Transcript: The Law of Endurance
Prepared from the audio, so small errors are possible.
This message is from believers equipped, a meeting organized by the Disciples Christian Network where the word of God is taught with practicality and believers are raised to reign in life. Join apostle Emmanuel as he walks us through the word of God. Matthew chapter 24 and verse nine. The bible says, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you'll be hated by the nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended and will betray one another and will hate one another and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. This was Jesus speaking. This was Jesus teaching, and he was communicating something that is of note to the disciples. And he was telling the disciples what we typically call the signs of the end time.
But as you grow in biblical knowledge and theological understanding, you know that this is not the ultimate sign of the end time. There are signs of the end time true, but it is not the ultimate sign of the end time. As you study scriptures, you understand this. So many people... Because this is where they stop in their knowledge of scripture, and so when we are talking eschatology or the study of the end time, usually, they would prepare people's art, and a lot of us have been trained and brought up that way. So we expect that how Jesus would come is that all these things will start happening, and then there'll be prosecutions, and people are dying, and there are wars, and there are people... False prophets everywhere, and people are... You know, the church is being oppressed, the church is being beaten down, turned down, and the antichrist system is prevailing. Then as an escape strategy, Jesus will come and rescue his church. And that is the ideology.
That is the mindset that a lot of us have as it concerns the rapture. That is not the ultimate sign of the end time. These are signs, yes, but it's not the ultimate sign of the end time. In Matthew 24 and verse 14, it's still the same chapter I believe, the bible says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations and then the end will come. So what is the ultimate sign of the end time? The ultimate sign of the end time is a propagation of the kingdom gospel. In other words, if all these things happen and the kingdom gospel has not been propagated, the end time will not come. Are you with me? So wars and killings and all of that is not the ultimate sign of the end time. As a matter of fact, wars and killings and the rise of false prophets have been for the past one thousand years.
For cent... Centuries, every century, you have these things playing out. It means every century every century is an end time. We're in the end time. From the date of the apostles, these things have been happening. There were fake prophets. There were false prophets. There were wars. There were... Do you understand my point now?
So that cannot be the ultimate sign of the end time, but they are signs of the end time. They are signs that God has given. That's not even where I'm going. But these things will happen here from verse eight, it says... From verse nine, they will deliver you up for tribulation. They will kill you. Some of you, they will kill you. You'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake. Because we bear the name of Christ, there will be persecutions that you will go through. There will be tribulations that you will go through because you love me, because you bear my name.
Jesus was preparing his disciples. He tells them that many will be offended, many will betray one another, many will hate one another. In other words, these are various forms of responses to the persecution. These are various forms of responses to the tribulations. There are some of you who will be offended. There are some of you who will hate one another. There are some of you who would betray one another. You see, these are all things that will happen because people are being, you know, persecuted, because people are undergoing tribulations. Maybe we should start from verse eight. Give me verse eight.
The Bible says in verse eight, and all these are the beginning of sorrows, you see, the beginning of sorrows. So the the of one another, the betraying of one another, the offense against one another, even amongst the fold, the bible calls them the beginning of sorrows, you see. Glory to God. Verse 12 says, added to this, there will be lawlessness. The love of many will grow cold. Lawlessness means a lot of people will start living life without order. Life as against the law of the spirit and life. Are you with me? Yes. A lot of people in an attempt to preach grace usually would say that the law has been abolished and people are no longer under the law.
The law is nonexistent. And then that might not be wrong, but if you camp around that alone, you... Your understanding might be faulty. Because when you say the law, we need to ask you which law because there is no kingdom that is found that is founded lawlessly. Every kingdom is... The the backbone, the structure of every kingdom is law and order, and the kingdom of God cannot be a lawless kingdom. God cannot have a kingdom that he rules over, and he says because you have been free from the... From from the law, there's no more law anymore. Anybody can do whatever they wanna do. No.
If the law has been abolished, we need to know which law is abolished. You were saved from a law into a law. The law of sin and death abolished. The bible says that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Right? Who walk not according to the flesh. Give me that scripture first. Romans 12. Who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Next verse, the bible says, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
So there are two laws. There's a law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and there's a law of sin and death. So there's a law of sin and death that has been abolished, but it has been abolished for another law to be introduced, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That too is a law. Are you with me? And it functions... In fact, it's a more burdening someone, but thank God for grace. Thank God for grace. That's one of my emphasis today. The bible says there will be lawlessness.
Lawlessness there doesn't just refer to lawlessness with respect to the constitution. Even though at trace levels, it does refer to that. But it does refer to primarily lawlessness as against people's contrary behavior to the law of the spirit and life in Christ Jesus. So people will begin to act as against the laws of the kingdom, as against the order of the kingdom, as against the structure that God had established. The bible says God created a man and a woman, Adam and Eve. And the bible says for this cause shall a man leave his father's house and be cleaved to his wife. But right now, there's lawlessness. A woman wants to be identified as a man, and a man wants to identified. That is against the scriptures. It's against the law of spirit.
Do you understand what I'm say? It's against God's order. It's against God's kingdom. And so a lot of these things will be prevalent, and we see this happening right now. Isn't that right? Yes, sir. What is... What God is saying is there will be a lot of things to try and discourage you. So when you say I'm a believer, expect persecutions, expect tribulations, it will amaze you that this is not even where I'm going. Next verse.
Verse 13, it says, but he who endures, right, he who endures to the end. You endures to the end. So there is a fundamental principle that Jesus establishes in communicating what would be for the believers. Jesus never said that as you are going through all these things, I will send my angels to deliver you. As I'm going through all these things, it will so touch my father who is in heaven that my father who is in heaven will say, hi. How can my people be going through this? And then he will put an end to everything. He says, no. What will be needed of you, what will be required of you is endurance. Hence, the word ends the statement, you endures to the end.
You endures to the end. Endurance you see, which is my deliberation today, the law of endurance is a principal principle of greatness. Endurance is a principal principle of greatness taught by Jesus and captured in the lives of the saints all through scriptures, captured in the lives of believers, captured in the lives of great men that we read about, God's generals, saints of old, saints in scriptures. Every man who is great, who has become anything in Christ, anything in God, anything in this kingdom, any man of influence, any man that is great, that is prosperous, that is wealthy, you cannot eliminate endurance from their life. Endurance is one of the key principles, one of the key laws that guarantee success and greatness. Without endurance, a man cannot be great. Thank you, Lord Jesus. I shared with you some Tuesdays ago that the principles of the kingdom are the requirement for the believer's effective living, And it is our responsibility in this house to teach you, to make you understand what are the principles that God has designed. Remember that doors are open in this kingdom with respect to the principle that you know, with respect to the keys that you have. That was what Jesus told Peter.
I've given you the keys of the kingdom. And he didn't say I've given you the key of the kingdom. You... Have you heard that song we used to sing a lot? Many of us sang that song. A lot of us still sing it. You know the song? Prayer is the key. Prayer is the key. Let's go.
You see, what you have sung now is a lie. Somebody say, apostle, why do you always do this? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It's that song that has made several people poor. Prayer is a key. It's not the master key. There are many keys. And so many people have come, and all they know is prayer, and prayer does not guarantee prosperity.
