Kingdom Lighthouse Church

Guest (Male): In Jesus' name. In the mighty name of Jesus. Father Lord, we thank you for today. We give you praise. We give you adoration. We thank you for this wonderful time in your presence this evening. Father Lord, we thank you that we are strong. We thank you that we are safe. We thank you that we are healthy.

Father Lord, the fact that we are here today shows that we are still alive. Father Lord, we stand upon your word and we say no plague shall come near us in Jesus' name. Father Lord, you've created the seasons for our enjoyment. Lord, whether it's cold or whether it's warm, we will enjoy the seasons in Jesus' name. Lord, the sun shall not smite us by day in Jesus' name.

Father Lord, we commit the rest of the year into your hands. All the good things that you've stored for us this year shall come to us in Jesus' name. None shall pass us by in Jesus' name. Father Lord, we know that you're a God who reserves the best for last. Every great thing will come our way in Jesus' name.

Father Lord, everywhere we are, all the blessings from east, from west, from north, from south, they will locate us in Jesus' name. Father Lord, we commit the proceedings of this evening into your hands. Lord, you're a God of purpose. You know why you have brought this teaching to us at this time. May it guide us in Jesus' name.

Lord, continue to inspire the speaker in Jesus' name. Lord, may we not just be hearers of your word. May we be doers of your word. By the same token, may we not just hear, but may we live a life of purpose in Jesus' name. For in Jesus' mighty name we have prayed. Amen. Messiah is the King of kings. Messiah, Messiah is the Lord of lords. Hallelujah.

Let us open our Bibles to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 12, verse 43. I read this Bible verse recently and since then, I've not been able to forget it. It just keeps coming back to me. I think that there is something that the Lord wants to teach us from that verse, or it's a gift that the Lord wants to give us.

It says, "Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The wives also and the children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even far off." Father Lord, may our joy be heard even far off in Jesus' name. May our joy be so great that people will hear us rejoicing in Jesus' name.

The kind of joy that cannot be hidden in Jesus' name. I used to live in a city where if you had a stereo set and you didn't play it out loud, that means you don't even have anything. It's very important for you to turn up your music so that your neighbors would know that you have a stereo set. When people had parties, it was very loud. They would block the streets and even if you were ten streets away, you would hear the sound. That's the kind of sound of rejoicing that will emanate from us in Jesus' name.

The sound of rejoicing will be heard in our households and it will fill this place and it will fill our lives in Jesus' name. I would just like us to go quickly to the book of Psalms 16. Verse one says, "Preserve me, O God, for in thee I put my trust." Let's personalize that. I'm going to say, "Preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust."

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: Preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust.

Guest (Male): "O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth not to thee."

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth not to thee.

Guest (Male): "But to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight."

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: But to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight.

Guest (Male): Let us just jump to verse five. "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot."

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot.

Guest (Male): "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a goodly heritage." Put your name there. The lines are falling for us in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good heritage.

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: The lines are falling for us in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good heritage.

Guest (Male): "I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. My reins also instruct me in the night seasons."

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. My reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

Guest (Male): "I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand and I shall not be moved."

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand and I shall not be moved.

Guest (Male): "Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope."

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope.

Guest (Male): "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Guest (Male): "Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand, there are pleasures for evermore."

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand, there are pleasures for evermore.

Guest (Male): This will be my portion from now until the end of the year in Jesus' name.

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: This will be my portion from now until the end of the year in Jesus' name.

Guest (Male): For in Jesus' mighty name we have prayed. Amen. Praise the Lord.

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: Hallelujah. Father, we are grateful to you. We exalt your name. We give you all the praise. You are wonderful, Lord God. You are glorious. You are magnificent. You are the mighty God. You are the glorious God. We thank you because you are the Alpha and Omega. We're grateful to you because all things are purposed in you.

We give you glory because you are the same yesterday, today, and forever. We exalt your name because you do not change. We bless you, Lord God, for you have made us your children. We thank you because you are our Father. We're grateful to you for teaching us your will. We thank you for opening up your purpose for our lives.

We exalt your name for the Spirit of God, for guidance and direction, and also for the empowerment to walk in the purpose for which you have created and called us. Glory be to your name, O Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ. We worship you, Lord God. We are here today, Lord God. We ask that you will teach us afresh in the mighty name of Jesus.

Grant us understanding in Jesus' name. Lord Almighty, our Father and our God, let us know as we ought to know in the mighty name of Jesus. We give you all the glory, all the honor, and all adoration. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Welcome to the School of Life. For those of you that are watching and participating around the world, we welcome you to this program.

I would like to remind you, as always, to share this service. God has graciously blessed us and given us a platform to bring forth the truth, which is very pertinent, particularly for our living a life that is pleasing unto the Lord and that is in accordance with his will and his purpose for our lives.

