Staying on Fire for God pt 2

Welcome to NECF. We're thrilled you're here.

Make sure to stay with us till the end, where

we'll share some great resources to deepen your

faith. Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.

Amen and amen. Well, welcome to the midweek service.

I know some of us is a new location. So my first,

we are like, well, it seems to be orange, but

now it's blue. Praise God. Praise the Lord. I'm

very, we're very happy that it doesn't, it doesn't

stop us from worshiping. You know, there's some

people that when you go to orange oil, you don't

see anybody. You say, ah, what happened? Have

we been raptured or something? But we are, we

persist, right? We, we, we, it doesn't, nothing

stops us from fellowshipping. Nothing should

stop you from fellowshipping. Even a change in

location should not stop you. Praise God. A change

in location should not stop you. And that's the

kind of believers that God is making us into.

That's the kind of believers that God is building

us into. And He will continue to build us even

better and better in the name of Jesus. So the

teaching continues, staying on fire for God.

Staying on fire for God. And on Sunday, we say

that we're staying on fire. You know, sometimes

you have to define what fire, because nowadays

there's a lot of fire, fire everywhere. You want

to be able to define what the fire is. And we

say that this fire is a passion, is a commitment,

and is a zeal for God. And it's not just for

God. It translates into a zeal and a passion

and a commitment for others, for the work he

has called us into. There's a passion for the

work he has called us into, and there's a commitment

for the work he has called us into. There's a

commitment for the people he has called us to.

and the ministry has called us to, the things,

the different things he has called us to, and

we need to be part of it. This commitment is

not half -hearted. This commitment is a wholehearted

commitment. Praise God. Let's not be distracted.

Let's not be distracted. Let's just pay attention.

So this commitment is a wholehearted commitment,

and it requires fervency. It's all about fervency.

Once you're fervent about something, it is evident.

I said that on Sunday. It is evident and it is

contagious. If you're doing something that you

want everybody to be part of, if you're not fervent,

if you're not zealous about it, you will not

have people come into it. You will not have people

even be trusting what you're talking about. So

we need to shift and up, up. our fervency and

our commitment and it's going to show in every

area of our lives. It's going to show in every

area of our lives. Nothing is going to be lacking

that because it's a muscle that we're going to

be building up in this season and God is going

to help us to be able to do that. And we say,

why is this important? I want us to echo it because

I taught this. I said, why is it? What's the

first reason I say it's important? Huh? So the

work requires it, right? The work itself requires

it because if we want to witness to the world,

the world will not hear you out if you're not

passionate about the things you're talking or

discussing about. The world can't, nobody, if

you, you do that a lot. When you, first minute

of a video, you don't, the person is not coming,

the way it does though, you skip. You find somebody

else that has something that has that, that marks

what exactly it is you're looking for. So there's

a fervency that the walk of ministry requires.

And if you don't have it, it's going to be hard

for you to make that impact, to be effective.

Praise God. And then we say for personal growth,

right? That was the second point. We say for

personal growth. And I repeat myself over and

over again. If you say you're fervent, it's not

going to be something we're struggling to find.

Praise God. We're not going to be struggling

to find it. It will show, and I said this in

closing last week, it will show in... How early

you show up for that thing. It will show in how

you take notes. Some of us, we come to church,

we say we love God, but we're not taking notes.

We say we want to grow, we're not taking notes.

There's no way you can make any effect if you're

going to be effective. So it means that we have

to, it's something that has to happen and know

that if you're not, if you're not, you know,

when you're not fervent, But it's just a matter

of time. Once something happens, we don't see

you again. Praise God. Because there was never

any form of variance. And that is the challenge

we have with most people. You just show up on

a Sunday. Your life is only on a Sunday. So it

means that you're on your way out. When Pastor

Victor was sharing one time about... the order,

the lists, you know, the way the disciples are

arranged. You know, sometimes we take for granted

that some people are behind not because of, there's

a reason why they are behind. Because when they

are looking for, they are the ones that easily

you will not see again because they are somewhat

outside. So you want to be ahead in your work.

You want to be ahead in your desire. You want

to be ahead in your passion. And you shouldn't

stay in one point. You know, there's something

about when you stay on a place for too long.

You become comfortable. You become comfortable

and from that comfort, you become cold. And from

that cold, we don't find you anymore. And that's

why in your work and in your fellowship, you

have to up it. If you're doing one, you want

to do two. You want to do three. That's why there's

a count. You want to up it and make it a bit

more challenging. Praise God. And you want to

seek to do the things you've never done before.

Praise God. You want to seek to do the things

that you've never done before. And our key text,

we said, is in Romans 12, right? Romans 12, verse

Romans 12:11

11. And I'll read from the New King James. I'll

read it again. It says, not lagging in diligence.

Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit.

How many of us have seen, how many of us, when

you're watching something and then the thing

is lagging? You're trying to watch something

and then the internet is poor. And then the thing

is just, it's buffering, right? There's a bit

of a lag. You know, Over time, you just want

to skip or restart. You want to find something

because it's frustrating. It's frustrating. You

are doing something that requires energy and

then somebody does skip. And then it's like,

even you yourself, you're like, what is going

on here? There's nothing good. You don't even

think of, you're just stuck. Praise God. You're

stuck. You are not moving. You're just there.

You're just looking. And it's just a matter of

time. People walk away. Praise God. So the NLT

says, never be lazy. Never be lazy. I say this

all the time. A lazy person is useless to God,

is useless to the devil. Like you are both ways.

The devil cannot use you because the devil needs

people to be active. The devil too thrives on

activity. Even in his kingdom, even in his work.

So when you are lazy, you're just there. Praise

God. And this is an instruction. Apostle Paul

is saying, never be lazy. Never be lazy. Anytime

you look at yourself, I think during the time

when we're praying, you know, as we're praying,

you just see somebody else come. You know, you

just come and you're just looking around. The

activity at this point in time is prayers. And

then you're just... And it's not like you're

watching... you're watching a child or you're

doing anything, you're just there and you spend

a lot of time looking around, not praying. You

know that is an indicator for something. That

should come for something, praise God. That should

mean that, that should communicate to you that

this activity is not, I don't, I'm just here

because I have to be here. I'm just here by,

I don't even know what brought me here. That's

almost like what you're communicating to us.

