Transcript: The Destructive Power of Complacency
Prepared from the audio, so small errors are possible.
God's word is alive and powerful. It is sharper than any double edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and our joints and marrow until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts. Join apostle Emmanuel as he takes us on a journey into the word of God. It is time to encounter God, be transformed by his word, and empowered by his spirit. Joshua chapter 18 and verse two. And there remained amongst the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance. So we see a problem here. The problem is that there are seven tribes which have not yet received their inheritance. And you would think that the reason why they've not yet received the inheritance is because it has not been given to them.
You would think that the reason why they've not yet received the inheritance is because that it has not been allocated to them or divided. No. Contrary, it has been divided. It has been allocated. As a matter of fact, five tribes has already gotten their own inheritance. But out of the remaining 12 tribes of Israel, there were seven of them who had not yet received what had been given, who had not yet received what had been allocated, who had not yet received what had been divided already. It is important to observe these people and now use their story as a close parallel to explain and to understand why several believers can have promises, can have allocations, can have inheritances in the spirit that God has supplied, but they have not received. Are you with me? Verse three then says, this was Joshua now showing us the reason why the inheritance has not yet been supplied. Then Joshua said to the children of Israel, how long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?
How long will you neglect to go? So the inheritance has been given to them, but they have not received it. I think you should understand that at this point, they were no longer in Egypt. At this point, they fought many battles, and they've... There's a degree of rest because they are no longer even in the wilderness. Are you with me? They are no longer even in the wilderness. All the days of struggle, all the days of toiling in the wilderness, it seemed to have come to an end, and they've finally entered into the kingdom land. And then all that is happening here is lands are being divided, and it is expected that people, the 12 tribes of Israel at their locations of land. And then with respect to their location that has been given to you, you go and possess the land that was given to you.
But these people have slipped into a place of comfort. These people have slipped into a place of rest. These people have slipped into a place of satisfaction. And even though they had been given the land, the land has been divided onto them, they know that this is theirs. All that is required of them was to go possess it. They slipped into a place of satisfaction where they no longer thought that they needed to possess the land that had been given. And so Joshua had to come and tell them, how long? How long will you neglect to go and possess the land that God has given? If you would like to title my teaching, you can title it. The destructive power of complacency.
The destructive power or perhaps if you would prefer the enduring power of complacency. Being a thanksgiving service, I believe that the quotation should be shut, but we are gonna be praying. The problem with these people is that they've slipped into a plate of complacency. They've gotten to a plate of satisfaction. They've gotten to a place of ease. Finally, the war is over. Finally, the toiling in the wilderness is over. Finally, they didn't have to struggle for what to eat or complain or grumble every time. Finally, they've gotten to a place of rest, so they thought. They've gotten to a place of satisfaction, so they thought.
Complacency is a dangerous force that hinders men from their inheritance, that hinders men from what is theirs. Complacent men do not receive an inheritance. Let me attempt to define complacency. Complacency is a feeling of calm satisfaction with your own abilities or your own situation. So there's this feeling of calm satisfaction with my ability, of calm satisfaction with my situation that prevents you from trying harder. In other words, you are so satisfied about your situation that you will not try anymore. You are satisfied about your situation. You're not motivated to keep on moving, to keep on going to the next level. It is a feeling of calm satisfaction with your own abilities or situation that prevents you from moving forward, that prevents you from making progress, and that hinders you from receiving an inheritance. Now when I define it as a feeling of calm satisfaction, someone can think what then is the difference between complacency and contentment because they seem to be deceived.
Contentment is about being satisfied and at ease whilst you are improving and getting better and progressing to the next level. It is the absence of envy even whilst you are growing. That is contentment. It is that you realize that this is not where God has placed me. But whilst I'm still here, I'm satisfied even as I work harder to get to where I am going. Do you understand what I'm saying? So I'm satisfied. But at the same time, whilst I'm satisfied, I continue to improve on myself. I continue to get better. I continue to make progress.
I continue to go to the next level. It's possible to be complacent even without seeing any result. When a man is complacent, it means that the man is unwilling to go beyond this current level, unwilling to apply any effort whatsoever to advance his destiny, to advance his life, to advance himself, to make progress. He's unwilling to pursue his life. Is unwilling to work, is unwilling to pay the necessary price for destiny fulfillment. So to be complacent means you are satisfied, but it does not mean you are satisfied because of achievement, because you can achieve nothing and yet be satisfied. What it means is that you are are okay with things as they are. Doesn't never really mean that that's the best that things can be. Someone can be in pain and be satisfied with things as they have. Someone can be in someone can be in in painful situations, sorrowful circumstances, and still you would wonder, brother, why are you not taking efforts about your life?
Why are you not doing something about your life to move your life forward? Why are you comfortable with the things that you're seeing? And then it looks as though everybody can see that something is wrong with the brother, but the brother himself has grown comfortable with whatever is wrong with him such that there is no effort to progress, there's no effort to breakthrough, there's no effort to receiving an inheritance. What that brother is going through is what is called complacency. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Contentment is about having a good attitude about where you are whilst you know that you're on your way to another place. Contentment is I might be in a face me, I face you right now because that is what I'm able to afford at my current level. But I know that that is not where God is taking me to. And so even as I'm satisfied, I'm not envious, I'm not looking at somebody else's building and saying I wish that can be me.
Oh, no. I'm satisfied with my current level, but I know that it's not all there is to eat. So I still put myself to work. I still labor to ensure that my life advances, to ensure that my life takes progress. That is contentment. Complacency on the other hand is to remain in that place and not have any push whatsoever to leave that level. So complacent people will always remain in the same spot for a long time. Complacent people will always remain at the same level for a long time, spiritually, financially, maritally, relationship wise, every area of their life. When a man chooses to be complacent, I have seen complacent fathers who are not willing to do anything about the state of their finances. It is clear that the salary that we are handling is not is not enough to take care of the family, but we have developed adaptability.
