SURE MERCIES OF DAVID 1

1 Samuel chapter number 15. We're going to start the reading from— there's a story, and for the sake of context, I'd like to quickly narrate the story. So write in your notes 1 Samuel 15 from verse 1 to verse 35. 1 Samuel 15 from verse 1 to verse 35. So let me quickly narrate the story. Saul, who happened to be the first king of Israel, Femi Lazarus was sent by God on a mission, and it was a mission to utterly destroy the Amalekites. Um, the Amalekites are— I don't want to mention the modern-day country that they are, so you can know what God was trying to wipe out. But something happened along the way. Saul preserved their king not because he was kind, but as a bragging right. And he also kept the best sheep for himself till Samuel came and brought the word of the Lord to him. So there are statements that God made that we need to pay attention to. Very particular statement. Um, I have two girls biologically. When you are rebuking one The other one is listening. So when you tell the elder, 'Go and sit down there,' whatever the younger one is doing, she adjusts. What you say to one, you say to all. Children understand that better. True? Before it becomes our own turn. So you want to pay attention to scriptures where God himself was rebuking certain character because you are his child. Look at the words that the Lord said to Saul in 1 Samuel chapter number 16— um, 15, sorry, verse 16. 1 Samuel 15:16. And Samuel said unto Saul, stay, and I will tell thee. Please give me New King James. Let's— then Samuel said to Saul, be quiet, and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And he said to him, you know what he said? Speak on. So Samuel said, when you were little in your own eyes, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? Did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on the mission and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight them until they are consumed. The Amalekites did something— they've done something bad. They began to destroy the nation of Israel from the back. What that means is that when they were on their way from Egypt, they came after them destroying women and children first. That's not the way you fight a sane war. God said, I want to avenge that. He said, why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? Yes. And Saul said to Samuel, but I've obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission which the Lord sent me and brought back Agag, king of Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord, to the Lord your God in Gilgal. So Samuel said, as the Lord has great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord, behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king. And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandments of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sins and return with me that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said, I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned around to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe and it tore. And Samuel said to him, the Lord has turned the kingdom of Israel from you today, and he has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. That's a very powerful statement, and I love different translation because it brings you closer to understanding context. Saul was not holding the robe as in please don't go. He was holding the robe as a man of authority. As a matter of fact, when Samuel died You'll be amazed to see what Saul will do to the priests that replaced Samuel. He killed them, the entire family, with Doeg the Edomite. He said, 'Annihilate them.' So he had the tendency to wipe out priests. So God said, 'I've rejected you, all right, and I've given this thing to your neighbor.' So if you were David and you got an intel that God is saying, I have chosen you because someone misbehaved. That's mercy. Now get this straight. God is eternal in scope, in thinking, in communication, in reality. He is. It is difficult to say that an eternal being has someone as an afterthought. So we cannot really say that David was an afterthought, but we can say that David was a product of mercy. So God said, I've rejected Saul, I've taken away the kingdom from him, and I've given it to your neighbor, someone who is better. Now look at what God was saying. In 1 Samuel chapter number 16, verse 1. 1 Samuel 16:1. Now the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil. Go, I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided myself a— what? A king among who? His sons. Very interesting scripture. How many of you, you've had dreams before and you saw yourself doing amazing things? Talk to me now. Anybody? How many of us saw ourselves— you know, our dreams are always nice. You saw yourself in front of different people all over the world who said you were ministering. Let me see your hands up. Yes. I wish that your life will actually be as smooth as the dream you saw. That dream just shows you the end, not process. Are you following what I'm saying? Just the end. I mean, Joseph dreamt. Joseph dreamt and he saw his brothers, their sheaves was bowing to him, but the dream did not carry the details that they will sell him first. Is that not interesting? Your dream is not detailed, is an invitation, is luring you to a path. Because if God should show you everything, you will run. You will run. Light Nation, Clock 7. If God had shown me some things I have faced, I will run. You get what I'm saying? I'll be somewhere now, maybe Maldives, enjoying my life. But look at this. Let me show you one more scripture to lay very important foundation for you to see. Turn your Bibles with me to the book of Psalms, chapter number 89. Psalms 89. Let's start the reading from verse 20. Psalms 89, verse 20. Look at this. I have found my servant David. With my holy oil I've anointed him. Yes. With whom my hand shall be established and my arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face. And plague those that hate him. But my faithfulness and mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand over the sea and his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.' I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep— I will keep for him forever, and my covenant shall stand firm with him. Now hold on, I've given you different definitions of mercy. Mercy is God extending the empowerment to be different. And I will explain. Write it down. The mercy of God over your life is God extending his empowerment to make you different. So let me give you an instance. You came from a place where all you've seen is pattern of failures. Patterns of things you don't want to see in your life, patterns you don't want to repeat, pain, misfortune, maybe sins and certain things you don't want to be a part of. The one that will be different amongst the rest is so because God chose that one. So the mercy of God upon a man is God extending his empowerment that you will not be like the rest. What that also means is that you fight the battles the rest won't fight. If the Lord is going to make you different It won't go down without a fight. The mercy of God is not God doing everything for you. He's inviting you for a fight, and