Prayer does not guarantee success. Prayer doesn't guarantee wealth. Oh, prayer has, like, advantages, a lot of it. But you can pray all your life and be an intense prayer warrior and be very broke. And your life is useless at the concerns yet. Prayer does not guarantee excellence in your Christian work, excellence in your academics, excellence in your career. It is not the master key. There is no such thing as a master key. Do you understand what trying to say? What Jesus told Peter is I have given you keys.
So it's not as though you hold one key and say, I've had the master... You know what a master key is? A master key is a key that opens all doors. You will learn painfully that is not so in the realm of the spirit. You will learn very painfully. But even prophecy as powerful as it is is not a master key. But I can prophetically push you into a place where your certificate cannot take you to, and you, by your ignorance of other keys, push yourself out. That doors can be opened for you by the force of prophecy, but understanding the keys that make you that makes you sustain the opening is important. It's more... It's just as important as the opening in itself.
There are those who have lost opportunities because they never had the understanding and the wisdom to sustain. How about those who have gotten married because a prophet prophesied experiencing delay, and they came across a prophet who spoke to them and said, you know what? Sister, go and get married. And almost as though the prophecy introduces a charming effect on the brother. The brother decided this is my wife, and he cannot calm down. His blood is hot, boiling at 100 degrees Celsius. The guy just wants to marry, and he's saying, sister, what are you doing? Tell me, I'm I'm still doing my masters. So he said, no. We must marry.
You know, the prophet has spoken. We must marry. When are we married? Eventually, they marry, and they have a divorce in five years, in six years before the divorce fight upon fight upon fight. Husband no longer wants to come home. Wife is... Wife no longer wants the marriage, and this was the same person that desired that marriage even before. So much so she went to prophets, went to different people to pray, and the prayer opened the door, but now the door is open. She has not the wisdom to build a home. You know what the bible says?
The bible says true wisdom is a house built. God doesn't say true prayer is a house built. You see, if you don't know scriptures and if you don't understand the balance of scriptures, you will just be so frustrated. I I was speaking to someone. The person told me that there is no question as balance. Truth is truth. And I said that's a lie. There is such a thing as balance. Even in truth, that's what makes truth truth. Because a truth can fly on two wings.
Truth can walk on two legs. And if you study just one leg, the truth you know will be paralyzed. It won't be capable of bringing you results. I just said now that true wisdom is a house built. It's not scripture that says that. It's not in the same scripture that says the elders of the Jews built and prospered by the prophesied. So you can say true prophecy too is a house built and camp around one as though that is all there is to it and say there's no question as balance. So you have... True wisdom is a house built. The order of the Jews built and prospered by the prophesied, but they built.
So there was an engineer who drew a structure. There was an architect that drew. There was a civil engineer that that had a contract. They were the supervisor that supervised. They were bricklayers that were laying bricks. They didn't say because the prophet has prophesied, arranged the bricks anyhow and say, you know what? The the prophecy has gone ahead of us. Just just put the brick. We'll come up. At the end, there will be a house.
Prophecy has gone ahead of us. God has gone ahead of us. But sir, we don't know what we are doing. Open our... Your mouth. I will fill it up. So that means that we can just continue building. We'll fill it up. My brother, put it. Okay.
This is the sink. Where do we draw it? You know what? I don't even know. Just drop it somewhere there. And then what do you... What are you doing? Say, yeah. We are building the house. The prophet has gone forth.
Life is not done that way. So even if there are resources to build according to the prophesying of the prophet, there is still wisdom to know how to build. The bible says that the labor of fools worries them because they know not the way to the city. Note, the labor of fools worries them because they know not the way to the city. The fool knows the city. In other words, the fool knows where he's going. The fool knows I want to prosper. The fool knows I want to make money. The fool knows I want to I want to have a good home. He knows where he's going.
He knows the city. What he doesn't know is how to get there. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? And so understanding this makes a believer hunt for keys. One of such keys is what I wanna teach you. One without which a man can never know greatness. Both in this kingdom and in Christ to achieve greatness, to achieve success, to achieve anything in life, a man can never be great. A man can never become anything in God outside of the law of endurance. Because after Jesus tells them the beginning of many sorrows, he never told them. He never told them, hold your hands together and begin to pray.
Pray that God delivers you from the sorrows. He never told them, after you realize that the persecution has begun, start praying. As you pray, the mighty hand of God will come down. He never told them. He says, whoever endures, he who endures. Do you know he who endures is a conditional statement? It means not everybody will. It means the salvation Jesus is speaking about here are only... Is only for those who have endured. That's the same way greatness is only for those who have endured.
Success is only for those who have endured. Prosperity even is only for those who have endured. Influence is only for those who have endured. If a man will be great in this kingdom, endurance is the key. Endurance is the power to go on in spite of difficulties. Endurance is tenacity, the determination to continue, the stamina to remain grounded. It is staying power. A lot of people lack endurance. And so in life, they gas out easily. And when you find a man who gases out easily in life, who is quick to throw in the towel, who is quick to give up, who is quick to faint, Are you with me?
You have seen a man who will never arrive at greatness. Listen to me. There are failures that you will go through. You can't pray it out. You can't pray against it. You will experience it in business, in career, in academics, in life. There are challenges. There are tumours, there are hardship, there are things that a man will go through that has no deliverance, only preservation, only the strength to persevere, only the strength to endure. And when a man has not labored into endurance, when a man does not have this character trait of endurance and resilience, what you... And tenacity and staying power, what you will find is that you cannot stay through to anything.
The moment life became... Begins to blow hot on you, you gas out easily and throw in the towel and say, you know what? I don't think I can continue this. Without endurance, a man will get easily overwhelmed by challenges. What was supposed to be a temporary setback will paralyze you. Your very survival in this world depends on your ability to adjust, on your ability to thrive in the face of difficulties, your ability to thrive in the face of hardship. Without endurance, you will see... You will find yourself falling back on an unhealthy threats like avoidance. In other words, avoiding responsibilities because of the hardship that come with it, like helplessness, being being... You know, there are people that just direct pleasure in helplessness.
They love to be pitied. They love people to just hear their story and just pity them. And so whenever challenges come and situations come, instead of rising to the task, they want to gather people around them and harm me of pitiers. People will just look at them and say, my god. You mean you are going through this? My god. You mean you went through this? People like that never become great. Endurance not only empowers you to accept, to adapt, and to move forward in difficult situations, but it is also the core strength that makes bearing the load of life possible, bearing the burden of destiny possible. There are path in your walk with God that are unpleasant, and yet God designed it so because they are learning experiences.
This is how you learn in life. Life will not entirely be smooth. If it is, it means you have not learned a thing. Are you with me? Remember that on Sunday, I showed you that there was a shorter path for the Israelites to have gotten to the promised land, and that path would have taken them fourteen days. It was a path of least resistance. If God had taken them through that path, God predicted that they would see the war and run back. It means that the fear in their heart would not have been dealt with. So God took them intentionally through the longer route. What was the intention?
