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Ministerer on 4-08-2024
Your Training and Preparation in Adullam - Apostle Peterson Onoja Abu
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Ministerer on 4-08-2024
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The speaker begins with a prayer, asking for guidance and a revelation from God. The topic of the message is the "Cave of Adullam," which refers to a place where David sought refuge while escaping from King Saul. The cave became a gathering place for distressed, indebted, and discontented individuals. The speaker discusses how these weaklings transformed into mighty men under David's leadership. The message emphasizes that God wants to upgrade and transform individuals into the version He intends to use. The speaker references biblical passages to support their points and encourages listeners to go through a training period to become the version God wants them to be. The message concludes by highlighting the importance of reaching a point of "beholding" where the world takes notice of an individual's transformation. The speaker mentions the season of Adullam, a training period, and references Isaiah 61:3. Well, we go to the Lord in prayers. Father, we thank you for this moment. We thank you, Lord, for the word of eternal life. We have come again to hear from you, and we are asking you, Lord, that you set our hearts on fire, that everyone listen to this message under the sound of my voice. I pray that at the end of this message, we all shall find diversion for our life, and that you will give us a conviction so that we can walk with you in the light of your revelation. Open our eyes, open our hearts, and insert your word into us in Jesus' name. For in Jesus' mighty name we pray. We have a lot of things, a lot of stuff to consider this morning, but I'm going to be on the fast run, so I will want you to run with me. In this morning message, I will be discussing with you on what I titled as your cave of adulam, your cave of adulam, your training and preparation, your cave of adulam, your training and your preparation. We are coming to consider this topic because the Lord wants to give us an insight about his plans and how he raised men, about his plans for our life, his plans for our community, his plans for our families, and how he raised men. So in this message, we are going to find how God lifts up men, and the processes that God takes men through in order for them to build up to the very version of the kind of people that God wants to use. I want to let every one of us know that you came to this church does not mean that God would use you like this. No, there is a version that God wants to use. So what God does is that he puts a system down whereby he brings you into those systems to upgrade you into the very version that he wants to use you from. Are you getting me now? So he may not use you like the way you are, but he will not reject you when you come the way you are. So how do we put it now? Come the way you are, but never remain the way you came. Are you with me now? Because the version that God wants to use is not this version of you. It is not this version of you. So there needs to be an upgrading. Even in our softwares, there are some times that you will be asked to upgrade your software because for you to be updated, are you with me now, you need a constant and continuous upgrading. So this message is coming to align us back to God so that we can upgrade into the very structure and version that God wants to use in our generation. Let us come to the book of 1 Samuel chapter 22 from verse 1 to verse 2. 1 Samuel chapter 22 from verse 1 to verse 2. I read from verse 1, 1 Samuel chapter 22. David therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave Adulam, and when his brethren and all his fathers had heard it, they went down thither to him, and everyone that was distressed. Now this was the version that they came to Adulam in, or they came to Adulam with. They were in distress, and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them, and there were with him about four hundred men. Now, the cave of Adulam, David himself was on an escape. He was escaping from the pursuit of King Saul. He was escaping from the pursuit of debt. He was escaping from the pursuit of hunger. He was escaping from the pursuit of depression and frustration, and while he was on the run, he founded a cave. And then, that cave, according to some of the commentaries, they say the cave was close to where David defeated Goliath. The cave was close to where David defeated Goliath. That is, in 1 Samuel chapter 17, David defeated Goliath. Now, David ran to, he escaped to that cave to hide. But when men that were in the same condition of David heard about where David was not situated, they all gathered themselves and they came there. Now, we are going to consider the version of the kind of people that came. Number one, the Bible said that they were distressed. Number two, they were in debt. They were in debt. And number three, they were discontented. And you see the kind of people? They were people that we can call the weaklings. They were confused people. They were frustrated people. They were people that never had bearings in life. They had no navigations for living. Are you with me now? And these were the set of people that came to David. These were the set of people that came to abode with David. These were the set of people that admitted themselves into the cave of Adullam. But let us see the transformation. After the training, after the preparation, after they have gone through the school or they were going through the school, let us see some of the testimonies about these same men that came fearful or fearing, these same men that came discontented, these same men that came distressed, depressed, frustrated, sick. Let us consider their transformation. What became their aftermath? What became their result after the time they spent with David in the cave of Adullam? 2 Samuel 23 verse 8. 2 Samuel 23 verse 8. 2 Samuel 23 verse 8. 2 Samuel 23 verse 8. 