you've got to roll your sleeves to fight. There are scriptures I'm going to show you tonight, so look at it. Saul was misbehaving. God said, I found David. Ah, is that not interesting? And someone just brought you an intel. Thus says the Lord, in the midst of the chaos and all the darkness we have seen around the world, I have found you and raised you as my servant. How many of you would like to receive such prophecy? It makes you feel pumped. I've found you. I've extended my grace towards you. You are going to move across the nations. When you stretch your hands over the sea, there will be signs and wonders. Miracles and all that. That one that they are telling will be different will fight battles that the rest doesn't know anything about. As a matter of fact, the people that God is trying to make you different from will fight you first, even though they are the ones that God is empowering you for. So you must understand that being different is not automatic. You must build spines for warfare. Being different means you are going to take a lonely path. Being different means that you're going to take a path of the unfamiliar. Being different means that you're going to take a path that will lack so much accolades. Being different means that you're going to take a path that others can't resonate and they won't cheer you on, they won't clap. Nobody ever shifted the world, shifted balances, and were celebrated really in their lifetime. Go check stories. One of the amazing icons in this continent whose stories resonate with me so much is the man Nelson Mandela. He was imprisoned for close to 30 years. But that's a legend. We like to be like the product. Not the process. We like the mercy that makes the product, not the mercy that sustains you through the process. One of the things I want you to learn in the midst of this teaching is that there is no destiny that is genuine, or no future that is genuine, that is without a fight. Settle it at the back of your mind, you will fight. David's emergence was necessitated because Saul was failing. Saul will not go down in a hurry. You think about it. I found you, David, my servant. With my holy oil, I've anointed him. I found someone better than Saul. And God will watch that guy better than Saul fight for 13 years. 13 years fruitless labor, running from pillar to post. Look at what the Bible says. Let me show you scriptures now. 1 Samuel. Let's go to 1 Samuel chapter number 17, then we'll go to 1 Samuel chapter number 18. Let me show you certain things. If you are there, quickly run with me. Are you there? Look at this. 1 Samuel chapter number 17. Let's start reading from verse 50. So David prevailed— listen to this story attentively— over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine and slew him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword. And drew it out of his sheath, therefore, um, thereof, and slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion is dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until they come, they come to the valley and to the gate of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Sherim, even unto Gath and unto Ekron. And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, that they spoiled their tents. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistines, he said unto Abner the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Inquire thou the son, um, whose son the stripling is. And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said unto him, whose son art thou, young man? And David answered, I'm the son of thy servant Jesse. Look at verse 18, verse 1 now. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with him, with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and will let him go no more unto his father's house. But Jonathan made David a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself— I'm going to jump a bit, all right— and gave his robe to David and his garment, and even to his sword and his bow and his girdle. And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of the people. What is this? Mercy, mercy bringing victory, mercy bringing promotion, mercy bringing influence, mercy bringing power, mercy putting you in the face of people. Fantastic, right? How many of you want your voice to be heard? How many of you want God to lift your horn? How many of you want God to put you in higher position? I know you want to rise through the ranks, but you must understand that visibility is also an appearance before evil people. The moment God makes you visible by his mercy, it means there is a class of wickedness that were not aware of your presence. Not because they don't know you exist, but because what you are saying and what you are doing is not touching them yet. Now that your voice is high They have your time. But yet, what raised the voice? Mercy. By what strength did David rise to the rank? Mercy. What I'm simply saying is that if I pick you now and say today I make you the head of so-so-so-and-so-and-so, the battle you didn't fight as subordinate, you will fight as the head. Because systems will ask you, what makes you so different that brought you this quick? If you say mercy should flag you up and you didn't build spine to fight, your character will pull you down. Because a man that comes to honor but knoweth it not is like a beast that perish. So you get here and say, eh, I didn't prepare for this. You didn't prepare for what fight? When the mercy of God was lifting you and it was sweet, you didn't know you are going to fight. You will fight at a new level. Any promotion you get, you defend your office. Mercy may promote you, but that mercy must put a sword in your hands. You get what I'm saying here? Listen to what I'm saying. Listen to what I'm saying here. Goliath did not just fall. David cut off his head. Ah, you will know how to do the crude jobs. Let me leave you. Sit down for a while. Because this is what we are saying, ah, Father, across the nation you will raise voices for the country, that young people will rise who will be interested in taking systems like politics and are going to get involved and are going to get— this is what I'm saying here. This guy is smart, he's intelligent, he's sound. He's picking manifesto campaigns, he's feeling himself. They are sharing his video. Have you seen this guy? And they called him and said, this is how we do it here. Um, if you don't do this and do that and settle this and settle that, you will not even be alive to see the election. I said, I can't do it though, I can't do it. I didn't prepare for all of this one. I didn't The David that found mercy, he said, blessed be the God of David who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight. So I want you to understand what we are dealing with here. You set your face like a flint and tell yourself in this one life, unless you have planned to be a peasant all your life. I will fight. Every time you see war and turn away, you delay your manifestation. Every time you see war and turn away, you delay your manifestation. I can't deal, I can't deal with anything that stresses my spirit. I just can't deal. This is not the kind of life I've chosen. I can't deal