But we can tell that this person, or we can tell

that you already have, There's going to be a

problem. And it's just a matter of time, as I

said. You will have other things to be worried

about or you have other things to be concerned

about. Praise God. It says, never be lazy. It

says, but work hard. I'm reading now from the

NLT. But work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Enthusiasm. You want to put in that fire, that

passion. Praise God. And the TPT says, be enthusiastic.

to serve the Lord. Keep your passion towards

him boiling hot. Keep your passion towards him

boiling hot with the glow of the Holy Spirit

and let him fill you with excitement as you serve

him. Let him fill you with excitement as you

serve him. Praise God. Then we talked about why

do we lose our fire? We talked about why we lose

our fire. What was the first thing I... I'm just

doing a quick recap before we... Why do we lose

the fire was the first thing. So, exposure, I'm

assuming that we are saying exposure to honor

and keeping... I'm assuming it goes... It can

be a way to just say, yeah, that thing did what

we all said together. But it's good. So, exposure

to dishonor and keeping the wrong association,

right? Exposure to dishonor and keeping the wrong...

And how many of you have started to watch that?

How many of you have started to watch it? How

many of you have started to watch, like look

at the people you're subscribed to, the people

that you listen to very often. Are there people

that drop a hint of here and there? You watch

them. Over time, you will not realize that you're

entering a place where you just find it natural

to just say certain words to people and you don't

feel anything. You don't feel anything. And you

have just made yourself. made it normal to you

to just hear people, criticize people, and then

you don't just go ahead. You're not even giving

constructive criticism. You're just destroying

them. Praise God. You're just destroying them.

And there was a second one that we discussed.

So we said they're distracted by your past and

then there's over -familiarity with what you're

experiencing presently. And that one is a key

thing and we looked at a couple of scripts and

we said, That in itself is characterized by some

form of, I guess, you're now going back. You

know, when we're praying, I think we're praying,

there's a renewing of the mind that happens.

And that, if you're not renewing your mind, you

have a tendency to go back to a mind you had

before, which is a carnal mind. You go back to

carnality. Praise God. So there's that sense

of, if you're not making, because you know, if

you're not renewing your mind this way, things

don't stay like that. There will be an exposure

to the... or the things that, because you can

imagine the children of Israel. I don't know

whether you imagine or you think or put yourself

in that situation because sometimes you can see

all those children of Israel, they are just unbelievers,

you know, just throw things, just criticize them

and then you don't know that even in your own

life, there's a subtle, there are subtle things

that you do that even brings you, you might even

be worse than them. Even your situation, praise

God, it will be worse than them because you can

imagine this when we say that there's a mix,

because of when you mix things up, If you're

not very careful, you'll find yourself preferring

to go back to what you had. You had fought to

get out of. Praise God. You had fought to get

out of. So we said, I think Romans, I want us

to just look at Romans. Romans 6, Romans 8, sorry.

Romans 8, 6 -2. Now, those of us that used to

look for scriptures, so we say, never be lazy,

right? Open your Bible and read it. Open your

Bible and read Romans 8. Romans 8, 6. So it says,

so let me read it from the New King James. So

it's 6 to 8. It says, For to be carnally minded

is death, but to be spiritually minded is life

and peace. Because the carnally mind is enmity

against God, for it is not subject to the law

of God, nor indeed can be. It now says, so then,

those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

So you want to ensure that you are fervent in

spirit and your desire and your passion is for

God. So hence, certain things are not introduced

into your walk. And then things like we saw the

children of Israel complaining. We saw them complaining.

We saw them murmuring. We saw them doing all

those things that will not even allow for, because

all those things are things that you do when

you are carnally minded. Praise God. You can

be spiritually minded and then you take time

and you're complaining and there's no part of

you says, let's look at the best. Let's look

out for the best in the situation. Let's look

out for how. And that's the key thing that we

talked about when we talked about making excuses.

You know, most of the times when people complain

or people, they are always wanting to make an

excuse for something. You always want to make

an excuse. Oh, the reason why I wasn't able to

do this is because of this and that and that.

And then you start complaining, you start adding

other things to the equation and you don't make

any progress. And excuse, excuse is one of the

things that extinguishes fire. Look at the person

that makes excuses a lot. If you find the person

that makes excuses, they never grow. And the

thing is that this person makes excuses for the

things that they want to. Some people are smiling.

They're smiling at me. If you're smiling at me,

you know what I'm talking about. It hits home.

Praise God. It hits home. You make excuses for

almost everything. Why did you come? I was down.

I was down. You don't even know how my day went.

But if that same person, the same thing was making

excuses for not showing up. If we switch it up

a bit, spice it up, say, okay, they're going

to donate. There's money for everybody that comes.

They'll be the first. And that speaks about what

you prioritize. Praise God. You don't prioritize.

You prioritize some things over the things of

God. Praise God. And as we say, excuses will

extinguish a fire. You don't want to make excuses.

So the third point now, which you'll be adding

to the list already. So let's see how we can

work from there is, Offenses and broken relationships.

Offense and broken relationships. Offense and

broken relationship. And I want you to, because

this is one thing that will extinguish your fire.

Because whether you like it or not, you need

people. And when you are burning bridges instead

of making bridges, you will end up losing the

path to persons or the things that will help

you to grow. Pastor Victor had, in his teaching

and in several of the pastors, we echoed that.

That God uses people. God's method, God's strategy,

I think Pastor Koston included, method, strategy,

the means by which God will use to help you is

through people. And not that, going to the points

I raised earlier, the means by which the devil

will help to destroy you is through people. So

it means that the devil's strategy is still using

human beings. That's why we say you have to watch

your relationships, right? You have to watch

your relationships. The relationships you should

break. Remember on Sunday I was saying block

them, right? I gave us the analogy of who? What

is it? Apostle who? The analogy of Apostle Paul,

right? I said if Apostle Paul decided after his

Damascus encounter and then Assyria connect with

brother Ananias and then he says no. The people

I will connect with are my people from my viewers,

you know, the people that he goes together to

persecute. You know, when they call him up and

say, ah, brother, we need to go to, you know,

Damascus did not go down. Let's go to another

city. Let's go and kill. Then you, you now, you

now be telling them, you say, okay, when are

we going to meet? Or you now start, you want

to just, so that you don't have to explain to

them, you know, they might not understand what

you experienced. You just don't talk too much.