2 Samuel 23 verse 8. The Bible says in verse 8, these be the names of the mighty men whom David had. In 1 Samuel when we read, they were weaklings, they were distressed, they were discontented, they were debtors. But where we read now in 2 Samuel, there was, the Bible recorded them as mighty men. How did weaklings became mighty men? That is what we are considering this morning. That how can you go through the training of God? How can you go through the school of God and at the end of it, there will be a testament about you, a testimony to the fact that you are a mighty woman, a mighty man. So these be the men, the mighty men of David. They take the third monarch that sat in the seat and if you read further, if you read, let us look at verse 9. And after him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the Aroite, one of the three mighty men with David. And if you read the testimony, we see how these great men of David did great and mighty things in their time. The Bible recorded the mighty things, the great things they did in their time. And when they came to David, when they came to Adullam, they were not mighty, they were weaklings. And that is what we are considering it. They were not mighty, they were weaklings, but they became mighty. From weaklings, they became mighty. And if you have time, you can go, you can read from verse 8 to verse 23. You will see the testimonies about these mighty men of David. How they grew, how they grew, how they were transformed and how there was a transformation in their life from weaklings to warriors, from weaklings to mighty men. And that is what God wants to do in our life. That as we come to the school of Adullam, He would use time, He would use different instruments, you know, to prune us and to train us into the very version that God wants to use for the world to see. You know, one of the problems with most believers is that they think that the version they are is meant for the old world to see. No, no, no, no, not this version. Jesus grew in favor with God and man. You know, when Jesus came into this world, it took Him about 30 years. And after He had built stature and capacity, and He had become the very version that can stand the test of time because He was 100% God and 100% man. So when He became 30 years, He exposed Himself. The Father sent Him, behold the Lamb of God. There was beholding after the transformation. There was beholding after the schooling. There was beholding after He had tasted of the infirmities of men. There was beholding because the man has come to the version that God wants to expose to the world. So Jesus became the version that God needed to expose to the world. And that was why when He became 30 years of age, there was a confirmation, a proclamation from the person of John the Baptist. He said, behold the Lamb of God. Behold. Everyone, behold. Let the whole world behold Him now. He has come to that version that the whole world needs to see. It is not in this version that God will say behold Him. So there are many pastors, there are many apostles, there are many evangelists who are in their cave of adulam. And when they try to exhort themselves to come out, the world will not see them. But there will come a time where God will say, behold. Somebody will see your video on social media. Somebody will see your video online. And normally, they normally, whenever they see your video, they will just flip and pass it. But this time, when they see your video, when they see that video, though the video may not be quality enough, the moment they see the video, God will speak to them, behold my son. Because when God has spoken, behold Him, the whole world will pay attention around you. It will look as though you are the only man for that season at that time. Because it has come to the point of beholding. So whoever reads your book will behold you. Whoever sees your video, and they will not just see it and pass. No, they will see it, and because the Lord has declared a beholding, they will pay attention to that video. They will pay attention. The same thing, the same video, the same messages, the same book that you have been, you know, that you have been putting over the social media, on the social media, and nobody attended to, nobody listened, nobody read. But this time, they'll be looking for you. Because it's a time of beholding. In that company, the same thing you are doing that nobody pay attention to, this will be the same thing that your boss, your CEO will be paying attention to. Because it's a season of beholding. And when you have come to that season of beholding, the whole world will be looking for that man. It's a season. But before the season, we want to talk about the adulam period. The season of adulam. The training season. Let us go to the book of Isaiah chapter 6, chapter 61 verse 3. Isaiah 61 verse 3. I will be very very fast because of time. Isaiah chapter 61 verse 3. Isaiah 61 verse 3. The Bible says in verse 3, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for money, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the lawn, that they might be glorified. That is at the end of your schooling, at the end of your training, it will give you what? Beauty for ashes. I don't care to know where you are now, what you are now, it doesn't matter. As long as you come to the plan and the purpose of God and you keep in alignment with God, we all know that the end of this year's suffering will end in beauty. We all know that in your season of ashes, there is a beauty awaiting you. It doesn't matter whether you have no house, whether you have no car, whether you are suffering, whether you are going through rejection, depression, frustration. As long as you endure in the school of Adulam, we can foresee that the end of your ashes is beauty. We can foresee that the end of your mourning is what? The spirit of joy. It's the spirit of joy. We can see that the end of your depression is happiness, it's fulfillment. So the Lord said it's going to give you beautiful joy. So when we go through the school of Adulam, it's not a disadvantage, it's a way for us to manage with God when the beauty has come. Hallelujah. So it's a way for you to manage with God when the beauty has come. There is a unique character about God and that is God doesn't use any man or woman without first testing