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Bishop Dag Heward-MillsAbout this sermon
Camp Title - Give Thyself Wholly. Machaneh Collection - 86. Preached in 2014, Ghana (Mampong Akuapem). Bishop Dag Heward-Mills is a world-renowned evangelist, bestselling Christian author with over 100 books, and leader of the United Denominations, present in 100+ countries. Through his Healing Jesus Campaigns, thousands have been healed, and millions saved across Africa and beyond. As you follow this podcast, may you begin to know God in a way you have never before! Don’t forget to click the follow button and turn on notifications.
Source: Bishop Dag Heward-Mills
Transcript
Welcome to track #8 of Give thyself holy from s s to university. So what are the changes there? What happens in that interface? SSSS because you are in a school and a boarding school. Senior house mistress, there's a wall security man, barbed wire on top. SUSSU on campus, sleeping time siesta. Then you'll come to campus. Hey, what is the difference in camp on campus? Three doll. Hey, So what is likely to happen there? Number one, sorry, you have free time, a lot of free time. So what do you do with it? Yeah. So some of you are there now. So for this offence junction from s s to uni, I call it uni as you've not been there before. So Uni, yeah, you see. So that is where many of you are. And it's very important for you to to to be careful because that has destroyed many people. When when, when things are in short supply, very limited supply and a person suddenly stumbles upon large quantities of the same thing. Oh I tell you it's very dangerous. Like girls who are in girls schools from one to what they mean. Well by the time so SS1 towards s s 3. So you are in the school, there's no boy. I mean the only boys are your school teachers. The
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Welcome to track #8 of Give thyself holy from s s to university. So what are the changes there? What happens in that interface? SSSS because you are in a school and a boarding school. Senior house mistress, there's a wall security man, barbed wire on top. SUSSU on campus, sleeping time siesta. Then you'll come to campus. Hey, what is the difference in camp on campus? Three doll. Hey, So what is likely to happen there? Number one, sorry, you have free time, a lot of free time. So what do you do with it? Yeah. So some of you are there now. So for this offence junction from s s to uni, I call it uni as you've not been there before. So Uni, yeah, you see. So that is where many of you are. And it's very important for you to to to be careful because that has destroyed many people. When when, when things are in short supply, very limited supply and a person suddenly stumbles upon large quantities of the same thing. Oh I tell you it's very dangerous. Like girls who are in girls schools from one to what they mean. Well by the time so SS1 towards s s 3. So you are in the school, there's no boy. I mean the only boys are your school teachers. Then suddenly, where you are plenty boys, you see. Yeah, your Christianity will be challenged. Amen. The same for boys. You are in a disco. Augustine Boche. And you should, you should see how boys behave when girls come to the school. Look, it is the same as dogs that have seen a woman dog. They can't control themselves, you see. So, so it is very important for you to know. And that's the point Bishop is making, that you must believe that you can backlight, otherwise what will happen? You will backslide if you don't believe that you can backslide. And many of us, we are there now. And when you were in school, in the school I went to, I went to SU Scripta Union, Form one. No, sorry, it's a form one. Form three, Form 4, SU, you see Form one, boys who come to SU straight from Diane Hall, they come to SU. It's almost like it's part of their school, school rules. Why do you think they were on campus? They were coming to SU to run away from senior boys. So when they themselves, they become seniors, then the tune has changed. So this first junction, I believe many of us are there, you see. And if you're not very careful, you will, you will suddenly find yourself living a life that you, if some of you were even when you were within 4 wall squad, you were running away. Am I lying? You were jumping walls. How many of you have jumped walls before the soup? I'm in my school. We had walls. I mean, there were walls in many places and still boys were going to town. So imagine your country investing. No wall. The only wall is a decoration somewhere. When you are going to town, nobody will ask you, you see, You see, listen, this is where as a Christian, you need to move beyond being supervised. If you have a life where you read your Bible because somebody overseas or somebody will ask you what you read, or you do this because somebody will ask, that is where you'll be in serious trouble, see, Because many junctions in life will be junctions towards liberty. Junctions towards liberty. You are free to do this you can do that What a second intention From where? From school