President Bola Tinambu has described Nigeria's diversity as an asset that will bring prosperity to Nigeria. Tinambu stayed in an interactive session with Nigerians in Paris on Friday. The president likened the diversity in Nigeria to that of siblings born of the same father in the same house except living in different rooms. The president said Nigeria belongs to everyone adding that unity and economic justice must be promoted for the benefit of all citizens. Nigeria belongs to all of you, all of us. Our diversity is an asset if we know how to use it for our prosperity. Born of the same father in the same house except living in different rooms, we must promote unity, stability and economic justice for everyone of us. Also speaking for the chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission need come, Abike Dabi Rewa asked the president to give prominence to Nigerians in the Diaspora, his policies and programs saying that the commission has a lot of challenges. So we have Nigerians here who are doing great things back home. We have Nigerians to be proud of and we have Nigerians who are so excited about the hurricane steps you have taken as president and the image has changed all of a sudden and it's like we all want to come back home to Nigeria for all of us who have jackpot the same thing we jackpot yet. Find out about fresh news updates.


A title of our sermon this morning is the glory of a true church, glory of a true church. And if you've been with us before, many of you have, you know that we preach expository. We go verse by verse by verse through books of the Bible. A lot of reasons for why we do that, but we want to understand what God's word says to us. You don't care what I have to say, right? My opinions don't mean anything. I want to know what the word of God has to say so that we can know it and we can live by it. We want to be blessed by it. I want the Lord to work in us through it and sanctify us through it. So we want to hear from the word of God. Today, in speaking of this topic, the glory of a true church, I thought we would do something a little bit different and in a sense to help us understand maybe from a different perspective of what the glory of a true church is all about. Now there's several different ways that you could approach this subject. You could talk about a marks of a true church. You could talk about what a true church does offset against maybe what a false church does or what a bad church does and there is plenty, plenty in Scripture to address those issues, right? I thought maybe this morning that in approaching this subject that I might tell you a story. I want to tell you a story from the Bible. The Bible has the most glorious story of all, the most glorious truths of any truth. All truth comes from God and God has a glorious story to tell and that has impact for you and I. We need to understand this story and one of the things that I'm just persistently, consistently amazed by is how this story so beautifully harmonizes throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. And so I want you to get a glimpse of that today as we walk through some passages of Scripture. Now hopefully if you've come today, you've got your Bible. If you don't have a Bible, we've got Bibles out there for you. We can get you one. But if you've got your Bible in your lap, we want to turn to several passages of Scripture and I want to put some of these things together for us as we walk through the text of the Bible. So I want you to follow along. You need to use your thinking caps, right? We want to be able to think through what God is doing here and put together the story of God's redemption. In Scripture, God created everything. God created everything for His own glory and for His good pleasure. Now He did that. He created all things in six 24-hour days about 6,300 years ago. I'm going to say that again. It bears repeating. We'll talk about this more in a moment. He did that. He created all things in six literal 24-hour days about 6,300 years ago. In Genesis chapter one, turn there with me. Genesis chapter one verse one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Now out of nothing, out of nothing, God created the earth in the seas in verses nine and ten. If you look there, God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. Now notice that He does that with His word. And God said, and out of nothing, by the power of God's word, He created the heavens and the earth. With a word, God commands the earth to bring forth plants and fruits and all matter of vegetation in verses 11 and 12. In verses 11 and 12, God saw that it was good. Out of nothing, out of nothing, God creates the lights and the firmament, the stars, the sun, the moon in verses 14 through 18. And God saw that it was good. He creates the fish of the sea. He creates the birds of the air in verses 20 and 21. And God saw that it was good. Out of the ground, He forms the beasts of the earth and every creeping thing in verses 24 and 25. And God saw that it was good. He created it all by speaking it into existence by the word of His power. And notice, and God said verse three, then God said verse six, then God said verse nine, verse 11, then God said verse 14, then God said, right? Verse 20, then God said, God says it and it's so. At that time, all that God created was very good, very good. Death did not exist. Disease did not exist. There was no corruption. There were no lawyers. There were no cats for that matter either. There were no violent forces wreaking havoc. Everything that God created was good. There were no evolutionary processes because nothing died. Everything that God created was fit for survival. But the longer that we go, the more that we and scientists, quote unquote, understand our universe, the very foundations of the theory of evolution are dramatically crumbling. God created all things for His own glory and for His good pleasure. Now look with me at Genesis chapter one and look at verse 26. God creates the pinnacle of His creation, the crown of His creation. In verse 26, then God said, right, the word of God. God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And so God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. I want you to note a couple of things about this passage of scripture. Notice first here the use of personal language. God says, let us make man in our image. Now to this point, it's not merely that God said, bring forth this and bring forth that like He'd done before. Right? At this point in verse 26, God is relating to His creation. Let us make man and He's going to make man in His image according to His likeness. God doesn't relate Himself to the rest of creation in that same way, right? God relates Himself to man. I note secondly there that the personal language used is in the plural. It's let us make man in our image. And here, it's not let me make man in my image. He says, let us make man in our image. We're introduced here to the fact that God Himself is relational, that He's Trinitarian. In this plural use of pronouns, we see the first glimpse, so to speak, of the trinity and that God Himself is relational within Himself. One God in three persons. Now notice third, clearly here from the text, that God created man in His image, in His likeness. Flip the page and look at Genesis chapter five. Look at Genesis chapter five. And it's emphasized that man is created in the image of God. Chapter five verse one, this is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them and called them mankind in the day that they were created. And again, emphasizing the fact that man is created by God. Now the image of God, if you consider what the image of God means from these texts, right? It means that we were made to resemble God. Likeness, image, or synonyms mean basically the same thing. We were made to represent or to resemble God. It's not referring here to physical appearance, because the Bible clearly teaches that God is a spirit, that He's not a physical being, so it's not referring to His physical appearance. It's referring then, if you think about it, to our immaterial part. It's referring to that part of us that is immaterial. It's a likeness then that is spiritual. It's a likeness that is mental, social, relational. It's personal. It's a likeness that's emotional. That's self-conscious. That's communicative. And it's a likeness that is moral. It's a likeness that is moral. That's those aspects, thinking through this with me. It's those aspects that differentiate you and I from animals. It's those aspects in which we relate to God or are made in His image or are made in His likeness. Now note here, again, that only man is made in the image of God. Of all creation, think about it, only man is created to live forever. Therefore, man of all God's creation was of primary importance to the Godhead, of primary importance to the Trinity. Everything else was created for man, so to speak. Created to provide a world for man. Created to provide a universe for man that would display to be a stage on which the power of God, the wisdom of God, the goodness of God would be displayed. The creation, God's creation is to provoke in man worship of God. God's creation is to provoke man to relate to, to praise, to thank, to enjoy and to glorify God forever. After creation now and God's interaction or interrelationship with Adam, God commands Adam to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and to subdue it. God's crowning creation would rule over the rest of His creation. And if you think about that, God's glory then as Adam and Eve multiplied and filled the earth, God's glory reflected in man would also fill the earth. The knowledge of Him, the Bible says, would fill the earth as the waters cover the seas. Adam was insufficient for this task by himself. Ruling over the garden, ruling over creation, procreating and filling the earth, he needed a helper. And so God made a helper for him, a helper that was comparable to him. And Adam was joined to his wife Eve. Now Adam became the patriarchal head, the federal head of all creation, the federal head, the patriarchal head, the representative head of all people. And then God looked at everything that he had made and indeed God said it was very good, very good. If you think about Adam in the garden, right, Adam in the garden given the joy of having unfettered access to God, the joy of God's presence. In Genesis chapter three verse eight, it says that God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Adam could have been walking with him, right? God's presence with his people, God's presence in the garden. That's very good, isn't it? The privilege and blessing that Adam enjoyed in being able to commune with God was rooted and grounded in the character of God. For God to be able to commune with Adam, for Adam to be able to relate to and to commune with God, that relationship had to be rooted and grounded in the very character of God. I'll explain what we mean by that. In communicating his nature, right, in communicating his character to Adam, God instructs Adam to live in accord with God's commands. God's commands represent God's character. God does not, cannot, will not ever lie. And so what does he say? Don't lie. God will never cheat, will never steal. And so we're told not to cheat, not to steal. In order to have a relationship with God, Adam had to relate to God in accord with God's inviolable character. And God represented his character with his holy, just and good law. And he communicates that law to Adam. Adam, certainly think about it in the garden. We know of the one law, right? Either these trees don't eat of that tree, right? But in God communicating his law to Adam, certainly Adam was the love, the Lord, his God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. Certainly Adam was commanded to love Eve and love their descendants after him. He was commanded to do this. And the law in the garden, not represented by two tablets, but represented by two trees. Look at Genesis chapter two, verse 15, Genesis chapter two, beginning in verse 15. Then the Lord God took the man, Adam, by the way, is a word that means man, right? So he took Adam and he put, put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and to keep it. In verse 16, the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the Garden, you may freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.  