Why You
Shouldn’t Be Everywhere

When you chase the butterfly, it flies from you; it goes away. But when you plant a garden, it comes.

Stop chasing — start planting. At your age, stop chasing and start planting. It looks like a brag, but I am not bragging. How old was I when we planted COZA? I was twenty-four. How old are you? What have you done? Why are you wasting your time? You cannot take over if you do not plan your time.

I am not talking about making money; I am talking about planning your time. There are time-wasters. There are people who believe they love you because you have time for them — but you do not have time for yourself.

“The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”Revelation 11:15

The Bible says the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven saying those words. Now, the word “kingdoms” lets you know that there is more than one. Kingdoms means the way you operate — the way the kingdom of darkness operates.

In Genesis 1, Genesis 2 and Genesis 3, it was the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the prefix and the suffix: the way the King operates in His domain. It is not a place; it is a strategy — or better yet, a stratagem. It is a method of operation. It is the modus operandi — the way the King operates in His domain. And there is a way the devil operates.

In Genesis 1, 2 and 3 it was the kingdom of God. Adam submitted to what God said. Adam did what God said. He did not even know about the devil. But when he willingly submitted to Eve, and she submitted to the serpent, the kingdom of this world started.

The word “world” means order. That is why, if you are seated near a lady wearing cosmetics, it means there is a certain order on her face. The word “world” is the Greek word kosmos, from which you get cosmetics. It means order. So when you hear “the kingdom,” it is the way the devil operates in his own order. He has an order.

Let me give you an example so that you understand. God wanted your spirit to be educated religiously — if you allow me to use that word — before you went to school. That is why you see Muslims, no matter how educated: once their child is a year old — I grew up in Ilorin — they take him to the Quranic school to learn the Quran first.

We wanted to do the automation of a house many years ago. We met an engineer who schooled in America and in several places in England and everywhere — but his trousers were jumping. I wondered, “How did you school in America and your trousers are jumping?” He was schooled in the Quran first before they put secular education on it.

So God wanted His people to know the Word. That is why Adam did not go to school; He wanted him to know the kingdom of heaven. But when Adam submitted to his wife, and his wife submitted to the serpent, the kingdom of this world came to be. The devil changed everything and turned everything upside down. So you had to educate your mind first. You went to school first.

That is why some of you are struggling. Right now you are being taught the things of the kingdom, and you are struggling because, first of all, you were taught the things of the world in school. So you struggle. It does not make sense to you: “Where do I fit?”

From Genesis 3 until the time Christ died, the kingdom of the world existed. Read Matthew 13 from verse 24 downward and you will see everything there.

A parable means you take a spiritual truth, place it side by side with a physical reality, to explain that thing that exists. When in Luke 15 Jesus says there were two sons, He was actually referring to those who are born again — that God had two sons; He placed a physical story beside a spiritual reality to explain it.

Go back to Matthew 13: “Another parable saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed a good seed in his field.’” The owner of the field was Him. Where He planted the seed was the world. The good seed were the sons of the kingdom; the tares were the sons of the wicked one.

News flash: the wicked one has sons. Some of them may be beside you today in church. They are not people who backslid — no. They were planted for the reason of distracting you. And some of you are bounced off by what someone said.

So the kingdom of this world — go back to Revelation 11:15 — has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. There is a switch; there is a takeover. So when you hear “take over,” we are not talking about taking over from another church. We are talking about taking over from the kingdom of the world, so that it becomes the kingdom of our God and of His Christ.

If you do not understand this, you cannot understand COZA. This is why we exist: to raise you to take over. That is why you cannot be in a ministry and something is happening, and you say, “It is not my business; I am a Christian, I will just be making it to Jesus.” No — you are there to take over.

“The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.”

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”Psalm 90:12

Moses wrote this psalm. He gets to verse 12 and says that. If He does not teach you to number your days, you will not apply your heart to wisdom. You will live in hell; you will forget the reason why you are here. “I am here to take over” — I had better forget it. “I am here to make money. Money is everything.” That is what some people think.