to life and what will happen there? What are the What are the challenges that come from school to life? Money. I want you to come from school to life. Parents will give you money. Pressure for what? Pressure to get money, that is. You have to look for some jobs to do mass work, pursue your masters, you see. So you see that Christianity is in danger. Christianity is in danger. When sad Johnsons come, like some of you here now, even in school, some of you were the secretary. There's that. Some of his Jew you were not doing anything in school, you are not even attending SU and so on. Nothing at all. You were just a witch smoker. But by the grace of God, now you have come to campus and you are in your right mind. But you see, it is important for you to understand that these are the moments of your life that you must, you must trust God to rise and to be kind. And see, the key here is, first of all, having a life of personal discipline. Let me tell you that. But you see the reason why the Ant is one of the greatest animals, because the Bible doesn't tell us to go to lions to learn from them. It doesn't tell us to go to camels to learn from them. They talk about them, Wasps and spiders in King's palaces and all that, but we are directly commanded to go to see ants. Why? The ability to live a meaningful life without supervision. It's what is going to determine how great you will be. All through the Bible, the people who are able to on their own pray. Like Daniel the king said that if we catch you praying, what will happen to you? You will not be happy. He entered his room, open the windows, knelt down. Three times a day he prayed. This is the type of person God is looking for because you will always come under pressure to drop Christ, to drop God, to drop the ministry, or you will be under intense pressure to minimize or to just, you know, give a little, you know, just just enough to get by that pressure. I tell you, it will be there forever. It should be there forever. Some of you, when you are alone, alone you. I mean, as we are here, you are looking at scriptures. What else are you looking for? You make some references to many are called Chapter 3. Once in a while you move to church growth. And so as we are here, everybody's here. The things you are looking at are the scriptures, NIV, NESB, Amplify, Queen James and so on. But when you enter your room and you are alone on the same tablet, it's a junction. It's a junction. And you see, what Bishop is saying is that it is very important to always tell yourself that, Charlie, where I am now, I can really misbehave. I can really not be a pastor. I can really not even go to church. I can, I can, I can easily not even be a Christian. There are people who travel, they move from an area where they have lived their lives normally and then they move like we're talking about friends, girls, boys. I mean boy to boy, girls to girl. There are some of you who are here at this camp because of the influence of friends, which is good. Even David had such influences said. I was glad when they said to me, let us go. You need that company to move into certain realms of your work with God. But there will be a day that you will also be alone. Expect to be alone. Expect to be alone in a hotel. Expect it, expect to be alone in the hotel, with cable TV, with other channels. And what is what is the value of the Ant? The value of the Ant to us is that it teaches us how to live a certain life when there's no one supervising you. And as you go on in life, you will discover it so. So if at this level you are thick, if at this level you are Griffith Cycle, if at this level you are just around because of, you know, just the the general chorus is that when first love, I went for the Lord. I do this and do when you are alone and tell your friends you will be alone soon I'm telling you you'll be alone. You'll be alone. Daniel was alone. What did he do? He could have chosen to enter his room and say hey Charlie right now dear or even he could have been shut his windows and prayed. But he did everything he was doing a four time at the killing AA four time. He did not vary his behavior. He knelt down to pray a full time. Today also he came, he knelt down, he opened the windows to pray a full time. And today also he opened the windows. Whether there's a King's law or King's whatever, he was not prepared to vary his lifestyle. And that is what a Christian man become. You will get there. So to give yourself fully to the Lord is almost circumstantial. But when my, when I'm here like this, I can't give myself, but when I'm alone, and I'm saying that prepare to be alone. Some of you who are married, you are nice, your wife, you respect your husband and so on. It is because Bishop is around. Yes, you can't fool around, but when you travel and you are alone, man to man and so and just, you are alone. There's no Bishop anywhere. There's no past anywhere. You open your mouth, you talk anyhow, and then you be said, no, this person, this is how you really are. So really when that, that, that level of supervision or company or