What comes next after the Believers Conference? (Part 2)

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right in. We're praying. I perceive that someone

has a difficulty hearing on their right ear.

has a difficulty hearing in their right ear,

right now I speak to that ear. I said, every

blockage is open right now in the name of Jesus.

Every difficulty in hearing, we see that every

pain is gone. Every pain is gone in that ear

right now in the name of Jesus. Father, we thank

you. Father, we thank you for healing. Thank

you for healing. Thank you for healing. Thank

you for your healing power will continue to find

expression. Every time we're met with a difficult

situation or any form of sicknesses, we'll continue

to be bold to open our mouth and speak in the

power and the authority that you have given unto

us to cast out devils, to heal the sick. Father,

we thank you because we'll continue to press

on. We'll continue to insist. We'll continue

to seek more of your power, find expression in

and through us in the name of Jesus. In the mighty

name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Let's have a seat.

I want to thank God for this opportunity and

thank the pastorate, our lead pastor and the

ostrich pastors for the opportunity to continue

on the teaching, to teach. I think I listened

to the Sunday service and I discovered I was

probably a lot, it seemed like I was very fast

in the last Sunday. I think I was probably wanting

to get to the part where we pray. And I will

pick it a bit, I'll be a lot slower so that we

can be able to. at least make the most of it

and take proper notes on the teaching. So a topic

is still what comes next after the Believers

Conference, what comes next after the Believers

Conference. And what I want to start to do is

to make us see the reasons why we gather and

then the reasons why we must continue. That's

basically the two things we're going to focus

on, why we gather and why we must continue to

engage, continue to persist in the things and

continue to... absorb and let the things that

we learn always find expression because practice

is important. Practice is very important. If

you're learning and you're not putting into practice

what you're learning, you will not make progress.

There is nowhere that you, there's in fact even

skills that you learn that requires hand, that

requires you using your brain, using your hands,

they will always encourage that you practice

because It's in practice that you realize that

there's more. It's when we practice that we see

the need to improve. We practice that we see

the need to go back and check our notes. Praise

God. And this is just right after the Believers

Conference. And what this is meant to do is to

help us to be reminded that if we forget the

things that we have learned or the things that

we have received, we will lose it. We will lose

the things that we learned. And we looked at

Micah 4, 1 -5. Micah 4, 1 -5. And I read it to

us because it reads like a head, but we're reading

it in the now. Praise God. We're reading it in

the now. And in the New King James, Micah 4,

1 -5, it says, It has come to pass that on the

mountain of the Lord's house that we are established

on the top of the mountains. and is exalted above

the hills. People shall flow to it and people

are flowing to it. The house of Venice here,

people are coming to the house of Venice here.

And in this season, we'll see the increase as

the teaching of God's word. We'll see that in

scripture, we'll see that the teaching as people

spread and the teaching of God's word continues,

there's an increase. Two now says many nations,

many nations, many nations, many nations shall

come and say, come. and let us go up to the mountain

of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.

I said the emphasis is on this part. He said

he will teach us his ways and we shall walk in

his paths. So the teaching of his ways and the

walking in his paths happens when we gather.

Praise God. The teaching of his ways and the

walking in his paths happens when we gather.

Practice teaching and learning of God's word.

majorly. We'll see it all through scripture.

We're going to look at some passages. It happens

when we gather. It happens when we gather. It

says, For out of Zion the law shall go forth,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Praise

God. It says, He shall judge between many peoples,

and rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall

beat their swords into plowshares, and their

spears into proning hooks. Nation shall not lift

up sword against nation, neither shall they learn

war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his

vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall

make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord has

spoken. For all people will walk each in the

name of his God, and he will walk. in the name

of the Lord our God forever and ever. And I emphasize

the fact that going up a mountain is not easy.

Going up a mountain is difficult. It requires

sacrifice. It requires commitment. And we say

that the whole process of teaching and learning

is also the same. On Sunday service, you have

a lot more people. On a weekday, you have people

because I saw our sister coming. You're coming

from somewhere. You had a long day. but you still

were able to say this place is important and

you made it here and it requires sacrifice. Anything

that requires sacrifice would require, would

demand more than the usual. Anything, any form

of sacrifice demands more than the usual. And

these people made it, they went to the mountain

to, as I said, there's a going up the mountain

and there's the, what are we going to do, right?

And we know that anytime we gather in church

like this, we gather to learn, we gather to grow.

And we know that it's important to us. That's

why we always make it a habit to show up or between

to show up. And even in the Believer's Conference,

when we gather, and that's the thing, when we

gather and we're stretched for that long period

of time, coming in in a week seems like, because

how many hours do we spend in a week and how

many hours are we able to put into that time?

Because if you compare and contrast, you see

the square, this one requires us to be stretched.

The Believer's Conference requires us to be stretched.

And then we... In that stretch, we're able to

see that there is more. Then when we now come

back to the routine, we have that sustained coming,

sustained meetings, and we have the times, our

personal times, where we learn and we grow, and

then we continue, and the process keeps building

us more and more. And they go up. We say that

there's a literal side to it where it's a mountain,

it's a location, and there's a spiritual side

to it because people go to make with God. Praise

God. And we say that there are times where even...

