Kingdom Lighthouse Church

Bishop Femi Owoyemi: We give you all the praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please let's put our hands together for the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Let's have our seats. Let's have our seats. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Amen.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. What a wonderful testimony of the amazing work of our Father. Glory be to God. I think I can also mimic the testifier. Glory be to God. Amen. We give God all the glory. We give God all the honor. We give God all the adoration. Amen.

These testimonies are for us, first of all, to lay hold of what is possible and also for us to tap into them. Understand that the word of God is true and is fulfilled to everyone and anyone who will lay hold of it. Because the Bible has told us that God is no respecter of persons. Glory be to God. Hallelujah.

In every nation, he that feareth God and worketh uprightly is accepted with him. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. The same God over all is good unto all that call upon his name. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. There are differences of manifestations in the same economy. It depends on our relationship with the Almighty God.

The testimony of one is not necessarily the testimony of the other. I heard in the Sunday school when the teacher was telling us that we need to be connected. But how do you get connected? It is not by giving your life to Christ alone. That's the beginning point. You enter by giving your life to Jesus Christ.

But then what happens afterwards? You need to be in the word of God. His word must be important to you. Your most important investment in this world is to buy a Bible and to study the word of God. A time is coming that we're going to see this word is not for Christians alone; it's for the entire world. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

In fact, you can encourage Buddhists and Muslims and the Hindus to read the Bible. Let them read it. God wrote it for them. And I'm sure that in reading it, they will discover something that will bring them into perfect alignment with their creator. Glory be to God. Amen. We stay connected with God by walking with him.

We cannot walk with him if we are not led by the Holy Spirit. That's how we walk with God. In this world today, the governor of the kingdom of God on Earth is the Holy Spirit. He's the one that directs the government in this world, and he's one that we must listen to. Don't go it alone. Stop taking your own decisions.

You heard that testimony. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. In his own mind, he doesn't have what it takes, but he followed the word of God and it was done. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Why? Because it's not by might or by power, but by the spirit, says the Lord.

I'm seeing some things happen in this place which I thank God for, and I also thank God for understanding and also direction. I gave you a testimony. One of our sisters came one time and gave me an offering. It was the first time she was going to give me an offering in this church. And the Lord told me, 'Sow it to the church.' And I sowed the offering to the church.

A week or two later, her car was stolen. And I said, 'Lord, this is the first time this woman is going to give an offering. Now she gave an offering and the car is stolen.' We said, 'I think that man, there's something wrong with him. You told me to sow the money; I've sown the money. Give her her car back.' And the car came back. Amen.

Can you imagine if I had put the money in my pocket out of greed and the car is taken and then it's not returned? Glory be to God. Hallelujah. She may not even come to the church because she will say, 'This man, there is something with him. I gave him an offering and my car is gone. What else do you expect?' Praise the Lord.

It's the same thing with the testimony that is given. When God says take and the offering is hit, he directs what will be done with it. I gave it to the church and God did what he did. Praise the Lord. Amen. Amen. So I am thanking God for the grace also to listen to the voice of God. Not to allow covetousness to dominate my life.

Can you imagine if I had put all these things in my pocket and nothing happens? Glory be to God. Hallelujah. To be led of the Holy Spirit is very important. That is when all of us will be tools in the hand of God to reveal his glory in all of our lives. Please allow the Holy Spirit to guide you. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you.

There are so many things you don't know. Just do what he says. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Like you, I also ask questions. I also ask why. Because some of the things that the Lord will ask you to do sometimes, it will not make sense number one. Number two, the pain will be deep in your flesh. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

But if you obey, he will gain the glory. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. And your honor and integrity will be intact. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Do not allow anything to be too much to give if God tells you to give it.

There are many believers, those days, there would be televangelists; they would come, 'You have to give this 1,000. When you give the 1,000, the Lord will bless you. This is a rich soil.' And most believers will send money to those places, neglecting their church. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. They don't tell you it's wrong because they want the money.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Your church is the first place that is appointed unto you. That's your portion. When you sow in your portion, you will reap. Yes. How much can you reap when you sow in somebody else's portion? So there are so many doctrines being preached that the believers are following.

That's why you have to listen to truth. Does God say you should not give to other churches? No. We should give to other churches. This church gives to other churches. Before we got our first building, every church that we know wants to get a building, we sow a minimum of $1,000, in spite of the fact that resources were not much. And God was faithful.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Because if you're faithful in the work of another, then the Lord will give you your own. So let's learn from these testimonies. This is a testimony that I love because it's talking of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the instructions of the Holy Spirit. And it ties back to what we were saying. What the devil destroys, the Lord will restore. Amen.

Glory be to God. Hallelujah. See how much money was spent on legal fees. See how much vow and threats were made. How many weapons were formed and released. But look at what God did. Those who say we will plunder you, they were plundered. Amen. That is your portion in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

You will plunder all your plunderers in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And I saw in scripture, the Bible says that you will hold them captive whose captives you have been. Anyone ruling over your life now in any way, by any means, the Lord will subdue them under you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

His name alone will be glorified in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. It also ties into what we were teaching: taking back territories. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. We are about taking territories. Amen. This thing has been about territories from the beginning. God created the territory: the Earth.

