The Stedfastness of Heaven-Bound Believers- Apostle Peterson Onoja Abu

Let us begin to talk to the Lord, let us begin to talk to the Lord, as if Father gave me call give me courage, give me stamina, give me strength in these last days, things are getting difficult, believers are getting discouraged, life is getting tough, but God will give you strength, the stamina to continue, that you will not give up, God will not disappoint you, don't give up, the choristers have made known to us that God never fail, that His word is ever sure, His show is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His 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always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on, His word is always on I want to speak the steadfastness of heaven bound believers, the steadfastness of heaven bound believers, look at your neighbor and say the steadfastness of heaven bound believers You see our journey is to heaven, our destination is to heaven and while we are travelling to heaven we must not allow the things that are at the side of the journey to distract us from focusing on our journey to heaven I remember several journeys I have made through the road while travelling to other places, sometimes we stopped along the road side because some persons may want to ease themselves, some other persons may want to buy food, some may want to get water to drink and while we are travelling we have to stop along the road to be able to make ourselves comfortable But that place we stopped was not our destination and because it was not our destination we never stopped with the consciousness of permanent staying, when we stopped there we just stopped because we just wanted to relieve ourselves and to continue the journey And there are many people like that in Spiti Shrine where as they are journeying to heaven challenges of life, things that make them uncomfortable, inconvenience eventually make them to stop along the journey to heaven and instead of them to continue the journey they build their permanent abode along the road and this is why God's word is coming to us this morning as an encouragement that our journey to heaven comes with a lot of challenges Our journey to heaven comes with a lot of trials, as you say you are going to heaven it is not going to be an easy thing, the world will be against you, the devil will be against you and the cannot believers, cannot Christians will also be against you and as we are going to heaven there will be lack, many times there will be lack of money, financial lack, there will be economic lack and different lacks in our lives that may come to tempt us to discourage us not to continue in our journey to heaven We are talking about steadfastness, the word steadfastness is talking about you standing strong, focusing on that destination and you telling yourself that I am going to make it to heaven, no matter what happens I make sure I enter heaven, you telling yourself that no matter what I am going through, no matter the present challenges, no matter how difficult things may be now, my final abode, my final destination is heaven and because I am focusing on heaven, nothing will distract me, nothing will stop me, you must understand that the journey to heaven is an everlasting journey, what do I mean by that, it is not a journey you start and stop, if you are going to see God then you must continue the journey till death and even after death you are pursuing God in heaven and this is why there is a need for us to be steadfast in our pursuit for heaven, the steadfastness of heaven bound believers, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58, I want you to believe we are opening our Bibles, there is no way God can speak to you if you don't have your Bible there with you 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58, the Bible says in verse 58, therefore my beloved brethren, what is the next part then? 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58, be ye steadfast in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know the Lord, praise the Lord, you see before the apostles speaking to the Christians in Corinth, he gave them a word of encouragement he said number 1, you must always be sure to be steadfast, there is a need for steadfastness, number 2, he said what? unmovable and always unbounded, what is the meaning of the word always unbounded? there are Christians that are not consistent in serving God, today they are serving God, tomorrow they are not serving God, next day they are serving God, this Sunday they are in church, next Sunday they are not in church, next week they are doing evangelism, next two weeks they are doing evangelism, this other day they come to church, they do ushering work, next other Sunday they are not in ushering work, they are not steadfast, they are not committed, they are not consistent and because of their inconsistency, heaven cannot trust them, God cannot trust them because even God is not too sure if they will go out to evangelism the next week of it, yes they were going out to evangelism this week, are they going to go out to evangelism next week, yes you saw them praying this week, are they going to pray next week, yes you saw them studying the Bible this week, are they going to study the Bible next week, yes you see them coming to church before any other person this week, are they going to continue like that next week Paul was speaking to them, he said you must be unmovable, you must be somebody who has taken decision that this heaven, I am going to go to heaven and then no matter what comes across my way, no matter what is coming to discourage me, no matter what is coming to drag me back, I am not going to give in for it, I must be steadfast, I must be consistent, may God make us to be consistent in Jesus name Praise the