This is very important. What we're doing in these services, particularly on Fridays, is very crucial. That is why we are not rushing, because the teaching is fundamental. We are created for the purpose of God. It's only as we fulfill that purpose that God will be pleased with us. It's also as we fulfill that purpose that we ourselves will be fulfilled. Our fulfillment is in fulfilling the purpose of God. Glory be to God.

Please let us open our hearts and receive the word of God with understanding so that we may be able to see and live our lives purposefully daily. That is how a believer should live. A believer should live purposefully on a daily basis. Praise God. In fact, those who make New Year resolutions, if you come to look at it, our own resolution is one, and that resolution is to live to please God.

That is the same resolution every year, every day, every second, everywhere, and in everything. I pray that the Lord Almighty will give us this grace, that none of us will get out of here without fulfilling the purpose for which he has brought us on this earth in the name of Jesus Christ. Life has no meaning until it is lived to fulfill the purpose of God.

Everyone that has ever hijacked life and hijacked the plan of God and has decided that they can do it on their own, there is not one of them that will not end up regretting it. They may not regret it while they are having fun or doing the things that they're doing, but in the last minute, they will come face to face with the realization and the truth that the life they have lived has been lived in an empty way.

I want to buttress that by asking us, before we go further, to turn to Ecclesiastes, chapter two. We must know that what we are saying, we are not making it up. It is the word of God. Not only is it the word of God, it is important for us to learn from the experience of those who have experienced the futility of life without the purpose of God. Everyone.

There's the story of a man who was a king in Israel. His name is Solomon. He was very wise. There was no king as wise as he was in his time. At a certain time, he decided to try so many things, abandoning the plan of God for his life. I just want you to listen to the summary or to the conclusion that he reached after he had tried many things.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, chapter one, I will read from verse 16. "I communed with mine own heart, saying, lo, I am come to great estate and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly."

He wanted to try everything. He wasn't just going to go on doing whatever God says do. He wants to try everything. He wants to go outside of the boundary to experience what was there. So he said, "I gave my heart to know wisdom and then to know madness and also folly. I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit." He's just burdening himself, just tormenting his soul, just giving himself unnecessary problems. That's what he's saying.

"For in much wisdom is much grief." So if a person decides to pursue wisdom, like we see in today's world, he said in much wisdom is much grief. "And he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." There are some who desire to know. We see them. They are always gazing at the stars. They are physicists looking at the movement of the galaxies and all that, propounding all kinds of theory. They spend their life doing all that. Solomon said as one increases in knowledge outside of God, his sorrow also increases.

He said, "I said in my heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. And behold, this also is vanity." So he said, I'm going to just enjoy. I'm going to enjoy life to the full. I'm going to pursue it as much as I can. Then after he had done all that, he said it is vanity. "I said of laughter, it is mad, and of mirth, what doeth it?"

What is the purpose of joy, rejoicing all the time, affluence, living large? "I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom, and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life." He did all that. He acquired material possession.

"I made me great works. I builded me houses. I planted me vineyards. I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits. I made me pools of water to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. I got me servants and maidens and had servants born in my house. Also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me."

There was none as rich as this man. There was none as affluent as he was. There was none as wealthy as he was. He had all things in abundance. In fact, one scripture said that gold was like dust in the time of his reign. "I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I gat me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments and that of all sorts."

He decided to build as many orchestras as possible to enjoy himself and all that. "So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me." The wisdom God gave to him, he didn't take it away while he was exploring all these things, doing what he wanted. "And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them."

Did you hear that? Whatever his eyes desired, he kept not from them. If you have some people that have their homes full of artworks, all these carved images and all these things, acquiring the best of the best, everywhere they go, they look for rare objects. Solomon said he gathered them. He didn't refuse to have them. This also includes women. He gathered women like refuse. They filled his house. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. 1,000 women. The man was something else. Glory be to God.

Amen. "I withheld not my heart from any joy." Whatever he thought would bring him joy, he did. "For my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labor that I had labored to do. And behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."

A wise person will learn from this wise man. I believe God allowed him to go into all that extravagance with his reputation and with his status so that we can know that there is really no need for us to go in that direction because it will not fulfill. Praise the Lord. "And I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly, for what can the man do that cometh after the king? Even that which hath been already done."

"Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness." So if we want to seek anything, what must we seek? Wisdom. What is wisdom? The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One, that is understanding. So if you want to pursue wisdom, you must live in the fear of the Lord.

This is the account of Solomon, who tried everything. That is what the world is still doing. People will go out and live for whatever. Some people live just watching birds. That's what they live for, but they forget the creator of the bird. They admire the beauty and aerodynamic structure of the bird and the way they fly and they descend and land and things like that.

