Standing Fast in the Faith (Part 6)

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right in. in the faith, standing fast in the

faith, and we took time to explain or talk about

what doctrine is, what doctrine is, and how the

false doctrine is able to distort the actual

truth, the actual sound truth of God's Word.

And we see these warnings go out time and time

again in God's Word, and we stopped at Jesus'

instructions to his disciples to beware of the

doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

I want us to pick it up from there. I want us

to pick it up from there as we continue. And

if it wasn't important, the instruction would

have not been given. If the instruction wasn't

important, it wouldn't have been given. And he

had warned the disciples, he had stated, that

is in Matthew 22, he had warned and stated, and

even though they misunderstood, at first because

he said the will of the leaven of the Pharisees.

And that got them confused because they were

like leaven and leaven is yeast. And we know

that in the process of bread making, when you

put yeast in something, it causes a fermentation

process that results in the rising of things.

And thinking about it is a false rise, right?

It's just air. His air and he says beware of

it and then it's it took them a while and then

we see in 33 we see them get into To to note

what it was. They was talking about the doctrine

of the Pharisees. Praise God, but just we visited

we we said that the Sadducees are and the teaching

that is that most what they hold onto, the teaching

that they hold onto, and I think in Matthew 22,

Matthew 22:23

verse 23, that's from the message, it says that

this party, it denied the possibility of resurrection.

That quote from the message, it says that this

party, they deny the possibility of resurrection,

and we know that there's a doctrine of resurrection,

and we had looked at how you can't be, you can't

be, a believer and deny, that is like one of

the core doctrines of Christianity. That's one

of the doctrines of Christ. In fact, Christ himself

had resurrected as proof of the fact that what

they are holding onto is invalid, is an error.

And they come and I repeated to us that the way

they approach the questioning, the way they approach

the questioning, and you want to not just Here,

people ask questions. When they ask questions,

they're coming from a place. And sometimes, in

their own case, there's that sense of, oh, want

to mock this whole idea, want to mock the idea

of you saying, and then you now create a story

around it to just make the idea look stupid in

a sense, make the idea look stupid in a sense.

Because once you structure it like that, one

woman, seven brothers, And then at the end, who's

she married to? You are missing the point. And

that's what he brought to your attention. You

are deceived, right? You are deceived. You are

mistaken. You are mistaken. So they did all of

that to place it. But Jesus Christ brings their

attention in answering their question. He brings

them to the real issue, right? He brings them

to the real issue. And he still uses the same,

he still uses Moses. Because they came to him

with Moses, right? He came to him with what Moses

had instructed and then he goes back and then

he reorders it. He reorders it because you notice

that the mindset they come with is a worldly

mindset. The mindset that they approach their

questions is a worldly mindset and it's flawed.

And you see that they are trying to place the

whole thing on like... the whole idea of marriage

that is of this world. And then they come and

then they say, okay, what the whole thing is

around is not around continuing the family line.

And even after now, it will not be about continuing

family line. The family line that you're saying,

okay, because in a bid to want to preserve the

family line, that is why they were having that

engagement. And we know that that family line

idea will not be something that we'll be talking

about after now. Because after the resurrection,

it's not about you preserving your family line.

There's a family that we're part of, praise God.

That's why when we talk about family, family,

yes, we have our family, which we do appreciate,

but we know that we're into this family now,

right? There's a family that we're part of that

shipens not our own culture now. There's a family

culture that we now have that shipens the way

we think. And there's a... There's a way we operate

in the family. There's a way we do things in

the family, which would be very different. Some

of our families, they are godly, right? They

are godly, so they adopt the way we do things

here. And the families that we have around the

world, most of the times, if the culture is worldly,

if it's worldly, the culture will be worldly,

praise God. But if it's godly, because the culture

we're in is a culture that is anchored and shaped

by God. and what God's will is for us. So he

brings them back to that. He realigns them. He

brings the attention to what is. And he uses

Moses. He says, Moses showed that the dead will

rise because by implication, he says God of Abraham,

right? God of Isaac, God of Jacob. He is not

the God of the dead or the God of the living.

For to him, all are alive. For to him, that's

invested too. For to him, all are alive. So you

will not be speaking of this individual if they

were not, in a sense, because of him, because

he brings, he presents the same thing, makes

it clear to them that look, what you are denying

is undeniable, right? What you're trying to deny

is undeniable. What you're trying to deny is

undeniable. Jesus makes it absolutely clear to

them. He makes his absolutely clear to them,

because not only will he resurrect, right? Not

only will he resurrect, because his work is majorly

anchored on him being raised from the dead. And

then in Luke's account of the same conversation,

Luke's account of the same conversation, in Luke

Luke 20:36

20 verse 36, what he adds to what Matthew's account

is, it says, And adding that, those who rise

can no longer die. Those who rise can no longer

die, for they are like angels. They are God's

children, since they are children of the resurrection.

Since they are children of the resurrection.

So those that are raised can no longer die. He

says, and he compares them to angels, kind of

similar to what Matthew, very similar to what

Matthew says, but at that moment they can no

longer die. He says, they are God's children,

praise God. Now he brings them to the actual

family that is most important, not the family

line that they're trying to, because they're

trying to preserve it, they start passing it

down. brings them to the family line that's important

because by virtue of us believing in what Christ

has done, we are part of a family. There's no

complicated process around it. There's no complicated

process around it. So he brings them back in

place, brings them back in order. And that's

how, when we see an error, we want to know where

the error is stemming from, right? And then because

you are very clear as to what you believe in,

you are able to address it. Praise God. And there's

a big problem when you don't even know what you

believe in. Somebody just presents something

to you. You'll just fall afloat. Because you

know that for every error, there's the consequences.

