Walking As Sons Of Light - Olaopa Olajide Michael (NCCF OBUBRA ZONE) — Pastor Olaopa Olajide Michael

Let me sound a little probably. Amen. All right. Good evening everybody. I'd like to appreciate God for giving us the privilege to be here this evening. And also for giving me the privilege to be standing before you this evening. I'd also like to appreciate the leadership for this privilege and opportunity. Can we celebrate leadership please, celebrate leadership please. All right. Amen. Can we just say a few prayers before we proceed? Just what God asks for us this evening. Can we close our eyes this evening? Can we just close our eyes this evening? Anything a man does not hear himself, that is reported to a man is called hearsay. I want you to know tonight, that as much as you have come to here tonight, I don't want you to hear hearsay, I want you to hear from God himself. As your eyes are closed, can you just ask the Lord this evening, that Lord, speak to me. Can you just pray for a few minutes, a few minutes, can you just pray that Lord, you will speak to me. Because he says that with thee is the fountain of life and in thy light we see light. Can you just ask the Lord this evening, that Lord, your light will shine upon me. Just like the Sunday choir sang, it is the light of his countenance that lights us. It is the light of his countenance that lights us. As we believe him, he shines his light upon us. And that is how we become light. Can you just ask the Lord this evening, Lord Jesus, these moments will not be wasted moments. Your light will shine upon us. The light of his countenance will shine upon you. Your light will shine upon you. He will speak to me this evening. He will speak to me this evening. We are telling you the Lord that, Lord, beyond understanding this word, give me grace to live the life. Yes, that Lord, even though you make me understand much more than understanding, you'll give me grace to live the life. It is one thing for a man to understand it in his head and it does not become a life in him. Can you just ask the Lord, that these words will not just be understanding in my head, but they will become life in me. Thank you, precious Father. In Jesus' mighty name we have prayed. Amen. All right. Once again, good evening, once again. Um what the Lord will have for us this evening is what I title "Walking as Sons of Light." "Walking as Sons of Light." Um seeing from the New Testament, "Sons of Light." And what the Lord will have us see this evening is "Walking as Sons of Light." And all our discussions this evening will be from the book of Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8 to 20. That's, um, Bible readers, little few moments earlier. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8 to 20. But I would just like to add more more verse to it. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8 to 21 is what you will be considering this evening and I pray that the Holy Spirit will interpret these scriptures in our hands even more than what I'll say in the name of Jesus. All right. Now, if you look at the Bible text that was read to us, what Apostle Paul was the one who was writing in that passage. And what he was attempting to do, or what he was trying to do, is to try to give what we call instructions or an admonition to the church in Ephesus. And um, when how he began his uh, instruction was that He He first introduced them to the fact that they are now sons of light. If you look at the book of, that's verse 18. He first emphasized that you are children of light. And then he says, therefore, work as children of light. Now, the word of God is not only meant for doctrine alone. The Bible told us in the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, that all scriptures are inspired and they are profitable for doctrine, for instructions, for reproof. That is to say for instructions in righteousness. It means one of the things that we use the word of God to do is to give or pass instructions. Amen. Now, this was what Apostle Paul was attempting to do. He was trying to use the word of God to instruct the people of Ephesus on how to live as a son of light. Now, what basically what he was doing is that, he first introduced them, he first reminded them of their identity. And thank God for teachers in the past who have told us, they have done justice to the issue of being a son of light. We know now, by now we should all know, it should be registered in our subconscious mind that you are a son of light. But, yeah, Apostle Paul began to do something. Even though you have known that you are a son of light, he begins to bring instruction to that identity. Now, what I mean by instructions is a a well detailed explanation or information of how they are supposed to oppress and live. Amen. Now, how many of us when we buy the things that we buy, maybe like a TV, some gadgets that we buy, many of those gadgets come with what we call instruction manuals. Now, the essence of that manual is to All right. The essence of this is to All right. Let me be distracted. Yeah. Now, I said it is not enough that we know or we have come to the knowledge that we are sons of light. There is a need for us to also know or to also be instructed as to how to walk as sons of light. Hallelujah. Now, many of us, all of us here went through many of us here, let me just say many of us here has