UNMASKING JEZEBEL 4

Welcome to an encounter with the spirit, word, and prayer through the prolific apostolic and teaching ministry of Apostle Femi Lazarus, lead pastor of Sphere of Light Church Global.

It is his vision to raise God's end-time armies. God has not called you to prove you are the best. He has not. As a leader, you are a broker of gift and talent.

So brace up for an experience Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord. We give you all the praise. We give you all the glory. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. None can be compared to you. No one, no one, no one, no one, no one. Thank you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. Shaka tabala kande rogo shente. Rende ke flem de rogo shente rogo shente. We give you all the praise. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We thank you, Father. We give you praise. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' mighty name we are praying. Can I hear that amen loud and clear?

Amen.

Thank you, Father. We ask that your word will flow with free course.

Amen.

Without hindrance. Amen. I rebuke every distraction in the head. Amen. In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

We give you all the praise. In Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

You may please be seated.

God bless you.

Let's give Jesus a big hand. Now, if that's the best, I'm disappointed.

Okay. All right.

Amen. All right, so this service this evening is strong meat service. So if there's a time for any tendency for people to be offended by teaching And it is tonight. Are you with me? Not you, I said people, not the saints.

Amen.

Give yourselves a big hand. Somebody said, ah, now that I came for service. Okay, all right, turn your Bibles I want to show you a background. I want to lay a foundation. Ephesians chapter number 4. Ephesians chapter number 4. Now I start the reading from verse 9. Ephesians chapter number 4. I start the reading from verse 9. Or for the sake of proper understanding, let me start the reading from verse 7. For the sake of proper understanding, from verse 7. Look at it. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he said, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended Was it but that he first descended also into the— first, sorry, into the lower part of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. So part of the responsibility we have is to perfect the saints for the work of ministry. That word there will mean to minister, to serve, you see, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. But I want to highlight verse 12 now, and I want to read verse 12 in Amplified Translation. Says his intention, his intention was the perfecting of the saints and the full equipping of the consecrated people, full equipping. So part of the things God wants to do with our lives in church is to equip us. Now, to equip means to give the necessary tools that are necessary and important for the work ahead.

Is that okay?

So equipping the saint is far different from teaching the saint. You You can be taught and not equipped. Let me give you an instance. I can, for instance, teach on the subject of deliverance.

Is that okay?

I say, okay, these are categories of devils in systematic theology. Or School of Ministry starts soon, registration starts soon. All right, so I can teach on demonology, for instance, and talk about classes of demons, categories of demons, difference between demons and fallen angels and all that. Are you still with me? Don't worry, it's going to be as simple as ABC. So we can be in a place— or let me give you a story, something practical that happened. I took some of my boys with me years back, I think I think this should be about 7 years ago. So I said we are traveling somewhere to pray for someone, not, not much distance. And when we got there, um, the woman was manifesting real bad, seriously. She wanted to even stab her own child with a knife under the influence of demons. So I told them, I said, 'Cast out this spirit.' And so I sat down, I was taking Coke in that room, and the woman will jump the bed and jump everywhere, and they were pursuing her. And it was a case of 'carest not thou that we perish.' So, and, um, they couldn't cast out the devil, not because they were not anointed, but because casting of devils is deeper than just saying go. Now, when you get to the point where you have exhausted what you know and you can't do it, now you now start the point of equipping. This knowledge now is for a major function. So I called the woman's 16-year-old daughter, or 17. So I placed my hands on the, on her shoulder. So I said, tell the spirit tormenting your mom to get out. And the girl was crying, you spirit, leave my mommy! As simple as that sounded, the spirit left immediately. So I said to them, there is a place of the anointing, but there's a place of authority.

Are you with me?

You can learn in church and learn from one doctrine to another, but equipping takes place during training. Are you with me? They can't hear me at the back, right? Equipping takes place during what?

Training.

During training. So what I'm saying in essence is tonight's Bible study is going to be as though I'm training pastors. Are you okay with that? Are you sure? Hey, do you know what that means? Okay, let's start. Let's have it. All right, so I want to bring a different dynamics to the subject we've been discussing, a different dynamics entirely, and I want us to pay full attention to this. Amen. And learn so properly tonight. I want us to look in-depthly and look at the personality. Want to study the character, all right, of the spirit of Jezebel. We want to study the character of what? Of the spirit of who? Jezebel. Many of you are ready for that. So we look at the scripture where Jesus himself was not happy with the church in Revelation chapter number 2, verse 20. Please turn your Bibles there. Revelation 2:20. All right, so Jesus speaking there said, 'Now we stand and have a few things against you, because you allowed that woman Jezebel, which call herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants.' to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. So we want to look at this personality, all right? What, what's up with this woman? What's God really talking about, all right, as far as Jezebel is concerned? 1 Kings chapter number 21 from verse 1. 1 Kings chapter number 21 from verse 1. We want to look at the story, we want to have clear insight, and I'm going to use this story to show you multiple things said about this woman in the book of Revelation.

Amen.

Are you still with me? 1 Kings 21, look at this. And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite, all right, had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab the king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house, and I will give you, give you for it a a better vineyard than it. If it seems good to you, I will give you the worth of the money. And Naboth said unto Ahab, the Lord forbid me that I should give it— give the inheritance of my fathers to you. And Ahab came to his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken unto him, for he said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid down upon his bed and turned his face and would not eat bread. But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, why is your spirit sad that you will not eat bread? And he said unto her, because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said unto him, give me your vineyard for money, or else if it please you, I will give you another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, do you not now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth. That was what Jezebel said. Verse 8: So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed it with his seal and sent the letters to the elders. To the nobles that were in the city dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among people, and set two men, sons of Belial, before him to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and king. And then carry him out and stone him that he may die. And the men of the city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants of the city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men like the children of Belial and sat before him. And the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. And they carried him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones, and he died. That was what Jezebel did then. Unfortunately, Jezebel yet again still has the ears of the elders, and they are still stoning God's children to death. So she used the principle— please follow me keenly— you discover she did not think twice to know what to do. Ahab, go and eat. I will give you the vineyard. And what was the method? Accusation. I want us to study. Let's, let's, let's read in between the lines. Are you with me? Let's read in between the lines. Now, before this chapter, in 1 Kings chapter number 18, Jezebel had killed all the prophets. As many as she could find, wasted them. The few that were left, Obadiah had to hide them in a rock. So when she sent letters to the elders, they knew that you had better do what she's saying or you are dead. Okay, she was not contemplating. She did not get sons of— she said, you by yourself. Go and get those that will lie against your own and kill him. Are you following what I'm saying? Every rumor has an altar of truth. Where did Naboth insult God? Ah, today skills must follow because listen to me, the moment I will say it. The moment the elders in any generation can be intimidated, they will sell out. When I— I will, I was— I will tell you why it is possible. When I tell you why it is possible, you promise me we'll do something. We will rise up for 2 to 3 minutes. And pray for fathers in the body of Christ. Is that okay? Are you with me? Ah, get what I'm saying in context. I've not been called to ministry to drag fathers. No, we're a continuation of their labors. Is that clear now? That is what we are. Okay, so she said, go on, I know it's your own. She said to the elders of the city where Naboth was. I say, get him. And she said, go and fast. Spiritual activity, eh? With what spirit? Go and fast. Then get sons of Belial, that is people that you know are not fine, are not normal. Tell them what to do. I want them to testify against him that he had cursed God. Okay, when you— when they do, let the people do what? According to the letter. This is the consequence. Let them stone him today. And Naboth was standing there. Jezebel was not there, but her system was present. And that system was available and potent because she has influence over the elders. Beware of any system that has influence over elders. In 2020, there was this bill that was to be passed into law. I don't know if it passed then. I can't remember whether it was— there was one, one was Ruga, the other was Kama. That bill was to retire at once, in a moment. All the fathers in the body of Christ— but it came intelligently— all heads of non-governmental organization, of which the church in Nigeria is always registered as what? Non-governmental organization, that have been there for so, so and so years, are to step down, hand over. Abruptly, somebody who is disgruntled with a pen could have silenced the entire Nigerian church in a week. Are you seeing the reason why it is you doing what you are saying, if you refuse to get to the place of influence, is that you are fighting the agenda of God indirectly? Because many things are happening because men, all right, that carries the kingdom in their heart are scarce in those corridors of power. We are not saying there are no Christians, but not every Christian have been trained to survive what is in those corridors before they got there. Are you with me? Are you sure? Are you with me? Yes, sir. We have no idea what Jezebel knew about the elders. Maybe she knew something with which she could blackmail them. Uh, we don't know, but she seemed to have them in her pouch that when she spoke, they all trembled and they killed their own. By the summon of an influential woman called Jezebel. What that means is the strategy is the same. If the devil ate one amongst us, he gives another one amongst us the knife. Do the job on my behalf. Accusation is real. And if you have never been accused before, you may have no idea how deep it is. That's why many footballers don't like to get married. You just keep girlfriends, and the girlfriend can have 4 children, but it's girlfriend. I think there was one of them that the girl was going to set him up, but for CCTV camera, and said he tried to abuse her, sexually. And you know what that means? That will be the end of his career. Have you seen people that were sentenced to 40— they spent 40 years in jail only for them to investigate and find out that they did not do it? Can the church in Nigeria— let me not go there yet. Can we, can we ever discern the difference between accusation and what is real? Will we? Is there a training for that?