If you believe something, there are the consequences

of your belief. And if you just blindly say,

OK, for the sake of peace, for the sake of peace,

let's just agree. For the sake of peace, let's

agree. But by agreeing, you have agreed to all

the terms and conditions. Most of the times,

we don't agree. We don't go through terms and

conditions just for the stress, just the stress

of having to read the lengthy and the way they

make it very bulky. So you just accept, accept,

accept. But there's a consequence for you accepting

everything. Like those you're accepting, you're

open. They say, OK, because you have accepted

this now, we'll collect this percent of your,

you have accepted. You have agreed to it because

you have accepted and they didn't force you to

it. They assume that you should have read and

you are aware of all the details, all the nuances

before you. you click Accept. So the same thing

happens with Arrow. If you don't assess it properly,

you will be accepting and accepting everything

in the mix. Because once you have accepted, you're

coming back with, oh, no, I didn't know that

it entails this and this. That's why people maliciously

put certain segments. Make it very small so that

you can read it. Make it small so that you can't

necessarily see it or pay attention to it. And

then you go from there. And note that I want

to take us to something else that Something else

in the in the in the false letter to the church

in current as in the second Corinthians where

he brings the attention to something very important

about where he talks about Forgiven right where

it talks about forgiving and I am going there

because he says something that's very important,

right? You see something very important now read

it from the NLT in second Corinthians 2 verse

2 Corinthians 2:11

11 I want us to see it. This is in in the NLT

says so that Satan will not outsmart us, for

we are familiar with his evil schemes. We are

familiar with his evil schemes. So there's a

familiarity with the way a person operates that

makes you spot when there's error, right? There's

a familiarity with the way the person operates

that makes you, because if you are smarter than

the person that is trying to outsmart you, you

are at an advantage, right? Because you can be

able to spot with different ways they are trying

to outsmart you. I was explaining sometime, I

think I was explaining to, you know, just by

observation, you can see how people are trying

to be smart, right? You go into the market, the

way they position things is very strategic. It's

business, by the way. It's not, they're not trying

to, there's a psychology behind it and they understand

that and you don't understand it, you just flow

with it. The goal is to sell to you something

and the ultimate goal is that they are selling

something that they want people to buy. And then

you walk into the market, and you are about existing

in the market. It took me a while to understand,

because on this island, just being around an

island, you might not necessarily make sense

of what is going on. The way they position things

in the market is very strategic. Even when companies

come to place their product, the way they position

their own product as against those other companies

that don't come to position their product, very

strategic. They put yours at the back, put theirs

in front, because they are there to arrange it

for themselves. right? Such a way that there's

accessibility. The moment you can easily reach

for that thing, it's easy for you to buy it,

right? And then when you're exiting, notice,

how many of us have noticed where they place

the suites when you're exiting? It's not where

adults can easily reach. For most good amount

of market, they put it at that level where, when

the parent is going to pay for it, the child

will be fiddling, because the child will be there

with the parent, right? So it's very, it's at

the site level of the child. And once the child

picks it, you know, You know, if your child has

had like two, three sweets prior to coming to

the market, and then the child now wants to have

extra sweets, and then you now, it's a queue.

You know how that thing can be embarrassing where

you're trying to pick your child and get them

through the counter, and then there's a very

nice person behind us. You don't know the problem.

We'll pay for it. It's not that you don't have

the money to pay. You know that this child has

had several other suites before now. So having

that extra, so the smart thing parents will do

is just take it and keep it for them for later.

If the person insists that they do pay for that

particular thing. But you see that everything

around us is somewhat designed to get people

to engage with certain things. So the more you're

conscious of it, the more you'll be able to find

ways to navigate it. So if there's a challenge

and you don't know it's a challenge, you will

fall prey to it every time. Praise God. And the

challenge that Apostle Paul is trying to address

in this place is that thing of where you have

an issue letting go. Because forgiveness, unforgiveness

is an issue, right? Forgiveness is not something

that people very easily do, right? People very

easily do. Understanding, and Apostle Paul is

trying to address it here. And I want us to start

from 8 to 11. Let's read from 8 to 11. We will

do it in the New Kingdom, sorry. Let's go back

to 18 James, from 8 to 11. It says, therefore

I affirm, it says, I urge you, sorry, therefore

I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. That

is the person that has offended, because it's

the church now that's addressing the issue of

this person to him. To this end, as I also wrote,

that I might put you to the test, whether you,

whether you are obedient in all things, right?