To deal with the fear in their heart. Remember, the reason why he didn't take them through the shorter route was so that they will not see the war and out of fear, run back. So he intentionally took them through the longer route. Are you with me? Yes, sir. So what was the longer route supposed to do? Do you understand what I'm saying? It is that at the hang of the longer route, when you... Give me amplified version. The previous verse, verse 17.
Do you have AMPC? AMPC says, lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, bracket, for there shall be war. So there was... It's a when. I'm just showing that the when there is a is a statement of certainty. Are you with me? Yes, sir. That is there will be war. So God knew that there is only one way to take that land. There is only one way that that land will be theirs, and that way is through war.
In fourteen years, they would not have had the required amount of training to have eliminated fear in their heart. So God had to take them through the path of most resistance. The first resistance being the Red Sea. Do you understand, Sheremithi? The first resistance being the Red Sea. And the aim of all of that is that at the end of their journey, they would come to a point where they realize that there is no longer fear in their heart. Now they are they are they are not they are not ashamed. They are not afraid to confront difficulties, to confront challenges. And how God was going to do it was to take them through life. He wasn't gonna do it by a miracle.
He wasn't gonna just remove fear from the heart. There was gonna be an intentional process. This is the school of the spirit. In your journey to greatness, you will endure. You will endure hardship. You will endure misinterpretation. You will endure hunger. Every great man that you see has a testimony of endurance. Every crown that you see has stories attached to it. That illusion that greatness will just happen to you accidentally is a dream, It will just it will just happen on greatness, and you will just blow.
You heard that? We've we've seen that? Let me just... Ah, people should just know me. And we we we create a lot of fantasies in our imagination that has no brain or reality. I should just make 10,000,000 now. And then we now ask ourselves, what will I do if somebody just gives me 10,000,000? I'll pay tight. I'll sow a seed or more if I just have 1,000,000 now. And we keep on building such such stupid fantasies that have no bearing on reality.
Are you with me? Yes, sir. The path to greatness, the path to sustainable wealth and prosperity is usually very tumultuous. There are failures you will need to endure. You will stand again and then continue running. If you're an entrepreneur, endurance and resilience is essential in business because you will need to take risk in business. You will need to face failures in business. You need to bounce back from setbacks in business. Building a successful business requires the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, learn from your mistakes, persevere through challenging times. Those who possess this quality, this character of resilience and endurance are more likely to navigate these hurdles with determination and ultimately achieve their goals, ultimately achieve greatness.
There will be risks that you would face. Everything will not be certain when you start, but you start regardless. As a matter of fact, endurance is one of the attribute that makes you start regardless of the risk involved. And so when you start, probably you deploy a strategy after much research. And the and the strategy you have deployed doesn't give you the results you expect that you would find. It takes endurance to pick yourself back again and say, you know what? Let's just strategize. The average human being will crash immediately, be disappointed for the first thirty days, and then look at all the investments that he used, all the investment, financial investment, human investment, everything that he invested, including his own energy, everything he put into the first strategy that turned out to be a failure. And then she will crash over it. He will crash over it, and he starts thinking, but why did they even do that?
Why did they even go like this? If I if I... If only I had known. If only I had known. And then he comes around if only I had known for the next thirty days, for the next two months. I'm just seeing sullen. He can't... He does not have the the courage to say, okay. Let's go again because now he has been defeated in his mind. He's thinking, if I try another one, what if it fails?
What's the guarantee that I have that the next strategy I try will not fail? Why should I invest this amount of money again and this amount of energy again and this amount of things again? Are you with me? If I've built up onto this level and I lost it. You read the story of the richest men in the world. I read a book by one of the richest guys in the world, and I read how that when he started out, he was into debt in hundreds of millions of dollars. Some of you who are well already know who I'm talking about. He was in debt of 100 of millions of dollars. It's easy to just get crushed, especially when you're just starting. You have no experience.
You're just taken advice by financial advisers, and you just... And it it it crashes you. That's a good place to go and kill yourself. And how do I come out of this? Are you with me? Yes, sir. But without that strength of heart, the quality of endurance to say, you know what? There is still a future. There is still hope. How do we come out of this mess?
How do we bounce back on this challenge? Without that strength of heart, a lot of people will never arrive at greatness. This strength of heart is not default. No, it is not. It is learned. And as we go on, I will show you ways that a man can build endurance in himself, staying power, resilience. Imagine a student. Do you know that endurance also plays a significant role in academic achievement? Because the journey towards academic success often involves facing difficulties such as heavy workloads. You'd agree with me?
Yes, sir. Strict deadlines, demanding expectations from lecturers, from parents, from apostle Emmanuel, and so on. Any student who can bounce back from failures, bounce back from setbacks, they are more likely to maintain a motivation and continue striving for excellence than those who don't have that quality. I know the story of a young man. I've shared this story before. Who got 10 carryovers? When he went to university, he was given advice to withdraw. That's most of his courses he failed. He was given advice to withdraw. And it wasn't as though he was a lazy young man.
Actually applied his best, but he just he just failed. He was given advice to withdraw. He was withdrawn from the university. Imagine the young man, he went to university, and then you had to go through the embarrassment of being rusticated from the university because you failed all your courses. When you meet your mates, would you tell them that I'm no longer in that school? Why I failed? It takes strength of heart, endurance, resilience to not give up. Not say both was the Youssef. A lot of people have reached their destination in life because of this. They've stopped making progress not because that was where God has presented...
Designed for them to end. So many people failed the course and stopped, begged their destiny right there because they failed the course. Some of us, you know what? I don't think school is for me. Why? He failed the one course. And decided school is not for me. You you entered university. You were given medicine. And as you...
Because you have labored so much for medicine. Three years, you wrote jam. The first time, you got two sixty. You wrote for 50 me, you got 65. They gave you animal science. He said, no. I want medical sciences. You go the second time, ignore the admission. The third time, then you get the medicine you have been praying for through many connections, through many pulling of legs. You eventually find yourself at the at the medicine.
And the first thing you realize that physics, you have 33. Chemistry. You're not... You see, you're gonna realize that. It's as though I did not count the course well. So as though I didn't check it very well. And you say, you know what? We can do this. We can pull through. You can pull through.
Went in for tutorials, went in for everything, and at 300 level, m b one passes biochemistry, fails anatomy, fails physiology. That's not what you have to receive. And after the receipt, you say, you know what? We have returned to animal science. And now the girl says, you are back where we began. Why did I even go through all of these things? I wasted seven years of my life. I want to kill myself. Is that the end of life rate? You see, what kind of failure can a man really go through that is the end of life?
What those people are missing is strength of heart, resilience, endurance without which a man can never know greatness. This man road jam began. The man I was talking about got 10 carryovers, road jam began. What I mentioned to another university, came out with the first class. Came out with the first class. Did another course. Now now now realize that it was not as though he was taught or just taught in the wrong course. The man right now is a professor, a lecturer, in fact. And the course he was taught in proof so challenging to him, he had 10 carryovers. He never he never gave up his...
The man told me... The man said he sought God even more. Whilst he was praying, he discovered God as Jehovah Academia. He said Jehovah Academia appeared to him. He knew that God was an intelligent spirit. Another one is crying. He's crying and saying, I don't even know how to do my life again. I think everything has finished for me. I don't even know how my man... I failed my parents, but I have not healed God.