Now, I am not there yet, but I have some money. When you have money, you realise that money is not everything. You may not know it now. No matter how they tell you, “Money, money, money is everything, I want money,” when you have money — remember me this morning — you will realise. I am not talking about small money; when you have billions in dollars, you will realise, “Ah, what have I been chasing all my life?” You realise there is a hole in your life, and it is only God who can fill it.

Believe me, I am not there yet, but I have tasted what you are praying for, and I am telling you: when you have money, you realise there is something more.

The first time someone told me, “Time waits for no one; plan for this,” he mentioned something to me. I got angry on my way home. I said, “How can I be this age? I am not even fifty yet, and you are telling me to plan for this, plan for that?” I did not know that time is important. I thought, “Why is he telling me that at my age?” I was offended.

When you lose money, you can regain money. But trust me: when you lose time, you can never regain time.

Some people behave like they have a lot of time. I used to be like that, until I woke up. Particularly when you have not been sick before, when you have not had any crisis, you think that is the way you will always be. There are many people who, when they turn forty-five or fifty, their bodies change, and they say, “Something is wrong with me.” Nothing is wrong with you. Your body is not the same as when you were twenty-four. Maybe your lifestyle needs to change. Maybe.

In the first five to ten years of my ministry — ask my wife — I went to Lagos every week. I travelled far every week and it did not shake me. I drove sometimes; it did not shake me. I went to a church in Lagos so that Ilorin would not keep me in. And when the Ilorin pastor asked me, “Pastor, what instructions do you have for me?” I said, “One: do not allow Ilorin to keep you in. Move every week. Do not allow that place to keep you in.”

They told me — I was not the one who formulated it — that our building in Ilorin is the tallest, the best in that city. It ought to be so, because I did not allow that city to keep me in.

“Teach us to number our days.” How can Moses say that? How? It does not make sense. Teach us to number them. One version says, “Teach us to budget our days.” So we need to budget our days.

When you get home, ask yourself: how many days can I spend on earth? You cannot even live six million days on earth. It is surprising. Take a hundred and twenty years as the outer limit. Count how many of those days you spend asleep; count the hours you actually have on earth — and then look at how easily you let somebody waste your time.

I met somebody in London many years ago — about twelve years ago — and she said, “Oh, I love that pastor. That pastor has time for me, he calls me, I love that.” I thought, “If I am busy doing that, will I have time to project things, to think about them?” I cannot do that. If that is the reason you love them, it is good for you. Maybe they have a lot of time. I do not.

When I got into ministry and found out that pastors, when they get a church office, have a lot of time to counsel people and talk to people — the same people coming over and over — I stopped going to the office, because I wanted to think. The time you spend with yourself is valuable.

I am telling you, do not let people waste your time. You can only waste my time once; after that I block you. You cannot waste my time twice. I am not saying you cannot come to me and say things to me, but when you just pass by and say, “I was just passing, let me branch,” I am not that kind of person. Those who are close to me know that I am not that kind of person.

“Teach us to number our days.” It means that if we do not know how to number our days, we will not apply our hearts to wisdom. Many people listening to me today are in that address. Maybe you are forty-five, fifty, fifty-five, sixty, and you have wasted almost all of it. If you are sixty years old, you have spent half of your time — and you wasted it on the phone, twenty-four hours just talking.

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”Ecclesiastes 3:1

The book of Ecclesiastes is called “The Preacher.” By this time he had become a preacher. He says, “I have discovered that to everything there is a season.”

Do you know there is a season to build a house? They sent you to the country where you are — maybe your company, your church, your ministry, I do not know what it is — and you got there, and you are bounced off into something else.

You know the reason why you have not started your own thing, why you have not done your own thing? You do not know that there is a season to everything.

Imagine me now, wanting to start a ministry — I am fifty-one, going to fifty-two. Imagine I want to start now: which energy do I have?

Do you know there was a time one of my pastors came here and saw me talk tough, and he said, “Ah, is it a pastor that is talking to a pastor?” I was tough. I was tough, but gradually I became normal.