gone through um a tertiary institution. You have wrote JAMB, you wrote whatever you got into the institution. Many of us who are called members here, we've we've gone into the tertiary institution. Now, when you enter the school, I I I put it to you that you were not behaving as you like. As the way you want, even though you are a student. If you are called for classes, you attend classes, yes or no? If you are called for tests, you are you you you do the tests, yes or no? If you are called for exams, you write the exams, yes or no? Now, your admission into a school as a student means that as long as you are a student in that school, there are certain things that is required of you, that is that is expected that you should do. Now, this is where instruction comes in for us as children of light. We know that we are children of light. But then, how do we walk as children of light? That's the question now. How do you walk as a student, as a child of light? He's saying that when you got born again and they told you that, now your sins have been forgiven, now you are now a son of God, now this is who you are in Christ. It will be an error for us to show you your identity in Christ and not show you your responsibilities in Christ. Amen. It is an incomplete uh teaching for you to teach a man or an interpretation curriculum, for you to teach a man his rights and not teach him his responsibilities or teach him his duties. Amen. So, we have been taught as we are sons of light and we have been told a lot of things about what we, what we, what what the possibility, what our possibilities are as sons of light. But we also need to know, like Apostle Paul said, therefore, that we need to walk as a son of light. Because there is a tendency, I would start from, what are we doing tonight? It looks more like a breakdown of that Ephesians 8, Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8 to 20. I was just going to explain those verses. He started by reminding them that they are sons of light. Now, he needs to know is that you are a son of light. Who to come to that knowledge? Now, can somebody read the next verse for us? Okay. It's in our goodness and righteousness and truth. Thank you, Mom. He said, therefore, work as a son of light. I'll start from there again. Now, there is a tendency for us to work in a way that is contrary to who we are. Hallelujah. It is possible for a man to live his life contrary to his identity. Now, if you are a human person here and you are going on a long distance, you know there's a thing that our parents used to say to us, they'll say, "Remember the son of because there is a tendency for you to forget the son of who you are. And when a man forgets the son of who he is, he begins to behave like any other person. Do you get it? So, Apostle Paul is saying, work therefore as sons of light. Now that you know that you are a son of light, there is a need for you to start working as a son of light. Don't just sit there and say, "Oh, glory to God, I'm a son of light" and just sit, or just leave your life anyhow. There's a need for you to conduct yourself. What it means to work is basically walking is moving in a particular direction. Is to take steps along a particular path. In a more in a more applicable sense, it means to conduct yourself in a particular way. It means to regulate your life to to conduct yourself in a particular way. It means that you cannot just be living like every other person. There is a way that is expected that you live because you are a son of light. Amen. There is a kind of life that, if you catch the son of that living, that's maybe let's let's just say for instance, you just see the son of um Tinubu's, no security, no um no security protocol, nothing, nothing. What will be your question? You'll question that, is this person really the son of a president? You know why? Because because of his status, because of the profession that has found itself in, there is a kind of lifestyle that you're expecting that he must live. It is not it is not it's not even optional. Because of that status, it is compulsory that that kind of life is given to you. Even if you does not want it. I was really concerning the president of the United States once and I discovered that, if you are a president of the United States, there is a kind of home that they will give to you to use. You cannot do any kind of home. You can't also drive any kind of car. Your life becomes regulated from that place. Your food cannot have good sources as as common as food is. It's must not have. Why? Because you are trying to prevent the president from being act back as. So they remove certain fishes from the food you use, just to prevent that events. So you see, when you come in as a child of light, when your status has changed, that's what I say that your your works in darkness. That is before you came into Christ, our identity, our nature is that we were in darkness, but now we are in light. There is a need for us to understand how to work as a son of light. We cannot just live our life recklessly or anyhow. There is a way sons of light work. And that is what Apostle Paul was teaching the Ephesians in this verse. Amen. He said because the fruit of that spirit, certain translation says because the fruit of that light is seen in righteousness, in goodness, and in truth. It means that no what the fruit is, the fruit