back from the UK with the family, and I told her, there's this program I'm listening to, and I think we should just go to the church the next day.

We came to the church the next day. We entered the church, and what happened? We saw life, the life of God.

I had to go and meet Pastor Sholadi by after service, and I told him that Judah is great. Judah is really great. I could experience life.

This is me that is coming from the origin of religion. I could experience life in the church. And by the time we walked out after church, I asked my wife, how do you see the church? She said, I love the church.

I knew at that point that everything is settled. How many stances you will say? Coincidences.

Well, let me tell you some things about these coincidences that actually have changed my life to today. The fact, the coincidence of bringing me into this church. It's no coincidence.

I'm just using that layman's language. That brought me into this church. I came in. I was quiet. I went to introduce myself to the pastor because I know the principle of going to introduce yourself to the pastor of the church.

So, the word kept coming to me. The word kept coming to me. Let me tell you some of those things that happened there. that you people don't know, that you may not know. I always get revelations from this church and the revelations have actually helped my businesses.

They've actually helped my life. They've actually helped my life. They've actually shown me that God has been, the hand of God has always been in my life since that day in August 13, 1995. I got that revelation from this place. Well, is it the revelation of the day we were in a men's fellowship and the pastor preached and I had to come out and tell the pastor that, see me, the way I used to treat my first son and that I didn't treat him well. You won't blame me really, I have three boys, I don't have any girl in between and you have to be very stern with them.

But I took my discipline overboard to the extent that there was a day I spanked this boy and he... He poo-pooed on himself. And the pastor told me something.

He said, you should not provoke your child to rot. I went back home that day. I called my son into the room. I begged him.

13-year-old Ben is now 14. And to the glory of God, my wife is here to testify to that. I rarely spank my children again. Something happened last year that the usual me, when it happened, I would have. And I just called the three of them.

The three of them, young boys, did something terribly wrong. I won't tell you yet. Sorry.

They did something terribly wrong. And because of that experience I have in this church, I could call my sons. I sat them down, and they confessed to me. They confessed because I showed them love.

I spoke to them in love. And just because of the way the pastor had shown them. revealed in the Word of God.

I also want to tell you something about Pastor's wife. I've never said this before, but let me say it. There's this question, whenever we preach in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, there's this question that always comes up. Can you forgive and forget? And till that day, one Wednesday evening, I never knew the answer till I heard it from Mommy.

What did she say? God has not given us the power to forget. He has not. And when I went through the scriptures, I realized that mommy actually gave me a sound revelation that day.

Or is it when pastor came, that was in January, and said something about releasing the man to go. And I left the church that January and I told my wife, I said I released my father. My father was healed since around December.

And somehow, I held on to him because my father became like a brass serpent to me. And I couldn't let him go because I was scared that if I allowed this man to leave, what would happen to me? What would happen to my business? Because, excuse me, because he was the source of my business.

I will get over this. It happens once in a while when you preach, or when you've not preached for a very long time. So I couldn't release this man, but the pastor preached that morning, and I went out of the church, I got into it, I said I'll release this man. But the man waited for me, till I could make a very, very, very important trip to the United States.

He didn't allow, because if he had died before then, I wouldn't have gone for that trip. I would have stayed back, and I would have missed a marvelous opportunity to make myself known in the world stage. And, In this church too, happenstances, through the word of God. There's one particular ministration then that pastor preached about the king and the prince of Tyre. I don't know if you were in mentoring session.

It was a huge revelation for me for my business. I just came to realize that when we talk of business, you know, we talk of competition. Don't bother about competition.

There is a God behind those princes of Tyre. You have to bind the strong man. You have to go and deal. You have to go beyond the princes. And that was what started happening in my business.

That exposed me to a lot of things in the business world. And what am I talking about? So many. And a special one, I shouldn't forget this. Like I said, I'm going to link it up, sorry.

One day the pastor came, he just, I don't know if it was the one that preached that day. He said, okay, I think it was the one. Then after preaching, he came back. He said, if you've not gone to Lisa, stand up.