Some members told me, “Why don’t you come there? We will not see you.” I said, “I do not need to come. Your pastor was with me. There is nothing I know that he does not know.” I was tough on him. I remember paying people salaries, and there was a salary I would purposely put in my pocket just to see how we react — purposely — because I knew I was going to hand over the church to him. I was not going to say, “What did he say? Which one did he hold?” No, I wanted to know, while I was there, how you behave.

I pray for you: any time you have wasted will be redeemed back, in the name of Jesus. People will ask you, “How do you do it?” Things will work for you in the name of Jesus.

“To everything there is a season, a time appointed for every purpose.” A time is appointed. Are you prepared for aging? You are making money now. Do you think in the next twenty years you will make money like that?

Do you know how Pastor Matthew came to know me? Our church was at Dideolu. When we closed, the whole street filled. He said, “Who is this guy?” They mentioned my name. I said, “I do not know him.”

I heard he was having a meeting at ICC many years ago, so I went there. I had gone to see Pastor Paul maybe fifteen years ago — myself and my wife — and I saw his son. The boy ran after us. I said, “What is happening?” He said, “I am Pastor Matthew’s son.” I told my wife, “Do not mind him; how can Pastor Matthew’s son be here?” I did not know that he had sent a son to Nigeria for a reason I will not tell you today.

So when he had a meeting, I went there. I did not know he knew me. He had just finished preaching; he dumped his book on my lap. He did not even say, “Follow me.” I just followed him that afternoon. I had lunch with him. The rest is history.

He knew about me. So when I see somebody training, I laugh. There is nothing I have not experienced before. There is nothing. Where some people are today, I was there fifteen years ago.

If you do not know how to number your days, you will not know how to apply your heart unto wisdom. To everything — not something — there is a season, and a time is appointed for every purpose under heaven. Tell your neighbour, “Do not waste time.” Timing is very precious.

“Redeeming the time, for the days are evil.”Ephesians 5:16

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it? Lest, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him.”Luke 14:28–29

You need to plan for your future. Success requires planning and discipline. Do not wait for the right conditions. Do not waste time. You must know exactly what to do.

There are fourteen branches of COZA here in Abuja — not Lagos, not Port Harcourt, not the UK. In Abuja: fourteen. In my mind I would never have imagined it. And these are centres, not just branches — I never sat down to count branches. “How do you even have fourteen pastors in this church?” Every one of them sent out from Guzape.

In my mind I never thought — not six, not seven — fourteen. How? Some of the people we sent out to be pastors — I apologise to them — some of them did not know about pastoring, but God said, “That is the person.” Some of them were ushers, some were on protocol, some were nobodies outside. God will just say, “Pick them, take them.” Some of them I did not even tell that they would pastor. I just took them along. One Sunday they would preach, I would preach, they would preach, they would stand. Then I left, and they started preaching.

There are distractions that you must know. What are they? You cannot take over when you pay attention to distractions. What are distractions? Things that dis-attract you. When I came to this city there were things I was attracted to, but as time went on — as time goes on with you — you are distracted by some things.

Number one: you will be distracted until you understand your goal. In ping-pong — what you call table tennis in Nigeria — you are playing, smashing, smashing, and suddenly somebody says, “Oh, nil-nil.” Then you become serious. You do not smash the way you smash, because now they are counting. When you have goals, you suddenly become serious. You realise which are toxic relationships and which are normal relationships.

Some people just like to be talked to; that is where they get value. They just want to appear before you: “How are you? You did not smile today.” How can somebody ask me why I did not smile today when you are not my wife? “I did not smile today — what is your business?” Sometimes I cannot smile when I am thinking; I will not smile. But it is not every day you smile. Smile and let them go.

There are some toxic relationships. Sometimes you think you are relevant. When I got into ministry many years ago, one pastor told me, “I am relevant. I thank God for my life — I pastor a denomination, I am this, I am that.” I said, “How do you know you are relevant?” He said, “The number of people who come for counselling.” I said, “If they understood what you said, they would not come for counselling.”

Many a time people tell me, “Pastor, I sat in the congregation and wanted to come to you after the service, but after the preaching, I knew the answer.” I am not saying do not come for counselling; what I am saying is that the way he viewed his relevance was the number of people on the line. That is not how you are revealed.