whatever is like and in life you will be alone. There are times in life we are in a crowd like this. You learn that in school, exams, discussion groups, lectures, classes, we are always together discussing 3 people, four people, whatever. But one day of the exam paper in front of you, you are alone. There's always a day when you are alone. Yes, there's always a day when you are alone. And so you must prepare to be alone. That is why, oh, it is great that you wake up with somebody's phone call at 4:00, tale, watch and pray WAP prayer bombs as it is great. But the question is, I mean, why should somebody wake you up to pray? Don't you have, what is the name of that thing? Alarm clock? You don't have it. There are some people. When do you see them doing something? You must always tell us that this person is doing this because of the environment, because there are people around, because they are, they are they are friends around. But Joseph, he also came to a time. He was with people, his brothers, people knew him and so on. But one day, suddenly he discomfort without planning, without preparing, he just found himself alone with a woman. You will not prefer. You will be alone one day, yes, you will be alone in your office as you are working somebody small tea you want to drink one day. The person who is bringing the tea is not is just bringing the tea with other things. So see, I really, I really believe you. See, listen carefully. That's why I'm saying that Try to let your Christianity be, hey, Christa, the Bishop was preaching. Was it last week or so that even prayer, the best prayer is the individual prayer, the prayer. Even God respects something. You pray very well in a crowd. We should see how you just hold your stomach, just move like that. It's great. But the question is, are you able to pray like that on your own? Are you able to? If you cannot, you are a hypocrite. So God one of these days will set you up. Yes, He will set you up to be alone, and not just alone, but alone with a sudden arrival of what your tongue has been desiring. Alone with a surprise package arriving you, you will not believe that you are the one in this room. Am I the one here like this? Am I the one here? A woman has removed her clothes, standing in front of me. I'm telling her I don't want to do it. She says that she will beat me if I don't go. Am I the one? You are the one and God is watching you. God is watching you. Mercy, mercy, say mercy, mercy. So we are. We are determined by the grace of God that no matter the junction, we will not vary our commitments no matter what happens. Some of your sisters you have, you've not been pregnant. I mean apart from those 3, but I'm talking about pregnancy that gave children. No, those three we are. God has forgiven you. I do not forgiven you. But when you have children or you've not considered it. He'd not considered it. Let's forget about eating children. Husband, husband, husband. And the average woman is likely to marry a fool. Averagely average is average, not you. You're not average. Are you average? Yes, I said. The average woman. Why do you think we are pastors? Why? Why do you think we have pastors? Why do you think I have a pastor? Look, if I'm left alone, my choices, my choices. So you will marry and suddenly all your two known elder. This is it. What? Lady Elder or what Sister Elder? All these types of titles. We cannot even see you in church consistently. Yeah, because marriage has become a junction. Yes, but you must determine. You see, let me tell you that. Let me tell you. See this? This voice that we read about the Daniels and the Josephs and the Shavak Mashaks and Abednegos and these type of guys in the system who were doing wild, wild, wild, wild things for the Lord. There they also met junctions. Oh yes, you are not the only one who will marry and face a face a junction. You're not the only one who will enter the university and that will be a junction. Many people have survived junctions. To me, when I see that what I'm doing, many people have done it and it has worked for them, I get encouraged. So anything I'm doing, I try to look for something. Sometimes it's encouraging. Yes, they were told. But if you, if you try, if you try it, lions will eat you. If you try Destiny, you are out. Will burn you. But they did not vary. May God give you a Christianity, a type of Christianity that is unconditional. Yeah. That doesn't vary with may you be strong. Yeah. May you be strong. See, for you to be that type of person who will not by slide when you meet dances, you must be strong. Yeah, be strong. Be you. Be strong. No Angel will be you strong. I said no. Holy Spirit will be you strong. You yourself be be. Have you not been able to do all the things you wanted to be? Anything you've been, you have been by you being to be. So how come suddenly to become strong? You are waiting for Holy Ghost to be you. Be strong, be strong. Hey. But the grace of God as the less was coming up as I started saying hey challenge God. They have been good to me because by God's grace I have. I mean if there are 27 