 Happy Sabbath. Happy, happy Sabbath. Are you excited to be in the presence of the Lord? Yes, we ought to be joyful in God's presence because Scripture says in the presence of the Lord, there is fullness of joy. And at the right hand of the Lord, there is pleasure forevermore. We gave Him the glory for this great privilege that He's given us to study together as a church and to pray together as a church. On this special occasion of 10 days of prayer, you know the theme for this year is priorities of faith. We appreciate our friends who've been following on the Internet and all of you who've been coming night after night to pray with us. Our study is so, so important and I believe that the Holy Spirit this week and the next will continue to speak to our hearts. We've been studying Matthew chapter 5, particularly the first 12 verses of that chapter. And we've been looking at the beatitude, special revolutionary proclamations of the Lord Jesus Christ, which were not just demeaning to His context, but are also very relevant to all ages, including ours. Our study began with a study of verses 1 and 2 of Matthew chapter 5, and the theme was priority of proclaiming the principles of the kingdom. Priorities of proclaiming the principles of the kingdom. And we look at two important points based on verses 1 and 2 of Matthew chapter 5. We look at preparation for the proclamation. Preparation for the proclamation. How Jesus, the Bible says, saw the multitude. He became aware of the condition of the multitude. And the Bible says he went up the mountain. We learn that mounting, particularly in Matthew's Gospel, represents at least four things. And one of those, which is particularly in focus in verse number 5 or chapter 5 of the book of Matthew is it is a place of teaching. It is a place of power as well in the book of Matthew. It is a place of, you know, power. It is a place of prayer. It is a place of revelation. And Jesus ascended the mountain and the Bible says he sat down, which is a posture of a teacher. And it is also a posture that paralyze, you know, that of Moses in the Old Testament. So preparation for proclamation. And then the text also says in verse number 2 that Jesus opened his mouth and began to speak to them or to teach them the same. That is an idiom. Opening of the mouth is an idiom that speaks of the solemnities, the solemnity of what he was about to proclaim. Sitting down spoke of his teaching posture and the fact that the Bible says he spoke authoritatively. So we see in the text number 1, preparation for proclamation and then the power of proclamation. On a second day, we went into the beatitude proper. We looked at the first of eight beatitudes and the topic that day was priority of poverty in spirit. Priority of poverty in spirit. We look at two things based on verse number 3 of Matthew chapter 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The first thing we saw is the paradox of poverty. How could the poor be blessed? How could the poor, you know, be approved of God or congratulated by God, which are all renderings of the word used for bless, which is Makarios in the Greek. But the paradox is it is through spiritual poverty that we experience spiritual prosperity. And the next thing we look at is the promise for the poor. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We learn that that kingdom experience is both, you know, noun and letter. In other words, it is a realized experience and it is an anticipated experience. It is in prospect and it is in retrospect because when we believe in Jesus Christ, we enter the kingdom of God. So that was the second day's message. Then on day 3, which was on yesterday, our study was based on verse 4 of Matthew chapter number 5. And the topic, priority of pain. Priority of pain. And of course, we learned two important points. Blessed are those who mourn, okay, for they shall be comforted. First thing we learned is the purpose in pain. There's such a thing as natural pain, which is normal to the human experience. Then there is unnatural pain, you know, that we all do experience in our lives. Then there is supernatural pain, which is grieving or which is feeling sorrowful for our sins. And we looked at that as well. And then promise of comfort. He says they shall be comforted. And that word comfort basically means to come nearby or alongside to help to encourage or to comfort. And we learned that the Holy Spirit is our comforter. The Son is our comforter and the Father is our comforter. And so when we mourn our spiritual bankruptcy and acknowledge our need for God, He comforts us by forgiving our sins. He comforts us by also ameliorating our emotional pain or our physical pain. Interesting study. And today we are continuing our study of God's Word. And the topic of today's study, which is based on verse number five of Matthew chapter five, is priority of placidity. Priority of placidity. And of course to be placid means to be calm and peaceful. Okay? And our text today is Matthew chapter five and verse number five. I ask you, if you will, to please turn your Bibles to this important passage of Scripture. Matthew chapter five and