Lord, I say may God help us to be consistent in Jesus name, so as Paul the apostle was encouraging them, so also the encouragement is coming to us at this time, that as Christians we must be what, steadfast, we must be what, unmovable, always what, always what, always what, abounded in the work of the Lord, for as much as he knew He said the motivation in abounding, the motivation in consistency, the motivation in continuity is that you should know that your labor is not what, is not what, is not in vain, it is when you feel like at this church I am going to every time, this evangelism I am going to every time, this thing and that thing that I am going to every time, it is when you feel like there is no reward, that is when you will say I am tired, I am not going to do it The Bible says your labor is not in vain, it may look as if it appears that things are difficult around you and yet you are still striving to come to church, yet you are still striving for evangelism, yet you are still striving to visit people despite your challenges, and God says I see it, and God says I am seeing your challenges, and God says I see the struggle, your labor is not what, is not in vain, the steadfastness of heaven bound believer A heaven bound believer is a person, a believer who has set his focus on making heaven at last, a believer who has set his focus on what, making heaven at last, what is your aim of going to church, what is your aim of coming to church, what is your aim of prayer, what is your aim of serving God, if your aim of serving God is not to make heaven at last, then there is no need for you to serve God, who is that Lord? I am sorry I beg your pardon I beg your pardon, so if your aim of being a Christian is not to make heaven, then you are among men most foolish, you must understand, I was going through social media and I saw a preacher saying that God has not called them to push about hell, God has not called them to push about rapture, someone that is respected, highly respected in the body of Christ Well, when I saw it yesterday again, I just decided to really understand it, what I mean is that, I try not to understand it in a normal way, if not, we believers, we preachers will be offended with that person, but I just try to understand that maybe it is a mistake, he just said that out of what, a mistake, maybe when he goes back and watch that video again, he will be able to correct himself Because Jesus pushed about hell, Jesus pushed about what? We are distracted, Jesus pushed about what? Hell, and if any preacher says that he is not sent to push hell, then that person is not following Jesus. Paul the apostle said, be a follower of me, even as I am a follower of Christ, the Christian that is heaven bound is a Christian that has set his focus that he will make heaven at the end of life, I am going to heaven, heaven is my destination, and nothing will change my focus, and that should be the desire of every Christian, that should be the pursuit of every Christian, this world is full of tribulations This world is full of challenges, this world is full of problems, this world is full of discouragement, today Nigeria economy is crashing down, tomorrow the people are raising their appeal, and whenever something goes up in Nigeria, it never comes down, it doesn't obey the law of gravity, in Nigeria, what goes up, keeps going up, and even when they say that the dollar is falling, that dollar has come down, Nigeria will say let dollar come down, and that is the problem of the nation, because now we are talking about the president, we are talking about the government, there is corruption everywhere, but the corruption begins from us, the corruption is all of us involved in it, but when we are Christians who have the focus of going to heaven, no matter what we are going through in this world, we will not allow anything to distract our journey to heaven You are going to Abuja, you are going to Abuja, no matter the accident that happens along the road side of other people's vehicle, you can stop them and see what happens, and you compare you, you sympathize with them, that doesn't mean that you will end your journey there, am I right? The next thing you enter on board, and you move to your journey, if you say you are going to Abuja, until you get to Abuja, you have not yet got to your destination, praise the lord, heaven is our destination, the challenges, the inconveniences can wear us down, can even make us to be slower in the journey, but it shouldn't stop us from going to where? Heaven. So a heaven bound believer is a person who has set his focus on making heaven at last, I want to make you to heaven, heaven is a beautiful place, heaven is a place I shouldn't miss, I can't suffer on earth and then miss heaven, I can't suffer on earth and at the end of it, I'm not spending eternity with God, Jesus asked a life changing question, what shall it cost me to man? That he gained everything in this world and then loses his life, loses his soul, loses his place in heaven, and this means that Jesus was putting a comparison with this physical life and the life after death, praise the lord, and he said, what can a man give in exchange for his soul? When I read that many years ago, I came to understand as a young man at that time, I came to understand that I would never treasure anything above God, it was then I took my decision, nothing can separate me from who? From God, because Jesus said, what can a man give in exchange for his life, what can you really give? The job, where you are working today, tomorrow you, haven't you seen our father today, look at daddy Corridor sitting down there, daddy Corridor was a captain that works in ships before, and he was serving two nations, but today he is a retiree, the thing that makes you not to have time for God, one day