Yes.

It takes people who are patient to learn. And God has not sent anybody to the entire body of Christ. Jesus is the pastor of the body. I can't build the body of Christ. I can only focus on the people God has given me. Are you with me? If you ask the elders, what are you doing? We are fighting on behalf of God. But are they? Did he do it? So they, they killed him, and nobody was asking how come the vineyard suddenly belongs to Ahab. Let me beg us Uh, if you know any minister of the gospel at all, pray for them. The devil is already fighting us. You can't join him. Is that okay? So I want us to take 2 minutes now, begin to mention names of fathers in the body of Christ, ministers, those you know. These are laborers. They could be young, they could be old. Begin to release blessings. Strengthen them, Lord. All accusations against them We silence it. Ah, look at the way you are praying. Look at the way you are praying. We silence every accusation against them. Help them, Lord. Mention names, beloved. Mention names. Mention names. Mention names. Mention names. Mention names and release words of the blessing. Mention names. Oh yes, let's release life. Strengthen them. Help them. Help them. Oh yes, we release life. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' mighty name we are praying. Please be seated. The brighter The star, the bigger the scars. And scars are very real, beloved. There are things that you can't describe to a person who has not been there before. Can't describe. Let me pray a prayer for you. Keep this prayer in your heart. Is that okay? Don't worry, you just keep it in your heart. If it makes— if it means anything to you, pray it when you are alone. That Father, the day my helper will inquire about me, may they not ask my enemy. Does it seem like it makes sense? That is when you find out that to know about a person matters who is speaking, and you are you, you, you are vulnerable to any information you hear. And sometimes the, the principal way for the devil to discredit the activity of God on the face of the earth is to raise accusers. It seems we are prepared against many things, but we don't seem to understand accusation. I remember I was listening to a man of God, I won't mention his name, And he mentioned the time he was driving in a keja going to church, and they were advertising a newspaper, and he was seeing his picture in the paper. So he told the driver to buy, and he read the headline. Nothing there was true. They just— have you seen ministers in this country that sometimes for 10 years The whole media focused on them to bring them down, and the ministry thrived. Huh? Have you seen that before? That is strength. They never insulted anybody, did not stop working in love, did not curse anybody, did not fight back, did not use the pulpit to exchange words. Ah, 10 years, 15 years went on like that. And sometimes by the church, with people who have sworn who end this ministry. When this ministry started, some people gathered and said this ministry will scatter in 6 months and call those who are with me and said you are following this man who have no future. And that's why when you see those around me, respect them. This man doesn't have any future, say this ministry We are still standing. I went to pray that season, went to cry to God in prayer. God said, why are you making noise? Go and eat.

Eat.

I shared the story with you. Maybe this will help somebody heal. I had a boy, he was epileptic. One of my mentees brought him to me and said, please, I know if you pray for him, he's going to be fine. I prayed for him, epilepsy left. He knows the boy very well. The boy joined me in church. Sometimes I will come to church, then not Sphere of Light Church, we're pastoring another church, and I will see all the choirs kneeling down and somebody is holding cane.

Ha!

What are you going to do? He said, they don't hear word, I'm going to discipline them. How? Is something wrong with you? He's doing many strange things, I'll correct him.

So he got offended.

And you know, sometimes when people have issues of oppression, of demonic attack, most times they are sponsored to stay by activities that are not in line with Christ. That becomes the gateway for the devil to go out and come in. When you say, go out now, Femi Lazarus, you fall and shake, shake, you go out. Next week, person is shaking again because the devil— there's a key, and that door will be shut. Deliverance is never complete through just casting out. You train the person. Ah, one time this boy were going on the streets, had epileptic seizure, became so bad we had to carry him, was foaming, put him in front of a shop. People gathered, we started dispersing the crowd. Usually when he wakes up, the shame will be too much. So I lay down beside him. Nobody knew who was epileptic between us. So when he got up, I got up last. People even thought I was the one that was epileptic. At one time, this boy began to evangelize in the market, and I noticed every evangelism he comes back with souvenirs. Fish, pepper. I said, what kind of evangelism is this? You are— this is literal fishers of fish. So I said, no, no, you can't be making food of God's people. Don't turn stones to bread. Get a job. I said to him, you see, I'm pastoring and I'm having about 5 different jobs so that I will not have to look to anyone to eat. I said, because I can't do ministry on empty stomach except I'm fasting. So some people gather to accuse us and to insult us and say, don't mind them, all these ministers are slacking, they're trying to make money. One of them said, we even heard, he said he can't do ministry on empty stomach. I only said that to one person. You know, when you don't talk much, you can track what you have said. Anybody around me knows that. To get me to— you try. Of all the things they were saying, that was the only one that struck my heart. So I called him to my house. I made rice and the fish that he likes. So he was eating and I was looking at him, he was enjoying the food. I said, 'Emoji, did I offend you?' He said, 'You? Never. Eat.' So confidence, he was eating. So I called him again, 'Sir, have I done something wrong?' He said, 'Never. No, sir.' So I said, I heard this and I said it to you while counseling you. What have I done? He said, ah, I heard them speaking against you, so I told them in my defense. I'm telling you, don't go the route of ministry if you can't forgive. I look at the guy, what does he know? The devil will use those that you hold in high esteem to strike your heart through accusation. Ministry is the place where you can help and the person will turn around and say he did that for his own ego.

Ah, ah, ah.

Somebody, you know, hey, even recently I was scammed. I have not told anybody. I'm just telling you now. You get mail, Apostle, I'm in trouble, my landlord said I should—

I said send proofs.