verse number five. As you flip the pages of your Bibles to this text, may I please inform you that I believe in the supremacy of the Bible. I believe that the Bible is the ultimate authority. I also believe the sufficiency of this book. It is sufficient to make us wise unto salvation. And finally, I wish the year with Ephem might believe in the summation or the totality of the Bible. That all Scripture comprising the Old and the New Testaments only and 66 books only is God's inspired Word. Believe that what means say Amen to God. So on that faith or believe, I'm going to read the year in Matthew chapter five and verse number five. The Bible says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. As we study today, it's titled Priority of Placentity. And I ask the Holy Spirit now to lead us as we study. Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you for the glorious privilege to study your trustworthy, inspired and infallible Word. As we study a word together today, we ask that the Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible in its entirety will illuminate Matthew chapter five and verse number five. And will give us insight for living. And as it has pleased you to use a frail and feeble vessel as myself, I do not ask for mighty words of human wisdom to move the audience. All I beseech you for, Lord, is that humanity will diminish and that divinity will dominate as you speak to us pointlessly, powerfully and personally in the name of Jesus Christ and the people of God say amen. Priority of Placentity. I remind you that that word simply means calmness or peacefulness or meekness. Priority of Placentity. Our friends in a world that values assertiveness and control, Jesus in our text presents a counter-intuitive blessing for the meek, for the placent or for the gentle. Our society often misunderstands meekness as weakness. It often overlooks its strength and value. Friends, I want you to understand that part of the Beatitude which we are studying today is actually Jesus' teaching and this Beatitude overturns conventional notions. The particular Beatitude we are studying, blessed are the meek, overturns the conventional notions of power and success, of power and success. Jesus says to these people, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Now the big idea that we glean from this text is this. Placentness is the best practice of powerfulness. Placentness is the best practice. In fact, it is the best truth of powerfulness. Friends, I want you to know that there are two important aspects that we will explore as we unpack our text and as we expand the big idea. Number one, power in Placentity. Power in Placentity. Number two, promise for the Placent. Promise for the Placent. Now let's look at the first point together. Power in Placentity. The text says in Matthew chapter five and verse number five, blessed are the meek. We mentioned on the first day that the word blessed in this text, Macarius, means to be happy. It also means to be approved of God. It means to be congratulated by God. In other words, this is the attitude of the blessed. This is the attitude approved by God. This is what should be prioritized because it is the most important attitude. Now Jesus says to his audience, blessed are the meek. What does he mean? The word meek that is written in that text is actually from the Greek praes. And that word praes means gentleness. It means humility. It means self-control. It means, you know, to actually be humble. It is not weakness. As a matter of fact, it implies strength under control or power under control. Now it is when the powerful chooses to be blessed that he or she is meek. When the powerful chooses to become and chooses to be peaceful, even in the face of provocation, he or she is said to be meek. Friends, I wanted to know that it is worth noting that in this beatitude, Jesus is specifically quoting from the Old Testament. He's quoting Psalm 37. Now when you read Psalm 37, you discover that the writer was going through a great deal of trouble. The writer was going through difficulties. The writer was being persecuted. The writer was being troubled. Evil unbelievers were trying to cut the writer down. Friends, I wanted to note that they were slandering him and trying to ruin his reputation. In fact, they were plotting against the writer of Psalm 37 trying to take his life. Now how do we respond to these circumstances? What is our attitude when we find ourselves in such situations? What is our attitude when such difficulties before us? Friends, please note that this statement of Jesus, this statement delivered by Jesus, was delivered to a Jewish audience that was going through the terrible ordeal of being under the dictatorship or under the dominion of the Roman government. They were under Roman occupation. They were looking for some kind of redemption. They were anticipating a messianic deliverance. Friends, they were hoping that there would be a messiah who would overturn Romelu and restore Israel to a political and a military power. Several guys had come before Jesus, Bakubab or even Barabbas, the insurrectionists, trying to be the messiah, trying