Well, let's say the peace salutation to ourselves this morning. Um, you can turn to your neighbor even as you do that. So, I say peace to you is notice to peace to your house. Peace to all that you have to including your territories of influence. Your neighborhood. Your village. Your hometown. Your city. Your workplace. Your fields of endeavors. Your school, your recreation centers, your salons, your nation, and other nations of the earth are signed to you by the Lord. And great peace to all those who love the law of the Lord. and nothing shall cause them to stumble in the name of the prince of peace, Jesus Christ, the son of God. Amen and amen. Hallelujah. You are great. Yes, you are holy one. You walked upon the sin. You raise the dead. You reign in majesty. Mighty God. Everything written about you is great. You're great. You are great. Yes, you are. Holy one. [Music] You walked upon the s rain majesty mighty God. Everything written about you is great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. Everything written about you is great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. Everything written about you is great. At your presence, demons tremble at your presence. Oh my god, we serve. What a mighty God we serve. [Music] Glory, glory. [Music] Everything written about you his way. He must tremble at your praise. [Music] What a mighty God we serve. Glor, glory, glory. [Music] Everything about you is great. You are great. Oh, you are great. Oh, you are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. You are great. Everything written about you is [Music] great. Father, we thank you of the truth. You are great and everything that is written about you is great. As we come again this morning, Father to bow at your feet, we want to take of the things that are written about you to share, oh God, and to learn from them. I ask father this morning that the same Holy Spirit who revealed your word to me will be present this morning oh God to impart every heart with the spirit of that word in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray father Lord God almighty that the entrance of your word this morning will bring light and understanding unto the simplehearted in the name of Jesus. We pray Lord God Almighty that at the end of the day the power to will and to do of your good pleasure Lord you will release upon us in the name of Jesus. We give you all the glory and all the praise in Jesus precious name we pray. Amen. Praise the Lord. We may be seated. Hallelujah. Okay. So um last week we looked at the topic working in the parts of God and um we're going to try and conclude if we can that same topic this morning. Hallelujah. So I'm going to do a very quick I see Mrs. B is laughing. I see you know um I'm going to do a bit of recap this morning very quickly. So we looked at the parts of God and we were able to look at well f five of them technically but we combined mercy and truth as one because that's the way the scripture put it. So we looked at mercy and truth. We looked at justice. We looked at righteousness. We looked at peace. And then as I was you know concluding I said um mercy, truth, righteousness and peace and peace constitute the four winds of heaven you know and wherever they blow they bring about change. We may not turn there but that is found in Psalm 85 from verses 10 to 12. you will see those four winds of heaven. And when you look at Ezekiel 37, you know, you will find out that before um the bones began to come together, the prophet prophesied and said come, you know, from the four uh corners of the earth, the four winds and then they blew and change began to happen. Now very quickly before I dive into that uh you know into the second part this morning I need to address a feedback that I received last Sunday after the um the search the scripture. Usually I have my siblings some of them going online to you know read through the chart and I found it necessary you know to address it but this is where my dilemma lies this morning. I was going to just come and do a 2 three minute you know response to address that issue but as I tried to the Holy Ghost began to expand to the point I asked is that what you want me to teach today and to abandon the part two but we'll see how it goes in Jesus name. So this fellow I don't know if he's going to be comfortable uh with giving out his name so I'm going to be silent on that but this fellow wrote what can 1,000 voices sound. I think he meant to say how can 1,000 voices sound in the midst of 1.2 million voices from the expressway camp. You know, I was given an example and I said uh if God looked for a man and he found Jesus, Jesus did what he did and he took 12 people and then the 12 apostles turned the world upside down or downside up as they say. how much more if we have a thousand missionary force members what can we achieve you know in terms of change in our nation so I'm going to try and respond to that but I was I must you know begin by thanking somebody else uh by you know uh identification zads to phone I really wonder what that means zads to phone you know this person gave an answer and you know said Um you know the person said you are missing the point. If 12 apostles of Christ can impart the world how much more we who are 1,000. So let's not look at 1.2 million of another camp but look at ourselves in the mirror and I felt this was rather spoton. So can we please turn to John 21 15- 23. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love him. I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep." Most assuredly I say to you, when you were younger, you guarded yourself and walked where you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will guard you and carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke, signifying by what death he will glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, "Follow me." Then Peter turning around saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on his breast at supper, and said, "Lord, who is he? Who is the one who betrays you?" Peter seen this, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? you follow me. Then this same went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he will not die. But if I will that he remain till I come. What is that to you? So I'm going to begin by giving my responses and I pray that God will help us to learn. Now, what was the first thing God said to I mean Jesus said to Peter, you know the story, feed my feed my sheep, tend my lamb and all of that. He said it to him three times. That was Peter's assignment from Jesus Christ. But you know, Peter not satisfied turned to John and looked at him and then turned to Christ said, "What would this man do?" And the first thing Jesus replied is what is that to you? How is that your business? You know now the reason most of us don't accomplish in life is because we are always looking at somebody else's field and most times when we do that we judge the fields to be better than ours and we get discouraged and we despise our own field. Now the more we look the more we convince ourselves that we are not good enough and we are not able. Therefore you know the effect is that we throw in the throw well and we refuse to ply our own field. Unfortunately when harvest comes you are not going to go into the field of a man that has labored while you left your own unattended to. That is the first lesson that we learn. The second thing that I see is that and I wrote it down. God will mark your own assignment not anothers. It's your own assignment that is going to mark. He's not going to mark you based on the assignment that he gave to another person. I'm going to tell a quick story I've started now. My auntie was a lecturer in the University of Lagos and she told me a story. She realized that often times when students are writing exams, they're always doing giraffe method. You know what it means? They are leaning over, they are asking questions. And so she devised a method which you know she brought into the university system. What was this method that she devised? She decided she was going to give five different question papers. All of them containing the same set of questions but scattered arranged in different numbers. So my number one can be your number 11. And it was a combination of what do they call them now? Multiple choice of we called it objectives and and you know theory. And so she did that. They began to write the exams and she stepped out of the classroom not bothering to invigilate and then after a while you know it was said to her that her attention was needed in the classroom. So she went there and when she got there somebody raised up his hand and said excuse me ma'am and then pointed at another student and said his question paper is different from my own. And you know if you went to New England you pro you probably would have known my auntie tough woman. He was professor Sophia Luual. So so so she said oh get up and then let me see your paper. And then she collected the guy's paper and went to the other person that he pointed and said, "Oh, let me see your own paper, too." Collected the paper and said, "Step out of my class. Your exam is over. How did you know?" So when you go peeping at other person's question paper, you will be confused. So you know and you may end up having your exam terminated at that point in time. So um you know I asked I said but you stepped out of the classroom you didn't vigilate but they could have taken time to she said huh by the time this one is trying to say my own number one what is your own their time would have been wasted. So she was good with it. Now I'll give a second example from scriptures and that is the parable of the talents. You know the Bible says the master gave one talent to one, two talents to one and five talents to the other. Now the result was that the person that had two talents did what? Multiplied it and got extra two 100%. The person who had five multiplied it and got 10 100%. But this man who had one did nothing about it. You know why? That was his problem. I presume that he, you know, compared his own talent that was given to him with others and was like, you know, he probably felt offended. Why would they give this man two? Why would they give that man five while I have one? And he did nothing about it. But you see, the two who did something about theirs multiplied it and got a 100fold return. which if you read the parable of the ser you will find out that that is the least expected of us as return on investment. So please I beg of us this morning face your front mind your business. I'm still going to come to that question. And the next thing Jesus said to Peter, you follow me. Carry your own cross. Follow me. Leave the other person. So it's good for us, you know, to always mind our business. Otherwise you will veer off from the way of your own destiny and assignment. Now the other thing that I wanted to point out there before I leave this is