We have acclimatized ourselves to suffering such that there's no drive anymore to improve ourselves. And so one way or the other, we've been able to even impute this mindset into the into the children. And so when the children start raising a complaint and saying, daddy, why can't we do this? Why can't we do that? You say, listen to me. Understand that we are not like others. Understand that we are not like others. If this is what we have, we need to be okay with what we have. And then there is a kind of rhetoric or a kind of mindset that is imputed into the children to make them realize that we can do nothing about our current situation. We can do nothing about our current circumstances.
This is how we are. That is complacency. That is a complacent father. I have seen complacent pastors. I've been doing ministry for the past five years, for the past ten years, for the past twenty five years, thirty years, the ministry has not remained has remained at the same level, has not grown as it should, has not increased as it should, both in strength, in numbers, in in in the quality of men that are being raised. And somehow, we've grown to a point of complacency where we think that at least we are trying our best. At least we are putting effort. People can be complacent even in the academics. People can be complacent even with their life. Of the Jesus.
Ed. Jesus. They've entered into a place of satisfaction, a place of ease, a place of comfortability. In first Timothy chapter six and verse six, look at what Timothy says. Timothy says, now godliness with contentment is great gain. Verse eight, he then goes on to say, and having food and clothing with this, we shall be content. Are you with me? Now I'm telling you what the definition of contentment is in this regard. But what Paul is saying is that if what we are able to afford right now is just food and clothing, we are content. However, we realize that's not the best that God has for us.
And so even as much as we are content, we are still pushing for more. We are still pushing to receive inheritances. We are still pushing to receive the promises of God that he has promised. Complacency on the other hand means refusing to walk to improve. I refuse to walk. I'm so satisfied with where I am that I refuse to improve on myself. And there are several things that can cause a man to become pleasant. But before I get there, let's do Philippians chapter three and verse 12. It is still Paul who is speaking, and I so much like the speakings of Paul. Paul says, not that I have already attained or I'm already perfected.
Not that I've already attained. Not that I've already perfected, but I press on. I'm very interested in the word not that I have already attained. Because the man who is speaking here is a man of plenty results. And at the point where he was speaking, his ministry had already had already been extended to the Philippian church. That is already years of ministry. And a man, years of ministry with tremendous results, powerful results. That man writes to the Philippian church, and he tells them, I don't count myself to have attained. That's the same man who said, be content. Godliness be content that is made is great gain.
The same man says, not that I have already attained. Not that I have already attained. It means if a man ever feels that he has attained, if a man ever feels that he has he has been perfected, and everything he will need right now, he currently has. He has slipped into a place of complacency. I will show you the consequence of this very soon. Paul says, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Verse 13, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. You know what Paul is saying? Paul says, I do not count myself to have apprehended.
It means you can look at my results right now, and it might look as though I have apprehended. It might look as though I've attained. It might look as though I'm perfected. But myself, according to my own estimations, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do, I forget the successes of the past. I forget how many sales we made last year. I forget what my result was last year. I forget even if even if if it was the first class I got last year. I forget... This one thing I do, the successes of the past, the victory of the past, everything that belongs in the past, everything that is behind, either the success or the failure, it says, I forget those things which are behind.
Why? Because I realized that there are two things that are in my future. There are still things that I have not yet attained. It doesn't matter what level of success I have already reached. It doesn't matter what level of heights I've already climbed in God. This one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind. Glory to God. Amen. Verse 14 says, I press towards the goal. I like that word.
I press. I press. You know, I counted how many times Paul says, I press from verse 12 down to verse 21. You should go and do the counting yourself. I press. I press on. I press towards the goal for the price of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Listen to me. People have become complacent with the current state of their lives. Some, they've become complacent with sin, and they are no longer trying to get better.
And they say, well, you know, I've got the grace of God, so whatever. And you allow complacency to settle you there, and yet there are sins and secret sins that you are dealing with, that you're struggling with. And for some reason, you have convinced yourself there's no point trying to come out of this anymore. And we slipped into a plate of complacency. Any form of complacency will deny a man of his inheritance. A lot of people have become complacent with pain. So much so they've learned how to put up with pain. There are some people that put up with the pain of relationships. You put up with the hurt. You allow people to devalue you.
And I don't know. Somehow you have talked yourself into believing that your everything is alright. You are alright with it. And you've let somebody convince you that there's nothing more in the future. You've let somebody convince you that your best days are in the past. In fact, I heard a I heard a guy tell a lady. The lady came to me and told me what the guy said. The guy told her, I'm the best you can do. I'm the best you will ever have. Because the guy is obviously toxic.
The guy is obviously drawing her back, and we told the lady, you have to stop this relationship. And she will stop and go back to it, stop and go back to it, stop and go back to it. And when I queried further, she said the guy told her that she's the best... He is the best she can ever have. And when she thought about it, she realized it is true. Where would she ever get somebody like that? Yet this person slaps you, this person beats you, this person devalues you, this person molests you, and somehow you believe, I can't do better than that. It is complacency. It means that you have become so used to the pain, so used to the odds, you have developed coping mechanism. It is complacency that keeps men there.
You have become satisfied with the job, and then you are thinking, I'm gonna retire here anyways. And yet God has so much more. God has so much more. I was speaking to someone recently, and I was encouraging this person to reach out for greater things. I think I was explaining to some people that came to my house, and I was telling the person, reach out for greater things. I still believe there are more things in your future. I still believe there are more things you can do. I still believe God is gonna help you greatly. Can you start a business? Can you do this?
Can you start this? Can you work on this? And the man kept on giving me reasons upon reasons why those things will not work. I told the man, how about you go into a business in this area? The man kept... Gave me five reasons why that business will not work. How about you go? How about this one? The man gave me more reasons why that one will not work. Every idea I had, the man had reasons why they will not work.
