Church and Cross Cultural Mission in Nigeria

[0:00] Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to hear from our brother, Baba, from another part of the world. Thank you for bringing him to be with us here for a time in New Haven. Thank you for the family of believers that we are part of throughout the whole world.

[0:18] And Lord, we pray that you would bless his presentation to us and that you would watch over him in his travels as he heads back tomorrow. And we pray that you would encourage and strengthen us by this message this morning. Help us to grow in our love for our brothers and sisters around the world and to be encouraged to pray for one another. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

[0:42] Good morning. I'm so privileged this morning under the leadership of my brother, Pastor Greg, who had also welcomed me very warmly since I came. He came up to my apartment and also he mentored my perspective. When I showed interest, he actually registered me. And I'm very grateful. If anyone had not done perspective, you may not understand the Bible. It's a very simpler way of understanding the Bible from a global perspective, which I would love everybody to be a partaker. It's online and then just register. I also want to thank God for how this church has welcomed me. Baptists and Equa are back home. They are the same father, the same mother, if I have to say that. So I feel so much at home. So when I arrived and they said, which order of the church do you want to go or denomination? And I asked Elder Chiseng, wherever you're going. So little did I know Trinity Baptist. So as soon as I saw it,

[2:00] I said, Lord, thank you. So I was a little bit aback because he said, no, the architectural design of the church. So he said, wow, you are sensitive. And he told me the background. So, but thank you for really receiving me. Not only me, there are other Nigerians like Kelechi and the rest of them.

[2:21] They also have been absorbed very easily. And I remember telling someone that the church closes, I mean, they closed down in the library, divinity libraries. And then I said, why do you have to remain at home? Can you try Trinity Baptist? And there are other people too, I've been privileged to bear witness too. And I told them too, maybe in the green or anywhere. And I said, you know what, just come one of the Sunday, give it a try. You're going to see Christian welcome. I've done that.

[2:58] And I give the Lord the glory because of what I've seen in Baptist. Thank you also. You need to know also that when the mission that brought about our denomination came, they came just a few years later. They came 1893. But Baptist was already there 1855. So they were going into the interior.

[3:21] Their goal was to reach the Sudan belt. And so that's why they are called Sudan Interior Mission. Now it's turned to be, I mean, it becomes a 70 mission. And so they work in about 70 countries of the world. And I'm privileged to be at the church arm of the partnership. So they handed over the church, the denomination to us, the church aspect 1954. And then the mission department, the denominational mission agency I belong to. I'm working at the mission department and I have so many fields to coordinate. So a little bit of what we're doing this morning will be a reflection on that. I want to let you know that I'm married to Christiana Shaba. I know we're blessed with four kids. Two of them are in university and one is going to university. And then there's a gap between the last one who is warming the house. So there are four of them, two boys, two girls. I also want to let you know that I'm actually coming from a Muslim background. 1977, July 14 was when the Lord began to work on me as a Muslim until I yielded. In a city where up to now we have a lot of persecution higher than any part of Nigeria. So by the time I'm sharing within this short time, you will see a kind of a better background of where I'm coming from. So I want to say thank you for this privilege.

[5:09] He had wanted me to share on the 17th, but I had to go to a mission base in North Carolina, South Carolina. And just to say hello to them, I don't want to be sacked. I know when I go back home, how did you go to US and you found time to say hello to those who are there? So you know what that means. So I, when I saw the signal, I appealed to him. So graciously he postponed it today. So thank you very much for how you have received me. The time is not on our side, but within the short time I have, I want us to look at the scripture and pray together. Our dear Heavenly Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for this beautiful morning you have given unto us.

[6:01] You are so faithful. You are so gracious. It's a day we've never seen before. And you have been giving us months, days, weeks, months, years. And at the end of the day, we're going to account, particularly when you accounted our lives, we are going to account, account for how we use our lives here on earth one day. And we thank you that today we've been spending your presence and we know your presence is here. Please Lord, come and help me sufficiently that I will speak what is needed or needful at this hour. And whatever is not needful, Lord, I want your spirit to silence it.