They are mesmerized by it and they spend all their life doing that and never once give glory to the one that has created them. In their mind, they believe that those things just evolved. They just evolved and everything came from one source, including birds and human beings and reptiles and worms. Even just looking at all of them, you know that this thing doesn't make sense. You don't have to be a scientist. Praise God. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

There is no creature on earth like the human being. God told us that he created them in his own image and in accordance with his own likeness. It is important for us to know that this man concluded one thing. Let's see his conclusion in the same book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12. Verse 13 says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

That is our purpose. Wisdom is to fear God. Fear the Lord, and if you fear him, you will obey him. That's why he said fear God and keep his commandment. That is equivalent to the love of God. That is equivalent to our faith. That is equivalent to righteousness. That is equivalent to justification, sanctification, everything. That is equivalent to holy life. Obedience to the word of God. That is equivalent to our faith.

You say you believe God, then obey. You say you love him, obey him. Jesus Christ said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments." That's why I often say that obedience is the principal thing. I've taught in this church that obedience is everything. Obedience is everything. There is one thing we need to do to fulfill everything that God wants us to fulfill, and that is just to obey him. Glory be to God. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

We're seeing from the word of God that he has stated for us in many ways the purpose of the things that he wants us to do. They have a reason. There is a reason behind everything that God wants us to do. We have looked at some of these things in the word of God. We have looked at the purpose of marriage. We have looked at the purpose of God for our life. We have looked at the purpose of God for the human body. We have looked at the purpose of God for work. Praise God.

So you can see that if you do your work according to what was made plain to us, you'll be fulfilling the purpose of God. If you handle your marriage according to what the Bible stipulates, you'll be fulfilling the purpose of God. If you use your body as the Bible says you use your body, you'll be fulfilling the purpose of God. If you recognize that you have life to fulfill the purpose of God, you will be fulfilling the purpose of God.

I just want us to look at a few more, because there are many. A few more. Here, I want us to just see the purpose of education. Education is very important, but there is something that is missing because when we use the word education, our minds go to how many degrees we can acquire, what kind of college we will attend, what kind of profession or subject we will study. That is yes, it is called education. That is secular education.

When we talk of education, what does God mean? Let us look at Job, chapter 36, verse 22. "Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him?" The education that God is more interested in is the one that he teaches us. Praise the Lord. If we truly want to be educated according to the desire of God, we must enroll in his school. We must allow him to teach us.

Proverbs, chapter 19, verse two. "Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good." God wants us to know, and we know as we submit to his teaching and we learn. Education is of paramount importance for those who want to fulfill the purpose of God. Jesus Christ taught his disciples. Timothy was taught by Apostle Paul. There was a school of the prophets in the time of Elisha and Elijah. Samuel learned under Eli the priest. God wants parents to teach their children in the knowledge of the Lord.

The education that is paramount in the heart of God is the knowledge of the Lord. To know about the creator, to know about our creator, to know about his desires, to know about his will, to know about his thoughts, to know about his commandments, his instruction. That is very, very important. There is no other education outside of this that can be meaningful unless it's combined with this. There is no education outside of this that can amount to anything except we're first of all grounded in the knowledge of God.

You see people that are so educated and yet you see the kind of evil they get themselves involved in, and you see that they lack true education because the education they ought to have is about God. So we have to see that spiritual education is what we're talking about. There are many things that people call spiritual education these days. People practice what they call Eastern religion, some people say they are seeking enlightenment, they seek whatever. That's not what we're talking about.

We're talking of seeking God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the true education that we're talking about. God wants to equip us with the knowledge of his will. Let's look at Colossians, chapter one, verse nine. Apostle Paul actually prayed for the church concerning that. "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding."

To be filled with the knowledge of the will of God is crucial to fulfilling the purpose of God because God wants us to know his will, and if we don't know his will, we cannot do it. So for us to fulfill the purpose of God, we must seek and we must pursue the knowledge of his will. That is, we must open our hearts to spiritual education. A believer who refuses to learn the word of God cannot fulfill the purpose of God.

He cannot walk according to the will of God because you have to learn from the one in whom you believe how you are to live your life, and that is as you seek the knowledge of the Lord. We realize that the Bible talks of spiritual maturity, and there is no one that can mature as a believer except he continues to learn under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit. Until he becomes a permanent student of the Holy Spirit, he cannot mature because the fruit of the Holy Spirit will not be worked in him.

His mind will not be renewed according to Romans, chapter 12, and also Colossians, chapter three, that he will not be renewed in the image of the one that has made him except he opens his heart to the true word of God. The purpose of spiritual education is to make us to become like him, to conform to the image of Christ, to have the nature of God.

That nature is what is revealed in the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Goodness is the nature of God. Love is the nature of God. Longsuffering, patience is the nature of God. Self-discipline, self-control is the nature of God because if God were not to be self-controlled, he would have destroyed the entire creation a thousand times over. This is very important for us to know, that the most important assignment of a believer that wants to fulfill the purpose of God for his life is to seek God, to seek to know God, to learn of God. We must learn of him.