And then decided who will be in charge. Said, 'Let us make man in our own image, according to our own likeness. Let them have dominion on this territory that we have created.' So God gave legal possession to the man in his image and in his likeness. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

They were in the image and the likeness of God in the beginning because there was no sin. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. And they were walking with God. God was ordering their steps, and he was coming in the cool of the evening to have fellowship with them. And they were flowing in the wisdom and the power of the Almighty God. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen.

Man did not have to rack his brain how to name all these myriad of animals. That's the first miracle that our minds should always go to. God brought him the animals. He named them one by one. You know the Deuteronomy chapter 32, the Bible says that all your works are perfect, all your ways are just. You are the faithful God who does no wrong; upright and just you are.

Meaning that whatsoever God does must be perfect. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. And if something is not perfect, because he's a perfect God, he reserved the right to make it perfect. Do you understand? If it were not perfect when the man named all the animals, God would have corrected some things. But he corrected nothing, which is talking of amazing wisdom.

This man was walking with the heart of God. He had access to the heart of God so that what he does flows from the heart of God and there would be no need for correcting anything. That was the way he was living. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. But then the enemy came, and he came also because of the territory.

Because we're talking of kingdoms. There is no kingdom without territory. There can be no kingdom without territory. Please hear me out, people of God. The Lord is showing something to us, and it's a profound and powerful thing which all of us must lay hold of. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah.

He needed territory because he needed to establish a kingdom. He decided to usurp the territory, the authority in heaven, so that he can take that territory. He failed. Revelation chapter 12. The Bible says that he could not prevail. Amen. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

That's why the Bible says that the Lamb of God that was slain from before the foundation of the world. So even before the blood was invoked for us, it had already worked for the angels to overcome. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. There is no overcoming power apart from the blood of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

Because you and I have come under the blood of Jesus, we are overcomers. Amen. Say, 'I am an overcomer by reason of the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Jesus Christ.' Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Never look at yourself as a weakling. Never look at yourself as an underdog. You are an overcomer by reason of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Somebody may tell you different; you are the one who has to reject it. Amen. They may say you are nothing. Praise the Lord. They have a right to say what they want. They have a right to use their mouth. Yes. You are the one who will say no. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. What you're saying has no place here.

Say, 'I am an overcomer.' Say it again, 'I am an overcomer. I overcome by the blood of Jesus. I overcome Satan by the blood of Jesus. I overcome devils by the blood of Jesus. I have overcome principalities, powers, might, and dominion by the blood of Jesus.' Yes. Amen. Yes. Glory be to the name of the Lord.

So he came and in order to take over territory, there are strategies for taking over territories. Sometimes you may have to woo and cajole the people in territory, manipulate them to your side. Don't forget he did that in heaven when he got one-third of the angels on his side. Praise the Lord.

That's one way of doing it. Another is to come by force and attack the people and take over their territory. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Usually, war is more expensive than manipulation. Understand this: war is more expensive than manipulation. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

It is violent, and it will also build hostility. War would build hostility. But when you manipulate some in fact, the one you manipulate is on your side as a friend, not knowing that he's being plundered. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. That's the strategy that goes on in Africa.

African leaders are manipulated, and they think that those who are manipulating them are their friends. And they are being their agents of plundering of their own people. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. But they will take their territory back. Amen. I say they will take their territory back. Amen. I say they will take their territory back. Amen.

Why? Because God is just. Yes. People forget the justice of God when they are acting. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. God is righteous and just. That's what must give you confidence that you cannot lose in Christ. Amen. Say, 'The Lord is righteous. He is just.' Glory be to God. Hallelujah.

It is impossible for God to continue to look at you being plundered by the enemy when he claims that you are his child. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. He must bring justice. Amen. Say, 'God will bring justice.' Say, 'God will bring justice.' Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. He has already brought justice in a way through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ came here to take the territories. Even though the people had been taken by Satan in Genesis chapter 3. And by taking the people, you take the territory. Do you understand? Amen. To possess the territory, you take the people. There is a religion that goes around now trying to wipe out people so that they can take territory.

They are using war to advance territorial control. And by using war, they are creating violence and creating hostility. There is no way you can go to a people and use violence to take their land and they will be your friend. It's not possible. Glory be to God. Amen. And then there will be no peace.

Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. And these ones also will not succeed. Amen. Because I have seen in scripture that I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I want every believer to know that it is impossible for the devil to destroy the church. Amen. Hallelujah.

It will not happen. Amen. It will not come to pass. Amen. Every strategy of the enemy will be broken in pieces in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. The Lord will defend his church. Amen. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. And he will come for his church when it is time. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah.

When he comes, the church will still be here. Amen. Say, 'When Jesus comes, the church will still be here.' Amen. And I want to tell you something: before he comes, he's going to lift up his church to ward off all these attacks. Amen. Because the Bible says that it shall come to pass in that day that the mountain of the Lord shall be established on top of the mountains.

It shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow into it. They shall say, 'Come, let us go to the house of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, that we may walk in his path.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of God from Jerusalem.