Now notice first, in this little passage of scripture here, this is an arrangement between God and Adam, isn't it? This is a covenant. This is a relationship that's being established here and the boundaries of the relationship are being set. Notice first in verses 15 to 17, who has responsibility for the covenant? Who's been given responsibility for the covenant? Adam has, right? Adam has. Man's relationship to God, man's relationship to God was given boundaries by covenants, by agreements. And we see that in verses 16 and 17. This is a covenant that theologians call covenant of works, covenant of works. Here, God promises Adam life for obedience and death for disobedience. It's pretty clear, right? This is extremely important to understand the sweeping scope of God's redemptive purposes in history. Here, he promises Adam life for obedience and death for disobedience. Obey me and you'll live, he says to Adam essentially disobey me and you'll die. Life and death were written on those two trees. Now, God's moral law, God's moral law commanded Adam essentially to partake of what is good for Adam, what is good for God. He's to partake of what is good and live. And through that partaking of what is good, Adam was to enjoy continued fellowship with God. But now God's moral law also prohibited Adam. It prohibited Adam from taking of what is evil, breaking his covenant with God, breaking his fellowship with God, and all of that under the penalty of death.  This covenant, this covenant is necessary to a right relationship with God. God has said, you are to be holy as I am holy. You must be righteous. God has said that he has of pure eyes that need to even look on sin. Heaven is a perfect place. God himself is perfect. And unless you are perfect, unless I am perfect, we can't be in right relationship with God. It's a very foundational covenant that we all need to understand. You must be holy to be right with God. All of mankind, all of mankind, from Adam down through the ages to you and I, all of mankind is born under this covenant, under this relationship.  God's people would be marked off by this covenant. God's people would be given this covenant by God and expected to keep this covenant. Adam here, a free agent so to speak, a free creature at this point in time, has the ability and has the desire in his heart to obey this covenant. He wants this relationship with God and he has the heart and the ability to carry it out. Now think of it this way. The moral law is reflective of God's attributes, the very essence of who God is. So whenever he reveals himself to man, God always reveals himself in the presence of his own nature, his own law, his own attributes. His law always representing him. His law always reflecting his essential nature, his essential characteristics. God is holy and God is to be revered as holy. Obey the law, the Bible says, and enjoy life and peace and communion with God. Disobey the law, disobey the law and face death and condemnation. Cast off from God, cast away from God. Pretty sobering thought, isn't it? Why is it so sobering to us? Because none of us keep that covenant. None of us keep the law. We're all, the Bible says, confined under sin. We are, by nature, sinners fallen in Adam. The Bible says with David, right, in sin, my mother conceived me. You've seen a little baby pitch a temper tantrum, haven't you? Right from our births, we were born in sin. We've broken the covenant that God expects us to keep. But what happens here with Adam in the garden? What happens with Adam in the, in even the garden? A bomb goes off, right? A nuclear weapon goes off in the garden here. The covenant that God made with Adam is broken and Adam falls. Look at Genesis chapter three and look at verse one. Genesis chapter three, verse one. Now the serpent here was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said that you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? He's how deceptive the serpent is, right? He undermines, twists the infallible word of God. Verse two, and the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it. Did God, did God command that? No, even Eve, in her deception undermining the word of God.  The serpent said to the woman, now overtly challenging the word of God. The serpent said to the woman, verse four, you will not surely die.  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and she ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. The serpent deceives Eve here in Genesis chapter three. First by corrupting the word of God and then by overtly undermining the word of God, challenging the word of God. What does Eve do? Right? Eve assumes autonomy for herself. Once she's subject to God, the other thing Eve is subject to her husband, but she assumes autonomy to herself and eats what God has clearly forbidden. Now Adam, Adam is the one responsible for the covenant and Adam being responsible for the covenant fails in his covenant responsibility as head of the human race. He fails in his covenant responsibility as Eve's husband and he eats the fruit also both committing a death penalty offense that despite God's immeasurable grace, right? Think about the grace of God in all this that God would condescend to have that kind of communion with his creation. God who is perfect, God who is holy, right? And all this in God's infinite goodness, the image of God in man is defaced and defaced permanently. We can still see the wreckage of that corruption, can't we today? We see rebellion, anger, hate, murder, selfishness, thanklessness. You know Paul says in Romans that he then don't like to retain God in their knowledge. How shameful is it for you and I that we would go one minute without acknowledging God? And yet you and I would both have to confess, wouldn't we, that we've gone longer than a minute often repeatedly and without remorse?  The created order completely turned on its ear by the fall of Adam in the garden, turned upside down. Adam and Eve after the fall were no longer friends of God. There was enmity between them, the Bible says. They became enemies of God by their wicked works. Rather than enjoy the access that they once had to God, the fellowship they had with God, the communion they once had with God, who created them, Adam and Eve were driven from the garden. They were cast out.  What's worse, Adam being the federal head of all humanity, the father of all people, so to speak, Adam's sin infected and polluted and corrupted all of his offspring. All of us, you and I, we've all been born in Adam. It's where our sin nature comes from. We're not sinners because we're sin. We sin. We sin because we are sinners. Do you see the difference? Our nature is polluted. Our nature is corrupted and so we sin. Jeffrey Johnson put it this way. The deadly poison was not contained in the forbidden fruit but rather originated in the heart that took hold of it. Once the father of humanity fell, all of humanity fell in him and the poison of spiritual death is passed on. That's Romans chapter five, Romans chapter six. Now consider with me Adam's relationship then to God's law. The law of God, which once pointed to life for Adam, now brought death and condemnation and brought death and condemnation to all. The children of God are now the children of the devil. Sons of God are now sons of disobedience. The kingdom that God had created and called very good now became a kingdom of darkness under the sway of the wicked one. The effects of the fall are devastating, absolutely devastating. You meditate for a while on the effects of the fall. It is a devastating nuclear explosion that has affected us down through the ages to this day. Rather than desiring holiness, rather than desiring intimate communion with God who created him, man now desires his sin. And you know that to be true because that's your desire, that's my desire. By our nature, man fallen desires sin. He desires to live life for himself, not for God. The sin and rebellion that is killing him is the very sin and rebellion that he affectionately embraces, that he affectionately pursues. And he can't free himself. He can't free himself. You and I can't free ourselves. In fact, we have to confess we're blinded by most of the effects of sin on our own heart and soul. Our hearts, the Bible says, are deceptive, deceitfully wicked above all things. As a result in all this, all humanity in Adam has been cut off and has been cast out. And Satan now rules where Adam once ruled. So what's God's response to Adam's transgression? What does God do with respect to all this?  God who is too holy to look upon sin swings the sword of divine retribution. And in his righteous judgment, all mankind is now cursed in Adam. Look at Genesis chapter three and drop down to verse nine. Then the Lord God called to Adam and he said to him, where are you? So Adam said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded to you that you should not eat? And the man said, the woman, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate. Blame shifter. The Lord God said to the woman, verse 13, what is this you've done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. So the Lord God said to the serpent, here is divine retribution, God's justice being executed. He said to the serpent, because you've done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, more than every beast of the field on your belly you shall go.  And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head. You shall bruise his heel to the woman. He said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband. He shall rule over you. And Adam, he said, verse 17, because you've heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying you shall not eat of it, cursed, Adam, is the ground for your sake.  Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat of the herb of the field.  