Transcription
I became a student of success through the book of Norman Vincent Peele, "The Power of Positive Thinking," that I got hold of in 1974. It's a few days back. He set a pace on how to design your future, and from a biblical perspective, it came alive so strong.
I wrote my first book on success in 1986, called "Success Buttons." Someone here in Lagos read that book, and then made his first 1 million in business. [music] He wrote us his testimony by engaging the principles in there. His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts. I pray that the things being taught this time will go a [music] long way to adding value to our present and our future, in the name of Jesus Christ. And so shall it be for all of us. [music] Failure has become history for everyone of us here today. Setback has become history in the name of Jesus [music] Christ.
Heavenly Father, thank you for today, and blessed be your name. As you check through your word, please grant us understanding and move us forward again in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Give the Lord a big hand of praise. And please, you may be comfortably seated.
The focus of the chapel services for this season [music] is captioned "Unveiling the Biblical Laws of Success." Interesting thing about biblical laws is that [music] they function all through life and endure forever. No generation will ever make it of no effect. It delivers all through while the earth still [music] remains. It's settled in heaven forever. So no one can unsettle it. No civilization can unsettle it. No power on earth can unsettle it. It's settled in heaven forever. We're looking at one that appears very common to everybody, but [music] not everybody's engaged accordingly. The law of diligence. Say with me, diligence. The first name of diligence is hard work. The middle name is diligence. And it's similar to success. Hard work is strength to the ears of many young people today. They just want high life. They hate hard work. And only hard workers, only hard workers, become high flyers.
Jesus, the Son of the living God, with all the attributes of heaven upon Him, born of the Holy Ghost. Yeah. Giving the Holy Spirit without measure. Yeah. He's the living word of God indeed. Yeah. Oh Jesus. My father walked, and I walk with all those potentials rooted in Him. I walk. John 5:17. In John chapter 4:32, they thought that somebody came to give Him food, and He said, "I have some meat to eat that you don't know anything about. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work." And to finish His work. Now, John 9:4, "I must work." What a motto! "I must work." So to be given a name above every name, He must work. He must work the work of His Father, the work He was sent to do. So work is a must, a must for anyone to sustain his worth. Everyone's worth is defined by his work. His work. Not his wishes. His work.
I've come to speak to this coming generation this morning. No free lunch in life. The Americans will say, "There's no free lunch in life." And there is nothing in doing nothing. There is no future in doing nothing. To come out of school and stay on one year, two years, you're not working, yet you are eating. No. For someone who understands this principle, he will find whatever he can find legitimately, legitimately, and sustain his worth. I met a young man. He was 10 years after what is it? NYC? My God. You see, start address, why he's looking for a job, and jobs are all around you. Uh, someone on Kaduna many years ago, he was on the line for a for a job, and I said, "The car you brought, is it your car?" "You borrowed it." "My car that's a job bought it." In Kaduna, and then you can wear your tie because your car, you can wear anything you want, three-piece or four-piece, and go to and come back. He said he has no time. Said, "I will borrow you money for a tie, you return it, no interest, but you return it. If I give you for free, you may still be riding around." He did that. Please, no. Because your heavenly Father is still working. You won't hold any value to Him doing nothing.