[6:43] I'm so grateful to you that your people are willing to listen. Thank you because you are faithful and you can do much more than I know how to ask of you. Through this privilege I have this morning, under the leadership of the pastors that are here, especially Pastor Greg, I worship you for the elders and all those who have been serving to make sure that your kingdom continue to come in the heart of men and women in this city. We are so grateful to you that all belongs to you, Lord Jesus, as we surrender through Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Amen. Can we turn the scriptures to the parable of the Samaritan? This is very familiar to us. So if I can take just five minutes and point out some things that leads, you know, into this sharing this morning. Luke chapter 10, I want to read from verse 26 and I'll stop at a particular point. I hope we're there. Verse 26.

[7:59] Okay, let me take 25 so as to get the whole story. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, what is written in the law? How read thou? I'm reading from King James, please. And he answered them, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as yourself. And he said unto him, thou has answered right. This do and thou shalt live.

[8:51] But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among the thieves, which strived him of all raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance, there came down a certain priest that that way and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

[9:27] And likewise, Levite, when he was at that place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.

[9:55] And set him on his own beast and brought him to the inn and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pens and gave them to the host and said unto him, take care of him.

[10:13] And whatever thou spend more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of this tree think thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, he that showed mercy on him, then said Jesus unto him, go and do thou likewise.

[10:43] For us, whatever we have been learning from Genesis through all our pastors, and that's another aspect I love in this church, the exposition. And you see consistency, you see how all of them flow together. And every time we go for a Bible group study in Dr. Dunlop's place, I mean, we go through all this, we are so happy with the sermons, and we just enjoy it further than what we have had on Sunday. And I just want to say that we are blessed in this church. And one thing I want to say in that regard is, to whom much is given, much is also expected.

[11:18] So coming back to the scripture where we read, that is the entire relationship between us as believers and those who are not Christian. You can't, you either take it or you leave it. If you want to talk about the story of Jesus Christ, you will see Jesus Christ there. If you want to talk about the story of the cross, you will see the cross there. If you want to talk about what do you need to do to inherit eternal life, you will also find it there. So whatever you want to study about Christ is right there in this short story or this parable. The first one is the fact that they wanted to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn't the first person. Nicodemus also had that experience coming, trying to seek about eternal life.

[12:08] I do not know what profit anyone that you gain the whole world and lose your life. So when you look at Jesus Christ coming from, I mean, even particularly Isaiah chapter six, you know, Isaiah saw him, his strength filled the temple, the angels cry, holy, holy, holy unto him. And that God became man through the manger. He, he, he went through to the cross. This is the whole story that no sinner will have been able to sin himself, but Christ came to die in our stead. So after that, there are five principal parts that I believe every believer should understand about his faith in Christ. Number one is who is Christ? If you don't know him, Paul said that I may know him. If you don't know him, I tell you the truth, you can relate to him. What about his teaching? Chapter five, six, seven of Matthew, he's talking about the beatitude of whosoever will be his follower. So he deals with our character, humility, money, meekness, righteousness, and so on. By that we become light and salt. Then this is how you should conduct yourself in prayers, in fasting, in giving, and all that all true. He, he, he sat his disciples and took them through what it should be. That is Christ. But one major thing in that teaching, which I love most, and there's no religion of the world can ever teach that, can ever teach that is the love for the enemy. Chapter five of Matthew from verse 43 to 46. There he's emphasizing your love for your enemy. Enemies are those who perpetually hate you and they delight in your downfall. They rejoice in whatever thing that goes against you. That's your enemy. Not just someone who just offended you and so on like that. And so Christ said, love them, pray for them, do good to them, and so on. Tell me any religion of the world that can emphasize such love.

[14:15] Now, that is interplaying with what we are sharing. We were all born wicked, but Christ came. So you know who is Christ? You know the teaching of Christ? The third thing that you have to know is about the power of Christ. This was demonstrated over everything virtually. He still the storm, the lame walk, the blind see. I just imagine Pastor Greg bringing all the doctors of the world together and said, give me a natural eye. No one can do it. Nobody. And Christ said, take your eyes back.

[14:53] So the power of Christ. And he said, look, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. I have power to lay my life. I have power to take it. He raised so many dead. So these are things that you should know about Christ. Number four, he demands, even in this story, he demands that you should love him.