At some point, you have to discover who really matters. I'll get there. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Might be tunnels. There might be difficulties. There might be troubles in any area, any facet of life. In business, in academy, there might be things you didn't plan for. Nobody really plans to fail. We can prepare.
We can plan to curtail it, but nobody plans to intentionally fail. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Unless you are helped by the devil or by demons. In any case, even the most unserious student will still try and read something before exam. The guy has not attended class at all. But a day before, you find him in every class, every every room, every... Guy. Guy. Guy.
Abe. Abe. Nobody just sits down and say, you know what? Let me just feel. Even if it's that minute, let me just apply one. Let me just know I tried. What you now feel is you'll now be shocked. You'll come for a miracle. You still receive. Say, I believe God that my CGB can go.
Glory to God. Glory. A young guy came to me and said, sir, I have to carry over. Know if you speak a word. I know if you speak a word. This is not my result. This is not my result. I say, Oga, it is your result. And you know, there's a way they can intimidate you and not care for as a man of God. Because the guy was talking to me, was...
Si, no. This is not speaking word. This is not my result. I waited for him. The god has helped my heart. I'm not intimidated by all of that. You think because I'm not saying, see, god will change. Come on. I say, okay. Go and write this thing again.
He said, I say, yes. Write it again. I don't know how we cope. I don't know how we do it. How do I explain? See, you will not explain. Nobody ask you for explanation. What they ask you for is answer. Give them the answer. Pass.
You are not explaining to anybody. Just go back and write the exam. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Young man is a graduate now. The strength of heart is needed if you will be great. The power to stay and continue regardless. Are you with me? Yes, sir. When you find someone who has this character, this strength of heart, endurance, resilience, you'll find that their perspective of life is different.
They view challenges as opportunities for growth rather than insurmountable barriers. They are willing to put up the effort required to succeed in their academics, in their business, seeking help when needed, managing stress effectively, staying focused on their long term goals. Endurance enables you to overcome obstacles with determination whilst maintaining focus on your long term goals. Let me say that again. Endurance enables you to overcome obstacles with determination whilst maintaining focus on your long term goals. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse two, scripture for that. The bible was speaking and says, look on to Jesus. In other words, when it comes to faith, Jesus authored faith. Jesus is the origin of faith. Jesus is the author and the custodian of faith.
And so if you will learn faith, if you will have faith, you will have faith because Jesus authored faith. So the bible says, as our model of faith, look unto Jesus. He offered faith. He's the hand of faith. Are you with me? Who for the joy that was set before him? So what are we looking unto him for? What is the example we are looking for in this man of faith? You'd expect that this great man of faith will use his faith to escape the cross. But the bible says, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
Endured the cross. So from the man who uttered faith, we learn endurance. Remember that I said, endurance enables you to overcome obstacles with determination whilst maintaining focus on your long term goals. So the bible says, he for the joy that was set before him, that's the long term goals, endured the cross, being the obstacles. In other words, this already shows you the first way that a man builds endurance. Do you see that? But you didn't see it. This already shows you the first way that a man builds endurance. There's a cross every man would have to endure. There is even a process leading to the cross, the shame, the beatings, the spitings of men.
And the bible says what kept him through all of that was the joy that he saw ahead of him. The joy that was set before him. In other words, there must be a vision that you have conviction about for endurance to be built in your soul, in your heart, in your spirit. There must be a joy that has been set before you. Vision is useless without conviction. There's no use being having a vision you're not convinced about. Throw it away. The strength of Jesus' heart. Are you with me? Came from a joy that was set before him.
Can you close your eyes and say, I will endure. I will endure. I will not give up, and I will not stop. You start a business. Give me an example of a business. You start the business. And as you start, you face your first challenge. Maybe somebody has caught scondered with your money. Maybe somebody you trusted with a part of the work did a nonsense job, a part that you could not have done by yourself that you have to outsource. And that nonsense job that a person did cost you a lot of the or maybe anything, really.
You think about it. If that thing is enough to make you give up, to make you stop, you know what it means? It means there's no joy that is set ahead of you. You didn't start with a vision. You are... There is nothing you were seeing. You just started because you received an advice. Somebody came and said, there's this business. It's it's making money now. It's making money now.
Hey.. That was... If you if you enter like that, you will crash land. Because the first thing we learned from Jesus, who authored faith, is that he needed a joy to have been set before him. There was something he was seeing that was the sustaining power. He saw the crown. He saw the glory. He saw the coronation. The joy that was set before him was the strength that his heart needed to endure the cross. Are you with me?
Sir. Look at all the things that he did. The Bible says despising the shame. So on the pathway to the cross, there was shame. The joy that was set before him enabled him to despise the shame. Now you want to go and sell him. You say you say, I don't want my classmate to see me. Is there anything set before you? I'm not understanding what I'm saying. Someone say that we've given...
We've gotten a shop for you in in in in Agboho or in Kinikon in Beryl or or Jabao in full... You don't have to pay rental. I'm giving it to you and say, ah, shop. How how would it look like now? I don't think I'm ready to do that one. No. I'm in 400 level. I'm telling people that I I now have a shop. He doesn't want to be identified because he he has stigmatized people that work... That have shops.
And say, you're studying clothes? Do you... Ah, are you interested in getting a shopping baggy? He say, ah, no. People in baggy are illiterate. The bible says Jesus despised the sheep. Can you give me amplified? Can we read this to everybody? It's despising, you see, not despising. Glory to God.
One two three. Go. And doing what? So it means the path to the throne can many at times be shameful. Are you with me? Yes, sir. The path to the throne can many at times be what? Be shameful. Okay. So he did not pass.
They gave the advice to withdraw. Now you are a medical student. Now you find it out in animal sciences and so what? Is that not a shameful experience? He ignored the shame. The man that worked many miracles, that worked many signs, that worked many wonders is now being prided naked in Israel. Naked in Israel. Piled by those that he healed. Are you with me? Yes.
It's so amazing. And you must understand that if you not ready to ignore the shame, you're not ready for greatness. They said come and learn a new skill. You say, ah, how would I join them? I'll be learning the new skill. I'm I'm I'm 30 years old. I'm 30 years old. I went there for the first time. Everybody I saw there was 16, 15, 14. And then they all sit down with my beard and goes, ah.
You know why? Shame. Can't you look for another work for me? How will I be learning the new skill with all these young, young children? Those young, young children are making money, money that you will ever make all your life combined. The diligence to sit down and learn and ignore the shame. How about in ministry? You already missed your time, and now God has had mercy on you and introduces you to a to a company of young people. And the and the price you have to pay is just pray with them, grow with them, build with them, and God will launch you into what he had intended for you that you missed. But the shame to be seen with young people, the shame as a married man to be seen.
You you are now holding your hand like this. Can't we look for a church where I can find my mates? And God said if I had mercy on you, Jesus despise the shame. You... Can you preach a gospel to your neighbor? Said despise the shame. I am making puff puff. You don't want to take your puff puff to another department so that they will not say, ah, that girl that sells puff puff. You are selling pommo. You don't want to take your pommo.