what I call the danger of misinterpretation. Let's have that scripture again please. Um the scripture that you just gave um John 21:15-23. I want verse 23 in the TPT please. So the rumor, note that word, the rumor started to circulate among the believers that this disciple wasn't going to die. But Jesus never said that. He only said if I let him live until I return, what concern is that of yours? Now imagine that small conversation that we would think of that happened between Jesus and Peter. Look at what he generated. It generated a rumor that began to spread. Now James will talk to us about the tongue and then he will say see how little you know how great a fire a little tongue kind. So if we are not careful you know we get into that and we do uh you know misrepresentation of exactly what was said and so please we need to be careful of that. Now why do we move away from our assignment and we begin to pip number one reason ingratitude lack of contentment covetousness envy unhealthy competition and rivalry insecurity all these things are the sparkes that are spoiling our vine. So let me leave that because of my time and then go back to this analogy that I made that you know if God looked for a man and he didn't find and his right hand brought him salvation and we decoded that right hand as being Jesus Christ he was one man now the impact of one man Jesus Christ over the face of the earth as he ended it is you know it keeps revolving it keeps going on and on and it is not going to die because one man made that sacrifice of obedience. Now he chose 12 apostles by the time he had left you know it it taught them for only three and a half years 12 disciples turned the world downside up. Amen. Now very interesting after I left here on Sunday I considered Jesus spent only three and a and a half years teaching the disciples and look at the impact that they made after a pastor has spent 36 years old teaching us day after day night after night bringing knowledge bringing revelation bringing the word bringing prophecies and then we say a thousand of us cannot do one over up to infinity of what 12 men did. Does it make sense? It doesn't make sense to me. If 12 men could receive training for three and a half years and we are here over and over and over and over again and you know for 36 years we are not able to change even just the environment that we live in even just our areas of influence our workplaces and no change is happening what then are we talking about and that's the lesson I want us to learn now so if you are talking about how will 1,000 voices sound in the midst of the 1.2 million or 1 billion voices wherever. I'll tell you how. Now, let's leave Jesus. Let's leave the 12 apostles. Let's look at some people on the face of, you know, who who who did something close just a little bit and the impact. Mandela was one man oh and his commitment rewrote the history of South Africa. Am I lying? Mother Theresa was one woman who left the riches the comfort of her home because she came from a well you know established family and by the time she was done India knew that she came. Now we come to Nigeria. I had a problem here when I came to Nigeria. God will help us you know. But do you know the thing I considered chief and the fact that up to today when they are going to make reference to somebody that runs close with that person with these people I mentioned is what they are still mentioning after many years. So we don't have any other person as our pattern. We are still mentioning our lat joy. Let's think about it. But that was one man. Now let's come home. We have pastor. Let me bring it down to us. If we had a, you know, if we have a thousand pastor, let me leave the others. Let's come home. If we have a thousand pastor in Nigeria, oh, you think the voices will not be heard? Answer me or judge because one voice he just spoke oh last Sunday and the whole place is going one man spoke. Imagine having a thousand of him in Nigeria. He will drown out every other voice and that is what we are called to do. I beg of you. I'm appealing to you my brother who sent in that uh you know question. Thank you because you have helped us to also deepen our learning and that this is what STS is all about. I do hope that um you know you have gained better understanding. One voice that is speaking right can actually do much and a lot. So the 1,00 membership of the missionary force, let me hear your voices this morning. Louder. increase it a little bit. So, are these voices going to sound in the midst of a billion voices in Jesus mighty name? Amen. Okay. Hallelujah. I think I'm not doing too badly. So, we've we talked about those parts last um Sunday. I'm going back to my message now. There's one other part that I wrote down and I wanted us to come to to look at Mark 1:3 TP uh and after that please keep Isaiah 43-5. Mark 1:3 is a thunderous voice of one who shouts in the wilderness. Go ahead, please. Prepare your hearts for the coming of the Lord Yahweh and clear a straight path inside your hearts for him. Um Isaiah 43 to5 in the message translation. Thunder in the desert. Prepare for God's arrival. Make the road straight and smooth. A highway feed for our God. Fill in the valleys. Level up the hills. Smooth out the rocks. Clear out the rocks. Then God's bright glory will shine and everyone will say it. Yes, just as God has said. And I just put here the paths of the Lord are straight and smooth. There is no crookedness in him at all. And you know it