Just block, disconnect. Those are the relationships

that you want to because they are not going to

help you to make progress in the areas you want

to now make progress in your life because there's

a new season. Praise God. The people that knew

him before cannot recognize him now because things

have changed. So if things have changed, it means

that the relationships that you now prioritize

has to change as well. So you can't be expected

to make progress this way and then you're keeping

those relationships. And some of us, we're very,

you're like me. When you have had a friend, you

don't know how to. Well, really, you have to

be radical about it because if you don't do it,

you're not going to make progress yourself. Praise

God. So just think about it and I hope that will

help some of us. And I hope some of us have acted

on it from Sunday. You know, when you're struggling

to take an action, you've already decided what

you're going to do. And many a times you will

not act on it. So there are certain relationships

that you don't want to. In fact, some people,

because you're doing that so that you're not

even seeing their status, because some people,

seeing their status doesn't even help you to

grow spiritually. Praise God. Some of us, we

just feel like this. And then when you have like

10, 20, 50 of those kind of friends, and then

you like going through status, when you do that,

you would not understand what is happening. You

open your Bible and then, you know, because you

have seen certain things that you're trying to

filter. Praise God. So you want to... And I say

this to say that relationships that you should

prioritize are godly relationships, right? Relationships

you should prioritize are godly relationships.

And you want to ensure that you don't use your

hand to destroy those relationships because you

can be offended over a brother that is, remember

I told us of the prophet Eli, right? Where Anna

was now, he misjudged the situation. And then

if she was like, All these rubbish men of God,

they're not sensitive. They're not sensitive

to how we feel. Can you imagine I'm crying and

then I'm trying to pour my heart out to God and

he's saying I'm drunk. If he's a man of God,

wouldn't he have known what I'm missing? How

would he not know that I'm going through? But

not that she did not use it as an opportunity

to dishonor the man and she received it. That

passage that we read, we say 18, she went home

not sad again or happy. And then she got the

result and she brought it back to the same, you

know, see the relationship just kept going on

and on. This was the same person that trained

Samuel. Praise God. So you don't want to destroy

a relationship because you don't know where they

lead. Praise God. You don't know where they lead.

And I think Joseph is an example that we're going

to spend time to look at in this study because

it's very important that we notice that Joseph's

own, you know, some of us, when we have friends

that you can, you know, sometimes when family

are the ones that offend you, it's harder. How

many of you have noticed that it's harder to

let go of family, parents, people that you love,

you trust them. And then you're like, no, how

can they do this to me? You're now become, it's

the impact. You know, I was sharing with my wife

in a WhatsApp group. I'm in a WhatsApp group,

our secondary school WhatsApp group. And there

was a misunderstanding. When you read the chat,

you know there was clearly a misunderstanding.

And then the funny thing is that the WhatsApp

group is a combination of believers and non -believers.

And the people that you expect more from are

who? Believers. Believers. So this misunderstanding

is amongst believers in the WhatsApp group. And

then your boss, he always says, in fact, I'm

not going to. He says, if in heaven, our houses,

your house should be far away from Lusaka to

Moscow. My concern was not about the fact that

they had a misunderstanding. My concern was,

what are you, like the people that are watching,

tomorrow if you come and you're trying to, they'll

be like, you that can't even control your, like

what are you talking about? You have just put

God's name to this. And the funny thing is that

the next year, someone had organized, he's an

unbeliever. that said, let's organize a meeting

so we can trash. I was in a meeting. I was hearing

this guy talk. I was like, hello, this is what

a believer should be doing, not the other way.

And sometimes it's because we're not fervent.

We are not discerning. We put ourselves in a

situation where tomorrow now when you have gotten

yourself and then you come back, that thing you

have done is now haunting you. It's not allowing

the person to see past the wonderful, the good

news that you're giving to them. Because what

they had seen was bad news the day before. So

I'm just giving us reasons why you should be

fervent. You should not allow a season of your

life because you say, I was going through, there

should be some form of restraint that the Holy

Spirit is able to provide when you want to explode.

Because you are fervent. You're sensitive, praise

God. You're discerning, praise God. So dealing

with offense, I think my pastor, if I had taught,

I think last year, I think around May of last

year, if you want to go back, you can go back

and listen to the message. He has taught on dealing

with offenses. He was beautiful. He explained

to us dealing with offenses. And it's something

that we should pay attention to because offense

can really extinguish a fire. If you have, and

some of us, we have a lot of people in our hearts.

I don't know how you do it, but there's this

person. And the capacity of it, you want to add

more people. Like this is what I say, say you

too. And you're adding and you're adding. And

you're not allowing. And Joseph, I would love

us to just look a bit. I don't want us to draw

so much because we have to go to how to. Not

in Genesis 37. Verse 23 to 28. Let me see whether

we can do that one quickly. Genesis. Let's go

to Genesis very quickly. Genesis 37. So it came

to pass when Joseph had come with his brothers

that they stripped Joseph of his tunic and the

tunic of many colors that was on him. 24. That's

37 versus 24 now. He says, then they took him

and cast him into a pit. Note that this thing,

his brothers are the ones that are doing this

to him. He says, then they took him and cast

him into a pit and the pit was empty and there

was no water in it. 25 now says, and they sat

down to eat a meal. Then they left, they lifted

their eyes and looked and there was a company

of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their

camels, bearing spices, balm, myrrh. on their

way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said

to his brothers, what profit is there if we kill

our brother and conceal his blood? 27, come and

let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not

our hand be upon him. For he is our brother,

our flesh, and his brothers listened. 28 now,

which is the last. Then the Midianites, the Midian

traders passed by. So the brothers pulled Joseph

up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him

to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver.

And they took Joseph to Egypt. Praise God. And

you'll be wondering to yourself, like these brothers

are very, like it's bad enough that they put

him in, they put him in the pit, allowed him

for dinner. Somebody now said, and you'll be

thinking, I think what Pastor Emma taught us,

you'll be thinking that that was just mere coincidence.

But all of that was part of the plan. And that's

what when Joseph was speaking to them in Genesis

Genesis 15:19–21

15, verse 19 to 21, where he says, you planned

it out for evil, but God turned it for good.

Because you can see that they had a plan. They

would say, okay, let's, then let's, you know,

somebody does come, you think it's a brilliant

idea. Say, let's just sell him so that we can

make money off him. But all of that was building

up to the plan that God had for him. Praise God.

And what I want you to see is that he was sold

into slavery. He was in Egypt. You know, it would

be a good thing for him to come and start explaining,

like complaining about how his brothers were

wicked, how they just, how can I have this hapless?

Imagine they wanted to, and then when I thought

they were bringing me out, they changed their

mind and they now sold me. And then he spent

time, you know, some of us can be going, we can

be going through stuff and we spend time sulking,

crying, complaining. Rather than keep our eyes,

Joseph was faithful even in Potiphar's house.

Everywhere you placed him, that man was still

faithful. You didn't meet him and then he was

like, you know, some of us, there are things

happening in our countries and we spend time

complaining about those things. Instead of us

to find how we'll be solutions, we'll just spend

time complaining. Instead of us to work on ourselves

and see how God will help us. to meet the needs

of our countries, we spend time complaining.