Some are on a job, but they're not doing any job. They're not doing any job. They're just there, and they're losing value by just losing worth by the day. That would not be anyone here. There will not be anyone here. There will not be anyone here. Your heavenly Father neither sleeps nor slumbers. Why? To keep watch over you and me. Jesus rose from the dead and went to heaven, and He's still making decisions for us right now. Work is a must. No matter how saved or anointed you are, work is a must [music] for anyone to make maximum impact on earth. Work is a must. Work is a must. So we say diligence is the key. It's key to the restoration of our human dignity. How do I mean? Proverbs 12:24. Proverbs 12:20. A good man. 24, please. Proverbs 12:24. "The hand of the diligent shall be a ruler, but the slothful shall be [music] under tribute." Proverbs 13:4, hear what he says. A wise. 13:4, [music] please. The soul of this law desireth. He's always wishing, wishing, wishing. [music] He's building a 24-story building right there at the new airport at Lake Area. Yes. 24 in that place. 24, uh, story building in Maitama in Abuja. Yes. Another 40-floor building in New York, uh, business square. He's just building castles. Castles in the air. He desires to be a success. But "the hand of the diligent shall be made rich." Proverbs 10:4. Proverbs 10:4. "He becomes poor that deals with a slack hand." Now, he's got a job. Well, well, I just don't feel like when I early this morning, I mean, [music] naturally, when I get up too early, I I feel something here. So, he wants his own business, but he's failing his hand. He's falling apart. Falling apart, falling apart. This is my third meeting this morning: Covenant Hour of Prayer, Hour of Outreach, and then Chapel. And I can't afford to change to any dress because I'm still going out now. You better walk. You better walk. You better walk. No shortcut.
Now, Proverbs 20 and verse 4. You see 13:4, 10:4, 24. "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold." Of the coal. You see, there's no job in Nigeria. Nigeria doesn't give jobs. Private entrepreneurs are the highest level employers. Ministers are not expanding. They now have Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Misjudgment. There is the same, and the people need to fill their time before they retire. So how do you survive? You must work in a bank, and the bank already has full staff, full-fledged. They're even looking for who to throw out. So what if the bank does not open the next 10 years, and you still be eating? You know, there was a very powerful law in scripture: "He that does not work, let him not eat." 2 Thessalonians 3:10. Even if he eats, he won't, he won't be satisfied. But they are dashing food to you every day. You are not a baby. These things, these are the things by which men live. Can I tell you this? [music] Not working hard breaks down the body. Through slothfulness, a building decays. We are God's building. You just start decaying. You know, you look, boom. Work refines. When the building is not occupied, you find all kinds of things. Rodents will find their way there. No matter whether it's in White House premises, it doesn't matter. They find their way there and occupy the place because nature abhors a vacuum. And then you find the things dropping one by one. One by one. That's a picture. Proverbs 21:17. "He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man. He that loves wine and oil shall not be rich." Pleasure before labor equals pleasure. Labor first, pleasure [music] later. Labor first, pleasure later. Don't waste the flower season of your life. That's what the youth season stands for. It's the most fruitful aspect of any man's life. Don't ever waste it. Invest it. Invest it. "Wealth gotten by vanity shall diminish, but he that by labor shall increase." Proverbs 13:11. Success is not transferable. Impact is not transferable. Even though Abraham gave Isaac all that he had, it was Isaac's labor that gave him his place in destiny. And Isaac sold in that land and reaped in the same year 100-fold. There was no reference to his father's inheritance, but his own [music] investment. Success is not transferable. Anybody can leave an amount for you as a will. It doesn't enhance your wealth. It does not. You blow it like the wind. What you don't earn, you can't manage. What you don't earn, you hardly can [music] sustain. That boy said, "Give me all my inheritance." And they gave it to him. He wasted it. He hasn't worked for it, so he must waste it. What you don't work for, you end up wasting. So wake up, young people. Your parents worked and worked, and grace helped them, and they got to where they got to, and they could send you to this school like this. You better wake up and walk and work and enhance your worth. Too many legitimate businesses [music] in our country today. One foreigner once said, and I think I share [music] it sometimes, said, "Nigeria is so rich that you can literally pick money on the street. But Nigerians are so blind, they can't see it." So blind. Why? Free food. You can live with your uncle till you get married and have children, and your children are also getting married. It's allowed by our culture. But they ask you, "Have you eaten?" "What would you like to eat?" So there is no push. But step out to Europe. Ask anybody. Ask you, "Have you eaten?" You don't need to eat. You die for free if you want to die. This place will work before anybody eats. Can you dive deeper? I've not tried before. They will train you. They will train you. [laughter] Are you ready to wash dead bodies in the mortuary before they carry them to the cemetery? I can't even see a dead body. Ah, you will see. That's the only one available here. You will see dead bodies plenty. [laughter] You wash and finish $3. You better wash as many as you can wash so you can pay your bill. [laughter] Oh my God.