If people understood you — sometimes my message sounds simple, but listen: people who had big churches, Jesus, Moses, everybody — their message was simple. So the first thing God told me: “The church you are from — when you get upstage, you first of all quote like ten scriptures, not for people to understand, but to tell people I called you. Quote twenty.” They will be counting, one, two, three, whether they understood or not. And God told me, “Do not preach like that — do not preach like that for whatever reason. I want you to be different.” So I preach a very, very simple message that you can understand, because I do not want to make something hard more difficult. I want to make something hard simple. That is my goal.

There is harmless entertainment. You see your old friend: “Oh, I came here as a club.” There is nothing wrong on the surface, but if that is why you came all the way from Lagos, I should ask you questions: “Do you think you have enough time — that is why you came all the way from Lagos to dance?”

You keep playing without a goalpost until you finally set one and say, “This is the goalpost.” You cannot focus on your goal; you cannot focus until you have a goalpost. So you can have one healthy relationship that drains you; you can have anything, because you do not have any goal. “Why am I in this city?” “I am just there.” “Why am I in this company?” “I am just here.” That is why you are gossiping, believing anything — because you do not have a goal.

What about social media? There is nothing wrong with social media on the surface; we preach our messages through social media. But if you stay on social media from morning till night, just looking straight — do not let your spouse know I am talking about you — staying on social media, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling — you think that is your relevance? And you built nothing, you have done nothing. I really pity you.

There are some apps you need to delete. I asked someone during a session, “Will you take this topic?” The person told me, “I have not been on social media for so many months.” I said, “That is appropriate, until you are comfortable.” Some of you see yourself scrolling, and you are the one who will say, “I cannot read, I do not have time to read, I do not have time to meditate, I do not have time to pray” — but you can scroll.

You do not have time to pray; you do not have time to drop that phone and meditate. You know how you know you have a problem? Drop your phone for one hour and walk away.

About a year ago I wanted to go downstairs, and the Holy Spirit told me, “Drop your phone.” I could not enter the lift of my house without a phone, because I was thinking, “How will I call?” The Holy Spirit said, “Drop your phone.” And I dropped my phone. I went downstairs and it was weird. I did my exercise, did everything — it was weird. And He said, “From today, you drop your phone.” So in the morning I do what is called rebounding — you know it; I jump up and down on a rebounder — and I drop my phone in my room and I go downstairs. Try it for one hour.

That is how you know you have a problem: you leave your Bible and it does not shake you. You leave your phone — “Where is my phone? Where is my —?” Then you know there is a problem somewhere.

That same phone: your grandfather did not have it. Your father — we used to make calls from the one phone in my house; can I have a witness? We had a phone, but my father would lock it. We grew up without phones, but now your phone — if you are not careful, you cannot understand what I am saying. You carry your phone everywhere. May you be delivered.

When it comes to time, I am telling you: if they stole money from you, you can get it back. If they steal time from you, you can never get it back.

Do you know what Bishop told me? He thought he said something normal, but it touched me. He said, “Those who make news do not listen to news.” I wrote it down. This is the second time I will say it: “Those who make news do not listen to news.”

You scroll every day. When will you be there? When you get home, calculate how many people are following me — which means you are not saying much; that is why they are not following you. If you say much, if you say something interesting, Instagram will post you to people, and what you are saying will be relevant, and people will follow you.

Do you know Genesis 19:26? “But Lot’s wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Why did she become a pillar of salt? That lady valued her past more than her future.

Every time you have a dream, you are thinking about your primary school, your secondary school. There is nothing wrong with that, but do not dwell on it. There is more ahead of you. “The path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” That is the least you will ever be, and that will be your portion.

“I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.”Habakkuk 2:1

Look at the word “set.” It is not a gift; it is not something you embraced — it is a choice you made. “I will set myself on the rampart and watch to see what He will say to me” — not what is trending, not what I decided. What He will say.

Now, the problem between me and you is that we do what is trending, what is popular. We have not sat down to say, “Lord, what are you saying to me?” This man wanted to set himself on a rampart to see what the Lord would say to him, and what he would answer when he was corrected. This man positioned himself to be corrected. Are you positioned to be corrected? Do you think, “I got it right somewhere, but I need to be corrected and adjusted in some areas”? Or do you keep doing what you want?