Because there's the practicality of the mountains,

there's the safety and security, even with regards

to war. The whole idea communicates a bit of

war. And if you're on an elevated platform, it's

easier for you to see the enemies that are coming

at you. So there's a practical side to it. And

even with regards to teaching, when you're on

an elevated level, it's easier for you to be

able to communicate. People see you and people...

hear you a lot easier there's if you've been

to and when you shout it says the waves take

your voice a lot farther and we talked about

that so i will just go into and i took us to

this situation in acts in acts 26 verse 14 where

Acts 26:14

i i took us there to help us see the apostle

paul's account of or recounting what happened

in acts and And we see that in that conversation,

we see that he was, at that point in time, making

efforts against the will of God. And the change

happens. And that change happened because God

had met with the individual, God had met with

him. And even when he met with him, which is

the point we're going to spend time and look

at, because we'll see the importance of the gathering,

we'll see the importance of people, because people

are who make up the gathering. And in Apostle

Paul's meeting with God, he had to meet with

an individual. It was our brother Ananias. He

had to meet with an individual. And you see the

importance and how it connects and how it kick

-started and jump -started his whole growth process

and his learning process because all of that

is in keeping with the fact that gatherings are

important. People that make up the gatherings

are important. If we undermine the gathering,

undermine people who will not make growth, will

not learn and will not progress. That's why we

encourage ourselves regularly as a church that

we should prioritize the people that God has

placed around you. Don't take for granted relationships.

Don't take for granted the moments when you have

people because you will not always have those

types of people. You will not even know the value

of those persons until when they are no longer.

They are prioritizing and making the most of

the meetings, ensure meetings and people, ensures

that we don't live after our regrets. We live

after our regrets. So I said we'll start to,

we'll go to how God uses, how God walks through

gatherings, how God walks through gatherings.

We said this is central to how God meets or walks

through his people. It's very important that

we see all true scriptures. So if... God is going

to do anything. He will do it in meetings and

he will do it through people. So first focus

on gathering because gathering is where we're

taught. When they said, let us go up to the mountain,

they're going to gather, praise God. And when

they gather, what happens in the gathering is

important or is valuable to what is necessary

for the growth of the people. And I mentioned

that the experience, you know, when I told us

of the Psalms of Ascent, which is the Psalms,

1 Corinthians to the Psalms. 1, 34. Those are

15. There are 15 of them. Those are the sounds

they sing on their way up. Meaning that the experience

or the excitement to go up is not, they are excited

to go up. You know, when David said, I was glad

when they said to me, let's go to the house.

It's an excitement, right? And that excitement

is what fuels the whole process of learning,

the whole process of the experience or the whole

process of going up because it makes the whole

journey worthwhile. I mean, I think that I remember

those times when we are going as a church, we're

going to either salamis or going to places, when

in the vehicle we'll sing, we'll sing, we'll

just join and sing songs and all of that. It

makes the whole process or the whole journey

exciting. Praise God. Just looking forward to

going to that place. And we say that faithfulness

is required for every meeting. Faithfulness to

every meeting is required for growth. Faithfulness

to every meeting and every word is required for

growth. Because we don't see growth without commitment.

We see growth with consistency. We see growth

with just being fervent. We see growth with just

putting more, just being committed, because that's

how we go on. And every of Jesus' disciples,

every of the disciples as well, and even the

disciples that were made afterwards, we see that

they were committed. We see that they were gathered.

They're always that team of gathering together,

that team of learning. that team of studying,

and that is what guaranteed that they grew. Praise

God. That's what guaranteed that they grew. So

I want us to look at Mark 3. Let's start off

from 13. We'll see the team of mountain, and

then we'll go down to 14. Mark 3, 13. Mark 3,

13, it says, And they went up on the mountain,

and he called him to those, and he called to

him those who himself wanted. And they came to

him, right? So he went up to the mountain and

he called them. And this is when he appointed

the twelve. So then he appointed the twelve that

they might be with him, right? And that he might

send them out to preach. So note that the very

key thing is that they had to first come to him.

He was on the mountain, come to him. They were

with him. They were taught before they were sent.

So it emphasizes the importance of meeting together

to be taught. And after we are taught, then we

are sent. Praise God. Meaning that after we have

learned all that we have learned in the course

of the week, we have learned it. So we are going

now. Praise God. There's a going that happens

afterward because we have done all the teaching

and the training. There's also the opportunity

to practice. Praise God. So meetings are important

because that is where we are taught. Right? And

then what we do after we are taught is that we

go and do. Praise God. We go and we do. So we

don't just come and learn to have head knowledge.

We don't just go and learn or we don't just come

and learn and say, oh, I know contextual, I know

canonical context, I know supernatural context,

I know immediate context. All of those things

are beautiful because the whole learning process

should translate into process, translate into

actions. It has to go beyond words. It has to

go beyond words. All that we've learned means

that When you see someone and an opportunity

presents itself, as we saw in Acts 24, 25, sorry,

Acts 25, 26, as we saw that Sunday, the opportunity,

he took hold of the opportunity. That word there

is, he has there is the laban, where he is not

just, he has the opportunity. He sees the opportunity.

He took hold of the opportunity to recount what

had happened to him in Acts, in Acts 9. He took

hold of the opportunity. It means that once you

have learned, you are always looking for an opportunity

to present that which you have learned. Praise

God. You're always looking for an opportunity

to present. So there is no breaks when it comes

to practicing what you have been taught. There

is no breaks. You don't go on holidays. You're

looking for an opportunity and then you'll do.