Now listen to me. When we came into ministry, you ask anybody that's called to ministry, "Where are you working?" "I'm not working." "They were not working, sir." And nothing was working. But can you ask me where I am working? Well, you don't even know when to close. You can't ask me that. You can't ask me that. You can't get out of life more than what you are willing to put in. You can't get out of life, no matter your faith. Faith Tabernacle Faith can't do it. You can't get. There's a law of sowing and harvest. Only your investment guarantees your dividend. There is no go come about it. No go come about it. Now we are moving from to the even faith. Act the ark faith. The ark of Noah. Not even this one. We're talking the ark of Noah. Don't work. It won't work. Philippians 2:12. "Walk out your own salvation." Walk your way to assess your inheritance. Walk your way to assess your inheritance. You have to walk it. It won't work itself. You have to walk it. "Walk out your own salvation with fear and trembling." No shortcut. Thank you, Jesus. No shortcut.
There's a word I came by that just stirred me up and enhanced my commitment to quality service delivery. "Seest thou a man." Proverbs 22:29. "Diligent in his business. He shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before many men." It's not about who you know. It's about the quality of your work. That determines where you find yourself tomorrow. The quality of your work. Quality of your work. Quality of your work. I walked down this morning on publication must come out on Sunday. Five of them. I stood by the car to dictate it the way I did to go to the press before 9:00 in the morning. My God. It's work that establishes man's dignity. Work. Work. Work. Work. It's not a curse. Work is a blessing. It existed before the curse came. Keep this garden. Adam wasn't keeping nothing. We are not. Adam went to keep the garden. He didn't go anywhere. He was just enjoying himself. The wife wasn't looking for him. They were both there, and the wife gave to not the wife went to call him. They were both there. This food that God said we should not eat. I just feel like eating it. I said, "Now that you're feeling, let me come and help you." He came, and then did the arrangement. [music] All the question between Adam and Eve, Adam was I mean to Eve. Adam was there when they said, "You will not die." Adam would have said, "No." He said, "Would die." The two of them agreed to go and eat that thing. It's not that Adam fed. The two of them fed together. Amen. Together. You are not what you should do. You with what should not do. I believe somebody's getting out of here not to look for cheap life or life of many and impact. Life of many and impact. No guesswork. Life of many and impact.
Now, we saw this giant of faith called Paul the Apostle, who even said, "I can do all things [music] through Christ who strengthens me." Now, he mentioned two things that are very informative here. One, "Everyone shall be rewarded according to his own labor." According to his own labor. Not according to his own faith and revelation and anointing. According to his own labor. What value is he adding in his area of engagement? What input is he making? And then he came and said, "Look, I'm not even worth an apostle [music] and what I am by the grace of God. But that grace was not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:10. "But I labored more abundantly than them all. Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." Where did that take him to? Jesus. I know Paul, and how, where did it take him to? "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men." What impact they have! "They that turn the world upside down are here again." And what was the ultimate? "I'm now ready to be offered. My time of departure is here. I've finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there's little for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord judge and give me on that day, and not only to me, but all those who are walking towards His coming back." Praise God. 2 Timothy 4:6-8. Acts 19:14 and 15. [music] Jesus, I know. Paul, I know. The gods have come to us in likeness of men. Acts 14:1. My God. So it's not. Nothing of value is free. Nothing of value is free. Nothing of value is free. Nothing of value is free. Nothing of value is free. Beware of cheap money, young people. Beware of cheap money. Beware of drug business. Beware of computer scam. Beware. It always ends with regret. Pure regret, irrecoverable regret. Don't toy with it. Don't toy with it.