I didn't want to stand up. I'm telling you why. Because I've gone to Bible college, I was the head of discipleship training, blah blah, I felt.

But I just said, let me, my wife stood up, let me, let me obey all righteousness. If you feel all righteousness, so I stood up. And the pastor said, we have to. He wasn't talking to us, he was talking to all the people that stood up. And after I looked at it, I said, let me come.

And when I got home, the administration that came to me is that, I shared it here one day, that until a seed falls to the ground and dies, there is a dying. Please don't forget this scripture because I'm going to lay emphasis to it later. Until a seed falls to the ground and dies, there's a need for us to always die. a need for us to always do what?

Die. So, until I see it, I said, maybe this is an opportunity for me to die and to rise again. So I came to Liza.

Of course, I met so many young people. You know, I'm going to be 47 this year. Some people that are now up to 20. They became my friends. And, you know, I just saw myself dying to the world.

I saw myself dying all over again, not knowing that the world had crept in without my knowing, had crept into my life without my knowing. I died to the world again. Why?

Because of Lisa. And you know how I died? The Word of God cleansed me from the world.

The Word of God cleansed me from the world. And what did I... Yeah, there's something very spectacular that I heard, the first last...

Is it the first last? I can't remember. When the pastor said, Pastor Gabriel, he said, man was first created spirit.

The full man, I'm going to go back to that soon. The full man that you see was first created spirit. I might have heard that word before, but it never registered in me. That man was truly created, first and foremost, the image of God that was created in man.

It's not this thing that you see. is the spirit man and that he came back to me and so many other questions that i have along my christian life everything fell into place just by that singular revelation so what am i saying here i'm trying to share testimonies with you testimonies that will show you that if you are here consider yourself to be what to be blessed i'm telling you once let me tell you Those precious gifts from God are usually hidden. Don't follow the crowd. Don't follow the crowd. I have a pastor in Lagos, Pastor Escon Fon.

He's of blessed memory now. He used to tell us something. He said, when you want to see where God is, when you see a crowd going this way, go opposite. When you see the crowd going this way, just go. the other side.

Pastor Esco used to tell us that then. That was when we were redeemed. I'm telling you, you are in the right place.

The type of revelation that you get from here are so enormous. I forgot one. When Pastor was to start mentoring the mentoring session, that was in 2014. I just laughed to myself. Before then, I built a small training facility in Shagamu in my hometown. And I decided that what I was going to do there was to impact life and to mentor people.

The moment the pastor mentioned it, that mentoring was going to, I knew that God has delayed the starting off of that training facility because I needed to sit right under the pastor to learn from those mentoring sessions. Pastor, you don't know how many tapes of yours or how many CDs of yours I have in my house. Because I need to listen to them over and over again.

I don't want to sound as if I'm flattering the man of God. I don't like doing it. It is not right, really.

But really, sincerely speaking, I have been under men of God. There are so many that are awarded, though. I'm not doubting it.

But I've seen ones that are awarded, but they do not have the zeal. I know so many of them. They will be saying so many things in Redeemed. And they will teach me so many things.

And I will say, why are you still here? So they don't have the zeal to take the necessary action. But I have seen a pastor who can mentor me. And I am here to be mentored.

Thank you, Pastor. So what are we saying? We are in the lighthouse.

The lighthouse gives what? Illumination. It gives illumination.

You need to have illumination in this hour walk with God. You need to have illumination. You need to know how God is going. Where God is going. When this politics started, Buhari, or no Buhari, I wrote something on Facebook.

I was not a supporter of Buhari from day one. I was vehemently against him. And I remember writing something on Facebook. I said, how many of us have actually taken time to go back to God and say, Father, what is your plan?

Where are you going in all this? Then Bwari was not yet the candidate of APC. I was vehemently against him. In 2011, I wanted to vote for Ribadu.

Then I told people that either Ribadu or... Jonathan, but not Buhari. I don't want to hear anything Buhari.

But after I wrote that in the Facebook, I said, how many of us have actually taken time to go and seek the face of God concerning this issue? And the thing about revelation is that you have to be in the place of light to get a revelation. You have to be in a place of illumination to get a revelation.