You're looking for an opportunity and then you

do. 2 Timothy 3 verse 14. 2 Timothy 3 verse 14.

2 Timothy 3:14 2 Timothy 3:14

And remember we said that Discipleship is a continue.

You continue in discipleship. You continue in

discipleship. Jesus' disciples, they continued.

They learned. He sent them out to practice. So

he says, but you must continue in the things

which you have learned and being assured of,

knowing from whom you have learned them. So he

says you must continue. You must continue. You

must continue. He didn't say you should take

breaks. He didn't say you should stop. He didn't

say you should just relax. He didn't say any

of those. He says you must continue in the things

that you have learned. Meaning that the persuasion

that you got must be sustained. And how do we

sustain the persuasion? It's by going back and

looking at it again. Going back and ruminating

on it again and again. Going back. And I know

for some of us, you know what would have happened

is that during the course of the teaching, there

are certain sessions that you missed. Praise

God. And your note has those spaces. You know,

I was looking at somebody's note. I was saying,

you have gap here, gap here, gap there. You want

to go back and commit to filling in those gaps.

Praise God. Because you want to have a flow,

not breaks. Praise God. Don't have break in it.

Because once you leave those gaps, you are likely

not going to get back to it. You want to go back

to it and use it as an opportunity to refresh

your memory and the things that you've learned.

Because that's how we're able to solidify and

take in what we are. learning or what we have

learned praise god because we have to be persuaded

right we have to be persuaded if you're not persuaded

about the things that you are saying you can't

convince anybody about it praise god so and the

more we get back to it the more we ruminate on

it the more we this in fact discuss because what

you can do it is what i will get around to is

creating like having a discussion like ask the

other person oh What part of the teaching excited

you? What part of it? Most of it, all of the

teachings are practical. And you can sit down

and have discussions around it. And that makes

it more exciting. Remember, I think we'll get

to it shortly. Remember that there is the beauty

of communities that we're together. And if you

want to learn or if you cannot remember stuff,

if you want to learn and be able to remember

stuff, you want to rely on... Brethren, because

when you discuss or study or gather around God's

word, there's a likelihood that there's no way

you will discuss about something again and again

or ruminate on it that you will forget. And once

you do that, you hold yourselves accountable

to practice. Praise God. You hold yourself accountable

to practice. And then the other point is continuing

in prayer. Continuing in prayer. That is in Colossians

4, 2 -4. continue, we must continue earnestly

in prayer. Colossians 4, 2 -4. We must continue

earnestly in prayer. For a good amount of us,

that's stretch. You know what happens with stretches

like that is that you are seeing yourself pulled

to a limit where you can never do that by yourself

in your house. You are able to do that effectively

because you are in a gathering. Praise God. You

are able to do that. effectively because you're

in a garden. And when you have had that experience,

you want to continue, right? You want to continue.

So if you have done, if you, those of us that

are around on Saturday, if you have prayed for

that long, one hour will not be too long for

you afterwards. Praise God. And it means that

you are going to continue. And note that you

are doing all of that to, as it says in the passage,

it says, continue endlessly in prayer. Being

vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Praise God.

Being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Meanwhile,

praying also for us, that God will open to us

a door for the Word. Meaning that in your praying,

you're not just praying and you're vigilant,

you're praying for others. Praise God. You're

praying for others because it says, praying also

for us, that God will open to us a door. of for

the word, meaning that you're praying for opportunities.

Remember what we said about opportunities? You're

praying for an opportunity to preach the word.

You're praying for your pastors. Different opportunities

and the chances we get to preach the word. You're

praying for your family. You're praying for your

siblings. Praying for an opportunity to preach

the word to them. Praying for an opportunity

to preach the word for their classmate. And that

is the way we will see. And because if you're

taking your time to pray for an individual, I

guarantee you that when the opportunity presents

itself, for you to minister to that individual,

you will not shrink back. Praise God. You will

not shrink back because you have been praying

and you're going to seize the opportunity and

minister to that individual who says, to speak

the mystery of Christ for which I am also in

chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought

to speak. Praise God. That the words that you

have all trans, that you are able to... Continue

to minister. And you're doing it, as the passage

earlier says, you're praying and praying with

thanksgiving. Praying for opportunities to evangelize.

Praying for an opportunity to minister. And we

don't want to take breaks. Praise God. We don't

want to take breaks because once you take breaks,

you're slowing the momentum. You're dragging

your feet back and you get back to status quo.

Praise God. You get back to status quo. And for

many of us, you want to fight the desire to go

back to normal. You want to fight the desire

to go back to normal. Because normal is easy.

Praise God. Normal is easy. But what is difficult

is switching to what is important for your growth,

what is important for change to happen. And we've

seen... Matthew 28, 16, 17, we see that the great

commission or the instruction to go and make

disciples was given in a gathering. It was given

where the people were gathered under instructions,

meaning that instructions will come for people

to go and do in the gathering. We'll come to

Acts 13, 1, but know that it's in the gathering

that we get instructions. And when we get those

instructions, we're able to go and follow through

with instructions. When Jesus Christ appointed,

when Jesus Christ instructed his disciples, he

instructed them to go and make disciples. He

instructed them to go and do all that he has

commanded them. He instructed them to go. And

we are actively instructed to go, right? And

seize every opportunity that we have to make

disciples, to bring others into and disciple

others. Disciple others is very key. And in your

discipling orders, you're taking your time to

teach what you have been taught. Praise God.