you will be retired, but will you retire in hell? Is there a retiree day in hell? You cry forever and ever, everything you are pursuing now have an end, why would you be spending your time, spending everything and you have no time for God, until that one day you retire, but the life after death, and it is only a few people that retire, many die before they ever get to retire in age. So Jesus said, what can a man give in exchange for his soul? What can you give in exchange for your soul? What are you going to give to God and say, God this heaven take it away, I have this one, this one is equivalent to heaven, nothing! And if there is nothing that can take you to heaven apart from Jesus, apart from the gospel, apart from the word of God, then nothing can be given in exchange for what? For your soul. We are believers, yes, the reason you are a Christian, number one, is to serve God, number two, is for you to become like Jesus, number three, is for you to be, to spend eternity with what? With God. For you to spend what? Remember that when God created Adam and Eve, and he put them in the garden of Eden, the garden of Eden was a paradise, was it what? Let us assume we are saying Adam and Eve didn't sin against God, would there be any prosperity message? We came to meet prosperity, Adam came to meet garden of Eden, Adam didn't create any garden. Let us assume that Adam and Eve didn't sin against God, there would be no message about business, two of us. There would be no message about killing devil, two of us. Now, if heaven is void of these messages, then what should be the central message? Is that to get to heaven? Because heaven is the summary of peace and joy. Are you with me now? Heaven is what? The summary of peace and joy. As much as we preach against demons, as much as we teach you about demonic activities, it is not the central message. The central message is the way to heaven. Who is the way to heaven? Who is the way to heaven? And that is the central message. Let me use for example, this is Sister Shoma, okay praise the Lord. Okay, look at Sister Shoma here. Let me say for example, she says she needs rice, she needs beans, she needs pure water, she needs this. Am I right? And then we started praying for her, saying you must get this, you must get this. And then another person came and said, Sister Shoma, do you see that root there? If you follow that root into that environment, you will never lack what? These things again. These things will be there. And then we said, well, we don't need to talk about the way to that place, let us keep praying about it here. Yes, you can pray about it. Somebody can just come and give you one cup of rice. You heat it down one day, it finishes. But there is a place that has foundation. Whose builder and maker is who? God. And when you get to that place, the Bible says there will be no weeping, there will be no crying day and night. It is for us to tell you about that place. Because the moment you come into that place, every of your need is satisfied, is sorted out. Praise the Lord. That is an evil bound believer. An evil bound believer is someone that understands that there is evil somewhere and that everything he is doing in this world is only for a time. That the moment your time expires in this world, when you go to eternity, you are going to face judgment. Evil bound believer is the one that is conscious that there is judgment coming. There are many Christians that are ignorant of judgment. There are many pastors that don't care about the eternal souls of men. There are many preachers that don't preach the message that we take it to heaven. They say, well, they should understand that they should read their Bible themselves. What concerns us is that we teach them the things they need and they pay their tithe and pay their offering and they give everything they need and then we continue. Must we teach them about heaven? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Amen. And that is an evil bound believer. The one that is conscious that there is eternity, there is heaven and there is judgment coming. An evil bound believer is a person who has heaven as his motivation for earthly service. He is preaching with the consciousness that I know that I am suffering now but heaven I am going. He is coming to church on that way. He is on that way and he is saying that I know I am on that way but I know I am going to heaven. People are mocking you that you are always behaving like a true obivious and people are talking against you in your place of work. They separate themselves from you. You are saying that I know they separate themselves from me but I know I am going to heaven. Your motivation in obeying God is that there is heaven. Your motivation in serving God is that there is heaven. A Christian worker in the hands of God. You pay sacrifice to make sure that you are in every mission because you know that there is what? Heaven. And this means that he makes every decision in the perspective of what? Heaven. Let someone open to the book of Colossians chapter 3 verse 1 to 2. I want us to participate. If you are there wait for me. Colossians chapter 3 verse 1 to 2. If you are risen with Christ, seek those things which are what? Continue. Set your affection on what? What is the meaning of affection? Desire and love. When I newly got born again, the first thing that God changed in my life was my thinking and my affection. When I got born again, the first thing that God changed in my mind was my desire. I discovered that the moment I got born again, the things I loved before, I loved them what? No more. I began to love God. I began to love heaven. I began to think about rapture. I began to think about Jesus is coming soon. I began to think about things that would make me to be cheerful the way I talk. I began to think