And almost as though he's saying that, you know, I've accepted my faith. And I'm there. I'm not comfortable with how much you're earning. I'm not comfortable with the fact that you have children. I'm not comfortable with the fact that you have a ministry. I'm not comfortable with the fact that there's something God has called you to do, and the absence of funds will not make this vision a reality. And I'm trying to press somebody, and they tell me, you know what? This is complacency. Speaking about relationships, there are people who can tolerate toxic relationships. You tolerate people who wound you, people who hurt you, you tolerate people who take advantage of you, and they never give you the advantage in your life, and you are complacent with what is awful.
How do we cope with this? A lot of us must break out of this complacency that has made us comfortable with anywhere that God has not planted us. Anywhere God has not told you to settle. Anywhere God has not told you to be, and you think that is all you can be. That is the best you can be. Many of us need to break out of that complacency. What happened to the passion that you had for God? What happened to the hunger that you had for God? What adventure you used to pray and fast and do all of these beautiful things before? But then probably you went home.
Whilst you were in school, you were doing all these beautiful things. And then you went home, and when you went home, the prayer life died, the fastings died, the studying of scriptures died, and all these things just died. So when you came back to school, you have settled already even before you came back into a state of complacency. And so when you meet people who are not trying to invite you to church, the same things you used to do before, you are now grumbling, you are dragging your feet because you see, you no longer have a reason to continue. You're already comfortable with that state. You have developed a coping mechanism. You see, God still answers me. I found out that even in my state, I still receive favor from God. So what is the point of coming out of this? What is the point of coming out of this?
There are families that have become cooperatively complicit. And nobody in the family, including the children, is doing anything to improve their life. When they come for meetings like this and they are being taught principles to improve the quality of their life, they cannot take steps. Because as a family, there is a mindset of complacency already, holding everybody back like chains to a wood. So you'll give the person a job. In in one month, he loses the job. You try to help the person, give the person money for your business, buy a new laptop for the person. One year, the laptop is bought. Buy a phone for the person till they've stolen the phone. And you cannot understand why this doom befalls in.
When you sit such a man down and you start querying further, you realize that there's nobody in the family who is doing anything great. And so the push to even start something reasonable with his life, he does not have it. Because as as a as a corporate... Oh, God. I'm trusting God that this teaching will not just be one of instructions. It would also be one of deliverance. Amen. Yes. Because there are people who will not come out of complacency just because they had a teaching on complacency. There are people that a stronghold has already held down that mindset.
A stronghold. It is now beyond just an ideology. It has become a stronghold. Demons have influenced that... Their thinking pattern to to lack the strength to improve their life. So the person can come for a conference and hear different young people talking about money, talking about wealth, talking about different things, and he's inspired. He wants to go and start something. And then he goes home. Whilst it's going on, he starts thinking. Even if you even if you start self, even if you can't start.
Where do you think you will even get the money from? Do you even have the time to start doing this thing? Do you have the time? Do you have the time? You forgotten that you are trying to raise your score in school? And then before he goes home, all the inspiration he had in the meeting is dead. Forge people, it's not wars that change them. It's the power of God that brings them out, that delivers them. It's one of the things the power of God does. It breaks strongholds of the mind.
Strongholds that cannot otherwise be broken by intelligent speaking. When I came to you, Paul says, I didn't come with enticing words of man's wisdom. Oh, no. Oh, no. I didn't come with enticing words of man's wisdom. That is why you have tried to advise some people for many years. Their advice have no advice. You you... They they... You hear them, you speak passionately.
After you have spoken, you think that, in fact, you share you share stories, testimonies, everything you can think of, and they are they are they are hearing like this. And say, this guy is ready to change. Two months later, he's back worse than he was. And you wonder,. There are people that the demon of complacency. They've slipped into a place of comfort. Guy, go and submit your CV. This office, they told me that they will employ you. All you need to do is submit your CV. The guy will say, I'm coming.
I'm coming. I'll do it tomorrow. One week after, guy, have you submitted your CV? I'm coming. I'm coming. Next week, I'll do it. Guy, alpha now, they called me yesterday. They said they are waiting for you. They say, ah, sorry. Sorry.
Sorry. My laptop had problem. There was no light. There was no this. There was no that. And the opportunity passed away. And you start wondering, ah, all you needed to do was go out and submit a CV. That is all. We've done everything for you already. But even the strength to do that, the guy keeps on procrastinating because somehow he has convinced himself that that reality is good enough.
I told my people, I said, listen. Listen. Listen. The first thing that drives a man to wealth is not principles. It's not a business. It's not a job. The first thing that drives a man to wealth is the hatred he has for poverty. It looks it look it looks ridiculous. It looks too simple, too basic, but it is the truth. If a man does not hate poverty and he starts a business, he will be poor.
Yes. It is the hatred he has for poverty that will spoil in him an action. I've spoken to people, and I've told them, so what do you want to do? And when they share their their problems with me... And the way complacent people talk about their problems, you will think that they are tired of the problem until it is time to act. I will tell them, come for this prayer meeting. My church is organizing a a conference on prosperity. Come for it. And the guy will tell you I slept off. But when you were talking to me, you sounded so...
You will think you are ready to do anything. Complacency is dangerous, I tell you. Dangerous. Dangerous. It's not as though it's not as though complacent people don't know that their state is not the best. It's not as though they don't know that there is more, but they've just developed a coping mechanism. I told someone. I said, what's your favorite food? What food do you like the best? I told me, Gary.
I said, you don't know what you like. You are still speaking from poverty. Don't worry. Well, that will change your taste bud. I asked the guy. I asked the guy. I said, this guy you have mentioned, how many food have you ever eaten? What's the variety of food that you have ever had? He said, ah. He could count for me the variety of food he has eaten.
And out of all of them, garri was his best. Glory to God. Listen. I used to think that hopping on bike is the fastest means of transportation. And I will... Hey. Your mindset will change when you are when you are wealthy. I tell you, when you are blessed. I used to think that let me just fly back. I will get it in no time.