to bring some sort of deliverance so the people's thirst for a messianic deliverance was so, so intense. These are the people Jesus is speaking to. These are the people Jesus made this statement to. I want you to note, friends, that in ancient times, meekness was often associated with weakness. Meekness was often associated with subservience. Weakness was associated, you know, meekness was associated with being under some dominion of others contrasting with the prevailing cultural admiration for power and assertiveness in that time. In fact, in Mediterranean societies all the time, they place enormous stock in honor and status. Yet, Jesus says to these people, I mean, eager for deliverance, eager for some kind of redemption, blessed are the meek, blessed are the meek. And friends, I want you to note that our society today is just like the Mediterranean society. Our society today is just like the time of Jesus. There is a society of power play, struggle of the most powerful. May I inform you, friends, that Forbes India, Global Firepower Military Strength rankings of 2024 evaluates 145 countries, considering over 60 individual factors like troop numbers, military equipment, financial stability, geographic location and available resources. And friends, these elements contribute to a power index, underscore the word power index, school with lower schools indicating stronger military capabilities. In other words, nations that are the strongest. And this study found in the other rankings, it had United States on the top with 0.0699, okay, having a military personnel, estimated to be 2,127,500 and you go down next to Russia, to China, to India, to South Korea. In other words, these are the strongest nations. These are the powerful nations. Our world estimates nations in terms of how powerful they are, militarily, economically or in other respects. Oh, friends, today we see sure falls in Ukraine. We see fighting in Gaza and all of these places. As you look at the global community, there is a strive to dominate. There is a strive to show strength all over. This is the world we live in. Now you come home on the continent. We find precedents and different leaders showing falls at the level of the church. Leaders want to show or stem their authority, even in the local departments of the church. We live in a culture that, you know, allows the show of falls and power. Yet Jesus says, blessed are the meek. Blessed are the meek. The meekness is not the same as timidity. It is Noland who writes that a more accurate interpretation of the word priase or the word translator meek should be powerless, powerless. In other words, he says it is voluntary powerlessness. What that basically means is we exercise God's strength under his control. Demonstrating power with our undue harshness and asserting powerfulness. So meekness is voluntary powerlessness. Now what does that mean? You see the Greek word priase was used in three ways in ancient times. It was used by doctors to describe a soothing medicine. A soothing medicine. The word was also used by cellos to refer to gentle breeze. Gentle breeze. And the word was used by farmers to refer to, you know, herds or a crawd, a millherds. Now these three things we are looking at are powerful. Medicine is powerful, depending on how you use it. One tablet could ruin your life. One tablet could make you feel okay. Wind may be nice as you are enjoying it, but when it becomes some tornado or some hurricane, you know how disastrous it can be. Herds may be, you know, contained, but when it is let loose it can be disastrous. My point is that these things are powerful, but they must keep their power under control. Otherwise, there will be damages. So these three uses of the word suggest to us that the meek is someone who is powerful, someone who has authority, but has chosen to be placid, to become and peaceful. All of these things, the medicine, the wind, the herds, have power. When that power is under control, it is called meekness. It is called voluntary powerlessness. Voluntary powerlessness. Now the Bible uses that word to refer to Moses, this most powerful guy who evidently went to the University of Egypt, who studied apparently, military science, who was a sophisticated guy, strong. Now the Bible describes Moses in Numbers 12, verse number 3. Now the man, Moses, was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. See this description of Moses. He was very meek, in spite of being a military personnel, a great leader of the children of Israel, a man of God. He was very meek, the Bible says. Now friends, I want you to note that meekness, placidity, calmness, especially in provocation, peacefulness in provocation, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23. You read that text, the Bible says, the fruit of the spirit is meekness. Meekness is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Meekness is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And I will illustrate how meekness is manifested, how meekness is exhibited in our lives by sharing few biblical examples. Notice what meekness is. The first example I will share with you is the