I look at it, this is not convincing. You see that? But for the sake of the name of God, I will send it. So I send money. You know what started happening after that? In a day at least, I'll get 7 mails asking for the same thing. So the fellow saw that this is the way you can get money out of this guy. And meanwhile, when people who have genuine needs come, the devil will do everything to strike your heart because he knows that that is where issues of life flows from. The moment that heart is darkened, life can't flow. And that's why forgiveness must be a daily practice. Daily, you gym with it. Somebody has hurt you, gym with it. Ignore the person. You have a long route going. You don't answer every matter. Is that clear? You can't answer every matter. You step on my toes, you step on my shoe, this, this, this. You have a destiny to fulfill. Yesterday when I greeted you in church, you blinked twice. If it was once, I know what that means. Twice means that the first— Remind me of my elder brother, went for a party, the children party, they were young, some Lebanese kids. One of them had one eye defect, so he was always blinking and blinking and blinking. That was just my brother to do. He didn't know what the boy— the boy was saying, my brother. The boy started crying. Okay, so you can respond, don't react. Respond to life. Is that okay now? So Jezebel uses the tool of intimidation. If you have a vision from heaven, the devil will do everything to shut you down. You must get used to confrontation. Get used to it. You will not always be encouraged. Get used to it. You will not always find encouragement, even with those who think you know. Get used to it. Is that clear now? Get used to confrontation. Get used to intimidation. Get used to your heart being attacked. Get used to it. When you want to do amazing things that will shake the kingdom of the devil, do you think it will come easy? Do you think he will allow you just go ahead and do it because you are one superstar? He will check you out. He will check your convictions. He will fight you. He will fight you where it ought.

He will.

And that's why you must be, you must be solid. Don't just be loud. Be deep. You must be solid because the devil is coming for that seed. It's coming for your heart. It will try to scare you off the vision. You can use people. Every time you do that thing God has said you should do, that's when they will fight you. If you do anything else, they won't fight you. So you have to get used to it. Get used to it. Amen. Are you still with me? We're going somewhere. So Jezebel used the tool of accusation and manipulation to manipulate people against their intention. So the end-time church must pay attention to these tools: accusation and manipulation against the church. Accusation and what? Manipulation. What? Accusation and what? We are going somewhere. Just, just follow me. We are going somewhere. Accusation and what? Manipulation. The devil will try to manipulate you It will try to twist the idea of scriptural truth, and it will try to destroy your perception about those truths. He said you have allowed Jezebel that call herself a prophetess, self-ordained. Look at it, Revelation 2:20. You have allowed her. So there are, there are, there are patterns that when you observe, you don't allow it, don't give space for it. To it. Don't allow it. You have to be strong. It is not enough to have a good heart. You must be tough. You must know when to say no. Is that clear? Don't allow it. He said you have allowed the woman Jezebel that calls herself a prophetess to teach, and teaching takes time. So there is gradual infiltration of biblical knowledge in the church. It gets to a point people don't know what is true and what is false. Are you still with me? Go to schools in America, in Canada, children are forced to relearn human biology. That is not the sex organ that determines gender, it is your perception of who you are. That's reorientation.

Rewiring.

If the whole system is true, then let them mature and then find out now. But no, he says, how do you on one hand say that it is human rights to allow this, and on the other hand say that if you don't join triple of same sex together, your church will be closed down? What we are calling persecution against the church has started, and somehow Nigeria still feels exonerated from that, so we feel we are cool. No, it will come like a flood unless something is done. In fact, regardless of what we do, it will still come. Yes, he said you have allowed Jezebel, which call herself prophetess, to teach. So there are ideas that must not pass. In fact, when I'm training pastors, I tell them In a church that you have not trained people, an untrained person by the church cannot ask public question. You can't have the ears of the entire people when we don't know what you are saying. That's why I said that it's training program. Many ministries got destroyed because somebody with contrary spirit spoke publicly once, once, and destroyed the foundation, has a better idea. And people's minds are affected. It's true, it's true. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will rise because a Daniel is standing. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. In the same light, there are people on the other opposite that would not fall unless a wrong person speaks. When God gives you a territory, you man it. You don't just bring strange voices. You don't bring— I've seen people invite ministers to come and preach in their ministry and empty the ministry, preach against the foundation, say something entirely different. You don't give people platform emotionally. No, you don't do that. You don't do that. That's why I said this is an equipping meeting. Okay, are you with me? What are we doing? We're equipping, and we are just about to start. Say, you have allowed her to teach, meaning that when a man is erroneous, the fellow should not teach. Anyone carrying the spirit of error should not be allowed to teach. Anyone trying to perverse the truth, the gospel, should not be allowed to teach. Said you have allowed this, maybe emotionally or out of blackmail. And when you allowed her to teach and then to seduce my servant, then she taught them to be joined with false gods, to commit fornication. That was what she did. And to eat things sacrificed to idols. So I mentioned something briefly on Sunday, gave you the illustration. In the book of Numbers 23, I'm going to share the story how that, um, Balak wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites. He wanted to use divination against them. Every time he tried, God was blessing them. Every time he tried, God was blessing them. Every time he tried to curse them, God was blessing them, till they were able to get them to be wrongly joined with strange people. And the Bible said they joined themselves with the daughters of Moab, Numbers 25, and they began to commit whoredom. They started committing immorality, and they were worshiping their gods. And while they were doing that, the anger of God was kindled against them. It was so bad that while Moses was addressing how that God was not happy with them, one of the boys came in with a girl. Right there. How did he get there to that point? He learned something, and that, that indoctrination went long without being checked. You see, when you walk in error for so long, you will think what you are doing is right, and you confront those who are right believing that they are not right. Some people have walked in error, they can't tell what's correct anymore. This long lifestyle And it's happening in Nigerian church. We can't drag any pastor on social media. Who cares? And it's becoming a culture. If we can't drag them, how do we hold them to account? Okay, you call the person. You call the person. See, we can drag. And you would never find Muslims drag their imams. But you see Christians, we be, we go drag them anyhow, and sometimes they don't even know what they are talking about. They don't even have an idea. Somebody is speaking a depth of truth that is beyond their understanding, everybody mob, fight him, drag him. This, you know, I remember something that happened during the election. The man of God said something. He said, he said something, I don't want to get into it. He said Saul is coming, blah blah. Oh my God, what didn't they call him? Call him all vile names. First thing first, this man is old enough to be your father, but there is a generation say, who cares about that? We have a voice and they are using it wrongly. And when it goes on for so long, people assume that's the right thing to do. We must tell a generation it is wrong. It is wrong. Let me show you a scripture. This scripture will help you. Acts of the Apostles, chapter number 12. Let's start reading from verse 1. Let's, let's learn from this story. Please look at this carefully. Now about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church. Yes, and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. Yes, what happened? He killed— wait, hold on, who did he kill? Let's go back to verse 2. He killed who? James. Do you know James? Jesus had three that were the closest: Peter, James, and John. It was that James who that Herod killed. So when Herod was killing him, Herod didn't know their reaction. So it was an experimental killing. When you leave your own, they will be killed experimentally. So when he killed— you know, this James was not the author of the Book of James. The one who authored the Book of James is James, the brother of Jesus. This one was killed before he could author anything. Sometimes we don't know what we have lost. How can you cry about what you didn't know you lost? Meanwhile, you lost something. If I was about to give you a million naira and just while standing in front of you I changed my mind, you can't cry for restoration because you don't know what you have lost. And we are losing things we don't even know. So he killed James. Look at verse 3. And Because he saw that it pleased who? The Jews. What did he do next? He saw. So people try things and pick a father in the body of Christ and drag him and wash him, and so that nobody is checking it, then they go ahead again and pick your own pastor. And since you have sworn the oath of silence— listen to this— the implication of this lifestyle is that there are people who don't honestly know what to believe. See, many people are scared to teach what I'm teaching because you can finish teaching and then you see yourself trending on Twitter. I'm not there. My life in real life is too real for social media. I don't, I don't, I I have a real life. Hmm, I don't live there. Impact is there, but I don't have any business there. In fact, me by myself, I will pick a Touchlife phone and I'm good for years. The devil is using this same tool against the end-time church. He's seen— anyways, if a pastor you don't like is being dragged, he pleased the Jews. Then he will come for your Peter. Then we start hypocritically saying, no, you can't do that. You can't. Well, you saw when the church prayed, God showed up, meaning that James too should not have died if the church had prayed. Hey, Joe, Moses was on the mountain. God told Moses He said, I want to wipe out the Israelites. Don't tell them. Let me start something new with you. You will not even meet them by the time you get there. God knows that there's a way they can die and there's no need for barrier. I mean, the ground can open and everything is clean. All well, road clear. Moses said, God, if you do this, people will say you brought them out of Egypt, but for you did not have the power to take them to the promised land, so you killed them. The Bible said God repented of— look at, he said, God, and God repented of the evil which he had taught to do. God repented because there was a mediator. When God said, Moses, you will not see the promised land, why did he die? There was nobody to mediate. When you read the Bible well, in between the lines, you see that many of the things God said can be appealed. Every time they appealed, God changed his mind. Every time. But what is the code? When he saw— when he sees that he pleases the church, he pleased them. Should I enter this or should I not? Preach till I wear Tasmanian devil. Preach, preach, preach. Don't mind me. Let me just say this to you. I told people recently, if you know, you know. I said my problem is not with any documentary by any establishment. My problem is the moral compass of those who did it. We don't pick our reference from secular media. They are not the ones that teach the church what is right or good or wrong. And it was unfortunate that many people did not see that they also pushed LGBT through that. I don't know anything, honestly. I'm just saying that the Nigerian church needs to be more strategic. They are coming for us, all of us. Oh, I'm only— I've never done anything. They said sons of Belial against Naboth. You didn't read it? I just felt like kneeling down now, begging you. Do you know what accusation is? And some girls can come out from nowhere now. There are dark spots, there are agencies that when they have your time, they will bring proofs. Are you following what I'm saying? They know the way to shut down different ministers of the gospel. And there will be what? Proofs. Why? It pleases the church. It's our custom. We are the generation that have killed our prophets and build monuments when they are gone. One of the things that is happening is that from the moment we took Sunday school away from churches that are not— there are no strong teachers— we have started raising kwachoko Christians. In the days that there was Sunday school, people knew more. They built curriculums that were predictable. So if there's no Sunday school, it must be because the church has become a school.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. That's why you see that despite the fact that we broke the service into two, message time is constant. How do I preach on Sunday for 15 minutes? What? Yes, sir. The church is a school. He saw it pleased the Jews, he went further to take Peter also. Then were the days of unleavened bread. But what happened in verse 4? And when he had apprehended him, to put him in— he put him in prison. Look at it. And delivered him to 4 quaternions of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Verse 5 now. Peter therefore was kept in prison, but what? Come on, but what? But what? Prayer was made without ceasing of the church. Why were you quiet when it was time of James? Oh, James was not as vibrant as Peter. He didn't know much. Peter prayed. James died. If only we know what we are as church, that we can stand and say for the next 7 days we want to judge a matter in this country. 7 days, and let's say an hour of prayer daily with fasting. I mean, when Mordecai said— what's his name? Amman. Said, I'm going to wipe out the Jews. What did Esther say? Go and fast for me. I will go. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You'll be fasting. If I perish, I perish. Look at that union. Those in the corridor of power must join hands with those in church.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Their hands must touch. The church should not listen. Another mistake we make, once people get to the corridors of power and we don't understand their reality, say Now because you are not in political position, you have changed. Don't be quick to judge. They need reinforcement. One team, different department. When the palace joined hands with the church, you fast, let me go. I also will go and fast, and my maidens— oh no, besties that can fast— I will go and fast also. And when she fasted, they generated so much strength. Then she broke into the king at the time no one should see him. The king could not know where the compassion came from.