I got my revelation in a very funny way. I just woke up one morning and realized that the biggest problem we have in this country is corruption. I just knew. Tackle corruption, so many things will fall into place. I want to say something about the brass serpent and the way I see Buhari.

The brass serpent is, if you remember, the brass serpent in the Old Testament. When the children of Israel were being beaten by snakes, God told Moses to raise a brass serpent. And anybody that sees the brass serpent will walk.

would be healed. So he raised the brass serpent. Anybody that sees the brass serpent becomes healed.

Sincerely speaking, for me, Buhari is like the brass serpent of now. Because the brass serpent needs to be brought down, eventually. But there must be a brass serpent that once somebody sees it, ah!

I told somebody this week, I said, look, let me, it was Sheik Gwandini, the popular, I said, look, why I voted Buhari? If I dare write something on Facebook that somebody collected right from me, something tells me Buhari will do, if he sees it. If he sees it, Buhari will do it.

So like Pastor was saying, it's not because of Buhari as a person. And again, 2019 is just around the corner. So you need illumination.

And one thing that this church does is that it gives what? Illumination. Illumination, especially at these perilous times. I don't need to tell you that we are in perilous times. Just yesterday or the day before yesterday in the Republic of Ireland, a holy catholic nation, they voted massively for...

same-sex marriage. And you need to know the implication of that. The Bible says in Psalm 11.3, please, you can just put it up, Psalm 11.3, it says, once the foundation is destroyed, what can the righteous do? And the question now should be, what is the foundation of the world?

For you to understand what is happening in the world now. What is the foundation of the world? You remember I told you about the man being created. Man was created as what?

As a spirit man. When man was created as a spirit man, it was created both what? Man and woman. The man that was created as a spirit was both man and woman. I hope you know that was the complete man.

So when God... He said, man is alone. So he now had to split man into two now. I hope I'm right.

Sorry, like I told pastor yesterday, I'm a bit scared. I hope I won't be, you know. So he took from the rib of man and created Eve.

So what does that tell us? It tells us that man is not complete without woman. It's not possible. Take it from me. Man is not complete without a woman.

The same way, vice versa. A woman is not complete without a man. When you see them wanting to live alone, there's something wrong.

Tell them that there's something wrong. And if you remember the charge in Genesis 1.28, Genesis 1.28, it says, Go into the world, be fruitful, increase in number, fill the head, and have dominion. You see, you cannot feel the earth if you do not replicate.

A man of God in the Redeemed Christian Church of God told me something one time. He's a pastor on eschatology, the end time, the study of the end time. He said, the devil knew what he was doing. Some years back, close to 15 years ago, they started the issue of cloning.

Now, if you have been following the issue of same-sex marriage and what have you, I'll be following it. I'll be following it because I'm also a student of the end time. One thing about the argument is that you see in the U.S.

Supreme Court, they have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court and they have to bring out their arguments. One thing about the argument was one that was missing is the fact that they needed to convince the Supreme Court that look, the reason for a man and a woman to come together is for them to what?

Procreate. Do you know that cloning has negated that? Because the other party, the defense now, that are for same-sex marriage, say, no, man cannot create after his own kind without having to do what?

To procreate. So that is what is happening. So there is no way that law will get to the Supreme Court and you won't have a judgment against Christ. And when you talk about the Antichrist, you are talking about a spirit.

The spirit of the Antichrist is a spirit that comes totally against what God has prepared or God has planned. And one of those things that God has planned is for a man and a woman. So now, man and man, woman and woman. And, you know the funniest part, and this is where I have a problem with some churches. Revelations are scanty.

in churches today. Today, if you put anything about the end time, people don't even read it. You know, the truth is that the church does not even believe the end time. Some churches do not believe there is what we call end time, that the world will come to an end.

That's the truth. Take it from me. They feel the world will continue. So many Christians now, when you tell them that Christ is coming, so many Christians don't see anything wrong in same-sex marriage. Am I speaking?

Am I the only one that have noticed that? So many Christians don't say anything wrong in it. My prayer, like the five wise and foolish virgins, everybody, both of them slept. The ten virgins, they all slept.

