Stephanie Ike - Year Of Deception

All right, So. What's I'm very excited about today's word. You know, in the beginning of the year, pet gave a message about the season that we are in and he mentioned that this is a year of reward. Now, what is very interesting about that? Na, Naturally, I like to watch like these medieval movies, and so what I really love about it is that, you know, movies that they talk about like kingdoms and kings and you know all that stuff, And why I love those kind of films is that it gives you a perspective of how things operate in the kingdom. You see, Jesus is the king of kings, you see. So there's just something about that. Now, when a declaration is made from you know, when God declares something, when the word goes out and then we are told that this is the year of reward. Not like it any kingdom, when a king makes a decree, there's always going to be a position. Now the opposition does not stand because whatever the king says, that's what it is. But the king has to be aware of who's opposing him, because not only does the opposer needs to be punished, but whatever they are, whatever message that they are, you know, using to oppose him against needs to also be put into you. Know, that also has to be punished. And so for some time I've been hearing for a few days, actually, I've been hearing the year of deception. And I said, Lord Jesus, this is the year of reward. Okay, this is not the year of deception. But what I did not understand of the time was that I was it was an insight to what is going on in the enemy's camp. You said, there's a word that says, you know. When trouble and tribulation comes because of the word. When a word goes forth, tribulation will come because of that word. And so when a word goes forth that we are in a year of reward, the. Enemy also sends for trouble. And what that trouble looks like in this year is gonna be deception, because the enemy does not want you to ultimately receive the war the reward that God has for you. And so we're gonna look into deception now in Revelations. You know, I can't remember what passage it is exactly, but like pet says, read your whole Bible, you'll find it. In Revelations, there is the part that they call the enemy, basically the one who would deceive all the world. Now, we we often read, you know how we say like, you know, we're not we're in the world, but we're not off the world, and stuff like that. But I want us to read a passage about when Jesus was making that prayer, because that prayer was actually being made about his disciples. Because if the enemy is sent out to. Deceive and when I say the enemy, we're talking about Satan, you know, but if he's sent out to deceive the whole world. But now there are people that are in the world that are not off the world. And we all like to say that as believers, right, you know, I'm in the world, but love of the world and all that stuff. But what was really highlighted at to me when God was teaching me this word is that that was spoken to disciples. Now, the difference between a disciple and a believer is intimacy. With Christ. Not everyone was a disciple, but many were believers. Many came to believe God, but not everyone followed Christ in that manner, in that intimate manner. And what's powerful when you have intimacy is that you're not just intimate with Christ, You're intimate with the truth. Deception comes when there are rooms in your life. There are places in your life that have not been surrendered to God. There are places in your life that have not been built in the foundation of truth. And that's when the enemy can step in and deceive us. So I want us to even read the you know, just a snippet of that prayer that Jesus was making over his disciples, and that is in John seventeen John seventeen, sixteen to nineteen, and I have it here. I'm always like trying to strain. I think the lights like flicker or something on my eye. But we got it. Okay. So John nineteen sixteen to nineteen. Now they are not of the world. And now this is Jesus speaking to disciples, and you know, disciples when you have intimacy with Christ. Okay, So they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them with your truth. Your world is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world, and for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Now, what I love about the world's censification. It means is to be set apart. Okay, so to be set apart by the truth. Now, deception ultimately, let's even you know, to deceive someone. This is how the dictionary even defines it. I believe I gave them an image as I read it, so you can also see it, because I just want to highlight a few things here as you go forward. So this is based on your Google deceived and this is what comes up right. So to deceive, it's to cause someone to believe something that is not true in order to gain personal advantage. Now, the enemy is the one that wants to gain personal advantage. Now what's interesting is that also this word when we look at it in Biblical standpoints. The Hebrew word for that is patha. And what nobody really cares about that, but you know, just in. Case you do. But what that word means, and it's really interesting is to make room. And why I was really fascinated about that because there are so many places that we make room for, so many ideologies we make room for, you know, to kind of entertain people's opinions and people's thoughts in our lives, and those are areas that ultimately we get deceived because we are opening something. We're making room for that thing. And so when we see Jesus speaking over his disciples and he's saying that set them apart, Let them be set apart by the truth led nothing. Let there be no room for them to be deceived. Let there be no room for them. Let them make no room to receive anything. That is not my word. Okay, So we're gonna go through a few scriptures. If you know me, I love the Bible. You know. We do this because there is a particular word that I heard. And let's open to first John four one. And this is what at the end of today. You know, this is something very heavy that God wants us to get