God curses the serpent, curses the woman, curses Adam, curses all mankind, curses the earth as a result of the fall. Now it's in the very nature, we think about the law, right, representing the character of God, the heart of God, the nature of God, the essence of God represented by his law, but in the character, in the essence, in the nature of God, it's in his essential nature to be merciful. It's in his essential nature to be good, to be kind, to be gracious. The Bible teaches that God is merciful of great kindness and that God relents from doing harm. I want you to notice even in the midst of his judgment and condemnation, in the midst of the darkness, so to speak, in the very heart of the curse, God makes provision for hope through a promise. Look at verse 15. He tells the serpent in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, he says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He, the seed of the woman, shall bruise, or he, the serpent, shall bruise your head, I'm sorry, the seed of the woman, shall bruise your head, you shall bruise his heel. Do you see that?  The seed of the woman, here in the promise of the gospel, Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, the seed of the woman would one day crush the head of the serpent. Where there is darkness and despair, the seed of the woman comes and there's light and there's hope. And this is none other, the seed of the woman is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice with me now, God announces good news for man with the very same words in which he announces judgment for the serpent, gospel hope coming out of judgment, right? The victory of the seed was announced with the defeat of the serpent. He shall bruise your head, you shall bruise his heel. Where Adam failed, this second Adam, this second seed, so to speak, would prevail. Satan overcame the first Adam, the second Adam would overcome Satan. Now as soon as, think about the graciousness of God, the goodness of God, right? As soon as sin revealed the essential necessity of a savior, God steps in with gospel hope provided through a promise. That's very important for us to understand. This promise, this promise has much more to do with the Lord Jesus Christ than it does with man. Think about this with me. Before time began, God in the eternal councils of his own will had purposed to provide a gift for his son, a gift that expressed his love for the second person of the Trinity, a gift for his son. That gift would be an expression of love within the Godhead and would provide for the son a bride, a people.  That's the people that God has redeemed for the son. That's the Father's love gift to God the Son and that is forever and ever. Turn with me to Titus chapter one, Titus chapter one. I want to show this to you from scripture. It doesn't matter what I think, right? It matters what the Bible says. The Bible says that you can take it to the bank. It's true. Titus chapter one, God the Father had purposed in eternity past to provide a love gift for his son, a bride of redeemed people that would worship him and praise him and exalt him and adore him and serve him forever. Titus chapter one, look at verse one. Here Paul says, Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness. In hope of eternal life, there's the hope, right? In hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie promised when? Before time began. When did time begin? It began at creation when God created the heavens and the earth, right? Now notice the gospel hope here. The promise is given before time began. God's redemptive purposes, God's saving intentions, his plan to save a people from their sin was in place and determined and decreed before time began. Now in other words, all that before creation, before the beginning of the created order, before the first day of creation, God had already made provision for this promise. That's an awesome thought, isn't it? God planned to choose, there it says in verse one, his elect and he would grant them faith. He would provide for their acknowledgement of the truth, verse one. He would provide for them godliness from that verse one and he would give them verse two, eternal life in his son. Now think about this with me in Titus chapter one. To whom did God make that promise? This is before creation, right? We weren't created, man wasn't created until the sixth day. So who was there in the eternal counsels of God before time began that God would have made this promise too? The son. That's right, God the son. Look with me at 2 Timothy chapter one. Flip back a couple of pages. This is a couple of pages, one page maybe. 2 Timothy chapter one. This promise made to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at 2 Timothy chapter one beginning in verse eight. Paul says to Timothy here, therefore, verse eight, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God. Verse nine, God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose. Do you see that? According to his own grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus, when? Before time began. Do you see that? Verse 10, but he has now revealed by the peering of our savior, savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. This promise was given to us in Christ before time began. God made that promise to Christ. We were redeemed in Christ before time began. Look with me at 1 Peter. A few pages to the right. 1 Peter chapter one. 1 Peter chapter one, and we're going to apply these truths in a moment. So you think through this and you put these pieces of the puzzle together and you see behind the curtain as it were at God's redemptive purposes and plans, all of this should have impact on the way that we think and it should have impact on the way that we live. 1 Peter chapter one, look down at verse 19. 1 Peter chapter one, verse 19. Peter says you were redeemed. You were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He Christ indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. And what he's saying here is that Jesus Christ, who was manifest or who appeared in these last days, he appeared to go to the cross. He appeared to die for sinners. He appeared to save sinners, to be resurrected from the dead. That Jesus Christ was foreordained or planned to enter into that from before the foundation of the world or before creation. Before those six days of creation ever started, ever began, before man was ever created, God planned in the eternal councils of his will to redeem a fallen humanity to worship his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now think with me, in the councils of God, before he ever created the worlds, God made a promise to redeem some of fallen humanity as a love gift to the Son. He would save them from their sinful condition in order to bring them to glory. He would save them from certain death under his holy law and the demands of the covenant that he made. And in eternity past, he planned with the Son the incarnation, the virgin birth, the necessity of an acceptable sacrifice for sin, and he planned the resurrection with the Spirit of God, John 16, right? He planned with the Spirit of God to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and of judgment. He provided for the need of new birth that man's depravity would necessitate. They would convey them from death to life, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of his love. And all of that was manifested, Peter says, in these last days at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, for you, for me. Second Thessalonians chapter two, turn there with me. Second Thessalonians chapter two, I want to be able to meditate on these things and put these things together in your heart and mind, thinking on them. One of the problems with us today, right, is we don't think deeply. So many people today, I personally was not a reader until the Lord saved me. When the Lord saved me, I wanted to read. I wanted to learn. But we don't think deeply. Many of us sit in a vegetative state in front of the TV. So we don't think about these things. But theology is to be meditated on. God's word to be meditated on, to think on, to understand. It has impact and import for our lives. Second Thessalonians chapter two, and drop down to verse 13. Paul says here, verse 13, we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God, from the beginning, chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth. All this took place in God's decree before time began, right? When does Revelation say that those who are saved, those who've put their faith and trust in Christ, when does Revelation say that their names are written in the Lamb's book of life from before the foundation of the world? If you think about that, there was a hymn back in the 50s. If it's new, it's not necessarily true. 50s for a hymn is pretty new. There was a hymn, and the way that the hymn was worded says, if God is sitting in heaven and every time someone gets saved, he's writing their name book. So God's just sitting there busy writing names down in his book. It's like, what is that old saying? Every coin in the coffer rings up soul from purgatory springs. Nothing to do with that. That's bad theology. All the names of those whom God saved or written in the Lamb's book of life from before the foundation of the world, God decreed that all this would take place. Back in Genesis chapter three, God chose a people for his son as a love gift to the son, to worship the son, to praise the son, to serve the son. And although God had chosen a people for his son, that elect people are fallen in Adam. As a result of the fall, they are fallen in Adam and they're defiled by their sin. Those people that God intends to save are justly condemned by the law. The law is holy, just, and good.  So these people have to be redeemed, right? God has to set in motion his plan to redeem this people, to buy them back from the penalty of their sin, which is death, to purchase them back from the due punishment of their sin, which is death, eternal separation from God, in hell, torment under the wrath of God. Essentially, God has to buy them back, so to speak, from his own wrath, save them from the wrath of God. When John the Baptist comes preaching in the gospel of John, John talks about those people coming to hear him preach fleeing what? The wrath of God, flee the wrath of God. The stark reality is that all of sin, all have fallen short of the glory of God. The perfect justice of God's law demands judgment and death.  God's law, you and I born under the law. You and I sit here today with God's law, a determined reality. And God's law says that you deserve hell. For those outside of Christ, the Bible says that you've been condemned already. You've been condemned already. And if you, so if you sit under the law of God, then the execution of God's sentence is the only thing that awaits you.   