Amen. All right. Got my little figurines here. All right. Amen. Thank you guys for coming
out this morning. And I would like to, first of all, thank our pastor, of course, for this
wonderful conference that we've been able to have. And I'd also like to thank all the
pastors who came out and preached to us this week. And I'd like to thank everybody who
helped out with the decorations, of course, just like Brother Segura just mentioned. And
this morning, I'm going to be preaching about a mission trip that we recently took about
a month ago to the African country of Nigeria. And I would like to thank everybody who was
involved with that. Of course, on our trip, we had Brother Daniel Ryder on our trip, and
that was nice. We also had Brother Caleb, and we had Brother Kevin and Lola, and then
we had Mrs. Dickon as well. And it was a wonderful trip. I would also like to give
a special thanks to Lola's aunt who lives over there. And she saved, and she came out
soloing with us many times as well. Her name is Patience, and so I'd like to thank her.
And also Lola's cousin as well, Tunji, who recently moved away from Nigeria. He's in
the UK now, but we texted him multiple times on the trip just to get advice about safety
and things like that as well. And so I'd like to thank all those people. And I'd like to
start off my sermon by reading to you from a couple of news articles I found on our way
back from Nigeria. And these are news reporters such as BBC News, The Economist, Newsweek.
And I'm just going to read some of these headlines. In 2017, there was an article written that
said Lagos, Nigeria is the world's second worst city to live in. Okay. That's what one
of them said. Another one said, Lagos ranks amongst worst cities to live in for nine years
straight. Okay. There was another one. And then another one said, Lagos is among the
10 worst cities to live in globally. And then in 2023, just this year, it says, Lagos ranks
as fourth worst city to live in in the world. So it kind of moved up there a little bit.
So it's getting a little better, I guess. But, you know, I read this in the airport
on our way back. And, you know, whenever I read these, you know, honestly, it made me
very upset. It made me angry to read it just because of the fact that we had just gone
there. And let me tell you, you know, it's actually a very nice place, you know, and
I could think of a lot worse places out there that I would, you know, that Lagos is a lot
better than. And so here's the thing about it, you know, is that it's very nice there.
And, you know, I think that there are a lot of misconceptions out there, you know, about
Africa in general, but also Nigeria as well. And I just thought to myself, like, who's
ranking this? I mean, is this just some dude at a desk somewhere, you know, just looking
at numbers or whatever? I mean, we actually went there, okay. And we saw that, yeah, you
know, I don't think it deserves this title as second worst city in the world to live
in, not by a long shot. But, you know, I kind of understand, you know, because here's the
thing is that even I myself used to kind of have a similar mindset as well. And I'll tell
this story. About three years ago now, me and Lola were having a conversation. And basically
she was just talking about how, you know, I'm always praying that, you know, God will
send some, you know, man of God to Lagos to start a church and all that stuff because
that's where she's from originally. And I just thought to myself later on, just totally,
you know, theoretical or whatever, I just thought to myself, like, would I ever be willing
to move to Africa? No freaking way, dude. Are you kidding me? I know what goes on there.
There's no way I would ever take my family to Africa. Are you kidding me? I know about
all the constant warfare and the poverty and all that stuff. Look, I'm just being honest.
That's how I felt, okay. I'm not lying here. But, you know, now that I've actually been
there, okay, I see that I actually had a lot of misconceptions about it, specifically about
Lagos. And if I had to guess, I think a lot of other people have a lot of misconceptions
as well. And so, you know, in this sermon, I aim to fix, you know, fix that and kind
of set the record straight. And so the title of my sermon this morning is misconceptions
about Lagos, Nigeria. Okay. And that's the title of my sermon. And just a disclaimer,
you know, not in this sermon, I'm not necessarily vouching for all of Africa, because I do know
that there are some rough places out there, of course. And I'm not even necessarily talking
about all of Nigeria. I'm just I'm only talking about where we went, which is the city of
Lagos. Okay. And I'm going to talk about various misconceptions, you know, that I had,
that our group had, that maybe people in general have. I'm even going to talk about some misconceptions
that we ran into while we were there that even just regular Nigerians or unsafe people
had. And so a variety of different subjects. Hopefully we can learn from some of them.
I've got ten misconceptions I'm going to go over this morning. And so and here's the last
thing I'll say about that is that we just went last month, okay, and we spent two weeks
there. And those were some of the best two weeks of my entire life. I loved it there.
And and this is funny. Everybody was making fun of me, okay, on the trip, because 50 times
a day, I just kept saying like, I'm so happy. I'm just so happy to be here. We're just squished
in the back of the taxi. I'm so happy. Or we just got scammed. And then other people
are mad. And I'm just like, I'm so happy. I'm so happy to be here. But, you know, I
was just saying how I felt because I was happy to be there. And so the first misconception
I'd like to talk about is kind of what I've already mentioned is that it's not a good
place to live or to visit. Okay. This is a misconception that's out there. But but specifically
in Lagos, it's actually very nice. And maybe you've never even heard of Lagos. Let me tell
you, it's not this like tiny, you know, backwards mud hut village in the middle of the jungle.