Yes, sir.

What do you want? If only we know who we are, but we use that same grace to gossip, cut people to sizes. Pray! That's the duty of the church. Amen.

Amen.

Are you with me?

Yes, sir.

Come on, they would have wiped all of them out. Go and fast for me. And Mordecai told Esther, maybe God has placed you there for such a time as this, that if you refuse to arise for us, God will have to raise help. From another quarter. Esther said, I understand, I understand. I did not get to the palace to forget where God took me from. You go and fast, don't worry. We need these kind of unions again. Yes, sir, we need it. Amen, amen. Can we release incense of tongues in the atmosphere? We must not— to respond, respond, respond. In tongues, release incense of tongues. Release it, release it, release it.

Aye.

Eh-ah. Ah-ah. Ah-ah.

Aye.

Eh-ah. Ah-ah. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen.

Our story in the city of Abu Abuja is similar to the story of Jacob who said, by my rod I have passed through Jordan, but now the Lord has made me two bands. You remember how that recently God sent us to Abuja in what I will call the most humble movement. We came practically trusting God for what to do next and how he's going to help us with the words of prophecies he has given to us about the city and the armies arising. And guess what? God is doing just that. Recently we have been seeing the move of God in the most unbelievable way possible, with his word reaching the unreached, converting sinners to saints, bringing people who have lost hope in church. And now this has necessitated the need for expansion so that we do not fall out of what God is doing. Where we are currently is stringent for us, with rules that will limit meet what God is doing amongst us. The gospel is free, but the propagation requires a lot of funding. We want our friends, partners, and everyone connected to our ministry to join us as we undertake this project together. We have the urgent need to expand, and we believe that this is the kairos moment for us to do that. We are importing our own tent all the way from China and getting everything needed to fill that space and have a conducive place where we can have our apostolic work beyond what we are having now at the moment. The structure you are seeing on your screen is exactly what we are working at, at the moment. Believe you me when we say that people who are blessed can be blessed much more when we have our own place. We want you to join us as we undertake this project. We We need your support. We're counting on you and your generosity. We are working towards a project of ₦180 million in this season. You have the account details on the screen. Use the account details as God has laid in your heart. God bless you so much. We love you from all of us at Sphere of Light Church. Thank you. For always.

Hi there! God is raising for himself an end-time army, and this is the mandate that he has given to us. Truly, the harvest is plenteous, but we need you on board as a laborer. This is a call to partner with what God is doing in this great house. To become a monthly partner with us at Sphere of Light Church and Femi Lazarus Apostolic Ministries Ecumenical, kindly reach us via the number +234 903 095 9999. 9735. To give an offering or to sow a seed, kindly make use of these account details being displayed. The Gospel of Jesus is spreading. Thank you for being a part of it.

Please be seated. See, we, we must know how to respond to the word. Amen. How to respond to what?

To the word.