out of here doing. And that is to test every spirit. Okay, Now it says, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. Now, a false prophet is a prophet basically is someone who speaks the mind of God, right, and to speak the mind of God is to speak wisdom. So, just to simplify it, so when we see this, there are people in our lives that come as wise right, and they come from a wise standpoint and they want to give you advice based on their wisdom, based on the wisdom that they have obtained. But then God is telling us that test every spirit. It's not everything that you are advised to do that you should jump on. You have to test it because you see, when you test the spirit, when you even if you're in a class, you have a test, you have exam. You test something based on the answers that you have. You know, a teacher will not grade you if they don't have the answers what you know, what it really is. And so when you know you have tests, they grade it based on what the answer actually is. And so to test every spirit, we have to great things according to the character of God. And so when people come into your life and they're advising you in what character are they advising you? You see, God is love and it's always great to go into you know, I believe it's in First Corinthians. What chapter, I'm not sure, but when they talk about what love is right, and we see all these qualities. Love is patient, love is kind, love is not self serving, love is enduring. All these amazing things. But we have people that come into our lives and they want to they want to have us make decisions, and all of a sudden it has to be today. If you don't tell me today, the deal is done. If you don't tell me today, then whatever is whatever. You know, they come into a life as people that care for us, as people that I have your best interest. But in what character are they bringing you that word? In what character are they advising you? You see, this is a time where to receive the reward. There is a path. Okay, there's something you have to engage in, and ultimately the enemy doesn't want you to engage in the right thing. The reward is there when God declares the things, so shall it be right. So we have to be very careful about the people we allow to speak into our lives and the things that we allow to follow. Okay, Now I want us to look at another passage really quick, and that is in Matthew twenty. Four four the five. Now this is Jesus warning his disciples, he says, And Jesus answered and said to them, take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ, and will deceive many Now what's interesting about this is not that people are I mean to say, you know, I'm Jesus Christ. You need a lot of you know, a lot of stuff for that. You need a mother who was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. You know, you need this a lot. But Christ Christ in itself, the meaning of Christ is anointed, right Jesus. When the name Jesus Christ, Jesus means the savior, and so Jesus Christ means, you know, the one anointed to save the people. So when Jesus is saying that they will come in my name and said I am Christ, they will come and say I am anointed. Now, to be anointed is to be empowered by God for a particular task. Okay, So now there are people that will come in your life as though they have been empowered to handle something that God has not ordained. Them to do. And so even when there are people coming to help you, people are coming to say, hey, let me you know, I got this for you, let me. Do this for you. We have to test the spirits of the people that come. Do not be so quick, do not be so desperate, Do not be so know eager to say, well, God showed me something like this, But is that. The route that he wants you to take? Okay, because a lot of times we have we we position people in roles that they were never assigned for. And this is, this is really, it's really, it's you know, this morning, it's been really heavy on my heart that we have to be very aware. You don't you don't engage in battle without knowing what the enemy is planning. You don't engage in a value, You don't engage in something without knowing what the opposing team is trying to bring at you. And deception is what. The enemy is trying to throw at us family. Okay, So now let's go into another passage really quick. Now we're gonna look at Genesis three, okay, because to understand deception, we have to even go to the beginning, right, we have to go to the first deception that took place, and this is when the devil deceived Eve. And in this we're gonna look at what ultimately the devil is after when he said when he's trying to deceive us. Right, So let's open this and I have it right, hair, So I'm not gonna be straining. See, I don't even know what's going on there. But let's read this. Now. The serpent was more cunning than any beasts of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruits of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it. Now, God never said that right, He never said you shall not touch. It, but lest you die. And then the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you. Will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree desirable to me, wise, she took of. Its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband. She also gave. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sold fig leaves together and made themselves coverants and I'm gonna stop here really quick, and. We're going to go, you know, go further. Now, what's really interesting here is that we see that Adam in the beginning. Obviously God made man first, and then God made Eve out of Adam. Now, when God made Eve, he looked at Adam and said, you know, this man needs a helper. That is fit for him, and so he makes Eve. Now, when you make someone as a helper, it suggests that that person is stronger in that capacity to do something right. You don't seek help if you're not. You have to look for help with someone that has the ability to be strong in that. But the thing now is that when someone has the ability, when someone is stronger in a certain capacity, you have to know exactly what they were designed to help you with. Now, ultimately, Eve was designed to help Adam with the work that God assigned to him. When we look at you know, as women, we like talking about the Proverbs thirty one woman. And what's interesting is that the Proverbs thirty one woman, she's a boss, you know, she you know, they talk about how she considers a field and buys it right. She wakes up at you know, at the late hours of the day to make sure that, you know, the family has food. And she does all these things that is, honestly more than what the man is doing. And so she has a stronger. Ability in the area of work of the home, how to keep the home, and how to work whatever is sustaining the home. Because it was to the woman that said that her lamp does not run out. They didn't say that about the man. They say that about the woman. So ultimately God created Eve to help Adam in the area of his work. God never designed Eve to help them in the area of direction. She was not designed to direct him on what he should do. You see, direction is about information. And now the serpent couldn't go directly to Adam because honestly, the person he's after is Adam, right, But he can go directly to Adam because Adam named him. When you name a thing, you know it's function, you know it's limit. Right, And. And Adam named him according to what God named him. So Adam had revelation about who the serpent is. And so the serpent cannot engage in such conversation with Adam because it would not work. And so he goes to Eve, who is not well versed in revelation, she's messing up what God said already saying he told them to not touch the tree. God never said that, you know. So it's she was more, you know, vulnerable to the plans of the enemy. But now when Eve goes to Adam, because Eve has been created as a helper, and I would just like to suggest that Adam placed Eve in a position she was never designed to fit, because now he placed Eve in a position to direct him. And so when Eve brought up the information that hey, you know, have this fruit, and then he ate it. And we see at the end where God says, because you listen to the voice of your wife, and then then you know the cursings. That followed all along. The person that is in charge of how Adam should be directed was God. They had fellowship, they had relationship in the in Genesis we see everywhere. How even when you know the whole thing with the fall of Man came, it talks about how God was when God was looking for the man and he said, where are you? So there was a close relationship that they have. That Adam was built on truth. But because Eve was designed as a helper, all of us sudden she's helping them in areas that was never attended. You See, what God showed me about today is that there are people in our lives that are designed to help us, right and some of those people we have encountered. Some of those people we are in you know, we are in fellowships with we're in relations We have relationships with them. But you have to be very careful to not let them direct you. It is God's job to direct you a person in your life. If they're giving you direction that you follow, it only has to be confirmation of a path that God has already. Called you on. And so. Let's just even finish this passage really quick. So I believe we're in verse eight and I'm gonna go into something. Okay. Now, they heard the sound of They had the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden. On the cool of the day. Is that where we are? Yep? Okay, on the cool of the day, where are we? And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord called God called to Adam and said to him where are you? So he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat of? And the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave, She gave me of the tree, and I ate, we're gonna go into that. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me. What is the enemy after? Two things? Direction and division? You see, direction is about information. Right, You're all directed by the information you obtain. A lot of you are here today because you have obtained information that we have a Midwick service. You have obtained information that there is a church called One Church Alay and it's pretty awesome, right, you have obtained all this information and that's what directed you here. What the enemy is after? Because Jesus is known as the Way, the Truth and the life. But we want to emphasize on the way. The way to everything is in Christ and the enemy is after being that way. And so if he can get in your camp, if he can get in the people close to you and use them to deceive you with information to direct you that was never given to you by God, that was never that was never like and actually, let me even say this really quick. This is why it's so important that we are in we have intimacy. This is why it's so important that we are seeking God for God, how should I move? You? See? The Bible says that the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord. Okay, and a lot of times, what I was seeing today is that we we we select areas where we want God to speak to us and where we want God to move because we get so eager, we get so desperate. And even yesterday, what I was seeing is that as we begin a new year, right, we have this scene and it's a temptation from the enemy where he tempts you with this need to do I need to be doing something. And anything that makes you desperate is never of God because God is patient. And so. When you're seeking direction, understand, family, this is the most important thing. Today is going to be quite short because you just need to receive this and work it out, okay now, because the most important thing is for you to know that God wants to speak to you. God is speaking to you. The problem is that God is speaking to your spirit. He's not speaking to your flesh. He's not speaking to your soul. He speaks to your spirit. So unless everything else submitted to your spirit, that's why it's hard to hear the Lord. And so God wants to give you direction for your life. Don't be too eager to jump and take advice from