The law will go forth from Zion, not from the world. Amen. Let me tell you something: governments of the world will seek the church to know the way forward. Amen. I'm not boasting. Amen. It is the word of God. Amen. The world will know we need wisdom and we can't find wisdom in all of our strategies. We need the church. Hallelujah.

Because wisdom will be flowing from the church: the wisdom of the Almighty God. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. This is why each and every one of us must prepare our heart and stop copying the stupid ways of the world, the foolish ways of the world. We have a higher way. Amen. We have a higher wisdom. Amen.

Glory be to God. Hallelujah. And it works. This wisdom works. This wisdom works. This is the wisdom we see the testimonies that are given. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. We need to know where this is going. When you know, you will never be in panic. In fact, you will rejoice at what you're seeing all over the world.

Because you know, wow, this is what my father said. That is what is coming to pass. He told us from 2010 it's going to be shaking the world. Even if you don't believe that the world was shaken from 2010, you know the world is shaking now. Don't you know the world is shaking now? Leaders of nations are admitting that the world is shaking. Yes.

They admit publicly, not in private, that things are not the way they used to be. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. And it will continue to be shaking until all those things that need to be removed are removed. Amen. The only thing that will not be shaking are the things that cannot be shaken. And that is the church. Hallelujah.

Built on the foundation, for there is no other foundation that can be laid apart from the one that is laid, and this foundation is Jesus Christ. Build on Jesus Christ. Amen. Stop building on the world. Amen. Build on Jesus Christ. Build on Jesus Christ. Something is coming. Something is coming. I've hinted you in this church. I don't say what I don't see.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I don't lay claim to be a prophet, but I say what I see. And I know that it's not because I want to see something. I didn't go to God and say, 'Show me this, I want to show something.' No. He's free to talk whenever he wants to talk. What you see now that you think is working will not work.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. There will be so devastation of economies that the things you have never seen before and you think is not possible in this land, you are going to see it. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. When a people and a nation depart from God and base their trust on whatever they make their idol, God dismantles that idol. Yes.

Because God is jealous. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. We have relied on money. Look at what is going on. I don't know if you look at documentaries. I watch television a lot. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. And I learn a lot. People are coming out now to say that AI would literally replace 99% of all the jobs that you see now. Yes.

99% of the labor force. Yes. 99%. And in their minds they said, 'Okay, we can create a pool of funds and we pay the people even though they are not working.' And already there are certain strategies that have been put together. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. And in order for you to get that money, you need to give them your bio.

Your bio, biometrics. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. That's where the rich people of the world are going. They're very rich, and they are in competition with one another who will get there first. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Even people are coming out and warning that this thing will likely destroy mankind. They are not listening. Yes. Praise the Lord.

Why? Money. Money, money, money, money. How many of you know 'Money'? Some people have it. Amen. Was it I think it's an American musician that sang it. Glory be to God. Don't join them. Don't join them in the money race. Don't join them in the money race. Yes sir. Yes sir. Yes, there is the question, 'How do I live if I don't have a job?'

I don't know. But I know that our Father fed millions in the wilderness when they were not having any means of planting anything or harvesting anything. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. And if the Bible says to me that he's the same yesterday, today, and forever, then he's still the same. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen.

Can God meet your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus? That's the question you have to answer. For me I know because I came into ministry with nothing. Absolutely nothing. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. And he told me, 'You are not permitted to work.' And I was moved to work because of my certification. Glory be to God.

How can you have MBA in your pocket and sit down and not working? So I decided I was going to look for a job. And then he told me, 'Now you're being disobedient.' Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. I still made up my mind yes, I will go forward. I don't like what I'm seeing. I will wait until somebody brings me $20. What will $20 do?

I was walking all over Providence. No car. Trekking from one end to the other in the cold, in the heat. I said, 'I don't want this kind of life. I'm going to work.' So I called the person. Somebody had introduced me to that person that, 'Look, you only need a training for 90 days and you're going to enter the market with a six-figure salary.'

I said, 'Yes, I wonder.' Glory be to God. Hallelujah. So the Lord told me I'm being disobedient. I woke up in the morning, I ignored the word of God, I picked up the phone, I called my contact, I said, 'Bring me the form when you're coming.' He said, 'Yes, I'll bring it today, Pastor.' Then I went to the church prayer meeting that evening before meeting the person.

And one of the people in the church came and pointed at me and started saying, 'Why are you being disobedient? Why are you doing what the Lord says you should not do? Why, why, why?' And then he woke up and said, 'Pastor, I don't know what came upon me.' I said, 'I know what came upon you. I know what came upon you.'

And I made a decision. Is it not this certificate that is driving me? So I got home that night and I tore all the original certificates that I had. If you ask me to prove that I ever went to school, I have no proof. Glory be to God. No proof. It's only if I demonstrate my skill that you will say, 'Ah, I think this person must have gone to school.'

Praise the Lord. And he has been keeping me since then. He told me that your status would not diminish. He gave me that assurance. I didn't believe him. I said, 'What do you mean my status will not diminish? I'm not working.' My friend that I was living with has not much. He'd give me $20 maybe every two weeks or every three weeks.

After a while, he gathered some money together and bought me a car for $350. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. How can I be how can you tell me that my status will not diminish? Then I was going to Nigeria four years later. He said, 'You are way ahead of your colleagues.' I said, 'No, that's not possible. I've been here for four years doing nothing.'