I want to say to you that of all educational institutions, the Church is the greatest because we're learning directly about God in the church. As we live on the basis of what we learn in the church, we fulfill the purpose of God. Apostle Peter did not go to any college. Maybe Matthew, who was a tax collector, went to some kind of training, we don't know. But we saw that Apostle Peter didn't go, at least we can vouch that Apostle Peter didn't go to any college. John did not go to any college. But they fulfilled the purpose of God by learning the will of God from the master himself, the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we open our lives to God to teach us and we grow in spiritual education, we fulfill the purpose of God. Then verse 10 said, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." We cannot walk worthy of the Lord unless we are educated in the things of God. For example, somebody may say, "Oh, Pastor, this and this happened. What do you think?" What are we saying there? We're simply saying that we recognize that you as the pastor know more of the will of God concerning this matter.

What do you think that will is? When the pastor now says, "Okay, this is the will of God in this way," you simply go ahead and do it that way. What are you doing? You're fulfilling purpose. You're fulfilling the will of God through education. But if you don't know and the pastor does not know, then it's the blind that leads the blind. You both end up in the ditch. We need to see what the word is saying to us. Spiritual education is of utmost importance.

It is more important than secular education, but you can see that the world today, and even Christians, have ranked secular education above spiritual education. That comes back to what I was saying the last time, that it is not the responsibility of the school to teach the Bible to Christian children. It is the responsibility of parents. There are many ways parents can do it. They can teach their children in their homes, and because they are believers and they come together as a church, the church can set up Bible schools for our children.

They can learn as they go to learn math and to go and learn physics and chemistry and biology, they should also learn about their creator. It is not the role of the government. Why? Because the government told us we are secular government. They have told us we are secular government, we are not a religious group. Therefore, we don't think it's our responsibility to teach your faith to people. So whose responsibility is it? It's the responsibility of believers.

We need to see that Jesus Christ did not mandate anyone to preach the gospel but his disciples. It was those who followed him that he said they should go and preach the gospel. He said, "Tarry in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." And then he said to them, "You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, then you shall be my witness in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Samaria unto the utmost end of the earth." He didn't charge the people of the world to preach the gospel. He charged the people who were following him to preach the gospel.

So we're the ones abandoning our responsibility. This thing is very important. We need to know it. We should stop beating about the bush. We should take the bull by the horn and realize that spiritual education of our children is our responsibility. Right now, all it needs to take is the change of heart from parents, for parents to see and understand that spiritual education is more important than secular education. I'm not saying that secular education is not important, because we need to acquire skills to be able to do things.

If you don't go to school, you cannot learn about engineering. You can't learn economics, management, computer science. You go to school to learn them. But then I want to say to you that you should not even over-emphasize that. Why should you not over-emphasize it? The construction of all the things that God needed for the Tabernacle was made by someone that didn't go to school for them. God simply gave him the spirit. By the name of Bezaleel. Bezaleel, the son of Uri. God has filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and he'll be able to do all those things.

Joseph managed the economy of Egypt under Pharaoh without going to Harvard, and he managed it well. To the extent that the famine of his time did not destroy the people of God. So we must value education, but we must not overvalue it. The Spirit of God can teach anyone anything. I gave an illustration at a time. The refinery in Nigeria, I heard this story, please forgive me, I don't know how far it is true, but I heard it. I'm relating it because it's related to what we're talking about. I believe that those who gave the testimony are Christians and they will not make it up.

There was a refinery that broke down in Nigeria. It was a petroleum refinery. They brought in experts from Europe to repair the refinery and they couldn't do it. Then there was this Nigerian engineer that was brought to the place to come and fix it. He was looking around and the Holy Spirit told him exactly what he was going to do. This switch put it this way, put that that way. Then he applied wisdom. He didn't do it immediately. If he went there to do it immediately, people would say he was the one that caused the problem in the first place.

So he fooled around, trying to show that he was fixing some things and he was not really doing anything. He knew that he was just buying time. When the time came, he switched what the Holy Spirit told him to do and the refinery began to work. That's one testimony. I gave you the testimony of the one that had a master's degree in computer science and was called to develop a program for his company in New York. For many weeks, he was putting the program together, the software together, and it was not working.

Then on a Friday, I believe the superior officers in the company were fed up. They told him, "This software better work by Monday or else you're fired." That was on Friday. So he called his sister. I happen to know this person. I have met him before in the house of his sister. My wife and I usually minister in that house. The sister would gather people together and we minister to them. They are Indians from India. So I met him there on one of those days. Then on Saturday evening, the sister called me, told me, "Pastor, my brother has this problem," and I said to her, "Ask your brother to call me."

