ntroduction

Today i will introduce this topic, as you follow this series believe me you will be bless and see reasons why ppl live long.
if you want to live long then you need to know these.

1 knowledge
Some Christian died early because they lack knowledge. the Bible said
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Hosea 4:6

am not taking about denominational or self knowledge am talking about divine knowledge of God.

2. Honour God and people.
honour your parent and you will live long. not just your parent but the elders, the shepherds, and the authorities over you also.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. Ephesians 6:1-3

3. Believe God you serve God Almighty, and there is none greater than Him, believe that in Christ Jesus you are untouchable.

4. Prayer
Many ppl in the Bible cancelled death in there lives, they did that through prayer, (cried, plea, pray talk with God). Even now when a wicked person is attacking you physically or spiritually through prayer and putting the whole armour of God you will surely overcome.

5. Humility.
always humble yourself

6. control your tongue
the scripture says
the power of life and death is in the tongue Prov 18:26,
don't use your tongue to end your life, use it well that you will live long.

if you can do these believe me you will live long, not even virus, witches, wicked people etc. can terminate your life.

Why choose to live long on earth when you can live forever?

Your spoken words

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Prov 18:21
Our words has power and they are alive, with our words we build and with it we destroy things.
A corrupt man speak evil from his heart though sometimes they pretend

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. Matt 12:34-35

Every careless spoken words we said we will give an account of it Matt 12:36-37. Any wrong teaching attracts judgement James 3:1
We praise God and we curse men who have been made in God's likeness with the same mouth James 3:9-10
it's not everybody's word heaven honoured, but there are some people that heaven respect their words,

Word of parents are powerful
Blessing/curses that may be coming out of their mouth might affect children. Reuben dishonour his father and his father didn't speak well of him Gen 49:3-4 Many years later Moses intervene.

Minister's words are powerful
God gave spiritual leaders special abilities, they are called to bless and not to curse, but if they said negative things it may happen.
Elijah end the lives of 50 soldiers with theirs captain twice by his spoken word 2Kings 1:9-12
Elisha curse some children for insulting him 2 Kings 2:23-24
Ananias and Sapphira lied but Peter spoke a word and that's their end Acts 5:1-11
Jesus on the cross said Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing ..
Zecharia when he was about to died he prayed a prayer that God should pay them back and it happened 2 Chro 24:20-25

Word of elders are powerful
Word of an elderly people are powerful, when they blessed you you are bless

Authority
People of authority have power, and their words are powerful as well.

Conclusion
Use your words wisely, do not wish yourself or someone death, wish yourself good and longlife and you will live long.
Words can kill, when one is tired of life and he pray for God to take his life it may happen just the way that person prayed.
Parents and ministers never used your mouth to curse your children or those below you, always Bless people.
All Christians are suppose to be blessing people with their words. I pray for you may you use your words rightly

Honour
Honour is giving reverence or value.
All creation are suppose to honour God and one another.
If you honour God, God will honour you. If you honour people in return they will honour you - honour is reciprocal.
Honour can open doors for you and dishonour can shut some doors.
Honour can make one live longer, the Bible said honour your father and mother in the Lord and you will live long Ephesians 6:1-3
Anoiting you don't honour won't work for you unless the Lord decide to have mercy.
Only fools don't honour Prov 26:1. Honour is not for fools Prov 2:8
Honour came as a result of humility, proud people like to be honoured but they don't like honouring others especially when they know they can't benefit from them.

How to honour
1. Honour should come from the heart and not just lips along Matt 15:8
2. honour with our substance and offering/gifts Prov 3:9, Isa 43:23
3. Honour God with your body 1Cor 6:20
4. Allow God or people to honour you, don't honour yourself 1 Sam 2:30
5. Honour with songs and instruments.