about things that would make me to be cheerful the way I behave. I began to think about heaven and anytime I think about heaven, I see no reason to keep offense in my heart. I see no reason to be envious of my neighbor because if I think about heaven, I only think about the condition to make where? Heaven. If I think about heaven, I only think about the commandments and the instruction of God. So, it became a motivation in my heart. It became something that was pursuing me, persuading me, pushing me and I was saying that this heaven I am going to get to heaven. That was a motivation. That was a pushing. That was something that was drawing me that this heaven I will get to and yes, the commandments of God and it was some of these things that made us to face persecution. Today, there is no persecution in the world again. People don't question. How many people have experienced persecution? You are not persecuted again. People love you. Everybody claps for you. Praise the Lord. In those days, you will see people lock their shop between 12 and 1. They will go out to Evangelism and come back and look at their shop and nothing makes sense. And everybody they come back in the environment, in the marketplace, they are talking. Are you two going such fast? Why would you be locking your shop to go out and preach? Because of the burning desire. Because of what? The burning desire for God. They know that the King is coming very soon. They know that there is no time to waste. They have to tell that Jesus is coming very soon. Believe us today, they don't face persecution. Everybody is satisfying themselves. Jesus is not considered. If we say Jesus is our Lord, then we must submit ourselves to his authority. I will not call him Lord. Instead of that, they say unto me, Lord, Lord, did we do this? Was it easy for you to do it? He said, I will say to you, I never knew you. Take what you want from me. They were using a title that they were not obedient to. You cannot be under the Lordship of Christ and you are still operating on your own authority. At the Lordship of Christ, we submit our will and want authority to him. And that is why there is no persecution. The Christianity we are practicing now is, I feel good Christianity. Look at your neighbor and say, I feel good Christianity. The Christianity where everybody comes to church and they are serving you coffee and the message of the man of God is massaging your ego. At the end of it, there is no transformation, there is no conformity to Christ. Everybody becomes ego of themselves, worshiping themselves. And that is the Christianity we are practicing. And we are saying that Jesus, do you know that some people are scared to hear that Jesus is coming very soon? When they say Jesus is coming very soon, the first thing that comes to their mind is that they have to have beaten fast. But those who are with him, because what the apostle says in the book of 1 Thessalonians, if you read from verse 4, from chapter 4 verse 13 downwards, if you read verse 15, it says, comfort yourself with this. He told them from verse 13 about the rapture. He said, don't you know that it shall come with the twinkling of an eye, all of those things. When he told them that last verse, verse 15, he said, comfort yourself with what? This. The rapture message is a message of comfort. It is like me telling you that one day your problem will come to a halt, but because you are not ready. It is not me comforting you and tormenting you. When they say rapture, it is not for you to be comforted and say, thank God, rapture will soon happen. I am tired of these challenges. It is not for you to say something like that. You will be saying, it is coming. Jesus have mercy on you, I am not ready. What should be a consolation is not becoming a tormentor, because the believers are not preparing for heaven. Our goal, our pursuit, our desire is no longer heaven. What are the things we celebrate today? What are the things Christians are celebrating today? Do you know if Jesus was to be in our time? I don't think he would have majority of followers here at that time. I tell you the truth, if Jesus was to be in this generation, some of you would not go to his church. Because Jesus does not sugarcoat words. They will look at Pharisees and say, who unto you here scribes and what Pharisees? You are like whitewash. Outwardly you appear to be what is beautiful, but inwardly you are full of men carcasses. And you hear a preacher saying that on the altar, what would you say? Would you say it is a condemnation? And they look at another Pharisee again. Who is a Pharisee? Who is a sheep priest? In our time we would call them generals of faith, fathers of faith. And imagine a young man of 30 years saying to a general of faith, and you say, look at me, what do I do for you? For you have made my father's heart to become dense of teeth. What would you say? Let us be sincere. What would you say? How would you be speaking against generals of faith? These are the fathers of faith. They were the ones that started the revival in Nigeria. That is not what you would say. And a man of 33 years is condemning a man of 70 years. But Jesus, his gospel will not be sellable. It is because he is not in this era. That is why you think if he was to be in this era, you would love him. He never built a church. He went about preaching. Trying to turn the hearts of the people back to God. Because in this world we are living, anything can turn your heart away from God. I tell you, it happens in a very subtle way. Gradually your consciousness of heaven will go. Gradually your consciousness of eternity will go. When last did you sit down just to meditate about rapture? Are you not going gradually? Let us be sincere. Are you sat down and all your meditation was just about heaven, rapture? When last? What are the things that make you to be depressed? Do you know that believers do not read the King to find that big anniversaries in the book of life? Do you know that believers are frustrated? 