Now, I'll tell you again the truth. I'm not surprised. Thank God for His grace that we have found ourselves where we are today as a mission. I would have been surprised we're not there. I learned from him the things to do to create a future, and I committed myself to it. So what is God saying? Happen. He's more faithful than I, far more faithful. You don't need a dictionary to find the meaning of diligence. I mean, this place, just go with me for about a week and see what diligence means. I know I was said to be part of those who rule the world. So I wrote this book, "Ruling Your World." The tips that help you to stand [music] out in your engagement today by divine privilege, consulted [music] on major, major issues, on major, major matters around the world. Please, please [music] take responsibility so you don't end up in liability. Take responsibility so you don't end [music] up in liability. And take it right now. Take it right now. Too many great potentials just went to the grave with all that they carry. They just went wasted. Robert Schuller wrote a book titled "Success Is Never Ending, and [music] Failure Is Never Final." How can you wake up and rewrite your story? There is no end to success. It's accomplishment in successions. You're just moving on from one realm of glory to another as you keep engaging the forces that open up the next chapter. And among these forces is the force or the law of diligence, and I will spear them as a man that serves Him. So our distinction is based on the quality of our input by where we belong. Malachi 3:17. "Then shall you return and discern between those who are serving and those who are just waiting for things to happen." Verse 18.
In conclusion, we have a covenant rooted in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If you be Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. We saw these three covenant fathers engage this law. Abraham was a hard worker. You can't be rich in cattle without cattle. He was rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. Hard worker. From a sorrowful life, he became an emperor with an army to himself. Hardworking Abraham. He led his army to war in the night. Hardworking Abraham. He traveled three days at 114 looking for the mountain where he would sacrifice his own son. Hard workers are the ones that become high flyers. This man inherited all of what Abraham had. Yet he knew that success and impact are not transferable. And there was another family, different from the family of Abraham. Genesis 26:1. And God said to Isaac, "Now, you better embark on your journey. Don't go down to Egypt. That's where Esau is going. Stay here and do what you must do to give men your life." And he became the envy of the world power. You're a lazy man. Whether you run to America or run to Europe, it doesn't make a difference. Just a lazy man. Lazy man. >> [music] >> I've never had to seek for any [music] aid in my life from any foreign nation. Neither our mission. When God blesses your work, it shows. Work to the point that your work receives heaven's blessings. Don't cut corners. Let your eyelids look straight before thee, and watch how beautiful that will be. So Isaac was a tireless worker. They couldn't tie him up. And then Jacob came on the scene, a creative worker. And he rescued his life from the whole stage of labor and became a nation by the name Israel. So we have hardworking fathers, tireless working fathers, creative working fathers. We have no one to resemble by being otherwise. What?
In closing, diligence is not a gift. It's a choice. Diligence is not a gift. [music] It's a choice. I lay before you life and death, blessings and curses, hard worker, lazy life. Choose life. Amen. It's a choice. The events of our life, they are actually outcomes of our choice. Outcomes of our choice. [music] I wasn't gifted. I wasn't blessed with hard work. I chose it. I saw that my future demands it. And I'm not wishing a future. I want a future. Every right mind wants a future. I want a future. And this is what he said among other things: "I will create and deliver that future." [music] So let's go. You are not looking for an office that is uh, our office was 100 naira per month, two rooms only. Can anybody talk of AC? AC for what? To pull your brain and finish. One day I drove to the office and I said, "My God, traffic was so good today." Ah, they say there's a public holiday today. I didn't know. I knew there was a public holiday. I didn't know. I was just excited that there was no traffic, or I was going to work. So I told them with excitement, "There was no traffic today." They say that there is a public holiday. They didn't know. There are some of our pastors on the mission field. If you mention to them that you have transferred to Canaan land, they will first win before they leave. You pour ice, ice water on them before they come out. Ah, 2 hours sleep in the night, don't worry, you won't. They will let you sleep early. [laughter] Praise God. But the