In 10, he says, now whom you forgive, whom you

forgive anything, I also forgive, for if indeed

I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that

one for his sake, for your sake, in the presence

of Christ. He says, he now says, least Satan

take advantage of us. for we are not ignorant

of his devices." So he's trying to encourage

them to reaffirm their love to that particular

individual, to reaffirm their love to that particular

individual in verse 6 and 7. We see that in verse

6 of the same chapter. He says, this punishment

which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient

for such a man. That's the individual. It means

that this individual has suffered enough from

from the from yes yes probably has been afflicted

enough this seven now says so that on the contrary

you ought rather to forgive and comfort him least

perhaps such one will be swallowed up with too

much sorrow so he's encouraging them to forgive

and comfort so that they don't lose a brother

right so they don't lose a brother the end goal

is for the individual to be restored in other

words he says let's let's let's forgive this

person right Let's forgive this person and you

can get a sense that it's a situation that happened

in the church that they're addressing and then

he's bringing the attention to the fact like,

let's reaffirm our love for this person, right?

Let's reaffirm our love for this person because

we don't want to lose him in trying to reprimand

him, right? We don't want to lose him in trying

to reprimand him and he now concludes with saying,

right? At least Satan takes advantage us for

we are not ignorant of his devices means that

we are aware of the ways the devil want us to

but because broken relationship is what you're

trying to fix here the broken relationship is

what you're trying to see how you can restore

the Brother so I use that force to help to help

us understand that the enemy has ways Right the

enemy has ways that he can cross an offense cross

division make you go away from the core tenets

of the doctrine of Christ, make you go away from

all of that. And we know that if you don't desire

sound, what is sound? You fall for what is false,

right? You don't desire what is sound, you fall

for what is false. And even the understanding

of what is false will help you, right? Because

once you know what is sound, understanding what

is false will help you to easily deal with it.

help you to easily deal with it. And that's why

you continue to answer. Because the enemy is

not, he's not, he's always improving, right?

He's always trying to make the, max the deception,

make it very difficult for you to spot what is

an error. And you want to always be on your toes,

to be able to see the schemes of his schemes

and be able to make, understand and walk around

it and ensure that you are not, you are a lot,

praise God, and ensure that you are a lot. So

in 1 Peter 5, 8 to 9, it says, be sober, be vigilant.

That word there, we're familiar with it from

Sunday, that being vigilant means to be watchful,

to watch. It's the same word as in 1 Corinthians

16, 13, the same word there. They say because.

The reason why you are sober is because your

adversary, the devil walks. about like a roaring

lion. Emphasis on like a roaring lion. Seeking

whom he may devour. Seeking whom he may devour.

Resist him. Resist him. The Greek word there

is to stand against that. It's to oppose. It's

to stand against that or it's to oppose. Stand

against what exactly it is and how do you stand?

It says steadfast in the faith, right? Steadfast

in the faith. Knowing that the same sufferings

are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

Knowing that it's not like it's the same. The

methods, the strategies he'll be employing is

the same. Praise God. Methods and strategy he'll

be employing is the same. So the adversary, which

is one very important thing that I want you to

notice, he says, he didn't say, be sober, be

vigilant, because your adversary your brother

and your sister in Christ. Did he word it like

that? Was that what was stated? Because sometimes

we fail to understand who the true enemy is,

right? Because the fact that the enemy is walking

through a brother and a sister, it can be misleading.

Praise God. It can be misleading. Because you

want to be able to spot, because the person you

can see is your brother and your sister, right?

And you just feel like they're trying to just

get underneath your skin. They're trying to find

ways. to test your love work, to see if you are

genuinely a believer. Praise God. To see if you're

genuinely a believer. But not that we are encouraged

to understand that the adversary is the enemy,

as the devil. The person that is your brother

and your sister is not the devil. That person

that has done you wrong was empowered by somebody.

Praise God. Was empowered by somebody. So when

you want to retaliate, When you want to retaliate,

understand that helps you to calm down, right?

When you feel like, OK, I want to retaliate,

it helps you to calm down. Even though the person

before you is really, because the enemy is very

strategic in how he makes you miss the point.

He makes you miss the point, because now your

focus is on the, because when somebody does something

to you and you understand the person is not a

believer, you know, it changes the way you, because

this person doesn't believe what you believe

in. So why am I angry? Praise God. It helps you

just examine the reasons why you shouldn't even

be so bothered about a person's action. In fact,

most of the times, why you're greatly bothered

is especially when the person says, I'm a believer,

you feel like this person has just betrayed.

Has just betrayed and many times that is what

gets us and we need to spot what, why are you

offended, right? Why are you, like if you come

down to truly why you're offended, it helps you

build up from there, right? Because sometimes

we can't even, you know there's times when you're

offended, but you don't even know the reason

why you're offended. You just feel like, and

you cannot, you are just, you want to exercise

on the premise of the offense, but you want to

take a step back and say, why am I really offended?

Is what my actions or the actions I'm about to

take. commensurate to the offense. Praise God.

So when he uses the word lion, lion has a strategy

of attack. The lion doesn't attack the focused.

It doesn't attack the strongest. The lion attacks

the one that is isolated, right? The one that

is not amongst the pack. He observes. The lion

doesn't just pursue. I think if you watch wildlife,

you see that the animals are very, there are

certain animals that just hunger and make them

just hunt around, but the lion is very strategic

in how he hunts. The lion is very strategic in

how he hunts. Their focus, they look for those

that are weak, they look for those that are careless,

right? Animals that are careless. You're with

your pack, you decide to just wander and wander

away, and you're wandering away to your own...