So the brother called me and related the problem. That was Sunday. He called me on Sunday. So I asked him, I knew him to be a Christian. Are you a Christian? He said yes. Don't you think the Holy Spirit can fix this software? He said, "Huh?" "Don't you think the Holy Spirit can fix this software?" I said the Holy Spirit will help you. It will only cost you one sleepless night because today is Sunday and the thing has to work tomorrow, so you can't sleep because you have to do it tomorrow. After we pray, all you need to do is to start afresh and simply say, "Holy Spirit, I'm ready. Help me now. Teach me now."

That's what I told him to say. We finished prayer, and then he did what he was to do. Following morning, Monday, put the software and the software started working. Did he not go to school? Did he not have a master's degree? Was it not with his master's degree that he was writing the software that was not working? But when the Holy Spirit was engaged, did it not work? So secular education, I'm not saying is not important, but we cannot say that there is a subject that is being taught anywhere on this earth that the Holy Spirit does not know.

There is no knowledge outside of God. So we need to understand that. The Bible says that he's the one that teaches. He teaches us. He teaches people whatever the doctors know today, God taught them. They may not see it, but it's God. He is a scientist. He's a physicist. He's a chemist. He's a pharmacist. God is every one of these things. He's an engineer. He said the man should build an ark. It was God that told Noah how he would build an ark, and the ark floated. That was the very first ship that was ever built in human history.

It was God that performed the first surgery. He took the rib from the side of the man and from that rib made a woman and brought it to the man. So it was God that first of all cloned the man. So what are they celebrating? Let them read the Bible. They do bridges over sea. God opened the sea for the people to pass. So which one is a greater work? The bridge you put over it or the river or the sea that parted, one on one side, the other the other side and then there is a road in between? Which one is more of an engineering feat? I believe it is the latter. I'm sure you agree.

Spiritual education is very important and God is the source of all knowledge. He can teach us, what I'm trying to say is that he can teach us anything. That is why in anything we do, even in our work, and we are stuck, we simply tell him, "Holy Spirit, help me." He will help us. Whatever work you're doing. There is an anointing upon each and every one of us to do great works. When the Holy Spirit is working with us, we do great works. I was giving an illustration in the church many, many years ago, and I was saying that the anointing on the believer is what makes the believer to do perfect work.

I was citing an example that was actually happening in the life of one of the members of the church without my knowledge. I said in your office, for example, you will have the same coffee, you have the same milk, it's the same hot water, it's the same plug, and you have the same cream, you have the same cup, the same spoon. Everybody will go there and make their coffee, but when you get there and you make your coffee using the same exact thing, when they taste your coffee, they will say this is different.

The woman got up, she said that's exactly what is happening in my office. Is it not the same coffee? Is it not the same water? Is it not the same cream? What is the difference? Is it not the same measure? It is the anointing. We have the anointing and the anointing is the teacher, is the Holy Spirit. So by the time we are working with him with us, what we do must be better than what others are doing without him.

The anointing, it must distinguish you every time. That's why I say to you youths that this is your portion in school because the Holy Spirit is upon you to distinguish you. So when you go and they are teaching you math, you can't be telling yourself that an unbeliever knows math more than you. Your father is a mathematician. He gave the dimension of the ark to Noah. The temple he wanted them to build, he gave them the dimensions. At least you see in Genesis, he said the first day, evening and the morning, the second day. So he can count. Can he not count? He can. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

God teaches us, and he says in that passage of scripture that we might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. And also increasing in the knowledge of the Lord. That is why he said grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. So as we increase in the knowledge of God, grace is multiplied unto us. Being fruitful in every good work. So you'll be fruitful in every good work and then increasing in the knowledge of God because we'll be seeing what God is doing as we're progressing. That's how we increase in the knowledge of God.

It's not that he's showing us something that he's not showing others, but because we have made up our mind to learn about him and to walk in his will, to devote ourselves to his purpose, we see his nature in operation. We see his person in operation. We see his support. We see his provision. So many things happen. I got here today, I wanted to clear the snow on the sidewalk. I brought Femi to help me. As we got there, before I did two shovels, two boys came. "Do you want us to help you?" I said yes. I was the one that spoke about money. "How much do you want?"

Then they said give us 20 bucks each, 15 bucks each. He said, "We just want to help, it's not about money." I said okay, I'll give you 15 bucks each. Where were they? Why did they come at that point in time? These are the things we see. Then I was thinking okay, when we clear this thing, we won't be able to get salt to put, so I was thinking okay, let me just get into the car to go to Home Depot so that I can get something to salt the thing. But I was thinking if I went to Home Depot before I come back, these boys may have finished, then they might be thinking maybe I played them.