And God bless me. Realized it was a lie. It was a lie. It was a flattened lie. Was a flattened lie. But do you know that that lifestyle can be some... Can become so so comfortable with someone? But there's no there's no there's no more push for upward progress. There's no more push for advancement. There's no more push in their life.
No more no more drive. No more passion. Listen. When somebody becomes complacent, interest dies. Passion dies. Hunger dies. Thirst dies. Everything that can drive a man dies. And when hunger is dead, everything is dead. Do you know that one of the ways you know that a child is sick is that hunger dies?
Proverbs chapter one. Listen. Listen. What happened to the drive that made us want more of God? Some of you when you start praying, somebody would have to come and knock you out of your room to say there's food ready. There's food ready already. Won't you eat today? Once you start pressing into God, you will need the help of outsiders to tell you, guy, don't kill yourself. But you have found yourself in a place where you've rarely prayed. Your prayer life is barely existing.
You are barely surviving. I called one of my guys one time. I said, have you forgotten who you used to be? People come to you with their problems. In as much as your life, it didn't look as... It it wasn't it was not as though your life was the best or you had everything that you ever wanted in place. I could still tell that there were things you were trusting God for. There were things that were that were not there yet. There were things that you were really believing that God would do. Yet people will come to you for counseling.
People will come to you for advice. We will go and minister together. It would follow me to go and minister. He's he's not the one ministering. He just follows me. And after the meeting, people will go to him and say, can I see you, sir? Can I see you, sir? Can I see you, sir? What exactly was it about you that drew people's attention to you? I have to remind him.
I said, you forgotten the twelve hours of prayers? You... I told the man that you started praying twelve hours before me. This team placed an oil and uncle upon you. But in as much as you were not the one holding microphone, it was obvious that this man has been with God. So what happened? That the slightest hint of disappointment, you slip into depression. That was not the person I used to know. What happened to the passion and the drive? What happened to the push to know God, to the push to serve God, to the push to to the push to pray, to worship, to stay in the presence of God?
Now you come to church, you are you are checking time to see whether or not we will soon be done. You are praying. You are checking time to see whether or not you will soon be done. And it's not as though you have anything profitable to do. You wake up to pray, and then you sleep severally in between the prayers. But that wasn't what... That wasn't how you used to be. There's no drive of any sort to say, you know what? This can't be my life. I've got to change this.
I've got to change this. I've got to change this. What has happened is that at some point, complacency was added into the equation. Complacency was added into the equation. Complacency has robbed many people of the hunger and the thirst that they had for God. Unpleasant. Complacent. I told someone I said, when you have a genuine hatred for poverty, it's not as though everything in your life will just balance out, but it will give you the fortitude to start making progress. You will start taking actions to ensure you do not remain in that state. Actions.
I read the story of doctor Dike Olukoya. I grew up in Mountain Of Fire, and beautiful was that background. It introduced us into prayers, introduced us into intercession, introduced us into deliverance, introduced these are systems that this ministry and this man carries. Not only is this ministry a blessed ministry, this man is a scholar, an intelligent scholar, a doctor in biotechnology. As one of the only research institute in Nigeria, one of the only actively working research institute in Nigeria, doctor Dike Olukoya. And when I read his story, I said, how can a man rise into this level of greatness in ministry and then in business and career? And I found out in his stories, he wrote. He said, I grew up with an extremely poor family. He described the state of his father, described the state of his mother. Nothing you have been through is like that.
It was terrible. It was not humane conditions for a baby to grow in. The man said I decided in the village I wasn't gonna be poor like my father. And when I found out that at that point, education was the handsome. I decided not only will I be educated, I will be the most educated scholar there is. So even as the man walked laboriously to afford primary school fees, he would go to primary school. And whilst there was no light to read... Watch this. Whilst there was no light to read, there was no such thing as scandal. The man will light fire on firewood and put his books close to firewood and start reading with firewood.
Can you imagine what that would do to your eyes? What that would do to your health? What that would do to your condition? The average twenty first century young man says, the reason why I could not read is because there's no light. Somebody was willing to use firewood to break out of poverty. That is what that is what the hatred of of poverty does. It doesn't naturally mean that you will get day all all all all overnight, but it means that if this is what it will take, if this is what it will take under God, I will not rest. I will not rest. I will not sleep. My eyes will not no sleep.
My body will no no rest. Oh,. I'm willing to do everything to labor in prayers. My stomach will not know food. If this is what it would take to be a man of God who is relevant, who holds the power of God so that I'm able to speak a thing, and it happens even as I speak it. If this is what it takes, then I'm willing to do it. I will not stop. What does it take to be a minister with power? Whose voice will echoes among the continent among the continent? Oh, when I sing the song, it opens the portals of heaven.
The vistas of heaven open up, and the ladder is stretched forth from the heavens to the earth. Where men will say, get me a minstrel, the same way Elisha said. And when your voice starts re echoing the sounds of heaven, then the ordinations of men will start being activated. What will it take to step into these ordinances? I study. I realize I must give myself to a faster life if this is what it will take. There is a price for destiny fulfillment, a compliant man who can never pay that price. Can never pay that price. I gathered my young men together, and I told them, this that I'm telling you now. And one of them told me, he said, sir, I've realized that the problem with many people is that when we share our testimonies, they just think that it is so easy.
That is why we share it. It says for for instance, I can come and share testimony and tell people how that God blessed me in my business. We made seven digits. Last month, this month, and then somebody else come and shared testimonials, oh, I got a grant of 1,000,000 naira... Of 2,000,000 naira. I was so and so. My my my my business is in 21 store markets. My my products rather. And when people hear these testimonies, they just come to us after service, and they say, I want to do what you are doing. And they say, really?