They slumbered. But there was one, there was a set that still had the oil. They still had the oil. So when the alarm sounded, they could relay to their oil.

come, they could tap into their oil, they could meet with their master. And my prayer for us is that we'll be like those five wise virgins in Jesus' mighty name. So what are we talking about? We're talking about revelation that at this time, at this period, I'm not saying that, now don't get me wrong, please.

I'm not saying that the world is coming to an end in 100 years, 50 years. But I just want us, nobody knows the time, but I just want us to be conscious of the fact that whether you like it or not the world we definitely this particular world we come we go for another one to come so i'm not saying that so but the essence of that world. It's for us to understand the meaning of revelation, the need for revelation and that is where the main message starts this morning.

Like I told you I'm going to relate so many things but it's not going to take too much of it. I still have some time left and I believe I will do justice to this. Now the title of the message is the highest expression of sonship.

The highest expression of sonship. Revelation. How do you get this revelation? How do you get to the point where at any point in time you know what God is going to do?

Some of us, pastor knew it, you don't need to be told that there was going to be a change. And there was change. Some of us keyed into the change.

before the change actually happened. So many people were on Facebook making noise. But you need to understand how God works. God does not work with coincidence.

That's why I started with the issue of coincidence. He plans his things. Buhari was presidential candidate in 2003. He was in 2007. He was in 2011. That 2011 was very instructive. He needed to make...

to mingle with a man of God. He needed to know. He needed to have a touch, a relationship sort of. And this thing needed to happen. And when we saw all these things coming, you would think there are circumstances that a man had been trying to become president since 2003. He didn't get it 2007. He didn't get it 2011. He didn't get it.

By the time you seek the face of God, you will come to realize that God was doing something. The moment Buhari became the eighth presidential candidate, it was obvious to those that are discerning that this man is going to be the next president of Nigeria. So how do we get that revelation?

Open Galatians 4, 1 to 7. Please, can you please open it? I'm not reading anything here, so that I can. Galatians 4, 1 to 7. Okay, New King James.

He says, now I say that the hair, as long as he's a child, does not be far at all from a slave, though he's a master of all. But he's under guidance, underline that, guidance and stewards, until the time appointed by the father. Now look at the explanation. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

But when the fullness of time had come. God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as what? As sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart, crying out, Harbour Father, therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son.

And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. What was Paul trying to do here? Now, I told you to underline guardian and what? Trustee. Now, in this house, you see this is an household, you have different people there.

You have the child, you have the servant, you have the guardian and the trustee, and you have the father that is God. Now, in this scripture, the Bible makes us understand that the Paul made us understand that the guardian and the trustee was who? He's in the Bible there. It's Jesus. That was the guardian and the trustee.

Go back. Please go back. Go back to the previous verse. That's verse 3. So that you understand what we're talking about here.

Verse 3. I will use the Galatians 3. Let's start from verse 21. It says, Is the Lord then against the promises of God? God forbid, for if there had been... Let me use the NIV so that it will come live to us. Is the Lord therefore opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not.

For if a law had been given that would impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin so that what was promised, being given through faith in Christ Jesus, might be given to those who believe. Before the coming, this is exactly where I was going, before the coming of this faith, we were held, we were in custody under the law, locked up unto the faith that was to come, would be what?

Revealed. So the Lord was our guardian until who? Christ came.

What has Christ come to do? Christ has come to replace the guardian in our life. Christ, through his word, has come to do what?

To replace, to be our guardian and our trustee. Remember Psalm 23, he said, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He made me to lie down in green pasture.

He made me to lie down in green pasture. still water, restores my soul. And the rod and the staff comforts me.

The rod and the staff, we need to understand what the rod and the staff meant. The rod and the staff talks about the authority and the office of Christ, the word of God, that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God.

Through what? Through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

So what Paul was saying here is that... The guardian was replaced by who? By Christ. The guardian and the trustee, let me tell you something, when we were growing up as kids, children, our fathers had friends.