Honouring God
*Angels honour God day and night Rev 5:12-13
*Aminals honour God Isaiah 43:20
* Humans (believers and unbelievers) honour God in one way or the other- Nebuchadnezzar honoured God Daniel 4:34,37
We are to honour God with all that we have (with our substance, heart, body saul and spirit , songs and instrument) and if we honour God we will live long.
Abel honoured God with his substance while cain dishonour God and is offering was rejected Gen 4:3-7
Eli honoured his sons morethan God, 1Sam 2:29 they all died in thesame day
Nadab and Abihu Aaron's sons dishonoured God by offering an unauthorised fire before God contrary to what He commanded and they died Num 10:1-3
24,000 Isrealites died for dishonouring God by involving themselves in offering sacrifice to the god of Moab and committing sexual immorality with their women Number 25:1-9
Adam dishonoured God by eating from the forbidden fruit. Gen 3:1-10

Honouring parent
It's a command that came with a promise of long live Exo 20:12
Dishonouring parent has death penalty in the olding days.
Don't dishonour parent Micah 7:6
Honour both physical and spiritual parents
Reuben dishonoured his father by sleeping with his concubine, and he loose his blessings
Absolom dishonoured his father David first by dethroning him and by sleeping with his concubines in public, Absolom died young

Honouring Ministers
Prophet is without honour in his own town Matt 13:57
Elisha honoured Elijah and he got double portion of his anointing
Shunammit woman honoured Elisha and in return you got a child 2 Kings 4:8-37
Anoiting you honour works for you
Miriam and Aaron dishonoured Moses and God purnished them. Numbers 12:1-15
Korah and Dathan and their 250 followers dishonoured Moses and the earth open his mouth and swallow them all Number 16:1-35

Honouring authority
We are to honour those in authority 1 Peter 2:17
They have power to purnish anyone who dishonour the laws, we are to obey the laws expecially the ones that didn't contradict our faith.

Honouring Elders /Old men
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord. Lev 19:32

Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. 1 Tim 5:17

If you are the type that like dishonouring old men because they are not related to you, you may be inviting more trouble to yourself.

Family
Husband honour wife 1 Pet 3:7
Wife honour husband Esth 1:20

Employer/employee
They are to honour each other, Prov 27:18, Mal 1:6, 1 Tim 6:1

Church to widows
Church is to honour widows 1Tim 5:3, widows are to honour church through their services
I pray for you from now on may you begin to honour

Divine protection

God is our Protector, all we need to do is to believe in Him.
Many Believers believed on God protection only as head knowledge but deep within them they believe that cultist, sorcerers, witches etc were more protected. Many believe that people with body guards, people with walls or people that have charms were more protected, if you are this kind of person then am telling you today it's not true.
God is our Protector, He watches over us. ...except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain Psalm 127:1

And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 2 Kings 6:16

All round protection
1. Mark.
God put a mark on his people as a symbol of protection,
And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a *mark upon the foreheads* of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. Ezekiel 9:3-6

This mark is a mark of protection upon God people,

In the last day the beast will try to imitate God by giving his followers mark of the beast on their hands or fore heads, Rev 13:16-18, but all those who receive the mark of the beast will face God wrath Rev 16:2

2. Seal
We were seal with the Holy Spirit for protection
_And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads Rev 9:1-4

3. Hedge
He put a hedge around us and all that we have. Satan was able to touch Job after God removed the hedge for the purpose of trials but if not for that devil can't touch Job.
Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. Job 1:9-10

4. Angels
For he shall give his *angels* charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Psalm 91:11-12

5. Blood of the Lamb
The blood saved and it also protected Isrealites from death angel that striked the first borns of egyptians, if the angel see blood he will pass by but any house without the blood he strikes Exo 12:1-11, 29-30

6.Ministers
sometimes God uses His people to warn us on the dangers coming, and this is all part of His protective strategies
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7

7. creations
When you in trouble God may chose to use any of the created being or created element to protect you, let me give you an illustration so you can understand that God can use anything in this earth to protect his people. Some wicked people wanted to kill a pregnant woman, she was running from them and she reach a place where cows are grazing and God signal one of the cow and a snake nearby and they came and stood behind her, when these people came and wanting to kill her the cow and the snake pursued them.

God promised that he will never live us nor forsaken us, just believe God and fear nothing

Take care of your body physically and spiritually

This body is temperal it's taken from ground and one day it will return to it.
This body is the Temple of God, our bodies are members of Christ.
This body is not our own it was bought at a price therefore we are urge to honour God with our bodies 1 Cor 6:13-19.

We are to take care of our bodies both physically and spiritually, both inwardly and outwardly. Don't clean inside the cup while outside is dirty.

First we are spirit beings living in a body, the real us is spirit, but to be effective in this material world we need a body, and so we must learn to take care of our spiritual and physical life, though spiritual first follow by physical.

