Transcription
[music] The law of self-discipline as a requirement for successful living.
Self-discipline. Although we have been redeemed as priests and [music] kings to reign on the earth, but indiscipline can rob any believer of his throne. We saw a graphic picture there in Ecclesiastes 10 verse 5.
"There's an evil which I've seen under the [music] sun. An error which proceeded from the king, from the ruler, fully set in high places. He set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low places. I've seen servants riding upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth."
You know what that means? Believers are down, down there. Unbelievers are up, up there. He says, "An evil in my sight, 'cause I've done all I needed to do to make you stand out wherever you belong." But he went on to let us know what happened.
"He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it. Whosoever breaketh an hedge, breaketh a covenant, a serpent shall bite. Whosoever removeth stones shall be endangered their way, their way. And they that cleave to w [wood?] shall be endangered thereby."
So let's find out what went wrong. Verse 16, he said, "Woe unto thee, oh land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning. But blessed art thou, oh land, when thy king is the son, son of the noble, and thy princes eat in due season [music] for strength and not for drunkenness."
Now, those two verses connote one of the covenants broken by these princes who are working on food [music] while servants are riding the horses. They broke the covenant of discipline. They were playing baby and heir when a king is a child. As long as he's a child, as long as a child can be 20 [music] years, 50 years, as long as he continues to play the child, he does not, is not different from a servant, though he be of all things, but is under tutors and governors. He [music] needs supervision for anything to work in his hand. He needs to be supervised. He can go astray at any point. Eyes must be on him. If you send him to [music] the market, you continue to monitor whether he's gone there or not. He said, "Baby, as long as [music] he is a child, he is not different from himself."
The throne does not belong to children. "Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon the shoulder of the son, not the child." Indiscipline is a core characteristic of children. Children don't do anything about responsibility. So until you start taking responsibility, [music] you are not a candidate for the throne. I said there in the fourth service, the opposite of responsibility [music] is liability. You either take responsibility or you end up in liability.
So we need to be conscious of the place of self- [music] discipline in a quest to experience and sustain success. It's not just experience [music] success, it's to sustain success. Discipline, among others, [music] is possessing a sense of mission in the pursuit of life.
"Know ye not that in a race run, all run, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. I therefore so run, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection."
Come, self-discipline. That's self-discipline. That's the definition of it. I bring my body under and [music] bring it into subjection, lest after I preach to others, I myself should become a castaway. To remain in front, I must keep my body under [music] body behind, undisciplined. [music] A student will go for his brother's wedding during exams and say to take an undisciplined parent to allow it. Most of the indiscipline [music] of our children is visible to us.
"Tell them that your brother is one man. You have only one brother. Come. Is it not me who pays school fees to do [music] what? Is it to join them? Is he the best man? No." People just mess up their only line. You don't have a spare. Those who don't have spare tires don't drive rough. I've been there before. You drive carefully. You [music] see shallop paper, you bend. In case there is a nail inside. What man says?
"The boy [screaming] says paper today." Said, "It doesn't matter. You passed last time now. Let them support that one." [laughter] I can tell you many business people are just dancing around the same point because they have not engaged this law of the spirit of life.
Again, my prayer is that every force [music] of indiscipline manipulating any destiny here be destroyed today. Discipline can also be defined as operating as demanded, not as convenient. The Bible says [music] "Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion." You know, operating as demanded, not as convenient. Lost there. We saw Nehemiah walking night and day, night and day, and the people with him, and they never put up their clothes except for worship. But the task was delivered in 52 days. That's not convenient, but that was demanded.
You can't give life what it takes and not make the most of it. "You sow sparingly, [music] you reap sparingly. You sow bountifully, you reap bountifully." God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, at the level at which he sows, so at the level he will reap. Please take that in.
Self-discipline also is being a law to oneself in a bid to accomplish a given task. All things are lawful; they are okay; they are correct. But they don't add up towards the delivery [music] of the task in my hand. They are not adding to it; they are eroding from it. "All things are lawful for me," Paul said, "but not all things are expedient. 1 Corinthians 6:12. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."
There are places we go that they won't know if he didn't come. So [music] why going? Praise God. If I don't go, they will just say, "Ah, he didn't go." And they go, "So you came? We are not expecting you to go. We thought you were busy. We don't know you are this loose. There's nothing you are doing here anyway." So when are you going? That's the reward for your promise. Anywhere you go that does not add value to the people you are going to or to you is a wasted, wasted going. You know, "He's my friend since 1962. You have not met all your life." I just had so I came. They said, "Sir, who are you, sir?" "Oh, we were friends." "Okay, okay. God bless you. Thank you." And then he walks away. You never see him again. Not that you're looking for anything, but you have nothing to do with your life. If you don't make a business of it, you run bankrupt. You don't make a business of living, you go bankrupt with your eyes open. Nobody here will go bankrupt. So take responsibility.