is is an evidence of a life. Amen. Why you know the what makes you recognize a mango tree is the fruit. What makes you distribute trees from from one another is basically the fruits. Once you see the fruits, the fruit describes the life of that tree. So he's saying he's saying that the fruit of this life of the spirit is seen in righteousness, in goodness and in truth. It means that the evidence of our life as sons of light can only be seen in righteousness, in goodness, and in truth. It means if righteousness, goodness, and truth is missing in our life, there is no evidence that we are truly sons of light. Amen. You can't have faith. There is no evidence. If you cannot find righteousness, goodness, and truth in your life, there is no evidence to show that yes, this is the son of light. Because it is by those things that we are seen. It is not just the things that are shown forth the fruit. And what is righteousness? Righteousness in this context is not just imputed righteousness. It is not just righteousness. It is not what's happening. The righteous is good. The righteous in this context is righteous. Amen. It's not just the righteousness that is a free gift. It is what's up to to what's describing the book of Ephesians first, that he who dwell in righteousness is righteous. Amen. It is that in your practical life as we see you every day, we see someone who is giving to the life of righteousness. What does it mean to be good? It means to be full of virtue. And he says it is seen in truth. It is seen in truth. If we are going to be sons of light indeed, if you are going to walk as sons of light, where people see our life, they must not see a life that has double standards. Our life must be true. It must be true also. They must not be true also. They must not catch us living a a false life. You know just like we're speaking to that church in the book of Revelation, he says, he said, you have a reputation that you are alive, but you are dead. So, can we do our best again? That at least then, people people know you for, they know you for one thing, but in reality you are something else. That when we gather like this in church, when we see ourselves, maybe you are among the brethren, there's a life that we know you for, but your your your your life changes by environment. Amen. I don't know whether this is. There are people that, you know, we're saying that these lights we are shining, it's not a mechanical light that you switch off and on. It is supposed to shine in every place, in every condition. But for some of us, our life is such that, if you are in a safe family house, you you you behave like a safe family house. Once you are outside, you adjust to every every environment that you find yourself in. You have forgotten that actually your identity, like we have said once in the Bible study, is that your identity that your location is in Christ. Everything we should see in your life should be what can only be found in Christ. Even if you change location from Abuja to Sokoto, our location in the spirit must not change. You are a man in Christ, and you must carry that location with you everywhere you go. Amen. So, it's it's seen in the life of truth. You are true. In everything you do. There's no the reason why you can't be you can't be fake. Amen. Now, let me read the next verse. It says, Because what the Lord will have for us this evening is walking as sons of light. Walking as sons of light. I'll start from there again. Now, there is a tendency for us to walk in a way that is contrary to who we are. Hallelujah. It is possible for a man to live his life contrary to his identity. Now, if you are a human person here and you are going on a long distance, you know there's a thing that our parents used to say to us, they'll say, "Remember the son of because there is a tendency for you to forget the son of who you are. And when a man forgets the son of who he is, he begins to behave like any other person. Do you get it? So, Apostle Paul is saying, work therefore as sons of light. Now that you know that you are a son of light, there is a need for you to start working as a son of light. Don't just sit there and say, "Oh, glory to God, I'm a son of light" and just sit, or just leave your life anyhow. There's a need for you to conduct yourself. What it means to work is basically walking is moving in a particular direction. Is to take steps along a particular path. In a more in a more applicable sense, it means to conduct yourself in a particular way. It means to regulate your life to to conduct yourself in a particular way. It means that you cannot just be living like every other person. There is a way that is expected that you live because you are a son of light. Amen. There is a kind of life that, if you catch the son of that living, that's maybe let's let's just say for instance, you just see the son of um Tinubu's, no security, no um no security protocol, nothing, nothing. What will be your question? You'll question that, is this person really the son of a president? You know why? Because because of his status, because of the profession that has found itself in, there is a kind of lifestyle that you're expecting that he must live. It is not it is not it's not even optional. Because of that status, it is compulsory that that kind of life is given to you. Even if you does not want it. I was really concerning the…