We are here at the Beminda Open House at Benny's home, the Navigator Open House, and we are going to be looking at the subject of convictions, perspective, and priorities. Convictions, perspective, and priorities. So, having said that, let's go to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Let's pray. O Lord, this is your holy word. We are your servants. Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies. You have prayed, O Lord. Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Use your holy eternal, inerrant written word to set us apart to your service and to your glory. Show us this day great and mighty things which we do not know. The sower sows the word. Let not your word go out and return empty, but accomplish that purpose for which you are sending it out and for which you have now gathered us together. Protect us from Satan, Lord, who will snatch your word. Protect us from a wrong reaction to difficulties and discouragements and persecutions which make our hearts hard and unresponsive to your word. Protect us from the world's fears and the delight of wealth and the passion of other interests which enter in and choke the word, making it fruitless. Rather give us good soil, O Lord. Plow up now the hard ground of our hearts that your sown word might send roots downward and bear fruit upwards. Unsheath now the sword of our spirit, O Lord. Cut to dividing point of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. Judge this day the thoughts and intentions of each heart that you have gathered here. Spread your word before us as a banquet table, O Lord. grant grace that we might eat of the rich meat and drink of the sweet milk of the great doctrines of your holy word. Give us the heart of the prophet who cried to you. Thy words were found and I did eat them and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart from call by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Oh Lord, we live in a dark and a wicked age. Broad is the way and many are on it, which leads to destruction. Make your word a lamp to our path. Make your word a light to our feet. Show us that narrow way that you would have us run. And Lord, as we run in the paths of your commandments, enlarge our hearts that in loving you, we might be more obedient to your holy word. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line, O Lord. Grant grace that we might see how we deviate from its high and holy purposes. Make your word to us a mirror, O Lord. Grant grace that we might not be as those who look and go away and forget, but make us active doers, not forgetful listeners. of your Holy Word. Oh Lord, because of our fealty to you, because of our undying love and devotion to your Son, our resurrected Savior, We pledge to you this day our total submission to your holy, eternal, inerrant written word, and we pledge to you our unquestioning obedience to all of its commands. In the name of our Lord and resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Well, I want to thank you all for being here. We'll be covering convictions, perspective, and priorities. Now, tomorrow morning... uh... at six thirty i'll be continuing uh... this series with a group of businessmen so any of you who would like to uh... get up in the morning and uh... finish anything that is left undone in these two afternoon sessions you are welcome to do so what? email you or ask bimmy for the link? yes, bimmy has the link Bami has the link and you can get that from him and we would be happy. Now, we're looking at the topic of convictions, perspective, and priorities. Convictions are what we believe. that has to do with our mind what we believe now what we believe shapes our perspective of life how we view the world and that perspective causes us to have certain priorities now if we can envision this if this is a brain okay that's the brain and here is the eye connected by the optic nerve and then the eye looks out in the world and then we have priorities of life now What we believe shapes, that's our convictions, shapes our perspective, which sets our priorities of life. And we can have the exact same person with the exact same situation, but a totally different response based on convictions. So what we believe is very, very important. For instance, let's say this morning you had the conviction that someone was going to try to kill you today. Well, you got up in the morning and instead of opening the blinds, you would keep them all shut in the house. As you drove to church, someone passed you and tapped on the horn and waved at you. You would think, oh, that may be the assassin. I won't wave back. I will speed away. When you got to the church parking lot, you noticed somebody else was pulling up, and you had never seen them before. you would think maybe they're the assassins and you would quickly run into the church. When you got into the church, you would sit with your back way back in the back of the church up against the wall so that you could keep an eye on everybody. And you, of course, would not participate of any refreshments, any tea or biscuits at the church because they might be poisoned. And that was your conviction. But let's say you had a different conviction. Let's say your conviction was that this is the day the Lord has made, that we should be glad and rejoice in it. That Jesus loved you and had a wonderful plan for your life. John 10.10. that he has come that you might have life and have it more abundantly that your conviction was from Hebrews 10 24 and 25 that you should neglect to meet together as it is a habit of some but encouraging one another as the day draws near so you would get up in the morning and you would throw the curtains open and you would gaze out upon this sunny Nigerian Sunday morning and in your heart you would be praising God You wouldn't worry about anything bad happening as you prayed praise music and had a quick breakfast and got off to church. As you were driving to church, somebody drove by and tapped on the horn and waved and you looked over and waved back. Oh, it's one of my Navigator brothers. And you would wave back at him and you would think what a blessing