them, without first training them. God doesn't just use any man or woman, whether in the business world, in the secular world, or in the kingdom. God doesn't just use any man or woman without first training them, without first testing them. This should be at the back of your mind. God doesn't use any man or woman without first testing them. When I say use, I'm not talking about a one-time use. You know when you are going through your social media or you are going through internet, sometimes you need to access a place in internet that will say, okay, we send you one-time password. Meaning that when you use that password once, you cannot use it again. One-time thing, it means that when you use that thing once, you cannot use it again. No, not that kind of usage we are talking about. If God will keep using a man, He will train that man. He will train that man. So God's trustable men and women are those whom God has trained. Whom God has trained, they are the trustable men and women of God. God trained them by allowing the challenges and the toughness of life to come to them in order to bring out the best of them. So one of the ways God trained these people is to allow the challenges and the toughness of life to come to them in order to bring out the best in them. You can call it wine press. To get an oil, to get an oil from a leaf, sometimes that leaf needed to be pressed. Needed to be pressed. Are you with me now? After you have granted it, you needed to press it to get the juice, to get the oil, to get the wine. So that is what we are talking about. It is in Adulam that there is wine press because you will be pressed. God will press out of you the best. That pressing period can be the challenges to bring out the best in you because there is a version that you needed to be upgraded to before God can announce you. There is a version that God needed to upgrade you and this is why I want to say this to you. That the time you spend in Adulam is solely dependent on you, not God. It depends on the amount of your submission, your surrenderedness, and your alignment with God. So when someone surrenders totally and God can bring out the best within five years or within two years or three years, then God will use that pressing. But when you keep resisting God, then you will remain there because He will resist you. The Bible says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. So a proud man will remain in that school for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, even till death because that man refused to submit. So it is unfortunate that many believers run away from their training season in the school of Adulam. Many pastors run away. Many ministers run away. Many laborers run away. Many that are working in the company and organization that God has planted there for training and development in the business world, they run away. They run away. So we have run away believers, run away ministers. As some find alternative ways, they are there but they are not there. They find alternative ways to escape the training of God. Some get discouraged with God and some become enemies to God and to the church. This should not be like that. There are people who get the final alternative way. When they discover that the training of God for their life in ministry is so tough, they close down the ministry and they start something else. They close down the ministry and they lost to somewhere else. They close down the calling. They close down that organization of God, that gross organization and they find a substitute. They never go through the training. They run away from their from their training place. Sometimes you can put a pastor over a branch. The next thing you hear, the pastor has run away. He ran away from that place. There are people that have run away. They ran away from their place of duty, from their duty post, from their training ground. They run away. And we have some also that are discouraged with God because of the challenges that comes in Hadulam. Because these people came then distressed. Some of them when they are distressed even in Hadulam, what happened they turn against God. Some of them become among the set of people that fight against the church. Go to social media, most of the people that are fighting against the body of Christ on social media, they are drop out, drop out from the school of Hadulam. They dropped out. But this was not the outcome of the men of David. No, this was not the outcome. If they are dropped out, we will not hear that they became mighty. Remember that that mighty, between the time that David was in the cave of Hadulam to the time that David became mighty, it was a long years. Not one year. It was a long years. So they have mastered the art of warfare. Because David, a man of war, had trained them. They had mastered their training. So they were mighty. Even when David was of age, they were the ones fighting the battles for David. You know in the book of Samuel chapter 17, David killed Goliath. But there were four other brothers of Goliath. Four other brothers of Goliath. If you read the testimonies of those men there in the book of Samuel chapter 22, chapter 23, read from verse 8 to verse 23, you will see that there were other brothers of Goliath that these David's men attended to. They defeated them. David defeated just one Goliath, but these men defeated four other Goliath brothers. Giant like Goliath. Because while they have been trained, they have mastered the art of warfare. You see, one of the advantages of we raising up people is so that in the coming days, we can have men who can take after from us. In the coming days, you see, the program of God for the church will come to an end if discipleship is not consistent. Because the more we keep raising men, the more we keep raising disciples, they are going to the school of Adullam and God is recruiting them, the more the kingdom will keep expanding. But when we change the programs of God and we accommodate people, who do not want to remain in the school of Adullam? Because our churches are no longer becoming an Adullam center. Our churches are not becoming Adullam center where men that are weakling spiritually are becoming mighty