with that. That's a bib right there. Look at your neighbor in the face and say, fight! Tell someone else, it looks like you are too cool for a fight. It looks like you are too— you are too peaceful for a fight. It looks like you are— you are too— you are too cool for a fight. Tell the neighbor, learn to fight! Listen to what I'm saying. Listen, listen to what I'm saying. Look up, look up. You would think— let me use the singers for example. I just— I want— what I want to say is a neutral statement. Get what I'm saying? Because people are really interested what I have to say about music. But listen to me, this is you I'm talking to, right? So listen. No, sit down, sit down. You If God just give you a sound now, that sound cut everywhere in the body of Christ, it will shock you. So you wake up one Sunday morning and somebody just say, have you seen one new lady that be great whose sound is everywhere now? She's from Marine Kingdom. Mami Wata. I was in church one Sunday and my friends— let me read the message that they sent to me. You want to see it? I was in church, they were sending me this message. Somebody posted this. I want to show you this false prophet called Femi Lazarus that has been deceiving people for years. Your time has come, you will surely die. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue. Destroy them, O God, and let them fall by their own counsels. Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee. And I will kill their children with death, and all the church shall know that I am that which searches the reins of the heart and give Do you have stomach? For some, thus says the Lord. About you, and it's not the Lord. It's that you have risen in influence, and now you are flying in the realm where different kind of madness exists, and now you can be seen. If the phase you're operating in life is the phase where everyone that knows you and hear you clap You are not influential. You try become the president of Nigeria, there will be prophecies that you will die in 2 weeks. I'm not sure there's any president that has been in Nigeria that there was no prophecy that he would die, either before the election, during the election, or the swearing-in day. Do you have the spine? Because the mercy that you have found that has brought you out is going to position you where you must— you must have added certain things to your arsenal to fight. Imagine Joseph saying on his way to be sold to Egypt, I'm not doing again, I'm not doing again, I repent, my brothers, I am not going to be the greatest amongst you. I'm not doing again. That's the way many believers speak the moment they begin to fight the contentions their destiny requires. Mercy chose you, but you must learn to fight. The mercy of God is going to present you in places. You see, listen, many of you, you've not been trained for favor? You only prayed for it. Did you know that there's a training to handle favor? How can Saul carry you, David, from the back and put you in ahead of all his captains? The Bible said, and David behaved himself wisely. Because every system where power exists, politics exist, including church. Yes, sir. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Do you understand your way around? Hold on. Do you understand your way around power? Do you know how to navigate the corridors of power? How do you speak? Who do you speak to? What do you say? What should you not say? What do you do when the doors of favor open? What do you do when you suddenly look like you have been flagged as the best? What do you do when it looks like you are a favorite? Do you know the wisdom of a firstborn child? Do you know the wisdom of a favorite child? You don't flaunt your coat of many colors in front of your brothers. When you are not anchored, covered. The favor you pray for, can you handle it? Make me the best in our organization. Mercy has done it. But now you discover that everyone who climbs and ascend beyond this rank must have something. And now It looks like the way your body is feeling, a system is asking you, what's your backup plan? Please sit for a while. When mercy makes you different, you fight. You settle down. What I want to do, I want you to— I want God to weaponize you. Settle down and understand that— first say this with me: it's okay to be criticized. Say it. Think about it again. Like I said, I'm talking to you like I'm training my mentees. Say it again. Okay, number 2: it's okay to be rejected. Now, rejection is not a problem. Rejection simply means that your language is not understood. That doesn't mean it is lower or higher. It simply means it's not understood. Simple. Maybe this one might touch a part of you: it's okay to be hated. You see, it's difficult for you to say that. Say it one more time. Do you have anyone around you, you know, that hates you? Now you don't have as much as I have, that there are people, once they hear your name, they have running stomach. They just hate you, and they don't hesitate to let you know that they can't stand your existence. And it's okay. The reason why those things get at you is because you believe that you are not worthy of being loved in the first place. You listen, listen, listen, you are not convenient in your own skin. Everything you do, everything you are passionate about, everything that your emotions are wired about, it is so because some people gave you validation. What makes you feel that something is good is because of the number of people clapping. What if you have to do it and you are correct, but nobody will clap till years after you are done? Do you have anything you are building out of posterity? That means that your generation and the real-time people will not understand till you are gone. They will mature to enter into the wisdom you entered 50 years ago. Do you have the spine to be ahead of your generation? Lord, make me different. Make me kolosos. Make me giant. Make me this, make me that, make me a war. Do you know what you are asking for? Forget about the war. You look at stories of people who shifted balances, those who affected, those who shaped mentalities, those who shaped culture, those who shaped mindset. You read books of men like Kenneth Egan. I'm like, my God. This man was ahead of his days. But do you know that in his lifetime he was called a false teacher? Katherine Kuhlman was referred to as a witch. When Archbishop Benson Daosa died, some said the occultic preacher is dead. Do you have the spine to walk the walk of destiny when no one is clapping? Jesus proved his leadership. The same street he walked when they said Hosanna, he still took that same street when all they threw were stones. Can you walk the same street? Or the moment they are throwing stones, you say, it's the spirit of rejection from my Father's house? The way people cower in and shiver. Now, now imagine you reading something like that about yourself. On social media and said that there's a false— and look at the wicked, wicked scripture: I will smite his children with death. You know, number of times I've been ministering and I get messages Strange message. In fact, I think this particular one came in while I was preaching. Oh yes, I was preaching. Have you built the spine to