Many years ago — about twenty-seven years ago — my father gave my sister one million naira to go to a certain country to buy things to sell. He told her, “I will get the money back.” We all knew they would not get the money back. So my sister came to me and said, “What counsel do you have for me?” I said, “What you want to go and buy — I know your taste is high. Do not buy what you would buy, because you are not the one who will buy it. Buy what people will buy.” That is my counsel.

If you do what you want, what is trending, you will have to patronise yourself. Do what God says for you to do.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”Proverbs 3:5–6

If He is not directing you, you have not acknowledged Him. You held an opinion and said, “God, I want to do this — but you know, pastor said we should talk to you.” So you held an opinion. I know a little bit of God: He will tell you what you held. So do it.

But when you truly ask Him to decide — I left the house wanting to spend some days away, and I said to my wife, “I am going to a certain place to pray. I want to know who to leave in Ilorin.” So when I entered the room, I said, “God, you know what I am here for. I will stay till You want. I know who to leave here — I know. But Lord, I want You to decide. It is Your church. I did not die for this church; You died for this church. You decide.”

Believe me, I did not spend one hour before God told me. I appeared back and my wife said, “Ah, how come you are here?” I said, “God has spoken.” Believe me, it was not who I wanted to leave. I wanted to leave someone in Ilorin who was married, older, better. And God said, “No — put this person in Ilorin.” And what He said was what I did.

Then the Lord answered me when He saw that I was ready to hear. He said, “Write the vision, make it plain upon tablets, that he who reads it may run.”

Make it plain, make it understandable, so that he who reads will run. If he understands it, he will run.

“Pastor Ben, what do you tell your workers? Even when you are not in church, when you are not in town, they are active.” I made it plain.

How can you make something plain that you do not understand yourself? Every Friday, other preachers hold meetings and pay their workers. Every Friday since this church started, I have not taken Friday for myself — we have home training. I sit with the workers and answer their questions. After preaching to them and speaking, I stand here. The number of workers who want to see me — I am ready to see them. Last Friday I stood on my legs throughout the whole time. The last person who wanted to see me, I still took some downstairs to talk to them.

Who does that? Which pastor, with all due respect, pastors like that? They pay attention to people who give money, and workers are low in their church? Workers are high in this church. By design.

“Write the vision, make it plain.” In those days they wrote on stones, so right now it is on notes or an iPad. Some of you are seated in front and you do not even have iPads, or they are on your lap and you are writing nothing — or you are writing it and it will be in your car and you will never read it. And you say, “There are many churches in Nigeria; none has touched me.” How will it touch you when you are not even listening to what they are saying?

So that he who reads — that guy will not stroll; he will run. God has ordained you and me to raise people.

“He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.”Ephesians 4:11–12

The moment you are born again, you should be equipped. “I do my thing and just go out” — that is wrong. The moment you are born again, you might not be an usher, you might not be on protocol, but the moment you are born again, you should be equipped for the work of ministry. Some of you, when they call you to do the work of ministry, say, “I am tired.” The work of ministry: when you do the work and I do my work, the body is edified. It is not just for you to be sitting; God wants you to work. That is the reason some gifts are not coming out of you — because the gift is for the work.

Write down the goals. Do not only have the goals — write down the goal. You do not determine it; let God determine it. And after God determines it, write it down.

Number three: refuse to be distracted. If you are distracted, you cannot take over.

There was a time Nehemiah was building, and Sanballat and Tobiah — those guys were mad. Nehemiah did not heal a headache; Nehemiah did not do one miracle. But Nehemiah was an administrator. This man was secure in himself. He was in Susa; he was a cupbearer. But he was sad, and the king said, “Nehemiah, why are you sad?” He said, “I cannot be happy when the city of my fathers lies in ruins.” He said, “Go and build it. Go and build.” That was how the king gave him everything to build.

Tobiah and Sanballat and the army and the Arabians were so mad; they did not like the idea. Finally, in Nehemiah 6:2, the Bible says Sanballat sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” Do you know the meaning of Ono? Oh no.