You're teaching what you have been taught. You

don't go elsewhere. You are teaching what you

have been taught. That's why if your notes are

not proper, if your notes are not, you don't

properly document the notes, your notes are like

a map. If your notes are not properly crafted

in such a way that you can be able to take them

of when a customer was saying, can you be able

to teach this thing that you're being taught?

If your notes are not documented properly, that's

why you want to. Pay attention to how you document

the things that you're learning. Pay attention

to how you're documenting the things that you're

learning because you are going to go and make

disciples and you make disciples by what you

have learned is what you're going to be teaching.

Praise God. And we said in Acts, which is what

I alluded to, in Acts 13, verse 1. Acts 13, verse

Acts 13:1 Acts 13:1

1. It's in gatherings where we get instructions

and we don't want to neglect or forsake gatherings.

So now in the church, that was at Antioch. There

were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas,

Simeon, who was called, neither, Lucius of Cyrene,

Manian, who had been brought up with Herod, the

Tetrarch, and Saul. It says, As they ministered

to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said,

Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the

work which I have called them. Meaning that it's...

In meetings like this, when we gather, we get

instructions. And for many of us, we got instructions.

Praise God. We got instructions. For many of

us, the instructions we got is a repeat of the

instructions we have gotten before. And it means

that if you are getting the same instruction,

you don't need any sign. Praise God. You don't

need any sign to do something about it. Praise

God. You don't need any sign to do something

about it. And in meetings like this, the Holy

Spirit will minister through. and people will

be commissioned, people will be sent out. So

we want to continue in the things that we have

been instructed to do, right? Instructions. Just

imagine Barnabas and Saul were given the word

and then they still hanged in. They still decided

to just chill a couple of weeks. They didn't

do that. They want to be able to get on with

it. Praise God. Get on with it. You don't know

how it's going to go. You just start. Praise

God. You start. You start. You start putting

things together and get to work. Praise God.

And then it's also in gatherings where we are

being disciplined. Right? It's also in gatherings

where we are being disciplined. It's also in

gatherings that we learn not to take offense.

It's in gatherings that we are disciplined. It's

in gatherings that we learn not to. take offense,

and we do a lot of learning and gatherings. You

know, for people that do things by themselves,

you can't understand how to work with people

if you just work all by yourself. And that's

why God has made it important for us to gather

like this, to learn from one another, to be taught

by one another, to have your brother offend you,

and then you deal with that offense. Right? To

have your brother offend you and deal with that

offense. We see in Matthew 18. 15 to 20. Let's

just read it quickly. It gives us a protocol

for how to match you. 18, 15 to 20. It says,

Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go

and tell him his faults between you and him alone.

So it means that you'll have to meet the person

one -on -one and try to go about resolving it.

And it says that if he hears you, you have gained

your brother. 16. But if... He will not hear.

Take with you one or two more, that by the amount

of two or three witnesses, every word may be

established. Meaning that you tried one person,

you go, it doesn't work, you bring two. He says,

and if he refuses to hear them, take it to the

church. Or if he refuses even to hear the church,

he says, let him be. to you like a hidden or

a tax collector. Remember we said that when you're

18, just going back to the 70s, it doesn't have

to be to you like a hidden tax collector. We've

been taught in the house that if it's to you

like a hidden tax collector, it doesn't mean

that you cast him out. You say, that one, no,

you're a non -believer. It's not that you cast

him out. And you want to ask yourself, how did

Jesus treat the tax collectors, right? How did

Jesus treat the hidden? How do you treat people

that do not believe? How do you treat the tax

collector, people that are... that people see

as corrupt. How do you treat them? If you didn't

treat them that way, then you should. He is the

example. Praise God. Then in 18, it says, Surely

I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will

be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on

earth will be loosed in heaven. 19, it says,

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth

concerning anything that they ask, it will be

done for them by my Father in heaven. Then 20,

He says, where two or three are gathered together

in my name, I am there in the midst of them.

So we see that all of this comes down to agreement.

There's a protocol, there's the agreement, and

this just points to the fact that there's a protocol

for, there's a, just here presented, it's talking

about, in fact, you're trying to reconcile with

your brother. And in reconciling with the brother,

you are able to. employ different means because

that relationship is important to you. Hence,

you employ the tool of reconciliation because

it's important to you. So you have to prioritize

the relationship enough to be able to say, I

really don't want to lose my relationship with

this brother or sister. And it might not be,

it's not the easiest thing to do, especially

when you know that the person offends you. And

when you see the passage here, it's encouraging

us that Whoever you, the offender or the offendee,

you are supposed to, that is the posture, employ

everything. So we learn all of this when we gather.

You have people offend you, you learn, you go

by, you don't like it, but you still have to

because that person is your brother and you want

to prioritize gathering. So we don't, going forward,

have our offenses. We don't do that because it's

not going to help the work, it's not going to

help the fellowship, it's not going to help your

commitment to the things, to that brother. You

know, even sometimes, you know, the way God does

these things is that you are offended by the

brother and then you don't plan it, but you end

up sitting together. And during the time of prayer,

they'll say, hold the person next to you and

pray for that person. You'll just find out that

now you have been set up because you can't be

praying, you can't be praying evil for the person,

even if you are praying evil on your own. Praise

God. So, but you will have to be able to reconcile

or you have to see the need or see the importance

too. to continue in it. And gatherings are what

happens. You don't, you don't, gatherings, you

don't, you don't do, it doesn't happen in isolation.