look at it and laugh? You have mastered adversity. You have mastered opinions. You have mastered different kind of people and different kind of thought. See, some of the people you are breaking your head about that they don't like you, they have mental issues. No, no. And honestly, if somebody who has mental issues should kill somebody now, if proven in the court of law that the person has mental issue, the one that died has died for nothing. See, So you must ask questions like, when we get to the Judgment Day, how will God judge mad people? See, the judgment will— it will be about the day that they have sanity. Okay, you want to tell a madman that the brain is not correct? I say, you, you were passing, you take water from gutter and pour it on somebody, we judge you with this one. Even the court on earth will not judge him. So you think God will? I'm saying that there are people that will do things to you that in heaven there's no judgment for them because they are actually not fine. So you cried for nothing. When myself and my wife got married and she sees something online, she says, have you seen this? This person has mental issue. One time I even stopped showing anything, she said everything is mental issue, everything is mental issue. It took me time one night and I said, ah, okay, it's true, it's true, it's true. The number of people that are feeling fine are not as much as Let me give you a minute. Who are you? I'm asking you, don't give me mob answer. The place where you find the weakest people is in the crowd. Have you seen where they are dragging somebody online? The mob can build his spine to do so because everyone is doing it. Once everyone stops, they stop. Forget about it. That's not the life of giants. Don't give me mob answer. Who are you? Describe yourself. It's not rhetorical. Loud and clear. Who are you? Huh? Deborah. What? The Great. Stand for a moment. Let's show you how we do it. Are your imaginations intact? What's your name? You are not even calling that name like it matters. I'm asking you, what's your name? What have you seen? Jeremiah said, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, what seest thou? And he said, I saw the shoot of an almond tree. Amplified said, the sign and the symbol, the emblem of alateness blossoming in late winter. And God said, you have seen well, for I will watch over my words to perform it. So I'm asking you, who are you? What have you seen about your future? Think about it. This is where you will know whether you have even seen something or not. What have you seen? Think about it. And as you're thinking about it, sum the person you are seeing of your future in one word. Great, magnificent, powerful, whatever it is. Sum it up in one word. I'm waiting for you. Make sure you are seeing something. So I will ask you one more time. Ayoola, raise loud and clear in one word what you saw. But now think, meditate. What has the Lord been showing you? What has he been saying to you? So I ask you in one word, who are you? Huh? Did you see something? Did you see something? What you saw, is it inspiring you? Do you think what you've seen can happen without a fight? Can this version of you, this version of your mind, this version of timidity that you have, can it become that? You can never use kindness to wipe away the need and the necessity of a fight. You cannot be kind enough not to need to fight. You cannot be too clear not to be misunderstood. You cannot be too accurate not to be called false. The days of streamlining and slim-fitting your destiny based on opinions, those days are over. So I ask you again, in one word, who are you? Loud and clear, the loudest you can. One more time, the loudest you can. Say it one more time with boldness. Sit down for a moment. Yes, still on it. Recently I began to speak with people that I have the privilege to lead. The Lord began to open my eyes to certain things. Our world in itself is ruled and governed by fear. People are afraid. One time in NYSC camp— no, not camp, POP day— the Lord already spoke to me what I was going to do after service, so I didn't have any issue. I've accepted my fate. Then we were at the sector, whatever you call it, for POP, Personal Parade, where they distribute the discharge certificate. And I stood away from the crowd, and I stood on the pedestal, and I was looking at all of them. And for the first time, all the good-looking boys and girls. I saw something else that day. I saw fear. I saw uncertainty. And wherever you see fear, you will most likely see desperation. And I saw it, and I've seen it again and again, even in ministry. Our world is governed with fear. Businesses are built around fears. In fact, one of the simple proof that our world is governed by fear is trends. The reason why you join trends is because you don't want to be the odd one out. That's the reason. Something is trending, let's be a part of it. A trend is like a flow, like a wave of a river. You've seen what it does, you like it, you don't like not having that kind, so you join. Even church. Even church media, when something works, everybody repeats it. One of the proof that you have been helped out of fears is that you can be authentic self. Authenticity is one of the— we don't talk about it, but it's one of the signs of courage. It takes audacity to be authentic. Fear makes you a photocopy, replicas. We can see your types around. It works, so you duplicate. When the mercy of God choose you, it calls you out of trends, out of patterns, and calls you into authenticity. Everyone fight what is authentic before it is accepted. The first response to your uniqueness will not be cheering and clapping. It will be stones and catapults and insults. Do you have the spine to shoulder your destiny? Femi Lazarus. Let me see. Let me ask you a question. Write out 3 powerful things you are doing without validation. Do what I said. Write down in your notes 3 powerful things. Listen to what I'm saying, that nobody has ever said kudos. In fact, One of the ways you know what I'm talking about is that currently in your life now, they are fighting those things. 3 powerful things you are doing without validation, and maybe you don't even have examples for. And that brings you into awareness that maybe you have aborted different visions because they didn't see it, they didn't recognize it, they didn't want it, they didn't approve of it. Let me share a story with you, and this is why we must be careful, and I'm going to be careful with this story so my story is not hijacked. Usually your destiny is always around what you are mocking. Let me come again. Usually your destiny is always around what you are mocking, particularly if you're not a prayerful person. Years back, I belonged to an assembly That assembly was the most powerful congregation, and I use the word was in the sense that you have people of different graces and capacity all in one place. So it was a training ground to the end that people are launched to the ends of the earth, but it was not discerned. And that's why pastors must be careful so you don't bench those that should be sent. The pride of a true apostolic church is in raising people who are sendable, is that you keep seeing new