Because the lion now spots that, rather than

me go against this whole group, there's one available

dinner or breakfast. Praise God. There's an available

dinner or breakfast. And he uses that to paint

a picture to us. And the strategy of the enemy

is the same. It's easy to attack somebody that

is isolated. Right? And many times we don't even

know this with even relationships. When people

want to mess, they drag you out. They will make

you fight with all the people that truly care

for you. Praise God. They will make you fight

with all of them. They will say, this person

doesn't mean you well. These are the reasons

why they don't mean you well. You will say, yes,

I see the reasons why they don't mean you well.

But you don't understand that all of a sudden

they don't mean you well. There's a change. So

you want to. Be aware that the enemy walks the

same exact way and the enemy uses the same, people

that do it use the same tactic of the enemy,

the same tactic. So what it really means is that

you have to examine yourself. When I'm in difficult

situations, what are my first line of action?

Do I isolate myself from the believer? Wrong

move. Do I decide that, okay, those times are

the times I don't attend church meetings because

I'm trying to do a personal examination of myself?

I don't want to be distracted. I want to just

focus on the Lord and myself. Praise God. Does

that sound like a very good strategy? Or your

strategy is making you even more. of a lunch

and a dinner. Very good. Notice that I don't

use breakfast, because it's early. Most people

come in the mornings. So you can give the lion

a run when it's morning, because the energy,

you are still up on your energy. And sometimes,

which is one of the strategies the enemy employs,

he makes you feel that, oh, why am I the only

one that is always attacked? Why am I the only

one that is always prone to all, you just feel

like, am I the only one that is, why should I

be the only one that is going through suffering,

right? Why should I be the only one that's going

through hardships? Why should I be the only one

that's going through difficulty? But you fail

to understand that those things are part of what

happens to people that are alive, right? Those

things are part of what happens to people that

are alive. The only people that have the best

time of their life are people that are just laying

down, sleeping and nothing. They don't care about

anything. Nothing bothers them. They're not functioning

systems. They're just there. But for you that

is alive, you'll be prone to those things, right?

And the fact that you are in a family, going

back to the whole idea of being a family, you

are secured, right? Because not everybody will

not be going through suffering at the same time.

Yeah, there are times where it happens, right?

But not everybody feels it the same way. Praise

God. So there's always going to be that person

that will help you through it. Praise God. And

that's why When we encourage us time and time

again, don't just say, okay, have close cycle

of friends in the church that you can run to,

right? That you can run to, that you can encourage

yourselves, that you can grow together, that

you can strengthen yourself, that you are very,

very vulnerable with. Praise God. You're very

vulnerable. It's very important because it helps

you. It helps you stand. It helps you stand.

And we'll talk more about that because we'll

see it in Scripture. The time that Peter and

John had that situation, he had people they went

to. They went to pray together. When Paul was

with Silas in the prison, he had Silas. When

we'll get to see... their Babylonian names. They

had themselves, right? They had themselves. When

Daniel had the, he came back to them. In Daniel

2, he came back to them. He came back to them.

So you want to understand that difficult seasons,

you shouldn't conclude when you have difficult

seasons. You shouldn't conclude that the Lord

has left you to sort yourself out. Don't conclude

that the Lord has left you to sort yourself out

because Difficult season the moment you open

your mouth and start talking about difficulties

You hear more other difficult situation has happened

to other people, right? So it's a major lie from

the enemy That makes you feel like the Lord has

left you to your own like just sort yourself

out But scripture time and time and again reminds

us that he will never leave us. Right? He has

that is not the way he operates. He doesn't say

Leave yourself, you know, today I was talking

to my students, I say, sometimes the way I look

at some people in the exam hall, it looks like

the moment they pick up, like the question paper

is dropped on the table, and then they look at

the question paper, the other part of themselves

will tell them, see you at home. It's like, that's

basically what it is to them, like, because they

will allow fear, make the most of them, and then

they will just feel like, I can't do this. After

you have studied, Like, you know, say, I can't

do this. And then it's like, see you at home,

please. Just handle it by yourself. And it's

the part that studied with them that leaves them.

So I was encouraging them. I said, when that

part of yourself wants to leave, just tell them,

please, we can't do this. I can't do this alone.

We have to do this together. Let's sit down and

ensure that we do the exams together. And for

some people, they feel it's like that. When there's

a difficult situation, ah. God now lives with

them. God is scared of this situation, too scared

that he abandons you in the line of fire. I want

you to reorient your understanding about God.

When God promises to never leave you no for sake,

what he means is that. He's not going to leave

you no for sake. So even in the fire, praise

God, he's there with you. Even in the fire, he's

there with you. And he didn't just even leave

you for... He places family, he places, he gives

you his word, right? He gave you family. He gave

you the church, the church family. He gave you

the church family. He gave you his word. He gave

you himself. Praise God. And I want that to be

a very strong encouragement to you that no matter,

no matter what you're going through, don't ever

get yourself or catch yourself thinking that

you are alone on the matter. And by the way,

note that you can think that you're alone on

the matter. But the actual fact or the actual

reality is that you're not alone. Praise God.

And that should be what you should reinforce

in your mind. That's what you should reinforce.