We group, we gather together as a group. Praise

God. We gather together as a group because God

has created us for relationships to relate with

one another. And you don't, you don't need too

much to find that all two as a team in scripture.

As a team, we see that as a team in scripture.

That God himself wants relationship with us and

he wants us to have relationship with the people,

with the church, with our fellow brothers and

sisters in Christ. And we all are products of

relationships, right? From the time of our birth

to even the time of our, even to our spiritual

relationships, right? Our spiritual relationships,

we are a product of spiritual relationship with

God and also his people. Because you're first.

You come from a family, right? And in fact, that

family is, or family, as we see family, it models

that relationship that we have with God. Because

that's why we call God our father, right? And

the first, our introduction to fatherhood is

our earthly parents, right? And then we now come

to that point where we are able to have God as

our father. So by design, we're not designed

to live. Nobody's born in a test tube. Okay,

people are born, they actually do that. But nobody's

born in isolation. That's what I mean to say.

Nobody's born in isolation. During Pastor Victor's

teaching, when he was teaching us, he emphasized,

because he talked about it when he went to Ephesians

5, where he was explaining. We see that there

are different strata of relationships, right?

There's the relationship, there's a different

strata of relationship. There's the husband,

the relationship between husband and wife, there's

a child. The father's relationship, there's the

brother and the sister's relationship. There's

a relationship, the different status of relationship.

And we see that scattered through scripture.

And it's a we thing, right? Not an I thing. It's

like, it's a we together. And there's protection

in we than I, right? There's a protection in

we than I. And we are called to we, right? When

I say we're called to, we're called to this.

I think that was very interesting. We're called

to a communal lifestyle. We're not called to

an individual lifestyle. We're called to a communal

lifestyle, not an individual lifestyle. And that

is what sustains growth. That's what sustains

growth. That's what sustains increase. And even

as a church, the way we are to grow, or the way

we are to grow numerically is the same way. We

grow numerically on the premise of... You relating

with someone and bringing them to church. Right?

And if you are living your life, and you know

there are people that say, I'm an introvert.

I just talk to myself, I'm by myself, I go into

the class. And what I've learned in this short

time is that anybody can be anything. You decide

what you want to. Because you have lived your

life as an introvert, if you need a job, you

will speak. Right? You know, there's the hardship

and difficulty that will hit you, that will make

you open your mouth and scream. Praise God. That

will make you open your mouth and scream because

you cannot need help and see help, but people

do. You cannot need help and see help and you

desperately need that help and see help. You

will always get to that point where you do what

you have never done before. Praise God. So, that

desire for even... Being part of. Because naturally,

even when you come here, you are always, even

when you arrive at the island, by default, you

just want to be lit with your fellow people.

You want to hang around. You want to ask them,

so what's going on here? By default, you don't

come and then you don't know anything. You know,

people have missed their flights because they

are very, like, I know my way around. Like, you

have to relate with someone to get direction.

You have to be lit with people and that's...

the team. So, and in God's word, we see that

scattered around. We see it from Genesis. Genesis

127, we see that he created male, female. He

had already put that there in us, that union,

that partnership, that family. So, humanity,

making humanity in pairs is a pointer. It's not

a coincidence. He didn't just fit one person

with everything. There's a reason why he had

designed that so that It creates that sense of

interdependency, right? That you don't come and

wake up and say, I can do it by myself. It brings

us to that place where we are very dependent

on one another. And it's beautiful when you don't

rely on yourself for everything. It's very beautiful.

And that's what God wants to, God had started

to model for us so that we can be able to appreciate

it when appreciating in despair or in the realm

of... of the relationship that we have in God.

Praise God. So we see in Genesis, Genesis 23,

Genesis 2, 23. Genesis 2, 23 says, and Adam said,

this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my

flesh. She shall be called woman because she

was taken out. She was taken out of man. So he

says, this is now bone of my bone. That's Adam

speaking. This is now bone of my bone and flesh

of my flesh. And we see that most of the times

when we see that phrase, that phrase is used

exclusively, most people use it exclusively for

marriage. Anytime somebody says bone of my bone

and flesh of my flesh, what comes to mind is

marriage because that's basically where it is

used. more often but i want us to see that that

is used in this sphere of relationship right

because remember we said relationships are different

relations but of different kinds you have you

have and and i was i think before the service

started i was talking to some people that sometimes

we as people in our daily dealings with people

we We fail to understand that you can have one

person, you can have different levels of relationship

with one person, right? Meaning that you can,

like some people here, I taught them, in the

class I'm their teacher. When I come to church,

they're pastor. When, like, outside of church

or just without, I can be their elder brother,

right? You can have all of those relations. And

sometimes you can, you know, you can be so used

to a person and you forget that that person...