doesn't work in crooked parts. There is no corner. Corner is straight. Now how then do we say we are Christians? We want to change the world but our strategy is crookedness. Our strategy is sharp practices. You know anything that they find your hand in there's crookedness there and we call ourselves Christians. How are we going to do that? And you know when you do that, I've seen all kinds of things. So you go out and you continue to make noise. You are a born again Christian. Ah I go to CGCC. Ah and pastor son to give credence to what you do. But I want to say this morning you are not one of us. You are not you cannot be one of us. You are one of those people who have come in to spy our liberty in Christ and you are a spot in a feast of love. You are not one of us. You cannot be crooked in your parts in the things that you do and think you represent this house. No, you don't represent this house. Not to talk about representing Christ. It is it is tiring. It is upsetting. It is annoying. I don't know what other adjective to use. When we begin to hear reports of what brethren do to brethren and then charity begins at home even so the bad one when you have done it here you now extend the frontiers of your kingdom. You know you use here to practice then you go out and do it. You use stunning methods to come and meet people. Please borrow me money voicemail. You all we have heard all kinds of things. Our ears are full. I say this morning again and again. You are not one of us. You don't represent us in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of us, you know, just you relocated not too long ago and was telling me about somebody in this house who came to take a loan of 2 million till today it has not been paid. And you know, one of the parts of Christ that we talk about is the parts of mercy and truth. And we began by saying you must have bowels of mercy. What you do is that you kill the bowels of mercy of people who want to reach out and you spoil the chances of other people. You want to borrow money from cooperative. You go to somebody to come and be your guarantor. They guarantee you you borrow the money baby to the point that now it has become a problem for that cooperative for them to find guarantors. Nobody wants to do it because the moment it is done, your money has entered voicemail. I beg you church, those things should not be once mentioned amongst us. We're talking about walking in the parts of God. It should not be mentioned amongst us. One woman came and met me after church one day. She didn't have money for transport. I said we don't do that here. But because of the kind of person I am, I said I reached out to take money from my bank. Then I discovered I'd left my bag in the car in the lot and I said so she said I will follow you. She followed me. That wasn't even the problem. And I put my hands in my pocket and gave her money. The following Sunday this woman accosted me again in the foyer. She thought I was blind. I said eh madam you call. He said I said out if I see you here. And I drove her off. Please let me not waste too much time on that. So please the paths of the Lord are smooth. The paths of the Lord are straight. Walk in straight parts in the name of Jesus. Now I want to quickly touch two other parts you know and then move on. The parts of the righteous, the parts of the wicked because the scripture are about the same. I'm going to take it you know the parts of the wicked before proverbs 14 to18 reads do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil avoid it do not travel on it turn away from it and pass on for they do not sleep unless they have done evil and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence but the path of the just is like the shine shining sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. Amen. So you have the parts of the righteous. There's no point going into that. The parts of the righteous are the parts of God. Period. If you are a righteous man, you are a righteous woman. You walk the paths of God, then you walk, you know, the paths of righteousness. So there's no need to go into that. We have examined that. And the Bible says the reward is that your part will shine. You know, he will shine more and more until the perfect day. Now, the parts of the wicked are the exact opposite of the parts of God and the parts of the righteous. And we have read what they do. The Bible says, you know, they don't sleep unless they have done evil. That's all they think about in their lives. They don't sleep and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. Do you want to belong to that company? God forbid. And if you are here this morning and you have been walking the parts of the wicked, what you know you're stuck in trade is to cause trouble, is to cause sorrow for other people. Not you know selfish not thinking the fellow who took 2 million. Unfortunately, the person who gave the person the 2 million borrowed it, took it as a loan from the bank with interest. Let me say something to you. You you you can't prosper from it. I'm not cursing. It's the word of God. You can't think that because we are in the house of the Lord, you know, we are gullible and then you want to take advantage of that and you think you will prosper. You will not you know I I keep saying that I I do NGO work you know and over the past how many years now I worked on sender and you know gender based violence and you know what we discovered from research this was research that