So they will not they will not give you a... They will not put a screw type on your name. So when is the market your product, you are being careful. Strength of heart enables a man to endure and to despise and to ignore the shame. I know a lady who was... Who wanted to go into public speaking, and I had to help... She was so good, so good, speak extremely well. But she didn't have confidence, which is another love, by the way. I already put on that. Humble and courageous.
I will do what God has said. Your life After I helped the lady and then she became courageous enough to say, you know what? I'm gonna give it a try. I went for a debate. And she delivered such an articulate speech. Everybody's head was already swelling. As she kept on going, the excitement led her to make a blunder. Do you know that the blunder registered more in people's memory than the articulacy of her speech? She left that place, the first person she met, called her by the blunder. On the WhatsApp group, Somebody was recorded and screenshot.
Cut the blunder out. They made a meme out of the blunder. She shared all that with me. Shared me... Shared with me all the... I opened the scripture. I said, who for the joy that was set before him? I asked the lady, what has been set before you? You know what she told me? She said I will be the greatest public speaker Nigeria has ever seen.
I said, why Nigeria? She said, Africa. I said, why Africa? She said, she jumped in tongues. Said, sir, I'll be the greatest public speaker the world has ever seen. I said, then what do you do? You despise the shame. You ignore the shame for the joy. It means the strength to ignore comes from the joy that was set before you. If there's nothing set before you, that shame would kill her for the next ten years.
She will never... It's... That is how traumatic experiences are birthday. She will have PTSD. The moment she wants to climb the pulpit, she will remember the blunder, then she will now start making multiple blunders. Someone who is articulating speaking normally, an experience that was registered in her memory, the devil now captured it and keeps it on repeat. And because you don't have the strength of endurance to ignore the shame, you know why? There's nothing she sees. She only went there because she can speak. It's one thing to be able to speak.
It's another thing to see something. Both of you are not the same. You can go on the same platform, but you won't end the same way. Don't think for a moment that you are the same. What we see different as far as your eyes can see. We can be sharing the same platform during the same debate, and you you do think I'm I'm I'm a codebtor. Is it good morning, my codebtor? Hi. I am not a codebtor. You have no idea what I am.
I've seen. I've seen. So I might not win, but for me, not about winning. Because where I'm going, I don't have... I'm not competing with anybody. I'm a king in my own space. This is only a refining moment, a sharpening, a refining, a pruning. So when you stand and you speak, it's not like... You are not seeing a competition. You are giving it your best to sharpen yourself.
As you sit down there, as you stand there competing with people, what you are seeing is the world. What you are seeing is is the world. Business leaders, company owners, organizational heads. And so even if they tell you, oh, the first runner-up, and then you came up as the first runner-up. It doesn't... Everybody inside, they saw nothing. Everybody say, yeah. Yeah. They didn't see nothing. We'll come tomorrow again.
Yes, ma'am. We are sharpening ourselves, ma'am. Yes. You go for election in your department. They say, ah, you no win. No. Shaadi won. Why didn't you win? You had the best manifesto. You spoke with excellence.
You have the best vision. You are... It is obvious. There's nobody best suited for this position than you. But why did you not win? Because when lecturer came to class, he reminded the lecturer, sir, the assignment you spoke of, Everybody took offense. You say, you remember lecture of assignments? Hi, manager. How are doing one? How you doing one?
How are doing one? When it was time for election, they said that guy, I always remember lecture of election... Of assignment. He said that's the person you want to So you lose. I am feeling sad because visionless people that don't know where they are going Go there for someone else. Come on now. What have you seen? Because the strength of endurance comes from there. Are you convinced about what you have seen? If you see nothing and you do something, you will give up.
Any small wind will blow you off. You won't have the strength of continuance. You didn't come from the best family. You didn't come... You didn't have the best background and so what? You can be the black sheep of your family and become the savior. Your background is messed up. Your parents didn't send you to the best school. If you don't have strength of heart, temporary setbacks will become permanent defeat. And you will never know the difference.
Things you could have easily easily jumped out of because there was never a future you saw. There was never anything you will see. Nothing existed to keep you going. And so any slight failure, you are defeated. You you always need external encouragement, external motivation, people to come and talk to you, people to come and motivate you. And not not until they come as though you are expecting it. And not until they come, nothing. So you can make a mistake, for instance, say with God. And so maybe you read something you're not supposed to do. And you say, oh, I've sinned.
And you intentionally slip into depression, and you will not come to church. And you are expecting that somebody from church will come and you are expecting it. That when they come, I will continue going. Amazing people, are they not? Those are the amazing people I'm talking about. Glory to God. So I said that he ignored the shame. Are you with me? Yes, sir. He ignored the shame.
So there might be shameful experiences. You ignore it. You despise it. Give me NLT. Let's do NLT of the same scripture. Look at what NLT says. NLT is just disregarding its shame. Give me MSG. MSG. MSG says he could put up with anything along the way.
Cross, shame, didn't make a difference. He could put up with anything because of a joy that was to come. He could put up with the persecutions of men. He could put up with the reviews of men even though negative, and uses the reviews only to get better. And somebody said, why is your shirt like this? It's always... It's so that. It's so this. It doesn't go and say, why did I even start business? Who sent me?
Oh, no. He upgrades himself based on what the person has said. He takes strength of heart. Let me ask you a question. How do you how do you decide which is constructive criticism and which is destructive criticism? Not from the perspective of the person who is speaking, from the perspective of the person who receive it. I mean, from from the perspective of the person speaking, you know why you are destroying someone. Come on Are you foolish? This is the best... That's not constructive.
You understand what trying to say. So it could... The person could be destroying sincerely or intentionally. In other words, he could be destroying without even knowing that he's destroying. He could just be an aggressive person, and he's trying to tell you what you did wrong, and he's sinned aggressively. And so according to psychology, it is destructive criticism. But is it? So from the perspective of the receiver, who determines what is constructive and what is destructive? Because everything can be constructive. It is only perception.
You can sit down and hear someone talk you down and you are elevated. And your mind like a like a like an advanced sieving system is buffering out nonsense that the person is saying and is picking out sense in it. So your lecturer calls you for instance and says and says and says, you are a student. I heard I I heard you did a prayer meeting. He said, yes, sir. You are very foolish. Sorry, sir. Shut up. Why are you telling sorry, sir? I'm talking to you.
You're replying me. You're you're you're leading prayer meeting. Oh, the last test results. What did you get in zed zed zed five four seven? 40 Victor in WYD? 44... 45, sir. Let my people go. You mean you a failure and you're leading people to pray? What are you praying about?
You're not even praying about your own your own results, and God has gone inside you, and you're leading people to pray. So if you are failing, must they stay with you? Tell you a no man leading your life to pray. For me, I know some... He's a son of a lecturer, Richard. 2,005. He came. He was in this department. I told him that I'm telling you now. He didn't answer me.
He didn't answer me. He thought he knew it all. Now. You wanna wreck your life? Don't you know that as a student, you are meant to be serious with your your academics? Don't you know you are meant to give it all you have? Don't you know that you are meant to be serious even if you don't understand? Can't you come and meet me? Now you are taking the construction. K.