[15:18] You love God, that's the cross, and you love one another. You love people who are not lovable. That's exactly what he came to do. So every other love is tied down to something, whether phileos, whether eros, whether stud, whether ergonomia, all those things in the New Testament, you can't compare them to agape, the type of Christ love. He loved us not because we're lovable.

[15:42] And that's the kind of love he wants us to have. So he demands. All that he did for us, the sacrifice demands for something. And then number five, if sufficiently we understand him in these four premises, then you must go out. And that is the fifth one. You must go out. So unfortunately, the priest saw the man who was wounded, he passed away. He just, you know, closed his eyes or turned his eyes elsewhere.

[16:11] This is a man in holy of holy. And then the Levites, who is in the holy place, receiving all sacrifices, preparing it for the priest, also saw him. He left. A Samaritan that you would say had no religion. And you know the relationship between Samaritan and the Jews.

[16:30] If you read about the Nenonite woman in Luke chapter 13, you also see how the disciple was saying, well, since Christ was silent, do we send the woman away? Disciple who's supposed to help and say, please save this woman. She had come to intercede for her daughter. Please save. Then the disciple said, it was coming from the background between the Samaritan and so on. And of course, you know about the woman by the well and all the rest. So that's a Samaritan who everyone thought he had no religion. He had his bondage from home. He was prepared.

[17:07] He has his oil. He has his coin and he carried the wounded man half dead. He put him where he ought to be seated and he took him in and he said, you know what? You take care of him.

[17:18] I'm coming back again. I won't be surprised if the application will be Christ Jesus who is coming back again and take us home. So with this background, I want us to look at this. I want to share today. Okay. I'm going to run through it. The church today or the body of believer and cross-cultural ambition. I'm using Nigeria as a case study. This slide is up to 57 that I personally prepared, but then we just look at only 10. And so I'm going to run through based on this background.

[18:07] This is the global world today, whether we like it or not. So where you have the lights, sorry, it's not where you have those ray of light. That's where you have the evangelicals.

[18:20] Oh yeah. See where I need the anointing now to be able to control computer. See, my generation is trying to link the old generation with new ones. So please bear with me. Thank you. Now, if you look at where you have all those whites, that's where you have life in terms of evangelicals.

[18:42] If you look at United States, it's getting brown. I didn't prepare this. Yeah, I mean it. You are still the one that sent most mission agencies across the sea, across cultures. Yes. But if you know where you began and where you are today, then you know what I'm saying. I got to the green.

[19:03] I wept. When they took us there for orientation and I saw those three churches, I wept. I couldn't hold it. So this, it could be a symbol to something that is happening to America, spiritually.

[19:16] So, the next thing I want us to understand is the map of Africa. So, where you have Egypt, Ethiopia and so on, this was a cradle of Christian civilization. You talk about Ethiopia, you know the union, Ethiopia, you know, and so like that. You talk about Carthage or Cyrene, Algeria, where, someone who helped the Lord to carry the cross. You know how close Africa, you know, was, you know, to Jerusalem and the battle of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know all this. We don't have time for that.

[19:57] But today, these are highly Islamic. Highly Islamic. This is the black stone. They go around it and so on like that.

[20:10] Sir, I'm leaving you with a well-prepared video on Isaiah 14. It's an eschatology on Islam. And I would like one way or the other, if anybody needs it, just go to him. Try to understand Islam.

[20:23] It's one of the wickedness the devil has introduced to this world. Unfortunately, 1.6 billion Muslims are going to hell every day. And so, if we are taking our eyes off, I wonder who is going to turn his eyes towards the Muslims. This is very important. And as many unbelievers you have around you, if you take your eyes off as a priest, as a Levite, I wonder who is going to help that person understand what eternity means.

[21:04] Now, this is the black stone. Okay? And then, what are your thoughts and your examination?

[21:14] How will you define the world peoples? Have you ever been forgotten? Can you give an example of a forgotten people? In what ways have you been forgotten?

[21:27] Now, this is the same place. Look at the people group now in Africa that needs help. And we need to get around it. Number two, you see the western part of Africa, and you also see the people group that are yet, you know, to be reached. And we are alive.