But they thought to do me harm. Those guys said, “Oh, Nehemiah, you are such a good person — why do you not come?”

“So I sent messengers to them, saying, ‘I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?’”Nehemiah 6:3

What I am doing is great. You may look down on it; you may think everything is money. No — I am doing a great work.

There is nothing wrong with making money. I love money — but if that is all you are thinking about, write this down: you will see that there is more than money. The reason why you are here is more than your money.

He did not say he was doing a great work in Susa. He was building bricks; he was not paid. He said, “I am doing a great work, so I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”

Who are you? Who are you? The people who are hailing you, calling your name on social media, in life, everywhere — is it in line with your work? Are you distracted? Are you bounced off? Are you suddenly feeling like somebody because somebody is hailing you somewhere? Maybe an opposite sex — fill in the blanks. Maybe suddenly you feel important now.

A church is a place you join that you can leave. Some people can leave this church, but many people who leave here suddenly realise that they are not that important; that the position they were given made them important — and then they become depressed.

Somebody was not coming to church. I called them and said, “Listen, there is no harm in leaving church. What is the problem?” He said, “I was HOD of that department for eight years and you changed me, pastor.” And they stopped talking to me; some of them stopped greeting me. I said, “Is that your problem?”

It does not matter. Even me — some do not greet me; I do not care. It cannot happen now; if you do it now we will call you downstairs and ask, “What exactly is your problem?” Because I have everything you are looking for.

That man said, “I am doing a great work.” Those who achieve success — write it down — they are not everywhere. Think about many people — Pastor Chris or anybody — they are not everywhere.

A music minister was with me once, and he asked me — I used to spend every Sunday night with him in my house, just talking — “Pastor, what does it take to trend? What does it take to be everywhere?” I said, “Three things.”

Number one: there are two people on earth — I do not compare the devil with God, but the truth be told, God and the devil, they rule the earth. God made the physical and the invisible, but He chose to stay in the invisible. Can you imagine if God used to walk down the street? He chose to be invisible.

I said, “Be invisible. Do not go to every concert.” I told him twenty years ago: “Be invisible.”

Listen, I have entered some places — I am talking about this year, last year — and I was like a lion the way they saw me. I look normal. See me in places — you do not find me everywhere, by design. Some people think it is because I am not invited. Every day I receive invitations. I still received an invitation three years ago to preach in a large hall. Every time I receive one, I do not go. I choose where I go, by design.

Some of you think ministry is when you are everywhere. No. That is not my definition, and it is not today. Those pastors of Lagos — listen to me right now — I told them twenty-seven years ago: you cannot. And that was why I told that music minister, “You cannot be everywhere.”

Number two — you will laugh at this — I said, “Cut your hair.” Every time you show up, you are sharp. He still uses it today.

People wonder how come he is prominent. Try it: every time, cut your hair. Then do not be everywhere.

Some of you, when God looks down, He sees you on the street. He sees you — you are always moving somewhere. If you do not know where to go, you are just walking up and down. Your friends only say, “Hey, how you dey?” and pass. Where did it happen? How?

You cannot take over like that. Your words do not carry weight. Why? You do not think. You just live life the way it comes. What are you living for? “I just want to make money for my mom.” There is nothing wrong — but let God decide. It is a matter of time.

Number four: have friends. Some of you, your friends are losers. I am sorry, but there are some things that only I can see in this church. Some of you — when I see your friends, I am like, “Oh my God.” You can pretend, but you cannot pretend with your circle.

When you were young and lived in the barracks, your friends were in the barracks. But when you begin to grow, you start having friends miles away, by design.

One day — that was my goal. My goal was that all American preachers, since I would be a preacher, must know me from Ilorin. So I wound my way until I knew T. D. Jakes. I went to his house. I remember that day: his wife said, “Welcome home.” I told her, “I have dreamed about this for many years.” She said, “Welcome.” I said, “Say it again.” She said, “Welcome home to his house.” And I entered.

I remember that day: I went to his meeting, and all the American preachers — I am not saying some, all — surrounded me and said, “We want to come to Nigeria.” Why? Somebody came here and knew how it was.