people, even though they seem to be wise. They seem to be people that are in positions to tell you, you know what, I think this is what you should do for your life. I think this is the career path you should go. I think this is someone you should talk to. I think this is whatever, whatever, whatever these paths, if you make the wrong choice, because ultimately the end of your life is always based by the decisions that you make, and those decisions are always based by information, and ultimately you want that information to be from Christ. You don't want that to be from people. That are not equipped to tell you what to do with your life. Okay, and so the enemy is after direction. He's after how can I lead them to a path that will destroy them? And this is very deceiving because even in the Bible we see that there's a passage that says, there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. And so you and that. Thing really alarms me because that means you're walking in the path and everything seems great. Right, so you are probably even praising God on that path, like Jesus, I thank you for opening this door. I thank you, Lord, But he never opened that. That was all the enemy. And so to receive the full reward, family, we have to be so in tune with what God is saying. Okay, now the second thing is the vision. Now we see that when the enemy spoke to Eve. Obviously, when she ate the apple automatically, whether Adam was gonna eat it or not, she will be separated from Adam. She'll be separated from the presence of the Lord. He knew that, and so first he's looking to separate man from the woman. Now if Adam so, probably he's over there weighing his options. Now, if Adam gave in too the apple to eat in the apple, they will both be separated from the presence of the Lord. Right, and then we see how Adam is even playing the blame game. The Lord says, Adam, did you eat the apple? Or it was the woman is a woman you gave me? And I just find that quite hilarious, right, because two things that works not in our favor. Because when it comes to division. You know, when we had Bishop Jakes come in and he talked about relationships and he talked about, you know what, wherever you are, you have reached the end of yourself. This is the time you have to partner with people. And that word is very on point, right, because when it comes to division, you see, let me even play it like this, there's a passage that tells us one would chase one thousand, but two would chase ten thousand. When we're asking God on Sunday, you know, pet talked about increasing our capacity. When we're asking God to increase our capacity, there's so. Much you can do with, you know, two hands. But increasing our capacity is also connected to the people connected to you. And it's so fascinating how God look at if one is chasing a thousand. Now, let's look at it in a battle scene, right, a place that only has one thousand people in the army, you're not really conquering much, right, But if you conquer a place. With ten thousand people in the army, there's a lot to obtain, and so to receive the fullness of that blessing, you need a couple of arms with you. And so two things that I saw when it. Came to division on our part, because there are relationships in our lives that have gone wrong. There are people that you felt led you astray. Those things have already happened. But what God wants us to do. You have to recognize where you play the role. Okay, this is not the time to do the blame game and said you did this, you knew this, and you did that. Eve was aware because she even says that the you know, the serpent deceived me, but he deceives her and she goes ahead to still gives Adam the apple. Right, So it's not about playing the blame game with people, because these people are supposed to be in your life. Right. Adam was evil was created for Adam, and if they fell together, then hey might as well rise together. Right. And the second thing is forgiveness. Okay, you have to on this. You have to be willing to just say no, what I forgive both myself and you for the mistakes that we made. I forgive that, and I'm willing for us to move forward because ultimately in God there's always provision for restoration. No matter what they did in that passage. Jesus was the answer and Jesus is still the answer. And so when it comes to these two things, family, I want us to take it very seriously, not lightly, very seriously, okay, because if the enemy can separate you, first of all, from the voice of God, because when he took man away, when man fell right, they were separated from God. And we see even in the Old Testament, how you know, for people to even go before God. One priest once a year has to enter the this weird temple and any little if he was you know, if he had sin, he'll probably just die, you know, until Jesus came. And even in this day in the House of God, some of us believe that there are certain areas of our lives that God cannot speak to us, that I just have to make a decision based on calculation, based on advice, based on whatever. But when it always comes to direction, God wants to tell you what you're supposed to do. God wants to lead you. God knows the way that you're supposed to take. And that's in every aspect of your life, every aspect in relationships, in career, in every aspect God wants to show you because we cannot afford to be deceived and deseason. We cannot afford to miss out on the reward that God has for us. Okay, So now there's one more thing. I want us to open really quick to Sam. I don't think I give that to you, but that just keeps coming someone and I'm gonna try and strain, cause this is not here, Okay. So he see, it says, blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor seats no let's oh, let's go back now, huh, North seats in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. Mkay. He shall be like a tree planted. What I love about this is that he's positioned in a place. You see, when I and I. I write daily devotionals, and I believe it was yesterday that there was something about this that kept being highlighted to me because when it says blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked, he's not receiving his information that he receives to to direct his life is not coming, and the wicked doesn't have to just it's not just about people that are evil, it's just about people that just like understanding, right, And so he's not receiving counsel from the wicked. And actually lest it won't go back really quick because you see the not even progression, but maybe digression. I don't know if that's a word, but I'm using it because you see it goes from him walking to standing to sitting. That's stagnation. Family, how do you start walking and you end up doing nothing? Now you're sitting with the scornful. And that is always the path of the enemy. It would lead to nothing. It leads to stagnation. So let's go. Let's go to you know, the next verse. Okay, But his delight actually they stay here. His delight is in the law of the Lord. You said a lot of times when I when I used to read this passage years back, I just thought that God, you know, I love to study the word of God. So I'm sure this is me, you know, but it was studying. You can study without practicing. You can just read it as a religious practice and think you're doing something like, oh, I wake up in the morning, Gata, re Genesis, you know, gallery proverbs or whatever. But the law of the lawd and it's so incredible, and I love it when they use the world law because a law is to govern your actions. We don't have laws if we don't you know, follow them, if we don't abide by them. So to delight in the law is to delight in the way God is having you. To take is to delight in God. I want to receive my information from you, and so that is why I'm going to meditate on this thing until i can understand it. You see, there's a passage of the Bible and it talks about, you know, when Jesus was giving it a parable, and he was talking about what happens when someone receives a word, and he was going into different scenarios of what could possibly happen. And there's one scenario I really love, and well it's not great, but you know, but there's one scenario and he says that there is one that receives a word, and because he does not understand the word, the enemy comes and snatches it away. And this is what happens a lot of times. And even in the area those you know, God kept highlighting even dreams. A lot of you. God has been speaking to you through dreams. You know, you're asking. God, I need direction, I need direction, and he's telling you I'm giving you direction. But when you. Don't understand the dream, you're so quick to just throw it away, like I didn't get the dream, I don't understand what that means. So you know, I'm just gonna keep going, and the enemy comes and snatches it away. And a lot of times you have dreams that are from God, but you interpret it based on a lie because you are not patient enough to sit in the presence of God and say, Lord. What is this thing? You see? The Bible tells us that it is to the glory of God to conceal a thing because when God, you know, when they said that the right shall live by faith, that means you have to press in. So God is glorified when he conceals something because he wants you to press into him so that he would reveal that. Thing to you. You see, even the Bible, you can read the Bible. The Bible itself is concealed. If you're just reading it, you're just gonna read words. But when you have the Holy Spirit, he starts to reveal things. That you're like, oh really, oh wow. And so when we have these dreams, even when we're studying the world, don't be in such a hurry like, Okay, today I have to read. You know, Proverbs twelve, everything of Proverbs twelve. Take your time to study that. Take your time because God could be speaking to you through his word. He could be speaking to you in dreams. He could be Someone could say something to you, and for some reason it hits your spirit. Has that ever happened to anyone? Someone randomly says something to you, but you can't let that thing go, And you're like, why can't I let this thing go? God could have been speaking through that person to you. And so we have to take our time and go back to before the presence of God and say, Lord, what is this thing that I'm hearing? We see I'll give you a transparent moment. I remember the first time I had you know, I when I the first time I when I started coming here and I spoke to pet there's something I need to talk to him about. And he said the word walk with me. But it was really just to walk with him right, to walk down so I could talk to him, right. But that word stuck with me for some reason. It really hit me. And there was a time when I was when I when I spoke to First Lady Sarah, she was going upstairs and I wanted to talk to her about something that she said, walk with me. It's very simple, She's just she's just telling me to walk with her, right, walk with me upstairs, and let's talk about it. But those words stuck to me for some reason. It was in my spirit for something I could not understand. And when I said, okay, Lord, I went before God and I'm like, God, this word is something about it? And then God shows me because I want you to walk with them, walk with. Them in this ministry. Right. So something so little, something so. Little as oh, just you know, come on, let's go. God can use that to be speaking to you. But are we taking the time to go before the Lord and say, God, what is this word that is hidden me so much in my spirit? What is this thing? Because if you don't understand it, and you let it go, the enemy will come and snatch it away. And if a word is snatched the way, you cannot receive the promise of that word. You cannot receive the reward that is attached to that word. Because you see, when God reveals a thing to you, then you have it. You become empowered by that thing. Your service would change, your disposition would change. But if you do not understand what it is, then you start you continue living life normally while asking God, Oh, God, do something new in my life? God, when is this gonna change? And all along he's telling you, I am trying to show you something, but you are not being patient enough with me. You are not staying in my presence enough to let me reveal. But this thing is right. So family, today, we need to walk this word out. We need to start spending We take hours. We you know, we go out with friends, we go for coffee, we go for whatever, we go for something. Right, but. We need to take the time to spend time with God. We need like it's it's so incredible how much God delight in our delight in our presence. It's something amazing. You know, one thing, one thing that one thing that I was doing revealed to me is that sometimes when we sleep, the person of Jesus comes by your bed and he sits there because he just wants to. Watch you sleep. And that's how much he loves your presence. So don't you think when you're awake and why does he why why do we even Why does he speak to us a lot in dreams because that's when we're calm, that's when we're not thinking about anything. We're not on Instagram, we're not thinking about how this person looked at me. She looked at me. Funny he We are so common and God is like, finally, like, come on, so how much more? How much more family? Because when the Bible says watch and pray, right, he's saying that, let everything about you in this moment be about me. Don't just pray really quick and you know, bounce, but watch and pray. When you pray, watch like watch, I'm gonna. Give you visions. I'm gonna show you things. So when we come before God, when we come before God, he wants that every bit of that moment to be about him. A lot of times we're praying, the phone goes off. Let me turn real quick, but we don't understand what that does. Imagine when you're with your friends and you go for lunch, right and you're having this deep conversation and probably you're even crying, and next thing, they're on their phone. How would that make you feel? You're expressing your heart to someone, and next thing they're like, oh, hold on one second, but the one second is something very irrelevant. How would that make you feel as a person? And we have to understand that if we have emotions, God has emotions. There's a song and when. I first when I started coming here that I loved that song so much and it talks about, you know, break my heart for what breaks yours. And I remember one night I was like, God, break my heart for what breaks yours? And that was not fun. I woke up in the middle of the night crying for no reason. At the time, I'm like, why the heck am I crying? And my heart was so heavy and I'm just weeping and weeping and weeping, and all of a sudden, there's this vision and there's a woman that's cursing God and he will showing me how He's like, this is a woman that I have like He's like, he will show me the things he had done for her, and one little thing affected her. She began cursing. Him, and that broke his heart in that moment. And so when we are like God, like I want to know you, I want everything every moment. If I'm saying that, God, and it's progressive, if we're saying that, Lord, you know, at this time, for thirty minutes, I just want to come before your presence. Give that thirty minutes to him. Switch off your phone, put it on flight mode or something, but give him those thirty minutes. It means a lot. Family, it really means a lot. You know, God loves all of us, and that's true. But even in the Bible, we see that very few people. Were called friends. I mean probably Moses, who else anybody throw out a name? Nobody? Okay, So if. You're in the whole Bible, one person was called a friend, one person. Don't you think God wants some friends, you know, apart from everything else. When you're a friend of God, that is the whole purpose. Because He would not hide a. Thing from a friend. He would not hide something. Remember when God was even going there's a story by a man named Abraham. And if you don't know Abraham, then pressing into this message, I don't, but. You see God go but for real, girl, for real. But there was a place where you know, we see God. God is about to there, I mean not the angels are about to go destroy like you know, Sulim and Gomara and all these things. And then God is like, can I hide this from Abraham? You know? Can I hide what we're about to do from him? Like? Those are emotions? Right, We have to take away this whole idea of you know, this guy in heaven. You know, we just ab Father, you know, all these things, but it's a relationship. Imagine someone who is like, can I hide something from this person? You know. The truth is that even with this message, this is just to lead us into intimacy with God. And that's something we're probably going to discuss later on because we see that. You know, one thing I love about the Bible is that it. Tells us that, you know, God is not man to lie. You know, God is not man to lie or the son No, God is not man to repent or something and the son of man to lie or something like that. But the point was that they're saying that you know, God can't repent of what he says, and he's not man to lie. And obviously we know that God doesn't lie. But when it came to Moses, this is a friend of God. There's a passage where and you just even google this and read this, and it's fascinating. There's a passage where you know, God is just looking the Israelites. They're in the wilderness and they're doing all these crazy things, right, and you know, God is just about to destroy everybody. And Moses tells God to repent of his anger, and the Bible says and God repented. You see, there's a place with God that you go deeper beyond what other people think of him. There's a place you can go with God that it's it's it's more than just you know this this like, oh, you know, God is up there, I'm up here. There's a place of intimacy with him where he tells you things just to tell you. It's like it thinks that it has no it's there's no really relevance. It's just something fun, something he wants to share with you. And this is where God wants us to be family, because in this time we need intimacy to survive. We need intimacy to thrive. Everything we need to receive is connected to our intimacy with God. You see, when you have intimacy, you know, I'm African, Nigerian per se. Now, you know there's something called intercessory prayer. And if you're being around an African, that tells you they're about. To intercede on your behalf. It's like a it's like a wilderness journey. In that room, sweating. Hot praying because you're interceded for something, right, you're just going at it, going at it. But you see someone like Moses in a simple conversation, he was interceding for the Israelites in a simple conversation, like Lord, come on, repent of your anger. He interceded for them to be saved. You see, intimacy is a place where you don't have to waste too much time on the extras. You know, when you come before God, you're like God, Oh look at the seas, they're so great? How great is your power? Oh Lord, you don't need to do all that. You just go straight to the point. Lord, I need help in this area because it's friendship, right, It's friendship when you don't know someone, that's when you do all the extras you do. You know, yeah, I just admire you know the way like. It might like you know, we have a worship team, right and I remember like even when you know, like when we didn't have like for some of us, move for me particularly, you know, when you're just coming here, you just go like, wow, the where you sang that song. I just felt heaven open. Because you're trying to, you know, get on their good side where you say hey, hey girl. But when you have relationship, it's like, girl, you sang that. You know you did that. But I'm just using this as an example that this is how it is with God. There are things that we don't need to do all these extra stuff when we have intimacy. Things are so simple. Things are so simple, and. We're able to also interceede on people's behalf. You can be talking to so on and they just say, look, I need prayer for this and this stuff. You going home to do all this extra stuff? Right there, you can just say God, what is this thing? What is going on? And you can respond to them as a vue of God. So family, let us rise. God wants intimacy God wants intimacy. We see that it was with the disciples. With the disciples, that's who Jesus was talking about when he said they are not of the world because they had intimacy with him. They were connected to truth. When you're with God, you're connected to the truth. The enemy cannot come and play games with you. You're able to test the spirits that are trying to find you. Right, You're able that when a person comes before you, you can say, you know what. This is looking funny? You know, Pete talked. About seed and harvest, and what's gonna happen is that the enemy is gonna try and tempt you with a lot of sea things. But God wants you to have the harvest. And so when you're able to test the spirit, you know what to bury and what to walk into. Right. So, if that's you and you're like, Lord, I want intimacy with you. This message is called the Year of Deception, but that's not what it's about. I just thought it was real catchy. But if you're like God, it's time for me to go deeper. It's time for me to go deeper. That is the place where we receive the fullness of this reward when God directs your steps. You know, Pete said it. You don't need to have connections. You don't need to be the smartest person, you don't need to know anyone. You just need to be directed by God. He would position you. That passage talks about how you know such you know in Psalms one, such a man is planted by the you know, by the water, your position in the place that you have to prosper. And so if you're like God, it's time for me to go deeper, then come on down. And if you're here. You know, when we talked about division, there are people in your life that you kind of, you know, offended about because they they they they they advised you or they even even in the area of relationships too, you feel like this person really, you know, for a better words, played me. But you know what we have to we have to identify our parts, the parts that we played in that because it's not just up to them, it's also up to us to have a relation before we identify people as what they're not RM okay. And so and if that's you, and even relationships. With business relationships, business partnerships that went wrong and you have this bitterness and offense in you and even with family members. You see, what what's interesting is that the enemy used Eve, someone that Adam is calling bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh to stare him down the wrong path. And so a lot of times you have even people close to you, family members, partners, that are adamant about having you go the wrong way. You know, what you're doing is right, and they're just like, but this is what you need to do. This is better God, it is not in our dna to have offense against people. You see, the truth is that it's actually easier to live a godly life than a sinful life, because if living a sinful life is easier, then sin has won. But Jesus one, Jesus has the victory. And so let's not even be deceived with the way we think that this thing just has a stronghold on me. No, it doesn't open that area of your life to God, and he has the power over that. And so if you know there are people that you just need to reconcile that relationship with, there's a pastor that talks about how Jesus has given us a ministry of reconciliation because that's what it's all about. It's all about relationships and partnerships and people. And you can be going after people that I'm gonna save, people that you have, people that you need to save yourself to with. Okay, So if. That's you, come on down, come on down and there and if you know some of you, this is so amazing, Cause what I just what? What? What? How do like? Plays in words? I really love God, y'all? Well? What I really love about God? I love God. What we love about God is that things are so easy with him, right. There are things that you know when when we talk about healing in the beginning and it talks about all those who came to Christ received healing, right, and there are a lot of you that you have dreams that you don't understand, and God wants you to understand these dreams. And literally he's gonna impart the ability for you to really understand things. But he just wants you to be patient, that's all. He just wants you to sit with him a bit longer. SA. If that's you and you're like, there's some of you here and you're just like, there's some dreams that keep having you know, some of you even have real current dreams because it's like go back to whatever he showed you, right, And some of you just have all these dreams and you can't decipher what it means. And you're like, God, you know what, I wanna really understand these things, because not only would you understand your dreams, but you would also help people to even break things down to them. SA. If that's you, I see you, Come on now, come on down. God is so good. God is so good. Thank you Lord, thank you Lord, hm ay man aymen. And even when we when we were talking about deception, you see, the mind is the mind is the high place of your being, right, everything about you, it's all about the information you receive MM and the you know, I just see like some of you are very paranoid, you know, like just e every little thing, you're a paranoid. You think someone is talking about you, This person is talking about you. Nobody's talking about you in a negative way. I mean, you know. People are God has people talking great things about you, but not in a negative way. But you're so paranoid. And God wants to break that thing off you because that's not of him, because that thing has actually limited you from from having certain meetings and having certain conversations with people, and even meeting certain people because you are assuming that the worst about them. You're assuming that they're you know, they they're perceiving you in a way that's not even true. All these things are deceptions of the enemy to take you away from relationships that God has ordained for you. And so if that's you, come down, God is gonna break that off you and just his paranoia. And don't be don't be shy or anything like that, because even now you're paranoid. So if that's you, just come down, come down. Everyone who came to Jesus received what they were looking for. Amen, Amen, thank. You, Laurd, let us pray and actually, familybody hasn't received Jesus in your life. And you're like, this guy is a fun guy, right, And you're just like Lauren, I might have known you for my family. Maybe my family talked about you. I probably grew up in church, but I never knew the church, right, And you're like, I want to receive Jesus. I wanna hear it. I mean, you already be like own jeer. But but you're just saying that I received you into my heart, and you feel like I want to receive you into my heart. This idea I've had about you is actually false. You're loving your fun, You're into me, and so I feel like I want to receive Jesus because I'm over here trying to move and God is like, hold out now, and so God sees you and if that's you, just come. Down, Yeah, just come down. There's no. There's nothing, come on, come on down. Oh wait, there's there's someone in particular. There's someone in particular. You've had this idea and I'm trying to see how to describe it, but you've you've just had this idea of who you've thought God is all this time. And God wants to show you how funn he is. And the problem is that you've been judged by so many people and even you've been here. Today's a miracle, but you've been judged by so many people and you it's almost as I know, you feel like God has been God also judges you. God loves you. Yeah, he loves you, and the only things that he wants you to grow in him, He wants you to grow in the knowledge of Him. But it doesn't change his love for you. And so if you know, you know I'm speaking to you, and you're like, Okay, I need to just take this step and it's really hard, it's really difficult for you to do it. But God wants to show you so much about him. Yeah, So if that's you, just come down. Yeah, just come down. Amen, We see you. Amen. Who God is so good? Let us pray. Let us pray. Family, Father God, We thank you. Oh, such an amazing day. We thank you for these ones. Lord God. We thank you for what you're doing in their lives. We thank you Father God. Wow, there's so many amazing things that are gonna happen from this day. The enemy has no place in your lives because they will be intimacy with Christ. You will be intentional about your time with God. It will not just be a practice. O Lord, that said my prayer, none of that, but we would become friends of God. We would become friends of God. Thank you, Lord. I pray that everything that you've been showing your children that they would have understanding, that they would be patient enough to receive from you. They will be patient for those things to be revealed. Lord God. And I thank you for the importation of even understanding of dreams. Lord God, Thank you Lord, You're so amazing. Wow. Thank you Lord for the healing even that have took place in this room. We thank you Lord for. The reports and the testimonies that will come as a result of this. Lord God. We thank you, Lord God for our pastor, our first lady. We thank you for the baby. Just thank you, Lord. I mean, this is really cool. This is really cool what God is doing right now. It's wow. Wow God, wow wow wow wow wow. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Have your way in their lives. Have your way in their lives. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you that you are breaking off the lies that the enemy has been trying to feed your children. You are breaking off, Lord God, even timidity, because it's like, you know, it's as if some have not been wanting to be vocal to say no. But you're giving them the boldness to say no, Lord God, to say no to things that does not look like you, to say no to things that they know it's not right for them. But they have been a spirit of timidity, and we counter that because you have given us a spirit of boldness, Lord God, and so. We thank you for that. Thank you, Lord, have your way in your lives. As they go out, Let them also minister to others, Lord Jesus in Jesus name, Amen Thank you, Lord,