The way you have access to that person, not everybody

has that kind of access. And you can do overlap,

right? When you should be relating with that

person in this space, because that's why you

meet somebody in the class environment. And then

I've had that thing happen several times because

when I walk into a class and then the person

sees me like a first year student, right? And

then... because I just walked in and the person

will assume I am at the same level as them until

when they see me or I come and then I set my

things up and then I'm starting to teach. And

then I think a lady one time, she almost wanted

to, I could tell she was very embarrassed. She

was just doing like this, like she was seriously

pleading. But it's like I said, it's totally

fine. It's not, you assume that the relationship

is to your fellow student. And it wasn't that

she was even rude. She just asked me, are you

here for the class? I said, yes, I'm here for

the class. Until she found out. I said, yes,

because I actually told her the truth. I'm here

for the class, but as what? Praise God. So relationships

are very, and especially in the church, where

you can be so cozy with somebody and then all

of a sudden, because you have to be able to tell

what the dynamics of relationship, because they

are different, right? The same way you are with

your father. You can't come and say, hey, what's

up? You know, you do that way. In Africa, at

least most of us here, if that's not the way

you roll with your dad, you will remember something

that you will never forget. You will get something

that you will never forget because they are different

classes or different strata of relationships

and you want to be able to understand that. And

we said that bone of my bone and flesh of my

flesh is used at different, we'll see that, that

will show us in. We saw, I think the first bit

is in 2 .23. We'll see 29 .14. Let's go to 29

.14. And this is Laban to Jacob. 29 .14, Genesis

29 .14. And I want us to see that again. So,

and Laban said to him, that's Jacob, you are

my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him

for a month. Praise God. And if that... To you,

it was marriage. You can just imagine a man telling

another man, you are my bone and my flesh. But

we understand that, what's the relationship between

Laban and Jacob? So his uncle and nephew. So

the relationship is that of family, right? It's

that of family because that and that place will

be communicating a relationship of like a blood,

relationship by blood because it was his mom's

brother, right? His mom's... So in that case,

we see that this is clearly not just marriage.

It's not just any way you see it. It's not blanket

marriage. And we also see it in Judges. Judges

Judges 9:2

9 verse 2. Let's look at Judges 9 verse 2. We'll

Judges 9:2

see Abimelech. Judges 9 verse 2 says, Please,

Judges 9:2

speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem.

This is Abimelech speaking now to all the men

of Shechem. He says, which is better for you,

that all 70 of the sons of Jeroboam reign over

all, or that one reign over you? Remember that

I am your own flesh and blood. So, him here is

saying, remember that we are part of the same

tribe, right? The same family, the same tribe,

so it's not. saying that, oh, we are married

together. Praise God. So he is just pleading,

he's making an appeal to the leaders of Shechem.

And we'll see it even in the case of David. We'll

see 1 Chronicles 11 verse 1, and this is between

1 Chronicles 11:1

the tribes of Israel and David. So all of this

is just to establish to us that when you see

a word, so 1 Chronicles 11 verse 1, let's go

1 Chronicles 11:1

there quickly, and you can see it. Similar thing

in 2 Samuel 5 verse 1. The exact same thing in

2 Samuel 5:1

2 Samuel 5 verse 1. You can write that down in

2 Samuel 5:1

your note. We don't have to read that one. So

in 1 Chronicles 11 verse 1 and then 2 Samuel

1 Chronicles 11:1 2 Samuel 5:1

5 verse 1, it says, Then all Israel came together

to David at Hebron, saying, Indeed, we are your

bone and your flesh. Indeed, we are your bone

and your flesh. And we say, what relationship

would that be? What relationship would that be?

You see? Family. So they're the same because

they're the same tribe, right? They're the same.

So we're all out of, you see, where you're born

and you're flesh. So that's the tribes of Israel.

And we say the different tribes of Israel. So

we're related in that. So because you know that

the children of Israel, that was Jacob, Israel,

that are all the children. And David is one.

He's from the tribe of Judah, right? So we say

that that is. the relationship. So we see even

another incident. You can write it down. David

also appeals to the elders of his own tribe,

right? The elders of his own tribe. In 2 Samuel

19, 12 to 13. 2 Samuel 19, 12 to 13, it says,

it says, you are my brethren, right? You are

my bone and my flesh. You are my brethren. You

are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the

last to bring back the king? That is David 13.

And say to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my

flesh? God did so to me and more also if you

are not commander of the army before me continually

in the place of Joab. So he is... still stating

the appeals to Judah and also to Amasa. And then

he tells them that you are my bone and my flesh.

And then we've seen all that in the, let's see

it in Ephesians 5 verse 13. So this is Apostle

Ephesians 5:13

Paul using it in a relationship to, in the relationship

to Christ and the church. So 30, 30, 3 -0. So

he says that for we are members of his body.

and his flesh and his bones. We are members of

his body, his flesh, and his bones. So when we

see the word flesh and bone, or when we see the

word, because it's an idiomatic, when we say

flesh and bone, because you know that that's

not, it wouldn't make sense. Remember when we

said to kick against God, not gold or gold, it's

gold, toad, road. To kick against the gold. He

is saying to, it's useless for you to fight against

my will. So it means that it's an expression

that means something, right? So when we say we

are, when you say you are my bone and my flesh,

it means that we are close families or we belong

to, related in that sense, or we're from the

same tribe. So it's a difficult, and in this

passage, we know that it's communicating shared

spiritual identity, that they say we are, it

says we are members, right? It's a shared spiritual

identity that is anchored in Christ, right? shared

spiritual identity. And we know that it's not,

it's not by blood. Like it's not by physical

blood. It's supernatural. Praise God. It's supernatural

relationship. And that is, that is, that requires

a, like, you know, when, when you know this person

is your brother, your blood brother, you know

that there's a lot, but you need to know to be

able to hold on to a relationship that is not

like, you can't see the physical type. Right?

Because you understand what Christ has done.