good news is, you have a future. There is nothing God would tell us to do that He hasn't enabled us to do. You have a future. Young people, I close with this. When I was in year three in secondary school, I wanted to be a man. I was a boy. I wanted to be a man. So I [music] went and did labor work. I had no business doing that, sir. I had such a privileged upbringing. I was the only one that had a bicycle when I was in secondary school in the boarding house. You are headmaster or head boy. You beg me to ride. There's no way you can ride anything. Amen. I didn't have, but I dug foundation, had blisters, got paid, bought me a pair of shoes. They called it "apo." It has a flat front leg. It was like a cartoon. I bought with my own hand money when everybody's crying for Christmas gift, Christmas clothes, they are present. I saw hard work in my grandmother. Cut. When they mention old, when I was in primary school, my own grandmother is the only interpretation I have for old. All the hands are good, but still working, suffering. No one here will suffer through life. Work is pleasurable. Work is delightful. The future in working is so great. I was in Ghana, and I saw a lorry then inscribed on that lorry, there [music] is no food for an idle man. I sat in that hotel room in the balcony. I said, "If I was going to Nigeria by road, I will enter this vehicle because it will be speaking to me till I get home." I got home on Sunday, 1995, and I said, "I'm speaking today on 'There is no food for man.'" My God, the place erupted. A man just left National State Council as an accountant and was on the line looking for a job. Through that teaching on Monday, he carried his car to the airport, dressed in suit, vi coming, drove, came back, carried another set. He came home that day, brought 3,000 Naira. The wife said, "From where?" He said, "From yesterday's message." "From what?" He built a duplex behind the old church. He built. Somebody looking for a job built a duplex. As God flourished, caused to flourish his labor, and he began to export food to Europe, African food to Europe. God just opened up his destiny by responding to the dignity of labor, by responding to the dignity of labor. There is no field we belong to that you don't need labor input to create a future. There is no field. There's no field. There's no field. To secure a healthy family life, I read eight books. How many? In search of what is the way to a healthy family life? I saw many bad ones growing up. I saw beatings and fighting. I I hated it. I was not wishing an answer. I was searching for an answer until I got it. And when I got it, I knew I got it and declared, "I'm set for a heat-free marriage." And it's about 4 days now. It's heat-free. Praise God. You want it. Don't wish it. You won't get it. Really want it. And go for it. I read 39 biographies on ministries across centuries in preparing myself for this job I've never done before. And I wasn't sure I had the capacity for it. I was sure I had no capacity. So I began to search, "What did they do to make their vision work? How did they approach it? Where did they make mistakes? How do I avoid it?" Amazing lessons. Not just going blinded, you know. Yeah, God has called me to ministry. I was 18 hours. You can be 50 hours. You don't know how you it won't work. And you don't walk the how you know it won't work. So it's not enough to know what to do. It's important to get into doing it. I know what the biographies of Billy Graham did in my life. John Wesley, Billy Sunday. I know a bit of it. It was my study of suggestion that rescued me from distraction. No attack, no defense. Everybody's free to make their comment. My God. So those things, they all work. They're not just coming, dig and be digging. You need to find out what to do. You need to find out how to do it, and you need to now get into doing it. "The labor of the foolish with every one of them because he knows not how to go to the city." If you don't know how to put up an award-winning paper, you won't win an award. You won't win any grant. It's a matter of learning. Anything you want, you really, really want, go learn it. I learned book from Yongi Cho. I mean, I was his lifelong student. We wanted to see our sales system grow. We bought his book. A number of our pastors are here, and I bought four 400 copies and gave to all our pastors to study. What are we looking for? What are we doing that we should not be doing? What are we not doing that we should be doing? And what are we doing that we're not doing well enough? Go ahead. And then we come back for review, and then we go from there. And the system, nothing works without somebody at work. Let's wake up. We can't keep being at 20 km an hour. It doesn't show a healthy car on the highway. No. Yet we cannot enhance our speed without doing the right thing as we drive. So be full of visions, young people. I refuse to be one day doing nothing out of my NYC. I refuse. Jesus, I'm looking up to You for light to see