Apart from ministry, they have been going on there. We were making money in the millions when we were together in Nigeria. How can you tell me they're nothing? Praise the Lord. So the first assignment I gave myself when I got to Nigeria is to find out. And I drove to my friend's office. Glory be to God.

I got to his office and then we sat down we were talking, and I was hearing tales of woe. I said, 'Wow, four years.' Praise the Lord. And the Lord confirmed to me what he said. The fact that you are in an economy and making money doesn't mean you're making progress. Glory be to God. What is coming, please be established in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Be established in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't let your business, your career be your go-to. Let Jesus Christ be your go-to. Be established on him. What you're seeing, thank him for it. What is coming to you, glorify his name for it. The position in in which you are, bless his name for it. Represent him in that position. Glory be to God.

Because a storm is coming that will blow everything away. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I'm not saying this to you to make you afraid. Because when you know things before they happen, the Lord Jesus Christ said, 'I'm telling you these things before they happen so that when they happen, you know that I have spoken to you of it.'

Glory be to God. It's to give you confidence so that right now you can have the right alignment. Amen. Because if your alignment is wrong, then you will not be able to handle the situation. What I saw, only in the church will there be peace. Only in the church. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. I say it boldly to you because that's what I saw.

If it's not from God, it's not going to come to pass. So you don't need to worry. If it's not from him, it's not going to come to pass. But if it's from him, prepare yourself. And don't be drawn away by some who are marketing something, who are telling you something is happening, we want you to prepare this, how to prepare.

There is no way to prepare except to be established in the Lord. He said see, he said, 'He that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken to a wise man that builds his house upon a rock.' Build your house upon the rock. And that rock is Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. The storm will come.

Nothing will stop the storm from coming. But your house will be standing because it's built upon a rock. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. The world is chasing money. The Lord is going to confound them. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. They can have plenty of it, but then when it is worthless, what are you going to do?

Are you going to take lorries to carry money to go and do things? I was preaching many years ago and I was saying one of the things that God can use to discipline nations is inflation. When inflation comes, currency becomes useless. You need tons and tons of money to get a loaf of bread. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Amen.

That's one way God does these things. Inflation, rampant in fact, stagflation. Talk to economists. It has gone beyond inflation; this is stagflation. Amen. It started in Nigeria many years ago. You go out, you buy a bag of cement in the morning, 200 Naira. And then you go back in the afternoon, it's 350.

'I came to your store in the morning.' 'Yes, oga, I know you came, but the new supplies we got, that is the price.' You scratch your head because you thought you were going to be able to get 30 bags of cement, now they're offering you 15. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. So reluctantly because you need it, you buy it.

And then tomorrow you come, they said it is 560 or 1,000. Yes, the thing you bought 350. That is stagflation. Amen. Nobody will commit to supplying you anything. You say, 'Okay, pay, I will supply it tomorrow.' 'No, no, no, no, when you have the money, come. Because you don't know what the price will be tomorrow.'

That's what we're talking about. Amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. It's important for you to know we're talking of territories. The devil is at work to take over the world, and he's using many, many, many schemes. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. He's using religion. Glory be to the name of the Lord.

There is an agenda to take over the world. Religion is being used to take over the world. Amen. And it is through violence, killings. And when you understand what is moving or motivating them, you can understand the trouble they themselves find themselves because they are not sure of justification. They are not sure of eternal life.

They are not sure that what they are doing is enough for God to give them eternal life. So it's only through jihad; they have to kill to justify themselves before God. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. And in killings, they don't even even when they are killed, yes, they rejoice. Because when they are killed, they become a martyr.

And God, according to their doctrine, will give them 70 virgins. They forgot the doctrine of Jesus Christ. You are in error because you do not know the word of God. For they are like angels in heaven: they neither marry or are given in marriage. Many people will be disappointed when they get there. 'Where's the 70 virgins?' They say, 'What? You're not even qualified to be here.'

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. When you understand, blessed be the name of the Lord, that what we're talking about here is what people believe, then you understand what the devil has done. Praise the Lord. People do what they believe. People do what they are told. Praise the Lord. But how do we know the difference?

I do not have pleasure in the death of sinners, but that they repent and be saved. But the other one says, 'You don't believe, you're to be killed.' Praise the Lord. So there is not even any chance for you to change your mind. Don't you know that if you don't believe today, you can believe tomorrow?

How many of us believed the gospel the very first moment he heard the gospel? I went for 42 years without believing the gospel. Suppose I had been killed in any of those days in 42 years. Will I be standing here now? Our God is reasonable. Hallelujah. He's sensible. Hallelujah. He's wise. Hallelujah.

He knows that if you don't believe him today, you can believe him tomorrow. Amen. And he keep bringing his word to you. And when you believe him, he welcomes you and he begins to train you. Don't you know that when you understand your father, there is no one like him? Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen.

So it's a battle for possession. It's a battle of the kingdoms. It's a battle of the territories. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. That is why I told you: you, when you came to Christ, you are enlisted in taking possession. You are enlisted in taking territory. But how can you take territories for God when your own territory is invaded?