So I decided okay, let me just wait until they finish, give them the money, and then maybe I will go. A few minutes later, I received a call. Somebody was at the Home Depot. "Where are you? Home Depot? Oh, get some salt for me." I mean, these are the things. So that is increasing in the knowledge of God because you begin to see support, you begin to see what he does on every aspect of our lives. Then as we see that, we increase in the knowledge of God. We start rejoicing in him. We start celebrating him. We start being in awe of him.

"Lord, how can you be thinking of these small, small things? How have you just made up your mind to make things easy for me?" I could have gone to Home Depot but before I got there, somebody called me. I could have cleared that sidewalk many times but this time he said, "No, you're not going to do it today, my son. I'm going to send help." God will send you help in the name of Jesus Christ.

It is important for us to understand. Secular education prepares us to earn a living, gives us equipment. Whatever you are, I mean, I trained as an accountant to be able to get a job as an accountant and earn some income. But that is not the whole thing. I told you the story of my life. You live like that and Jesus Christ is not in your life, at the end of the day, thank God that he didn't wait for me to get to the end of my day to realize that it was empty. In the early part of my days, he made me to realize that that's a dead end and then showed me the way. And thank God for that grace.

Without spiritual education, we cannot fulfill the purpose of God. If we will not learn about the ways of God and the desires of God and the will of God, we cannot fulfill his purpose. In 2 Timothy 3:16, he told us "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable." Don't forget, it is profitable. So all scriptures are profitable for us. What is profit? Profit is excess of income over expenditure. That is profit.

That is you put your effort to do something and what you get out of it is more than the effort you put in. So the extra you get, which is more than your effort, is profit. So it means that anything we do with the word of God will bring us more than we put in. Whatever you put in, you will get more than you put in. It is profitable. Knowing the word of God is profitable.

So he said all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof. Through the word of God, you prove the things of God. Jesus Christ said that if you do his will, you will know whether the doctrine is from me or from the one that sent me. So you'll be able to prove. The word of God is not abstract. Every word of God, there is no abstract in it. If you do what the word stipulates, you will see what the word stipulates. That is how you prove.

If you make up your mind, that is all we need to do. We leave the rest to God. We make up our mind, I'm going to do his will. It is not my role to be worrying about what will come after. My role is to do his will. So as we do his will, God is not a man that he should lie, he's not the son of man that he should change his mind. He said as he said and will he not do? He watches over his word to fulfill it. Whatever he tells you to do, you do it and leave the rest to him. They got to Cana of Galilee, he said there was no wine, he said "put water in the cisterns."

They didn't bother about his role. They said, "Well, this is the instruction he told us. Put water in the cisterns. Okay boys, let's get some water." So they filled the whole place with water. That's it. And then they looked at him for subsequent instruction and he gave them a subsequent instruction. What did he do? "Fetch and give to the master of ceremony." He didn't say, "Wait, won't you do anything to this water?" No, no questions asked.

This is how we fulfill the purpose of God. We're asking too many questions. We're waiting to understand or to figure out what is going to happen, what will happen when I do this. It is not our business to be wondering about how. He said as we do not know how a baby is formed in the womb of the mother, he said no one knows the work of God. We should just concern ourselves with our own responsibility. What is your responsibility? Fulfill his purpose. What is that purpose? Learn about God. Seek to know him.

Like you're doing right now, tuning in to this program, being here in person. Yes, that is it, and what you learn, you apply. That is what it is. Leave the rest to him. I came out, I wanted to clear the sidewalk because I wanted to serve my Father. Did I know that he was going to send me help? No. Did he not send me help? He did. I thought I was going to go there to get salt at Home Depot myself. Was I thinking that he had put somebody there for me? No, but he did.

So these are the things. You do your bit, you leave the rest to him. That's how you can prove God. If anybody is wondering, "Oh, I don't even know this God," you need to prove him. He said "taste and see that the Lord is good." Another man said, "I've been young, now I'm old. I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his children begging bread." What is he talking about? Experience.

So he says, "Look, all I do is walk in righteousness and he always provides for me." That's how you prove the word of God. Another one said "the good hand of the Lord was upon me." How did he know that? Experience. What was he doing? Just doing what he needed to do in the way of the Lord. We're worrying ourselves about things that are unnecessary. It's like someone— let's read something in Songs of Solomon. This is what believers do, and this is what we must stop.

Songs of Solomon, chapter one, verse five. "I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept." We are like this lady here. We are allowing ourselves to be engaged in things that are not our responsibility.

"They made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard have I not kept." Let's use the office as an illustration. You get to the office in the morning, there are responsibilities that have been allotted, there is a certain place you have to work, maybe a certain table or there's a certain person you have to work with. You got to work, you promptly jumped into the role of somebody else, and you spend all your day in that role, and you did a perfect work in that role. In fact, commendable work.