The only hope for the redemption of God's people. The only hope that you have that I have is for the just demands of God's law to be met, to be met by someone who would stand in our place, someone who would represent us. We don't want to be represented by Adam anymore. Amen. There must have necessity be a second man to come into a fallen world and accomplish what the first man, Adam, was unable to accomplish. Now think about that with me. In order to fulfill the righteous requirements of God's law, that man would have to be perfect, wouldn't he? He's got to perfectly fulfill all the demands of God's law, perfectly. To establish perfect righteousness for the people of God, he has to take their place as their head, as their federal head, as their representative. In order to do that, the new Adam, so to speak, this perfect man would be required to satisfy the covenant of works, to satisfy the just demands of God's law, and would be required to take the penalty that all of those who have gone before and after have incurred by their failure to keep God's law. Does that make sense? In order to fulfill the demands of God's law, that penalty must be enacted. God does not sweep your sin under the rug. God does not turn a blind eye to your sin. He doesn't trifle with sin. There's those that will say, right, you're out witnessing here all the time, right? I sin, God forgives. I ask for forgiveness. That's what God does. God forgives me. No, that forgiveness comes at an impossibly high price. God doesn't trifle with sin. Your sin must be paid for. The hope that we have is not that the law has been done away with. The hope that we have is not that the law no longer applies. The hope that we have is that the law would be fulfilled, that the law would be satisfied. The covenant still applies to us, but sin has made it impossible, impossible for you and I to keep it. Jeffrey Johnson said again, sin did not free man of his responsibility. Sin only made it more difficult to achieve. Similarly, the promise of the gospel did not eliminate the demands of the covenant of works, but rather guaranteed that they would be fulfilled by a specific man. Our hope rests in the fact that the just demands of the law have been satisfied. They've been fulfilled. Out of judgment comes justification, right? Out of condemnation comes forgiveness, comes restoration with God. In the gospel, death gives way to life. Go back with me to Genesis chapter three and look at verse 15 again. Genesis chapter three verse 15, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.  Because of the fall, the seed of the woman born under the law as sinners, the seed of the woman would be born under the law and they would face judgment and death. All those who would come after Adam and Eve would be born under the law as sinners and as such they would face judgment and death. Pointing to this was the physical death of Adam and all his posterity. If you look at Genesis five, look at verse five. Genesis chapter five, the end of verse five. Adam lived 930 years and he died. Look at verse eight. All the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. Look at verse 11. Enoch, he died. Look at verse 12. I'm sorry, 14. He died. Look at verse 17. And he died. Look at verse 20. And he died. Look at verse 27. And he died. Look at verse 31. And he died. Do you see that? It's a desperate circumstance, isn't it? A desperate circumstance. But in that God promised hope in Redeemer. What was it that Adam and Eve were to do to inherit this promise? What did Adam and Eve have to do to inherit the promise? They were to turn from their sin and trust God for it. They were to believe the promises of God. God is faithful to his promises, isn't he? He is faithful to his promises. Adam and Eve were to trust God for the promise. Trust God to inherit the promise. They're to put their faith in him. They were to entrust themselves to him for the coming Redeemer, the coming seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. They were to trust God. In Genesis chapter seven, as wickedness floods into the world as a result of the fall, the depravity of man reached such a high watermark that among the multitudes of the earth at that time, there were only eight people that follow the Lord in faith. And so what did God do for those eight people? In faith. They trusted God. They believed God, and it was credited to them for righteousness. God enclosed those eight people in an ark, preserving the promise of a coming seed. He flooded the earth, wiping away all the wicked with a tremendous flood. God said that the thoughts and intentions of man's heart were only evil continually. You know, so much happens along the way here. Time prevents us from talking about it all, but all the while God's intention and purpose is to provide for the coming promised seed and to point people to him for salvation by grace through faith. Look at Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 12. Again, God continues to do that. He continues to provide for a future seed and to point people to a future seed, point people to his deliverer, the Savior. And he continues to do that in Genesis 12 through a man of his own choosing, Abraham. Of all the people and families that lived on the earth, God determined that this man, this family, his offspring would be marked off to God. And once again, he was marked off to God by covenant. Look at Genesis chapter 12, verse one.  And I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great.  And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Emphasizing again, God's power and God's faithfulness to keep his promises. He chose an older couple past childbearing years, right? And he promised them a son in their old age that it seemed impossible to Adam and to Abraham and to Sarah seemed impossible to both of them. But the Bible says that Abraham believed God for the promise and it was accounted to him. His faith was accounted to him for righteousness. Where did the righteousness come from? It came from the promised seed. When the seed would come and fulfill the law, fulfilling all righteousness, that righteousness would apply to Abraham by Abraham's faith in that promise, faith in God's promises, faith in the promised seed. Look at Genesis chapter 15 and look at verse two. Genesis 15 verse two. But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless in the air of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. Then Abram said, look, you have given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, this one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. Then he brought him outside and said to Abram, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you're able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. And Abram believed the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. Then he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it? And God enters into covenant with Abram. Like Adam, like Noah before him, Abraham lived by faith in a promised savior. Like Adam, like Noah before him, it would be Abraham's turn now to fulfill the demands of God's law. Look at Genesis 17. Genesis 17 and look at verse one. Again, God enters into covenant with Abraham. Verse one. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God. And what does Abram have to do? He has to walk before him and be blameless. Do you see? That's the same covenant of works.  Walk before me, God says, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.  No longer shall your name be called Abram. Abram meaning father, right? But your name shall be called Abraham, meaning father of many or father of a multitude. For I have made you the father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful. Now listen to the promises of God here. These are the promises of God. I have made you the father of many nations.  Think about it. From Abram, you've got a land that God is going to promise to Abraham. You've got a people, many nations that will come from Abraham, many kings. You have rulers that are coming from Abraham, including one consummate ruler that will come in the seed, the form of the seed from a woman. What do you have there? You have a kingdom. God establishing again his kingdom now through covenant with Abraham. You have a land, you have seed, you have people, you have rulers.   Now God said to Abraham in verse nine, I get this, as for you Abraham, you shall keep my covenant.  No longer God's covenant or not yet God's covenant cut into stone, but now the sign of God's covenant cut into flesh. You shall be circumcised, verse 11, in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male in your generations. He who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.  He has broken my covenant. Now again, fact of the covenant that God makes with Abraham is not just a mark on Abraham's body or a mark on the bodies of his sons. It's just not simply in the flesh. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 10 with me. Deuteronomy chapter 10 and again we're putting together God's heart and mind, God's purposes and intentions in redeeming of people for his son. We're seeing this worked out again with God's people through covenant. Deuteronomy chapter 10 and here's what circumcision represented, just like Adam in the garden, those trees represented keeping of God's law. Moses in the wilderness with the children of Israel, those tablets represented keeping God's law, obviously. Here, what does circumcision represent? Look at verse 12, Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12.  Indeed, heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The Lord delighted only in your fathers to love them and he chose their descendants after them. You above all peoples as it is this day, therefore God says in verse 16, circumcise the foreskin of your heart. You see that? Be stiff-necked no longer for the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 30. Deuteronomy chapter 30. This making sense so far? Are you tracking with me? I'm going to try to bring it around to conclusion here in a minute. The covenant not seen in trees now, not cut on tablets of stone but cut in flesh. Deuteronomy chapter 30, look at verse 1.   He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants in order that you may love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. Your circumcision given to Abraham originally didn't merely represent a separation of the people of God from their fleshly nature, but it also separated the people of God from the seed of the serpent. It separated them from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God, separating them the holy so to speak from the unholy and again here a clear picture given of that in Deuteronomy chapter 10, Deuteronomy chapter 30. Circumcision meant more than just an outward mark or an outward cut. Circumcision was a picture of what God required inwardly of the heart. The heart of man needed to be cut. Do you see? The heart of man God demanded and circumcision demanded heart and soul devotion to God. It demanded perfect righteousness. Can you see all these laws, right? All the laws given. If the law of God points to that, the need for depraved man to be cut to the heart. The need for depraved man to have his heart changed.  That's what all of this points to. Do you see how foolish it is for anyone to think that they can clean themselves up to be right with God? Can you think with me, right? How foolish it is for anyone to think that I'm a pretty good person? And all I need to do, I just need to do better. I just need to do better. If I can do better, God's going to accept me. It's absurd. Everything about fallen man, God wants to replace, reconstruct. He wants to make of you a new creation. Doing better does not and will not mean salvation. You need to be remade. You need to be born again. The Lord Jesus Christ tells Nicodemus in John chapter three, unless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God. You must be remade from the inside out. And all of this is pointing to the fact that apart from God's work in the heart of man, it is impossible by your good works to be right with him. No amount of law keeping will ever save you. There is nothing in you that is righteous apart from the work of God and his spirit.  