Nobody builds, you know, when you have a mindset

of complaining, you can never build it, you cannot

be productive. You cannot make anything, you

cannot make progress in any area at all because

you're complaining. It's not like you're, you

know, going back to the WhatsApp group. When

we had that meeting, the amazing thing about

that meeting, because we're trying to resolve

a problem, and then somebody comes and he's still

complaining about, so the chairman of the meeting

had to stop him and say, Please, what is the

way forward? How can we resolve this issue? And

then I was in that meeting. I was listening.

I was like, that is the mindset most of us have.

We come to God for solution or we come to God

to help us resolve. And then we're still complaining

about the things that we're experiencing. And

this is God wanting to change the situation.

But we spend more time not understanding that

if we don't let go of the thing and move past

it, we will not see the solution. Praise God.

And as a believer, you want to be aware. You

want to, because it will start over. You're just

trying to state the facts. Praise God. And that's

where it starts from. We're stating the facts.

This thing is not working. That thing is not

working. Over time, you just find yourself on,

you're going on and on. Meaning of course, we're

victims. It's when somebody calls us to order,

you see, and sorry, it looks like you're complaining

about this thing and then we stop in our tracks.

But if you, and when somebody tells you that

you want to be able to say, oh, it's true. I've

spent like 10, 20 minutes. Some people even one

hour. not even saying, this is the way forward,

this is the best thing we can do. And that is

how you catch yourself doing things that will

not help you grow. Because after, and it's not

like you spend that one hour praying. You may

say, let's pray for one hour now. You can't,

you will be, praise God. So you want to have

that consciousness of the fact that you can be

bitter about something because it doesn't allow

you to make it, and it introduces some level

of coldness. I don't know if you have noticed

that when you complain for a long time, after

you just be quiet. Praise God. You just be quiet.

And that introduces coldness and it doesn't allow

you to be off. Because if Joseph had been in

it, okay, now, let's move it a notch further.

It's bad enough that he was sold to slavery.

Then next minute, he's all by himself. Then Potiphar's

wife now came into the picture. And then you'll

be thinking to yourself, like, what did he even

do wrong? And then he was imprisoned. He should

be in that prison and say, Lord, why me? All

this while I've been very faithful to you. I

have take dinner. And then why did I now, you

know, some of us were, we're in this and we're

like, God, what did I do wrong? I've been faithful.

And then all of a sudden, I don't have school

fees. I've been faithful. And all of a sudden,

I'm struggling to pay my, like, like how, oh

God, please. I thought you see, you know, you

now go all, but you don't understand that all

of this had something that it was worth. There

was the end goal. If, if you were to see, The

whole, like if Joseph was to have been shown

how everything was going to pan out to be, and

Joseph was just strictly doing one thing, which

is staying faithful. Praise God. We're just staying

faithful and we're called to do the same. And

the way we can be is when we understand that

God wants us to be fervent in and out of season.

God doesn't want our situations and circumstances

to be what would determine our response to the

things that we're experiencing, our response

to all of that. Praise God. So very key thing,

let's not destroy relationships. Even when people

hurt us, offend us, it should not stop us from

staying on course, doing what Christ instruct

us to do in God's word. Praise God. Then the

fourth point there is neglect and complacency.

Neglect and complacency. Neglect and complacency.

And know that You don't lose fire just by itself.

And I want us to look at Acts 28. I want us to

do something very practical. Acts 28 verse 2.

Acts 28:2

I don't know whether I read this on Sunday, but

I think I did, or I alluded to it when I was

speaking. Acts 28 verse 2 says, And the natives

Acts 28:2

showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled

a fire and made us all welcome. Because of the

rain that was falling and because of the cold.

But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks

to lay them on the fire, a viper came out because

of the heat and fastened on his hand. Praise

God. I want you to notice something. Notice something.

That the fire was kindled for that fire to continue

to burn. What do we see Apostle Paul do? He had

to put wood. Not that for a fire to keep burning,

you have to, there are things you have to, anytime

you neglect to put wood into the fire, will you

be surprised that the fire goes out? Will you

be surprised that the fire goes out? No, you

shouldn't be surprised because once, in fact,

when you want to put it, I think those of us

that are in training center, that time we were

using Well, listen, notice that we have to be

adding wood to the fire. Anytime you just leave

it, before you know it, there's no fire again.

And in our spiritual, there are certain things

you have to add when we come to how to maintain

the fire. There are certain things you have to

add. I'll just give you. Note that if you are

not adding consistent prayers, you are not delighting

in God's word. You're not engaging in disciplines.

Those are the things that are the wood that you

put into a fire to maintain the fire. Praise

God. The moment you cannot, you know, some of

us think some of our spiritual addition is just

automatic. You just sit down and the Lord is

doing it. You know, everything is just working

out. You know, I just sleep, wake up, and then

all of a sudden, I just see that there's this

unusual zeal. See, the Holy Spirit put it in

there. Sorry, that's not how it works. Come back

to reality. There are certain things that you

have to do to be able to ensure that you... Guard

the things that God is doing in you, God is doing

through you. Because know that it will be...

Let's just leave it for later. Know that it's

very important that you notice what is happening

here. And I love this passage because you see

that the fire or the heat exposed this viper

that was lurking in there. Because if there was

no heat... And if there was no heat, you wouldn't

have seen, the snake wouldn't have come out.

Certain creatures, you know, even us, we don't

like places that, you know, when we came to this

place, this place was a bit cold. You know, we

don't have a problem. But if it's hot, you will

notice, you know, there was a time during the

believers conference where the place was hot.

You know, you could see people trying to keep

themselves as warm as they could be. Praise God.

Know that heat makes certain things uncomfortable.

We understand that. Everyone, every normal person,

Once the place is hot, yes, you can, you know,

a couple of us, we can withstand a bit of heat.

Some of us, in the heat, we can be normal. I

think when my university days, we used to, there

are times where they would tell us to do long

walks. We would do, in fact, we used to do, there

are exercises they used to force us to come and

do. Most people hated it, but some of us, we

had no choice but to love it and enjoy it as

it goes. And sometimes it will require you to

walk for long distances in the heat. So we, I

think I had two, three of my friends, we said,

you know, we cannot say we're not going to do

it. So let's just make it as good as it can be.

So a friend of mine said, let me tell you something

to do to ensure that you don't feel the heat

much. He said, when you're paying attention to

the heat, that's when you feel a lot of the heat.