Do you know that our father's friends knew more than we did? They knew because they are the ones that will, that father will tell them, look, if anything happens to me, they'll make them what trustees. You are my friend.

You know everything about my estate, but who owns the estate? The child. But there is a friend that does not own the estate in the case of the world now. But in the other side, Christ has come to do or to be our trustee and our guide, and at the same time, being the first of the children of God. So what are we saying here?

Christ has come to do what? To bring the revelation from God. Christ has come to bring light from God.

That was the essence of the coming of Christ in the first place. That was what Christ meant in this scripture. And if you remember again, when Christ was to leave the disciples, he told them, he said, it is expedient for me to leave.

And I will do what? I will send the Holy Spirit. What did he call the Holy Spirit there?

A comforter. Who comforts? Your friends. The best person to comfort you is your friend. A child will not know how to comfort the father.

It is the friend that comforts. He said the Holy Spirit is your friend. He said it is expedient for me to live, but I'm not going to leave you empty handed. I'm going to send something else, somebody else, to do what?

To represent me, to be your comforter. It's the power of God that will come and be your comforter. What are we trying to underscore here?

We are trying to underscore the fact that friendship means a lot to God. Friendship means a lot to God. Let me tell you something about friendship.

I hope we know that our godliness is best expressed in our relationships, in the household of faith, and even in the world. You can shout hallelujah one million times. It doesn't show you to be a godly person. It is your relationship with your fellow human being that shows what?

Your godliness. So it is our relationships, our friendliness with one another that shows our relationship with the Father. It is the way we relate with one another that shows the type of Christian, if we are truly Christians or not. And let me tell you some things about this relationship.

Relationship or friendship comes with jealousy. Don't doubt it. The truth here is that just this week, no, two weeks ago, somebody wrote on Facebook that, no, we shouldn't ascribe jealousy to God. I said, what do you mean?

The Bible, God himself said, I am a jealous God. Sorry to tell you this. If you have a wife or if you have a husband and your husband is not jealous of you, you better find out where that love is coming from. That is the truth. Eight times in the scriptures, I am a jealous God.

Let me give you an illustration of what used to happen to me as a kid. Maybe three of us. I used to have a cousin that had a friend that was...

We just didn't like each other. So anytime I'm in my cousin's place, we are very close, one of my closest friends, now, my cousin, and the guy is there. Do you know, I get jealous whenever the guy gives more attention to that his friend than he gives to me. That expresses the way I feel about My friend, Bible says enmity, sorry, friendship with the world is what? Enmity with God.

There's no two way about it. You have to note those things about what? About friendship.

God is what? A jealous God. He doesn't joke with us relating anyhow with people in the world. It is a relationship of friendliness. You see, a child cannot become a friend to the father until he becomes a son.

It's not possible. But you know, there must be, if you go back to that Galatians 4, there is a stage that you have to go through, the stage of tutelage, from being a child to being a servant and becoming a son. The truest expression of friendship.

It's when you become a son, after you have served the father. I used to tell people this, that it would be my wish that you may have house help in the house, but how do you feel when the person that brings the food to your table is your daughter? Do you feel, don't you think you feel a lot more satisfied? It's not because you are looking at her like a servant, but because she was the one that served you.

So all our relationships are well expressed in that Galatians 4 from verse 1 to 7. That talks about us being a child. We don't know our left from our right. We become servants because we are put under the authority of servants.

We are going to go in there now. You understand where I'm going. And one thing we also need to know is that pride, pride. must totally be absent in a relationship.

When God said it in James 4, in James he said, I give what grace to the humble and I do what resist the proud. We need to understand the meaning of resistance. Resistance is not you are praying to God and God refuses to listen to you.

Bible says the prayer of a sinful man is like an abomination before God. What he's saying is that even when you are praying, he's pushing back that prayer to you. That's the meaning of resistance.

Resistance is not that he can't hear it. There's a resistance. You see, once pride enters a relationship, there is a big problem. Now, quickly, what are the hallmarks of friendship? We need to learn this so that we understand what we're talking about.

The first one is truth. Jesus said, remember we said Jesus was the first friend. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father except through me.