You are unlovely to God. You can't do it in your own power. You can't do it by your own works. It takes faith in God for God to transform you. Faith in his promises, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam strived to keep the covenant and he failed. Noah strived to keep the covenant and he failed. Abraham strived to keep the covenant and he failed. He strived to live according to all its circumcision entailed and he failed. Abraham, Adam, Noah found that it was impossible. Abraham believed the promises of God. And Abraham was declared righteous apart from works. When was Abraham declared righteous before circumcision or after circumcision? Before circumcision. He received an inward circumcision of his heart before he ever received an outward circumcision. So what was the ground then of Abraham's hope? The ground of Abraham's hope was the promised savior, the promised Messiah, the promised seed. God promised that Abraham's seed would be the people of God and that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. But Abraham understood there would come a promised son as a part of that line, as a part of that seed, a promised son who would establish finally an unconditional covenant of grace by fulfilling all the just requirements of God's law. Taking on himself, in himself, the penalty that the law demands for all those that would break it. Galatians chapter three, we don't have time to turn there, just listen. Verse eight, Paul says, the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying, in you Abraham, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. So then those who are of the faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Now God may have placed Abraham's direct descendants, the Israelites, under a covenant of works. But that was done so that the promised seed would be born under the law and so that the promised seed would fulfill perfectly all of the just demands of that law. He would become the savior of his people by keeping that law perfectly where all others had failed. Listen to Paul in Galatians chapter three beginning in verse 10, for as many as are of the works of law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed, listen, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, but that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident for the just the Bible says shall live by faith. Yet the law is not a faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Paul says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us. For it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree so that the blessing of Abraham, that promise that God made all the way back right in the book of Genesis, the promise that he made in Genesis chapter three that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head, the promise that he made to Noah, the promise that he made to Abraham, the promise that he made to Isaac and to Jacob, the promises that God made. Paul says those blessings of Abraham would come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Salvation comes through faith, through faith in Christ, faith in Christ doesn't come through your works.  The Bible teaches that God saves a person, justifies a person when they put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ turning from their sin. You turn from the life that you're living for yourself and you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and it's faith in Christ that saves. It doesn't matter how sincere you think you were when you said that prayer. Listen, I said that prayer a hundred times if I said it once, growing up in bad churches and it didn't ever quote unquote work. The Lord had to transform my heart. I had to be born again. He needed to make me a new creation. My desires needed to be changed. My hopes and dreams needed to be changed. My emotions needed to be changed. My will needed to be changed. My nature needed to be changed. Everything about me needed to be remade by God. It is God who is the source of salvation. It is God who saves. It's God who transforms the center. Put your faith in Him for salvation and follow Him as Lord. Abraham understood that God's Messiah, that God's Savior would come. Abraham understood that and the same law that Adam failed to keep, the same law that Noah failed to keep, the same law that Abraham himself failed to keep would be the same law that that Savior would one day perfectly fulfill. He's done it all. Do you see? He's done it all. We know the story, don't we? Abraham had Isaac. Isaac wasn't perfect. Isaac had Jacob and Esau. Either Jacob nor Esau were perfect. In fact, with each passing generation, it became increasingly clear that the true children of God were not born according to the flesh. They were born according to God. The history of Israel is essentially a thousand-year history of failure to keep the law of God. They would fail in the covenant. God would judge them. They would cry out for mercy and God would deliver them. They would fail to keep the covenant and then God would judge them. They would cry out for mercy and then God would deliver them time and time again. In the wilderness, just like Noah and his family protected in the ark from the flood waters, Moses sent as a deliverer to the people of Israel, protected in a little basket, right? Carried along on the water until the time would come when Moses would used of God deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt. From that point forward, one example after another of breaking the covenant of God. What does this tell us? One, it tells us the salvation is impossible apart from a perfect fulfillment of God's law. It's impossible apart from a perfect fulfillment of God's law. That law, secondly, it tells us that law serves to reveal your sin, my sin. If you hold your life up under the searing spotlight of that law, all you're going to see is sin, sinful thoughts, sinful words, sinful deeds.  Now you need to acknowledge it. You need to admit that, confess that before God. Third, the law condemns you in order that you might turn in faith to the promise, turn in faith to Christ. Galatians chapter three, is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given, which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law, but the scripture has confined all under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who walk in Isle and say a prayer, might be given to those who take mass every week, faithful Catholic. No, might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were under guard by the law, kept for the faith, which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ so that you and I might be justified by faith. After faith comes, we're no longer under a tutor. It's tragic. Most of Israel, most of the rest of the world, and billions upon billions, no exaggeration today, will never turn to faith in Christ. When the fullness of time had come, Paul says, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, father. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son.  God established his new covenant, a covenant of grace, not a covenant of works, but a covenant of grace. He did that in Ezekiel 36.  You shall be clean.  I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you. I, God says, will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. God promises that, right? That's the new covenant. That's God's saving covenant of grace. Why is it grace? Because it has nothing to do with your works. Now he says there, you're going to keep his judgments and do them. Well, how can you say God has nothing to do with my works? Because God does those works in you.  Now you have to ask yourself the question, if you're not walking in his statutes, are you under the covenant? No, this is a covenant of grace. God ensures that this is what's going to happen and it is purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ's only son. He says, I will cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers.  We started off the morning talking about the glory of a true church. What is glorious about a true church? It's made up of these people. It's purchased by the blood of the Son first and foremost. The glory of a true church is the Lord Jesus Christ because the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself and died for her.  When a true church is made up of Christ as her head and made up of redeemed, regenerate, born again people, then the worship of a true church is Christ-centric always. It's all about Christ, all about God. God-centered, not man-centered. When a true church seeks to worship the Lord, they preach Christ. They don't preach man's opinions. They don't preach success, how to diaper your baby. They don't talk about that stuff. The worship of Christ is on his terms. A true church because they understand they've been blood bought based on the promises of God from eternity past and now that promise revealed in his church by the blood of Jesus Christ. A true church preserves the purity and holiness of the church through the proper practice of church discipline, through preaching the gospel, making sure that people are genuinely saved. And a true church, if they have that treasure given to them, a true church is going to preach Christ to a lost world. If they don't, they're not a true church. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ honors, exalts, adores, worships, and serves the Lord. And we do that by the grace of Almighty God. Listen, it has nothing to do with your works, amen. Praise God. It has all been done in Christ and purchased by our, by his blood for our good and for his glory. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, so much that could be said. We could walk through this story and will Lord for, for years for eternity will be in your word, learning of you, searching all the wisdom and knowledge of God. We love you Lord and we thank you for this glorious testimony of your grace and goodness to us and providing a promise, providing the seed who would redeem his people from their sin, save to himself, his treasured possession and seat them in the heavenlies. We love you Lord. We thank you for your grace. We thank you Lord that although we were born under the law, sinners and Adam, we praise you and thank you for your provision of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us not take it for granted, but I pray that every single person here would be turned from themselves, from their sin, turned from living life for themselves to live for the one who died and gave himself for them. I pray Lord they would turn to Christ by faith, repenting of their sin, believing in him, trusting in him and trusting themselves to him. You would forgive them of their sin, Lord, save them for your glory, for your everlasting worship. And we praise you and thank you for the truth of the gospel. And I pray Lord that your gospel would run swiftly and be glorified and that you Lord would receive the full reward of your suffering. We praise you and thank you for your glorious sacrifice on our behalf. We trust you. We entrust ourselves to you. Thank you Lord in Jesus' name. Amen.