example of Abraham. Abraham and his relative, Lord. Remember these folks are together. And Abraham is the most influential. He's the most powerful. He's the elderly. He's the leader of the family. Now he notices that there is a commotion or strife between his servants and Lord's servants. Now Abraham, being as powerful as he was, has had the authority to tell Lord that, hey, guy, you can go on your own. I don't want to be with you. And you just go. And Abraham could have taken authority over where was better or more better. He didn't do that. He exercised meekness by doing this. Genesis chapter 13, verses 8 and 9. The Bible says, so Abraham said to Lord, let's not have any quarreling between you and me or between your husband and mine. For we are brothers. We are brothers. It's not the whole land before you. Let's part company. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left. That is called meekness. Abraham exercises meekness. And what is he doing here? What he's doing is what the Bible speaks of in Romans chapter 12, verse number 10. Honor one another above yourselves. He didn't choose the most fatal. He said, the choice is yours, Lord. Take whatever. If you take the best, that's fine. Choose whatever. And I will be the last to choose. Oh, friends. Philippians chapter 2 and verse number 3 in the Bible says, let each esteem others more important than themselves. How do we relate to our wives, to our children, to the people who work in our offices that we are supervisors of? If there is disagreement, how do we relate to them? Do we demonstrate authority? Do we show some false? Or do we esteem them more important than ourselves? Abraham was a meek man. I'll bring you another character. And this character friend is called Joseph. Joseph was a victim of sibling envy. This man was sold into slavery. This man was mistreated. He went through all kinds of humiliations and traumas. And eventually, long story short, this man rose to prominence. And his very brothers, who were the beginning of his tragedies, who were the beginning of the disastrous experiences he had, came in need of help, in need of food. And now they discovered that their brother had actually become prominent. Notice what the Bible says in Genesis 45. Four and five. And Joseph said to his brothers, I'm talking about people who offended him. Take none of that. Please come near to me. Take none of that. Please come near to me. How many of us extend olive branches to people who have offended us? Joseph said, please come near to me. How many of us allow people in our spaces who have done some stuff to us? He said, please come near to me. The Bible says so they came near. Then he said, listen to this. I am Joseph, your brother. Please note, at this point, they had not recognized their brother. God had repackaged their brother, and now their brother reintroduces himself to them. This is Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. There is nothing wrong with reminding people of what they did to you. But notice what Joseph does next. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. Joseph reconstructed the narrative. He reconstructed the traumatic narrative, and now he's pointing the possible divine purpose in all that he experienced. Look what Joseph does for them. In Genesis chapter 15, verses 20 and 21, the Bible says, But as for you, you men evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. Now and therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones, and he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. That is called meekness. When the people who have offended you, meet you, at a time when the table has turned, they say you are now in the conference president and the other guy who mistreated you is still in the field to the first pastoral meeting. What is your speech? Do you say, ladies and gentlemen, the law has been good. Redemption has come. No! Joseph doesn't do that. He spoke kindly to them. He did not insult them. Why? Because he was meek. Meekness is exhibited when the people who have offended us fall on our authority we treat them with respect in the same way that God in spite of the different evils we've done against him looks on us in pity. He looks on us in compassion and he saves us when we cry on him. That is called meekness. Joseph was meek. Listen, friend, meekness shows itself when we are right and not when we are wrong. Joseph was right. And now he's gracious to his brothers. Let me give you another scripture, Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 44. Jesus illustrates what this meekness means. He says, but I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Whoa! This is Jesus. He says, show your meekness by the way you relate to the people who have offended you. As I said, meekness shows itself when we are right and not when we are wrong. Several years ago, when internet just started to come in my country or the country I was in at that time, we used to go to cafes to browse the internet and to scan documents and send them. And I went to the internet cafe that day. I actually had a picture to scan and send back home to my family. And then we were on