You understand that this person is your brother

and sister in Christ. You will defend and fight

and pray for that person. You will be serious

with regards to that relationship because you

know what it costs or what brings you together.

Praise God. That makes the gathering so important.

When we come together, we come together as...

brothers and sisters in Christ, to worship, to

fellowship, and we're serving the same God. And

he says, God places in others what we ourselves

need. Meaning that it's very important to know

that there's a reason why we have a family. There's

a reason why we have different people, different,

and this church is functional. We have different

nationalities, and we're not self -sufficient

by ourselves, but we are. dependent and reliant

on, it's not a private work. Our work with God

is not private. And in fact, there's no passage

of scripture that will confirm the concept or

the idea or confirm the whole idea or concept

of working alone. Praise God. The work is in

a gathering. The work is together. And by design,

God did not, he places us in the family. And

that's why you see that team of family going

on and on. So we function and we live together.

And we move on now, walk on the basis of our

relationship with him, on the basis of our relationship

with his people, God's people, every one of us.

Praise God. So it is through people that we are

blessed, right? It's through people that we are

blessed. It's through men that we are able to

hear the word. It's through men that we are able

to be taught the word. It's through men. And

if you say, oh, take for example, the example

of Apostle Paul that went on Saul. If Brian and

I decided that I don't want to be persecuted,

and decided that he was not going to go and minister

to Paul, or if Paul himself decided to help with

anybody, I don't care. If God cannot come directly

and minister to me, it will be to his own detriment,

right? It will be to his own detriment. There's

an importance that we have to place on the people

that God has given to us. And no matter how small

they are, right? He did not say Apostle Ananias.

He says brother, right? No matter how small they

are, right? We don't want to undermine God's

ability to walk in and through that person. Same

applies to ourselves. No matter how small we

may think that we are, we don't want to undermine

God's ability to walk in and through us. Because

many times we can look at ourselves and fail

to look at ourselves through the lenses of our

identity in Christ. Our identity in Christ should

be the way we see and carry ourselves. Right?

Because God sees us that way. The way we see

and carry ourselves is the way we see because

God sees us that way and that should be what

is at the forefront of our minds. And there's

also the importance of being available. The importance

of being available. Meetings. requires that we're

there because there are several things because

you are there to be a blessing to the other person

the other person to be a blessing to you because

if you're not available there is no like you

will not be you will not have you will not have

the opportunity praise God if you're not available

you will not have the opportunity if you're not

available you will not be able to make the most

of the opportunity right and I think we're talking

who are we talking with I was saying I said you

see the most committed set of people or set of

objects let me use objects in This place are

the chairs because we leave them every time we

go, right? The chairs are always here for the

meeting because they can't be anywhere else but

in the meeting. But note that the chairs don't

necessarily participate in the activities that

we do. You know, when we're laying hands on each

other, the chairs don't lay hands. Why do we

lay our bags on each other? The chairs are...

So it means that... Availability goes beyond

your being there. Praise God. Availability goes

beyond your being present. Your availability

should translate into actions, into participation.

Praise God. Your availability to translate to

the participation. And you don't even have any

excuse. We don't have any excuse of not participating,

of not being present in every meeting, or being

present in every gathering, or being present

to. minister to one another. We don't have any

excuse. Because even Jesus Christ as a boy was

available for meetings. But at a very young age,

he was available for meetings. Let's see Luke

Luke 2:46

2, verse 46. We see him in the temple. We see

him in the temple being taught. Luke 2, verse

Luke 2:46

46. So now, so it was that after three days,

they found him in the temple, sitting in the

midst of teachers, both listening to them, and

asking them questions praise god so he was in

a temple listening to teachers speak and also

asking questions right so he himself prioritizes

or was and look he says so it was that after

three days praise god after three days it's good

so so it tells you a lot about the It goes beyond

just being available. It goes beyond that. This

person was curious to learn. He was curious to

learn. He was curious to take steps. And even

when it was time for him to start ministry, right?

Even when it was time for him to start ministry,

he also still did not say, oh, he attended meetings.

It was in probably, John the Baptist probably

had thrown a conference, right? Probably had

thrown a conference. because he was, and then

he showed up in the conference and you, you can,

and you know, you know the thing about relationship

where I said, he could have said, it's a cause.

It's a cause. You know, you know, it's funny.

It's not that boy. It's not my cousin. It's not

my cousin. You just, just talk down on the person

while it's, and you can tell that John the Baptist

did not have that. John the Baptist, even in

John 3 .30, he was like, no, right? He saw him

for who he is. John looked at him and said, behold,

the Lamb of God takes over. He did not look at

him as, behold, my cousin. Praise God. He saw

him and he was, and I just tied that in there,

but the point is this, that Jesus Christ was

very much there. He didn't ignore John the Baptist.

He didn't ignore him. who was there, who was

available, and that should communicate something

to us. That every meeting should be important

to us because something happens in every meeting.