So I can come and meet you. I didn't know that. Alright. Alright. But they are praying for twelve hours. Are you still? Don't you know? We ask you past questions. K. Alright.
I'm studying my past questions. From the perspective of receiver, you determine what is destructive. You determine what is constructive. Because if you have a bad perception, even constructive can be destructive. Someone can come to you and say you didn't sing well yesterday. You should have done this and say, ah, they are destroying me. They're judging me. They're condemning me. They're... Is that not constructive?
But a faulty percent... You see, so if a if a if a faulty perception can make what is meant to be constructive, destructive, then a healthy perception can make what is meant to be destructive, Will you get this? Amen. May you truly get this? Amen. You will live life like a God. You will live life... Your emotions gathered, your soul gathered, your health gathered, your heart gathered. Nobody will be able to talk you down on your vision. People will look down on what you do.
People will look down even on your on your work with God, on your passion for God, on your favor for God. They will call it names. You'll say you are stupid. Do you know that people have a natural fear for the unknown? So don't blame them when they don't understand. Don't blame them when they don't understand what you are doing. Don't blame them when they don't understand what church you go or what they are doing there because people are conditioned to doubt what they don't understand or what they don't know or what is not popular or what they've what they've seen before. You tell anybody you're going to redeem. They don't have any issue with that. A modern of fire.
They don't have an issue with that. Not because of the quality of the church in itself, but because it just has a name. A name that people know. Are you with me? So because we know we trust. So if your vision does not yet have result to that extent, there are people that will doubt it. Don't become angry with them. Have security and have strength of heart to continue regardless of their spite, to continue regardless of their words. Listen to me. When God shows you where you are going, a lot of people might not get it.
It is true. There are very few people that will be able to resonate with your vision the way you do. Even your parent might not get it. Even your loved one might not get it. And you must have the strength of heart to know whose words to allow and whose words not to allow. To know who not to argue with at all. That when they are done speaking, say, I have heard. I'm so sorry. And then you continue with your vision. It might be foolishness to try and try to explain yourself because in the explanation, you'll be convinced about out of destiny.
And the time you see, see, see, are you done? Are you done? I understand. But that becomes the introduction to your conviction heart of destiny because you gave yes to it. Why not just say I've heard? Why do you think... Why do you feel the need to explain yourself? Why do you feel the need to always talk? Why do you feel the need to answer everybody? No.
Results speak. Results speak. There are times when one level of result might not be enough. One dimension of result might not be enough. And so you might have started and people honor you. Some people are calling you papa. Some people are calling you apostle. Maybe you even have a business and you are making some amount of money. And then you say you have... You are earning, say, 50,000 naira, and then you start making 100,000 naira, and you say, ah, these people should start respecting me now, and they still don't.
And they still don't see it, and they are still not convinced about it. And every time you tell... You talk to them about it, they say, ah, is that what I sent you to go and do? But I'm making profit in this thing. Can't you see? They cannot see because some people cannot see at the first instance of results. They would need 10 dimensions. Their names are Pharaoh. So you would think the first one will convince. The guy will still remain stubborn, adamant.
And he says no. Usually, they are men. Almost as if their eyes is closed. But the time will come when that thing that is a seed, when that thing that sprouted, and the sprouting of it became the first level. And you are thinking that, oh, everybody that love me come and support me. My business launch and nobody came. That's the first dimensional result. The launch is not enough. Now let it grow. Now it grows.
You receive a state recognition. They gave you an award for the best entrepreneur in Oyo state, and you are receiving the award. And you invited your father, invited your mother, invited everyone, and you look around and saw nobody. And say, you know what? No problem. Maybe I know a few people come and those who understand the power of the seed and the mystery of beginnings. Get that teaching to help you. The mystery of beginnings. Those ones show up. Listen.
That is the second dimension of result. You don't camp around there. You keep on going. You keep on going. Level 10 is not to convince Pharaoh. So you don't stop improving. You don't stop scaling. You never think that you have gotten there until everybody can sit. Do you realize that the sun does not need to convince anybody it's shining? When you are in the dark and you are looking for someone and the person says, untouched light.
If you on touch light, I will see you on your phone touch. I will see you. And the person is wondering, where are you? Where are you? Where are you? If what you are carrying is as bright as the sun, do we need to... Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Yes, sir. When the sun starts shining, everybody agrees that the sun is shining. It means you can rise to a point that those who hate you will hate you because of your results.
You didn't hear what I just said. If there is anybody who hates you, they will hate you out of envy. Not because you're just making mad. Your responsibility is to continue to grow. It takes strength of heart and endurance, resilience to keep on pushing. So you know what? Don't matter what comes before me. You've heard about the man who failed 900, like, nine times. I'll now show that stories because I don't know who was counting. But say he had he had a journal that he documented the experiment and it was now 199 trials.
Say, for instance, that he did. That's the only reasonable way I thought they would have... I think they would have counted because I really don't know who counted and found out. Do know what 999 times is? You know, a 100 times this. How many of you did titration in in chemistry? So imagine you finished high training, and lecturer comes and says, what was the slope? What's your result? He said this is... What's the value?
You say, oh, starting point four. No. You are wrong. Do it again. How many times do you think you have the strength to continue doing it again until you stop. So assume that the man was taking journals of every time that he got it wrong, which is how they were able to count how many experiments he has done up until the time he got it right. Now imagine the investment in effort of actually taking the journals, of conducting the experiment, of finding out what was wrong, and it's not as though... If you are doing titration, you are doing titration based on already already already existing patterns, already existing result. This man was doing something that never existed before, but there was no pattern. There was no...
There was no textbook to consult. There was no there was no research he could have done. He could only search. Couldn't research. I don't know why I clapping. See, I don't know why I clapped. I'm lost. And for every time he found out something and he thought that... You see, for a man to start again over time, then he must be sure that this one is a breakthrough. He must be sure that if he has found something that he did not...
He missed the first time, then he's now introducing the second time that makes him sure that this is it. And so at the end of it, he doesn't give me the answer. He say, my God, what is this? No problem. And it goes on like that until you have a light bulb. That is endurance at its peak. To have disappointment upon disappointment and to continue starting again and rising again and standing up back, to have no's upon no's and not accept no's as an answer. And not accept no as an answer. To go for a job interview and to say, okay. Well, unfortunately, we'll not be receiving you and not break down, not start crying nonsense after all the effort.
I even travel to Lagos. Oh, no. To go again and to go again and to try again and to go again. Those are the people that eventually become great. Those are the people that eventually become great. I pray that God works this thing in you. Listen, in life and ministry, there are people that will misunderstand what we are teaching. There are. There are people that will misunderstand our good intentions. You can't stop because of the backlashes of people.
Greatness will never be yours that way. There are people you can't imagine what we faced as a growing ministry. Things you would expect that a ministry should face when they become... How... When they are out there. You can't imagine the tongue lashes of people, You have the conviction to continue. A parent called me some time ago. I remember some years back. Four... When we saw...
Woman just started four years ago. And the parent told me, please, let my child go to this fellowship. He said, you the pastor of Disciples Christian Network? I say yes. Okay. We do one program, Maha something. I say yes. Please tell my child to go to so and so fellowship. I don't want my child to come to your fellowship. And I've told my child he did not answer.