Thanks for staying with us now according to a publication by Antonia Adenaya-Hodd. The fashion industry in Nigeria plays an important cultural role and contributes significantly to the nation's economy. The country was once home to Africa's biggest textile industry, and Nigerian dynamic brands have brought new life into the industry. Now a generation of talents are exploring and adopting low-impact production methods and handcrafted with strong aesthetics and African wax print. Now historically, wealthy Nigerians have shopped abroad for international brands that are not available on the local market. Now this is changing as more global and luxury brands are entering the Nigerian market often via franchise agreement and strong online presence. The effect of the of course the COVID pandemic on global supply chain have further reduced the ease of traveling or international shopping, hence accentuating the need for these customers segment to buy locally. So our focus today is on the fashion industry and we're asking how can we build an ecosystem that promotes local content. Now please let's hear what you have to say. Remember, you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 08-1-803-4663 you can also tweet at us at waishioafqa1 with the hashtag waishio. Now we have Elsie Godwin joining us. Hello Elsie. Hi. The only girl that can come on this set without makeup. There's lipstick. There's lipstick. But how are you? There's lash. So quickly, do you want to say something about the ASU, the university ranking? Manny did it for me. Oh, she did it justice for you? Yeah, she did it justice for me. Okay. Because you start by saying... Thank you. Good news. Thank you. Good news. I don't know what I'm talking about. Excuse me. 400. It's nice that Unilack is sort of above Covenant. It was... I don't know if it's nice, but it was interesting for me to see. Yes, it was just interesting. But I still by saying that I love the communism that comes with Covenant and how they support each other. That community that they have created around the graduates and the support that they give each other. I love that too. Okay, so the whole alumni thing. But I think from what you read it's based on research, right? Yes. If you give it to Unilack and University of Ibadu, I mean, if UI was not there, then I would be worried, right? Absolutely. Right? But we have a long way to go. We have a very long way to go. We far, we know, but we are coming somewhere. Okay. So let's talk ecosystem and building and promoting our local content. I mean, we had had a guest that we talked about tourism, as I mentioned earlier. And of course, we then piggyed it back to where this production is happening from the Ibadu. Because she deals in Adiré and all of those transactions, right? So I'm just wondering, right? Is it possible for us to have a lot more robust ecosystem in our fashion industry? So I see a lot of things going on, but it is not holistic in my opinion, the approach. You know why? Nigeria has a huge market for fashion, a very huge market. I just wish we understood the power that we had because we have the numbers. We have the consumers. We have over 200 million people. Imagine if we understood... I mean, they have them. They love fashion as well. Thank you. Imagine if we understood the power that we had and we then really promote, right, and support local content. We wouldn't be unmatched, as far as I am concerned, but I don't know if it is even possible. Let me hear your quick thoughts and I'll bring in our guest.  Nothing is impossible, right? It just takes the right will. And the right people and leadership to get things done. We are the people as well. When it comes to fashion, I'm not exactly going to blame us because beyond the talent, beyond making things work, it takes us back to the conversation, which is the ecosystem. How does it affect the business, right? Recently, you hooked me up to the lady who does your work, right? And I'm glad she does mine. But for me, I'm still testing it out based on what she has done. I like the design, but there are some that have used other fashion designers to make and you realize that maybe in the next three months, there is a way, like the, I don't know what's called a nice opening, the zip, something is just wrong compared to me buying a ready to wear foreign brand, right? So that is the part that I think that I want them to work on. However, when you then look at the cost as well, it's also a problem because the factor in power, the factor in a lot of things, and you can't ask people not to make profits when they are working, right? So there's a lot of things that makes us want to run back to buying those foreign ready to wear. Even when you say the dollar is high, you realize that the cost of buying those foreign things are still cheaper because of what these people have to deal with at home to produce the amazing thing. I mean, like for me, I love Ankara, I love Adiwe, I love looking that way. You know, there was a time you said, some people say I'm just like a married woman. I'm like, I don't care. I like comfort in my fashion, right? So if there's no comfort in it, then I'm not happy. I'm so married with many wondrous. I'll be your bride only. I know, I stand all. That's a good question. But let me hear your thoughts, Maya. So what are you wearing? Is it a local brand? Yes, it is Nigerian. OK, so for me, I love fashion and I think that we are doing a lot better than we were doing in the past. But I think that we still have a very long way to go. Absolutely. For instance, like Elsie just said, enabling environment, too many things are out of place. Too many things are out of place that eventually affect the product, affect the people. We also need skilled hands. What we see nowadays is people just go and do three months' courses and they start sewing. It's true. So at the end of the day, what do you get? You have clothes that are made and are properly made. You wear them once and they open up. You have the shoes. You have different things. They are not up to par, like you said. The quality. The quality.  So I think that we need more stakeholders in this industry, because what they need is investment. So maybe if they had the money, they would be able to train more people to do better. So buy the equipment they use, because sometimes, I know that especially with fashion, you have different machines for different things. The machine that weaves is different from the machine that stitches is different from the one that does, you know, threading or whatever. The finishing. The finishing. So if you have one, you can only, your outfit, whatever you are making, would just be half. Absolutely.  Good. So I think we just need more stakeholders. Absolutely. More investment. I remember that a friend of mine had gone to the New York Fashion Academy, and she said that, you know, in that academy, they teach you what fashion is like. Abroad, there is a specialized person for just button installation. Thank you. There's somebody that installs zips. So because the government has provided, so she was even thinking that by the time she came back home to Nigeria, she actually proposed it to a state governor. See, tomorrow. Now voice mail in. Because guess what? What we need to do is create a massive industry. But they will. No, that is it. They will. Because we have the market. We have the market. But let me bring in our guests. Right? With a passion for fashion, arts and culture, Amobola Sanda has carved a niche for herself in making the Yoruba traditional outfit a showcase and essential in adorning brides and groom from their engagement ceremony. The journey which she began in 2005 has grown into a profitable venture, positioning her as one of the top Ashokie vendors in Lagos state. Her works at Mobax has moved from traditional to contemporary, impacting as many as are willing and interested in the arts. So Amobola laudably designs the participation in arts and designs and participates in arts and culture has gone unnoticed, has not gone unnoticed as she has received several prestigious awards and she is joining us live in studio. I hope I did not murder a lot of names. I apologize. So Alashokie. That's who makes Ashokie, right? Okay. I got it right. Okay. Yeah. Because you have to interpret it before you say it. But hey, you heard our conversation. I saw you. You kept on nodding and nodding and nodding. I can imagine what you're going through, but before we even start, like delve into the conversation, you have a very beautiful history as to what even made you go into the fashion business, especially the Ashokie business, the history with your, I think your grandma or something. You want to share or your mother-in-law, yeah, do you want to share that with us? Yes. Let me say good evening to everybody. Good evening. Ashokie for me is life. That's the way I see it. And I'll say I stumbled into it. It was, the old story started from getting married and then you know the way it is. You are home. You once take care of the children. And then at the same time, I was very young. So I was working. And then I think I had just a child then. And she needed my attention. We had issues. Of course, I mean the man will work, the woman too will work. I'll go out in the morning, come back late. There's nobody to take care of the baby at home. We had a maid.  We had a very funny scenario with my maid then and my husband said, well, I can't stop working. You will have to stay back and take care of the child. It was a very, very bad one for me because I wanted to work. I wanted to do something. So I remember sitting at home. I will cry before he gets back from work because he goes in the morning and he calls back in the evening. And all I have to do is just sit down and, you know, be teaching ABC and 123. My mother-in-law came in and I was like, are you not bored? You're here alone. Why don't you just come? Come and learn this thing. Come and see what you can do. You know, like, you know the way our parents are.  You go, why does she want me to come and learn? No, that's not what I studied. This is not what I did. But then she was like, look, this thing is not bad. And, you know, at that time, we do have a lot of people learning craft. And in fact, I think there was some kind of stigma placed on you. They know, OK, fine.  So maybe she didn't finish his school or she came out with a talk. Oh, yeah, very bad grade. What is she saying? She's the only one that has a child. And then I took it up. I told my husband, I was like, OK, fine. If you can go and do it. So I went on to mommy. We'll sit together. She put me through. If you have to do this one, this is what you have to do. Today, you're not working in-house. We're going out, going to the fields to see the way the thing was. Initially, it was very strenuous. But then I had to just put all my mind in it. One, I wasn't dealing with a mediocre. She doesn't take no for an answer. You can't feel near her. So you just have to put your mind in whatever thing you're doing. And I remember then learning. You know, I had to like bring myself to the lowest. When I say the lowest, I come into the store in the morning because then I had to move in with her. So I was living with her. And then I am the first person to get to the store in the morning. So this one is not, this is mama's daughter-in-law. So you're waiting for somebody to come and clean up. I get in in the morning. I clean up, get everything tidied, and waiting for the staffs to come in. So the ladies I used to work with, they were thrilled. Like, this one would just come, sweep, do everything. Can you imagine that? And so mommy would come in and say, okay, today I'm not staying in the shop. I'm going for social and social engagement and all. You'll be able to attend to people. And it started that way. She saw that when people come in, they'll request that I let your daughter attend to us. And then mommy would go like, okay, fine.  