[21:50] Then, this is the horn of Africa, and eastern part of Africa. And you see also people groups, and see their percentage. Now, here is Nigeria.

[22:01] Now, in the northern part, you have these people who are like 98% Muslims. So, they introduce Sharia in order to bring constitution within our own ordinary constitution.

[22:13] And so, you, we are, we are under pressure. And this is where the pressure of Islamization and all the rest through our constitution is coming in.

[22:25] Now, this is the map of Nigeria emphasizing the wave of missions that we have. The first wave was by Lagos, and you can see, it was purely in the 19th century, particularly 1842.

[22:39] You can see that that part, it was only your forefathers that came to us. There were few in number, maybe husband and wife for Baptists.

[22:52] Bowen. They were there, 1855. No electricity, no pipe-borne water, no road, no anything. And these people came, and they sacrificed their lives.

[23:02] Today, that denomination in Nigeria, you should be talking about millions of those who have come to know the Lord. Like someone said, if they wake up from their grave today, and look at how much within a short time they suffered, and the kind of people who came to know the Lord, they would be shocked.

[23:21] The middle belt is where you have what we call denominational mission. Baptists had their own, S.I.M. had their own, so within the denomination, everybody is expressing their mission towards the north.

[23:35] And that's our Judea. And finally, those green area, to us, who are believers in Nigeria, who loves the Lord, that's where we want to go.

[23:46] Hallelujah. Do you see the three colors now? And fortunately enough, I'm based in the north, having experienced the grace of God out of that religion into where I am today.

[24:00] So, these are the hotspots in Africa. In terms of refugees, you hear this a lot, that anybody can see. And 85% of refugee camps in the world are caused by Islamic violence.

[24:14] Take it or leave it. This is the hotspots. My country in West Africa, of close to 200 million people, I tell you the truth, that these people, they want to take over Nigeria.

[24:28] Our resources, is it petrol, is it gold, and everything, they have their iron on it. And so, the pressure is to make sure that they Islamize the nation and they turn, you know, the largest population in Africa, you know, onto Islam.

[24:42] God forbid, through your prayers. Now, this, all over the world, you have been praying through the 1040 windows, you know what I'm talking about. The persecution is too high.

[24:56] And so, when you want to describe Africa in a way, you will say a habitation of cruelty, the poorest of the poor, not because they necessarily have to be poor.

[25:07] A people plundered, looted, and so on like that. A land of the seven abominations. You see what we have today? You see? These are Muslim women.

[25:18] I know only one mission agency in the north that is reaching out to Muslim women and children. But you see how many of them import that system? Who is going to reach out to them?

[25:33] This is what you see today. This was how Boko Haram began. And today, they are one of the wicked terrorists. And they started at the northeast.

[25:45] I had loved to go beyond this place. But I want to say this is what we are doing.

[25:57] So, we mobilize for prayer. We pray. We also have a booklet, 30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus, researching to what we have to pray for. We print and send out.

[26:08] And people are mobilized to start praying towards them. Training. We have two types of training. God called me. 1989. I was to be a banker in training in university.

[26:22] And God said, I am sending you to Egypt to bring my people out. I didn't understand that until, you know, I yielded. And eventually, when I got trained theologically, my masters, I had to go and do Christian Muslim studies.

[26:37] When I did that, I started expressing myself in terms of outreach. And so, when I trained, I also sent people for outreach. So, out of the two types of training, we bring in our field missionaries and train them so that they can engage them.

[26:55] Then, number two, we also go run seminars to help people who like to reach out to them. That's what I do. Then, outreach and sending.

[27:05] So, we send them to the context of where we find all this persecution and so on like that. So, we are grateful to God that we have people there who, even through the terrorism, we have close to 105 missionaries just in northeast.

[27:23] You know, where we have all this terrible persecution. They never left. We asked them, come over, come and rest.

[27:33] They said, no, we can leave our wives and children to come to where we were and rest for a while. But for us, we are not leaving. And they remain. And I want to testify that we never had any of our missionaries as a victim to Boko Haram.

[27:46] Hallelujah. Discipleship of young believers. So, we have a center. You will see it in a nutshell of what, you know, we do in the center.