So tell my child. One out of many. One called me I was staying somewhere in Adoho then, which is where I got the revelation of Adoho people. And I did not have transport there. So I walked... Where I was staying was close to Abu Express. I ran from Abu Express. That that place I was staying, I ran from there to UI because the parents said that she's waiting right now at UI Gate. Should come and meet her. When I got there, the the the mother washed me down from head to toe.
Said, she, pastor, the lake. Then the other sister was mocking, laughing. Hey, pastor. Hey, pastor. When they were done insulting, mocking, abusing my destiny and my life, I was just there smiling. And I said, so you don't mind ice cream? Said, do do you want ice cream? I said, no, ma'am. I'm good, ma'am. Thank you very much, ma'am.
It was the last time I saw that girl. For whose sake I went there, amongst several others, grandparents, and I love them so much. Those who desire to have a relationship, we have a relationship with them. We... I talk to them, I speak to them, and I reason with them. Many of them will never believe anything good can come out of it because you are a growing ministry. They believe you are a risk. How will I put my child, all those young pastors? You see. And it's it's so for anything you are starting.
It's so if you wanna be great. It's so in any realm you are in. It's so if you wanna rise. As a young man, you find yourself in the civil service, which I greatly greatly do not advise. Or say you find yourself there, and you're rising in the ranks at a very fast rate. You know those who will rise against you? You know those who will fight you? You think that people will let you... People just leave you alone to just be rising as a young man. There will be wars.
There will be persecution. There will be those that will hate you for no reason. You get the office space. You get the office space. In Mokola, run-in anywhere, in Oliole Estate. And then you are sharing the the the space with a firm. And then you are a young man who you just get an office space for your own business. And then the owner of the firm walks in and said, who is now sharing space with us? And he said, I'm the one size. He ah.
How old are you? He said, I'm just 24. The person will be looking... He will not be looking for offense. Why did you put the board here? Please, before you came, water was not... Water is not always here. Why water here? Why is the window not closed? Why...
For no reason. Because as long as you are making it, you attract the attention of men and not positive positively many a times. It means even in success, if you don't have the strength of endurance, you will never succeed. They are persecuting eyes. They are monitoring eyes. Those are the days we'll pray. Every monitoring spirit, they exist. Many of them are men, not really spirit. But spirit is working through men. They are men.
Just checking to see. Just checking to see. Will she make it? Will Lee make it? And then some of them will go as far as writing petitions to superiors just to ensure. Let me continue. We still have some scriptures to do. Are you tired? No, sir. There are many people that never want to be spoken bad about.
You don't want anybody to hate you. You won't just be nice. You know what you do? You sell ice cream. You want every... Nobody ever eats the ice cream man. Everybody likes the ice cream man. You wanna be great? Sell ice cream. While you want everybody to like you and be great?
Sell ice cream. That's the best you can be. Because if you will ever truly be great, you want the anointing, but you don't want persecution. You want influence, but you don't want persecution. It's a lie. Someone will speak ill about you. People will lie against you. You must be willing to endure the spite things of men. It's the strength of heart, endurance, staying power, tenacity to continue regardless of what may come. The staying power.
This ministry will grow. This business will grow. Oh, no. I will rise to the top. God has shown me. It doesn't matter who rises against me. I've seen it already. We're not stopping here. We're not stopping here. Oh, sir.
Thieves came and they emptied the company and... Oh my goodness. What a sad experience, but this is not the end. This is not the end. God will provide. We will restock. We'll start again. We'll build again. We'll build again. Tenacity, the strength of continuance.
There are people who have shut their hearts to people because of the experience other people showed you. What it means is that you don't have endurance. Are you with me? Hebrews ten thirty six. Let's round up. I want us to read this together, everybody. One, two, three, go. You have need of endurance. You need endurance. It's not something that is optional.
It's not something that is by choice or a matter of choice. This was the this was the writer of Hebrews, apostle Paul. Though people don't believe he's the one that wrote it, but judging by the pattern of writing, it is clear he's the one. Are you with me? You have need of endurance, he says. So that. Why do you need it? After you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. It means it means it means that if any man will ever receive promises, that man will need to endure. Do you know that the very term endure means that there will be...
It means there is something you are enduring. And the Paul is now saying that after you must have done the will of God, there is a reward attached to doing the will of God. Paul called it the promise. And by that promise will become your possession, Paul says you will need endurance. It means there will be temptations to give up in the way. There will be temptations to gas out in the process. There will be temptations to believe that the part is too tedious. The way is too hard. The guy says, see, if it is doing the will of God, then you will need endurance Because God will not just pave out every obstacle in front of you because you are in his will. It means at the center of God's will, there can be red sea in front of you.
Obstacles are not a reflection of of of the fact that you're out of his will. Many people say, you know what? I know that when things just start getting hard, I know I'm not in the will of God. You are a liar. That statement is more scriptural. It depends on your definition of getting hard. If your definition is when I meet obstacles along the way that I have to challenge head on, I know I'm in the will of God. To mean that if God says you will go abroad, everything will just come smoothly. It's just becoming fear, fear, fear. As you finish school, somebody just says, I like your fees.
Take 10,000,000. You know, God has told me I will I will study abroad. And I know if it's God's way for me, it will happen. You are sitting down on a long thing. There are things in God's will for you. You will partner with God to make happen. So I know that God has willed, that I'm I'm having my masters abroad. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Oh, glory to God. Oh, glory to God.
And whilst I'm praying whilst I'm praying, I'm looking for job opportunities. I'm looking for... I'm looking to deploy my skill in exchange for a reward, in exchange for money. Are you with me? Whilst I'm doing that, I'm saving. What is the purpose of the saving? I'm going abroad. Somebody says, but the rate I think you are saving like this, when will the money now be complete? Now what is the name of business? By partnering.
Yes. I'm partnering with God. I'm doing my own part. I'm playing my own role. Oh, they said that an exam is right. How much is the exam? 300,000 naira. I don't sit down somewhere and say, if it's God's will, the money will come. I can save up to it. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Somebody says, if it's God's way for me to go to school, I know nobody will take care of me. Or go and get a job. Work at the secretary. Take a teaching job. Don't sit down there and say, ah, God loves me. Because he's taking care of me. You'll be poor. Get something doing. You say, ah, it was not so easy. I'm now combining this.
I'm combining that. I'm combining everything. That is the fortitude to endure. Listen, have you seen Bisons before? You know Bisons? Look like bulls. You can get me a picture of the media team and put it very fast so that these people will know what I'm talking about. Glory to god. Glory. Have you seen those masculine bulls?
If a horde of bison is coming, you are the one that will clear. And those guys move in horde. They move in a band. Lions don't go for them unless they're isolated. I saw a video where a group of guys went went to the safari, and they... You know these white people are very funny? Well, I love them. Glory to God. Because the gospel will reach them through us. You see, they went there and they brought out their phones and a group of bisons were coming.
Common sense will tell you that the Nigerian man, enter your car. Start the car. To to be great in life, there are times you must look like the bison. Challenges of... Is that what we quote in scripture? By my God, I will run through the truth. I'll insist I will not fail. You see, it's it's a decision, a determination. I will not fail. I will not fail.