What are we saying? He says, I am the way, the truth. There must always be truth in friendship.

There must always be truth in friendship. A friendship that is divided between truths and lies. One time you say the truth, the other time you lie. It's not a complaint, it's not friendship.

There must always be truth. John 17 12 Jesus was talking to the father he said father those that you have given me I have kept unto the very end friendship comes with commitment Jesus was committed to the relationship he had with the disciples he says everybody that you have given me apart from the what the son of perdition because that one was actually destined to become a son of perdition he was committed to heaping that son unto the very end there must be understanding in friendship hebrews 4 15 let's read hebrews 4 15 please hebrews 4 15 there must be understanding in friendship for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin the high priest is jesus he understands the reason for our infirmities there's an understanding of our weaknesses. The truth about it is that when you know that your friend has weaknesses, you can live with that weakness. That is true friendship. You do not resist your friend because your friend has weaknesses.

You pull him together. Once you know that this person has weaknesses, that this is his weakness, when the weakness comes like this, you already know. You say, okay, okay, it is Shegun.

Why not? He will behave like that. But it does not affect your relationship. So it talks about understanding. Friendship, a friend is an intercessor.

Job 6.14, a friend is an intercessor. He's always interceding for the other party, for his friend or her friend. A friend is one that loves at all times. Even when you are fighting your friend, your true friend, you know you still love the person. You know deep down in you.

that you still do what? You still love the person. Friendship strengthens.

Bible says, Proverbs 27, 17, iron does what? Sharpeneth iron. Friendship is strengthened.

If you have a friend that's not strengthening you and you're not strengthening him, it is not friendship again. Friendship does what? Strengthens. Iron sharpeneth iron.

Examples of stories of friendship in the Bible. Abraham and God. God said, concerning my servant Abraham, I can't hide anything from him.

I can't hide any revelation. I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. How can I hide something like this from Abraham? Concerning Moses, he says, concerning this my servant Moses, I do what? I speak mouth to mouth.

When Aaron and Miriam were fumbling and they had to come down to reprimand Aaron and he said, concerning my servant Moses, I speak what? Mouth to mouth. Concerning David, he said, a man after my heart.

Because it's only the heart of man that God sees. He knows the purpose for everything that we do. So you can't deceive him.

He said, concerning this my servant David is a man after my heart. I'm going to start rounding up this message with a very important scripture that we need to read today and understand. some things about that will underscore the need that God's need for friendship with us.

That God needs us. He wants to talk to us. He wants to have a relationship with us.

He wants to have a fellowship with us. He wants to tell you what is going to happen next week. It is possible. He wants to tell you what Buhari is going to do.

He wants to tell you where Nigeria is going. God wants, and this is the end time. One of those attributes of the end time is that God is going to quicken his words.

And that is exactly what is happening in Lighthouse. He's quickening his words. The revelation that is hidden from the world, I'm not saying it because I'm a member of Lighthouse, is here. I can see a change in my life because of the revelation I keep getting from this place. God wants to speak with us.

Let's open our Bibles to Luke 11, I hope I'm right, from verse 15. The story of the prodigal son. Luke 11, 15, I hope I'm right. No, it should be 15, 11 then.

Yeah, 15, 11. Okay. Then he said, a certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.

So he divided to them his livelihood. Continue. And not many days after, that means that even after the son collected his own share, and don't forget, he said they divided to both of them, the young and the old.

That's what the Bible is saying here. So, it says, and not many days after, that means that there are some days that even with the inheritance, the son was still with the father. Now, and not many days after, the young son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country.

and they wasted his possessions with prodigal living and when they have spent all there arose a severe famine in that land and he begun to be in want then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine and gladly have filled his stomach with the paws and the swine that the swine ate and no one gave him anything but when he came to himself when he came to himself. Let me share a revelation from this when he came to himself. When the Spirit showed him a revelation, he showed him the glory of his Father.

He had forgotten about the glory of the Father, but the Spirit had to come back to show him what? The glory of his Father. When he came, because, you know, he was a son of God. He was a son of the Father. So, the Spirit of the Father came back.

to show him what to make him come to himself. When he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's servants have bread enough and to spare? And I perished with hunger.