But when you decide to focus on something else,

so he said, let's just look at the ground. Let's

just pay attention to the ground. Let's look

at the ground. Just admire the ground. All of

a sudden, we were paying attention to the ground.

we were lost in another world. We started feeling

cool breeze. I was like, this is a good, this

is a good, this is a good, good, this is a good

trick. It's just, you're now not distracted by

the heat that is around, but you're paying attention

to something else and then you're, it's almost

like the cool breeze appeared. I was like, is

this witchcraft or something? Because I can't

explain how I'm feeling the cool breeze after

that one. So, and that is a very important lesson

to think about. when you're complaining about

the heat in the environment, it doesn't change

anything. Because you're not enjoying it anyways.

Praise God. You're not enjoying it anyways. But

you want to focus on the things that will help

you get better. You want to focus on the things

that will help you get better. And we see that

Apostle Paul here wants to keep warm. The goal

is to keep warm. At least the people in the place

welcome them by setting a kindling fire for them

to keep warm. Even though at least they went

into some form of, you're like, ah, this by what,

this snake by it. And know that because of all

of this drama, I want you to see what happens

in verse 6, I think. 6, yeah. I want you to see

the things that happen in verse 6. So it says,

let's look at 7. Let's look at 7. We'll see seven,

eight, and nine. Let me read six. However, they

were expecting that he would swell up and suddenly

fall down dead. But after they looked for a long

time and saw no harm came to him, they changed

their minds and said that he was a god. It says

in the region, there was a estate of the leading

citizen of the island whose name was Poblos.

who received us and entertained us cautiously

for three days. And it happened that the father

of Phoblos made sick of a fever and dysentery.

Paul went into him and prayed and laid hands

on him. We talked about laying of hands, laid

hands on him and healed him. Nine now says, so

when this was done, the rest of those in the

island who had diseases came, also came and were

healed. Praise God. It says, and they also honored

us in many ways and we departed and they were

provided usual things, provided such things as

were necessary. Praise God. I want us to see

something. Note that this was, it was never in

the plan for them to arrive at Malta. They experienced

a shipwreck and they found themselves in Malta.

But regardless of that situation, God still used

it to do the things that he did. where the leading

citizen of that place had a sick father that

ended up being healed. Because know that it built

up from something. Them welcoming them and then

allowing for all of those things that happened

leading to the healing of the person that was

sick and many others afterwards. Meaning that

everything that's happened in your life, going

back to the Joseph situation, you want to always

be ready for an opportunity. And ready for an

opportunity means that you... You have positioned

yourself for what God is going to do in and through

you. You don't want to be that person that, oh,

they say, okay, we want you to do this, we want

you to do that. You say, ah, no, I'm not on fire.

You know, I need to take like one week. I need

to take like two weeks to sharpen and to ensure

that things are put together before that happens.

You want to be that believer that is always ready.

Praise God. And you want to be that believer

that knows that regardless of the situation they

find themselves, God is able to walk in and through

them. Because if someone is sick, it's through

you that that healing will come through. Remember

we said you are God's method, right? So you want

to always make yourself available as God's method.

Praise God. You want to always make yourself

available as God's method. So you don't want

to be complacent. Remember we said there's a

neglect, there's a complacency. Let's look at

Leviticus. Leviticus 6. Leviticus 6, verse 12.

Leviticus 6:12

Let's look at Leviticus 6, verse 12 and 13. It

Leviticus 6:12

says, of the peace offerings. Praise God. Know

that even the priests themselves have to put

wood, have to ensure that they keep that fire

burning and this wood that they used to keep

the fire, just to reiterate the point I made

earlier. If you neglect it, you will not see

any fire. If you neglect putting the wood, you

will not see any fire. Remember we said, just

imagine it as the things that you do on a daily

and they see it every morning. So it means that

your work or your spiritual, when we say you

don't want to be that believer that will spend

two days. In fact, even one day, you should be

able to know that something, it should not be

normal for you to spend a day or two, in fact,

a day is a problem, two, without having that

fellowship. Praise God. You don't wait and then

yours is once in a week. When we come, midweek

service, when they say pray for, then that's

when, and then we will know because there's not

something you're familiar with. You don't know

this road. Praise God. So it's something that

you don't want to neglect it. You don't want

to be complacent about it. You're not a believer.

The first thing that goes off the list is fellowship.

When they say, okay, maybe I'm busy. Let's remove

fellowship. Or let's remove... You have to have

a... This is what I want us to understand. You

have to have a routine that certain things are

stamped. They are solid on it. You don't want

to have... You don't want to be allowing things

hit you from left, right, and center. And the

earlier you start to do it, the better for you.

Praise God. We used to say it in this church.

You will... you will keep getting busier and

busier if you don't have a structure that ensures

that you pray, you study God's word, you do disciplines.

It's amazing that you have believers that can

go for a whole year and they don't even engage.

I would say a whole month. You don't have times

where you fast. And remember, we just told you

this. You're not fasting to be able to see heavens

or see heavens open. That would be beautiful,

but you want to ensure that you have a discipline.

You want to ensure that you engage spiritual

discipline, and it's very important for you to

grow, for you to be fervent, for you to be zealous.

Those things have a way of setting you up for

the things that God, and by the way, know that

you don't come accidentally into this. There's

always that training. Notice that all of these

individuals, they are trained, and then the occasion

presents itself, and then there's a manifestation.

Praise God. And many of you, NECF is where the

training is happening. When you show up in a

particular place, you will not be surprised at

the things that you are going to be seeing. Even

here, we're not surprised at the things we're

seeing because you have stayed under teaching

for a long period of time. So there are certain

things we expect of you. And for some of you,

you're just complacent about it. You're not even

trying to act or engage what you have been receiving.

Praise God. And it doesn't help you. And for

some of us, When we say don't neglect, during

the Believers Conference, some of you had given

word for the first time and it was exciting.

But it should not stop there, praise God. It

shouldn't stop there because the moment you neglect

it, you'll lose the fire in that particular department.

Praise God. So you want to engage it. And by

the way, nothing stops you from speaking to a

person and then having something. And don't make

it spooky. Because for some of us, as I was just

talking now, The Holy Spirit just spoke to me

on my left ear, right ear, and then you just,

all of a sudden, all of a sudden, hey, what's

this? Oh, it's going crazy. And then you make

it spooky. You can just, you can see it as though

a thought came to your mind, like what about

this and what about that? You don't have to make

the person now, creep the person out. Praise

God. You want to be able to, you want to be able

to engage. And the moment you say those things

and the person confirms, ah, just not long ago,

I was on the call with my mom. and this and that

and that and that. That in itself even makes

you like, yeah, just keep at it. And then you

engage and engage and doing times of evangelism.