How to take care of our bodies spiritually
1. Prayer and fasting
2. Singing spiritual songs
3.studying /meditating on the word and living by it.
4. Fellowship with God and men.
5. Witnessing
6. Others

How to take care of the body physically
1. Exercise, rest and sleep
2. Eat good food
3. Personal hygiene
4. When sick get good medication, but if you have strong faith you don't need drugs.
5. Wear good, clean and decent clothes
6. Control your emotions, less of anger, worry less, no lusting etc
7. Gluttony should not be our life style

How to destroy the body
1. Sexual sin kill the body faster 24,000 Isrealites died in a day because of immorality and idolatary witin a day Num 25:1-9
2. Drugs and strong alcoholic drinks kills
3. Dishonour, when you are the type who like dishonouring God, your parent, ministers, elder, and /or people in authority you will not live long .
4. When one continue his his old evil ways etc

Conclusion
Many believers ignorantly claim that their bodies is theirs and so they can do what so ever they like remember
If a man defiled the temple of God him shall God destroy 1 Cor 3:17 if you must be effective then take care of your body.

Fear not says the LORD

When I think about the root cause of so many mistakes & spiritual pitfalls in my life, the source seems to be the one and only, the ugly, fear. Fear will cause us to buckle & settle for less than God's best. It'll cause us to disobey after diluting our trust in Him, & even when do stay strong, it'll rob us of our peace & joy. Hear what the scriptures says about overcome fear.

Deuteronomy 31:8 "He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Isaiah 43:1 "Don't fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine."

Many lost their lives because of fear, i remember issue of ebola virus & bathing with salt, out of fear some people lost their lives because they took a lot of salt. Same thing happened now, when some people heard that chloroquin is effective in treating corona virus, some people took a lot of chloroquin & they lost their lives.
Hear what the Psalmist say

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod & your staff, they comfort me.

Jesus Himself told us not to worry about anything Matt 6:25

One of the great instruments the kingdom of darkness used is fear, but fear is not part of God's kingdom
for the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. "& no fear" Gal 5:22-23.

We have died & are raised with Christ, and so fear should not be the part of us, Just believe God fear not and you will live long to fulfill your destiny, It's my prayer that the Spirit of boldness be upon you and take away any kind of fear

Living a Righteous life

God is our Protector, He protect others for ur sake. When God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, in Gen 18:23-32
Abraham approached the LORD and said: Will U sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?.Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike,... Abraham continue with his plea until the number reduced to 10

The region God was about to destroy was a plane land & there are 5 cities there, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar Gen 14:2, all the five cities will be destroy if the angels didn't find about 10 righteous people. At the end four cities were destroyed (the Bible put more emphasis on Sodom and Gomorrah because they are the key cities)

And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, & salt, & burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, & Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: Deu 29:23

the fifth city was spear because of lot's intervention

As soon as the Angle had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for ur lives! Don’t look back, & don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or u will be swept away!” But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, & it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. (That town was called Zoar.) Gen 19:17-22

in today's lesson we see that God didn't intend Christians to live in constant fear, if you are righteous in Christ Jesus, then premature death is not for you, instead your present should be able to save others, to save a city as well. Do you know that any city without true Christians is bound to fall? Many cities/villages are standing today for the sake of the righteous.

If God can spear a city (Zoar) for the sake of Lot, how much more will He spear a city for the sake of true believers in Christ, and if God can spear peaple or places for our sake then fear of death should not be part of us? I pray for you may ppl be saved and be spear for your sake

Life of Paul
It's possible for one to face all kind of difficulties yet live long. Mind set is our main problem, we fear many things forgetting the fact that the LORD God said fear not.
Paul suffered yet he didn't died, hear what he have to say about himself.

Been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11:23-28

All these doesn't take away his life
Paul discovered the mystery of life and death, he refused to die, he choose not to rest until he finish the race.