Somebody recently — I invited him to come here. He was with a boss, but I did not invite the boss; I invited him. And I impressed him, because I knew he would tell the boss. So the boss will say, “Hey, where is that place?” That is what I do. Do not be dumb; be smart.

“Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”Proverbs 27:17

You are smart, but when I see your circle, I am not impressed. Do not go for people you are comfortable with.

I remember many years ago, I had a friend who was five years younger than me, and it was in America. That was what I needed. So when people were clapping for me, “My God, you are doing well,” I was looking at this church, and I said, “No.” If you do not have people in your life who challenge you, if you are the most brilliant in the room, leave the place. You do not belong there.

I recommend that you have downline, online and upline. You have people who look up to you; you have your contemporaries; but you must have people ahead of you. I have many people ahead of me. Some of them fly into town, and I sponsor them to come and talk to me. I ask them questions, and they go away. I pay them an honorarium without them preaching in church. Wake up — I still did it some days ago for someone.

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”Hebrews 10:24

Let us consider one another. There are people I talk to and I pray for one hour. Who do you talk to? You only gossip about people. You know what is wrong with every other person, but you do not know why you are on the spot.

I do not even know what men are looking at. A man sees his wife — sees only her back — “Hey, yeah, yeah.” You know everything that is wrong with everyone else, but you do not know why you are broke. You do not know why you do not have a job. Your friends cannot call you and say, “Hey, this new thing in town — can you be part of it?” No. They only talk about people. You cannot take over that way.

Do you provoke each other? Do you stir one another to love and good works? Can somebody talk to you and their muscles come out of them? Or do they talk to you and they are less?

Let me tell you something: I made up my mind many years ago, and my wife also said it — when people appear before me, they leave ten times stronger, by design. I will say something, I will say something.

“That no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.”1 Thessalonians 3:3

You know why they are shaking? They talked to someone — not you. If they talk to you, they will not be shaken, because you will pump faith into them. That is why, when you appear before me, I pump something into you and you leave. That is why some of you — on Sunday, nobody can tell you trash. By Monday you are low; Tuesday you are up again. But on Sunday nobody can tell you, because I pump you.

The King James Version says, “That no man should be moved by these afflictions.” Just by encountering you, nobody should be moved.

When someone comes to church newly, they are zealous. We do not want them to meet you, because when they meet you, you pour cold water on them. You are a bad influence — and yet you imagine you will make it, and that your voice will be loud. But when people encounter you, you do not provoke them to love and good works.

“For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.” Why were they not shaken? Because they encountered me.

There are time-wasters. Negative people: just listen to them. When you open your mouth, let your words be filled with grace, seasoned with salt. That will be the last time they talk to you.

“Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful of heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come.’”Isaiah 35:3–4

You know, after talking, He said, “You know something? Even you, you are not perfect.” “Why you?” “I will not attend that church again — do you know what one sister did?” “Even you — calm down.” Strengthen them.

Speak words that will make them call you back and say, “You know what, I thought about this.” But if you say, “What have you heard? I was just looking at you when you were jumping up and down in church — you do not know this church.” Do not talk like that. You cannot make it like that.

In Luke 9:51, Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem. Peter said, “Jesus, do not go.” Everybody said, “Do not.” He set His face that He might go to Jerusalem.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”Hebrews 12:1

We also — why? Hebrews 11 is not complete without us. There is a race set before us. We cannot afford to be distracted; we cannot afford to be bounced off.

Let me say this as I close: you need to focus on God. You need to prioritise God. Prioritise prayer. Let me tell you: you are sick, your body is down, you had bad news — spend time praying. Spend time praying and God will give you direction: “Go this way, go this way, do this.” Spend time praying. Prioritise God.

When you die, your children will miss you, your house will miss you, the people around you will miss you. Sometimes some of them will even talk about you and say, “Ah, boss was good.” But after a week, they will move on. The question is: is anybody worth you losing sleepless nights because of what they said?

Is anybody worth it? Why are you bothered? If they need to correct anything, correct it and move on. But do not let anything make you lose eight hours of sleep.