[27:58] We disciple those who have come to know the Lord. You see, if someone comes to know the Lord today, the state of the church is, he will likely be in the same Sunday school with someone who had been in the Sunday, I mean, who had been an elder in the church.

[28:11] So, that wouldn't work. The scripture encourages allowing people to take the milk of the word. And as you take the milk of the word, you mature to take the bread.

[28:22] But today, typically, most denominations do not have a beginner's class. So that they can understand who is Christ, the teaching, the power, and all that Christ has spent of us.

[28:34] So, that is the state of the church today. Therefore, we now have a center that when these people are coming, they already have their own mindset. So, we need to help rewind.

[28:44] How do you see God? How do you see the Bible? How do you see, you know, Christianity? Because before I became Christian, I saw Christian as confused people. Because of the four denominations you had.

[28:57] Four blocks of denomination. There is Pentecostalism. There is, you know, evangelicalism. There is also Ecumenica. You have also African independent churches with the white garments. In fact, some of us thought that those who are wearing white into church are more holier than those of you who use ordinary clothes.

[29:14] Because we were looking at you from a tainted glass perspective. And when I came in, I was more confused. Because some of the doctrines, the way we are expressing Christ, is creating more confusion.

[29:27] So, when these people come to know the Lord, we need to rewind them out of this heat. And as soon as they come out of that, then they will know what to do.

[29:38] So, that's thought about that. Then we have a resource development where we have MP3. We answer Islam sufficiently in the various languages.

[29:50] And we produce it. It's a solar power. When we go to the rural areas, we give them and they can understand Christ on their own. That we really need help for someone to give us the casing.

[30:06] It's been produced in Canada, America, and maybe Japan or China. So, we want to reach, want to bring our soft things into it. And wherever we go, we leave them with something like that.

[30:16] And then only God knows what that could do. We also produce a lot of resources translated into local context in order to reach out to the same focus.

[30:28] Then we network and partner with those who have similar experience with us. Well, typically, this is how the class look like.

[30:41] Those who volunteer themselves. This is our class at the center. That's my wife. Trying to teach them also vocational training.

[30:52] How to make pomade, shoemaking, and things like that. We do all manner of varieties. And that's my wife with one of the young ones from Boko Haram, infected area, Maiduguri.

[31:05] She's Esther now. And she's happily married. And they also focus on that. She's right there in Maiduguri. And so on. And then that's my wife with all joy.

[31:16] This is a set. These are from a set of graduands. And so you see the houses. You see the fuller names. You see the canons. They're all there. And so they come for training three months, six months, one year.

[31:28] And then they go back. You see that. Well, this is Nigeria. And so where you have all those pins, they are where we are putting these people. Hallelujah.

[31:39] So they also, in turn, have to influence 50 to 100 people in their locality. So that, you know, we can reach out as much as we have the time. So at this point, our time is fast spent.

[31:56] But I want us to watch a video. Do you want to help me? Now, this is typically of what we do in practice. So you will see me and then see some of them. And you also listen to at least a Hausa man.

[32:09] You can hear Hausa language. I pray the spirit of interpretation upon you this morning. So one is going to share from Hausa language. Because I was actually brought up in the north.

[32:20] I wasn't born in the north. I started at the age of 14. My parents moved to the north. And today I've spent over 42 years of my life, you know, there in the north.

[32:32] And so I could speak the Yoruba language very well of my parents. I could speak the language of Hausa, which I could address 70 million people who are speaking Hausa.

[32:48] Not only in Nigeria, but also in Nigeria, in northern part of Ghana. Most West African countries, they speak Hausa. So God blessed me with that language.

[32:59] And so you'll see how I train, whether in Hausa or I train in English. So we want to start from that side. Can we start from the beginning? From the very beginning?

[33:09] From me? No, from me a little bit. Yeah, I just want you to see me in class because of our time. And I will give you time for questions. Yeah, that's your brother in the class. Can we listen to him?

[33:21] Maybe in a language you don't understand. Can they listen to me a little bit? Are you familiar with this language? Now, he's from Kano, where I became Christian.