That's why we started with ourselves. Let us take possession of our territory first. You don't take possession of your territory in sin. If sin is still ruling over you, you are under the sway of the devil because he that sins is of the devil. Look at 1st John chapter 3. Let's look at it from verse 5. 1st John chapter 3, from verse 5.

Maybe let's start from verse 1. 'Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know him. Beloved, now are we children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.'

And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself. If you're looking forward to see Jesus and looking forward to being like him when he appears, you purify yourself now from sins. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Do you understand? You purify yourself. Why? Because he is pure. You remember Matthew chapter 5, 'Be ye holy, because our Father also is holy.'

We find the same thing in 1st Peter. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. God wants us to be holy. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. Because he is pure. Let's go forward to verse 4. Now look at this. 'Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.' Lawlessness means the law cannot control you.

You know the law, but you push it aside. That's lawlessness. You know the word of God, but you refuse to follow it. That's lawlessness. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. That's why James chapter 1 told us that we must not be hearers of the word only, but we must be doers of the word because if you are said, 'Be not hearers only.' Amen.

Deceiving your own self. When you come to church, you listen to the word of God or you study the Bible and you close it, you put it aside, and you run your life as usual, you're deceiving yourself. You're not deceiving anybody. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. To you, it is working. But a time will come that you know that it doesn't work.

That's why the word is coming to you. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Amen. So that there can be alignment. God doesn't want us to suffer. There is enough suffering in the world. We should not allow ourselves to be drawn into unnecessary suffering. There is unnecessary suffering. There is unavoidable suffering. We all go through that. It's unavoidable.

But there is unnecessary suffering. Many believers are suffering unnecessarily. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. So verse 5. Then he said, 'And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins.' Every one of us know that. That's why we came to him. 'And in him there is no sin.' In him there is no sin.

Because he would not have been qualified to take away our sins if there is any sin in him. God has made him who is without sin to become sin for us so that we may become the righteousness of God in him. The Bible says that in him there is no sin. He himself asked, 'Who has convicted me of sin?' Nobody. Glory be to God. Hallelujah.

He's the only man that lived in this world, fulfilling all the laws and did not sin. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. That was what qualified him to be the sacrifice of atonement because a man with sin cannot be the true sacrifice of atonement. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Verse 6. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

'Whoever abides in him does not sin.' When you are in him, you don't sin. When he rules your life, you don't sin. When he governs your heart, you don't sin. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. We will come back to that because there is something. Let me even go into that now.

The reason you don't sin is because when you were born again, the spirit entered into you. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. And the spirit in you is in you to direct you, to tell you what to do in every situation. Like the testimony we heard: every aspect of life, the spirit will direct you. Praise the Lord.

And when you hear what the spirit says and you do what the spirit says, you are walking free of sin. But when you hear what the spirit says and you push it aside and you do your own thing, you're walking in the flesh and you are walking in the sin. Praise the Lord. So you can live free of sin if you listen to the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

That's why he said, 'Walk in the spirit, you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.' Galatians 5:16. You will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We all have the lusts of the flesh, the desire of what we want to do. But he's saying, 'No, push aside what you want to do. Do what the spirit tells you to do.' That's how to walk free of sin. Amen. Glory be to God.

He said, 'Trust in the Lord.' How do you do that? He said, 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.' Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5. 'In all your ways, in all your affairs, in all your activities, in every decision of life, acknowledge him. Bring him in. Bring him into every decision.' Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Amen.

'And he will direct your path.' When he directs your path, the Holy Spirit does not direct your path into sin. He directs your path into righteousness. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. So he says, let's go back to 1st John chapter 3. He says that we do not sin when we abide in him.

Abiding in him is following his word, following his counsel, following his way. Praise the Lord. That's how to abide. Then he said, 'Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him.' Then verse 7. 'Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.'

How do you practice righteousness? The same thing we said: the spirit is righteous; he is holy. So what it tells you, you do it; that's how you practice righteousness. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. People will say, 'Practice righteousness.' How? That's how. What he tells you, that's what to do. He is righteous. The Holy Spirit is righteous, and he will not tell you what is unrighteous.

This thing applies in every area of your life. Amen. You've just started an argument with your husband and the Holy Spirit says, 'Stop it.' You are thinking you are in the right place, and then you will not stop. You go on and on and you are in sin. He says stop. So stop. Do you understand what I'm saying?

'My right, my right, my right.' He says stop because you don't know where it's going to end. He knows where you're ending. That's why he said stop now. And when you don't stop, you are exercising pride. You are not humble. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. These are the things that we need to understand.

This is how we possess our territory. Because when you don't stop, the devil steps in and then you lose your territory. You are no longer in control. You think you are in control. He tells you you are in control and you believe you are in control. You're proving your point. Say, 'Yeah, you're right. Why should he do that? He did that yesterday. He did that three years ago. When is it going to stop?'

And you go on and on. But yesterday, God told you to forgive yesterday. But he's reminding you of what went wrong yesterday. Did he not tell us to forgive yesterday? Did he not tell us to forgive last year? Why are you still remembering last year? I was speaking to somebody; I was counseling this person. He raised an argument. I said, 'What's your argument?' said, 'You're bringing up the past.'