Don't be trapped. So the devil uses this system against the church because he knows that we don't understand the unity of the church. Ephesians chapter number 4. Ephesians chapter number 4. Let's start the reading from verse 3. Ephesians 4. Look at what the Bible says. Are you getting blessed tonight? Are you sure? Ephesians 4 from verse 3. Look at it. He said, endeavoring to keep the unity of the one spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One body, one spirit. Recently, I think this was in November, we had an apostolic meeting in Kano, and, um, I mean, I had to call my brothers with different streams of the revival movement in Nigeria. And we assembled ourselves in Kano. And the purpose of that meeting was to, to break the atmosphere over the city. One of the ways you know a city is locked is that voices are not emerging from the city. That's one of the signs, okay? Well, we could do that because of the unity of the brethren. Once there is disunity, there are people that should bring their own supply. But they can't because you don't greet. How do we get to that point in the body of Christ that two ministers will preach but they don't greet? I don't know. And I'm telling you as one whose heart has been stabbed, and I've had the opportunity to be offended, and I know more will still happen. I know. So when it's happening, don't pity me. No, we know what we signed up for. We didn't sign this thing thinking it's funfair. Is that okay? We know what we signed up for. Offense will come. And I've learned something: your enemy is not God's enemy. Okay, it's not. And we get into witchcraft when we start waiting for people to fail so we can validate some something we said. That's witchcraft. Let's even say the person is fake. Should it not be our prayer that the fellow should repent? Let's— worst case scenario, you are fake. But this fake, you didn't join Boko Haram, you became a fake pastor. Okay, there's something there, and let's deal with it. Then pull out of ministry, go and grow. Okay, and maybe there's a calling, but you didn't go about it the right way. Be discipled, then come back.

Amen.

Disciple of Jesus came and called somebody. Let me show you scripture now. Said, we heard some people casting out devils in your name. Jesus said, if they are not against us, they are for us. Allow them. That's why I said the truth is not clan-based, scripture-based. Bible, Bible, Bible, Bible, scripture. There is one hope, one body, one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. Go and read John 17. Look at the prayer. Let's look at John 17. Look at the prayer of Jesus. You can't tell me the unity of the church is not important.

How?

Ah, look at the prayer of Jesus. I mean, if—

if—

are you following what I'm saying? You want to know a man's— the things the man wanted to say? When he's alive, last moment, you heard what Jesus was saying. John 17. For the sake of time, eh, let's jump. Are you with me? Ah, Lord, help us. John 17 from verse 4. Let's, let's read this together. Let's, let's do some reading here. All right, John 17 from verse 4. Let me read from here. Says, I have given them your word. And the world hated them because they are not of the world, even as I'm not of the world. I pray— I am not praying that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through your truth. Your word is truth. I think I've jumped. Okay, verse 17 now. Sorry. Now look at verse 21. Look at verse 21. Okay, from verse 20 now, say, neither pray I for this alone but for them also which shall believe in me through their word, that they may be what? One. That they may be one, as you, the Father, are in me, as in me, and I am in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me. These were the last moment prayer of Jesus. I beg on behalf of the future of the Nigerian church, don't turn your hatred into a doctrine.

Begging.

Let me leave it there. We are better together as one. Are you with me? Are you sure? So the devil used the system of intimidation against the church. Let me show you two major apocalyptic events in the Bible. Revelation chapter number, um, Revelations chapter number 6. So in Revelation 5, if you've read that passage of the Bible, and John was before the throne and, um, he saw one that was upon the throne as the Lamb that was slain. Amen. And there was a seal, there was a scroll with 7 seals. And a voice went on from heaven, say, who is worthy to break the seals and to open the scroll to read what is therein? And the Bible said there was none found in heaven, none under the earth, nor anywhere else to break the seals and to open the scroll. And John said, I wept till there was no strength within me because none was able to break the seals and open the scroll. And he said he heard the voice that, behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to break the seals and to open the scroll thereof. So Revelation 6 is the revelation of the things that were sealed in that seal. Is that okay? So I want to show you one of them. So he said in Revelation 6, now from verse 1, and I saw the Lamb, when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder. One of the four beasts, saying, come and see. Look at the first thing he saw. Verse 2 now. And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and him that sat on the horse had a bow, and crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering and conquering. When you read this, you say, oh, that's Christ. Crown was— this is not Christ. These are called the seven horse riders of Apocalypse. These are demonic agents, but the first one is dressed in white as one of us with a bow to conquer who? Believers! He's dressed in white. That's not Christ. It's an imitation. Because if Jezebel now holds the mic, you say she's one of us, but she's with a bow. With crown, conquering, conquering. The end time church must learn systems for us to fulfill the end time prophecies. There's no other way. And I believe one of my ordination is for such a time as this. We have to learn it. I can be dragged anyhow, this one thing we stay by it. Apostle Lazarus, forget about it. Let me ask you a question. Do you think when people are saying, oh, this man on social media, you think I listen to all those things? Listen, no. Anybody that can praise you can bring you down. If you don't take their praises, their criticism can't hurt you. The loyalty is to the truth, not to what a generation believe is the truth, because we'll get to junctions where we begin to hurt ourselves, and it is still the truth. Yes. Yeah, I like that man, he's speaking the kind of gospel I like. There is the one you don't like, is the one you don't like. Amen. Now, because of time One of the things John saw was the prophet— the revelation of the woman that was pregnant with the child, and the dragon was with her waiting for the child to be born to destroy the child. But the Bible said as soon as the child was delivered, it was caught up. Then the woman was caught into the wilderness for 1,294 days or thereabout. That's for 3 and a half So what this means is that the devil is always trying to supervise what the church is about to bet. He's trying to check what is about to break through amongst them. Go and try what I'm saying. Decide as a family that we are going to get prayer right, family altar will be intact, and say we want to go on the first 21 days. Prayer from 10:00 PM till 11:00 PM, 21 days. You will notice that your fight will start by 9:55. Yes, sir. No, warfare. Yes, sir. The moment he knows you're about to bet something, he will come for you. Yes, sir. That is why I know you have read Galatians 5, but you didn't understand. Let me show you what you You understand? Galatians 5:22. Let me show you something there. If you get this, you will win all battles. Let me show you. Say, but the fruit of the Spirit is love. This is not the original context. The fruit of the Spirit is love, semicolon, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness. What the Bible saying, that the fruit of the Spirit is love. The rest are product of love. All right, go to verse 23. Now quickly. Meekness, temperance. Against such— meaning that once we get love right, there's no law that can bring you down. If you offend me and the devil wants to finish you, he needs my permission through offense to do so. Being a minister now goes beyond preaching. It is that I said I am pained, but I refuse, because we'll give account for the things we permit. Is somebody following me? Is somebody following me? Are you still there? So the devil used a tool of intimidation, shoot arrows of accusation and fear. When you see a minister of God being accused, for instance, in this country you can be accused for something as simple as, as a father in the body of Christ, just pray for your president. Just say, we bless our president, God will keep him. God, that's all. It doesn't have to say more than that. Oh, this curse that these men have received on our behalf, that their grandchildren will surf through the internet and see how they are insulting granddad. And according to that generation, who cares? And what God does most times is to call a Saul who says, what are you doing differently? And say, you two, come, you are killing them. That Stephen that you killed, the man too. Yeah, come on, wait. He got to a point, you know, Saul too, he reaped what he sowed. They were— they beat, they beat everywhere, beating everywhere. Peace be unto you, beat. He's the most flogged person in the Bible. Who did they flog like? Like, the only person who flogged more than Paul was a cow. You only flog a cow that stays at the back of the earth. One time he said, from henceforth let no man touch me. Let no man. He said, for I bear in my body the marks of— that mark of Christ is not blood of Jesus, is skin. Who are the pastors? Yaya people, don't mind them. Say, I can never marry a pastor. Marry him. Is he a pastor? No. Checkmate. Son, come and serve me now. Checkmate. Many of you who are looking at me, just looking. I can't marry a pastor. Never. And you are the one that greet us. Well done, thank you for being a blessing. Oh, you don't want to be a blessing. Mary, where is he walking? I'm walking in shell until the shell is broken. You know, some women, by the way the guy is speaking in tongues, already suspecting. Because this— hey, hey, tell me now, hope it's not like God is about to call you. Tell the sister beside you, you are safe. Relax, relax, relax. Amen. Femi Lazarus. So the devil checks for what we're about to bear in the body and start fighting it. It will not just fight that thing, it will carry— it will fight the woman carrying the seed. There are many people who are being fought for what they are carrying, the seed. It's not you, it's what you are carrying. And you keep blaming the devil for fighting you. Why is there so much hostility against me? If you were the devil and you know what you are, won't you fight you? The devil is not a fool. Now, yes, do you know who you are? You are blaming him for fighting you. Should he allow you to go like that? So you pray the way you are praying, interceding like that, studying the Bible like that, and break patterns like that? And lead a new generation like that. Do not go down without a fight. And when the fight starts, fight. Don't ask to be pitied. Fight. Stand your ground. And what? Fight. Put in the fight. Say, 'The devil, why is everything so hot against me?' Why shouldn't it be hot against you? Cool it down. Take on your own armor of war and do what? Fight. Tell your neighbor, fight and fight now. We are combatant Christians. We are not, we are not jokers. We have not been called for funfare. We are combatant Christians. We have been called for such a time as this. That is our ordination. We fight, we resist the devil, put him on the flight. Anywhere we spot his agenda, we destroy it. That's our ordination.