It can feel like you're alone, right? The situation

can make you feel like you're not alone, but

you are guaranteed. Your rest assured that the

fact that you have, even if you can't, God's

word is not making sense to you at that point

in time. God's people around you should make

sense to you at that point in time. so you don't

isolate yourself from them, praise God. In Psalms

55 -22, Psalms 55 -22, it says, give your burdens,

give your burdens, NLT, I'm using the NLT, say,

give your burdens, and that burdens is whatever

life throws at you, whatever life throws at you,

to the Lord, and he will take care of you, praise

God. It says, he will take care of you, and he

has been doing this for a while. He took care

of David. He took care of all the people. He

has been taking care of them. So he has experience.

So don't think that you are new. Like your own

case is very unique to you. God is struggling.

He's finding ways to take care of you. He doesn't

even know how to take care of you because your

situation is so complicated that God's mind just

gets blown away. That's not what he says. Praise

God. He says he will take care of you. He says

he will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Praise God. Jude says he's able to keep us from

stumbling. He's able to preserve us. He says

all of those things to reinforce. And then the

New King James says, cast your burdens on the

Lord, and he shall sustain you. He shall never

permit the righteous to be moved. Praise God.

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

And note that in the earlier verses, the earlier

verse of 1 Peter, that's basically where he had

mentioned that. that has taken it from the Psalms.

David is the one that is saying this. And David

knows this for himself, praise God. David, as

someone who has gone to battle, someone who has

faced difficult situations, he knows this for

a fact. And when he says cast your burden, he

doesn't say you should, you know, sometimes you

can put it there and pick it back. You can put

it there and you feel like, oh no, no, no, it's

my problem, it's my problem, we take it back

again. That is in the 1 Peter 5 verse 7. It says,

1 Peter 5:7

Casting all your care upon the Lord, because

he cares for you. Casting all your care upon

the Lord, for he cares for you. That's where

the pita picks from the psalmist, picks from

David. The casting of the care, because he cares

for you. Because he cares for you. And I want

us to quickly see Daniel and his friends. I want

us to quickly see Daniel and his friends. When

Daniel was faced with the situation, and all

of us, technically, everybody was faced with

that situation, in Daniel 2 verse 1, New King

Daniel 2:1

James, Daniel 2 verse 1, it says, now in the

Daniel 2:1

second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar

had dreams, had dreams. And his spirit was so

troubled that his sleep left him. So he had a

dream, and he was so troubled. And I want you

to mark. The key word here is that he slept,

had a dream, he woke up, he couldn't sleep. Right?

Slept, had a dream, woke up, and couldn't sleep.

He said, then the king gave a command to all

his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, Chaldeans,

to tell the king his dreams. So I think I was

thinking about it one time. I said, it's interesting

how these kings surround themselves with all

these calibers of people. I guess, different

kinds of people, they surround themselves with

all of these persons because they don't want

to make a wrong move, right? They want to be

very, and for us, we are the ones that choose

to surround ourselves by ourselves when you're

faced with a talentless situation. But these

people, and if you want to, a king is someone

that you should observe, especially if a king

knows what he's doing, right? If a king knows

what he's doing, it's someone that should see

the way he operates, the way he does things,

and we see that this man, even though he doesn't

know God, right? But he puts himself around people,

at least he has people around him. You have Daniel

that knows God, so that if there's a problem,

but you have people around, you leave those people

and then you go to the people that don't know

God. What do I do about this situation? And what

do you expect them to tell you? Godly things,

godly steps to take, like they say, don't worry,

I know you fear God. So I will teach you how

to, they will teach you what the word of God

says concerning your particular. Situation is

that is that what usually happens? No, they will

give you the wrong thing or the best ways to

They would suggest to you the ways to get yourself

arrested ways to get yourself killed ways to

get yourself into more trouble than you started

with because when you assess yourself from when

you took the advice to win You can tell there's

a big difference and the difference is not a

good difference Praise God. So he surrounds himself.

He gets these people to want he sees so that

they can be so that they should so they came

Stood before the king and then he goes on and

on. I wanted to jump to 16 So we understood that

the king now says oh if you cannot get this done

You guys are gonna be killed like why do I have

you if you can't solve my problem, right? So

he threatens them and says, okay, you guys are

gonna be killed if you know so in 16 now it gets

to Daniel gets word of it of this and then he

says Daniel went in and asked the king to give

him time I was thinking to give him time that

he might tell the king the interpretation So

now Daniel is now having to, because the king

did not want to tell them what the dream was,

because anybody can cook up anything, and say

that's the, since you have told us the dream.

So the person is able to tell him, because he

wants to trust that you're not making up stuff,

because anybody, because you know that you're

gonna die, because you know that death is the

ultimate, you will have to make up something,

just so that you live to see another day, right?

But we see that Daniel now comes, and then in

17, so Daniel went into, went, to his house and

made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael,

and Hazariah, his companions. He made the decision

known to his companions. So it means that he

didn't just go by himself. He went to his companions,

his friends, right? He went to his friends, made

known to them, and in 18 it says that they might

seek the mercies from the God of heaven. concerning

this secret, so that Daniel and his companions

might not perish with the rest of the wise men

of Babylon. So Daniel and his companions will

not perish alongside. Meaning that in him being

able to, it's not like the rest are gonna die,

they're gonna be saved. All those other men too

will be saved as well. So that Daniel and his

companions might not perish alongside them. So

in 19, now it says, Then the secret was revealed

to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed

the God of heaven. So Daniel blessed the God

of heaven. So we see that Daniel and his friends

would have gathered. His friends would have come

together and they start saying, hey, what are

we going to do now? Hey, now that the king is

going to remove our heads, what are we going

to do? It was not a party of friends. They were

now warring themselves together, right? Let's

hold their hands and be crying. What they did

was that they sought the help of God, right?