And when you decide to, I said it on Sunday,

because the meeting is important to you, you

will show up even when you eat. You know, how

you know that something is important to you is

when there is no means to come, you will make

a way. Because they say when there's a will,

there's a way, right? You know that there's no

bosses. You know that there's, oh, you see, because

I don't want to meet, not because you are going

to function in that meeting or because there's

something that happens in that meeting that you

don't want to miss out on. And that is the, that's

how you know that there's growth. That's how

you know that you're learning because you know

that this meeting will not, you're not, you're

not, you don't cop out. You don't say, oh, we

can do something else and leave it at that. So

we see that, and we see that even when it was

time to select a replacement for Judas, it was

someone that was not just available for the meeting,

but was part and parcel of the different things

that we're doing. We see that in Acts 1, Acts

1, 15 to 26. Acts 1, 15 to 26. So it says, in

those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the

disciples. altogether the number of names that

was a hundred and twenty, and said, Men and brethren,

the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the

Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David

concerning Judas, who became a guide to those

who arrested Jesus. And for he was numbered with

us and obtained a part of this. He says, Now

this man purchased a field with the wages of

iniquity, and falling headlong, he busted open

in the middle, and all his entries gushed out.

19. He says, And he became known to all those

dwelling in Jerusalem, so that a field is called

in their own language, Akeldema, that is, a field

of blood. For it was written in the book of Psalms,

Let the dwelling place be desolate, and let no

one live in it, and let another take his office.

Therefore, of those men who have accompanied

us all the time, that the Lord Jesus went in

and out among us, beginning from the baptism

of John to that day when he was taken up from

us. One of those must become a witness with us

of his resurrection. I want you to notice the

fact that this is from the time of John, this

time, and the person must be there, not with

some time. A person shows up there and there's

no boss, there's no income, and there's no food

that morning, or there was no water, there's

no income. It says they proposed to, like Stephen

called. Basavas and the sign name Justus and

then Matthias and we know that it goes on and

on and then Matthias was the person that was

selected. Notice that all these persons were

not, they were committed to the meeting. They

were consistent in the gatherings. They were

there and then they said, okay, this too. They

had two persons that was there and then they

picked one of the two persons. So it means that

you, for any form of growth increase, for you

to be patterned, you have to be committed, not

just And it's not just you are close, you see,

you are close to the person and then that closeness

will translate to you being picked. That's not

how it works, right? Because, you know, sometimes

it's like, that's a corrupt practice, right?

Where on the basis of closeness, you are now

being selected. Most of the time, it's the person

that is selected on that premise will not even

get the job done. Praise God. The person will

not be able to get the job done because it takes

more than that. It takes more than. And we say

that availability is essential and very important.

Being available, and when I say being available,

it's 360. It's not just you being physical. I've

said this a couple of times. You can be physically

present, but your mind is somewhere else. I said

like the chair. It is present in every, like

we will leave the chairs, go out, we'll come

back, we'll see the chair. The chairs are the

first thing we see when we come in, and they're

the last thing we see when we're leaving. But

it doesn't mean that they're committed to the

work. Praise God. And the first thing we say,

the last thing we say, so you want to challenge

yourself to not be a chair. Always there, but

you do nothing. Oh, you just function as where

people sit on. Praise God. So God does not call

and equip people in isolation. Praise God. He

doesn't call and equip people in isolation. There's

always a network of our family. He has placed

us. In fact, when we come, we come into a family,

right? We come into a family from different nationalities,

but we are one in Christ. Praise God. And he

does that through our gathering consistently.

Our gathering consistently. And it's in our gatherings

that we are a tool of blessing to people. I remember

what I told us on Sunday as we closed. Remember

what I told us on Sunday? That these friends

that wanted to get their friend healed, know

that that friend was... For you to, you know,

when you are able to go out of your way and say,

see, this is our friend. We don't like his situation.

We want to see our friend get well. And then

go out of your way to the point that you had

several, you know, you can come and then you

see a crowd and you say, let's just go back.

Maybe we'll try some other day. But because you

want to see your friend, you will push everything

and anything on the path to get that person healed.

And I think I heard the testimony of someone

that wanted to get healed of a particular condition.

And they showed up in a meeting and they were

like, how will we have this? But they just stayed

there. And Holy Spirit just ministered to them

to just stay at the point. And they are staying

there because they insisted that something was

going to happen. All of a sudden, someone just

opened the door from the side and told them they

should come in. And that was how they were able

to. Because they knew that just waiting around,

by the Spirit of God, they knew that waiting

around there will... Somehow, they didn't know

how it was going to happen. These friends, they

pulled out the roof and ensured that he landed

where he would meet with Cillian. And you want

to be that faithful friend to someone. And you

yourself want to be that person that is postured

to know. You want to be that faithful friend

to someone. And you want to be that faithful

friend to your family member, to that friend.

Because that's basically what we're called. Because

we know what the solution is, right? And we're

able to communicate that effectively to anyone,

right? Because we say, when an opportunity presents

itself, it should demand that we go all in because

we know that the result is there, right? We know

we have been taught, right? And we know that

the gospel is this, this, this, and this. We

should be able to open our mouth and say, this

is the gospel. Opportunity presents itself. This

is what it is. Praise God. We should never be

scared to proclaim that which we have received.

We should not be scared to proclaim that we have

received because it is going to mean that someone

will miss out on. something that God has an abundance

of. Praise God. God has an abundance. God does

not delight in holding back healing that is going

to turn the situation of a family member, a friend,

right? But he requires that we are able to stand

our ground and say, okay, this thing has to change

and this is he who can change it. Praise God.

So I want us to open our mouths and just give

God thanks because we are not people that will

relent. We're not people that will hold back.

We are like those faithful friends. We appreciate

you being here today. We hope you carry this

word with you throughout your week. Don't forget

to check the show notes for additional insights.

Stay connected with us through our website or

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Until next time, stay blessed.