faces. You see, we had Festival of Life and Adoration of the Nations and add different things. And I tell you for free, even me as the lead pastor of Light Nation, I always see new faces, say, wow, interesting. And that's the beauty, that's the sign that a vision is running. Because there is a tendency to build the vision around familiar faces. It is safe, but you not get to the destination. You need fresh ideas, fresh minds, and it comes with fresh troubles. So you have to choose your package: familiar faces but you'll be still but you'll be safe, or fresh ideas, new faces plus the familiar one. You get to your destination but you fight, your heart will break, you'll be betrayed, You've misunderstood, but you'll get there. So somehow I observed that religion had mixed with what God was doing in that assembly. I wish I can go back now in past and help people, but I saw certain things that they were not seeing. I discerned early that the reason why God had brought people with all this kind of grace together is to use this place as a training camp, and the pastor over that place will be an apostolic father of many graces. You saw my spiritual father came here doing Festival of Life. That— I didn't go to meet my spiritual father for fathering. I went to meet him for mentoring, and I discerned that there's something here. So I said, I'd like to be accountable. But before that time, the pastor pastoring that assembly of young people— when I heard the new pastor was being transferred I remember going on my knees for over 3 hours in the sun. I prayed, let the man coming be a true father that will be able to father all of us. But the man that came was insecure. If you are not secure, you'll be a Saul. You kill the David that should refer to you as a father. So seed of bitterness was sown in people, and they began to throw words that was killing ministries. More like, God can't call you to start anything. And I saw people who, out of the spirit of politeness, We're taking the vision, the pregnancies of their calling, and we're taking to places they will stab it. Don't be that polite. Ah, don't be that polite. Guard it. That's what your life is about. Guard it, but make sure you are not in rebellion. You must discern a manipulative environment. And, and so, and I was praying, praying to God, oh God, and God was showing me visions about the future. I want to go and raise my end-time armies, I want to go and raise this and do that. I was praying, and every time I come to church, I observe that there were silent jabs killing those visions, and people were exposing their minds to it, and they'll be saying, yes, tell them 'Who are the them they were talking about?' Me, because I was the only one bold enough to be doing something. 'Tell them!' Oh boy, this calling will make you look like a rebel. And I was so hated. I was hated with perfect hatred. Relegated to put place in the toilet, from being the pastor of that place to washing the toilet. And those I pastored as my pastor. And I kept telling myself, anywhere I start anything, I finish. I don't leave anywhere out of anger. I don't leave anywhere out of pain. I finish. And I finished. They did send food and I ate. And many of those who were saying, 'Tell them,' then were supposed to arise at the same time. By the time they were coming to their senses to try to catch up, the train had moved far. They were mocking an example. Don't mock an example. Can I quickly describe what the firstborn anointing looks like? Turn your Bibles with me quickly. That's Psalms chapter number 89. Turn your Bibles with me. Look at it. Psalms 89. Verse 27. Psalms 89, verse 27. Let's read it together loud and clear. 1, 2, 3, go! One more time. I will make him my what? Firstborn. You know, when Elijah was about to leave Elisha and he said, ask me what I should do for you, and Elisha said, I want double portion of your spirit. You know what he said? Double portion is not about double portion of your anointing. No, what he was saying is that amongst the company of the prophet, you give double portion to firstborn. Double portion is firstborn portion. So he was not saying, I want to be times two of you. He was saying, I want to be the firstborn, a pattern for the rest. Now, the reason why everywhere is what it is, either in your family— copy and paste— your ministry, copy and paste, where you work, is because everyone are moving. Come, follow me. Let's go, let's go, let's go, guys. Come, come with me. Come here too. Let's lock our hands together. They are all moving with same flow, and this is not going to fulfill the will of God for them. You will never get to destination. The plan of God will never come to pass if the entire family keeps moving like this. They are doomed. So what God does is, while everyone is moving, God put his grace on one of them, and the duty of that one is to move against the tide. The reason why you struggle is because you want to move everyone. You can't. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. A pattern is not to compel, is to become. Our biggest trouble is because you were taking a task that should happen. This is what I'm saying. When God raised you as a firstborn and a pattern, one of the things you must learn is that you cannot save everybody. And while you are doing everything possible to make them see hates it, there's nothing you can do. Some will die in that state. There's nothing you can do because their ability to respond to an example God has raised depends on the contriteness of their heart. Listen to what I'm saying here. You cannot help anybody's heart as touching destiny. If the one that should learn from you choose to hate you, there's nothing you can do. When it comes to destiny, I want the media to project that scripture. The race is not to the swift, the battle is not to the strong. When— listen to what I'm saying— when it comes to destiny fulfillment, there is something we don't pay attention to. It is timing of Listen, listen, leave that scripture there. Your time, listen, is not a calendar moment. That's called chronos. That's chronological time. Your time is kairos. It's a season. I'll tell you why. At the time this ministry started, that was the best time for this ministry to start. August 24, 2014. By the time we started, many of the people I was to lead were coming in fresh. So he was also part of them before, because your time is not just your calendar. Your time contains your resources. Listen, your Kairos moment contains your men. Your Kairos moment contains everything needed and necessary for the fulfillment of what God is calling you to. If you start earlier than your Kairos moment, you are disadvantaged. If you start later than it, you are disadvantaged. You must be on time. It was not human calculation. This thing is like pregnancy. You just can't sleep again. Yes, I just can't sleep. I have to start. And when we started, there were 7 men in the first meeting. 