And know that for God to be the one you go to

when you have a problem, it says a lot about

the way you solve or the way you deal with it.

And then someone says, when you are faced with

a situation, do you run to the phone or run to

the throne? So is your first line of action going

to God or trying to find a way to fix it yourself?

So we see that this man understood that this

particular thing, we cannot solve it. Praise

God. And that's the first thing you want to understand

when you're faced with a difficult situation.

Because sometimes you're faced with a difficult

situation, you cannot solve it. You are trying

to solve it by yourself. And it's a dangerous

place to be because it can get worse. Because

the moment you now come and find the people that

will help you, we will just be telling you if

you had contacted us earlier. it would have been

a lot easier, praise God. So you want to, and

I believe that even when you're going to a difficult

situation, you pray about it, I am very sure

that the Holy Spirit will highlight individuals

that you should go and talk about your situation.

I'm very sure, because you are in a family, right?

You're in a family. So these men prayed together

and then it was revealed to them. And note something.

situation is enough to deny them sleep. Do you

understand me? It's enough because if somebody

says they're going to kill you if you don't do

something and you know that what they're asking

you to do is impossible. I don't know about you.

Sleep will not be on the list of things that

you will do even after you're afraid. Because

if you're afraid and then the solution doesn't

come in that very place of prayer, you say, God,

I'm finished. Praise God. Because you just get

into panic mode, and everything just spirals

down from there. But we see that Daniel was able

to at least go to bed. Praise God. He was able

to go to bed, and he was in his sleep. Right?

He was in his sleep, because it says night vision.

I don't know when you say it. And other instances

in the book of Daniel Way makes reference to

that. But we understand that that was. That was

him having to rest, and then that happens. So

one key thing you can see from here is the fact

that no matter what it is you're going through,

sleep helps you to actually... Praise God. It's

very straightforward, very simple. If you don't

sleep, you probably will not even see the way

out. Praise God. The door can be in front of

you, you say, I'm locked up because you have

not slept. Praise God. So if you know that there's

a time to sleep, that's just so because sometimes

the cause of the problem is that you're sleeping

too much. Praise God. So we see that the dream

was made known to them and it just communicates

their trust. Going to bed, even when you have

a difficulty, it just communicates your trust

in God. You know, we say, cast your care. Once

you have casted it on him, you can sleep. Because

now it's not on you, it's on him. And you trust

that when you wake up tomorrow morning, it will

be a lot better. Praise God. And we see that

that was the case for them, because in a place

of rest, the revelation was able to be made known

to them. And then he comes, and then he presents

it to the king. I want to just go back to because

I I just did that so that we can come back on

it. So I want to go to James now and show us

something. James 1, 2 to 4. James 1, 2 to 4.

And I want to read it from the NLT, please. It

says, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles

of any kind come your way. When troubles of any

kind come your way. It says, when troubles of

any kind come your way. Consider it an opportunity.

for great joy consider it an opportunity for

great joy what does that mean in a sense means

that your attitude towards trouble should be

oh this is another opportunity for god to deliver

me right this is an opportunity for god to do

it's not when you now face trouble you say oh

god i'm finished you call god and then you see

you are finished praise god We see that you want

to consider it an opportunity for great joy because

it's going to end in great joy, right? It looks

like it's difficult, but it's going to end in

great joy. And the interesting thing about that,

speaking about the fact that you're standing

in faith, the interesting thing about that in

this sense now, the interesting about that is

that what you're experiencing does not make sense

with what you're thinking about, right? Because

what you're experiencing is trouble. You will

say a person is weird or you say a person is

crazy when they are going through difficulty

and they are looking forward to what God is going

to do in that situation. Praise God. They're

looking forward to what God is going to do in

that situation. And three now gives us something

very important. It says, for you know that when

your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance

to grow. Praise God. When your faith is tested,

your endurance, but we are in a world where Any

form of testing, we don't want tests. We don't

want challenges. Just give us the end. Just give

us the end. The end is joy, right? The end is

rejoicing. Just skip, let's skip all of that.

That part of suffering, delete, delete, delete,

suffering, delete, delete, delete. I wish it

was that way, where you have your life like a

movie script. You just cut out that part of suffering.

Just be cutting them out. Many people, they will

cut. Life is not like that. Because it tells

you that when, it did not say if, right? It says

when troubles of any kind come your way, consider

it an opportunity for joy. How many of us are

willing to see, you know, that is some, like

you have to deconstruct a lot of things to be

able to see suffering or see challenges and say,

God, I can't wait for what you're going to do

in this situation. And I guarantee you that it

will make the whole journey worth a while. Because

now you're going through every step of it, looking

for how God is going to deliver you. Not how

you're going to die in the process. Praise God.

Not how you're going to die in the process. It's

for you know. In fact, if the... Difficulty doesn't

do anything to you. It's an opportunity for you

to grow. The next time you see the same kind

of a thing, you'll be like, I've seen this before.

I've faced it before. And I used to tell people,

I say, if somebody has faced something before,

you don't have to. And he faced it, and he did

a good job of how he navigated his way around

it. You don't now have to now say, let me do

it my own style. You don't have to rework it.

because this person has already gone through

it so that you don't have to cry too much, suffer

too much to be able to find your way out of it.