[33:48] See, but he's working as a missionary in Kaduna. Now, I wanted to enjoy the Hausa language a little bit. He's just trying to say, I never knew I could engage these people, even though that was my culture and my tribe.

[34:06] But now the training has opened me up. Okay, I think you could read this. I don't know how fast you can read it. But that's what he's saying, just because of our time. Yes, let's speak some English speakers too.

[34:19] So, what we have done the past 10 years is that, I mean, it's more than that. But the past 10 years, it becomes a residential program.

[34:31] And so, can we pick one before him? The guy, the other guy. Yeah. I want to pick someone.

[34:42] Not this one. Not this one. Not this one. Not this one. No, no. I think he's ahead of him. Oh, ahead of him. Maybe ahead of him. Yeah, he speaks English.

[34:55] Hang on. I got it. I marked down the time spots of the forward. Yeah. He's working in Yorbe State.

[35:20] And Yorbe State is currently heavy Boko Haram infected area. So, he won't leave the field. You can see Yorbe State. That's where he's working. And that's his training.

[35:31] And all that. A little bit more. Okay. No, no. He speaks. I'm sorry. I'm understanding about how to meet Muslim brother.

[35:46] And how to live an exemplary life. Because our life is supposed to resemble who Christ is.

[35:58] But sometimes, we are not acting it. That's another. You see, we interpolated in order to help our kids.

[36:10] Then let's listen to one more English. Go back to the guy we had. The English guy. The English guy. The English.

[36:21] It's not that. Yes. Just a little bit. Now, he also was. He's also like me. He came to. After graduation.

[36:33] He had a body. So he came to the center for training. And he is reaching out to them. Sorry. Sorry. ..

[37:01] the discipleship of those that God has been trusted in our kids have come to realize also that church planting is not necessarily putting down a structure, it is actually putting Christ in the heart of the people without having a structure.

[37:31] He is also an English speaker.

[37:46] Sorry about this, but he is also an English speaker.

[37:57] So most of the time we don't make this DVD available to people because we don't know where it's going to go. And they are our field missionaries who also speak English.

[38:12] So we go through prayers, we go through church planting, we go through about 12 major courses that can help them live among them, relate with them and do home churches instead of building Trinity Baptist Church there.

[38:31] But, you know, they can do something within and then have fellowship. The Lord says, where two or three gather together in my name, I'm right there in the midst. So with the time that I'm giving, it's time if we can have Pastor Greg around.

[38:49] It's time to take questions, maybe we take questions from you. And then when he comes, I'd like you to pray for me as a church.

[39:00] Okay, please. I have just a quick question on the map that you showed right at the very beginning, where you had the lights and you said that the United States was very brown.

[39:12] I was surprised that they showed so much light in Europe. I would have expected that to be a very brown area. Yeah, it seems that you're right. But it was very bright, I knew that. You're right, you're right.

[39:24] But when we talk about Europe there, I think it's Dakar. It's Dakar. Can we go back to it? Now, where's Europe?

[39:35] When we talk about Europe here, see, Europe is much more in this place.

[39:48] A little bit of this place, you still have some, you know, missionaries. For now, from my experience, this is something that is done globally. If you think about those who are sending missionaries now, I'm telling you the truth, you can go back to all your mission agencies like S.I.M. and all that.

[40:09] The young men are no longer coming. I'm just trying to reflect this in the context of mission. Oh, okay. Thank you. That a lot, they are no longer sending missionaries.

[40:22] Even some of these people, when they are trained over there, they come back. But also, there are some churches that you can say can seat more people, you know, in terms of congregation.

[40:33] Not, not, well, in terms of population. You have much more in some areas, you know, in Europe than anywhere. And then South America, of course, you know some of those things.

[40:46] And, uh, I think that's the much I want to say now. Even in- Can you tell us a little bit how you, you mentioned that you came from a Muslim background, but now you're a disciple of Jesus.

[40:59] Sorry, I just want to be- That's okay. Are you okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Can you tell us a little bit about how that happened? How you came to be a disciple of Jesus- Thank you. After what your- Just in a nutshell, it's not something I could take all through, but- Like I said, by age seven to eight, my mom, who was coming from a Christian background, and married my dad, who was a Muslim, you know, they got separated because my dad had more wives.