wasn't even done in Nigeria was done abroad and they discovered that predators those who violate pedophiles who violate young girls they say that the church is their number one place of operation. You know why they say so? They say we are gullible. We are very believing and so they creep in and they do by the time you are catching a glimpse of what is happening. And I'm saying if you are one of such persons in this house doing wickedness, the judgment of God will come upon you. Amen. Did you hear that loud amen? Tells me that a number of people who shouted amen have experienced it one thing at one time or the other. You cannot continue in the name of the Lord Jesus. Stop. Hallelujah. So how do we walk in the paths of God? Psalm 119 verse 9. Okay. How can a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed according to your word. Now, pastor taught us some time ago the four different walks that a believer needs to walk. I'm not going to, you know, um take too much time on that. He says number one, we must walk in love. You know, second John 1:16 says, "This is love that we walk according to his commandments." So, you can only do that by his word. He says we should walk in light. Psalm 1119 105 says, "Your word is a lamp unto my feet." I mean, is a lamp unto my feet and a light onto my path. I be with you. It's a light unto my feet and a lamp onto my path. Hallelujah. He's a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Oh, J. So, walking in light is also done by the word. You walk in wisdom. And we established last Sunday that Jesus you know has been made for us the wisdom of the world and he is the word of God. So the only way by which you can also walk in wisdom is by the word and then you walk in unity. Ephesians 4:3 tells us that Psalm 133 also tells us that it is pleasant for brethren to walk in unity because there the Lord commands the blessing. Now all of these four different works you cannot do outside the word of God. Are we are we in agreement with that? You can't you can't walk in love without the word. You can't walk in light without the word. You can't walk in wisdom without the work. And there's no way you can walk in the unity of the brethren without the word of God. And so if the word is the critical issue, let's take a look at something now. Why do we find it difficult to walk the paths of God by staying with the word of God in all situations? Why is it so difficult for us to apply the word in our daytoday life? Why? Hallelujah. I have a few minutes and I'm going to quickly try and run through it. You know the number one thing I wrote down here because the word of God is simple and without complication. You know the problem? There's a way by which we apply value according to cost. Amen. So the the higher the cost of an item, the more valuable we consider it to be. Okay. Unfortunately, in the profession that I did, cost and value are not the same in in property valuation. So, you can spend two billion to build a house and I go there to value it and I come up and say 500 million. Then you say cost and value are not the same. But let's leave that. But the truth of the matter is because of that because we come to you with the simplicity of the word because Jesus Christ presents himself that simply we think that so if somebody has a problem and comes to me and I say oh the word of God says put that word in your mouth he's looking at me remember Neon they gave the word go and bathe in the river Jordan seven times and pride came up he said for I said I thought that he will come and hit me and do this. If the prophet had said go and buy so so it would have be more convincing. That is the problem. So all the people that run alter skelter by the time they tell them hey you will bring 10 candles you will bring 20 bottles of anointing oil and then you will bring handkerchief. They find it more you know easy to believe. They find it easier to believe than the one that says no just come as you are. But what we forget is that the sacrifice of Christ that purchased this simplicity was it free? It wasn't greatest sacrifice. All the people that they run up to Ela skelter how many of them are ready to say I will sacrifice my son for you? None. They want to eat your goat. So number two, pride. Matthew 5:3. I think outside of Psalm 23, that was the other scripture I first committed to heart in primary school. You know Jesus went up and he went up to a mountain and when he was said his disciples came unto him and he sat there and taught them saying I still remember the first thing Jesus opened his mouth to say blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. To be poor in spirit means to accept your inability to do anything without God. That's what the poverty of the spirit is talking about is to say yourself I know that without God I am nothing but thank God I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so we you know there are people who by virtue of their wealth by virtue of their status by virtue of their education and qualification and all the other things they consider as valuable and props they find the gospel of Christ to be I won't say the word and it becomes a stumbling block in their lives but I say to leave those people it is said that there are no atheists in foxholes. Let something bite them. You will find out they will come running to where the solution is. And so pride will keep us from taking the word of God doing it and walking in the paths of God. Hardness of heart. There are