Amen.

Tell your neighbor again, fight, fight the good fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith. Hold still and stand your ground. We should contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered unto us. Contend for it.

Fight, fight.

When people begin to shut down a body of truth that you know, speak up. Don't make it look as though what they are saying is all there is. You see, the end-time believer has been taught wrongly that silence always means wisdom. No, the Bible said, answer not a fool in his own foolish ways lest you bring shame on yourself. He went on to say, answer a fool also in his own foolish ways lest he will not think he's wise. There's a time to answer a fool. There is a time. We need to understand how this system works. And that brings me to the next— I'm about to teach teach you is to understand the system of propaganda. You need to understand it. Let me show you how it works. Are you ready? Let me show you how it works. John chapter number 12. John chapter number 12. Because the devil used this against the church greatly. John 12 from verse 3 to 8. Sometimes it is not like people don't know what is right or what is wrong. Wrong, but they are afraid of being cancelled. Some of you say, I can die, I can die for the gospel, but you can't be cancelled? Who are they in the first place? Who are these people? Anybody can pick any part of my teachings and cancel, it doesn't matter. How can you cancel a man you didn't mark before? We won't even see it. No, we have time. Tell him work. Ah, sometimes those that will stay in the house book appointment. Somebody say, I wish I can be— you know, I've seen some things on social media. Put minister, say, who would you rather spend 24 hours with? Ah, Femi Lazarus. Ah, CNN, you be watching, have your time.

There's work.

Look at this very interesting story and situate this in 21st century context. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, all right, very what? Costly. Very what? Emphasis, oh. You know, when you look at Jesus sometimes, the way he talks, it looks like he's giving some savage response. Have you noticed that? Some people just talk, just give them anyhow. Ah, Jesus! Just the way you see Jesus just be walking, oh, I am Jesus, I am Jesus, I am Jesus, until you see him bring cane and flog people in the temple. So we perceive the personality of Jesus as a fool that does not know what is right and when to be firm and when not to be. We don't even know him. So we accept the thing which we reject because I'm Jesus Christ. They're about to sack you for what you did not do. Defend yourself. I know my God will fight for me. And that company will keep going higher and higher because you have acted foolishly. Speak when you should walk. God will fight. Pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus. And wiped his feet with her what?

Hair.

And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Verse 4: Then said one of his disciples— Jezebel, the system is always amongst— said one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him. See, if you only pay attention, red flags don't come after people have misbehaved. You will see it ahead. You are the one who ignores it because you are emotional. Eh, so happy to see.

Verse 5, quickly.

Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? Sounds noble. Why would you waste it? On this Jesus. Why can't you sell it? Give the money to the poor. It sounds— see, propaganda always sounds accurate, but only if you know where it is coming from. That where it is coming from, many of those who are saying we are fighting this, they have no interest in the gospel. Look at it. Give it to the poor. Verse 6 now. This he said, not that he what cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein. So meaning that he was simply saying, if you give this money for charity, he would have been able to remove his portion. But what did he say to the media? They are not giving to the poor. What people are saying to the media and what they are doing is different. Nigeria is the poverty capital of Nigeria, of the world. All these pastors, the people are just going to church, they're building churches, not building this, not building any organizations. How many have you built? How many people have you taken out of poverty? How many are in school because of you? How many families do you bless every Christmas?

None.

I can—

I know several people that I graduate today because of Bishop Oyedepo's foundation. And I think another— where this brings us to now as the church is that we are now thinking that if we don't tell people what we are doing, they will assume pastor just eating money. So we are now also beginning to violate the principle of giving. That your right hand should not know what is in your left hand. So we make announcement to make a point. That also is wrong. So what is the balance?

Systems.

And I think many ministries are already doing that where we have foundations. Okay, sometimes we give grant to those foundations. And then also you can give from your earnings and then bless people. Many of those saying this, this, and that, they just hate the church. They don't even love the country like that. Don't mind all these pastors. No, I've said my story before. I was able to finish school because of the mercy of the church. So people can't point accusing finger at the church and say the church is not doing anything. Nigeria without the church, there will be trouble. Now, NUC list this year, which university is the top university? Built by church. Oh, Christianity is white man religion. They bought Christianity and they, they, they, they brought slavery. They were enslaving us. Guess what? Those who pushed for the abolishment of slavery were Christians. They were the— when they came to Nigeria and they found out that Nigerians were selling themselves— history— when they came to Nigeria, they found out that Nigeria was— Nigeria were selling themselves. Your kings were— you know those who were selling you? Your kings. If they were buying people, they took our ancestors, took them for slavery. Who are those selling? The kings. They were the ones selling the people. I'm showing you history now. It was the coming of the missionaries that abolished it. They were the ones that went back to Great Britain and said, we have abolished this, this, and they now send soldiers to now come to arrest our own people. For selling our own people. Then somebody who has not taken time to study history will say, eh, don't mind them, they brought Christianity, let's go back to our traditional religion. Oh, let me tell you about your religion. Now I need to tell you, by now they would have used you for ritual. No. Oh, you think? Look, you say Amadioha, Shango. Either no, by now your face is palm oil and all those things. Those days when the king dies, they will bury somebody with the king, maybe your uncle or somebody. That's your religion. That was what God took you out of. Because you don't know it and you only see it in movies doesn't mean you should desire it. You are wrong. Yes, sir. So what has Christianity done to Nigeria? I will tell you many. Christianity brought education to Nigeria. CMS Grammar School. The church brought education. Many of the schools government is now collecting were started by the church. We need to read history. People sound smart online, you listen, you know they don't know anything. They don't know jack. We are not just pastors, we read. I studied back. If I start telling you about Pan-African movement, you'll be shocked. Maybe I'm planning to go for political office. I'm not planning to. I sat down to— let's leave it, because I know the generation God is sending me to. I'll tell you about Malcolm X, you'll be, yeah, you ready? I did. Many of the people talking, you know, there's a way people can do. You know, the one time I saw a video online, somebody was giving his manifesto. He said, you know, the Chinese proverb said, bon fort, bon fort, something. I don't know if you saw that video. Each other said it and gaslighted all of them. Somebody went to type the thing on Google, that lie, and people are bringing those things against just talk some nonsense. They have not fact-checked everything I'm telling you. Go and fact-check it. Who abolished the killing of twins in Nigeria? A woman who left her country for the sake of the kingdom came here. How many of you have twins here? You know what would have happened by now. Now let's thank God for Christianity that's done so much. The church must not embrace Propaganda! Don't accept it. Stand! Contend for the faith. Don't let people sound smart when they are lying. Contend for the faith. Don't be quiet when you know the truth. Read! Know the stories. And say Christianity is white man religion.