it is. that I'm seeing other Christians on the road on the way to their church. You would get to church and in the church parking lot you see someone that you don't know and you would think, oh, perhaps this is an opportunity to make a new brother in Christ, to greet a visitor, or even to share my testimony. So you go over and greet them and you enter church with them. You walk right down towards the front with them and sit amongst all of your friends and introduce them around. You have a great time in worship and hearing the word and afterwards you are happy to fellowship with tea and biscuits with your new found friends. Now notice, it was the exact same events throughout that day, wasn't it? Because this person had a wrong conviction that someone was going to try to kill him, his perspective was skewed, wasn't it? And what should have been maybe 97 on down through 100 way at the bottom of his list was instead 1, 2, 3, 4. On the other hand, with the correct convictions, instead of these senseless fears, he was able to walk in a rejoicing manner, to worship, to spend time in fellowship, and the Word. So you see how important convictions are? The exact same events the exact same person, the exact same situation, but wrong convictions will create a skewed and very unhealthy and even damaging worldview which will cause you to set needless priorities that are wasteful, that are wasteful. Well, how does that apply to us as Christians? Well, convictions, convictions, when we talk about perspective priorities, can be linked to faith, hope, and love. See, Hebrews 11.6 says, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of unseen realities. By faith, when we read the Word of God, we see and believe that which God promises us. Romans 1.5, the Apostle Paul tells us that the Apostles sought to bring about faith in the life of the Church, but a very different kind of faith than many of you are looking at. Look at turning your Bibles with me to Romans 1.5, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about faith for all sorts of blessings and miracles, health and prosperity. Is that what it says? These apostles came to the church and by faith their church was going to be blessed and there were going to be miracles and prosperities and the gates of heaven, the storehouses of heaven were going to be opened up. Is that what it says? No. What does it say? Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith. The obedience of faith. You see, Correct convictions concerning Jesus Christ, the nature of God, the sufficiency of Christ, the word of God, allows us to obey. Without the right convictions, our lives will be tossed and turned. We will live in fear, just like the man who was afraid someone was going to assassinate him. But our correct convictions, the correct convictions allow us to live with the realities of Holy Scripture, which gives us stability in the midst of chaos. And these convictions, which are so important, will then shape our perspective, our worldview. That is the equivalent with hope. In Psalm 39-7, the psalmist says, And now, O God, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Faith manifests itself in hope by taking hold of these invisible realities and living them out. In Hebrews, chapter 6, beginning in verse 17, God the Holy Spirit says, in the same way God, desiring even more to show the heirs of the promise, the unchangeableness of his purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope sure and steadfast, which enters within the veil into the very holy of holies in heaven, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us and has become our high priest, according to the order of Melchizedek. You see what our hope is, it's like there's an anchor and that anchor is attached to the holy of holies in heaven and we are chained to that anchor and we lay hold of that hope and are able to live life according to invisible realities and according to the truths of the word of God and we live life according to the truth of the Word of God rather than every wind of doctrine, every spiritist teaching or the chaos which is around us. By faith we see the invisible and because of hope we live it out from day to day. Now, many people when they say, are you going to heaven? They say, I hope I'm going to heaven. That's not scriptural hope. The Western Aristotelian Platonic hope is the hope of an uncertainty, the desire for an uncertainty. Here in Hebrews 6, we find out that our hope is sure and steadfast. We do not hope for heaven. We do not hope that we will go to heaven. We place our hope in Christ, who is the anchor to which our soul is attached. right there in the Holy of Holies in heaven. So, a good example of this is if a boy for his birthday, he has always wanted a bicycle, so his daddy tells him, okay, your birthday is coming up in a few weeks, why don't I take you to the market? So they go to the market, he gives his son his budget, they look at some of the bicycles that are in that budget, And he picks one out. His father pays for it and takes it home. And his father says, now, this bicycle is going to stay in our mommy and daddy's bedroom. But on the morning of your birthday, when you get up for your birthday breakfast, it will be in the living room with a bow on it and you can have it. So the next day he's at school. And his friend says, what are you hoping to get for your birthday? And he says, well, I'm going to get a bicycle. And they say, oh, well, you hope you'll get a bicycle. And he says, no, my daddy has promised it. My daddy has purchased it. It's there waiting for me. See, that boy has placed his hope in his father that his father is not a wicked man who will play a cruel trick and he will wake up on his birthday and his father will be laughing at him. Did you really think I was going to spend all that money on your birthday? No, you don't get a bicycle. That would be very cruel, wouldn't it? But he knows his father is a loving father and he's placed his hope in that love. Well, that is the hope we have in Christ. We have placed our hope in Christ and in our loving heavenly father who has said that our salvation is secured in heaven. That our hope in Christ is a very anchor of our soul. And this anchor gives us this stability. So as we live out These invisible realities, by placing our hope in Christ, we set our priorities of life. And what is that priority? Well, John 14, 15, Jesus Christ said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. So we know that obeying the invisible is the manifestation of faith and hope, which manifests itself in love. by our convictions, by the faith, because faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. It brings about the obedience of faith. which shapes our perspective. We are a people who've placed our hope in Christ, an anchor for the soul, and like the psalmist says, and now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in Thee. And we strike out, walking by faith and not by sight. And in doing so, we seek to obey Jesus, John 14, 15. We obey the invisible. 