So she sits back, sees me talk to the customers and all. And then when they leave, she calls me next time. You don't do this with a customer. You can't do this with a weaver. This is what you have to do. You don't do this one. This one you did was blunder. Don't do this one again. And when you do well, equally, she tells you, ah. You did a good job. Oh, mommy, ha, this one that you've done. I just send the money, good, now we've seen it. So I was really, you know, she carried me along.  And I spoke to my husband, you know. I don't know how I'm going to start this thing. It says start with anything. You know, this is your calling. You have to do, you've been given everything, then make do with what you have. It was tough. When I said, because how do you go approach people and say, do you want to tell them? Because I learned from so-so and so-person. So I had to be going from, I had pictures. Pictures of jobs that I didn't do. They were all mommy's works. But she said, do you know something? You go, get the job. We'll start doing what we need to do then.  They've given everything to you. Take the hook, take the line. Take Sinkawaia, get into the water, start fishing. So I looked at it and said, okay, then what do I do now? I carried my album. I created and then started visiting my friends at the banks. I'll go there, tell them, this is what I do now. Please tell your people, if they want to get married, well, they should try me and everything. You know, I can go maybe four, five banks in a day. By the time I get back, I'll be so exhausted and be waiting for, you know, that's one call. And then it was just the inception of GSM. It was Blackberry. So, you know. You do the pink. You know what? I mean, this is, if we leave you, I think we'll ask, we'll ask. But let's quickly go on the very, very quick break. When we come back from the break, we now want to ask about the challenges and how we can build a great ecosystem for the fashion industry. Because you guys are doing amazing. Stay with us, we'll be right back. All right, thanks for staying with us now. If you just tuned in, we're discussing the fashion industry. We're asking, how can we build an ecosystem that promotes local content? And Omobola Sanda is here. And remember, you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 08-1803-4663. You can also do that at Weishaw Apka 1 with the hashtag Weishaw. I mean, she shared an amazing story, but Manny had a question. Yes, I have a question, Omob. Before I go to my question, I want to say something. You know, she said something about going with her mother-in-law. That was many, many years ago. How old is your child? How old is that child now? She is 17. I don't think the new generation would do what she did. So that was just a very, very good, humbling experience. And something came out of it, you know? Just like I said, we had very cordial relationships.  That was a good one. But now, this is my question. A new movie came out recently, and in the movie, I saw the way they were doing the whole Ashuki thing, is the way they have done it forever. Like you just have different sticks on different levels, and then, you know, they start weaving. Don't we have any technology that can do that faster? Upscaling. Upscaling, because we still have it being done the way it was done like one million years ago. So for that one, there's been seminars, there's been workshops on the Chinese, bringing in some kind of technology to make it faster, but it's not like the hand-woven one. So it is not that Ashuki. Are you saying it is not positive?  Because it is not, it is a little bit degrading if I can use that word, yes. Because you have Ashoke that you cannot fold, you can't, then you now see that the density is so light and we're, I mean, if we say Ashoke, Ashoke, the thing is, it's cultural, it's epic. It's not in Tushia, not dashing anything to it. It's been from 1900 and then if that's what you want, that's what we're going to have. We have other tribes, we have other regions that also have their own traditional attires and all and you can't take it away from them. Oh, South Africa, yes, you say that they have a lot of development, they have everything is going, not like the way it used to be before. They have their cultural outfit. We won't say because your civilization has come then that one is now going to change from what it used to be before. So this is what it used to be. Maybe they're using it in a different way, which we have also employed is something we are also doing because Ashoke now is not what we used to wear before. You see brides now in fitted dresses and... Oh yes, it's not a wrong move. Sometimes, sometimes when you see them come out. I think it was the last time they have existed at Ashoke. That's the last time. That's the last time. Once she pierced that stand, that's when it became very, it became very impossible. You know, I also, you had a question, right? Yeah, yeah, I have a question. It's interesting that Manny has mentioned the movie, right? And I was going to say that each time, I love watching cultural Europa movies, maybe because I grew up here, right? So I enjoy watching them. And each time I see anyone, there has to be an Alashoke. I mean, the difference in this one, everyone is reviewing about is that the story is centered on this person. But when you watch closely, there is always somebody doing it. Yeah, but because that way trade itself depicts the culture. Thank you. So I was going to say, this is part of our culture and you've clearly stated that, right? So how do we also then ensure that this culture remains and we are proud of it? Because I love it. And it's, yes, I know Ashoke is expensive, but when you wear it, the pride that comes with wearing it cannot, you know, and like you said, we have these newer ones now that are coming, maybe from China and all that. So how do we even maintain that culture was still upscaling in a way that everyone is proud of it? So what I feel is the new thing that has come into it is the addition of rayon and, you know, silk. Silk has been from time, but now it's been a little bit upgraded. So you now see, we have them in like segments. If you want that, the olden day look, you see people coming for cutting, which is what, you know, I'm well known for. Because really the culture, that traditional thing, that's the taste. It's like you're having a bangasop. And then you now see, because it's being served in, not in the Kalabash, you know, that bowl, because it's being served in a plate. And I want that flavor. I want that thing that, you know, that's the thing that we're talking about. It's the clay pot that makes the right taste. That is the touch that I want. I'm not saying, help me put it on a platter or try to make it look different, but no, please. We're local and that's what we are. Now, taking to the local now, let us now break it down. What are the things impeding us, promoting it as it is in this local, raw form? So we see the lot of people doing their deraille. If you go to other tribes, you'll see all the cultural attires, right? But we don't see a very healthy, what's it called? Ecosystem. Production is low. And that's why you see a China coming into your country and giving you a deraille.  Because production, they cannot, and I think that was when Manny was going with that question, they cannot keep up with the demand that is needed. So we would need some form of equipment, right? To make it, you know, produce more, you know, to churn out a lot more quantity. Yeah, don't take one record at a time. Yeah, so how do we build that ecosystem? And I want us to build an ecosystem that is sustainable. Not that the weaver is being paid peanuts, because that is what we see. Yes. And that's why guess what? And guess what? That's why a lot of people are running away from the trade. They don't want to do it anymore. All of our cultural things that we hold there, because the people at the low bottom. People are doing the real job. Yes, the bottom of the round, they are doing the real job. They're not getting enough. They're not getting enough. So they are looking at it that this thing is not profitable. They're in queue. I'll rather do something else. Yes. And that's why we're losing that local content. So how do we start to build that ecosystem? What would you suggest that we start to think about? And how can the government or how can the people coming? So like from what you've said, there's a URA digital says, if anything is going to go better, everything starts from the home. So I would say first and foremost, if we are stable, number one, we need to appreciate what we have. If we appreciate it, then we can promote it. If we don't appreciate it, there's really nothing we can do to throw this outside. That's one. Two, we have it. But even as we don't really appreciate, people come from international bodies and all and spares, they come in, they see it, they love it. They make lovely pieces out of it. Now that one is even like a review from maybe the olden days. Now I'm talking about now. Now we have a lot of people interested in it. But the interest is broken. It's broken and said that some people are coming in not because of the passion that they have for the work or for the, they're coming in because of the money that they know they can make out of it. Yes, it is a very lucrative business, if you ask me. But then that lucrative, being lucrative needs a lot of improvement. Just to make it acceptable, like you have said, then what can we do? We have talked about appreciation. You said machines to make things faster and all of that. How then do we make that sustainable? Can we afford these machines? Can we keep them? How do we run these machines where we don't have light? Yeah, that's what we do.  My system is not working. Then there's no light. Then I go and look for money to gather to get diesel, now diesel gold. Then look for money. Tell me how I want to produce and not sell expensive. It's not possible. Yeah, right. So as it is now, the local way still seems like the sustainability for us that we're looking for. So are you losing your weavers or you still have a lot more weavers that are going to work? Okay, so now with the economy status now, yes, we've lost a lot of weavers. Thank you. I'll tell you more. So what? Okay, so for me now, most of my weavers I can get.  Okay. So it's not making sense. So, no, they come here. Learn. No, they're not learning. They bring the crafting. Remember they have the kente. Yes. The kente and the ashok is just five and six.  Let's weave. And then you pay them that money. By the time they go and change it to their cities or their, whatever it is, it's nothing. So they would rather, I think we just go back home. And work there. Continue our kente there. So that way, a lot of them have gone back home.  I remember going to the same myself and like two other colleagues. We do the same business. And then we went to Oiotown. We met this elderly man. When we walked up to him and we told him what we wanted. I had the man looked at us like, at this one serious. Where do you want to get that this age and time? But, you know, I kept pushing. Like, I'm sure we'll get someone that would have this piece that we want. And after going round, I think we just sat down and, okay, let's eat. Even if we did get what we came here to look for. I'm like, he's here or something. Let's have something before we now start facing him. And then the man walked up and said, what do you do? So I had to come down like, Baba, this is my work and this is what I do and everything. And this is what we're looking for. He said he can only give me a piece that he has. So I was like, but Kilo Shelley, what happened now that we have all this? He said, look, we are the ones doing it. But look at me now, I'm old and I'm very frail. I cannot do all this thing anymore. I said, Baba, fish are in there and one more, one more. You didn't give this to the children. He said they know about it. But they also want to be in the bank. They don't want to be. Not necessarily. So now that he said that, I just looked at us like, and that's where we're different. The Ganyans, they send their children to school.  