Shh!

Na lie. White people too were also worshiping foreign gods. Those who were worshiping Baal, were they black? By the way, Christianity got into Africa before the British brought it. The Ethiopian eunuch, where is he coming to? Africa. Long! No white man brought Christianity here. Long before. I would have loved to go into some things, but they may sound controversial at this point, so I just have to retract. Because when you think in this direction, the devil is waiting for one thing that will discredit everything. Amen. Propaganda. Now look at the case of the woman that had just a portion of flour to eat with her child and die, and the man of God is saying, make my own. Think about the headline. Jesus fed the multitude in his days. Now in the Nigerian church, multitude are feeding the pastors.

Eh?

He fights it. There's no smartness outside the wisdom of God. There's none. We too were not born into this thing. I was a DJ, so I know what is happening on the street. I go speak on a language. Where were we? There, road clear. See, but there's nothing there. We'll go and buy G-unit. Ah, G-Unit. One time I bought one, one shirt like that. They wrote on the shirt, Dirty Soul. I will wear that shirt everywhere and fly the polo. Ah, my G-Unit jeans. That jeans, when you wash it, you are standing and looking outside the window. You go there again and dress it. We now buy canvas that is big, that will now swallow the jeans. Now buy some boxers intentionally that you sag layer upon layer, and we'll fly the collar, start walking like this. What was that? What was that? That's how we're fooling ourselves. Oh, we are so sorry. I'll wait for church service to start and I'll come in. Ah, Lazarus! Yeah, boy! We're not happy. We are not happy. Am I the only one who was born? Is there anyone who have been there before? People go to club and dance from night till like 4 AM. VG, VG. Some of them, by the time they come to their consciousness, money is gone, phone is gone. They are not happy. All the salary going to enjoy. One girl come and rub the chest, say, ah, Dory, man, one Imperial bottle there. He's suffering and smiling. The same guy is going back home buying plate of rice. 5 mudo, take 2 mudo there. Give me like 1 sachet. Don't curse, don't curse. Superfluity of naughtiness. And you allow people who don't read their Bible to tell you what is right or wrong in the Bible. Why? Because it pleases the Jews. Please the church. Please the church. So look at the voice of Judas. Ah, wastage! If I give my own money, my money for church project, you call me a fool for giving my money. But if I give that same money No, not to the poor now. I use that same money— not me now, hypothetically too, it's not possible. Somebody now goes to use that same money to go and carry hook up. Nobody is complaining. Is it about the money? Is it about the poor? Or about a spirit that hates the gospel? So you know what Paul means when he says, I am not ashamed. Or there are aspects of the gospel that you will have to throw away shame to talk. When I'm preaching online, we are praying, and I'm saying we give first fruit in this church, do you not know it's a risk? Hey, he's one of them. I don't care, it's risky. So you have to, you have to damn the consequences. That's why for some of us, God said, I've made your face strong against their faces. Strong. I'm a very calm person, very cool, but when it comes to this thing, oh, I will defend it with my last blood. Don't mind them, you know. Some, some about 3 newspapers reach out to me and said they want to interview me so that I can come and talk about Fesfood. They are not trying to. They already have their submission. They, they said this guy, we are seeing— they will now see Apostle Lazarus on the paper front and they will now look for something I did not say. I said I'm not coming. If you want to learn, go and download teaching online. It's online. Go and download teaching. Anything you want to ask, you to say, how much star? Sit down, say, what do you now believe about— it was question. The devil asks evil question, question. They won't come for your teachings, they won't, they won't download your messages. It's not blessing them. Why didn't you call me to come and talk about salvation? Why didn't you invite Is there anybody here from those newspaper here? Is there someone here from— because now you don't know what is— you understand what I'm saying? Hey, the Lord knows your name. Fantastic teaching. Why come I go and talk about first fruit or come and talk about tithe? Now look for something and rope you, ask you a question, you freeze. It will take 3 years for your ministry to recover. 3. We must be wise. Propaganda. And many believers cannot enter the fullness of the blessings of God for their lives because of propaganda. Propaganda. People are ready to drag anybody, call anybody out, call them out. Wrong spirit. By the time you are done with that charger, a generation has left you. This thing is not for those who are loud. There is submission and wisdom, humility. God resists the proud, gives grace to the humble. Ah, go and check those who are shouting. How many of them are relevant in God's move? That's not the spirit of still worship. And when it comes to propaganda, the devil will come to your level. Let me show you something. Luke chapter number 4. I'm tying this up now. Are you being equipped? Luke 4. All right, let's start the reading from Verse 2: Being 40 days tempted— please, can you please project it quickly? Luke 4 from verse 2: Being 40 days tempted of the devil, and in those days he did eat nothing. And when they were ended, afterward he hungered. Yes, verse 3 now, quickly: And the devil said unto him, if you are the Son of God, command the stones that they be made what?

Bread.

And Jesus said what? It is written that man shall not live by— what was what the devil said? If you are the Son of God. What did Jesus say? It is written. So the devil listened. He heard him. He heard him. Okay, if that— if you are at the point of it is written, I will also come to the point of it is written. Verse 5 now. And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment. And the devil said unto him, all this power will I give unto you, and the glory of them For that is delivered unto me. Whosoever I will, I will give it. If you will therefore worship me— look at it. So when he said it has been delivered to me, that's the devil quoting the transaction of Adam. He went to scriptures straight. If you are going to be at the level of scripture, propaganda can catch up with you there. So Jesus said, look at verse now, verse 9. And he brought him into Jerusalem to set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the Son of God, cast yourself from thence, for it is what? That's the devil saying. So many of you believe that. How do you, how do you put the devil to flight? That when the devil is trying to attack you, when the devil is trying to attack you, You just said the devil— it is written, what is written? It is written, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son. So you believe when the devil says it is— when he hears it is written, he will run? Because you were taught like that. The devil now say it is also written. I mean, the devil can quote scripture. Yes, sir. Say when you give birth to a child, put the Bible beside the child so that demons will not They didn't tell you. They didn't tell you. Simon the Sorcerer was quoting scripture and he was a sorcerer. Just put the Bible there. I know people that used to tear passage of the Bible to smoky boo and they didn't die. They were still getting high. When the devil sees that you love the word but your heart is not right, it will come to your level. That's why it is important. One of the best things that can happen to a believer is to be placed under a true shepherd that will feed you with the word. That's one of the— that's, that's one of the gifts. See, Thank God for church, paparazzi, many things. Thank God. But the word is the substance. The word is what?

The word. The word.

Are you being pastored? Are you being fed well with balance?

The word.