The problem with the prodigal son was not the fact that he collected his possessions or his inheritance. He was entitled to it. That was not the problem at all.

He had every right to go to the father to say, like we always go to him to ask for part of our inheritance. The problem was that separation. The problem was the fact that he had to do what?

To leave the presence of the father to go to a far country. If you read this scripture well, they said when the younger son was coming back home, where was the father? The father was waiting.

The father was waiting for him. Do you know what happened there? The father missed fellowship.

with this younger son of his. The father was looking for people to talk to. He said, come, let us do what?

Reason together. Let us talk together. Let us share what I'm about to do.

But the son, the younger son, I'm going to tell you something about the younger son and the older son, the difference. The younger son had a revelation and had a relationship with the father. The older son did not. And you will understand later. It was the younger son that used to go to meet the father.

It was the younger son that understood that I can go to my father, that the veil of the temple has been turned into two. I can walk into the Holy of Holies and desire and demand anything from my father. He was the one that could fellowship with the father.

The older son was just a servant. The older son was on the field while the father was outside waiting for fellowship. When the older son heard that the younger brother had come back home, what did he say? He went to meet the servant. So he said, what is happening in my father's house?

He said, what is happening in my father's house? He would go to some churches and he would pray to angels and run away from there. What is happening in my father's house?

He went to meet the servant. He didn't know that he had access to make what? inquiries from God, petitions to God.

He had to go through Father. But the son, the younger son that had a fellowship with the Father, it was that fellowship that could make him tell the Father, give me my possessions. And the Father was denied fellowship by the absence of the younger son. Can you see where we miss it? Because we have denied God the fellowship that he desires.

It is the desire of God for every one of us to have a relationship with him. It is this desire, you don't need to go to any kilometer something on Lagos if I don't express way. It's the truth.

You don't need to go to any song water to get revelation. Where you are, you can have a relationship with your father. That underscores friendship.

The father desires friendship. He desires fellowship. But what happened?

The son forgot that song. I love that song that says, In your presence, I am content. In your presence. I am content.

In your presence there is light, expressions of your love, revelations of your power and grace. In your presence I bring a love song offering. When I'm in the presence of my King.

You forgot that down at your feet, O Lord, is the most high place. In your presence, Lord. I seek your face.

I seek your face. There is no higher calling, no greater honor than to bow and kneel before your throne. I'm amazed at your calling, embraced by your mercy, oh Lord, I live to worship you. That is what we are called to do.

We are called to worship God. We are called to become a friend with God. Friendliness is the highest calling of sonship. Can we quickly, as I round up this morning, open to John 15 from verse 13, and let's hear what Jesus has to say about friendship. This particular part of the scripture is very, very instructive too.

It says, greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you what? Servants. For a servant does not know what his master is doing.

But I have called you friends. For all things that I heard from my father, I have what made known to you. You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you.

That you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. That whatever you ask the father in my name, he will give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. Don't forget when I said, I said. The evidence of our godliness is in our relationship with the household of God and with the world outside there.

And you know one funny thing about the way we express friendship now? We are always so... I'm scared of expressing friendship.

It takes two to tango. You give. You expect the person to take. But sometimes you're afraid to give because you're afraid that that person may not be able to take.

Let me give you a funny... I've given this funny illustration before. I remember there was a time before I got married, a friend of mine came to my house and told me that we need to go to somebody's birthday.

The person was in our church. And I told him that I don't feel like going. He said, why?

I wasn't invited. And he said I wasn't, I told him I wasn't invited. He impressed it on me that look, we are of the same household of God. Let us go to this party.

We were not invited. We got there. It was the girl that was in the bed that day.

The daughter of one of those former ministers. When we got to... It was one that was carrying the tray of cake.

Myself and my friend is in Ireland now. When he was carrying the cake, when he got to us, he just carried the cake over us. You know, we wanted to show love, but the other person was not available to do what?

Receive love. So what is happening in the world now? We have a situation where we are so scared to express love with each other.