Those are the things that makes it beautiful.

Praise God. Those are the things that make it

beautiful. So you want to be able to engage that

and prayerfully believe God too. One very key

thing I want to pay attention to is the fact

that God disciplines, right? Disciplines are

what helps us to keep the fire burning. Discipline.

Discipline. is what helps us to keep the fire

burning. If you're not a disciplined person,

and I was sharing with some people, I say, it's

very easy to spot a person that is not disciplined.

They are all over the place. They can't put,

they are all over the place. And a couple of

people, if you don't train yourself to be disciplined,

you will not be. And how you train yourself to

be disciplined is by doing, by trying to have

a structure. And we're not saying that you should

now... your life should not be revolved around

structures. We're saying that you want to have,

at least have a structure because if God wants

to interrupt the structure, he has something

to interrupt. Praise God. But some people, they

are just, everything is just scattered. And not

only with that discipline, that discipline now

brings about consistency. That discipline now

brings about consistency because without discipline,

you will struggle to be consistent. And for many

of us, we don't. have consistency and many of

us struggle with consistency because it's not

something that comes on you by the Spirit of

God. Praise God. And that's why if you notice,

the things that we're doing in church is to build

that consistency so that you have a consistent

prayer life. You have a consistent study, all

the different things, the canonicals, all of

those things we're doing so that you have something

you do this year, you do next year, before you

know it. We get used to the rhythm. For some

of us, it's a struggle, but let it not stop you.

Keep at it. I say many of us, I think it was

2019, I think when I reached, when it was, I

think it was COVID. God sent COVID to help some

people's spiritual life. Praise God. Because

some people, they have spiritual life because

now you don't have anywhere to go to. You don't

have anywhere to go to. Some people with these

movies are now took the opportunity. God presented

the opportunity. They now say, no, we don't want

to take it. And then that was the first, I think

that was the time that we, you're able to be

consistent. I'm speaking for myself, able to

successfully do it. And then it now kept up.

You want to be able to put that in and continue

at it. Because you will not, you might not necessarily

see the effect in that first year. You will not

see effect in the second year. But you want to

keep at it so that you have something that you

are doing on a regular. Praise God. Because it's

very hard. Nobody will tell you that it's easy

to be, discipline doesn't come by accident. It's

conscious. Praise God. I know that consistency

is something that is not fueled by your feeling.

You don't fall consistency by your feeling. What

falls consistency is your desire to be consistent.

Some people will say, I feel like I'm not just

consistent and it stays the same way. But once

you have desire, you say, no matter what happens,

I'm mostly consistent. Praise God. You will find

yourself wanting to do the things that will ensure

that you are. And when you are failing on it,

you don't wait for it to be one whole year before

you put yourself back there. You want to ensure

that any small, you see yourself drift away,

you bring yourself back in line. Praise God.

And that is how you stay consistent. That is

how you burn. The moment you just notice that,

ah, when they say let's pray, it looks like it

takes me like 20 minutes to calibrate. And then

the whole prayer is 50 minutes. And then all

of a sudden, it's only 30 minutes I was able

to go up. You should already know that there's

a problem. And then you say, ah, God, let's work

on this thing. But for some people, it will be

like that until something will hit you. Then

you now come and there is prayer team that is

going to be busy because now you know that there

is nothing in the tank. But that is not, that

shouldn't be what, that shouldn't be how you

run your life where it's like this. You're just

going like this. Let it be like this. Praise

God and stay there. So now very quickly, let's

do how to maintain the fire. How to maintain

the fire. How to maintain the fire. So Paul's

instruction is that we are to be fervent. It's

like he said, never be lazy. Never be lazy. So

to maintain it. So the command is not just this.

The command is for us to be fervent, right? The

command is for us to be fervent. And when God

instructs us, he gives us the ability to do so.

Praise God. Any instruction God gives us, there's

the ability to do it. But you have to desire

to do it. Praise God. You have to desire to do

it. If not, you're not going to see it. So first,

the first point there is to stay active in spiritual

disciplines. I've been talking about it. Stay

active in spiritual disciplines in all seasons.

It means that you have to have a routine. Stay

active in spiritual disciplines. Stay active

in spiritual disciplines. The first is praying

without season or pray without season. From 1

Thessalonians, I think. Pastor Kostian had taught,

I think I listened to that day. I think it's

not the longest, just 30 minutes. He taught that

in, I think that was 2022. That was, I think

it was 2022. Fervency in prayers. He taught us

on the subject. How many of us remember that?

Those of us that are around 2022. Fervency in

prayers. It's a very good shot, but there was

a lot of things that were very impactful. Something

that you should go and do. Praying without ceasing.

But fervency in prayers, the point there is praying.

without ceasing, praying without ceasing. First

Thessalonians, we're going to read, we're going

to spend a lot of time in 1 Thessalonians. 1

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Thessalonians 5, verse 17. 1 Thessalonians 5,

1 Thessalonians 5:17

verse 17, that's praying without ceasing, fervency

in prayers. And then I think Pastor Ephraim also

taught us on why do we pray. It's very important

that we know why we pray so that we can be able

to stay in the place of prayer. Because most

of us, if we don't know the why, we don't know

the how, we don't even, in fact, there's no desire

to do, we don't even go out. go about it. So

you want to know why you're praying. You want

to understand why prayer is important and then

you engage it. Praise God. You're engaged. So

I gave us those teachings so that we can go and

just refresh ourselves and sing on it. And then

the second is have a routine of reading God's

word. Have a daily routine of reading God's word.

Some of us, we read it anytime. They say we are

the spiritual. Your father, your mother calls

you. Then they now say, have you read your Bible?

Then it becomes important to you. You want to

have a daily routine. of reading God's word is

a discipline, daily routine of reading God's

word. And you want to, let me read, let me just

quickly read for us Matthew 4, verse 4. It says,

Matthew 4:4

but he answered and said, man shall not live

by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds

from the mouth of the Lord. It means that you

want to prioritize the word of God or God's instructions

to you over. your food, over the foods that you

eat, over the, you want to discipline yourself.

And sometimes you want to make these things a

challenge. I was telling, I was sharing with

some people, I said, you know, some of us spend

time on social media. We spend a lot of time

on social media. And those times that we spend

on social media, it doesn't amount to anything

productive. Like you can say, I spent one hour

on social media and then I was able to get this.