Then come. Let me teach you. And by the time we teach them, in two weeks, they run away. They said the work is too much. I can't do this. This is too much. I didn't know it would be like this. Even so many people do not understand the process involved in the testimonies that are shared. And a lot of my young men started sharing their own testimonies and processes. The one who God just blessed, taking steps towards destiny, was telling me how that as a farmer, as someone into business in a Greek, there are many times it will get...
They hold chicks, and it will come here to come and share testimony of how God is blessing him, how God is lifting his business, and it was telling us the processes involved in what he does. How that he has to set alarm for 1AM, for for 12AM, 2AM, 4AM, 6AM. Why? Because the day old chicks must not close down themselves. If they do so, they will die. They have a heater there that must that that must keep burning. So the guy will wake up to go and check. Is the heater burning? Are the cheeks okay? And he does this consistently.
And by 6AM, when he wakes up for the final check, he goes to have his bath because he's still a teacher I must be at work that morning. Now the young man will come and say testimony. God is blessing me in my business. God is blessing me. I want compliant food. We say, ah, so it's that easy. Sir, what do you do? Come on. I have literally opened doors of possibilities to some people thinking that by reason of what they are receiving, by reason of what they are hearing, they would walk into it and make the best of it, and they could not even retain the job. They are fired, sacked.
When you are complacent when you are complacent, even money cannot help you. One of my young men had a job he was doing that was fetching him money in six digits. And he wanted to resign from that job because his business was now making him more money than what the work was doing. So he felt it's time to meet... For... It's time for me to leave this job and now focus on my business. But he didn't just wanna leave like that. He wanted to open a door for somebody else. And he opened the door for somebody else, and in two weeks, that one lost the job. Two weeks.
Once query was made, he says because she does not have a phone. It's because she does not have a this. It's because she does not have a that. So the young man still took it upon himself. He said, okay. Let's go and get this person a phone. You'll be shocked. I... The phone was not the problem. The phone was not the problem.
When you ate poverty, even if it's a borrowed phone to get the job done, you will do it. Even if it's to even if it's to go and meet a friend and get somebody's laptop and say, please. And the guy already calls you and say, I'm using my laptop. Go away. You say, I'm so sorry. You go to the second person. Sir, can I use your laptop? I have it up to deliver. He said, and then the fourth person is the one that allows you. You don't stop.
A competent person will only make one trial and go and sleep. He said, it did not work. It did not work. It did not work. You want to break out in a business. You have not done it for three weeks or one month, even for six months, even for one year. Do you know that in Harvard Business School, it is believed that the the average business would take four years before breaking out? Yeah. In Harvard Business School. This is what is thought.
The the... Said... He said a business would take four years before breaking out. Guy has not spent one month. The guy has not spent one month. Complacency in spiritual things. Complacency. Complacency. People who should have been making millions of naira right now are still struggling with 30,000 nairas salary. The problem is complacency.
That was what Joshua was telling those people. He said at this point, you would have received your inheritance. Why are you still calm? What is going on? Can't you get up and go and possess? Do you know what the problem was? He didn't say get up and enter the land. He said get up and possess. Possess is possess is a military terminology. It means to forcefully take over.
It shows you the reason why they were complacent. They wanted something that will be given to them whilst they are sleeping. They did not want to do or engage themselves to fight a battle. Because even though it was an inheritance, there were people in the land. They would have to forcefully drive them out, even engage in warfare. That was what they did not want. They they did not have the strength in them to still continue to fight battles. They felt, maybe we are already resting. What's the point anymore? You can step into that place as a minister where you feel, I'm already getting invitations.
I mean, I'm a minister in 10 places, 20 places. My my my itinerary for the next six months is so fixed, also so jam packed. I'll be traveling with my team, and then subconsciously, you find yourself in a place where you no longer pray, you no longer read your bible. The only time you pray even is when probably you have administration. But a time will come where the absence of prayer will no longer even stop your ministration. At least when you were slipping into it, you don't... You've lost your prayer life, but whenever you want to minister, you will still say a few words of prayer. And you will still come and power will show. You will now realize that even with my dead prayer life, with my one minute, two... Two minutes, five minute prayers, look at what God is doing.
You will eventually not get to a place where even the five minutes prayer, you will no longer do. And so a man of God prayed a prayer. He said, may you not get to a point where you realize you don't need God. So I don't have to pray. I don't have to study, and I can still come and speak eloquently. And people will still look at me and say, oh, powerful preaching, powerful speaking, powerful teaching. What happened to the time when you knew you needed the mercy of God? Whereas you are going, be saying, Lord, mercy. Lord, mercy. Mercy.
Mercy. Mercy. Mercy, Jesus. Mercy. But right now, there's no need for mercy again. There's no need for anything like that again. Just hold the microphone and climb on stage and start singing and start ministering. Pow. The power of God is everywhere. Proverbs chapter one and verse 32.
Look at what the Bible says. Can we read this together? Let's read it in, yeah, the new king James version. Let one, two, three, go. Uh-huh. The complacency of fools will destroy them. The complacency of fools will destroy them. The complacency of fools will destroy them. You see, it's okay that you are even a fool. You are...
There's already destruction before. But you now have a fool who is complacent. A fool who is complacent. He has sentenced himself to destruction. It does not matter how many beautiful plans he has he has written. Do you know that? You can be... I can I can tell you to come and stay in my house? You just finished serving NYSE, and you are you are living in a house where you're not paying rent, not doing anything, you're not... You don't have to worry about food, you don't have to worry about anything, you are still living with a family member or relative of yours, and you don't have to worry about housing.
And they get to a job somewhere. You just go to wake up every morning. There's food waiting for you. There is transport fare waiting for you. You can go to the uncle and say, can can I get transport fare? And they would never ask you, ah, maybe you are employed. They will still give you regardless. Do you know that a man can slip into complacency just by reason of that alone? Where the comfort no longer makes you know that your life would not remain there and you will grow whole dear and a day will come, you know, your eyes will now open. You know, I say, wait, wait, wait, wait.