1 Peter 1.8 says, Whom having not seen, we love. And our love is manifested in obedience. John 14, 15, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. John 14, 21, he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. John 14, 23, and he was saying to them, if any man loves me, he will keep my word. John 14, 24, he who does not love me does not keep my word. And we have the supreme example of this in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who in John 14 31 says that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father has commanded me. So how can we assure ourselves the constancy of discipleship? Well it's very necessary for us to have the correct perspectives. And in order to have the correct perspective, we must have the correct convictions. And that convictions leading to the correct perspective will allow us to have true priorities of life. Without the correct convictions, our priorities will be skewed. And that is very important. Hosea 4.6 says, My people perish for a lack of knowledge. Romans 10.2 says, I bear them credence for their zeal, but their zeal lacks correct knowledge. And so without correct convictions, our perspective will be based on zeal. and our zeal will result in wrong priorities. And even one or two wrong convictions can distort us. I have trifocals. Part of my lens allows me to look far in the distance. Another part of my lens allows me to look intermediate. The bottom third of my lens allows me to read and look up close. If only one of those lenses is wrong, then my glasses are only as good as that weakest lens. I can see far away, I can see nearby, but I can't read my Bible. Or I can read my Bible and I can see nearby, but I can't see down the road. So I need all three lens working correctly and we need all of our convictions grounded in God's holy word in order to have a perspective, a view of the world when we get out and go forth into the world to work and to minister. We need to be able, as we do that, to set our priorities correctly. And the way we do that is through the correct convictions. So, faith. Believing the invisible. Where does this come from? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, which is going to lead us into obedience. When we hear the word of God, we believe the word of God, then we are able to place our hope in Christ and say, oh, and now, oh, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in thee, which will bring about the obedience of faith, which is what the apostles wanted. For the apostles, the faith was not about giving. It was giving our lives to Christ. And it was not about the showmanship of apostleship. It was about training disciples and disciple makers to obey God's word. So let's look here, shall we? 1 Peter 1.8, whom having not seen we love. What are the basic convictions then of the disciple? What is worth taking a stand? What is that? What are we unwilling to compromise on? These convictions need to be the very basic convictions which will give us stability and protect us from deception. It will keep our vision from being distorted and therefore we can even unknowingly have wrong priorities simply because our convictions are wrong. So what is the first conviction that we will want to nail down? And that is the nature of God. The nature of God. That God is three, Matthew 28, 19, 20. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is a trying God, he's three, yet he is one, Deuteronomy 6.4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. Now, why is that an important conviction? I know many people, they don't even think about the Trinity. They don't think the doctrine of the Trinity is that important. So why is it? Well, let's think about that for a minute. God is three, yet one. That means God is indivisible. Doesn't it? Now, let's draw this circle and have it represent your Christian life. Now, Jesus Christ in Revelation 3.20 says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice, I will come into him and eat with him, and he in you. The book of Colossians speaks of Christ in you, the hope of glory. So you've received Christ. Then some false apostle, some false teacher, some so-called bishop or miracle worker, some man who is a self-proclaimed man of God, he comes along and says, yes, but do you have the Holy Spirit? And so what he tells you is that you may have Jesus, but that the Holy Spirit is still in heaven. But what did that verse in Deuteronomy say? Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. He is indivisible. If that is true, can you have Jesus and not have the Holy Spirit? Well, no. If you have Jesus, you will have the Holy Spirit. In fact, Colossians excuse my poor handwriting here, Colossians 2, 9 says all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ. That would include God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, and God the Father. So no, you do not need something to fall down from heaven to make you complete. If you have Jesus, you have it all. But you see, if you don't have a right conviction on the nature of God, if you don't understand the fact that the Trinity is indivisible, if you don't understand that if you have the Father, you have the Son and the Holy Spirit, if you have the Son, you have the Father and the Holy Spirit, then you will spend your life as a Christian who has Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. And instead of at that point, as Luke 9.27 says, beginning the taking up your cross daily and beginning the upward journey of discipleship. forgetting what is behind, moving on the upward journey of discipleship, making disciples, being disciples, what can Satan get you doing instead? You will begin running in circles, going to this meeting and that meeting, going to this blessing and that blessing, going to this Holy Spirit revival and that Holy Spirit revival. You will spend your time seeking something which you already have. That's great indoor sport for Satan, isn't it? Rather than you moving on in a life of service to make disciples, you are spending your time trying to get, get, get, get. Rather than faith bringing about obedience in your life, you have the wrong conviction of faith, that faith allows you to get, get, get, get. And you spend your life running in circles, get, get, get, get. Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. You find yourself shouting at God, thanking God for things He hasn't even given you, giving money in order to give, coming to services that you can get, and you're just running in circles, getting, getting, getting. That's a great coup for Satan in your life, isn't he? Meanwhile, those with the correct perspective are continuing to grow as they witness, live the life of the disciple, and make disciples. So by God's grace, we will not have the wrong conviction concerning the Holy Trinity. But let me ask you this. When this guy tells you, well, you need the Holy Spirit to fall on you, now what do you have? Well, you have Jesus, don't you? And you have the Holy Spirit. But what about the Father? He's still up there. Why don't they teach about the baptism of the Father? If you need the Holy Trinity within you, if you need to know all of God, well, you received Christ and you got the second baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now you're going to need the third baptism of the Father. Well, you know, all of that is nonsensical. Because Colossians 2.9 says, all of the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ. Let me show you this illustrated if you want. Let's take two verses. One is John 5.24. What does that say? Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word, and then believes in me who sent me, what does he have? He has eternal life, doesn't he? Isn't that very clear? Well, now turn with me in your holy scriptures to Ephesians 1. Turn with me to Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. So now let's look at that. This is talking about God the Son. Now we're looking at a verse that's talking about God the Holy Spirit. It says, in him you also, after listening, so we hear the word of God, the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, What happened then? You were sealed with the Holy Spirit. You don't have to do this. When you received Christ, you received eternal life. You're not going to lose your salvation. You don't have to run in circles trying to keep something you already have. And you were also sealed with the Holy Spirit. You are not a second-class Christian. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in you. Let's think of it this way. Your father comes to you and says, well, you're grown now, and I'm going to give you your inheritance. And he empties his bank account and places all that money in your bank account. Well, what would your father expect you to do with that? He would expect you to be a good steward, wouldn't he? He would expect you to care for your family, maybe pay off any debts, maybe invest it, but be a responsible son of his father's trust, wouldn't he? But what if your father found out that instead of doing that, you have been going to all the other banks in your city? looking to find out if your dad didn't have some other money in those banks. And he was going around to all the relatives trying to find out if your dad had some land or money that you could get. And you were going around not only in your city, but you were getting on the internet and doing searches all over the great country of Nigeria. And you were trying to find money that your dad had held back. How would your father feel about that? He would be very hurt, wouldn't he? Plus, it would be a waste of time. Instead of making use of the blessing God has given you, you want more, more, more, more. When he's given you everything. That's called grieving God. And we don't do that. Some Christians say, I became a Christian, I began to ask myself, is this all? Well, what a selfish, spoiled thing to say in the presence of God who looks down from heaven and hears all the words of men. To say you are a Christian and you are asking yourself, is this all? So, the answer to that question is, is it all? It is all and it is more than enough. It is exactly what God wanted you to have. So God is three yet one. What else is God? God is sovereign. How will that help our stability? Well, let's look at a couple of verses here. The first is Job 42.2. I know that you can do all things and no purposes of yours can be thwarted. See? We must believe that God is sovereign and history is marching towards its ultimate conclusion under the guidance and the sovereignty of God. Jesus will soon return. Things are not spinning out of control. Things that God wants to get done are being done. God's will and work is not being crushed or squelched. God can do all things, and no purpose of His can be thwarted. And it is true, God can do anything, but He doesn't do anything. He only does His good and holy will. And your will is not God's will, your imagination is not God's will, and your faith is not God's will. God's will is found in His holy word. And by faith in Christ, we study the Word of God, we find the will of God, and then we do it. Then we do it. What does Isaiah 8, 12 and 13 say? Let's look at that. This is an important verse for this day and age. Isaiah 8. verse 12 and 13 you are not to say it is a conspiracy in regard to all this people call