[41:30] And so, I grew up to know at least five of my father's wives. Islam allows them. And so- Only four, sir. When and now, at a time. Four at a time.

[41:41] My father- Divorce, divorce is also recognized, right? So, if you can now divorce at a time in the home. Four. And then one goes- Just a minute, please.

[41:53] One goes, divorce, and then you bring in. And so, it goes on like that. Can you tell me how many wives has Muhammad? Nine.

[42:04] A pass from cocavines. Right. Do you see that? Right. Yes. So, this is our leader. If you want to say Islam. Oh. So, this is something that I've been into.

[42:15] I've practiced. And I cannot stand here before God and lie. And this is true. So, I just want to let you know that it's not about Islam. It's about what God wants us to do towards them.

[42:28] I can die because of the Muslims. That is the truth. But I can't die for Islam. Because Islam is a religion. There are two different things here. So, let me just quickly say, I was born into it.

[42:40] That's how many of them inherited, you know, the religion. And so, when my mom got separated because of many wives, she started practicing her Christianity.

[42:54] So, I was on the side of my mom because by Sharia, all children belong to the man. So, when I was 14, my mom asked if I could come over to her side.

[43:06] And so, I went over. And honestly, my mom still encouraged me for another three years to continue with the religion. Because it is not anyone that converts.

[43:17] But she's a woman of fasting and praying. In fact, she couldn't read the Bible because she was an illiterate. She couldn't read or write. So, she wouldn't have been able to lead me.

[43:28] But she has been praying to Jesus to touch me the way her own life was touched. So, fortunately, one of the Sundays, she was home. So, I had to lead the Islamic context of Karno.

[43:40] You can Google it. No Christian is allowed to be there. It's very thick. It's a city within a city. So, I would lead there, come to where the Christians are, and greet my mom.

[43:53] So, one of these Sundays, one of the evangelists came with my mom. And when he saw me, he had compassion. We mentioned that. And so, he took it upon himself, engaging me.

[44:05] And said, you know what? I know Isa Ibn Mariam. More than you do. He's one of the prophets. For he's no more than a prophet. That was what Islamic doctrine gave to me.

[44:18] He made a phrase and said, Adam, Jesus is more than what you think you know. That phrase is more than that. When I went back, I picked my Quran.

[44:30] I had no Bible. And I started looking at the person of Christ. He raised the dead. Surat al-Imran. Surat al-Marian. I saw what he did. He raised the dead. The lame, walk, the blind, see. He did so many miracles. I went to chapter 4 of the Quran.

[44:41] Where he says, you know, chapter 4, verse 171. He said, Jesus is the Word of God. Kalimatula. And then he called him Spirit of God. Spirit of God. Ruhula. Wow. That's so great. Here you are. You pick your phone. You speak your word, and then your word is accomplished somewhere, without seeing you.

[45:09] And then you are here seated. But you can navigate New York, and know where it is. New York and know where it is. So I started looking at how can Jesus be the Spirit of God, be the Word of God, and so on like that. That stares me up. And chapter 3 of the Quran, verse 55, that was the dynamite. He says, O Jesus, I will raise thee to myself. I will make those who follow you not Iman. The word there is marjorie in Arabic. It's not Iman.

[45:42] Not those who believe in you, but those who follow you, superior to those who do not believe in your faith. And in the day of judgment, I will punish them and they will have no helper.

[45:57] Then I told my leader, we don't follow Jesus. It's the same Christian we don't want to see that I'm following him. The interpretation was also another level of struggle for me.

[46:13] And he said, a true Muslim must be a Christian. A true Muslim is a Christian? And we don't like the Christian? So these were things that prepared my mind. So one of these days in the night, Jesus is called Al-Masihu in the Quran. That means Messiah in Hebrew because it's a Semite language.

[46:36] Now in Greek, Christos, which means Christ. No one else had that. And that means the Savior. When I read the footnotes, I trekked 4.30 a.m. with my leg. I trekked 1977 to where the Christians were.