7 men, and many of you don't even know. And I hold meeting with them week in and week out in an open field. It was the time. Not everyone is given a call to pioneer. There is also a time that those who have to attach themselves to a train must not miss. Particularly when God brings a captain at the season it doesn't look like it. So I'm coming to you. When we started, oh, you hear— have you seen Christians make holy side jobs? Your friend want to be General Overseer, and the righteous people laugh. Holy people, if unbelievers mock you, you know they are unbelievers. If church people does, it eats differently. And they will call my people and sit them down and say, we just want to help you. If you follow him, your life is grounded. Say, look at him, don't you see that he's doing this thing because he's broke? That I was broke, very true. So it, it actually is It calls for suspicion, really. I should be suspected. But the only thing is that I'm actually not doing it because I'm broke, but I'm broke. You were in the first, very first meeting. I was broke, but that's not the reason why I was doing this thing, but I'm broke. So what is paining me now is that what you are saying as an altar of truth I wish that God will give me money for me to say, oh, I'm not broke, but voilà, I'm broke. And after saying this thing, I don't have transport, so if you give me some transport, it's going to be good. I'm that broke. But yet it is God who have searched around and said, who can I trust to fight. If God gives you that divine pregnancy, it comes with morning sickness. Will you survive it? You will throb, you feel cold when everyone is feeling heat, your feet will be cold. Cold sometimes is a sign of loneliness. Pursuing a vision can be a very lonely path. Do you know how lonely it can be that even your mentors might call you names, and yet you are in the will of God? There's a very prominent family in this country— I won't mention their names— Okay, let me tell you the one you can know because it's out there in the open. Bishop Wale Oke shared this and it's written in his magazine, so I can share it. When Pa SGL Tin was alive, himself and his friend Bishop David Oyedepo went to see Pa SGL Tin in Ilesha. To pray for them about the call of God upon their life. Pa SGLT looked at them and said, God is not calling you to start a church. He said, there might be a call, but go and join other ministries, don't start anything. So the idea of Winners Church All it needed to have died is for the visionary to be sentimental. I'm saying there's a part of your destiny that requires a bit of stubbornness to stubbornly stay with it, particularly when you know that I heard God. Not the one that you are not sure, because what I'm saying is dicey. The problem with this message is that it can also endorse the one that is wrong. You can quote, you can get a message in a way that it looks like it suits you, but you actually in a wrong direction. Consistency is not the message of a man on the wrong lane. You don't tell him fire on. So you look at it. What made you the black sheep of the family? What made you the odd one out? What made you the one nobody wants to see, nobody wants to talk to? There is, there's something about your thought process, about your thinking pattern that doesn't agree with the norm. First, you grew up celebrating it. It was the best till you started learning and it occurred to you, this is not it. The moment you change, they won't change with you, they will fight you. So the mercy of God will pick up a Moses the celebrated prince of Egypt, and he will become the rebellious or the rebel group leader. And yet it is destiny. Can you really do what you came to this world to do? Will you be able to? Because the concept of life you've been told is that once you are not applauded, stop. Once you are not validated— I'm praying for you that God will begin to orchestrate troubles your way, the kind of troubles that will revive you. You will— this— oh, you don't like the prayer? This year you will face the kind of troubles that will make you a giant. Oh, you don't like it? The kind of criticism that will bring out the champion in you. The kind of confrontation that will deliver you from yourself. The kind of attacks that will make you not need validation again. They will push you to the end of your world till you have no choice than to fight. Please sit for a moment. Thank you. I was hearing one of the fathers in Nigeria speak. Oh, Light Nation, hope you know I'm calling forth our prophetic destiny. And this is a training camp, and I'm showing you how to move with it. Is that okay? He said one point that ministers arose in this country and said, we're going to finish his ministry in 6 6 months and his ministry will no longer exist. We will destroy the church, waste him. In 6 months everything will shut down. And they began to tell themselves right, left, and center, he's a bad man, he's a dangerous man, he appeared with so-and-so person, that person is a devil, this is that. And he said, since he was hated everywhere by everyone particularly also because the members of that church at that time were opening their hair and wearing trousers. Some of you are doing that now. Somebody fought for it. Yes, sir. So he said, this hatred and this rejection is an opportunity for me to face my work. And when many others were busy jumping from pillar to post, he focused on his people and discipled them till they became a nation. Hi! Convert hatred to useful resources. In fact, the biggest problem in my life right now is acceptance. I'm changing numbers every time because I want to be alone to focus. The hatred you are running away from, I'm running towards it because it means different things to all of us economically. I need time. I need nobody calling me and saying, we want you here, so I can build, focus. If I can sit with 20 people, give me a month with them and teach them week in, week out. I don't want to take pride in who I appear on flyer with. I don't want to take pride in where I go to preach. I want to take pride in what you will understand in future. In fact, I need you to conclude that I failed and find out later. Your problem is that you are afraid, so you need people to conclude quickly that you are doing well. So you do things that can't last. You cannot work for posterity. You are too quick. You can't tell them that, check us after 10 days. 2 days you are tired. Am I not doing well? Embrace adversity. In fact, let people bring out list and you are not on it. It's okay to be Forgotten as long as you are building. The people you idolize might be an empowerment from the enemy to use them to discourage you. Sela. Love people, value people, honor people. Celebrate people, but don't idolize. I shared a story. If you know anything about me very well, is that One of the things you will learn about me is that if you are wiser than me, you can't be as stupid as I am. It's my mantra. So one time, God has instructed me to focus on ministry. So my default reality was that I was always broke. You see this thing called brokenness. I did me shake. Ah, so somebody— I just want to quote it— close to me was getting married, and to somebody much younger than me. So they said the guy should come and give me something. He rubbish me. So I now called and say, ah, say They didn't tell you that the person you are getting— I'm, I'm far older. I carried this person as a child. Because they say a poor man is not even regarded by