I said, 'The thing you brought to me was in the past. You're the one that brought up the past.' Glory be to God. Hallelujah. You're the one that reported, 'That's what that person has done five years ago, 10 years ago.' You brought it up and I'm now helping you, and you say I brought up the past? I didn't bring up the past. You're the one that brought up the past.

See how deception, how the devil deceives the people of God. Praise the Lord. If you're talking to me about your husband and say that's what he did three years ago, and I'm addressing the thing you said he did three years ago, am I the one that's talking about the past? You told me what he did three years ago and your own response.

And I'm now talking of your response three years ago that you could have done something, but he said I'm bringing up the past. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. This is the trick of our enemy. This is how he tricks us. Let me tell you something: when these things happen, we think we're losing nothing. We're losing a lot.

We think we are putting a point; we're losing a lot. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I have so many doctors inside here today. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. They are taking care of their pastor. God bless you all and all of you too in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

So do you follow what we're saying here? Amen. Do you understand what I am saying? Yes. These are the things the enemy uses against us. Amen. That's why he uses against us. Because you heard what he said. He quoted the word of the Lord during the time that he was in his passion. Said, 'Simon, Simon, the devil has to sift you, but I prayed for you.'

Amen. And then he said God made him to understand that there are legal rights. That legal case that he had to answer in the spirit. Praise the Lord. This kingdoms is about legality. Praise the Lord. The kingdom of our Father is the kingdom of grace, but there are legal ways of entering it. Amen. If you confess your sins.

First of all, Romans chapter 10. He told us that if we believe in our heart the Lord Jesus Christ and we confess with our mouth, glory be to God, we'll be saved. Because he said that we believe unto righteousness and confession is made unto salvation. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. You know why it is legal? When you refuse to do that, you don't get in.

Do you understand? That's why it's legal. That's the rule. When you're talking of legality, you're talking of the rule. Praise the Lord. The rule of entering the kingdom of God is for you to believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and then to confess that with your mouth. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. If you believe in your heart, you don't confess with your mouth, you are not born again.

Praise the Lord. Why is that? Because it's the work of the Holy Spirit. No one can say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God except by the spirit of God. Praise the Lord. So when the spirit is not at work, you cannot fulfill that rule. Before you were born again, the Holy Spirit had been involved. Glory be to God.

You were convicted by the Holy Spirit, amen, to give your life to him. The pastor can persuade you for 20 years. Without the conviction of the Holy Spirit, there'll be no change. It's the Holy Spirit that comes in: 'I need to receive Jesus Christ. I need to yield to Jesus Christ. I think the word is true. I need to go to him. Yes, I'm a sinner.' That's the work of the spirit.

Praise the Lord. Amen. So these are how these things occur. So there is legality. When you give him room, he has right to step in. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. I've simplified this thing to you before. I said to you: sin is a legal invitation to the devil. Because of this, everyone is attracted to his virtue or his nature.

Everyone is attracted to his virtue or his nature. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. When you go around, you associate with people that are of the same views. Glory be to God. When you hear what they do, hear what they say or you see what they do, you say, 'Ah, I think I like this company.' If they're doing what you don't subscribe to, you're not going to join them.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Say you go out of church and then you go out there and right there in the parking lot there is a shed and people are sitting down and they have all kinds of drink on the table, liqueur and all that, and they say, 'Come, come, come, it's free. You don't have just sit down.' Because that's not your virtue, you're not going to go in and join them.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. So your virtue attracts you. Your virtue attracts you. That's why God is building his virtue in us. Praise the Lord. Do you understand what I'm saying? Now what happens is this: sin is the virtue of Satan. He rules because of sin. Where there is no sin, he hates the environment.

Where there is no sin, he hates it. Glory be to God. So anywhere he sees sin, that is where he's comfortable. That's where he establishes his throne. The Bible tells us that righteousness and justice they are the foundation of the throne of God. Righteousness and justice. When God sees where there is righteousness, where there is justice, he will enthrone himself in that place.

In your life, in your home, in your career, he will establish himself because he can see righteousness and justice. And when he's established there and he's ruling, you are in charge; you have taken possession. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. But when Satan sees sin and unrighteousness, that's where he establishes his throne. Glory be to God. Hallelujah.

That's where he rules. Righteousness destroys the kingdom of Satan. Righteousness destroys the rule of Satan. So he can never, ever allow righteousness in his kingdom. But when he sees sin, that advances his kingdom. So he's going to make himself comfortable. Don't make room for him. Don't make room for him.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Because when you make room for him and he begins to rain, his rain is not good. Praise the Lord. Go to Proverbs 29:2. How many more minutes do we have? How long have I been speaking? I made a promise. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. I made a promise.

Okay, another five minutes or thereabouts. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. So look at what this Bible says. 'When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.' When they're in authority, what is happening? They are taking possession of the territory. The righteous in authority is the righteous taking possession of that territory.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Any territory that the righteous takes possession of, the people in the territory will rejoice because it will be a rule of righteousness and justice. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. That's why they rule, that's why they rejoice because justice establishes peace. Where there is justice, there'll be peace. Glory be to God. Hallelujah.