Very quickly, let me show us four areas of our lives where self- [music] discipline will will apply positively. One is our spiritual life. Sustainable [music] success requires being rooted and grounded spiritually. 1 Timothy 4:7 and 8: "Refuse profane and old wives' fables, just stories that don't have any meaning, but exercise rather unto godliness." [music] Stop listening to junks on TV, on internet, junks, junks, junks, but exercise to spirituality. "For bodily exercise profits little, [music] but godliness, or spirituality, is profitable unto all things, having the promise of life, which now is, and the one which is [music] to come."
A man by the name Uzziah gave himself to the things of God as a young ruler. He began to rule at the age of 16. He reigned for 52 years, but he was a lifelong student of Zechariah, who had understanding of the visions of the [music] Lord. And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
In Psalm 1, verses 1-3: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." Spirituality also demands careful [music] choice of who you walk with, "nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in [music] the seat of the scornful. But whose delight is in the law of his God, and upon it he doth meditate day and night, it shall [music] be like a tree planted by rivers of water, his leaves also shall not wither; he shall bring forth his fruit in his season, and whatsoever he doeth it shall prosper."
Spiritual robustness is the security of our destiny. Spirituality is simply scripturality: living by the dictates of scriptures, living by the dictates of scripture.
This next area where self-discipline impacts on our life is in the work of our hands. In 1 Thessalonians 4:11, "Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you." Do your own business. Invest the best of your time, energy, and resources in your own business. I've been out of this church on Sunday morning since 1999, 20 years ago, three Sundays. I go to anywhere in the world. I'm back on my job. I'm not a preaching merchant. I go to places only when I'm directed. If I follow every invitation that I receive, I won't be here one Sunday. But that will be making a fool of my life because I'll be, I will give account on my assignment, not on somebody's assignment. I was in Kaduna church last 1999 on a Sunday morning, 20 years ago. I was in Abuta church, our church in Abuta. We have a network there now. The main church, I was there [music] last 1996. Study, don't be quiet. Do your own business. All those people will give account over this what is right there. But I must give account over this one. You can't oversee what you don't see. Amen. That's how self-discipline [music] distinguishes people. Self-discipline is your guarantee for sustainable success. Otherwise, you see today and never see it again.
I'm going about now. Wait [music] a minute. Shiloh is in December. I started work already on Shiloh. This is April. I know the team, but I won't tell you. So you can be going with what you are doing right now. When it's time, you'll be told. I have many things to say to you, but you can't. You don't need to glory to God. It is not a place to be guessing and say, "The Lord [music] will speak to you and go to the platform." No, no, no. God doesn't speak to careless people. May your life be clouded with [music] self-discipline as a lifestyle from now.
In 1 Peter 4:15, he said, "Don't suffer as a busybody in other men's [music] matters." That's discipline. Self-discipline. Stay on your job. Discipline yourself to deliver [music] your own assignment. Wish everybody is well and keep going.
Number three area that self-discipline [music] impacts on our life is in the management of our time. Time management. Time management. Benjamin Franklin once said, "Do thou love life? Then invest your time. Don't squander it, for that is the [music] stuff life is made up of." No value for time, you start losing [music] value without knowing. Our part of the world needs this a lot. Wake up in the morning. You're going to bless [music] somebody. Okay. For what? "It's a long time I saw him." "Did you hear anything about him?" "No, I just felt like seeing him." Then you now drive about three hours to go and greet somebody. You not get there, they say he's not at home. You say, "I will wait." I mean, in this one life, you have only Jesus has a second coming. All of us, it's only one coming. [music] You mess it, you miss it. Amen. If they call you "Papa" today, it's just an accolade. It's a nickname. It is appointed unto one man, whether Baba or Mama, once to die, and after that, once to die, and after that. Since you don't have a spare life, why don't you make the most of this one? "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:16.