90% or 99% of why believers are frustrated in life is because there is no money. Whether Jesus is still with them or not, they do not care. They waste a lot. When Jesus followed his parents and they went to Jerusalem, it was just 12 years old. Mary and Joseph, they were returning to what? To where they came from. Did Jesus go with them? Were they aware? How many days did he take them before they realized and came back? When Jesus is following you to Jerusalem, we may be aware. The question is that when he is leaving you from Jerusalem, we may not be aware. And many believers have walked back to their thinking that Jesus is following them. They are dead. Long time. Forget about in 1936, I encountered Jesus in my room. Forget. We are talking about Jesus' death. Forget about I prayed in 1977 and three angels with big wings came and appeared. My brother, that is 1977. 97% of your work with God was ever known. Now, are you still working with God? We should not carry ashes and use ashes and say, because if there is ashes, it means there is fire. Many people are just ashes Christians. I preached in the United States. They invited me to a conference. I went there and what I taught them was about ashes Christianity. That the Christianity we are practicing in our generation is called what? Ashes Christianity. Remember that the difference between ashes and real firewood is that ashes does not burn. If there is ashes in there, burn me. Are you with me? And if you want that thing to burn, what do you do? You pack away what? Ashes. The meaning of ashes is that ashes only give us an idea that there was once a fire there. So, anywhere you have ashes, you know that there was once what? A fire there. It does not mean that there is a fire now, but there was once what? A fire. And the Christianity we are practicing is ashes Christianity. And that is why you are cold. But when we try to tell you that you are cold, you will say, you don't know anything. In 1956, my brother forget 1956, when I say you are cold, you are cold. The fire, you are ashes, now go and cry. Ashes Christians. And ashes Christians are the ones entering groups because they kept using their past experience to hinder present revelation. Are you getting me now? As an open blind believer, you must continuously set yourself on fire. And let me tell you the sign in case you want to know whether you are ashes Christian. Ashes Christians, they know Bible in their head, but they don't have Bible in their heart. Listen carefully. They can quote Bible, but they don't do Bible. Before you quote anything, I have to tell you, there are some Christians who quote all over the world. They quote things in their head or from their head, but it is not what is in their heart. They preach it, they don't do it. They read it, they don't do it. Ashes Christianity. And that is what we are celebrating around. People who are form of godliness, but denying what they are the power of. An open blind believer, he makes his decision in the perspective of heaven. He is having God with the consciousness of, I want to see Jesus at the end. If you are coming to church, it is not with the intention of making heaven. I beg you, this church is not the right church. Let me give you an example. There is a lady in Agbushie. I was told this story in 2015. I was then in Kogi State. This lady in Agbushie was a member of the Deeper Life Church. She was a member of the Deeper Life Campus Fellowship. So then I was a minister in Deeper Life. Are you getting me now? So one of our pastor was the one taking, was it Sunday School Review? We call it Church Scripture Review. And while he was taking it, he had to give us this example. He said there was one of our colleagues, a lady in Agbushie. She made a vow that she would never go into fornication before she was married. And she kept to that covenant. She was a virgin. So that day, the parents came to drop her. And while she was dropped at the school gates, the parents, they left. It was already late, around 7 or 8 in the night. While she was going back to her hostel, she met these courtesans and they were like, Mama Jesus, so would I eventually curse you? That thing which they always cover, we won't know that thing today. And she said they can't touch her. She said that today, we won't know your nakedness. Praise the Lord. And she said she made a covenant with God that the day she would know any man's nakedness before marriage, let her die. And that was her covenant. That was one of the covenants we made early. We made a covenant of what? Death. That we would not know any woman's what? The moment you get born again, that should be a covenant you make. That before I marry, till I marry, I will never know anybody's what? Nakedness. And then the courtesans, they started laughing and the number one man among them asked the other to hold her. The moment they removed her clothes and they put her on the floor just to sleep with her, suddenly she gassed the air. And that was how she died. The Lord quickly came to what? To take her home. She made that agreement because she asked the focus of making her where? Heaven. That's one decision you start taking if heaven is your destination. I remember when I was looking for work for so many years, praise the Lord, I was a member of the prayer warrior in my church. I was a prayer warrior, I was a courtesan. The church was not that too big. You can have six positions at the same time. Praise the Lord. I was a member of the choir, member of the prayer warrior, I was a fellowship leader, I was a husher, I was in every work. Even the one I don't like, I did everything because