Where there is uprising, go and look: there is injustice. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Where there is strife and contention, go and look in there: there is injustice. Don't just condemn people. They are always like that. No, look, there is injustice somewhere. There is either injustice or perceived injustice.

And if you want peace, you have to address that, whether it's perceived or real; you have to address it. Do you understand? Yes. This thing is applicable everywhere. In your home, you see your children fighting. You say, 'You, you, you are always making trouble.' Aha! He's always making trouble. Why is he always making trouble? You don't look. You have labeled him that he's the troublemaker.

But if you look, you will perceive some injustice. And then you can address that injustice and there will be peace. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. Christianity is practical. It is practical. Anywhere there is strife, amen, anywhere there is strife, there is injustice. Anywhere. The person making the trouble may be the one bringing the injustice.

He's making unnecessary trouble. That's injustice. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Amen. Or he's making noise to have his own way. That's injustice. You open your eyes. Praise the Lord. I used to say those days in high school when we moved together as a bunch, friends, many of us, sometimes we may be 10, 15 moving together in Lagos, in the countryside, everywhere.

And I told the people, I said, 'Listen, I want to tell you something.' They said, 'What is that?' I said, 'If you're going on the street and you see two people standing, and then you see somebody whack one person, that's what you see. So you jump in and you are blaming the person.' I said, 'But if you ask question and the person said, "He whacked me three times, I warned him, he didn't listen. And the first time I'm whacking him is the one you see."''

I said, 'What will you say?' You say, 'Whack him again!' Do you understand? Amen. This is it. This is the truth. But if you base your judgment on the first thing you see, you're going to be blaming the person wrongly. You understand. So now, righteousness: when the people who are righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.

But look at this: when a wicked man rules, the people groan. This is why territorial possession is very important. You are the righteous. When you are in charge, you are in charge by the spirit of God. You'll be dispensing equity. You'll be fear; you'll be just. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. That's why you can't shy away from leadership.

Let me tell you: the most important people we should go after as church people are leaders. When you grab one leader, praise the Lord, you have grabbed thousands, innumerable number of people. Seek to influence a leader. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Draw close to influencing a leader. Yes, we are to preach the gospel to the world.

But in my mind, I believe that it is more effective when you target the leader. He has influence already but the wrong kind of influence. In business, glory be to God, in the public sector, in the political sector, when you draw close to a politician and you begin to show the politician the principles of God, and as he embraces those principles, he will affect the people.

Glory be to God. Hallelujah. When you draw close to a businessman, this is what I do. When I hear you're a businessman, I'm looking for an opportunity because I can show you why it is necessary for you to pay your staff the right amount of money. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. And those that God gave me the grace to draw close to, they're doing it, and they are coming back with report.

Praise the Lord. Those who have been in generation business, they are coming back. I had a friend he told me, 'Pastor, I'm grateful to God that I didn't destroy this business.' Amen. How did it start? He called me when I was on vacation with my wife to come and pray for the stepson of his brother. And we left our vacation and we came, we prayed.

So he was amazed. God touched the guy and everything was resolved. He said, 'But you left your vacation.' I said, 'Yes, I can go back to my vacation, but this is a matter of life and death. We can't let that wait. My vacation can wait; I can go back to it.' Then a few times said, 'Pastor, do you people raise donations?' I said, 'No.' 'Do you do this?' I said, 'No.'

Those were the first questions. Then after a while, he came to me, said, 'What can I do?' I said, 'I don't know.' Said, 'What do you need?' I said, 'We don't need anything.' Then he kept on asking, then I told him, I said, 'Listen, if the Lord wants you first of all, I'm not the one that did the work. I just prayed. He is the one that did the work.'

'Now secondly, I can ask you to do something, but that is me. There is no reward in that. But if he tells you what to do and you do it, he will reward you.' He said, 'Really?' I said, 'Yes, he can tell me?' I said, 'Yes, he will tell you what to do if he wants you to do something.' Said, 'Are you sure?' 'Yeah.'

So he went away. Months later, he came back. Said, 'You were right. You were right.' The Lord not only spoke to him what to give the church at the time, the Lord spoke to him about his family. That was the beginning of his hearing the Lord. The Lord began to talk to him about his family and he was telling me.

'This is what the Lord said. This is what the Lord said. I never knew that he could talk to you.' I said, 'He can talk to you. You heard him.' said, 'Yes.' Then he began to cultivate the presence of the Lord. And before he goes to the boardroom, the Lord will tell him what will happen there and what he will do.

So he came to me. 'I'm glad I didn't ruin this business. I was running it in my strength. But now, before I go to the boardroom, the Lord will tell me what to do. We go there, do the thing just works.' Glory be to God. Amen. And he will tell me, 'We just gave bonuses to our staff.' This is what we're talking about.

Seek to influence leaders to take over territories. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. You have taken possession of your own territory. We dealt with that on Friday. We dealt with that yesterday. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Believe God. The decrees you have made cannot be revoked. Amen. Glory be to God. Hallelujah.

You are in control in your territory now. Amen. The devil is no longer in control. Amen. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. You are in charge because of the thing that God has led us to do. Glory be to God. Now you can advance to take over other territories. Amen. Begin in the sphere that God has given you.