Something that you can hold on to. And you visit

social media almost all of us. Is there anybody

that doesn't visit social media like any day?

You don't visit so many, right? Okay. Very few.

They're not even here. Like I said, I'm going

to visit social media. You know WhatsApp too

is social media. Yeah, it's all right. It's all

right. It's all right. It's all right. I don't

do Facebook. I don't do the... It's all right.

I'm fully holier than thou. It's all right. So...

So not that you spend time in that, you want

to also prioritize ensuring that, because if

you can do that, it means that you can also be

in a Bible app for every day. Praise God. And

some of you are doing, yeah, yeah, yeah. It means

that you can actually enter the app and be there

at least. So let the competition, and I say this

because I do this. In a week, you know, some

of us, our phones will tell us your screen time,

right? It will tell you which app takes more

time. That's how I used to check my own. If I

spend a whole week, I check it and then my Bible

app is not competing with my social media, I

know there's a problem. Praise God. I'm telling

you what it is like because you want to be conscious.

You want to evaluate yourself. You don't have

to wait till when something happens before somebody

will now be communicating it to you. Praise God.

You want to be real to that level that you check

and say, If in a week, my app says I spent 12

hours on WhatsApp and then like three hours on

my Bible app, you already know that there is

a struggle. Praise God. And for me, I said, the

first three apps that is the topmost app, if

the Bible app is missing there, there's a problem.

And that is practical. And this is something

that you should do for yourself. I'm saying it

to tell you that this is what I do. And it's

a good thing. And I know it's a good thing. You

should adopt it. Praise God. You should tell

yourself, I will be conscious about it. In a

week, I want to... And some of us, we don't even

know the amount of time we spend on certain things

until the app shows you. You know, you want to

have something that tells you what exactly it

is. The way you cannot scale how your fire is,

but you can see indicators, you want to have

certain things that will help you to check that.

Praise God. So reading God's word is important.

You want to spend as much time there. And notice

that when you fail, you don't stay there. You

want to get back. And the earlier you do so,

the better. Praise God. Then three is rejoicing

always. Praise God. Rejoicing always. Philippians

Philippians 4:4

4 verse 4. Philippians 4 verse 4. Philippians

Philippians 4:4 Philippians 4:4

4 verse 4. It says, rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I say rejoice. What you want to do also

is to check your rejoicing. Some of us, we spend

more time, remember, complaining, lamenting,

and those things don't help you. And the church

will say rejoice. Rejoice. I think as Pastor

Koston led us in the song, we rejoice, we rejoice

for the thing that you have done. He has healed

us. He has restored us for the thing that you...

Thank you so much, sir. There are songs that

you... There are things that you do to help yourself

rejoice. Because you're not looking at your situation

to rejoice. You're looking at what God has done,

what God is going to do to rejoice. Praise God.

You want to check that. That's how... You stay

active. That's how you stay on fire. Then you

want to give thanks in all things. You want to

give thanks in all things. Remember, we say that

scripture doesn't say give thanks for all things.

You're saying give thanks in all things. And

that's the agency by which you do that is rejoice

in spite of what exactly it is you're going through.

In 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18, right? 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 5:18 1 Thessalonians 5:18

5 verse 18, it says, in everything give thanks.

For this is the will of God in Christ for you.

This is the will of God in Christ for you. Know

that you can't thank God and complain at the

same time. I'm yet to see a person that's able

to do that. It's either you're thanking God or

you're complaining. And murmuring or complaining

is one enemy of fervency. It's one very great

enemy of fervency. You complain, complain, complain,

and there are people that are complaining, like

every time we cut, it's almost like you can predict.

That the thing that will come over their mouth

is one complaint or the other. You want to be

very careful about it. You want to even check

it. You want to check it because it's a sign

of something. So all of those points are under

staying active. Remember we say stay active in

the things. So the B part now is seek continuous

godly influences. Seek continuous godly influences.

That's the B part. The first part is stay active

in spiritual disciplines in all seasons. Then

the second part is be continuous, seek continuous

godly influences. That's because you can't do

it alone. That's because you can't, this work,

you are never designed in the work of God to

do things alone. You're never meant to survive

by yourself. You're not a self -made Christian.

There was somebody that preached God's word to

you to get you saved. And then the same way to

maintain your spiritual life, there are people

that God has placed around. There's a church

family, there's God family that helps you to

do that. So you always will need help from others.

Praise God. You will always need help from others

and you should be humble enough to receive that

help from others. Praise God. So the point under

that is value godly relationships. Value godly

relationships. The scripture for that, because

the reason why we value godly relationships is

because we sharpen one another. We sharpen one

another. That is in Proverbs 27 verse 17. Say,

Proverbs 27:17

I unsharpened iron. Proverbs 27 verse 17. So

Proverbs 27:17

we sharpen one another. You want to also spend

time to cultivate relationships. Cultivate relationships.

Proverbs 27, 17. You want to spend time to cultivate

relationships because it's in those relationships

that you are stirred up. Right? You want to cultivate

relationships that will build your faith, not

drain your faith. Praise God. You want to spend

time with people that will build your faith.

You speak with your brother and then you're just

greatly encouraged. You can't explain it. You

don't want to speak with someone and all of a

sudden you're like, I like you. You just, you're

drained out. Praise God. And I want us to see

2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 1:16

1 verse 16. Verse 6, sorry. 2 Timothy 1 verse

2 Timothy 1:6

6. 2 Timothy 1 verse 6. It says, therefore, I

2 Timothy 1:6

remind you to stir up the gift. of God, which

is in you, through the laying on of my hands.

That's Apostle Paul speaking to Timothy. Timothy,

the gift was Apostle Paul laying his hands, was

stirred up by the laying on of Apostle Paul's

hands. The encouragement is to stir up. Sometimes

it's a fan to flame. And that word there translates

to rekindle. So it means that you want to, that

stir up there translates to rekindle. It means

that you want to always, And the opportunities,

you know, because of the believer comfort, I'll

make reference to that because this was still,

it's not far away where it does. We're weak now

and thereabouts. So note that for many of us,

what happened in that meeting is that you saw

hands were laid on you and you saw certain things,

right? And for you to keep those things, you

want to hang around people that will spoil you

to do even more. Praise God. You want to have

relationships that will build you. You know,

if you have five friends and all of you are reading

the Bible and you are the sixth friend, you end

up reading the Bible. You'll be consistent with

that because those people will stay up to do

the things that will keep you in the faith. Praise

God. Very, very important. So, and then you want

to honor leadership. You want to honor leadership.