warriors. We are beginning to measure our success in ministry by just their financial output. The money they are able to dispense out to the church is what make us to celebrate that. No, it is not just mightiness in the place of finance. The Lord is talking about mightiness spiritually. These men are becoming mighty men. These women are becoming mighty women in the will of God, in the kingdom. The cave of Adullam. So it takes a man who is either going through the training of God or a man that has come to overcome to the next level to be able to raise and develop mighty warriors for God. Because the man David was a man that conquered Goliath. So he was a man of war already. Are you with me now? So when these people came to meet David, they never met a naive. David was not a naive. David was not a novice. David was not a novice in the craft of warfare, in the act of warfare. No. Though he was in almost the same class with them. What I mean by almost the same class, he was escaping from something. Are you with me now? He was escaping from something before these men met him. So he was running from Saul before he ran into the cave and these men met him. So the people that God will use to develop you in your cave of Adullam are people who have gone either gone to the school of the cave of Adullam or they are currently in the school but they are higher than you. They are more experienced than you. These are men that have endured season. So they know what it means to develop you in endurance. They can teach you on patience and endurance because their lives are testament to the fact that a man can endure in the season of Adullam. So anywhere you find yourself in the company, in the organization or in the church of God, submit. Submit to that leader that God has placed over you who have gone through the school of Adullam or who is currently going through the school of Adullam. So what is the cave of Adullam? We need to first of all consider the meaning of the word Adullam. The name Adullam means refuge. The name Adullam means refuge. A place of shelter from pursuits. A place of shelter from pursuits. A place of shelter from danger. A place of shelter from difficulty. A hiding place. A hiding place. You are running from the people pursuing you. You are running from danger. You are running from difficulty. You run to Adullam. Now the reason you are running to Adullam is not just for you to remain there forever. It's for you to be trained and be transformed and be empowered so that you can go back and face your fears. So that you can go back and overcome that thing pursuing you. Are you following me now? So it means everyone that was with David was running from something including David himself. Everyone that was with David was running from something including David himself. So some of them were running from poverty. Some of them were running from their debts. Some of them were running from shame. Some of them were running from frustration. From frustration. And they ran to meet David who was also running from Kingston. So the kind of men and women found in Adullam are people who are depressed and frustrated in life. The kind of men and women found in Adullam are people that come to Adullam are people who are depressed, frustrated, confused without navigation in life. These are the kind of men that comes to Adullam. That comes to Adullam. And let me say to somebody here that your cave of Adullam is the place that God wants you to be now. So your cave of Adullam is that place where you are now. Your current location. Your current location. For some of you this church is your place of Adullam. Some of you that that organization may be your place of Adullam. That company may be your place of Adullam. So your cave of Adullam is the place that God wants you to be now. And that may be your current location now. You know things are going hard with you. You know things are going tough with you. This community Agbede may be your current location. Your current cave of Adullam. Some of you you left island. You started living in mainland. Your mainland can be your current cave of Adullam. Some of you you left you left an island and you have come to a local place. You have come to a place that cannot be compared to where you are coming from. It can be your cave of Adullam. Your cave of Adullam is the place of your preparation and training. That is your place of Adullam. The place of your preparation and training. So when God brings you down here to this church. This church may not be you know some of you you left some of the big big big churches the mega churches over them in an island and you condescend to this kind of church. And it does not even look nice in your eyes. You say well this church is not big enough. I'm coming to it. I'm coming from a church a mega church. I have about 10,000 in attendance in one service. And I'm come I'm coming to a church like this. And God is saying that I'm using this as an instrument as an instrument to train you. As long as far as long it concerns you God is very intentional in your training. He can take you out from the crowd and take you to a specific place where attention will be paid to you. And in this church we pay attention to every minister to every pastor to every worker to every member. The one that your pastor will know you and make sure he follow you up until you know God. That would be the kind of place that God will take you to. The pastor God will take you to a church that may not be flamboyant so that he can train you with time. So that he can develop you in time. So you can know the art of ministry. You cannot know ministry well in a mega church because everything you meet everything already ready. So there's no training of groups there. So your cave of Hadulam is the place of your preparation and training. Number three your cave of Hadulam is the place of your encountering God. Moses was at the backside of the desert. He was not leading anyone. When he tried to help the people of Israel they turned against him. Egyptians turned against him and they ran away from the enjoyment and the pleasure of Egypt and they ran to the backside of the desert where God needed to train David. I mean Moses where God