And when I started with those testimonies about testimonies about Lisa, and now I had to die. By the way, the younger son, do you know the reason why the father had to give him the ring, had to dress him in the robe? He told the senior brother, he said, this is your son, sorry, this is your brother. Can you, oh, that story is so funny. Do you know how the senior brother described the junior one?

He said, that's your son. He said, that's your son. He didn't say my brother.

That man did not understand the meaning of friendship. We have so many houses today. We have brothers that are not friends.

Am I lying? He said, that's your son that went into a far country to waste your possessions. That's your son. But you know why the father had to give him all those things? A symbol of authority.

It was because that man knew and understood the meaning of friendship. And relationship. Because he knew the meaning of friendship and relationship. He knew that God desires relationship. When he was to go back home, he wasn't going to go and meet with any other person.

He was going to meet the father and say, look, let me, just put me. He wasn't going to say, servant, go and please help me beg my father. He was going straight to meet with the father.

That was why the father could know the direction the son was coming from. Because the son knew the direction the father was. While the other son was where?

In the field. While the other son was in the field. So what are we saying here?

When I talked about Lisa and the revelations I got from this church, I just made it known to myself I'm going to be friends to people here. I can see my young friends there. I wasn't expecting them. God bless you.

Any way that we need to express love, and by the way, we need to receive love. Don't let us make people that are expressing love feel so unwanted and unloved. That is the expression of our godliness. It's in the processes of doing that that we do what? We express the highest level of our sonship.

Thank you very much. Thank you Pastor Shogun. How many of you are blessed with that?

You may be seated. You know, you'll never find anyone minister like me. because there's no cloning in God's kingdom doesn't need to clone you but everyone will minister their own way because that's the way they've been fashioned by God and Pastor Shekin was ministering to be honest I sat down and said where is he taking us And you know, let me say this, there's a spirit of accuracy in this house. If you stand here to minister, you will flow in that spirit.

Now, I say this because he took us on a journey. And sometimes when you're being taken on a journey, it may be difficult to trust the person leading you. Particularly when you're stepping into unfamiliar territory.

but be patient and see whether or not you will get you won't get to the destination it can be very spiritual it's like that for a lot of people let's take a walk sometimes i say that to my wife let's go somewhere where are you taking me trust me I tell my wife often that she doesn't trust my driving. When I'm driving, she's pressing the brake. And she's not the one driving. I'm sure Paul, you too. She's saying, no, you trust him.

doing all of that and i tell her look i travel alone sometimes i'm learning to stop that i go places have i ever had an accident no so why don't you trust me that i will take you to the destination says you drive recklessly i don't i'm careful i used to Trust me to take you there. I'll get you there. You may be doing 160, 170, but I'll get you there. The most important thing is that I get you there. How I get you there.

You can trust that anyone who ministers in this house will get you there. Will take you where God wants. Get there perfectly.

Friendship. There's so many things to take out of what was said. But for me, I think the crux of the matter, really, is when you begin to touch on friendship because we don't know how to make friends anymore. Most of our fellowship ends in church.

And we can be so exuberant in church, hey how you doing? And that's where it ends. For so many people during the week you don't connect with one another. You're waiting for the next Sunday service.

God did not intend that our friendships would be encased in four walls called a building where we only believe we can have fellowship. One of the scriptures I love so much is that he that must have friends must show himself friendly. So it means you're going to need to take the initiative to walk up to someone.

Can we stand on our feet now and let's... Let's just demonstrate that. Let's just demonstrate.

Let's put that word to practice. I want you to walk to someone. You don't know.

Introduce. yourself and say, can I be your friend? Someone you don't know. When I'm with you, I'm free to fly out, free to love the world when I'm with you, I'm Free to worship, free to bow down, free to bow down, free to bow down, free to bow down, Lord, when I'm with you.

Oh, I'm free Free to worship Free to find out Oh, I'm free to find out I'm free to find out I'm free

Transcript for:Faith, Friendship, and Divine Guidance

Transcript for:
Faith, Friendship, and Divine Guidance