a queue. Everybody giving their pictures or working with the guy at the front. I saw people just, you know, being sneak in by the guy. So I don't know whether that was holy anger or whatever that got in me. I said, boy, you don't do this. I mean, I'm on the queue. I've been here for hours. I've been waiting. The system was down. And now it's up. And you're taking all the people away. And I decided in my country there's something called banji. Banji means you decide to stand your ground. He said, it is my turn. And I would be the one to be served. I decided to cause noise. So the guy said, OK, OK, OK, OK, you come. It was my right. So I went. I took the picture, gave to him. He scanned the picture and asked me for my email address. He sent it to my email address. And guess what, brothers and sisters? The subject of that email he sent I have never forgotten since 2002 in the subject space he wrote gentility. Did you understand that? He wrote gentility. I don't know why he wrote gentility. Apparently I was not gentle towards him. Even today I still remember that I could have done it better. When it is your right that's when you must be meek. When it is your turn that's when you must be meek. You must demonstrate your Christian virtue of meekness even in the face of offense and in the face of you being right. Let me give you another story. This is the story of David. For no reason he was envied by his boss. He became a homeless wanderer. A fugitive. He was running from saw who sought to kill him. And guess what? One day as David is walking around with his men he sees the one who was after his life in a state of vulnerability. The man is there. David has a sword. David's men said, Oh God has worked wonder. Let me read it to you so you know what I'm talking about. Listen to what David's men said. The Bible says, Then the men of David said to him This is the day which the Lord said to you Behold I will deliver your enemy into your hand that you may do to him as it seems good to do. David's men sound like some pastors in the conference or some elders in the church or some folks in your offices who will say the Lord has done it. Now the tables have turned. Government has changed. There is a new power now. So the former president or the former cabinet members now is the time for them to get what they work for. His men said, This is the Lord's doing. Let's begin to execute. Let's start to kill. But listen to David's response. Number one, David took his sword caught a piece of sword's gamut for evidence. Even in that action of David the Bible says he was unhappy that he did that. But yes what I want you to see the Bible says, And he said to his men his men who were preaching divine deliverance he said the Lord forbade that I should do this thing to my master. He sought to kill me but he is still my master. He has become an enemy to me that I did not look for but he is still my master. He is the Lord's anointed to stretch out my hand against him. I will not. But look at verse seven of 1 Samuel 24. The Bible says so David restrained his servants with these words. Ignace is restraint when you have the upper hand. Restraining yourself when you have the upper hand. David said I will not. Governments come and go if you are in the new government in Kenya or the new government in Liberia please exercise restraint restrain yourself. You may have been mishandled marginalized disenfranchised humiliated but exercise meekness by restraining yourself when you have the upper hand. If that is clear say amen. Now let's talk about the most meek or the meekest of all. In Matthew chapter 11 verse 29 about Jesus the Bible says this is Jesus speaking I am meek and lowly in heart. I am meek and lowly in heart. The one who is speaking in that text is the God of the universe. I am meek and lowly in heart. Now Jesus demonstrated his meekness through his condescension coming to this earth in the form of a servant. He demonstrated his meekness through the service of humility. Listen to what the scripture says in John chapter 13 Jesus knowing that the now listen to this kingly the Bible says Jesus knowing that the father had given all teeth into his hands. Number one Jesus had all things. Number two that he had come from God Jesus knew where he came from he came from God. Number three that he was going to God Jesus knew where he was going. Take note of that he is conscious of his possession he is conscious of his origin he is conscious of his destiny. In light of that fact the Bible says he rose from supper and laid aside his garment he took a towel and guarded himself. After that he pulled water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and wiped them with the towel with which he had guarded himself. Now listen friends take note of this Jesus is serving with a mentality with a consciousness of who he is he came from God and all things giving to him by God he is going back to God in light of this this great and powerful man serves his servants listen ladies and gentlemen service does not take anything from us people think that if they help their wives in the house with some chores or if they help their children in