junctions, one has seen about 20 by you there Class 1, I mean first junction. You are confused. First junction since you left a Brigails. Since you left a Brigails. You can't push you here. Any man just comes and collects you. Please ask your neighbor. Can you control yourself? Is it possible to control yourself? So this this this evening what? I want to listen. Listen, what I want to tell you is that have it in mind two things. Have these two things in one, that it is possible for you to backslide. Well, apart from the pastors you are, how many of you know that it is possible for you to backslide? So I'm asking a question, how can you prepare? How can you prepare towards not backsliding? What can a Christian do to prepare #1 is what eh? Know where you've been before, Tell her, but look into your notes. Know where you've been before and if you know it, what should you do? Eh, you should do what if you know where you've been before? So, so let me ask, where have you been before? You tell us where you have been before spiritually, what have you done? You didn't used to go to church. Oh, you were born in church. You've gone to church all your life. When I was in s s, I was SU secretary. I used to do a lot of things. You are lying. When I was in ACES like I was in SU, but when I went to university, like my what? Does SU secretary do you mean you were part of the? Executive. You or your sister? Your big sister, you yourself. Yes. But when I went to university, like the first two, I think I wasn't doing anything like I buy slide sliding. No, no. No, why? Why did you buy slide? What do you think made you buy slide? Hey, that's you secretary. But we thank God that Nas is an elder. Not so Is an elder not an elder? You are younger. You are not an elder, you are younger. So what made you backslide? No. Are you serious? You were SU secretary. Yes, because. Listen, when an SU secretary is speaking, you must respect her. You must show respect to the church workers. Please speak, Secretary, speak. Because because I I was a Catholic. So when I went to university, I went back to the Catholic Church and I wasn't doing so much. So third year. Then I joined Lighthouse and I started doing so much. So right there is one sign. When people are backsliding, they go to their mother church. Listen very carefully when when you see a sister, a brother, you have been in first love for three years. You have danced, you have sunk, you have thought, you have prayed, you have been the main person in the church. Then when you finish school, you go to your mother church. What is the sign? What's the sign? I'm tell I put it to you that you are backsliding. And right here is a good example. But thank God. Thank God that she did not finish university in a backsliding state. Now, by the grace of God, she is in first love. Not so. Oh, and what do you do in church? Worship Star. Glory to God, God for Jesus. So you see that the things Bishop says are real. Can you say that the are real? Yeah, as you Secretary murder Church, by the grace of God, she has come back. So back to the question. What was the question? You what now? Let's put it well, what has been your highest spiritual state before? So yours is what? s s secretary? And now you are a worship star. So secretary and star which is higher Star is higher. Your math. So see right there you must, you must admit and tell yourself that, Charlie, you've fallen from grace. Yes, if you've been an S S secretary by this time, you should be one of the main people in the system. Yeah, another example. Yes. You. He's a man of God. No. So, so. So what is your highest? OK, he's a Papa. So your highest level is what? Papa? What's your highest level? OK, OK, OK. I'll say my my highest level has been when I used to personally wake up to pray every morning. Oh, during the fast. No, before, before. And now you don't do that. No, it's it's I've revived. If you revive. So you, for instance, as a Papa, you need to pick him as a Papa. Sisio. OK, it's a sisio. So you see, you need to know, see, know where you are, know it all that you are a CCO and #2 that you now can wake up on your own to pray and decide, decide that you will not degenerate from that level. So everybody must know, you see, must know that I have been this before. Some of you, maybe where you are at now is your highest level. Like our CCO, you must determine that you will not fall. So what must he do? What is it that he must do to fight backsliding specifically in his, in his case, number 1 is what? What must he do? Yes. What must he do, Bishop? I think that the Yes tell us 1 Bishop, I think that what he should do is to find where is the highest level he's reached and go beyond it as he not come back. As Bishop was describing that he used to pray in the gardens for seven hours. So at this time he can't go lower than that. So I think he should go higher and have more expectation in that. One of the ways, in fact a major way to fight going back is to Fast forward, is to move forward. I tell you, because everybody apart from the pastors, everybody can backslide. And I'm saying