needed to train Moses. So in that place of his Hadulam God encountered him. And after God encountered him after he had gone through the training of God for 40 years then God said behold Moses. When the beholding proclamation came upon Moses even Pharaoh became scared of Moses. But when Moses was going through the training he went alone. He was lonely. There was no people. There was no crowd. There was no multitude he was leading. There was no promised land as a vision. By the 40th year of his training God said go and tell them. Tell Pharaoh to let my people go and God spoke to Moses about the promised land. While Moses was in the training of God there was no vision of the promised land. May I say to somebody now that that place God wants you to be. Where God is taking you to sometimes you will not know. You will not have a full detail of the plants. The beauty that God is preparing after your season of ashes. You may not have a vision about it. So don't think when you go on social media you go on Facebook and you see your friends going ahead of you. Do not compare yourself with anyone. You don't know the training they are coming out from. You see you you saw your friends you know they are not the top of the town. You see this they may just finish maybe they just finish their training in Adulam. Do not criticize them. Celebrate them. Rejoice with them and enjoy your season. Your own time is coming. In that organization your own time is coming. Everyone is giving promotion and you are not yet giving promotion. What they want to give to you is bigger to what they have given to them. So what God is saying is enjoy that season you find yourself. So number four your cave of Adulam is the place where you learn more about God. Your cave of Adulam is the place where you learn more about God. Number five your cave of Adulam is the place where you are trained to be patient. To be patient. You're in your cave of Adulam you'll be trained to be patient. You'll be trained to be humbled. You'll be trained to be sincere. Three things will happen to you. You'll be trained to be patient. You'll be trained to be humbled and then you'll be trained to be sincere in your place of Adulam. Most of you are not patient enough. You just want things to happen fast fast fast fast. You started a business you just want business to blow and become international. You started a ministry and within one year you just want to have branches everywhere. You want to be known. You want to be popular. There is no patience. There is no humility. There is no humility and then the last of it there is no sincerity. So in your cave of Adulam God will condescend you until you become patient humble and sincere. Number six your cave of Adulam is a place of the place you don't like to be but you are beginning to learn and to realize what you never knew. In the place of Adulam you will not like to be there. It's not a comfort zone but one thing that is sure about that place is that you begin to learn God. You begin to realize things you never considered before. You begin to know new things. So let us come to the mistake. Mistake people make in their Adulam seasons. Mistake that people make in their Adulam seasons. When they are in their cave of Adulam the seasons of Adulam what are the common mistakes that people make? Number one they run away. They run away before God's time. They run out of the training. They run and start their ministry. They run and start their business. They run out before time. They are the ones giving God time and you see if God has seen your heart and he has seen the deceitfulness in your heart he can allow the devil to give you a false revelation. So some of you will come with false revelation that will take you out of the camp of training. Not from God. Because you see if God is training you, you have to be patient with the training. It is in his time that he will make all things beautiful. From ashes to beauty but the beauty will come in his time. So some of the mistakes that people make I put it here seven mistakes people make in their Adulam season. Number one they run away before God's time. They run out of the school of training. They run out of the school of Adulam. They run out of the training. Number two they complain and keep murmuring without learning what God wants them to learn. This is common with ministers. You see it even me I've been a victim and sometimes I fall into this this temptation where you begin to complain and murmur concerning the kind of people God has given to you. They are not serious. They are not sincere people. They are not sad. I will not be forcing them to come to church. You see and you see God permits that season so that you can learn that even though they are coming late your heart is no longer disturbed again. Even though they are not coming you still love them. You are still shaking up on them. You are still following them. If you follow them 10 times and they are not coming for that 10 times you don't say give up because God is teaching you the act of patience to be patient with them. Are you following me now? So some of the mistakes that people make in the school of Adulam in the season of Adulam is complaining and murmuring. They begin to complain and murmur and say things are hard. Now there's no food to eat. Now there's no water to drink. They begin to complain and to murmur and God watch them and when God sees that you have not yet learned what you want to learn He will keep the season. The season will remain long for long. It will remain in that season for long because the intention of God permitting that season, that hardship, that hunger, that tough time, that lack to come is so that you can learn something. You have not yet learned. You have not yet learned. So the season of the mistake people make in Adulam season is that sometimes they complain and murmur without learning what God wants them to learn. That is not your destination. That is a training ground. The patience with anything you see there because where you are going to you will see more but if you have mastered the act of patience so when you see more in the final assignment you will know how to be patient with them and how to gather them together