What am I doing here? Complacency can keep a man in a place he should not be. He can introduce delays, stagnancy. These are the destructions that follow complacent fools. Poverty, delay, stagnancy. The withholding of inheritance. Do you know that whilst others are working ah, I knew a young girl. Listen to me. I think I've shared this story before. Whilst we enter university, we enter together.
She used to be my friend. And she told me, she said, this is our plan. This is our business, sister, dad. In the next five years, she wants to work. In next six or seven years, she wants to work in so so so and so place. However, where she wants to work, they allow nobody who does not have at least six to seven years of experience working that place. From 100 level, as we entered school, the lady drew an amazing strategy for for herself. She started working, got the first job as a secretary. Do you think it is easy to work as a secretary whilst you are a student? So when we say, go and prosper.
God is opening doors of prosperity. How do you think it will come? You'll be sleeping in your bed one day. I have... Credit a lot. 10,000,000. They play. Are we not comedians? Are we not comedians? Should you should look at the imagination sometimes and just be laughing.
What do you think it will mean when we declare sowing seeds in six digits? What do you think it means? When we say what it took you six months to save up to to give, now you start giving it every week. What do you think it means? It means you have a product coming out of you that is making it every week. God says I will bless the works of your hands. He doesn't say I will bless the works of your hand when you finish school. He said I will bless the works of your hands. One of my guys here is a medical student in veterinary medicine. Yet, it's building a business that will grow to become one of the largest head tech businesses you know in Nigeria, even in the world.
And he's attending conferences, attending seminars, putting himself for grants, teaching for investors. He's in different organizations with the... With people looking to invest. He has secured three or four grants for himself to push the business. He has an office space where he works, where he lectures. He has gotten multiple certificates whilst he has not even finished school. Certificate he has gotten a loan is more relevant than the BSC you have studied. And the man will still come to class every morning and sit down amongst other students, and you think you... He's your mate. He's not your mate.
Yes. Yes, sir. You wake up in the morning. The only thing you are thinking about is, ah, who will I borrow money from like this guy? Until June, then little king went and get married for me. And then when nobody has took it to give you, you now go to borrow money app. Collect money app. And by the time you sum everything together, you are owing five applications because of it. It says it says it says it says the complacency of fools will destroy them. The complacency of fools.
A fool does not need any external force to destroy him. He's already working himself for destruction. He said, he said, hey. The devil does not need to waste time on a complacent person. There's no plan planning external forces around your life. Mm-mm. You're already on a path to destruction. So when it comes and he realizes that, this one has this one has helped us. He has reduced our our... A man of God who is always sleeping, sleeping away destiny.
And he come and he wakes away, souls are dying, souls Souls are are dying. Dying, And he starts praying and sleeps away, carries his bible and sleeps. And he wakes up and souls are dying. Souls are dying. He is very agile when he's talking to people about his vision. In the secret place, there's no prayer life, no altar, nothing. The devil does not need to plan any destruction. You are already on the path to it. Why do you think the devil will still come and be monitoring what you're already doing by yourself? The complacency of fools, the bible say, will destroy them.
Isaiah chapter 32 and verse nine. We will do it in NIV. Let's do it in KJV first, then we'll do NIV, and then we'll do verse 10 in amplified. Because the bible says, rise up. What? Ye women that are at ease. I have... I got to realize that the easiest people to be complacent are women because of societal deceits. Women, the mentality that somebody will just come and marry you and take care of you. That whilst everybody you know are making steps towards their business, towards their life, towards their career, the girl is just wasting away.
And here comes scripture saying rise up, you women that are at ease. I prepared a teaching three years ago, women at ease. Women at ease. I realized that a nation is destroyed when women at when women are at ease. Ministries are destroyed when when women are at ease. Family that destroyed when women are at ease. The reason why some of you are still here is because your mother did not know his. The reason why some of you are still here is because your mother refused to allow poverty to sink the family. The reason why some of you are still here, every morning on Friday, even on Friday, your mother will carry pictures to the mountain, and we stretch the pictures, and we'll say, Esther, and she'll be there till Sunday. Sunday night, she will come back.
By 12AM, you will think mommy will not be sleeping. You are hearing her voice again in the room. 6AM, she's cooking for the family. 7AM, she has gone to the market. And whilst the man comes home and says, ah, the government has not paid the salary. Comes the woman saying, oh, yeah. I'm going to support this man. I will pay this one's coffees. I will pay that one's coffees. You return the money to me, and you walk and you you grew up seeing this, and someone have convinced yourself a a man will come and marry you.
You grew up seeing this picture. There are homes that were sinking except for the fact that the mother refused for the children to sink with it. These were women that refused to know his. Listen. When a... Listen. God rested was on the seventh day. Day one to day six, God was working. When a man rests when he's supposed to walk, he's destroyed. Look at this.
Rise up, women that are at his. Hear my voice. Ye careless daughters. And when a man becomes complacent, the bible say it is because the man is careless. Careless about his destiny. Give ear unto my speech. Give me the NIV. You women who are so complacent, he says rise up. Listen to me, doctors who feel secure. That's where I'm going.
That there is a false sense of security that can give rise to complacency. A false sense of security. Somebody has promised me a job when I finish school. I heard a girl literally told me that. She said my father just told me that once I'm done with NYSE, I just need to be done. There's already a job waiting for me. And I looked and said, what? I mean, it's so funny how the devil just uses the same thing every time. You know how many times I've heard this? The last one I heard, the person who promised him the job died whilst he was graduated.
The second one who told me this had been saying that my father... In fact, was a father. He said my father had told me... Some of you might know the person. My father has told me that the moment I'm done with school, yeah, I have a job. And he mentioned one of the oil industries. Also a woman, funny enough. I have a job because your father works there. COVID nineteen struck. Father was laid out of his job.