that one of the ways you see, one of the ways to fight backsliding is to move forward fast, take decisions for Jesus 1st is to not delay in taking decisions that favor the ministry and the church and the work of God and your life in ministry. Anytime you try to maintain, see God is is he has always been against maintaining where you are. God. God doesn't like people who get something, they get to a level and all they do is fighting to keep where they are. I am, I am, I am a CCO. So all your energy, every skill, every reflects, everything in you is being used to maintain CCO. I tell you, if you don't fall, God will not be happy with you. You remember the guy who was giving talent a talent, the guy with one talent, the one with five, the one with three. They moved forward, they improved. That is what God wants us to be. The Bible says that the path of the righteous is like the shining light that shines brighter or more and more until the coming day. So God's plan for everyone, CCO, whatever is that you must shine more and more or brighter and brighter, not that your brightness must must stagnate. So one of the ways to fight by sliding is always to do more. You see, in trying to do more, in trying to pray more, in trying to do more outrage, in trying to serve God more, even if you fail, if you attempt to do more, at least you will maintain the level you have been at. But if you try to keep where you are and you fail, you have how many of you have seen a lizard falling before? A lizard? A lizard in the ceiling. Fun is false. What happens? It makes a very loud Roy that it will turn the neck left, right, left, right. So everybody so like you, for instance. Thank you. You wake up to pray now. Is it because of the fast? I mean, the fast also to come to. Yeah. I mean, that is wisdom. I mean, he's just applying the wisdom. Solomon taught us that you must be like the locusts, which is carried by the force of the wind. You may not be able to fly very far, but he says that the locust is an animal that moves with the wind. When he sees that there's a wind blowing, it just lets itself into the wind and is carried by the momentum of the wind. Many of you must use this first to move further forward into your prayer life so that after 1st February, you, you, you alone will learn the art of waking up early to pray. Yes, at least you're 4 to 6 dear. So if you have been praying on your own, what you need to do is that now you to fight this backsliding, tell yourself that you are adding 30 minutes to the time you have been praying. At least if you fail you, you add 15 minutes, 5 minutes. Any addition to where you are at is equal to progress. If you have been reading your Bible, your Bible still you have your quiet time every day. Maybe you read a chapter a day. You must tell yourself that from now on I'm going to read maybe a chapter and 1/2 or a chapter with three scriptures memorized. That is how to fight backsliding. You don't fight backsliding by holding the pillar that I won't fall. You don't fight backsliding by saying that, Charlie, this is so once you know where you have been at like you, if you now you are below it, fight together and it's your decision. And I've seen that anything you want to become, you can become anything you want to do. You know that some people, they are so super spiritual. They are waiting for the Holy Ghost to blow a horn like the train. It's your time now to pray. It's your time to shine. It's your time to to to be a shepherd. But when you were going for the Lebanese boyfriend, nobody told you to chase him. Hey, listen, it is very important. If you really want to fight, backslide in it. There are some decisions. There are some decisions you must not wait for. Holy Spirit, I'm telling you, don't wait for an Angel You have the power to see. Psalm 91 says that because He has set his love upon me, I will deliver him. It is because the Angel has made him love me or because you can decide to love God. You are capable. You are capable anything you are not as a result of your decision not to be. As soon as God sees that you want to be, He will give you the grace to become you. You give you the grace to become so. So think about it. Is it possible for someone to be an elder who is not an elder? What what? What can a person do one day to be an elder on campus? By what? Being involved, being committed, be a shepherd. Shepherd of what? In a branch. And then you do what else? You, you do things, you attend meetings. What else you do are are you, are you aware that all these things you can decide not to do them? And Gee, there is nothing like the the course I am doing. This is my course. Nobody has done something. I'm doing aeronautical engineering with emphasis on aerospace, mechanical modulations, nonsense. Anything you are doing. See, I've I've come to see that people who use their course, they are profession or they are as an excuse not to become something. It's your intention not to do it. Because you see, I can show you somebody who has also done the same thing and has been able to save God and and done even more, even