Think of all that Paul went through yet he didn't died, infact he knew to die is gain to live is Christ, but he choosed to live long for the sake of the church, when Paul was ready to go, he began to talked of fighting a good fight... finishing the race... And not long after that he fall asleep. Keep telling yourself that you won't died until you fullfill your destiny, and you will live. I pray for you may you stop believing that that hardship will take away your life

Hezekiah the king of Judah

In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 2 Kings 20:1-6

It's clear Hezekiah was supposed to die physically but he did something that makes him live, and what was that
He talk to God he pray (he cried), and he remained God the good things he did how he walked before Him but the must important is he humble himself before God

Hezekiah was bold to pray this prayer

I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

You as a Christian my questions for you are:
Are you bold enough to approach God,
Are your deeds okay that you can stand boldly and say to God I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.
Are you humble enough to cried before God to plea for your live? Thank God for Jesus, in Christ we are righteous,

Remember the power of life and death is in the tongue Prov 18:21 WHEN YOU ARE SICK please pray God and live, by his strive we are heal

Peter and the church

Peter is the is key leader of the Jerusalem church, he was one of the must closed disciple of Jesus Christ, he was one of the three (Mark 5:37, Matthew 17:1, 26:37.)
When they started preaching Christ after they received the Holy Spirit the church keeps growing day by day Acts 2:4,14,47, and the oppositions also grew Acts 5:17-18, they were warned not to preach Jesus again Acts 4:18...

King Herod wanted to gain favour from the Jews and so he arrested James and killed him, seeing how his wickedness please the Jews, he went ahead to arrest Peter, he wanted to kill him as well Acts 12:1-4.
But before the trial and execution the church did something, that save the live of Peter.

the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Acts 12:5

The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so..... that's how God saved Peter Acts 12:6-12

Lesson to learn
The church didn't pray for James when he was arrested and he died, but when they arrested Peter the church realise that if they didn't pray they will loose Peter as well, and so they pray earnestly pray for him, and he didn't died.

Do you know that if you pray to God to save someone, that person will be save ? Most time we do pray for sick ppl collectively in the church we do pray for kidnapped ppl and we do see the hand of God. Prayer is effective when it comes to calling upon God to save life

Ahab the king of Israel

Ahab did evil in the sight of God - He married Jezebel, & he served Baal.
Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. 1 kings 16:16, 30-33.

In 1 kings chapter 21
Ahab saw a very good garden near his palace that belong to Naboth. Ahab said to Naboth, _“Let me have ur vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give u a better vineyard or, if u prefer, I will pay u whatever it is worth.” But Naboth replied, _“The Lord forbid that I should give u the inheritance of my ancestors.”So Ahab went home, sullen & angry because Naboth had said, He lay on his bed sulking & refused to eat...
Jezebel heard that & she calmed her husband down promising that she will help him get the land. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city. In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting & seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him & have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” So they did as she directed in the letters. An innocent man died & the king took over his inheritance.
God sent Elijah to Ahab Saying ‘This is what the Lord says: Have u not murdered a man & seized his property?’... ‘This is what the Lord says ‘I am going to bring disaster on u. I will wipe out ur descendants & cut, concerning Jezebel the ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel...

On hearing that Ahab knew that his days are numbered and his entire family are in trouble, but he did something which I want us to see.
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: Have u noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.

Ahab humbled himself to God and he fasted for and that shifted his death penalty.

It doesn't matter how wicked you are, if only you can humble yourself, fast and seek GOD, God will intervene ,and death sentence may be shifted. I pray for you may you always humble yourself before the LORD so you can live long

David

2 Samuel chapter 11&12
King David saw another man's wife (Bathsheba) bathing, as a king he enquired and sent for her, committed an adultery with her and send her back, when the woman realise that she was with a child (pregnant) she sent a word... David realise and he wanted to cover his wrong doing, so he sent a letter to Joab saying send me Uriah the Hittite (the woman's husband), David try to make him sleep with his wife but he refused he slept at the door, David got him drunk the next day but he refused again, David decided to end his life, he sent him back to Joab with a letter and he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die. And it happened that way Uriah died in that battle, and David took Bathsheba and she became his wife. God was not happy with David and the consequence of his sin is suppose to be death.

The Lord sent Nathan to David, and gave him a message in form of riddle...? At the end Nathan told him you struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

After everything hear what David said
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. u are not going to die.

Though God punished him for his wrong doing, but the way David humble himself and plead for mercy adverted the death upon him.

Our God is a merciful God full of compassion, His mercy and steadfast love are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. He's slow to anger full of mercy.

When you fall like David learn to plea for mercy, His mercy can keep you and make you live longer here on earth. I pray for you may His mercy locate you