And the thing you ought to do is there undone. Won't that commendation turn to condemnation? They told us, said it's negligence of duty. Others would say dereliction of duty. And that is summary dismissal. Is that not so? And if you want to argue it out, they will say insubordination because you're refusing even to admit that you are wrong. So we shouldn't do that. We should allow God to teach us and we should do what he says. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and it is profitable. It is profitable.

In Isaiah, chapter 48, what God teaches us is always profitable. Don't turn away from the teachings of God. You must learn. Isaiah chapter 48, verse 17. "Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit." So anything I teach you will benefit you. Anything that I teach you will add to you. It will increase you. It will enlarge you. It will bless you.

Anything that I teach you is good for you. Anything that I teach you is better for you. Anything that I teach you will help you to live a better life, a comfortable life, a peaceful life. Anything that I teach you will lead you to succeed. It will bring you progress. You will look at your life and you will compare with the lives of others and you'll realize that it was wise for you to have followed what I teach because you will see that you have accomplished much more than those who do not listen to my teaching.

"Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." He says the Holy One of Israel, so he's not going to teach you anything that is going to be detrimental to your life because he's holy, he's righteous. He doesn't do wrong. "I am the Lord thy God." The Lord meaning the owner. So I have a vested interest in your progress. I have a vested interest in your goodness. I have a vested interest in a wonderful life for you. I want peace, I want joy, I want rest for you.

"So I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go." There is a way you should go. It's not what you're doing that you should be doing. There is something you should be doing, I'm the one that teaches you what you should be doing. I have never seen a more fulfilling thing in my life than what I'm doing. I know my body needs food. If I just have wonderful food, I would do this all my life. I'm not looking for anything else. It's fulfilling. When you are doing what you're supposed to be doing, you have peace.

You see some people will look at me the way I'm talking, I am sure of what I am saying. I'm not making it up, I'm not just telling stories. I am sure of what I am saying. And I'm seeing the hand of God in every little tiny thing. So how can you tell me— you may not see it, I may say it and you say it's nothing, it's nothing to you, it's a big deal to me. That thing that happened today that I paid $30 about is a big deal to me because it's not the first time that I've been doing it.

That's the first time that somebody will say "we will help you." The first time somebody commented, he was blessing me for clearing the side walk. "Oh you are doing this," and started praying. "Thank you, thank you." That was a surprise to me because I believe it's our duty to clear it. And now we're clearing somebody's passing and heaping blessings upon me. Maybe that's an angel of God, you never know. "Oh thank you, thank you so much for doing this. Thank you, God bless you," and I'm saying "and it's my duty."

So these are these things. It is fulfilling. God teaches us the place where we should go. You see, when a thing is in the place where it should be, there is nothing other than perfection. That is perfectness. When you are doing what you're supposed to be doing, that's it. There is no disharmony, there is no problem. It's like the hand in the glove. So he says what I'm going to teach you is the way you should go. It's not the way you are going. The way you're going, yes, maybe you think you are getting something from there, but when you get in the way that I am teaching you that you should go, you will see the difference.

That's why I say, "Oh God, I wish I had been a Christian all my life." You can't imagine how many times I think of that thought. But again I say, "Lord, I thank you." So he teaches us the way where we should go. Then look at verse 18. "O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandment! then had thy peace been as a river." That means that he says if you had listened to me, your peace would have been like a river. So what it means is this: that when I teach you the way you should go and you go in that way, your peace will be like a river. That's what it means.

And that peace is all-round peace. All-round peace. Your peace should then have been like a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. Do you see the wave of the sea stopping? Day in, day out, nonstop, the wave keeps moving. In the same succession. Sometimes big, sometimes small, but the wave never ceases. That is, your righteousness will be speaking everywhere. "Thy seed also had been as the sand." So when God teaches you and you follow what God teaches, it affects your children.

Your seed should have been like the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed before me. So if you go in the way that I ask you to go, your name will always be before me. Why wouldn't we let this God teach us? And he teaches us painstakingly. Isaiah 28. There are some teachers, they may work with you for a little while, after a while they say "look, you are on your own" or you just don't reach them anymore. But God never gives up.

He teaches every time, every moment. As long as your heart is open. He said "the meek will he guide in justice." Once our heart is humble, he will always guide us. "I will instruct you. I will show you the way you should go. And not only that, then I will be guiding you with my eye." Psalm 32, verse 8. Isn't that wonderful? So as he teaches us the way we should go, and we go on in the way we should go, he accompanies us in the way we should go. His presence never departs from us.

Isaiah chapter 28, verse nine. "Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept." That's how God teaches. Precept upon precept. And that is what I believe Greg is online tonight. That's what we're seeing in the radio service because God made us to serve him in that area in a unique way.