more. So you can decide this year, if last year, all of last year, and as you president said, how many souls did you win the whole of last year you brought to church? If it's zero, say 0, don't worry if it's 1/2. OK, so yours was maybe if you brought someone to church but the person didn't stay. I'll tell you that this year, tell yourself that you are bringing one person to church. From zero to 1, it's a great blessing. From zero to 1, it's a decision. We are, we are fighting by sliding. To give yourself holy, you must fight by sliding. There's a law called the law of degeneration that everything is tending towards destruction. So without doing anything, that's why the word is fighting by sliding, not thinking by sliding. Or not becoming aware of Bastion. You must fight it, you see, because the law of the Generation is a law that is active in all spheres of life. Everything must spoil. The last wedding I officiated a few weeks ago, I preached about the Law of the Generation. I told them that as they work out of the church, they are starting their degeneration as they are going out. I told them I said it. I didn't come to Casey, but I'm telling you that from here the next step is divorce. I told them the next step is slaps. The next step is fighting. But it can easily not happen if you decide that you are going to fight it because some married and after one week what you hear is that they are they are angry. And the the the shortest one I heard at the Bishop told us at the camp also somebody who they got married on Saturday. No, no, no Sunday the following day, one day he went to church. The wife told the pastor that she or the guy, the guy told the pastor that he doesn't want to marry the girl again because some things the girls did in the room. She she, she, she full story. So, so listen, the point is that your spiritual life, it is, it is programmed to spoil. It is programmed to spoil. You are programmed to degenerate. It's normal. I am and so are you. We are programmed to by slide the natural tendency that anything that is left will tend towards degeneration. You leave it, it will decay. There is nothing that when you leave it will it will get better or to get nicer now. But for it to be nice, you must understand that you must fight where the world is going to now. If you are not very careful when it's time to marry, you'll be confused whether you should marry a man or a woman. I'm telling you, it cannot care to you, it cannot get you. Look, everything is spoiling, including our spiritual lives. That is the reason why we must even know about the junction so that you know, Hey, this place many, if you use the Takradi Rd. at Cape Coast. Accra. Cape Coast. Sorry, I'm not sure of Takradi. There are areas where they say 225 people died here, 17 people died here. What are some of the things you've written over Speeding kills. This number of people died here, this died here and most of them are banks junctions. Junsons are specialists and eliminating people. If you want you fail your exam or in school, it can be a junction for you. Yes you are used to blowing. You just blow your exam 198070 suddenly you get 303028. You can easily stop attending first love. And so I'm now learning. I'm now getting serious with my school. You are lying. You are not prepared for the junction. Yes, because some people will also get 303028 and they will still sing, they will still dance, they will still pass her, they will still become shepherds, they will still be elders. And you see, one day they will pass their exam. Know it and fight it. Fight it. It is. It is important. I think I'm hearing some of the most wonderful things. A Christian mass here today. Yes, prepare, prepare. I personally know people, normal straight guys who went to campus, they came back to church. They are homosexuals. I can mention 1/2 at least I know 21. We have been monitoring his CB4 count now HIV positive ghost to do test and it comes we sit down we monitor what are we doing next step listen. So now by the grace of God we are we are just taking Sep train to the glory of God. I believe in God for healing. Why? Why you got to my junction? You are confused. Somebody can become your friend and suggest to you that you are. You are. You are a woman. In spite of the two testers hanging in front of you, you're convinced that you are a woman. You are a woman. You are listen, listen. That is why you must be serious. You see, if if I were you, I will fight to even be a shepherd. If I, if my person doesn't want me to be, I'll be in every meeting so that I can fight. You see, there is evil. Yes, you can butt light so easily. Anything possible, any any event in life can let you by slide. Poverty can let you by slide. Prosperity can let you by slide. Failing can let you by slide. Person can let you by slide. Name it. Not marrying can let you back slide. Marrying can let you back slide. Not not having children can let you back. Yeah. Because there's some people they don't want to do anything apart from moving from prayer camp to prayer camp, chasing this and that. My pregnancy. Any new