[46:52] And I told my mom, how do I become a Christian? And then he came again and explained Christ to me. I didn't understand a fool, but I know something is wrong somewhere. When I now picked the Bible and I was reading, you could see how chronological, you know, Genesis, the fall of man, salvation through Noah, the God of Abraham. You could see how all these things went for thousands of years.

[47:21] And he climaxed in the coming of God. Colossians chapter 1. He said, that very image, invisible God, his true has come. Now I had better understanding. Why should we have all the stories of the Bible in the Quran? Quran came 700 years.

[47:38] It came to be after Christ has gone. Now chapter 2 was already talking about Jesus Christ. Chapter 3 was talking about the birth of Jesus. Chapter 4 was talking also part of him and a little bit of chapter 5. Then chapter 19 verse 16 was talking about the birth of John the Baptist and talking about, I mean, I was struggling. Then the story of Joseph that you know in Old Testament is in chapter 12.

[48:04] So something was coming. Why do we have all these stories scattered and they are not chronological? Why is it not by years of revelation and he overlaps and climaxing Christ?

[48:17] So I start clearly so many things. And that's what you don't do in Islam. You don't ask. Just believe. You can even die for it. I nailed that. No pastor, no anybody apart from what they have preached to me.

[48:32] I said, Lord Jesus, if you are Masihu, if you are the Savior, save me. And that prayer touched my inner mind. And for the first time in my life, that time I was now 17 years old, going into 18.

[48:48] And then I feel an experience that the spirit that is not okay, that hates, that doesn't like people, was torn off.

[48:58] And then I had peace. And I had joy. Tears were coming from my eyes. And I said, Jesus, I love you.

[49:12] Now I understand. I went to the cross. Trying to understand the cross. I went to history. I went to geography. I realized these are facts about Christ. Everyone that has a calendar in his house, he's either before Christ or Amal Domini, after the death of Christ.

[49:31] When I look at his life, and I compare it for how Muhammad began, with war. He was 14 wars. The caliphs that took over from him, four of them, Abbaqar, Umar, Uthman, and Ali.

[49:44] It was war. It was war that actually led the Shias to leave, you know, Mecca for Iran and Iraq. And that's why you have the Shias there. Shias means party. The party of Ali.

[49:55] And so from there, part of them, the Carragans, came to North Africa. And they started wiping off anything that is Christian hegemony. And they're still doing it up to today. So I said, no. Christ never carried a single thing against any man.

[50:10] And he has power to destroy his enemy. And he didn't do that. Then I leave it to his lordship. And since that time, we're going back. Thank you.

[50:21] I want to take my questions, please. Well, I want to also let you know that my dad didn't like it. Because he was a Muslim leader. And for 14 years, he wouldn't want to see him.

[50:34] But I made sure I see him. I spent time with him. When he got to know that, hey, the Adam we know is not the Adam we know now.

[50:46] 11 out of his 14 children are Christians. My dad started going to church with me before he died in 2011. I can leave you with my family telephone. You call them how they love me.

[50:59] We still have three more. And they have families. And we're trusting God. If anybody passed through this world without Christ, it's crisis. Because he's the way, he's the truth, he's the life.

[51:12] And I've seen that in different dimensions of my life. And I give the lord the glory. So, again, thank you for the privilege that I could share. Whom I am.

[51:23] You know, what I'm doing. And where I am today. With this limited time. And God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, let's... Let me close in prayer.

[51:40] And then you can feel free to talk more later on. Father, I thank you. Thank you for Adams and for bringing him here. Thank you for the message that he's shared with us.

[51:51] Thank you. Thank you, God, for sending Jesus to love. To show your love for us when we were your enemies. Thank you that while we were still sinners, that Christ died for us.

[52:02] And, Lord, we pray that you would fill our hearts with that same love. For you and for one another. Because of Jesus. Lord, we pray for Adams as he heads back to Nigeria.

[52:13] And we pray for those... For his extended family members. We pray for the pastors and leaders that he works with. We pray for the churches that he cares for.

[52:24] We pray that you would strengthen and encourage them. To walk in the way of Christ. To walk in the way of love and truth and patience. And kindness and holiness.

[52:34] Lord, we pray that you would continue working in each of us. To the glory of God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.