some people you know say hardness gets hardness has degrees. If I put water inside the freezer, it hardens up. When you subject it to heat, it will melt. Ab. But if I carry reinforced concrete, you understand? You carry cement, you carry um what do you call it? Iron rod and put it and the thing get set, it will take something else to remove. Their hearts as hardened as reinforced concrete. There's nothing you can tell them. They will not answer. They will not respond. They prefer, you know, to do my will be done. My kingdom come. And when you do that, the parts of God become very difficult for you to walk in. You must pray to God. You understand that God will take away hardness from our hearts if we have it. Because you know there are people that they have become so hardened that they would rather die in their mess than to receive salvation. Such people will continue to walk in the paths of death and wickedness for life if care is not taken. Another thing I wrote there is spiritual poisoning and constip uh constipation. Our bellies are filled with so much junk and except there's a purging we can't even take in other meals. We need to be purged of the old leaven. There are people know how to do mix. You understand? Have you ever been to a buffet and you seek somebody carry pounded jam? Put let me let me take one minute to tell a story. I was in my younger days. I was still, you know, young and and I was flying to South Africa and this was in 1997 I think and the route took us through Libraville that's Gabon and we were to spend the night in Gabon. So in the so all through that period there was this gentleman toasting me seriously and he was I mean to add to it he was walking at mobile. So naturally you know your head will do like that and then we were talking and you know and in the morning you know we met again at the dining the buffet the restaurant. Yeah. By the time this guy packed his plates, and I'm not joking. I mean, I tell you how long ago it was and how I still remember it. There was nothing on that buffet table that he didn't put things that, you know, the combination gone was rioting, you know. And then when this guy was done with all of that ultim he had taken bo everything then he went and stood on the queue where they were frying eggs I don't know you that was the end of the matter you know so sometimes we do this I honestly I deliberately just avoided him after that I said I didn't even sit with him to eat I just went and sat where there was only one child remaining but they both you as if I I wasn't you know because I I what and there are some of us who are like that in this Christianity that we practice you understand I used to say this way in those days on Tuesday I I don't I I don't remember Monday on Tuesday they at JT on Wednesday they in clam on Thursday the fountain of life church on Friday the redemption come they cross over on Saturday the power must change hands in mountain of fire and then on Sunday they go to their whatever local assembly to worship. Why won't you be confused? You will be confused because you have packed all kinds of food poisoning. When you do that, it is because you are not ready to walk on straight paths. You are looking for you go like this zigzag zigzag. And at the end of the day, what happens? A running stone gathers no more. This is another reason I'm just touching them because of time. Then unbelief. That one is common. And I put here faith goes beyond confession. I think it was last Sunday or two Sundays ago. I can't see the woman. She normally sits around me. And I don't know pastor put a scripture and asked do you believe? I said yes. That yes was like I looked at that I said you you believe. He said I believe now. I said okay we will know. Belief goes beyond confession. It is a combination of believe and confession and belief precedes confession. You first believe in the heart. With the heart man believes with and then confess with your mouth. But today a lot of scriptural confessions take place that have no root in the heart. The apostles themselves said we believe Lord help thou our unbelief. It means that within that belief that they profess unbelief was seated bewit and the tars unbelief was there. And so you know this is the condition that we find ourselves most of the time. The belief we we profess recites only on our tongues and God searches the heart. Now the truth is believing is a work of the spirit. The Holy Ghost is the one who convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. And I think these three need to come together for a man to truly believe the word and walk in the paths of God. Now if you are not convicted of sin, you will not see the need for repentance. The Bible says the prodigal son came into himself. That was when you know he got convicted of sin. If you are not convicted of righteousness, you won't believe that you can be righteous. There are people that is their stumbling block and they don't believe that they can ever you know be cleansed. If you are such a person, it doesn't matter how far you have gone. The Lord is ready to take you on in the name of Jesus. And if you are not convicted of judgment, your heart is con hardened to continue in your sins. There are people will tell you which heaven, which hell, everything ends here. If you are not convicted that there is a judgment that is coming, you will be set in your heart to continue to do wickedness. So another thing is stunted faith. How many more do I have? Stunted