Look at it. Let me begin to tie this up now. So the devil used the tool of propaganda and sometimes uses the tool of some of the things he has seen amongst us to discredit us. Do you know? Let me give you an illustration. Look at this illustration, don't forget it. If there's somebody who is living in sin and the devil never said anything, allowed him. If Femi Lazarus, maybe a pastor, sleeping with members, sleeping with girls, you know, the devil kept the secret. If the devil wants to get another man of God, wants to shut him down, and he has looked for all the loopholes, there's nothing. That person that thinks devil is keeping a secret The devil will allow that secret to be exposed if at least a generation will say all pastors are the same. So he will now also use that to discredit that person. The devil doesn't keep secrets for anybody. One day, so he will, he will, he destroys everyone that serves him. Don't serve him. Anything you don't want the world to know, don't do. That's the secret, oh, because they will investigate you. So he uses that tool to discredit. Sometimes discredit all pastors. So all pastors are thieves. A lot of you don't know what to believe anymore. Even me, you are looking at me. I'm studying that guy. So I'm studying him. So I'm listening to one eye, I'm looking at one eye. The last time you studied, you were still scammed. I think I don't know. I like, I like the way he teach, but let's check him out. I just, just do like 2 months check, check. You have done 3 weeks now. So the devil use the tool of ST generalization. ST generalization. If you say they are smart, how can a smart person say, oh, my pastors, they are all thieves? That's hasty generalization. Because you tasted a bad apple doesn't mean all apples are bad. I mean, that the lowest level of intelligence will know that. What I'm saying is that many things are loud, are not that smart. So discredit everyone, all right? Bring people into hasty generalization. Fight subjects in the Bible. And I think there's no subject that have been— I think the most content— the office that has been contended against the most is the prophetic office. We know false prophet, but people forget that false teachers are more dangerous than false prophet. False teachers will destroy an entire generation. False teachers. False prophet can swindle people one after the other, but a false teacher that is teaching with so much intensity, many lives will be lost. To that. So he fights subjects. Let me show you quickly how the devil successfully fights doctrines. Number 1, when there is imbalanced teaching or incorrect teaching. When you teach and what you have taught is not balanced, you have created a venue for the devil to discredit everything. He will use one thing there to wipe everything out. Then you also fight doctrines because of outright perversion of the truth. When the person speaking is speaking to lie, you know, sometimes these things, they're online and we can't lie that people are seeing all this is true. Somebody comes online and then sometimes, I mean, ridiculous things, ridiculous things, ridiculous things, and things that even a non-believer knows this is wrong. I saw one, a woman was pregnant, said he's brought her for deliverance and all that, and it was, it was kicking her stomach. She could die. And I've said it again and again, the prison is not far from the pulpit, not far. You are laying hands on people, somebody's under the anointing, say, Osha, leave her, leave her, leave her, leave her, because you want to show there's power. The person fell, hit the head on the ground, blood start gushing out. They wake the person, person not waking up. All members will move from Sande to Pastor. If God has called you, have sense. Why, why do we have pastors moving protocols? Let me tell you what you don't like to hear. Let me, let me tell you one. I will answer Let me give you illustration. Eh, other pastors, I'm coming for church protocol. I like the Apostle Femi Lazarus, he doesn't come here for protocol. It's because everywhere is sick level. So if that's the reason why you like me, start changing your mind. So pastor doesn't come protocol, just move about gently as a lamb in the crowd. So people are literally hands and worshiping, then a lady mistakenly eats his private part. Hey, sorry pastor, but the memory is there. Don't criticize what you know nothing about. There are people coming to church, and so somebody has walked into my office to shake my hands with charm, and he came to ask questions about church growth. When there are structures you don't understand, don't just go about criticizing. Understand that even when God's people gather, the devil comes also. It comes also. Somebody can— so for instance, in this church, you know, some people are coming to see, say we don't take selfie, don't take selfie with him. Say, hey, you want too much. Some of you, what you have done to people outside parking car, say don't talk. They're there, small, small. They are human beings, God's work. Even, even Godself gone, you almost say we are taking selfie with him. But But look at this situation, that they are dragging somebody for internet fraud, and amongst the pictures, Pastor Lazarus. The devil will highlight that. You have not done something wrong, but he will discredit you. It— see, don't just go anywhere and fight the structure you don't know. That's why it is a red flag for anybody who gets to any structure and is rushing. Settle down, observe. What is the wisdom behind this? Okay, I observe this. What's the wisdom behind this? Ah, okay. What's there to be learned? Those who are calm and patient will learn.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I, I, I would have loved to share stories, but for public, of security threat we have seen doing this work. Outright people coming outrightly for your life. And your family. You think you are the only one? You are the ones who is getting blessed by my teaching? What I'm teaching that is blessing offends somebody? A church is new here, people are coming from everywhere, no billboard anywhere, they are not doing any special anything. Amen. When we are well taught will not join the devil to spread propaganda. So the devil discredit doctrines through outright— because of outright perversion of the truth. Then lastly, because sometimes people speak wisdom among babes. Sometimes what you are saying is not wrong, you are only saying to the wrong person. It's not wrong. 1 Corinthians chapter number 2, verse 6. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 6. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 6. Said, albeit we speak wisdom amongst them that are what? That are perfect. What perfect? There is the word mature. Mature. Said, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor the prince of this world that comes to nothing. Not the wisdom of this world. I know sometimes people say, hey, look at it, all these pastors, you see them riding private jets, right? No problem. Some of us who are still doing this thing at this level, sometimes you want to book a flight, you have a meeting for 2 PM, and then you have booked a flight for 11. Flight will fly for 1 hour. Before they will tell you that your flight has been moved, still around 1, and they'll tell you that it's been moved till 3 PM, we apologize. And there are thousands of people waiting. God now bless you with one person who say, ah, thank you for being a blessing, I can get my people to carry you and drop you there and be back. Is that not a blessing? Ah, Pastor, don't mind them. This they are saying not because they care about the church. I'm just teaching you this. Believers, don't join them. Don't join them. Let the world be the world. Let the church be the church. And that's why in church there is training, there's equipping, there's training, there's training. You can't leave yourself the way you are. Amen. Have you been blessed tonight?

Our story in the city of Abuja is similar to the story of Jacob who said, by my rod I have passed through Jordan, but now the Lord has made me two bands. You will remember how that recently God sent us to Abuja in what I will call the most humble movement. We came practically trusting God for what to do next and how he's going to help us with the words of prophecies he has given to us about the city and the armies arising. And guess what? God is doing just that. Recently we have been seeing the move of God in the most unbelievable way possible, with his word reaching the unreached, converting sinners to saints, bringing people who have lost hope in church. And now this has necessitated the need for expansion so that we do not fall out of what God is doing. Where we are currently is stringent for us. With rules that will limit what God is doing amongst us. The gospel is free, but the propagation requires a lot of funding. We want our friends, partners, and everyone connected to our ministry to join us as we undertake this project together. We have the urgent need to expand, and we believe that this is the Kairos moment for us to do that. We are importing our own tent all the way from China and getting everything needed to fill that space and have a conducive place where we can have our apostolic work beyond what we are having now at the moment. The structure you are seeing on your screen is exactly what we are working at, at the moment. Believe you me when we say that people who are blessed can be blessed much more when we have our own place. We want you to join us as we undertake this Project, we need your support. We're counting on you and your generosity. We are working towards a project of ₦180 million in this season. You have the account details on the screen. Use the account details as God has laid in your heart. God bless you so much. We love you from all of us at Sphere of Light Church. Thank you for always Hi there!

God is raising for himself an end-time army, and this is the mandate that he has given to us. Truly, the harvest is plenteous, but we need you on board as a laborer. This is a call to partner with what God is doing in this great house. To become a monthly partner with us at Sphere of Light Church and Femi Lazarus Apostolic Ministries Ecumenical, kindly reach us via the number +234 903 0959735. To give an offering or to sow a seed, kindly make use of these account details being displayed. The Gospel of Jesus is spreading. Thank you for being a part of it.