All the bruises and all the, you know, he has

collected it all for you so that now you will,

praise God, so someone has gone through it so

you are able to even endure it and go through

it a lot. The phone now says, so let it grow,

so let it grow. When your endurance is fully

developed, you will be perfect and complete,

needing nothing. So the challenge now is to let

that, like, you want to grow, you want to let

it grow. So it says, for when you know that your

fate is tested, when your fate is tested, your

endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow,

right? Let your endurance through the situation

grows. And people that have been through difficult

situations, people that have seen difficult situations,

always have a stamina and a stability to them.

They are not easily moved when they stay steadfast

and immovable. Because regardless of what is

happening, they are doing the Lord's work. Regardless

of whatever difficulties they are facing, one

thing is constant. The work of the Lord will

continue to move forward. Because in doing that

work, every other thing that you feel like is

a problem, you're giving it the attention it

requires, by the way. You're not just ignoring

it. Because there's one other thing to ignore

the problem and act like it's not there. You

understand? Because Daniel did not say, OK, Nebuchadnezzar,

OK, don't worry. We'll just ignore what you have

said. Let's just sleep. No. They prayed about

it, right? They trusted that God was going to

deliver on the other end. And indeed so. Praise

God. So I want us to see that. And let's go back

and then look at a couple of issues, dangers

that Apostle Paul was trying to address. And

it will help us to be able to sift through. the

major issue or the what he kept on talking about,

and it's all, it comes down to the doctrine,

right? It comes down to standing fast on the

truth that you receive, because if you understand

the truth that you receive, every other thing

will arrange itself. The first thing which we

see in 1 Corinthians 1, 10 to 12, is that issue

around division, right? Now it's showing around

people saying I'm from this person, I'm from

that person, I'm from that person, I'm from this

person. So it's just divided loyalties. Where

one individual is just factions, this person,

it just messes up the beauty of the family. The

beauty of the family is so that everything works,

we work together. There's unity. There's unity,

there's one vision, there's no two visions. Praise

God. In 1 Corinthians 1, 10 to 12, it says, Now

I plead with you, brethren, by the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same

thing, right? Speak the same thing, not two things,

and that there be no divisions among you. And

speaking the same thing will mean that you're

all Muhammad. It says, but that you are perfectly

joined together in the same mind and in the same

judgment. It says, for it, 11 says, for it has

been declared, it has been declared to me concerning

you, my brethren, by those of close household.

contentment amongst you. Now, I see this, that

each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos,

or I'm of Cephas, that's Peter, or I'm of Christ.

Right, or I'm of Christ. Then 13, now says, is

Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? You

know, he's trying to, like you know, sometimes

these questions help you to recalibrate. It helps

you to understand that, what are we even fighting

for? or why are we even doing all of this? We

should come together, right? We should come together.

And it says, was Paul crucified for you or were

you baptized in the name of Paul? So Paul is

using himself here because he wants you to understand

and look, there's no need for all of this. Let's

see what just, don't allow the devil make us

lose sight of the unity that we have in Christ,

right? Don't allow the devil makes us lose sight

of the unity that we have in Christ. So we see

also in first, Corinthians 3 verse 1 to 4. That's

Corinthians 3 verse 1 to 4. There's also an issue

where he addresses it slightly different. He

says, and I, brethren, could not speak to you

as spiritual people, but as carnal, but as to

carnal, as to babes in Christ. I have fed you

with milk, not with solid food, for until now

you were not able to receive it, and even now

you are still not able. Three now says, for you

are still carnal, for where there are envy, strife,

and divisions among you, are you not carnal and

behaving like mere men? For when one says, I

am of Paul and I am of Apollos, are you not carnal?

So we see that the carnal here now is you're

not You're not walking in flow, like you are

in Christ. We are doing something that is contradictory.

That's why he says, was it Paul that was crucified

for you? So you understand that the focus is

Christ, not any of this sort of person. And you

being God is like, you're not walking in the

Spirit, like in the truth that you have received.

Praise God. You're not walking in the truth that

you have received. So he's kind of bringing the

attention to the fact that the focus is in what

Christ has done. And we understand that even

Christ encouraged, in fact in this type of prayers,

he prays for them in 17, is that they are one.

He's not about the divisions. No progress happens,

no good and solid progress happens when they

are fractions. In fact, energies will be divided.

The energy that you use to walk in one straight

line, the other person will say, no, no, no,

no, I can't walk, how can I be walking with this

person? I don't like the way he operates. And

then the energy now that we'll put in doing one

thing, this other person will be doing his own

thing, the other person will be doing his own

thing, it will take us a long time to make progress.

Praise God. And that's why he brings the attention.

In 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14, he also says, but

1 Corinthians 2:14

the natural man does not receive the things of,

and that's to contrast the fact that you understand

that you are not now, you're not a mare. You

have the spirit of God, meaning that you are

able to, See, you're able to read God's word.

In fact, God's word is what has the authority.

You live your life on the basis of what is the

instruction. You live your life on understanding

of what the authority has placed around you.

You understand the importance of all of these

things. So you don't live your life anyhow. He

says, does not receive the things of his spirit

because they are foolishness to him, nor can

they know it because they are spiritually discerned.