Now, in Colossians 4:5, it said, "Walk in wisdom." [music] So it is, it is lack of wisdom, by scriptural definition, without redeeming the time. Redeeming the time. I love the story that was told in the third service of John Wesley. Somebody was talking to him. It was 20 minutes. He shouted, "When the man won't stop, stop that! I've just lost 20 minutes of my life." Listen to junk. Amen. TIME. [screaming] They call it lifetime. That is what your time was worth while you lived. You know why I don't sleep on time? You sleep 8 hours. That's one third of your life. So when you are 75, you [music] have slept for 25 years. You're unconscious. Amen. Glory to God. Those who check out on people with correct sense of value for time, they don't stop making progress. They don't stop [music] making progress. They don't stop making progress. They don't stop making progress.
One of our leaders in this country said when [music] he was in power that there was no event he invited me for that I had time. He was saying it in a positive way. People should know you for your job. They should know where you belong. Where they call [music] you, you are going. Where they don't call you, you are going. Where you are relevant, you are going. Where you are irrelevant, you are going. [music] Where you body, you are going. You're going. Amen. And then by the time you want to sleep, a way for you to leave. You have not left. They say, "Where are you staying?" "I will stay here." Don't leave. Please manage your time well.
"All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient." Invest your time in what is profitable, what is value-added, not just anything that comes in harvest [music] and have nothing. Proverbs 13:2 or 13:4: "He shall beg in [music] harvest. The heritage of the slothful is begging, and the same is with his brother, because [music] they share a common heritage." Every waster will end up a beggar, just [music] like every slothful, lazy, idle man will end up a beggar. And we saw that graphically demonstrated in the life of the prodigal son in Luke 15:13-16. He wasted his substance [music] on riotous living. Then there arose a great famine in the land, and [music] he began to be in want, and was begging to share food with pigs. Every waster today will be a beggar tomorrow. No scripture cancels [music] out another.
No matter the blessing in a leaking drum, no matter the volume of water going up, going up, going up. If you don't deal with waste, your giving will [music] be wasted. It won't show. It won't show. It won't show. A common example is, is this plague of telephone, is a plague. The money some men spend on telephone, they will never give to their family for food, and 80-90% of what they are saying is not business. "Hello, how are you? You have not been calling me." "You know, calling is our business." Amen. No budget, free spending, pay as you go. We just man, this is the largest [music] telephone market in the entire world, Nigeria. If we ban telephone now, many companies will close down. This is where a human being will buy a £10,000 handset. As small as I am, I'm not on contract phone. I pay what I have budgeted. You can't exceed it. There is no pay as you go out in my life. Pay as budgeted. [music] There are laborers today who do daily work and have two phones. It's only [music] Nigeria. "Hello. Hold on. I'm coming. You. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. You too. Hold on. I'm coming. Okay. I'm sorry to have kept you on the line." Saying, "I mean, somebody called you and is on the line there, and you are not talking to him, and you can't put it off, and you're not champ waste." We have a wasteful culture hanging on our lives. No budget, no control. The same man is borrowing money for school fees. He has telephone debts. [music] He has telephone debts. Sir, if there were mobile phones when these [music] ministers, we will not buy. You should know that. I shut down the whole telephone of [music] our office, 1995 or so, '68 in the old church. I disconnected. [music] It was night time, and I said, "What you spent on phone last month has covered next month. You will not [music] be phoning anybody." Amen. But there are people who go beyond my budget today, who don't have access to one over 100 of resources I have access to, because there's no budget. "Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello." "I say nothing." "Okay. So, you are going?" "Yes." "When are you coming back?" "When you [music] come back, will you call me?" "No." "Okay, I will call you." In my view, there are levels of staff that should be banned from telephone. Or if they won't say, let's ban them. It's all about life. When people started paying for the power they consume [music] on this ground. Self-discipline. Many people use their phone light to go to toilet. Prepare when your charge goes, the light goes. Glory to God. And nobody will ask you what's happening. There's nothing happening. You are the one [music] happening. Please take responsibility. It is the pathway to [music] sustainable success. The pathway to sustain. You must leave this service today and put a budget on your telephone [music] ministry. Amen. Put a budget on it now in the name of Jesus. My telephone will never exceed my tithe till I die. First law. Number two, under no circumstance will I spend beyond this for telephone as long as I'm at this level. My father died, I had a budget. It's not free spending. My mother died, I had a budget. My father-in-law died, I had a budget. There is no method you can use to exceed that budget. There is no method. Anybody's crying is inside that budget. Anybody want to eat, it's inside that budget. And now should I die because he died? Amen. And you know that there is nobody who can make me borrow one dime to do anything. Please settle down. Life is in phases, and men are in sizes. Your life will never be under burden anymore. Let me hear your loudest amen.