with patience. Do you know what David went through in that case? Do you know what David went through? There was a time that these men, their wives were taken away and they almost, the men David, they almost fought David because their properties were taken away. Their wives and their goods were taken away and that was when God told David, He said, He said pursue them and overtake. It was in that catastrophe where David was confused about the people he was helping, he was leading that God said okay David pursue after them and overtake them because these men were ready to devote David. The same man that David was building was training. He was training them to become great men. By the time came the turn against David. That is the school but David was patient with them. David never said he was not doing the game. He was patient to train them. There will be betrayer. There will be betrayer in that school. In the school of Adulam people will betray you, people will torture you, people will gossip you but endure the season until you finish the course. Number three mistake people make in the school of Adulam, they start living in sin. They are living in sin, drunkenness, sexual immorality. In your season of training that is the season that God wants you to overcome that addiction. You overcome the addiction in your season of Adulam. It is in the school of Adulam you have overcome that addiction, that sin, that besetting sin. You cannot enter into the reality of your calling in besetting sin. No because the school of Adulam is there to crush you, to purge you, to plunge you so that you can become a man of righteousness to shatter the purpose of God unto nations. Number five, the school of Adulam, mistake people make in the school of Adulam, number five, they refuse to learn and to train. They refuse to learn and to train. They have no skill, they have no development, they have no certificate. I'm speaking this especially to ministers and to people in business, working companies. It is in the season of your Adulam when things are tough, you apply for examination, professional exams. You learn new skills, you learn skills, you learn new things in the season of Adulam. You learn new things, you learn new skills, you learn, you train, you develop yourself, you build your certificate, you build your credentials. Don't just say that you have been in this company and they have been taking you for granted. As long as you are learning things you know that you never knew before in that company, as long as you are learning things you know that you never knew before in that company, because those things you are learning is what you will put in your credentials that you have experienced. But while you are there, take professional exams. I tell you, if you upgrade yourself while you are still there and you come to the version that God wants to glorify, one day you will apply in a different company and you will become greater than your CEO in that other organization. Because when you leave the organization and God takes you to a new, bigger and greater organization, you will discover that you are not greater than that your initial CEO. But God wants you to develop, God wants you to grow, God wants you to build stature while you are still there. So people make the mistake of not learning, they are not training, they don't have skills, they don't have development, they don't have certificates. Number six, people seek alternative ways and escape their training. Seek alternative ways and escape their training. Some people will just leave that place and move to another place. There are people moving to a particular state, Nigeria, every minute they want to move there. The one that is doing ministry here and it's not succeeding, they want to move down there because they think it's by relocation. And where God is training them in, they don't want to learn it. So some of them, they relocate. Some of them are even relocating outside Nigeria, their own intention, not God's intention. Where God is training them in that church, that organization, that community, that ministry, they don't want to remain there. They feel like it is too tough, the training is too tough, they run out. We will not do things outside God's instruction because you will have the devil to fully assist you when you are in the way of disobedience. And of course you know that the devil manifests as an angel of light. So you can be in the way of disobedience and you will be having encounter with the angel of light. Who is the devil? The camouflaged angel of light, which is the devil. So you begin to see things thinking that it is God encountering you. It is the devil manifesting, manipulating over you as an angel of light. And he is taking you far into deception. At that time, when you start realizing, it will become too late. The number 7 mistake that people make in their school of Hadulam is that they gossip and talk down the cave that God has placed them in. They gossip and they talk down the cave that God has placed them in. Some of you in this church, maybe this is your cave of Hadulam, then you go behind me, you talk against me, talk against the cave, gossip the cave, gossip the church, gossip the workforce, gossip the nature of the ministry, you gossip everyone, everyone, you gossip them. The cave that is made for your training has become a place you are talking bad. Even though things are not in excellence in this ministry yet, if God has brought you here so that you can join hands with us to make it better, when you start criticizing the cave that you are supposed to be trained with, you have failed. You are making mistakes. So what are the 4 tests? Let us go to the next one now. What are the 4 tests that God uses? The 4 tests that God uses in training men in the cave. The 4 tests that God uses in training men in the cave. Number 1 is the test of integrity. The test of integrity. These are tests that will come, you know, to help you to become truthful, faithful, and honest. Number 2 is the test of time. So God will allow challenges to come and allow you to remain in that challenge for time, for some time. So that God can observe and watch how you will attend to those challenges. When