the garden there are other men in the office or if they help their other men in the church it is a show of weakness No! Jesus knew who he was he knew that serving them washing their feet will not take anything from him so he washed their feet Oh friends Jesus the Bible says be in the form of God being God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God taking the reputation taking the form of a born servant and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself he humbled himself he became obedient to the point of death even the most shameful death the death of the cross this is Jesus the Bible says in Isaiah about him chapter 53 verse 7 the Bible says he did not open his mouth and the Bible says when they heard they are in sauce at him he did not retaliate no he did not when he suffered he made no threats they say you know what continue what you are doing one day I will come in Mankino and you will know who is who No! I will become conference president and this whole thing will stop be careful how you treat me I am a potential young man I could be the secretary I could be the first head of the church No! Jesus did not issue threats No! he was being mistreated but you know what he entrusted himself to him who judges justly some of you have been mistreated whether by government or by church or by your colleagues in the office or by family members hey entrust yourself to the just George don't retaliate let's close this message in the next few minutes with the last point promise for the placid promise for the placid the Bible says for they shall inherit the earth what does that mean remember that when Jesus made this statement he was quoting Psalm 37 the conflict in this Psalm is between the righteous and the wicked it appears that the wicked are winning and the righteous are losing that's how it appears so what does he do now what can the righteous do in such a dangerous and difficult situation should the righteous fret no God said do not fret because of evil men you know a fight no the law stands bar to protect and the righteous fight the battle for them he says in Psalm 37 the salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord he is their stronghold in time of trouble oh friends then what should the righteous do when the wicked are winning when the evil folks in your office are winning when the evil folks in the country are winning what do you do friends meekly submit to God's will by trusting in the Lord verse 3 by delighting in the Lord verse 4 by committing your way on to the Lord verse 5 and by resting in the Lord verse 7 so what is men what is the result of resting in the Lord the Bible says they will inherit the earth which simply means that they do not have to be afraid of anybody or anything because God is in control of them and their circumstances to inherit the earth means to reign as king over yourself and your circumstances to the power of the Holy Spirit it is the same as inheriting the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God in some 37 verses 10 and 11 the Bible says a little while this is God's admonition to the righteous in the face of the wicked wickedness a little while and the wicked will be no more though you look for them they will not be found but the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace are you there friends the meek will enjoy the land and inherit great peace inherit the land enjoy great peace friends to inherit the earth means to dwell in the earth made new forever and what is that earth made new in relation 21 1 2 3 now I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away because there was no more sea friends Revelation 21 continues then I John saw the whole let's set the new Jerusalem listen to me ladies and gentlemen we are going to eternally inherit the earth that's all we see heavy is my home heavy is not any believers home the earth is our eternal home we will have 1000 years vacation in heaven but that's not our home I say yes to good news the new Jerusalem the holy city after 1000 years will come down out of heaven from God prepared as a brother known for her husband and the Bible says and I heard a loud voice from heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people God himself will be with them and be their God God takes the headquarters of the universe from heaven to earth and the meek inherits the earth this afternoon we will have season of prayer I think that's about two all of the prayer needs prayer requests will be praying together on many other important prayer points prepare yourselves for this afternoon if you are following online you are also warmly invited to be a part of our prayer session oh friends please don't miss what God is saying to us today priority of placidity prioritizing meekness placidness is the best practice of powerfulness show your power by your placidness your calmness listen to these words if you cannot possess yourself through the power of the Holy Spirit in this world you can never possess the kingdom of God possess yourself control your anger wipe all your irritability become be peaceful as much as it is in your power be at peace with all people