a member of his own household. So I made a decision. Since I'm the brokest here on this wedding day, I will not sit down as anything. I will serve food. You've joined me to serve food. Yes, I've carried him to different odd jobs. This guy has been around for a while. So that wedding day, I told him, oga, move. We rolled our sleeves and all that. Since the conclusion is that I'm a failure, the decision here is that my life has finished and this is the insult I will face. Let's cook, waste it. So we're serving food. Take pictures, take pictures, take pictures. I know it will only be relevant for a while. There are many things I did for this thing called fear to die in my heart. You are too quick to want to prove people wrong. That same guy will meet me years later and say, Daddy, say no, come on, God didn't bring me this far. To accept that. He brought me this far so I can be of help. Can you fight? Majority of what false prophet are eating from you is actually the battle of destiny, what you should embrace. You want to renounce? Fight everywhere I go. Why, why people always hate me? Is there anyone here with the garment of hatred? I want— you are different. You are different. You are different. You are different. Will you kill the difference or you maintain it? You are different. If God can help you become bolder than you are, you do a lot with your life. If maybe I can get you to pray prayer in a minute. That, Lord, you let fear die in my heart. Let this thing called fear, this thing called timidity, let it die. Fear of failure, Fear of becoming irrelevant. Fear of being forgotten. Fear of being misunderstood. Fear of not being loved. Fear of being rejected. Let it die. Help me to be bold and audacious. Help me to be bold and courageous. Empower me. Help me. I'm too scared for the future you have for me. I'm too scared for what you want to do with my life. I'm too scared to build a vision. I'm too scared to build a dream. I'm too scared to build a work. Make me bold! I receive the spirit of boldness. In Jesus' name we pray. Sit for a moment. There are some of you here that your time for 9 to 5 has actually come to an end, but you don't have the courage to build. And there are some who are very good, have good CVs, have good— but they say, you are, you are so good, but we can't employ you. And that's a signal. I went to barb my hair somewhere in Lagos one time, and I saw a magazine in the barbering salon, and the man was talking about how he went, quit banking for barbing. And I said, this takes some guts. Do you have the boldness to build? Let me tell you one of the ways I've learned to build different organizations running at the same time, and we are still building more. As we're going to start a new vision The first thing I did, or I always do, is to get the team to resign from their jobs. Once you resign, I know it's on my account. So if I fail, the failure is not just about me now, it's about us. There are people who crash with me if I crash. So it's a one-way trip. There's no opportunity for mistake. It is either done or done. That's how we came to Abuja. People resigned from their jobs and followed me in the first trip. We all landed together at the airport. Bam! No church, no house. Resign lucrative jobs. No going back. And sometimes you start paying salaries for the organization not from the profit from the organization, but from your pocket. Do you have the audacity and the spine to continue till the organization can carry it from there? We don't have builders because because of fear. And I told you, economic policies has been built around your fears. Schools has been built around fear. The top 1% of the 1% leave you to make— build education around 10% of opportunities while they focus on 90%. Go and check the courses you study in school. 10%. And I'm saying this because we're in the system where we are going to build new curriculums for this continent. You not have to— and that's why some people struggled in school, because you were made to study what was not your strength. And your parents and your teachers measured your IQ by checking what you are doing that is not your strength, as against those that it is their strength. They are not smarter, it is interest that differs. I'm seeing courageous builders rise from here. Those who build from the scratch and keep at it till it produces. Are they here? Yes, sir. Are they here? Oh yes. I'm seeing courageous leaders rise from here. Those who keep leading and keep leading. Sit for a moment. The Sunday we had the last asotele in our former venue that we sat down to have meeting with you and tell you, as at the time we're having that meeting, there was no venue in sight. This place came as a side conversation after that meeting in my office. And we came here and I told the team, can this place be done in 4 days? They said, we go ahead. First is the audacity to conceive that it is possible. Listen, adversity reveals leaders. Those who run away from it will never lead. Many of the leaders you know today, you so know them because a problem revealed them. The problem that should reveal you, you are praying it away. You are supposed to ride on the storm. Are you still there? Say it again. I'm bold. Come on, say it again. Say it again one more time. I am courageous and full of strength. I am bold and courageous and full of strength. I refuse to be timid. In the name of Jesus, all the days of my life, I embrace my authentic self. In the name of Jesus, I refuse to be weak. I refuse to be timid. In the name of Jesus. I will not be timid. No, I will not cower in. My visions will not die because of fear. Listen, listen, listen. Sometimes you ask, how shall these things be? The one who has been doing it will do it again. Oh, glory to God! Is something ringing in your spirit? Some of you have swept many things under because those you respect are not doing it. Leadership will mean that you put your feet forward. When you have to be a model, you don't wait. You lead. God is raising models. I didn't hear amen to that. Excellent models. God is raising models. Excellent models. Sit. Let me wrap up with this scripture. Psalms chapter number 18. Glory! Oh, glory to God! Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! You can shout it again. Glory! Glory! Glory! Glory! Something is shifting here in the name of Jesus. Something is shifting in our spirit. Yes, yes, yes! Respond, respond, respond! Sit down. Nothing destroys destiny What do you mean it? Like the desire to follow the norm. It makes you normal, makes your entire life predictable. How do you think that it is God's will that your income for the next 30 years can be calculated? Sela. Because it's okay to be on salary, but it's also okay to build too. There are aspects to your life you're going to manifest them. You look at yourself and you can't find it because you are not looking well. You are not calling for the things that be not as though they are. You can manage 10 organizations running structures and establishments and everything running concurrently. You have capacity. You have capacity for more than what you're seeing. Some of you are too big for that office space, and you have to just see it. You are too— you are too much for it. That's why, as I have the privilege of leading people, I keep paying attention to discern what is God doing here, because you can't trap them. Yes, sir. You see, Light Nation is a very funny place. In Light Nation, as much as we are bureaucratic, we believe in process, we'll pass through due process and all that, but there has been time that we went to the choir and pick one person and say, that's the pastor of that place. Sensitivity to the dealings of the Holy Ghost in people's life. When you get to those points, you must know how to, because you can process God out. Sometimes I look at the pastor's ministry and I just shake my head and say, who are these guys? Imagine God kept Pastor Lekwun in reception. But that's where he was. He was in the reception of the office in Ibadan. We're running a radio station then, online, and he will come in and clean everywhere diligently. And God said, that's the guy that's going to lead this place. And sometimes these guys are ministering, I'm looking I'm saying, what is this? No, we know man after the flesh. Everything you believe about yourself, make sure it is what you saw, not what they told you. Yes, yes. Have you seen people try to put definitions and define you that is still blossoming? What have you seen? Just a version. There's still more. What you've seen is just a version. As I emerge, I'm like a flower that is still blossoming in its time. The part you're praising today may not be relevant tomorrow and have switched. That's why you should be careful of labels. Don't be labeled too early. Don't, don't name it too soon. Look at what the psalmist said. Psalms chapter number 18, are you there? Glory to God! Oh, you know, this morning I was just screaming in my office and I'm saying to myself, at this point, at this point, I can't deal with office again. I can't deal with office again. What I need now is a city. And I'm— listen, listen. I'm not saying it for fun. I'm not saying it for fun. Listen, I'm not saying for fun. We are building studios. Um, we need Africa by African studios, an entire studio where we can't just do that. We also have to have an institute for raising leaders, professional leaders, political leaders in Africa, not for Nigeria alone, across Africa. It means we need institute in Botswana, we need institute in Kenya, we need institute in Egypt, in, in Algeria. We've started moving a new team down for our movie production wing, and we put them in a place, keep writing script and producing new movies. Give us the cast, we'll call and pay them, we finance them. These are visions. Don't peg yourself on a wall and say this is all there is to me. Wake up from the sleep of death. So to do all the things I want to do, I can't be preaching everywhere. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So when you don't see me preaching everywhere, I'm not forgotten by God. I'm busy. Look at you. Our society is daft. We calculate impact with being everywhere. So you too want to be impactful by being everywhere. It will put you in a cycle. Get out of the box. Sometimes I look at Nigerians and the way they think, and I say this thinking culture, this thought process is the architect of your problem. You blame politicians for stealing, but you also shame the poor. So why won't they want to steal? Who will rebuke the poor? You. Until we build equity, don't blame anybody for stealing. We don't accept those who don't have. People will do anything to have. We'll still clap for them in our churches and mosques and everywhere. That is what we are. Ye people. And God is raising a new breed that will rewire this culture. Africa will choose to arise either by brain or by guns. You know, one time I was saying we pray prayer Online and someone was saying, I want God to give me 150,000. I, I get it, we're all at different phases, but what happened to you? You get financed at the level of your vision. It's called provision. Provided for the vision. Are you still there? Yes, sir. Let's rise up on our feet as we wrap up with this scripture, and I want you to read this scripture with so much courage and audacity. We'll start the reading from verse 31. Psalms 18 from verse 31. Look at it. Who is— for who is God save the Lord? Or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds' feet and set me upon my high places. He teaches my hands to war so that the bow of steel is broken by my hands. Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand has holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. I have pursued my enemies, I have overtaken them, neither did I turn again till they were— what? Consumed. I have wounded them that they were not able to rise. They are fallen under my feet, for thou hast girded me with strength unto what? Hold on a minute there. Thou hast girded me with strength unto what? This is David, the epitome of mercy, showing you what mercy positioned him for. You have girded me with strength unto battle. You have subdued under me those that rose against me. Hallelujah! Mercy doesn't make you spineless. Look at it, verse 40. Thou hast given me the necks of my enemy, they cried. Hallelujah! I see builders, architects of dreams, architects of visions. I see builders. I see leaders. I see strategists. I see culture shapers, culture shifters. I see obstructors of the norm rising from here. Can I give you a moment? So pray it in, pray it in. Blessed be the Lord, let the rock of my salvation be exalted. The Lord reigneth. Blessed be the Lord, let the rock of my salvation be exalted. Loud and clear! The Lord reigneth! Blessed be the Lord! Let the Rock of my salvation be exalted! The Lord reigneth! Amen. Blessed be the Lord, let the rock of my salvation be exalted. The Lord is giving you the vision, the dream, the grace, the empowerment to take that route of destiny. He's allowing you embrace your journey. He's helping you see it. Blessed are your eyes, for they can see. Blessed are your ears, for they can hear. Blessed are your hearts, for they can understand. He's opening your eyes to see, to conceive it. Thank you, Lord Jesus. In Jesus' mighty name we're praying. Stop apologizing for being empowered to kill Goliath. Stop apologizing about your greatness. Be great. And listen, you don't explain to everyone where God brought you from. Let them deal with it. You don't owe everyone your story. Sometimes keep quiet, not empower the enemy, and sink it in. Oh, God has blessed you. He has. To him be all the glory. You don't have to explain, ah, this should not be my own. You don't want that explanation. Walk in the reality and embrace it. The Lord raised David amongst us here. Mighty men of war, captains of industries, culture shapers, in the name of Jesus. Now listen, I just saw something. It will look like your brain is twitching. The Lord is rewiring you. He's giving you a new scope of wisdom. The wisdom that makes you different from your counterparts. Receive it. Amen. Your mind will not be corrupted. Amen. Look at me. You will conceive and execute great visions, and you finish well. From henceforth, nothing dies in your hands. You are blessed. It is done in Jesus' name. God bless you. Bless you, CPT and PT. Thank you. Femi Lazarus.