no hand. So if they put me there, I would not see the Lord because of no hand. Praise the Lord. And then one day, things became so hard, I had no accommodation. Where I was managing, my landlord always come to knock the door. So intentionally, I know he always come in the morning because he was not leaving the compound. He comes in the morning. So intentionally, I always leave home before what? Daybreak. Praise the Lord. But sometimes, no matter how you leave home, you will see what? It will change. The entire time you talk, he has come, he has not come. The moment you just enter, you hear, praise the Lord, he will knock and then attack you. So when I made that decision, praise the Lord, eventually, this person said, okay, he is going to give me a job. It was the neighbor. The neighbor saw my condition and he said, okay, I am going to help you. So he went to meet his friend and he talked to his friend. He said, give this person a job. He is a Christian. He is a true Christian. Just give him a job. He just needs money to meet his needs. Amen. So eventually, when he gave him a job, when they discussed about my job, that they wanted to give me a job, me that they wanted to help, this was the same me that said, I need a job to eat. I agreed to a place of work. The man said, okay, he said, I am going to give you a job, but this is the condition. I said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. I said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. 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He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes, sir. He said, yes I said, what are you doing about it? I called the, I almost called the church and I said, bro, look at me. I'm running a church here in Lagos. We started the journey many years ago. It was me and the brother that did this for two years. For what? Two years. How come you are like this? How come you are like this? And I look at me and say, my brother, I love you so much. He said, do you know that you are the only person that has called me to order to talk to me about my past? Everybody celebrates my present condition, not knowing that I am spiritually what? Disconnected. Yes, you are working in oil company now. You are seeing the money. I told him, bro, don't forget we started together. Where are the others? Business people now. These are people when they are praying they see vision. Now they are calling me for what? For prayer. They call me and say, bro, please pray for us. These are men when they start praying, five hours, but now they cannot voice prayer. What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? What shall a man give in exchange? You don't know you are going to a small church? You don't know that one of the signs of a spiritual man is commitment? Take away commitment for spirituality. Spirituality is not spirituality. It is hate. And that is why we can keep malice in our neighborhood. You and a non-believer. A non-believer that doesn't believe in Jesus, both of you are keeping what? Malice. Which Jesus will you go and tell that non-believer that I am here? If that non-believer is keeping malice with you, we will understand. But you shouldn't keep malice with what? That non-believer. And heaven bound believer. Heaven is the destination. Heaven is the goal. Heaven is the pursuit. And that is how many ministers have lost their what? Their ministry. You know when you start pursuing money, it goes with lying. It goes with what? Lying. What you bought for 10 Naira, you will be lying. You will be laughing while lying. Just to keep what? The customer. As you are lying, gradually you are going distance from what? From God. Before you realize, you are already in Babylon. You have gone far. As a Christian that has the consciousness of going to heaven, we must set our steadfastness on where? Heaven. We must what? We must set what? On heaven. You must be steadfast. I must get to heaven. Look up here. By the grace of God, I have said it over and over and over and over in this place. By the mercy of God, I have died before. I have what? Mama, can you hear me? I have died before and maybe that is why God called me mom. Are you following me now? The first thing I realized when I died is that everybody around me didn't see me. I can see it. My experience is still fresh. It will not leave me till I die and leave this world. The moment you die, even people will become scared of you. Am I right? If somebody dies and they say the person that carried the dead body and put it in that house, will you go? The person that you are putting out on the shoulder, you become scared of that person. What will take you away from the book of life? What will stop you from making heaven? What will stop you? It is a personal decision. Most believers start with steadfastness in following Christ. But they get weakened along the way. They start with zeal. They start with evangelism. But as time goes on, marriage will not kill your fire. I see people that come to tell me how they once carried the fire. It was when they were single, they once carried what? The fire. Marriage will not kill your fire. Children will not kill your fire. The children you are carrying on your head, if somebody carries the fire, they will leave you. Not even one of us, let alone our parents. Let your children just carry the holy fire on their head. They will leave you. Already you have sacrificed your time with God for them. You have trained them. Think that they will compensate for you. They will leave you. After so many years, they will find who they love. When they get married or you are old, are you with me? They are full focused and channeled towards their what? Their spouse. Are you not focusing more on your family now than your father and mother in the village? That is what they will do to you too. It