You want to honor leadership because if you're

around people that dishonor leadership, it will

be the same situation for you. You want to honor

leadership. In that 1 Thessalonians 5, Verse

1 Thessalonians 5:12

12, it says, And we urge you, brethren, to recognize

those who labor among you and over you in the

Lord and admonish. The word there for admonish

is instruct you to esteem them very highly in

love for their work's sake. Be at peace amongst

yourselves. Be at peace amongst yourselves. So

that's 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 12. 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 5:12 1 Thessalonians 5:12

5, verse 12. So you want to be able to honor

leadership. You want to be able to honor. And

then you can also add 1 Timothy 5 verse 17. I

1 Timothy 5:17

would have loved for you to just read it and

amplify it. Read it. And then also stay in fellowship

and service. That's the other point. Stay in

fellowship and service. We said you need people

to be able to grow. You need, you can't do it

all by yourself. So you want to be able to do

that. And the scripture for that is Acts 2 verse

Acts 2:42

42. Acts 2 verse 42. Acts 2. I'll read it to

Acts 2:42

us, to our hearing. Acts 2, verse 42. Acts 2,

Acts 2:42 Acts 2:42

verse 42. And they continue to state, firstly,

in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and

in the breaking of bread and in prayer. So they

do all of those things. You want to be able to

stay in the fellowship and stay, and you don't

want to neglect gathering with God's people.

It's very important. Then let's do this. I will

skip some of it. Okay. So let's just do the,

The C part. The C part, which is the third part,

which is obey biblical instructions. Obey biblical

instruction. It's very key for you to... And

some of us have gotten words of prophecy and

we're not even living up to it. We've not even

studied anything on the things that we've been

given. It's very dangerous because the moment

you keep things aside, it ends up staying that

way. You want to ensure that you don't. You don't

keep the things, just put them at the side. Because

those instructions or those things, they protect

and keep you and guide you and ensure that you

do the work and do it effectively. Praise God.

One on the point is, it's one thing that I think

Pastor Emmanuel will say, which is what we'll

repeat over and over again, which is quench not

the spirit. And we say that that quench not the

spirit is not because you can't quench the spirit.

It's actually quench not the fire of the spirit.

Quench not the fire of the Spirit. That's in

1 Thessalonians 5. Please, let's go to 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 5:19

5, verse 19. Pastor Emmanuel had taught us a

five, I think it was five, it was a five -part

series. That's last year. All of those teachings

are from last year. And then even the course

of the Believers Conference, Pastor Kostin has

told us that, look, when you pray in the Spirit,

when you do all of those, that's an elevated

discussion with God, and you want to ensure that

nothing stops that. You want to ensure that nothing

stops that. Nothing stops that. But now he says,

do not quench the spirit. Remember we said in

the course of that teaching, we said you cannot,

remember we said it has to do with fire, right?

It means that you have to put wood to the fire

to ensure that it keeps burning. You want to

ensure that you do that. And in 20, 20 says,

despise not. That is the second point. Despise

not. It means that even in the course of meetings,

you want to engage. You want to be active. You

want to treat. Prophecy, you don't want to treat

it casually. You don't want to take it and say,

oh, you don't want to receive it. You want to

receive it with respect. You want to honor it.

You want to desire it. You don't want to despise

it. Praise God. And then you want to covet earnestly

the things of God. You don't want to neglect

it. So remember we said, even Timothy was instructed

not to neglect. You don't want to make little

of the things that God is presenting to you or

has presented to you. And we say that. You want

to boil, right? You want to boil. You want to

have a continual earnest desires and passion

for that. Remember we said, for you to be able

to act on these things, you want to be cautious.

You want to write them down. Praise God. You

want to be able to note them down. You don't

want to forget because you prioritize it because

it's important to you so you note them down.

And when you note them down, you want to be able

to take strategic step on how you're going to

see them happen. And for many of us, that's the...

point where it ends for us. We don't take strategic

steps on how we want to see that happen. We just

allow it and then over time, that's what happens.

Then you now come back to the Holy Spirit. And

a couple of us, I think one or two persons shared

with me that they think that the word that they

got from last cataclysm is the same word they

got back again. And that's how you know that

God has not forgotten the plants yet. That's

how you know. You be like this. You haven't done

anything. Because how do you know that you have

done something? The person says, you have done

it and then you admit to add two or three or

four. But the same exact, and the point is, it's

a different person that is telling you the same

thing. And then even that itself does not give

you, does not shock you, does not even bring

you to a place of like, oh Lord, I'm sorry. And

then you now make amends. But some of us, the

way we are going, we are going to the next level,

we are going to the same level. Praise God. I

think there are some people that this thing is

real to them. Because this laugh, I know that

this laugh is real. So please, I beg of you.

I beg of you. The word of the Lord is coming

to you the second time. Some people it's the

third time. Some people it's the fourth time.

Please, it doesn't have to come to you plenty

of times for you to respond. Praise God. It doesn't

have to come to you many times. So you want to,

and the way you can get at something is to start

today. I don't want you to leave this place without

something that you're going to do to start acting

on it. And I bet you, the moment you take that

initiative, that I'm going to do something, you

will see things that will make you stay on course.

Praise God. You will see things. I'm telling

you this by the Spirit of God that you will see

things that will make you stay on course. The

moment you just say this thing, Holy Spirit,

help me to act on this and this and this. This

is the first step. And please, don't overwhelm

yourself. You know, some of you, because the

thing overwhelms you, you have seen pictures,

you've seen all of that, you now want to do everything

one day. That is the recipe for, you never get

back to it. Because you will scare yourself out

of the things that God is wanting you to do.

So you want to say, okay, I'll do this, I'll

do this, I'll do this, and get on with it. Would

you like us to rise up to our feet? Would you

like us to rise up to our feet? And I want you

to make an audit. Look at the areas of your life.

Look at the things that need to make adjustment.

And have a daily check. Remember, I told you

that a daily check would mean that you have to

ask yourself, am I rejoicing? Am I finding myself

complaining? Am I praying? Am I grateful to God?

Am I murmuring? Some of us, the stand -up is

now hard. Praise God. The stand -up is hard.

Say, am I praying? Am I doing things differently?

What are the things that need to change? And

what the Holy Spirit is going to be doing is

that He's going to be setting people. He's going

to make people remind you of some of these things.

He's going to make people ask you questions.

He's going to make people seek to tell you to

get things done and put things together. You

want to be consistent. You want to be regular.

You want to be consistent. You want to be someone

that is always on fire. I want you to pray and

just open your mouth and say, Father, there's

fresh hunger. We're thankful you joined us today.

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God bless.