prophet in town? No. They don't care what happens in church. Any event on earth has has been known to cause people to back slide. Yes, some will lead Jesus Christ because they are something died. Some will come to Jesus because they are something died. What will let somebody get angry with God? Will let somebody run to God. We are so different, so you need to know that when something is happening, the word that is today, today the most important word we have learned is junction. Junction. Yes, chale, this will be junction will be careful. This will be junction. It be junction where you come there Chale you day junction park this one be spanner junction you day you day spanner junction. Otherwise, I tell you, you'll be surprised that what you thought you were, what you thought you could be, what you were believing God to become, what you were trusting God to be. One day you'll be a pastor. One day you'll be best to be serving God. You'll be doing missionary work and so on. You'll be you'll be totally off that type of life. So you must be strong. You really must be strong and that that the main thing you need to do is always when you find that level where you were at, try to take decisions that will let you do more, say more, more, more, more, more. If you don't do more, the law of degeneration will cause you to decay in a way. You'll be amazed. Me Paa Elder Elda. Today I'm lying in bed with two girls that I'm smoking. Because the devil has a plan for your life. And what plan is it? It is a plan to let your life become useless. He's so happy that you are here. Many of you has planned for you that by this time you should be, you know, in some hotel with some man. You should be on campus, somebody smooching you on the left, on the right. But today you are a vessel God is using. You are a vessel. The power of God is passing through. You are a person God is using to change lives. You are a person is using to turn somebody's life around. He's not happy that you are here. He's not happy you are here at all. If you are a guy, he's not happy you are here the wishes you were some type of person, drunkard, drug addict, witch smoker this time, and I'm telling you, being on being a guard with just just go to town. You go, you only go to town. You see almost everything has been done by a graduate. Graduates are armed robbers. Graduates are what's the name witch smokers. Graduates are what? Drug dealers, drug pushers, drug whatever, and you are a potential candidate. So if you are here, you must really make up your mind that you are going to become very stable in your mind. Say man, say man. And what are some of the other junctions we have here? If you get married so from what on being unmarried to marriage and then what else one you have one you have what children. How can children stop you from serving God? One at the back and one is breastfeeding and what else? So so So what does it mean? A child or children can So what you see, even your lady pastors you see with children preaching in church. When you see Ida, Lady, Pastor Ida singing, learning to sing, learning songs, pressing on with children, it must, it must OK to you that this is something you must admire. Are you with me? Because like like like Bishop Dahosa said, it is when you are married and you have children that I will respect you if you continue to do the things you are doing. Marriage and children can easily turn you into. I've seen. So how many of you know of somebody who has got children, two children and doesn't? It was something in church now doesn't do or you are young. What's the other junction? Sorry, trouble. Trouble where travel to Kumasi? How can how can travelling be an important dancing you must fight and the environment. What has the environment done? Because you have changed environment, you have travelled to a place. No rehearsals, no shepherd, no church, No, because give it into this lighthouse. If we go to that branch, the person doesn't know you. We just go and sit there. Whatever. No one, nobody knows you around. So what do you do? What do you do when you travel? That is where your personal Christian discipline. Like Jesus, whenever he traveled, he went somewhere. He's custom, you see, you must have customs, you must have customs to go to church on Sunday. Yesterday, one of my members sent me a text. Last night, around midnight, I got a text that Reverend NI Ajedu sent his greetings. Livia, Reverend Olivia sent her greetings and I said why did you meet them? So he went to Nigeria to do some work. Yesterday was what, Tuesday or Wednesday? One of the days, Yeah, it's not a Sunday. He's he's in my church, a Christian doing well. And Asha, he went to Lagos to do business. Wednesday evening, he went to church in Lagos. You would have said this is holidays. You know solid this let me tell you, if you do not, if you do not have customs as a Christian, you will fall away soonest that at 4:00. My custom is to wake up and pray. Whether we are fasting or we are eating, whether we are watching and praying or we are praying and watching. I have a custom. Can you have