faith means your faith is not growing. It is settled in one position. Now 2 Corinthians 8:10-11 2 Corinthians 8:10-11 tells me that you know it is to our advantage maybe let me just say it is to our advantage not only to be doing what we began to do a year ago but to complete the doing of it. Amen. So you cannot have faith that is stagnant that is not growing. Wherever growth stops decay sets in and decay is death. Amen. So we need to do that. How do we continue? Faith comes by hearing. You have to continue to hear the word the the right words, you know, and have that progressive growth. Bastardization of the word by false prophets. This one, let me not even just go there because it is long. But because some people within the body professing to be Christians have messed up the message, it becomes an excuse for some people to not walk in the word. There are people today who are not born again simply because of that. And they put every preacher in the same box and say they are all liars. Business is business, you know. But there are preachers of righteousness. There are still preachers of righteousness. And so we said that last week that when the preacher is deficient in integrity, who will believe his gospel? We need to up our game. Now the word of God does not need faith, your faith or my faith to work. The word of God is not a product of faith and grace. Rather, faith and grace are a product of the word. And so for people who think that oh because this person is doing this they doing that I will judge everybody you are just you know you are shortch changing yourself now when I said that the word of God does not need your faith or my faith to work I had to pause don't go and talk rubbish but I found you know a testimony in Luke 1 19-20 when the angel Gabriel went to announce to Zachariah And you know he did not believe. And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not be able to speak until the day because until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time." Was that word fulfilled? Did Zachariah believe? No. They talked to me. Did he believe? What? But was the word fulfilled with or without his faith? The word was fulfilled. Fraternity with the world. A friend of mine once tell, you know, told me that the war between the sexes can never be won because there's too much fraternity with the enemy. Did you take that in? The war between the sexes, male and female, can never be won. There's so much fraternity with the enemy. As much as they fight, they are still, you know, collaboring, you collaborating. So in like manner, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:17, come out of them and be separate. Friendship with the world, you know, with the world is enmity with God. You can't put the two together. Unfortunately, we have a church today. You can't differentiate between them and non-believers. Our language is the same. They curse, we curse. Our dressing is the same. In fact, sometimes I'm beginning to think it's worse, you know. And this dressing issue, we have done it to so much that we have intimidated some pastors that they don't even talk about it anymore. They don't want to discuss it. They are a Christian. We can't tell you know and then when you bring in their feminine thing you can't tell a boy before before if you are not sure the gender or the sex of a person you are looking out for some things to help you tell the ears the hair today you can't tell the difference between the two but let me not go there before they tell me otherwise you know our music songs everything you can't tell the same sometimes you enter the church you are not sure whether you are in church or in a disco hall. So what are we talking about? We cannot bring a change when we are rather conforming with the world instead of us bringing them. It's we find they find it easier to take us out of the way to their way than for us to bring them in. God help us. God forgive us in Jesus name. Okay, I think I've done good. So I'm concluding this morning to walk in the paths of God is to operate in God's superior search engine as we have been recently taught by pastor and that search engine has also been decoded for us as wisdom. Now it might interest us to know that all the pathways we are mentioned are products of wisdom and I like to go through these scriptures in the two minutes that remain. Please quickly James 3:17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits. So mercy is a product of wisdom. Proverbs 8:6-7, listen for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things. That's wisdom speaking. For my mouth will speak truth. That's wisdom. So truth is a product of wisdom. Proverbs 8, the same proverbs 8 verse 20 it says I that's wisdom. Now I wisdom traverse the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of justice. So you see wis righteousness there, you see justice there, that's wisdom. And then Proverbs 3:17, it says, "Our ways are ways of pleasantness and all our parts are peace." That's wisdom. So what do you see? You see all of these paths of the Lord, they are what? They are embedded in the in wisdom and wisdom is Christ. I pray this morning that may we walk the paths of mercy and truth, the paths of righteousness and peace, the paths of justice, and may we tread on straight and smooth paths to show his glory and manifest its presence in our nation and in the world around us in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. And amen. Good morning, church. God bless you.