some people are going through challenges, they backslide. They stop coming to church. In ministry, when they are going through challenges, you know, they consult other powers, demonic powers. Some of them close down the church. Some of them don't come to church. They start coming to church late. Pastor, let me talk to you. When you start coming to church late as a pastor, you are missing it. Don't think that it is only remember that you come to church early. You come any time. Sometimes you come after one hour of the service. You say because I should just come and deliver the word. No! You are under the training. You are not the owner of the business. You are a staff. God, you know, employs you into the vineyard. So you are not bigger than the bus. Even the bus has been there from the beginning of the meeting. So pastors, in your training ground, you come late and you give different funny excuses and God keeps watching you. This one, you will remain here for years. So the test of time, God allows challenges to come and observe how you attend, how you react during those challenges. Do you react? Do you go to the place of prayer where you start complaining and more and more we are looking for sympathizer? How do you attend to challenges? It's part of the test of time. Number three is the test of men. God will bring you under leadership to see if you are submissive and loyal to authority. If you can't obey men, you can see that you can't obey God, you can't see. So God will test your loyalty. He will bring you, which is called the test of men. He will test your submission under leadership because in leadership you do what you are instructed to do, not what you want to do. So the moment you started doing your will inside leadership, you have failed the test. Your pastor asked you to do this at this time, it is your pastor that ended up doing it or possibly your pastor said you should do it this way, you started doing that way. Opposite that, no, you are missing. You are failing in that school. Nobody may know, even the pastor may not be aware of it, but God has seen it. Then number four, which is the last one, is the test of ungratefulness. This is where you will be tested. How does God test you with this? Sometimes the people you are sacrificing for will not appreciate you. The people you are laboring for will not appreciate you. God will keep watching you whether you will continue to do it or you will stop because they never appreciate you. The moment you stop, you have failed the test because Jesus loved us that even while we were yet sinners, he died for us. While we were yet sinners, that means he died for us. Even though he knew that we may later reject him, we may not even appreciate his death, he still died for us. So that is what Jesus wants us to be. He wants us to conform to his divine nation. So there will be a test of ungratefulness. The place you labor, the company you labor, after labor when you may not be appreciated, yet you will still remain there. You will still remain there. As long as God wants you to be there, that is where you will be because most times in the school of Hadulam, you are not only trained to be sent out, sometimes you are trained to remain there to support that ministry because all of David's men, they remained with him. But sometimes God will train you in a place and send you to go and do your own work. So when you remain in a place, you will see a lot of discouragement, but the ability for you to remain there is connected to your glorification and God announcing you under that ministry. You can be announced under a ministry. So there will be a test of ungratefulness. So what are the signs that you are in your cave of Hadulam? For all of you to misinterpret this cave of Hadulam, some of you are under a cave of rebellion or reaping your rebellion. And I don't want you to define that as a cave of Hadulam. Some of you are under the cave of witchcraft oppression. Your challenges is sponsored by witchcraft. You are suffering today because there is a witchcraft, witchcraft manipulation over your life, over your family. And if you don't want to fight the battle, sometimes we can deceive ourselves and say, I am in my cave of Hadulam. No! So there are signs, there are five signs to note in your life now, to know whether you are in the cave of Hadulam or not. Five signs. Number one, when you are in the cave of Hadulam, what will happen to you, number one, you are knowing God more. You will start knowing God more and more in a deeper way despite the challenges around you. You will start knowing God more and more. In that cave, you start knowing God maybe through prayer, maybe through fasting, maybe through the word. You will just start observing that you are getting to know God more and more. Though you are suffering, though there is no food to eat, though there is no water to drink, though things are not easy with you, but in the midst of this storm, you are getting to know God more and more. That is number one. Number two, you are becoming more serious to find your purpose in life and to pursue your purpose. In that cave, you are beginning to come to consciousness that you needed to find your purpose in life and to pursue your purpose and to pursue your purpose. Number three, you are learning skills and new things that point to your purpose. You see yourself that you are beginning to learn new things. You are beginning to learn new skills that point to your purpose. You are not just idle. No, you are developing. If God has called you to be a minister or you have a calling to pastor, to become a pastor under that ministry, in that school of Hadulam, you are beginning to learn the skill of pastoring. There is an opportunity coming. You are seeing yourself that you are learning and anytime you have a revelation, you see yourself in the pastoral ministry and where you are currently, you are given an opportunity to pastor or you are given an opportunity to test the pulpit or you are given an opportunity to lead. So you are doing things that point to your purpose. Number four, you are growing in stature with men and with God. You are growing in stature with men and with God. That means you are building