Seek to relate with leaders in your place of work. Don't push them aside. Seek their audience. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. It's not something that is going to happen in a day or two, but let them know you are available. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Draw closer to them. Don't look at what they are doing wrong.

It's the soul you're after. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And not only his soul or her soul, you are after the benefits of all that are associated with them. When you are in and you are relating, you can influence and you can tell them the true principles that you have learned. And the thing is this, people of God: if you tell them those principles and encourage them to practice it, once they practice it, they know it works.

Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Once they know it works, that's it. All you need to do is to reinforce. Because God will never leave his word without testimony. When his word goes forth, testimony must follow. Let us rise up on our feet. The Lord is going to use the remnant. But your prayer is that you will be part of the remnant. Amen.

Glory be to God. Hallelujah. The reason you and I are here in the world is that God may advance his kingdom through us. Stop focusing on your job and your pay ticket and your family alone. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Amen. Ask him, 'Lord, use me as part of your remnant to take possession of territories in your name.'

That's your prayer. Pray that prayer from your heart. 'Father, use me as part of your remnant to take possession of territories in your name and for you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Use me, oh Lord God Almighty, as part of the remnant to take possession of territories for you and for your kingdom in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.'

Use me, my Father. I am available; use me in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Those that I need, oh Lord God Almighty, to reach, open the door for me to reach them in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Especially leaders that have influence. Give me grace, oh Lord God Almighty, to reach them. Give me your wisdom to minister to them.

Grant me the grace to impact their lives that they may become vessels in your hand to do mighty works in the name of Jesus Christ. Go ahead, ask him. Because he says, 'If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.' Ask him, ask him. And believe that he hears you. We must take territories for him. Tell him to guide your moves.

Tell him to guide your decisions. Who to reach, when to reach them. Tell him to give you grace. Maybe you have been working all day and it appears you're tired. And that's the time that you need to talk to that man or to that woman. And God has made a way for you to reach them at that time.

And then you're saying, 'Oh my God, I've been working all day; I'll do it tomorrow.' No, no, no, no. Ask for grace to seize the time. Ask for grace to act in the opportune time in the name of Jesus Christ. That even at that point when you're tired, you will ask for strength. Say, 'Lord, strengthen me.'

And you will go forward and you receive with a new strength from the Lord. Tell him: God wants to use us for his glory. He has been building us up to this, and it's time for us to engage. Tell him to open doors to leaders: leaders in politics, leaders in business, leaders in institutions. Open the doors, oh Lord.

Lead me to minister to them, to bring them in, that they may influence those who are under them for you. We're grateful to you, our Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Let's quickly come to partake of the communion. This is the grace we're going to ask the Lord.

That's the grace: the grace to reach people. The grace to reach them. Quickly, let's move fast. I want to read from the book of 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 23. Bible says, 'For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me."'

Father, we're grateful to you. We exalt your holy name. We thank you for that which you have done for us. We exalt your name, Lord Almighty, for the grace and favor that comes to us through it. Our Father and our God, you have talked to us about territory. You brought this to my mind some months ago, and within a few days, it was confirmed.

And Lord and our God, and that is what you have been doing. We're grateful to you for the grace that you have given us to take the territory of our personal lives, the territories of our home. We worship you, our Lord and our God, for that grace. Now, our King, as you have accomplished that for us through the decrees that you have led us to make on Friday and yesterday, now it's time to begin to take territories for you.

Our Lord and our God, we pray that it is exactly what you came to do. You came to take over the territory on Earth. And that was why your body was broken. As we take this body of yours that is broken, our Lord and our God, empower us to take the territories in the name of Jesus Christ. By reason of the blood that flowed from your broken body, let us possess all the territories that you will lead us into.

We take the body of Christ with this understanding today, receiving the grace, his strength, the wisdom, the knowledge, your understanding, and the power, Lord and our God, to possess those territories without any challenge. We bless your holy name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please take and eat the body of Christ.

In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Father, we're grateful to you. Your death is important. Your death is powerful.

By this communion we proclaim your death as proof that you have destroyed the works of the devil. And as we partake of your blood, we partake of the power to enforce the covenant in every place: taking possession of every community, of every city, of every nation, of every place where we work, of every place of our business, of every place we go in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

We pray that the blood of Jesus will speak through us in every location. And we pray that the blood of Jesus will silence all opposing forces in those territories in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. We pray because of the blood of Jesus Christ that no weapon that is fashioned against us in any of the territories will prosper in the name of Jesus Christ.

As they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, everywhere we go, the blood will speak to vindicate us and to rescue control from all evil forces and deliver those things into our hands. We're grateful to you, our Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please drink the blood.

Father, we're grateful to you. Thank you, our Lord and our God, for the church is coming into its own. The church will never be timid. The church will never be passive. Amen. The church is going forth all over the world in power in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, plundering the domain of the devil in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

And nothing shall by any means hurt any one of us in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you because you will use us to build your church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail. Thank you for beating back all encroachment of the enemy in the name of Jesus. We give you all the praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Go and take over territories. Amen. Go and take over territories. Amen. Say, 'I am going to take over territory. Every territory I enter, I take it over for the Lord Jesus Christ.' Amen. Let's put our hands together for him. Amen.