some customs that I must read my Bible every day? We are talking about fighting backsliding and one of the ways to fight backsliding is to have customs that I don't do this. I don't. By the grace of God I don't do this, but the grace of God I will do this every day. This is what I will do on Sunday, whether I'm in Fiji or Samoa, if it means going to sit in a Catholic Church, even if I'm a Penteco charismatic and the only church is a Catholic Church, I will go and sit there. I'm telling you, see, everything starts small, small, small, small. Yeah. Today you go to a place where there's no lighthouse, so you won't go. And there's no there's you'll go. One day you go, oh, there's a lighthouse. But it's not like my my own lighthouse in Suhum, Kabua, Kota. This one is too small. I'm all used to my my tech, you know, my tech, my pasta and the way my pasta preaches this pasta. So you are starting. You are starting. So you travel. There's even lighthouse. You won't go to church. Then you travel. There's no lighthouse. Then you won't go. You go. Yeah, there's lighthouse. You go once in a while. You go until one day you are in your own city, your own town. You are in town, but you won't go to church? Yes, because you fail to have customs. Customs. Jesus Christ, the one we claim we are following, He had customs. I tell you, one of your greatest. You know, it's not everything we can say, but I have been greatly held in my Christian life by watching people ahead of me with customs, doing things as a custom. And I, as I have learned it, my life has become better. You'll be there and say, oh, everywhere I want. I'll pray anytime. I'll pray to me. It's not like that. Peter and John. That was an hour of prayer. That was an hour of prayer and they were going to church they were going to church at the hour of prayer. See these things make a Christian. So what do you see him saying that a silver and gold have I known in the name of Jesus said the same thing and see if to happen. I'm I'm saying I don't know where isn't that where he was using? Please, please use the microphone. That's all. I couldn't buy a short microphone so I couldn't say he used his raw math. He said I don't have money. You boy, you have got money. He said silver and gold. Have I none? In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. And what happened to the man? So how come you when you say they are rather sleeping right there in that story is a man who is following a custom right in that story, it's a man going to pray at the hour of prayer. Yes. If you don't create customs, the busyness of life would round out the virtues, your strength. Before you know it, you are chasing anything chaseable, money, wind, flowers, anything. Yes, because as you move on in life, the devil, one of the things he does is that you throw attractive things your way. Yes, he will distract you. Look here. Isn't this one nice? Can I not do this? Can I not go here? Can't I do this? And before you know it, you have become a different person. Decide that I'm not married, so I will not have sex with anybody, and you and I are in a relationship. But it's my custom not to have sex with a woman I've not married, so I will not sleep with you. Believe God. Otherwise, say, won't you marry? You knew the same thing. One day a husband and wife came to me in my office. There was a major problem. They're not even in my church. The wife's sister is my church member, so she brought. Her sister's marriage is collapsing, so she brought them. Meeting to my office. So when they sat down I asked the man, but I had a little history of what was going on. So I asked the husband, Sir, I mean after we prayed and some pleasantry, Sir, what is happening, went so on. The man was quiet. See what's going on? I said, Oh Sir, what I mean, what is the problem? Then the wife said, Speak to the husband, speak. Hey, speak that, the man quietly said. The man quietly said, Pastor, with all due respect, I've got things to say, but I will not speak until my wife has spoken first. Wouldn't you speak? I said, Madam, please say what is on your what is the provides your husband saying because it has come to light that the man had gone to sleep with somebody not knowing that when the woman also began to speak, she said 01 day she was angry with her husband. They were quarreling. The the husband insulted her and then she she just had a phone call from her former boss. So she went to a hotel and she slept with her former boss, a married woman because she didn't have cousins. So when the husband got to know that this woman, my wife is already going. So because she was she didn't have the discipline of being with her husband. Smart thing that has made you angry. You are going to your former boss. So the man also said if you are going to your former boss, I'm also going to my former. May you have customs of prayer, Bible study, going to church, praying in tongues, waking up at 4:00. If all this is how we fight backsliding, you don't fight backsliding by just just being there. Jesus had customs and may you also have customs in Jesus name, Amen.