That's the. Lower the door. Ask the guy. Are you with me, brother, sisters? Endurance. Endurance. Paul says you need endurance. You wanna receive the promises of God? What has God promised you? You think about it for a moment.
What has God promised you? You need endurance. That's what Paul says. God has promised you a great destiny. You need endurance. You're gonna need endurance. There are times plans will not work out of. And the plans that did not work out were intelligent plans, not foolish ones. Intelligent ones. And at times money will go.
We don't have time to start crying and start weeping and start doing all those things. We get up again. It's okay. No problem. Know we lost money. I know we lost energy. I know we lost these things, but we're encouraged. We're encouraged. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus. Alright, guys. Where did we miss it? Where did we miss it? How did we miss it? I will sit down and talking. We don't have a board of committee where where it is a single problem. No... Everybody is just down and and and sad and... Oh, come on.
Those are the values you wanna you wanna build a team on. Wanna build a formidable team is on the strength of endurance. But see guys, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what the challenge is. We will learn from the mistakes, learn from the errors. How do we miss it? Why do we miss it? Listen to me. It's not every time a miracle will happen. There are times lessons will be learned.
Sure. Yes, sir. Did you hear what I said? Yes, sir. There are times lessons will be learned and will come out unscathed and will redeploy and will reshoot. Thank you, Lord. Let me give you the last scripture. To be prosperous financially, there are sacrifices you will make. Do know that you need the fortitude of endurance to make sacrifices? There are mistakes you will make.
To grow in the ministry, you have to you have to you have to learn a lot of lessons. To grow in life and career in business, you have to you have to learn a lot of lessons. When you make this sacrifice, it's not every time that the reward comes to you immediately. You might make a sacrifice and walk home and walk for the next one one week. Walk everywhere you are going. I expect that miracle will happen. Miracle does not happen. Do you have the fortitude, the staying power? Another money now comes and and you think, oh, that's my reward, and God says, empty it again. Do you have the fortitude, the staying power?
Do not stop principles until you have results. Oh, we'll not stop praying until a revival comes in this territory. Even as we pray, we mount up with wings as eagles. We partner with God in evangelisms. We partner with God in house which is in missions, but we will not stop until we see the emission of power and fire, and so we continue to pray. It takes endurance to continue. The the joy that has been set before us We'll not stop until our hands hold that joy. We'll not stop. We'll not stop. And so I give continuously.
I pray continuously. I fast even continuously. I have the strength of heart, the tenacity. The second way that a man gets endurance, that a man builds endurance in prayers. So the bible says Jesus, for the joy that was set before him endured. Is that not so? But is that the only reason why he endured? No. The bible says in the Garden Of Gethsemane. When strength was failing, he made...
He said, father, let this cup pass over me. But he realized that, no, I must bear this cup. I must drink of this cup for the salvation of the whole world. And if the whole world will be saved, this cup can... Cannot pass over me. He knew that strength was needed, and so the man groaned. And he started groaning. And the bible says he groaned so much that his sweat became as thick as blood. The groanings was supplying strength for the cross. So it wasn't just vision and conviction.
There was prayer that solidified the vision. There was prayer that built strength inside the man. There was prayer that... Listen to me. There's an amount of strength you cannot get by motivation. Strength doesn't come by motivation. Oh, you can do it. Oh, set yourself. Oh, set yourself. You will sit to yourself and still lack strength.
In fact, when the devil wants to get you, do you even lack strength to sit for yourself? Oh, you pray. You pray. You pray. That is what I call that is what I call that is what I call gaining mileage in prayers. When you sit down for an hour and you are praying in tongues, Get my teaching prayer infrastructure. I taught you there, but there are prayers you pray to build infrastructures for promises in your life. Thought infrastructure is strength. Thought infrastructure is endurance. There are prayers you pray that build strength in you.
The bible says, but you beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith. Pray in the holy ghost. And so we begin to pray. What is happening is that a a building is happening, a building. Your heart is getting strength. In Luke 18 verse one, the bible says men ought always to pray and not to faint. It means the opposite of prayer is fainting. When a man stops praying, the man starts fainting. So if if... Listen to me.
It means people will give up. They will give up even if they've seen a vision and they don't pray. I don't care a man of God. There are men of God who have chosen ministries. It's a revelation of the absence of prayer. Don't think all the other matters is vision. That's why conference speakers and motivational speakers, they they have good intentions, and they tell you, oh, just see as far as your eyes can see. But my brother, see as much as you want to see, but don't have altars. Don't have altars. Don't have spirits.
Must listen. The Bible says that angels came and strengthened Jesus. Angels came and strengthened him. When we pray, strength is built. When we pray, strength is... Especially especially when we spend elongated time praying. This is why we pray six hours, twelve hours. I will tell people, be consistent in prayers. And for consistent prayers, you don't need six hours. Get my teaching, the practicality of prayers.
You can do fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, one hour, one and thirty minutes as long as they're still building. Is that not so? Yes. When it comes to consistency, but you must find time when you stretch. Might be once a month where you gather like minded people and say, you know what? Let's find a place and pray. Only you might not be able to do it. You might feel tired. You might give up. You might sleep up.
Oh, call people. Stay in a group like a... Like like bisons. Hold your hands together and pray and pray. Make power available. Build capacity. Rise like an edifice. Gain structure. Gain mileage. Gain strength in the realm of the spirit.
Push further in destiny. When you fall, people will wonder where did the strength come from? Where did the strength come from? How are you still going on? How are you still going on? How are you still doing these things? If people were like you, if if if people just experience half of what you have gone through, they might not be able to cope. How are you doing it? I don't know how to tell them. My brother, I don't even know how I'm doing it.
It's just God supplying strength. Fourth strength comes by prayer. Fourth strength comes by prayer. The Bible says, Jesus Christ shouted. Prayed earnestly. In the book of Hebrews chapter five, even verse seven. The Bible says, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, How did he offer it up? With vehement cries. That was how Jesus prayed. In the Garden Of Gethsemane, when he was preparing for the cross, when he was praying prayers that build endurance, the bible says how he prayed was with vehement Christ.
It was not it was not intimacy, fellowship. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Oh, no. You don't do that one for the cross. The bible says with vehement Christ. Cheers to him who was able to save him from death. So you see why he was praying? You saw the motive for praying.
It was endurance to build strength, to go through what was about to befall him. Oh, I know I would go through things. So I I I pray for strength. Inside. Building strength on your inside. Listen. Listen. Listen. You must never give up. You can never give up.
Do you know that generations are waiting for you? Do you know that you're... Listen. Do you know that you're... The life you are living is not only for yourself? Do you know it might be wicked, never selfishness to give up? Do you know that there are people counting on you, Even those who have not been born. Do you know that what God has placed on your inside is to serve generations? Is to First Peter chapter five and verse 10. Hear me?
The Bible says, but may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after you have suffered a while. Perfect. Establish. Strengthen. Settle. Are you ready to pray? This is the prayer. The one that strengthens is the God of all grace. The one that perfects is God of all grace. The one that establishes is the God of all grace.
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