So you see, one of them will tell, ah, Oga, we need a lot of people though, they're going to work for us. Who and who is coming?  They're very good with this craft and everything. If you give me a go ahead, madam, I'll tell them to come. So you don't start wondering.  When did they have to learn? Because that is what they sleep. They wake up too. So they eventually have to know what the craft and what everything is. But at our own end, we're not, you know, passing any... You're not on the kind of home. So that's what is really, really disturbing. Then two, it is very stressful. Now you ask me, ah, do you want any of your daughters or anybody to take this thing off from you? One part of me says, no. Please let them go and have a life. And then the other part says, ah, for the sake of culture, you can't just end it here, let something go on. So we leave it to, all right, then if they have a passion for it. But you know, you can actually instill that passion in them. You can tell them what to do. You can help them build a passion around what you have so that the thing does not just die. So that's just the thing. You know, because now listening to you and the story about the Ghanians, what if our people were a lot more deliberate? Maybe we say that right from secondary school, this should be part of a, like the way you go and learn home economics, you learn technical drawing. Why can't we add that to the curriculum? That would be really nice. Introduce the children. And guess what? Some of them will fall in love with it.  Right? It's time to make them bid. At the rare making is part of their, I think they have a general cost now that they do that you have to, you have to learn how to tie and die.  You have to learn either tie and die, or you do agriculture, or do catering, practicals or something. Then there are the stitches one, where you sew different kinds of stitches.  I remember her coming home to say, I need to buy this, this, and in my mind I was like, what do you need these things for? She said, oh, she learns this and all. And then, you know, with this new age, you can go on YouTube to learn. Anything.  When she started doing it, before we knew what was going on, she had turned, you know, a T-shirt at the rare thing into a business. And I looked and she would tell us all, when we call her in school, okay, we're coming for open day. What do you want me to bring? Do you guys need money? She said, mommy, don't worry, oh, we don't need money. I still have money. Then I'll be like, come, where'd you get the money from? Oh, no, I sold 40 of those shirts and. Wow. So the next time she was going to come home, I sat her down, I was like, come, this is where it starts for me. Let's try it. But you know, that is you channelling a passion towards that craft for that child. So I think it's also about institutionality, like you have said, because what you just mentioned, yes, I did tie and die in school too, right? That's the end of it. Well, it didn't become a business for me. So this thing's happened, I think it's a secondary school, not about GS3 or so. There's the fine arts, they break you into parts and you choose the one that works for you. Some people actually became K-Trans from that class, right? So it's also internationality on the part of the parents and how we talk to our children and what we tell them making money is on the boat, right? I like when you spoke about the amount they are being paid. Are we giving them the right to find you? Because at the end of the day, yes, you've mentioned a particular brand now, we know how much it costs to be able to be adorned by that brand when it's time for your engagement and all that. But then if you, I mean, I don't know what's happening there, right? But if you then check the value system and check those that are really at the core of this business, right? Are they really getting the value for their money?  I'll probably go there. Like you said, it's also stressful. So I think intentionality on our part and the government also needs to step in. Because it's not something we can do now. Sorry, I'm cutting in on that one. For the government coming in and all, if we just have our basics. Light. Basics, lights and if we have those ones, I'm sure productivity will be on the top.  Everything is just, you know, left, right and center. You wonder, look, you guys are not giving me anything. I'm trying to push my way through and then you're still coming again. You want to... You know, I like where we are going with this conversation but I cannot live here without trying to understand how we can sustain this ecosystem. Because now you made some, you made mention of something about that, Baba. It struck me instructively. A lot of people have died and they could not move those crafts again because the next generation did not pick it up. So what are we doing intentionally now? Should we say that, can we start creating the YouTube videos if they don't exist? It's not even just about this craft. I remember when I went to the same issue, that's where we have the... Yes, that's where everything is going. They, what's it called? The isolated lake on Iraq, right? Yes. That's the same place. The man who was taking us through and explaining the history and all, he was very frail and he was saying that he was also worried that once he died, there's nobody that understands everything he has been through. There's no transfer of knowledge. So, I mean, this is why I say that... It's because we are weighing our label of things that are changing, actually. So this is why I say that the ecosystem has to be built. You know why? Because if we are very intentional about building that ecosystem, it means that everybody knows that your work is dependent on my work, your own is dependent. So everybody at every point in time is making sure that things, yes, things are flowing, information that needs to be passed is being passed down and all of that.  Yes, it was a viable business. Why did it not move beyond? And this is why they say that companies in Nigeria don't go up to a hundred years, right? With the principle of the business decides to say, I'm retiring, or maybe it's demise or something. That's the end of that business. So, and I'm seeing this happening, especially with our local content when it comes to the fashion industry. So if you wanted to even, maybe like in a minute or two, like give a kind of idea what sustainability would look like if we wanted to build this ecosystem. What would you suggest? Well, just like you said, we'll implement in schools. Let's start with that one. Probably we'll make it one of the core craft subjects for students in school. And then for businesses that are established, let's start taking in intents. Pass that knowledge on to somebody else. Let people, you know, learn something. Let them take something off you. Ashok is very vast. It doesn't just start and stop at weaving. And you see some people, okay fine, your interest might be in weaving. What mine is in designing. It takes, I mean, it takes a lot to sit down and take up somebody's Ashwebi and then decide, okay, I need to craft at something for this one. You're not just going to look at it and say, this is what fits this or this will suit this. It takes a lot of thinking. Or why would I not want to put stripes on this one? Or I think a plane will work on this and this shouldn't work on this. So if that's the part that you like to do, then focus on it. You know that way, the market starts getting broader. So it starts getting bigger because we now have departments. We have these guys. Do we have people that can come to you to train and do all of this? Oh yes, we do that. A lot of people have come. Some people have gone and they're doing well by themselves. They're running their businesses. So how long do they take to train? Because let's say I don't, they look saying that this is how I do now. No, fine. Now it depends on what you're coming to learn.  By the time I was leaving, and I told him, okay, now that you're going, what are you going to do? At first it was like, I don't know. I said, I said, you don't know. Go and think about it and then come back. Okay, so now that I don't know answer was based on, ma, you are big now. How do I want to start? Is it the strip I want to put out and people will believe that I'm doing something? And again, you know, that's why I said appreciation. People come into the store, if you don't have enough display or you don't have enough pictures that you can throw around, they don't believe you can do it. We need to start believing, you know, although it is very dangerous because you see some people. People are big, people are big ones. Yeah, I think what you can do to help them is also to act like a, what do they call them? Godmother. The way we have Godfather. That's like what your mother in law did. Yes, just like Godmother. Oh yes, so when they come. Exactly. You know, fine. With that one too, there's restriction. I'll tell you. That's why I say, you know, from the mind, one loyalty to the passion. If I have a passion for your kind of business, and I know that, yes, I'm learning from this person, I don't intend to or pray that I stop your business so that I can grow. If you're coming in, yes, with that kind of intention, you don't expect me to be free, like my mother in law was free with me.  Oh, thank you. Thank you. I'm sure. You know, because of angles, there's a lot of angles to it. You wouldn't expect that I'll be open or very free with you, like the way she did with me. I knew, you know, I understood what the world is. She knew that the business was going to be within the family, so she gave it everything. Yes, she gave it to me. She gave it to me on the page of both. But guess what? If we want to sustain with it. We would have to do that. It must be ready to be out. But let's take comments. Let's take a quick one. We run out of time. Okay, so you must take that risk. Good evening, my dear beautiful sisters. Your guest mentioned of accepting what we have and building on it. This business is very lucrative and vital because people who are fashion conscious will want to be current and know what's in vogue. There's a major challenge in the fashion industry when you talk about unavailability of power to run a fashion shop. This alone slows down business and creates problems. My name is Daniel Illo. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you, Daniel.  I would just want to implore the government, right? Just like the way you're opening media cities, right? Open fashion cities. You know why I say so? If we have like a government employing tailors, employing weavers, employing these, employing that. Guess what? You're creating a beautiful ecosystem for the fashion industry. So I don't have to go and open my own shop. I just have my design. I come to the place and create and go and sell. I suppose just having people working in silos, right? But thank you so much. We ran out of time. We had a fantastic conversation. Thank you, Manny. Thank you, Uti. Thank you, Mabola. You're welcome. Else in my darling. Before we go, I show you follows. I mean, we can meet on followers on Instagram, and we show everywhere TikTok, everywhere followers. More importantly, follow the engagements and interactions online. Remember to like and share. Invite your families and friends to watch and follow the conversation. Now, if you missed our code, here it is again. Demand quality, not just in products you buy, but in the life of the persons who made it, right? Very, very important. We'll see you guys live on Monday at 8 p.m. We'll bring another great conversation to your screen. Enjoy.


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