A false sense of security. You are building your life over somebody's promise who is not God. Who is not God? Depends, yeah, I promise I'll give you 3,000,000 naira. Just focus on school. Don't do any business. Don't focus on anything. Don't do anything at all. I'll give you 3,000,000. Just focus on school.
Whatever you want to do, I will do it for you. And you say, you come for teachers like this. So you get something doing. He said, no. There's 3,000,000 waiting for me. All I need to do is focus on school. A false sense of security. Glory to God. Amen. A false sense of security.
Look at verse 10 and amplified. The Bible says, in little more than a year... Look at the consequence of complacency. It says, in little more than a year, you will be shaken with anxiety. You careless and complacent woman, for the vintage will fail. The ingathering, the harvest will not come. Look at verse 11. Tape, tremble. It says, you women who are at ease, shoulder with fear, you complacent ones, strip yourselves bare and guard sackcloth upon your loins in grief. Verse 12 in Henkelton.
It says, beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms will soon be gone. For those fruitful vines of other years will soon be gone. Verse 13 says, for your land will be overgrown with thorns and briars. Your joyful homes and apophities will soon be gone. All of these because some people were complacent. This wasn't a castle. This was a consequence of complacency. So when I say the destructive power of complacency. How do you know when a man is complacent? He loses motivation.
The seven tribes that were left in Israel were half hearted in their commitment to claiming their inheritance. There was apathy. There was lethargy. There was indifference. There was no motivation to pursue. There was no motivation to be great. There was no motivation to be successful. The guy can come to church inconsistently anyhow he chooses to come. Whether he feels like it or he doesn't feel like it, his life is based on his emotions. It's whatever he feels like doing, he will do.
Not the right thing to do. If what he feels like doing, he does. There's no motivation for anymore. One of my funny young men came to me and told me that has been so hungry in class today. He was so hungry, and and he's... He he called his mom for for money, and the mother sent him 1,000. He was typing to me, and then he said, how can that woman send me 1,000? What will... What will I use that 1,000 to do? Can you imagine, sir?
That woman sent me 1,000. Looked and said this is the beginning of poverty. This is how men that have sentenced themselves to poverty speak. This is how they speak. Instead of disrespecting your mother and calling your mother that woman, why not go and get the job? After all, you're a man. Why are you a man? You know that I found out that there are always good excuses to be stagnant in life. There are always good excuses to be non progressive. The lazy believer is full of excuses.
In NLT, Proverbs 22 and verse 13, the bible says, the lazy person is full of excuses. The lazy person is full of excuses. Look at this. Saying, if I go outside, I might meet a lion in the street and be killed. So the reason why we'll not go to work is because he has said to himself, there's a lion outside. The lazy person, why would he not start business? He say, if I start a business, I might meet people that will steal my money. Look at the next verse. The mouth of an immoral woman is dangerous. It's a dangerous trap.
Those who make the Lord hungry will fall into it. My concern really is that the lazy man always have an excuse. The lazy man always has an excuse. When you hear a lazy man speaking, they will have a reason, and the reason is always reasonable. One of my interesting young men like that who will consistently disappoint people as though somewhere in his name there's disappointment there. This will be ready by nine expected next year. Submit this by two. Expect it in two years' time. I need this done by 3PM. The guy...
What the guy heard was three months' time. And by the time you call him and ask him, what's the thing? He said, there was no light. My laptop was hard issues. My laptop charger crashed. My... I was just tired. I was just... The lazy person will always have an excuse. And there is always a reasonable excuse for stagnancy.
Listen to me. The holy spirit told me years ago, and I told those that knew me then, you can either make excuse or make progress. You can never make both. Let me round up here. A false sense of security and so a lack of concern for the situations around them. Where they live, where they walk, they don't care about anything around them. They don't care who dies, who lives, who eats, who does not eat, where the son goes to school or doesn't go to school. A compulsive fool. Let me pray a prayer for you. May you not marry a complainant, as a woman.
You will never know the consequence until you enter. You will know pain that God never destined you to know. You will take on responsibilities you were not built to take on. And the painful thing about it is, I don't know if you can relate what I'm saying because you saw it growing up, yet you are still complaving to yourself. Yet you are still careless about your choices and decisions. Complacent people are usually immature, noncommitted in their spiritual lives, not committed to the growth of God's kingdom where they are. You tell a complainant man to give, never. Tell him to tithe, never. Tell him to join the workforce. Never.
Tell him to join the disciple bible academy. He will have a 100,000 reasons why he should not join. Tell him to go for the love up. He will have a 100,000 reasons why he should not go. If you say, I don't want people to know me. I only want to just be at the crowd. I don't want to... I don't I don't want attention. I'm afraid of commitment. I'm afraid of so and so.
I don't like this and that and that. And that is a a thousand reasons for your life to remain the same. The question you should ask is, if you are committed to a church and they are telling you to do something, would they tell you to do something that will destroy you? So what makes you think that you know better? What makes you think you know better? They have no commitment whatsoever even to their own lives. And someone who is not committed to their life is looking for a woman. He's looking for a woman to harden to that confusion. The bible said, it is not good for a man to be alone. That scripture, many of us have carried it in our head and it's the reason why you're looking for a relationship by fire by force because God says it's not good for a man to be alone.
Go and read the scripture again. This time when you are reading it, check when God said it is not good for a man to be alone. Check when he said it. Because when you check it, you realize that in Genesis one, the bible says, and God said, let us make man in our own image. Genesis two says, and God made man in his own image, male and female created he him. Are you with me? Male and female created he them. When the bible says male and female created he them, the only person that he created physically was a man, was male. Yet, whilst events were narrated from the spiritual perspective, male and female had been created. It means God already had the woman in mind to be created, but the woman never physically manifested.
He created the man first, yet the bible says male and female created he them. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, Yet it was only the man that was manifested in Genesis two. Are you with me? The moment the man was manifested, the Bible says God put the man in the garden to tend it and to keep it. So when God created a man alone in Genesis two, and the same God said in Genesis one, male and female created them. In Genesis two later on, he announces it's not good for man to be alone. Did he not see what... Did not remember what he said? Did not remember that it was male and female that they were to be created?