Greg never tells me what we are going to discuss. He prays. God tells him. It may be in the morning that we're going to record that the Lord will speak to him. But I won't know until we get to the studio. "Pastor Femi, this is what God lays in my heart that we talk about." So you can see that there is no chance to start saying, "Okay, let me go and prepare, come back tomorrow." He trusts God to give him the subject matter. I trust God to bring the solution. And every time, if you look at the program, the sequence, it's one is following the other and it's very, very relevant.

There was one time he came and he said, "Pastor Femi, God wants us to talk about witches today." And we started talking about witches. That same week that the program was going to air, witches were meeting in Boston. He didn't know it. I didn't know it. And God sent his word. So he will teach us the way we should go. He will set things. He's the Holy Spirit. He knows what to teach and he will teach in sequence. He will teach in sequence.

We went to Brockton, we spoke, I preached there twice. Two Sundays succession. I thought what we preached was okay, and immediately we left on our way home, the Lord told me there is a third segment of the message and gave me the third segment of the message. Then that Sunday, Sister Doris was to preach in Brockton, and in my mind I thought, "Okay, I've already told her that she was the one to preach, so I don't want to break that." But I felt maybe I should go and speak that Sunday to bring forth the third leg of that teaching.

The Lord didn't give her anything to say that Sunday. But I didn't go because I felt I didn't want to interrupt this. If I had gone, I would have known that the Lord didn't give her what she was going to say that Sunday. What does that mean? The word he gave to me was for that Sunday. If I had gone, I would have preached it that Sunday and would have been a conclusion of that thing. This is how God works. Precept upon precept. That's how he teaches us. Line upon line. Look at it. He said for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept. You can see the importance.

When things are repeated, it's showing importance. Line upon line, line upon line. Here a little, and there a little. That's how God teaches us. He's never tired of teaching us. He's never frustrated. He's never unwilling to teach us. We're the ones that must submit to him. If we continue to receive from the Lord, we will see that we'll be able to rely on his word more and more. We will trust in the Lord.

2 Peter chapter one. We taught this by the way in Brockton, this passage that we're going to read now. But we're just going to read it so that to emphasize that we must enroll in the school of the Holy Spirit. Look at it from verse five. "And besides this, giving all diligence." Giving what? All diligence. That is, it is something we must take seriously. We must take this responsibility seriously. "Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

That is, you will fulfill purpose. You'll be a relevant vessel. You'll be a vessel of honor. You will be someone that is relevant to the purpose of God. You won't be useless. "But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

So it's our duty to seek the knowledge of the Lord. Spiritual education is important. He wants us to know God, and it is as we do this that we can fulfill the purpose. If we refuse for him to teach us, we cannot fulfill his purpose. So learning from the Lord is part of our purpose. It's our duty and the Lord continue to help us to fulfill it in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's take a few questions if there is any.

My desire is that while not turning our back on secular education, now we put our true education in its proper place. That's my desire. That no matter how many degrees we have, we must be a student of the word of God. It is very, very important. If we have 100 degrees and we don't know anything about the word of God, it will be useless. But if we have no degree and we know the word of God, it will be profitable. So secular education is not useless, but we must put importance on spiritual education. Any questions? Okay, let us pray.

Father, we are grateful to you. We bless your name for showing us the purpose for our lives through your word. We thank you, Lord Almighty, for it is required for us to be truly educated in the things of God, to know the things of God, and to know you. Apostle Paul said that "I may know you and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering."

Lord, we pray that every one of us will develop deep appetite for the knowledge of the Lord in the name of Jesus Christ. We pray that every one of us will seek to know your will, because without knowing your will we cannot do it. And without doing your will we cannot fulfill the purpose for which you have created us.

So therefore, Lord, we pray that each of us will prioritize our knowledge of God and of the word of God and the will of God in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, no matter the various things that may be competing against our time, we pray, Lord Almighty, that you will help us to segment specific time for the study of the word of God in the name of Jesus Christ.

Give us grace to come before you at all times so that we may learn at your feet, so that you may teach us by the Holy Spirit, that in receiving that teaching we'll be able to be effective servants of God in the name of Jesus Christ. You taught the disciples. You told the Father that what the Father has given to you, you have shown unto them.

We pray, Lord God, that you will show us what we need to know through the word of God, by the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. Make it plain to us in Jesus' name. You said the blind shall see out of obscurity. We pray, Lord God Almighty, that we will see clearly in the mighty name of Jesus. Grant us understanding. Psalm 16 that we read said that you teach us, you instruct us even in the night watches.

Father, we pray that you will keep this up, that even in our sleep you will instruct us daily in the name of Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit, you are the revealer of the truth, for no one knows the things of God but the Spirit of God. Therefore we pray that you will reveal to us the truth of the word of God at all times in Jesus' name, that we may be able to walk in those things that you teach us. We thank you because you teach us to profit. We're grateful to you. We worship you, Lord God. Thank you, our Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Praise the Lord.

May the abundant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with us now and forevermore. Amen. Surely God's goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen.