Eternity with Jesus

Good morning. Good morning. We are blessed and privileged to be part of you this morning.

I was taking treatment for a cancer nodule stage 4 that was trying to get into my lungs.

And only 4 days ago we got a medical report of my blood showing 0.00 cancer 3 on my system. So when I got the chance of Jennifer's hospitality, it was a good beef.

I cooked yesterday and I ate all of mine. I enjoyed it. I said Lord let me return to my meals. I want to thank you Pastor Efe and your wife Lisa for asking me to stay back on this Sunday to have a fellowship with you all.

And as it turns out, I am in the midst of friends. One of my professors Erica is here with her husband Mr. Moore and Felipe, who I know all also from England and others and a few here.

So I am very happy to be back, to be here and then to meet with friends. And I think I like your congregation because as a royal evangelist, this is how we are.

You hear children cry and it's fun. I don't understand it. In my chapel for example, when children are talking and playing and people say shhh. I said no, that was how the early church was.

The early church met in homes and children were jumping about and breaking and yet people believed Jesus. They heard the gospel. So little churches, small plants and evangelical churches like this, tells me there is a hope for the future.

There is a big hope. A lot of these cathedrals didn't begin like a cathedral. They began in some places, some little ghettos and little homes and bought some classrooms and then the Lord kept blessing His word and bearing fruit and they grew.

So what you are doing here, you are not doing for yourselves, you are doing for generations to come. And I praise the Lord. I thank God that the opportunity has been given to me to be part of this. We are here with Gloria, my wonderful wife.

She is an amazing girl. The things that she does are wonderful. And we will get to hear a little more by the time we meet in the afternoon of what we do.

Because she has now employed me after my retirement, three years ago, three years now. She employed me as chaplain to the children. So I am chaplain to God knows how many children that she has and the ones that she will yet bring.

But so far, we have a little over 400 children and 72 are adopted in our home. So what you see here, jump in here and all that.

We live with that regularly, day and night. And we are grateful. I have to bring our minds together back to the Bible.

And I am very privileged, I am blessed that I have not been told how long I should preach. And I didn't ask. So you are on your own here.

You have me to contend with. When you are tired, just raise your hand and say you are tired and I will stop. But I have some exciting passages that I want to take us into.

The first one is the wisdom passage, Proverbs 8. And the second one is 1 Corinthians 10.

And the third one is the most vexing for theologians. Some have said God has approved of fraud and all of that.

But I will bring it and in the grace of God, as God has taught me, I will also share with you the heart of the matter.

So that we leave this service today with one message. Wisdom is calling. Wisdom is calling.

Let us pray. Dear God, it is your word we bow to this morning. And may your word alone be spoken and heard.

And may your word, the power, the bread of life, come upon us now that we feed together. That we will go out of this building, nourished, strengthened, challenged, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, revived and restored.

So that we can go out to be your witnesses in not only America, but anywhere you send us. As your witnesses of the word of truth, the word of life. Lord grant this we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen. Proverbs 8. And honestly, I want to counsel with you. No matter how much you have your Bible in the phones or tablets or whatever.

Please, please, please, please, please again. Could you walk around with your Bible? Take your Bible in your hands with a pencil.

And make notes. There is no knowledge you can ever have that's greater than the knowledge of the word of God.

None. None. History has proved it. So I will counsel with you. Please, don't drop your Bibles.

Take it along with you as you go to church. Make your notes. Read your Bible. Read it well.

There are several helps now. And thank God, most of it, have been done by Christian, evangelical, Bible believing, really born again Christians, who have researched, put together one year Bible readings of all kinds.

And if you will be good news, then you will be good news. New King James, Holman, and all of it. Please, please, for the sake of your life and for the sake of the life of the people you live with and for the sake of eternity, hold on to scripture.

People have asked, everywhere I have been, why am I laying such emphasis? And I say to them, if you live where I live, you live with death every day for no crime of yours.

For nothing wrong you have done. Simply for being a Christian. It is this Bible that helps me to navigate the difficulties that I have been through.

I will be 17th September. And I am not saying that to tell you that I have lived any life better than anybody else. But this was what I was born into. My grandfather was born into persecution.

At the time of my grandfather, there were only 500,000 Christians in the whole of northern Nigeria. And they knew they were all going to be captured or sold as slaves or killed.

One of the two. 2025, the story is still the same. Nothing has changed. But the Bible helps us to make sense of what we are going through.

The Bible is our strength, it's our daily bread, it's our food. An old woman, a widow, was asked, Grandma, what can we bring for you from England?

She said, get me reading glasses so that I can read my Bible. And in her little fetched house, they killed all her children and everybody else.

She's not moved one inch. All she wants is the ability to read the Bible. Wisdom is calling, Proverbs 1.

Proverbs 8 verse 1. Does not wisdom call? Wisdom is calling, Proverbs 8 verse 1. And Bible scholars have agreed that this is Solomon, inspired by God.

And he has seen it all. Is it wealth? He has it. Women, my goodness. Anything. But it's found out that in all of these things, as he writes later on, it is his own vanity.

What you need is wisdom. He's got wealth. He's got wives. He's lived a wonderful life, what we would call wonderful life.

It turns out, as it turns out, it was a miserable life. He was not satisfying. He was looking for satisfaction. Through pleasure. Through education. Through bird reading. Through writing.

Through knowledge. And all of it. At the end of it, he counts it. He said, does not wisdom call? Wisdom is personally found. And Solomon has had to go back.

When he was a young king. And he went into prayer. And had a vision. And an encounter with God. And he said, God asked him, what shall I do for you?

And he says, Lord, all I want is wisdom. How can I lead such a nation without wisdom?

Wisdom is personified. Wisdom is God himself revealing to you the ways to know the right way and the wrong way.

The ways for you to navigate life and enter into eternity with God. That is wisdom. Wisdom is different from knowledge. Wisdom is different from knowledge.

Although knowledge is very, very important. It is necessary for you to be knowledgeable about scriptures. But how you apply scriptures to daily living is wisdom.

Because he says it clearly. Wisdom is standing at the crossroads. And verse 4.

To you men I call my Christ as children of man. O simple ones, learn prudence. O fools, learn sense.

So if you reject wisdom, you will definitely be a fool. Definitely. Nothing can change that. If you reject foolishness, you will be wise.

These days Google answers every question. Siri even does a better job.

And now ChatGPT and what is the other one? AI. I have not, you know I have not tried any one of them.

I just see my children and I said to them, ask them when is Jesus coming? When will you count? We don't have an answer. But we know from scripture.

So wisdom is speaking. God is speaking. Verse 7. For my mouth will utter truth.

So when you embrace wisdom from God's word, you reject foolishness. When you embrace wisdom from God's word, you will embrace truth as well.

And when you embrace truth, you reject lies. Verse 8. All the words of my mouth are righteous.

Now thank God for Jesus. Now we know what righteousness is. It's nothing we can earn by ourselves. It's not our effort. Jesus who forgives all sins, clothes us with this righteousness.

And verse 10. Take my instructions instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold.

So even wealth cannot substitute for wisdom and truth and knowledge of God. Wisdom, verse 11, is better than jewels.

Wisdom is calling, my friends. Would you respond this morning? Because verse 12. Again wisdom says, I wisdom dwell with prudence.

Now find knowledge and discernment. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, pride and arrogance, and the way of evil and perverted speech.

I hate, says the Lord. So I've laid a foundation for who wisdom is, the importance of wisdom, and the need for wisdom.

But I'm going to give you two scenarios. One, a congregation, and the one I will end with, with person.

A person. The congregation now, let's picture it, it's a very wealthy congregation. The Corinthian church is a lively congregation. A Pentecostal congregation.

I mean that's the kind of church I love to attend. You come to the Corinthian church, it's very lively. There's prophecy. There's joy. There's singing. There's dancing. There's very educated people. Business people.

People who know it all. Are in the church in Corinth. In fact they survived as a church. Up to the third century. They were still bustling and lively.

To the end that even Clement of Rome, the bishop, had to write them another letter. To caution them just as Paul did. So they were a lively congregation. They were a congregation of generosity, of the spiritual gifts and knowledge.

But, Paul in his letter, points out a couple of things about them.

Number one verse one he says, I don't want you to be unaware. In other words, a church family that lively and wealthy and doing well in a society that is affluent or western like in ours because it was civilized.

It was a branch town. But they were completely unaware of the profitability of wisdom. We know that because of their behaviors.

One, they were idolaters. They worshiped themselves. They worshiped what they had. They worshiped their knowledge. They pride in it.

They boast about it. They were ignorant of wisdom. Because all they are boasting about themselves, their achievements, what they had and what they can do.

They can dictate things and make them not happen. They were unaware of wisdom. And Paul says, I don't want you to be unaware.

Remember, Israel left Egypt gloriously. Even their enemies gave them gold and silver and were scared of them.

And even some of the Egyptians joined the group because they are a people of God. And they were living, singing, hey, finally, freed at last, freed at last.

And they were now glaring, growing. They crossed the Red Sea. They forgot. They forgot. They forgot. They forgot. That they were saved to prove who they were.

And I give credit to Erica. I think I read this from her and I was excited. They were saved, first of all.

Four, they did nothing to be saved. Nothing of theirs to be saved. They were saved from bondage. And three, in order that they might now live a life to prove that they were children of God.

That was the purpose of the commandments. It wasn't that you will live the commandments, then now you'll be saved. No! You already saved. Live the commandments. Live it out. So men and women will know.

Here are children of God on earth. They saved. They saved. Wokefully. They were now saved.

And guess what they began to do? Idolatary. Worshipping of themselves. Worshipping what they had. Worshipping their knowledge. Worshipping anything they could worship but God.

As if that was not bad enough. They became grumblers. And people who grumble are ungrateful people.

Let us be a grateful people folks. For who we are. For where we are. For what God has done for us. Even for what he has not done.

Let us be grateful. Because there are people in worse conditions than you are. When you look around the world. You are a special people. Americans you are. You are privileged and blessed.

Please do not get to the point of grumbling. You can complain a little bit but repent afterwards. There is too much salt. There is too much salt. But Father forgive me.

I need more salt. They became grumblers. And because they grumbled. That congregation. Particularly that sect.

Never entered the promised land. They all perished. Even though they were baptized. Even though they received the gift of God. Even though they ate the fruit. The manna. The communion.

They were confirmed. All of that. Yet. They did not enter the promised land. They grumbled. And we see this congregation from verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 10.

Therefore. Let anyone who thinks that he stands. Take heed lessly for. They became prideful. So the congregation in Corinth.

Collapsed. Not because they were bad people. Because one of the things in our modern world. We say people are good people. We describe one another.

Oh he is a good man. He is a good man. You will perish. Not because you are a bad man. You will perish. Because you are a good man. Who refused to take wisdom.

Here is. Where we see wisdom personified. Luke chapter 16. Verse 16. Jesus said to the disciples.

Verse 1. So we see the manifestation of wisdom in human form.

The fulfillment of the promises of wisdom from Genesis. Right through Malachi. God coming down incarnate in Jesus. To speak the whole counsel of heaven.

In a human flesh form. Jesus now is teaching. Teaching. And the things he warns against.

That we see the Corinthian church. A saved church. Missing the mark. Jesus is warning us as well.

Actually he is counseling us now. At today's communion and baptism. And he gives example of one man. Graduate of Harvard school of business. Jesus said. That this manager. Who is involved. And was not your part. And was not your part.

And was not your part. And that is. The first one. The first one. And the first one. And the first one. And the first one. And the first one. And the first one. And the first one. And the first one. And the first one.

And the first one. It was reported, Jesus said, that this manager was wasting his possessions that are not his.

The possession is not his, he was given. Your life is given. Your education is given. Your nationality is given. Your gender is given.

Wasting it. Americans are not as noisy as Nigerians.

Nigerians are very boastful. Anywhere that are Nigerians, they feel any other human being is less. And it irritates the westerners.

Especially Americans say, who are these Nigerians? They are too noisy. They come to me. What the living they are. Nigerians are wonderful people. But even us Nigerians, who are wasting God's opportunities, there is no nation I know that is as wealthy in natural resources as Nigerians.

Intelligent. Wonderful people. Wasting it. Because anything that God has given to you that is not used for the purposes of enhancing another humanity is wasted.

The investments of God in my life is in order that somebody else will get the blessings of God. And also be better than me. But more than that.

God considers waste when you are not considering eternity. Where are we going to spend eternity? With God. So what that by the time you enter and see Jesus, you look back and say, all that you gave me, I used it for kingdom purposes.

And I've come empty handed. Because you are not going to take anything to eternity. Except those that have come to know the Lord and have left because of you.

This manager, with all his qualifications paid me, wasted. So the master now said, okay, come and give account. He quickly used his accounting knowledge and auditing knowledge, brought it to practice.

All your accounting knowledge and all your auditing abilities comes to nothing. If it is not used for the glory of God. Because what did he do? He became now even more dishonest.

And the way Jesus said, is this man thought to himself. Be careful about thinking to yourself. Please, please, please. Anytime you have an idea, could you search it out with God?

Look for wisdom. Don't forget what I said. Wisdom is calling. I have found that anytime I have acted foolishly, is when I have thought to myself and did not seek wisdom.

And that, there are many stories about that in the Bible. Is it Rehobo Amo? He thought to himself. Anytime a man thinks to himself, he's going to go wrong. Searched for wisdom. Searched for wisdom.

Searched for wisdom. Searched for wisdom. And he thought to himself, brought all the books and now engages in fraudulent and corrupt practice.

Not only that, this man prepared himself. Unfortunately, the word used here is he prepared himself.

Jesus said it's for eternal dwellings. But we do not know which part of the eternal dwellings he went. Because there's heaven and there's hell.

Much as you don't want to think about hell, it exists. If it doesn't, we will create one. Because those of us who are coming from persecution, we are not expecting that there will be no hell.

There has to be. It's a serious issue. When you look at the evil of the world, the wickedness of human hearts.

In any case, Jesus actually said there will be hell. So the eternal dwelling is that this gentleman is going to go. We know where he is going. But we who have now heard the word of wisdom, where shall we end?

Because Jesus is calling us to a counter-cultural movement with wisdom.

So that we end in eternity. Brothers and sisters, these three passages need to be put together. One, Jesus is speaking as he spoke in wisdom.

And my appeal to that is for us to make this book our daily bread. Daily studies, daily Bible studies, family studies, children studies, guiding studies.

Anything, any counsel you want in life is found here. Anyone. And if they are bachelors and you want to marry, find out.

If you are as princesses and you want to marry, find out. Always. Holy wood has made people make a shipwreck of their families. Because they think it's all, oh I love you. And then you, no, no, no.

Please try to find out. Say God, I want a wife. I want a wife. I want a husband. I want a job. I want an education. I need help.

Find out from wisdom. But God made it so wonderfully well that you can find out also wisdom from fellowship like a church like this. Pastor, what do I need?

Godly people are around us to help us discern from scriptures. And that's the point where the Corinthian church missed it as a group.

You are the people. So, you are the people. So, you are the people. So, you are the people. So, you are the people. So, you are the people. So, you are the people. So, you are the people. So, you are the people. So, you are the people. So, you are the people.

So, you are the people. So, you are the people. I end. Let me assure you one thing. The foundation of this was colonized at the cross. The evidence that wisdom is Jesus Christ is found in the cross. And Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians the wisdom of men could not fathom and find out how salvation was made. If it did, he would have known that the cross was the answer. But God's wisdom, the cross, that's where we find our salvation. The road to eternity is paved through the cross. Don't forget that. Let us pray.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Holy Father, we ask that your word be for us the bread of life. And nourish us even now, we pray, establish your wisdom in our hearts by your word through the walking of the Holy Spirit that we do not miss the road to eternity with you. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Amen.