a conspiracy and you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it it is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy and he shall be your fear and he shall be your dread then he will become a sanctuary to you Because our conviction of the sovereignty of God, that God is in control. Things are not spinning out of control. All is as it should be. And that we don't have to worry about it. We should give ourselves to serving God. I can remember my children, they had chores on Saturday morning. And they wanted to do other things on Saturday also besides their chores. And perhaps I had promised them that we'll go to the park in the evening for a picnic. And while they were doing their chores, they might be saying to you, but Daddy, it's getting late. And what I would say to them is, don't worry about the picnic. I've said we're going on a picnic and we will go on a picnic. What you have to worry about is getting your chores done. And God is saying, don't worry about all these other things. That's my job. Your job is to be a disciple and make disciples. And by faith, Obedience will be brought about in your life and in your disciples life. And I have to revisit that once again. God is sovereign. And He has saved you. And you have the Holy Spirit. And Christ is in you. The hope of glory. And God has given you what you need. But many Christians are worried that they don't have enough. And instead of giving themselves to the work of evangelism, being a disciple and making a disciple, they run around trying to get faith to get more. We'll remember in the opening passage of the great book of faith in Romans 1, Paul asserts that the ministry of apostleship is to bring about obedience. So I'll tell you this one right now. If some so-called apostle comes to town and his ministry is not how to know Christ and obey him, how to be a disciple and make disciples, if his apostleship does not bring about obedience, but rather brings about spiritual greed, he's not a true apostle. But let's see how this book ends. All the way in Romans 16, 26. It begins with the obedience of faith. These are the bookends. It ends with verse 26. But now is manifested and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the eternal God has been known to all nations leading to obedience of faith. That's what it's about. It's about Jesus and obeying. But if you don't believe God is sovereign, if you don't believe that you have what you need to get the job done, if you don't believe that He is your Lord and that your life is to be given in His service, taking up your cross daily, rather you have begun to believe that faith is getting, getting, giving, then your whole perspective of faith will be changed and your priorities will be going from this and that Holy Spirit crusade rather than serving Jesus. You see, God is a loving Father. He is not a sovereign God who is uninvolved in our lives. God loves you. He has a wonderful plan for your life. You were born again by the Spirit. You are His adopted child. His loving kindness will endure forever in your life. He is sovereign. We can take a deep breath and give ourselves to evangelism, discipleship, and disciple-making. Now, you say, yes, but I want to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, I have no problem with that. What is your conviction of what the Holy Spirit does? John 16, 14. What does it say the Holy Spirit does? He will glorify me. All the ministries of the Holy Spirit will be based on bringing glory to Jesus. I have a PowerPoint presentation and it's entitled, Where's Jesus? And it's all the posters I see all over the world. Glorious Fire from Heaven, Holy Spirit Crusade, Unchain Your Life, Get Your Miracle, Get Your Blessing, Get Your Power, Get, get, get, get. And it has pictures of rich men with gold chains and gold rings and rich women with expensive clothes and leather and alligator shoes and crocodile purses and expensive clothing and jewelry and gold. And there are pictures on there. And I have a question. Where's Jesus? And all this. That's because if it's a Holy Spirit crusade, two things will happen. First, in John 16, eight, seven, but I tell you the truth, it is an advantage for you to go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you, and when he comes, he will convict the world. A Holy Spirit crusade convicts non-Christians of their sin and calls them to Jesus. A Holy Spirit crusade convicts carnal Christians of their sin and brings them to repentance, and it does so by, verse 14, glorifying Jesus. And we need to remember that. Acts 1.8 says you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witness. The only universal manifestation of the Holy Scripture that everyone is to share is witnessing its glorifying Jesus. So you see, this is the key to stability, both in our salvation and in our discipleship. With the wrong conviction of what faith is, of what the Holy Trinity is, of the sovereign God, that he is a loving father, we will spend our time chasing after things which simply aren't there, and setting our priorities based on things which are exactly wrong priorities. Do you want to be a spirit-filled person? You will go out and witness, you will convict people of sin, you will glorify Jesus, you will bring people to Christ. Do you want to have a spirit-filled church? It's a church that brings people to repentance into the Lordship of Christ for personal salvation. Are you walking in the Spirit? Your life will be testified by saying, having heard the gospel, are you ready to repent of your sins and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Are you willing to be led by the Spirit? Well, you will be led to do that. Are you quenching the Spirit? Well, the way you can tell if you're quenching the Spirit is if you're not asking people to receive Christ. It's the Bible. It's Acts 1-8. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witness. So we have to remember that. So this is our first conviction that we're looking at and that is the conviction of the nature of God. Let's take a short break and then we will look at the sufficiency of Christ. Thank you for your patience.