Meaning that you know that, OK, this is God's

will. This is what we need to do in Christ Jesus.

A person that is not, it's like when a person

shows up here and he doesn't understand what

is going on here, he will be doing something

different from what we're doing, because he doesn't

understand how things operate in this particular

environment, but we are beyond that. And in 2

Corinthians 10, 3 to 5, 2 Corinthians 10, 3 to

5, I read it from the NLT, 3 to 5, it says, we

are humans, but we don't wage war as humans do.

We use the mighty weapons, not human. not worldly

weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human

reasoning and to destroy false arguments. And

to destroy false arguments. So we destroy every

proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing

God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and

teach them to obey Christ. We capture rebellious

thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. I want

to say something that when people are acting

out of order, it means that they are, as we see

here, as I said earlier, that the enemy is behind,

is walking behind. There's a doctrine that the

enemy is running. There's an active doctrine

that's walking in that particular individual.

And what you are doing is that you're using God's

weapon, God's arsenal, which is his word, the

teaching of his word, sound doctrine, to be able

to destroy every form of human reasoning and

every false argument, contrary to what the word

of God is. And any of, any, any Anytime you entertain

anything contrary to, you are slowly yielding

to something that when you now manifest, it will

now be like you don't know what the truth is.

And nowadays we have a situation where people

don't consciously know that once you are listening

to something over and over again, you are subconsciously

programming yourself to see that as the right

way of doing things. And it happens every now

and then. You just feel like that is the normal

way. That's the right way to do things. But it's

not. It's not. And you will be forgiven of it

because you have seen it so many times to think

that, OK, everybody does it like that. But you

understand that that is not the way people should

do it. That is not the way it is done. Praise

God. And it says, we capture their rebellious

thoughts and teach them to be good. We have a

responsibility to teach people, right? We have

a responsibility to make people understand what

we believe in and teach them. It's very important

that we make people understand what we believe

in and teach them I'm trying to find a place

where we can So there are two other things that

Apostle Paul addresses and one other thing is

that them compromising to like Compromising on

what they know to not be true, right? They yield

because you see that this person is saved He

knows that okay, I shouldn't be doing this, but

they just say okay. Let's just do it anyways

Like we're in Christ, right? We're in Christ.

So we see that form of compromise that happens.

And those are what he refers to as the levels

that actually levels a little bit. Little compromises

here and there. It's what takes you off. It's

what makes you lose sight. In fact, it's what

makes people lose confidence in what you say

you believe in. Right? It makes people lose confidence.

Because what you believe in is true. But your

actions is not helping them in any way. Your

actions is not helping them. And sometimes we

undermine how that destroys your ability to proclaim

the gospel. You undermine the importance of that

because people see, they see you more than they

hear you. Praise God. They see you more than

they hear you and then you're telling them something

and then they are like, it's all, and you're

forgotten. But people don't forget. People have

seen you so many times and they've seen you taking

certain actions and you don't forget. So, and

you see in their own case, There are issues of

sexual immorality, and that has been rampant.

We see that in 1 Corinthians 5, 1 to 2, and then

6. It says that there has been reported sexual

immorality among Jews, such as not even named

among the Gentiles. That is the height of it.

And tomorrow, you want to come and tell them,

Jesus, to be difficult for you to get past that.

It says that one now takes his father's wife.

That's the height of it. He says, and you are

puffed up. So you know, you have done something

bad. It's bad enough you have done something

bad, but you are now proud about what you have

done. That's why he's addressing it. And he's

addressing it. He says, and have you not rather

mourned? And that he who has done this deed might

be taken away from among you. In 6, he says,

your glorying is not good. Do you not know that

a little leavens leaven the lump, which is the

whole idea of like, because you are glowing something

that is evil. You're glowing something that is

evil. And you want to be careful not to give,

like make that a norm. That's why when there's

a situation here, if we accept it, we are like,

that's saying it's good. Everybody should behave

like that. So you want to be able to understand

that certain things that you should not even

tolerate at all. The same thing is because it

will undermine the faith that you believe in.

You can't say you believe in this and then you

are doing this. And then you are saying something

and we are seeing something else, different from

what you are saying. So it very much undermines

that and that's why I pose to Paul this. Because

all of those things are dangerous, praise God.

All of those things are dangerous and the fact

that you are living around a culture of people

like different cultures, different people that

are still holding back because you're trying

to teach them something new. But there's something

that has been running before. Because they have

their different cultures, the different things

that they do, they hold on to different system.

Just imagine you're trying to tell them that

Christ is the end of all the sacrifice and then

you have people that say, no, no, we love this

our sacrifice so much. We still have to be doing

the sacrifice. So it will be hard because you

have to keep on standing because it will go back

to the other way. It's easy for you to flow back

because you think we miss. We miss the times

where we go into the temple and bring our goats

and we miss those times. Well, we understand

that those times are not relevant in this time

because we have something greater than those

things. Praise God. So he's trying to bring to

them. And I wanted to get to a point where we'll

talk about the whole ways that we can make those

things idols. But that will be for some of the

time to be addressed by some of the pastors.

So I want us to just open our mouths and just.

We appreciate you being here today. We hope you

carry this worry with you throughout your week.

Don't forget to check the show notes for additional

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you care about. Until next time, stay blessed.