So whilst he was creating man, why didn't he just form woman beside him and say both of you are common? He made the man then gave the man work. Then ensure the man was busy with his work before he said, now it is not good for man to be alone. It means whilst the man was alone, it was good for him to be alone because everything God created was good. So what God was checking for was responsibility. Let's give this man work. Let's give this man purpose. Let's give this man... So it means a boy in 100 level, 200 level has always confused, has zero has zero knowledge of where he's going in life. Zero future ambition is looking for a girlfriend.
It is good for you to be alone. It is good for you to be alone. It was when God saw that Adam was busy about work, busy about working. Morning, he wakes up. He's back to tilling. He's back to checking. He's back to fencing. He's back to guarding. He's back to keeping. And God said, yes.
Now it's not good. Now it's not good. And it is the same for a woman. And so when I see people in relationship and they come to me and I and I check, what does a boy do? Nothing. He's just in school, but we are believing... And I look and said, you just you just you just decided to destroy your life. That's why the bible says the complacent fool is destroyed. You don't need any dev. You just need to make foolish decisions over and over again.
You will arrive at destruction. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Complacent people are lukewarm people. Neither old... Neither... They're neither cold nor hot. They lack self examination. They lack foresight. Do you know that when a man takes on a responsibility or a task and he feels no responsibility, he feels in that task, he can become discouraged.
That discouragement can lead to complacency. In other words, repeated failures can cause a man to be complacent. I mean, I tried coming out of my sturbation. I told myself I will not do it again the first time. I lasted for two weeks. I went back into it. And then I lasted for one month. Again, I went back into it. What's the point, sir? That episode of disappointment has now slipped into a place of complacency where he feels, oh, nothing can be done again.
When a man gets to that point, his destruction is sudden. Many don't know that failure is one of the things you go through in the school of greatness. Many don't know. Listen to me. In order to avoid complacency, you must be committed to your life and to God's word over you regardless of disappointments, regardless of failures. You must have a commitment that supersedes your experience. A commitment to the word of God that everything God's word says is true, and I will eventually become it. No matter what I'm currently going through right now, I will decide never to think there's no way there or I would give up. Never. I will become what God has said I should become.
So even as I feel, I bounce up again. I find out why did I feel? What happened? What don't I know yet? I want... I come and meet a pastor. Pastor, please help me. This is what I'm going through. This is what I'm facing, but I've chosen not to give up. But I've chosen not to give up.
The bible says, hope defied, make it the heart sick. I realized that when there is delay in the fulfillment of your heart desire, it can lead to complacency. The bible says, the vision is one appointed time. Though it may carry, it will not carry. You must realize that I have a commitment to the word of God and God has told me that it does not matter how unlikely my vision might look. It does not matter how unlikely the promise might look, but God has told me though it may tarry, it will not tarry. It is for an appointed time. It will surely come to pass. Are you with me? Yes.
Achievement and successes can make a man complacent. You make your first 1,000,000, you make your first six digits, or your first seven digits or even your first eight digits and you slip into a pit of complacency. You no longer give like you... As you used to give. You no longer pray like you used to pray. You no longer seek God like you used to seek God because now you have a semblance of success. Listen to me very carefully. A man can build in two years and destroy what he has built in two minutes. It is easier to destroy than it is to build. You check what it means to build a house.
Check what it means to destroy a house. It is... It takes lesser time. Just bring tractors and all these things, sometimes even bombs, and you plant it around the house, and what took maybe ten years to build up comes crashing down in seconds. Comes crashing down in seconds. This is what complacency does to you. So because of success, if you step into a pit of complacency, you'll realize it won't take it won't take time before all you have built start coming down. When you stop doing the things that made you succeed, when you succeed, you will soon know failure. And so when a man is complacent, one of the dangers is delayed progress. That is if at all he ever makes progress.
Poverty, lack of fulfillment in life. You must have a commitment to God's word beyond the experience. I refuse to be complacent. I refuse to ever become satisfied with where I am. So much so there's no pushing me again to make progress. Rise up on your feet. The prayer is very simple. The prayer is very, very simple. Wherever I have allowed for complacency, wherever I've slipped into lethargy and a state of destiny, apathy, Where I have no concern, I'm not satisfied with how things are. Either because I've been deceived by success or I've been deceived by failure or discouragement or disappointment.
Right now, God help me. Help me to come out. Help me to come out. Help me. I destroy the power of complacency over my life. I destroy the yoke of complacency over my life. Can you begin to pray right now? Pray. Pray. Come on.
Pray. Please be serious. May his favor be upon you and a thousand generations and your family and your children and that children and that children. Please pray. Please pray. Don't sing. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray.
You. And we're rejoicing is for you. It's for you, and so his favor be upon you. And a thousand generations and your family and your children and the children and the children. May his favor be upon you. And a thousand generations and your family and their children and their children and their children. May his presence go before you and behind you and beside you all around you and within you. It's for you. It's for you In the morning, in the evening, in your coming, and you're going, in your weeping, and rejoicing. It's for all you.
It's for you. And may his favor be upon you. And a thousand generation and your family and the children and the children and the children In Jesus mighty name we have prayed. Amen. Thank you lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Oh, thank you, Lord Jesus. Father, we ask as a corporate house that we break the yoke of complacency. We break the yoke of complacency. As many...
The Bible says, woe to them who are at ease in Zion. We make a declaration today that we will not be amongst them who are at ease in Zion. Amen. The strength and the fortitude to take life seriously and to labor the labor that destiny demands. Let it be supplied even today. In the name of Jesus. Thank you because you have answered. In Jesus' mighty name we've prayed. Amen. We believe you were blessed by this message to connect with the Disciples Christian Network and get more from Apostle Emmanuel.
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