opportunities in the midst of adversities, to see treasure in the midst of trash. And then start leading up materials that address your desires, what you really want, start reading them up. And then you find yourself just smiling at the sea. We don't know of any economic crunch in our mission. We got light above it [music] before it started by searching for it. Read materials on entrepreneurship. Read materials. You don't have to start from, you know, 10-story building. You start from the cottage of where you live and start just blowing up. Free food is not good. Can be very frustrating. Don't look for it. They'll be calling you a child at 14 years old. You just become a bywater in your own family. No, [music] no, no. Everybody will see covenant texture on your life. Wherever you turn, you know, he went to covenant is such [music] a blessing. Everybody will see the texture of this university on your life. Hard work is good. Hard work causes [music] me to fly high. Hard work sustains success. Hard work grows success. You can make a choice for it. Shall [music] we rise now? I give the Lord a big hand of praise. Have I offended anyone here? Are you offended at what I said? Even if you're offended, just do it. Even if you're offended, just do it. Even if you're offended, just do it, and you will be grateful you did. Each one of you young people, you'll be a blessing to your parents as soon as you leave this place. Even from NYC, some of you will start employing labor through creative intuitions, [music] inspirations. One of those young ladies in our church, I mean, when we were in the North, came for NYC in Zaria, and then had that entrepreneurial drive, came down to Kaduna, I mean, railway station to find out how much they sell a basket of tomato. Compare that with what they sell for what they sold for in Zaria. She became a tomato merchant. This [music] girl bought a car. Why on NYC without being a call girl? My God. Bought a car. Bought a car. A young man came in from US, and I told you that before, maybe you're meeting on other platforms, with an MSE in Mechanical Engineering, before jobs became this tall, but he couldn't still get a job. So he went to the market to find out how much they sell these drums on palm oil. Went back to Adawa where he came from to price it. It became a palm oil by chance. Oil. My oil is oil, whether petrol or diesel. [music] My God, bought a house in Kaduna. G >> That I know you told better opportunities are all over, all over. Before he will finish the money that he was privileged to bring back from his hard work in the US, he had to look for something to do. He didn't buy a house inside one corner in the J. In those days, it's J. Amen. Very extensive plot. Young man bought a house in J through oil business. Palm oil and food. Nothing like gas. Palm oil and food. Amen. Praise God. Palm oil and food. "In all labor, there is profit. But the talk of the leaves tends only to pen." Proverbs 14:23. In all labor. [screaming] All labor. One of my sons here went for NYC and began to do homeless. What is it? He came out with 2 million from NYC homeless. Which homeless? Economics. One year, came out with 2 million. Somebody else is crying to his father and mother, "I need SIM card." What? >> This young man came by with 2 million homeless. There are too many homeless opportunities. There are no more teachers in schools. Private school owners won't employ anybody. So failing and failing and failing, and you have a bit of mathematics in you. Teach them. They'll pay you. Now you have a future. There's always what to do to create the future you desire. Lift up your two hands and ask God for grace. Work. Grace to engage with hard work. Grace to move forward in life in Jesus' precious name. In Jesus' precious name. Amen. Please get seated. I have these materials that will be of help to you. "Success is an analysis of Ecclesiastes 10:5-18." You can choose [music] that. It's a very small material to read. And then "Rule in Your World." Just the basic fundamentals on how to scale the utmost height in your adventure. And then "Exploring the Secrets of Success" because we're talking about biblical laws of success. These are biblical-based, you know, materials that will help you. And "One Year Success Strategies," how to walk around the best way out to attain to it. And then I did this modular one, "Success Systems." Um, it has a common three common denominators: vision, information, hard work. Vision: know where you're going. Information: learn how to get there. Hard work: walk, work the how, you know, and then you get there. Success Systems. I've been helped by books so many times in my life, almost all the rest of my life, to be helped by knowing that we need help and going for the help you need. My prayer is that the student body at Covenant will remain an award-winning body. The faculty here at Covenant will remain award-winning faculties. The university will remain an ever award-winning university. Stand to your feet.