is up to you to keep building yourself. In case when they leave, you are still on fire. The love of the world has weakened our commitment for God. Leading to temptation. In those early days, if you fall into sin, you quickly go to confess your sin. Am I right? I did that. I remember a particular sin I committed, not for an occasion, I committed that I had to go and meet my pastor in the church. I said, Daddy, I want to see you. He said, Peter, what is the problem? I said, I committed sin today. Today I what? I committed it. He said, how did it happen? I narrated what? Because my pastor will find the roots. He doesn't deal with the fruit. He deals with what? The root of the problem. You will tell him how everything happened. Whether it was somebody that angered you. Okay, somebody angered you. What lead to the anger? What conversation? When I told him everything, that night I went to sleep. And I saw that in that dream, somebody came to bail me. They came and they paid money and they brought me out of the prison. The addiction you are still suffering with is because you don't want to confess. Those days, if you fall into sin, immediately restitution will come to your mind. But now what happens? You fall into sin, you don't care. You can even commit adultery. Your wife will be looking at you face to face. You will see this smile and say, I love you. The fear of God has gone. The fear of God. If the fear of God is there, you can't commit adultery without going to confess to your wife. For you to even look at a woman lustfully, you will playfully tell your wife that you lost. The reason there is problem in our marriage is that the fear of God has what? Departed. That young men who have not married, dedicated their body to God. Young women who have not married, dedicated their body to God. Do you know what is happening in Romance? And you are saying that why is the marriage not bringing blessings? Only God knows and the devil that knows will transpire before the marriage. Because both of you committed fornication and aborted the baby. And you came to lie to the church. And they joined both of you together after three months marriage started. And we are blaming the devil. Your free partner, the devil and God that only knows will transpire. Heaven is not the focus. Pastors are not preaching the word of God again. Why are women conscious of numbers? If I receive a fearful thing when you have multiple numbers. The reason you should be preaching about eternity everyday is because you have much what? I tell you the truth. In a church of two thousand, one thousand. Every week or every month somebody must what? Die. Are you getting me now? When you have a church of two thousand, somebody must what? Die every month. Somebody must be sick. That is the normal way of life. In this act that we are saying now, people die everyday. It is not the devil. It is just nature. People die everyday. And you have God. And what you preach for one year is prosperity. Jesus is waiting for you. And then they will not get to eternity. Those who remembers will get to eternity and before the judgment of God. When they start asking their question, they will say they never knew about those things. And you think those people will forgive you when they get to eternity? And the angels will be asking them that without holiness no man will see God. And they say they don't know anything about holiness. And they don't know things that will take them to heaven. Playing gamble with the souls of men because of earthly benefits. You will not miss heaven. So I have limited time. How to remain steadfast to heaven? Number one, you must pray and read your bible everyday. Pray and what? Yes, you must keep yourself to the reading of the bible and pray everyday. How to remain steadfast to heaven? Number two, you must keep listening to heaven and Christ conscious messages. Messages that always draw your heart to God. Messages that always draw your heart to God. Every time your heart... When you listen to those messages, your heart will be seeking for God again. You will repent. You repent when you listen to the message. You remember that there is a particular thing you have not repented. You repent again. You keep listening to messages. By the grace of God we have a website. There is a website where all our messages, even today's messages will be found there. In a website. At the end of the meeting, you meet the end of the usher. You go there and download messages. Messages that will keep connecting your heart back to God. Number three, have a confidence relationship with God. Promise Him that you will never depart from Him. Promise Him that you love Him so much that nothing will take you away from Him. Number four, belong to heaven minded and Christ centered church. The church that keeps teaching you about God. The church that keeps teaching you the truth. Belong to that church. It's not every church they call church. Yes, they may have big beautiful edifices. Doesn't mean that they are church. But they are churches. You must belong to a church that always draws your heart back to God. Even when you are wandering far away. Even when you are wandering far away. When you come to service, the message you always make you to think again. Like you know they go small, small. You are gradually going up. We turn back to God. I pray God will help us in Jesus name. Shall we stand up on our feet as we go to the Lord and pray. We are going to talk to God. Say, Oh God my Father. Say, Oh God my Father. Make me an heaven bound believer. Make me an heaven bound believer. Make me an heaven bound believer. Open your mouth and begin to pray. Lord make me heaven bound. May I not be distracted from going to heaven. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. 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