relevance. You are becoming more useful. People are not using you now. Like people call you for something. It may be in the office. It can be in the church. It can be in the ministry. People are not calling you. Like people are not using you. Not wrongfully using you. No, they are not rightfully using you. You are not becoming a useful vessel. The Bible says in the great acts, there are vessels, some unto honor and some unto dishonor. If any man will become a vessel unto honor, let him purge himself from this. And he shall be a vessel unto honor. Prepare for good use. Prepare for God's use. So God is using you. Men are using you. Men need your attention. God needs your attention. In the ministry, men are using you by giving you an opportunity to preach. And every time you are preaching, everybody is carried away. And God is using you because when you preach, there is a mighty signs and wonders backing up your ministration. There are convictions in the heart of the people whenever you are speaking. That is usefulness. Though things are not easy with you, but these things are happening with you now. You are in your cave of Adulam. Then about 5, which is the last one, you are beginning to trust God more and not men. In the cave of Adulam, you are no longer trusting men. You are fully depending on God. Not a math word, but it is an action word. You so much depend on God. When you are talking about God like this, everybody knows that your trust is in God alone. You are trusting God alone. Not even the people of Abundance. Not even your boss. Not even your senior pastor. Not even anyone. You are trusting God alone. So your trust life is built. Then you are in your cave of Adulam. I wish everyone of us can go back and listen to this message again. The last one is what to do in your cave of Adulam. We will close with this one because of time. What to do in your cave of Adulam? When you are in your cave of Adulam, what should you do? Number one, be ready to learn. Number one, be ready to learn. You will learn a lot. Observe and learn. Observe and learn. Observe and learn. Don't allow... You are there to learn. So learn. Don't say you don't have time. Don't say you are tired. Don't say that... Talk to your... For those that are married, sisters, talk to your husband. Husband, talk to your wife that we are here to learn something. Observe and learn. Don't go to a place and forget what you needed to learn there. Number two, be obedient. Be obedient because most of the time God will use the people in authority to position you in the place where God wants you to really see. You know you need to see for you to observe. So be obedient. When they give you something to do, be obedient. Be obedient and be faithful in little things. Even though they ask you to be taking care of a vet, maybe a security officer, or to be taking care of the toilet, be obedient to that. Be obedient to that and be faithful. Number three, see every challenge as practical training. Every challenge, see it as practical training. In your cave of Adulam, see every challenge, every misunderstanding, every misinterpretation of your behavior, see it as practical challenge. Don't fight back. Don't talk back. No. See it. Learn something from that. Then number four, build a formidable prayer life. Build a formidable prayer life. Build a formidable prayer life. Have a strong prayer life. It is in the place of Adulam you develop prayer life. If you stop praying, if you don't pray, if you don't engage in prayer, you will lose so many things. You are there to pray. You are there to learn how to pray. Then number five, soak yourself more in God's Word. Spend time to study the Word of God in your cave of Adulam. Spend time to study the Word of God. Number six, submit to every authority you find yourself under. Whether they put you in a department, submit to the departmental head. Submit to every authority you find yourself. Let me speak to pastors. Some pastors can be serving under a church and in that church they are running their own ministry somewhere that the pastor is not aware. Their head pastor is not aware. They are serving there but they are running another different ministry somewhere else. You are not faithful. You are not faithful. If you want to run ministry, then step down from being a pastor there. And if you cannot run your ministry under that ministry, then step down. If your ministry is prayer ministry, then tell the senior pastor that you want to organize a prayer ministry every Thursday or every social day in the church but it will be under the church umbrella. That is faithfulness. So submit yourself to every authority you find yourself. Number seven, learn to hear God and master it. You are there to master the act of hearing God. The act of hearing God. Learn to hear God and master your hearing of God because He is going to talk to you forever till death. So if you have not been hearing the voice of God, learn to hear God now so that in the journey of life you can keep hearing Him. Number eight, serve sincerely and faithfully. Serve sincerely and faithfully. God has a bigger plan for you. So God has a bigger plan for you. So stay and remain in your cave of Adulam. From there you will see clearly and you will succeed in life. From there, from your cave of Adulam, you will start seeing clearly and then you will succeed in life. So shall we go to the Lord and pray? Yes, talk to the Lord. I say, Father, you have brought me to this cave for my spiritual development. It's not easy. It's not sweet. It's like an ashes but I know that from ashes you will produce beauty. From money you produce the spirit of joy in me. Oh God, do it for me. I ask the Lord to give you patience. I ask the Lord to give you endurance. I ask the Lord to help your heart, to help your life, to help you in the school of Adulam. We have pointed to you. How do you know that you are in the school of Adulam? So that you'll be sure that you are in the school of Adulam. And tell the Lord, I say, Lord, the things I need to know, the things I need to learn for my next level, Lord, help me to learn them fast. Open your mouth and begin to talk to the Lord.
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