Like maybe some people might think. Now we did go to a tiny mud hut village in the middle
of the jungle while we were there. But Lagos is not like that. Okay. Lagos is the largest
city in Nigeria. But not only is it the largest city in Nigeria, it's also the largest city
in all of Africa. Okay. And not only is it the largest city in all of Africa, it is the
largest English speaking city in the entire world. It's pushing 30 million people right
now. And so just for a size comparison, Manila, Philippines is 26 million. So it's quite a
bit larger than that. And New York City is 24 million. Okay. So in order to get the same
population size as Lagos, you'd have to put New York City together with Phoenix, Arizona,
and even add in their Tucson, Arizona. And then that you you'd have the same population
as as Lagos. So it's huge. Okay. And also just saying this, too, the largest city in
the world is commonly agreed upon to be Tokyo, Japan. And right now it's at 37 million people
there. And Lagos is growing at about a rate of 3.5% per year. So if you do the math, I
mean, if it keeps going within the next 10 years, it will be the largest city in the
entire world. So this is not a small place that we're talking about here. You know, it
is a massive city and it has so much potential as well. I love what Daniel said on the trip.
He's just like, there's just unlimited soul winning that we could do here. There's just
unlimited opportunities to help people here. And so, you know, it's and it's a great place
there, you know, and just a couple of just, you know, random things about it is that the
weather was great. The traffic wasn't bad. Like maybe you would think it's actually very
modern there. You know, they have things like Domino's, Burger King, KFC. I mean, we were
eating good. Okay. And and I know that whenever a pastor hears this, he's going to have a
heart attack. But, you know, no, no, I'm just I'm just illustrating that like it was a very
modern city. You know, we were Ubering everywhere. They had their version of DoorDash. You know,
they had, you know, big high rise apartment buildings, all kinds of stuff. And so it was I
mean, they had Krispy Kreme doughnut. They had Cold Stone Creamery everywhere and all kinds of
stuff like that. So it's very modern, very nice in a lot of respects at Western style hospitals.
They had a metro train system that just opened up last year. And our hotel was super nice, very
clean AC, you know, very nice. And I heard this saying a long time ago, and I think it really
applies here. But Lagos is kind of stumbling into the 21st century, if you think about it, because
like they're modernizing and they're modernizing quickly. But then you have, you know, the very
modern stuff kind of juxtaposed to, you know, the slummy areas and things like that as well. But
overall, it was a very it was a very nice place. And the majority of people there are living
pretty decently. I would say that most people there are middle class. Okay. And but, you know,
to illustrate how Lagos was very, very nice. I also want to highlight
a couple of villages that we went to that weren't as nice. And so we'll talk about that now.
We we went on Saturday and Sunday while we were there on Saturday. Okay. We went to the little
mud hut jungle village I just mentioned a minute ago. It's exactly what you would think of whenever
you think of Africa. You know, we had to go two hours outside of the city and then it had the
iconic dirt road, dirt, mud road and just a big jungle around and everything. It was really cool.
We had to ride motorcycles for the past and for the last four miles to get there. And so we got
there and it was a very small village. I would say about 15 huts were there and everybody was
so happy to see us. Everyone was very excited that we were there. And some people spoke English,
but most people spoke Lola's language. So Lola and her aunt were really doing most of the preaching
there, but they were very welcoming. They were welcoming us into their homes and it was just a
very nice experience. We got several people saved while we were there. And that village was called
the Balagoon Ikana village. And so it was very, very nice. We went to there and we went to the
neighboring village as well. And one story that was kind of funny is that Lola's aunt, she's,
she, she preaches as well. She preaches the gospel and she was in this guy's living room,
this big living room. And on this side of the living room were all the Christian guys.
And then on this side of the room was all the Muslim guys of the village. And then she would
say something like, Jesus is the son of God. And all the Christian guys would be like, yeah.
And all the Muslim guys would be like, no. And then they would all just be arguing and stuff.
It was kind of funny. It was a, it was a funny experience. Okay. And so that was, that, and that
was a great experience. I'm glad that we went there. And then the next day on Sunday, okay,
we went to a very different type of village. The next day we went to the Makoko floating village.
Okay. Now this village is the exact opposite from the jungle village in a lot of different ways.
First of all, you know, the, the, the one village was in the jungle. This village,
it's right on the water. It's right on the ocean. They're literally building their houses on stilts
up above the water and everything. That's the first thing. This one's a fishing village. The
other one, yeah, it was in the jungle. The other, the, the one in the jungle had maybe 15 families
that lived there. The Makoko village has 300,000 people that live there. So, you know, you think
of village and you think something small, but really it's huge. It is a huge place. It's part
of the Metro Lagos area there. And so we went there and the, the, the village in the jungle
was very, very clean and the Makoko village, it was very, very dirty, unfortunately. Their water
there basically, you know, the whole city, the people were telling us that the whole city of
Lagos basically just dumps all their sewage there in their water and stuff. It's really, really bad.
You know, their water's jet black. And we posted some pictures to Facebook and I like what Mrs.
Coleto said on one of our posts that no human should ever have to live this way. And I agree,
you know, that was a very rough area. And in fact, we were asking people and a lot of people said
that Makoko is the worst slum in all of Nigeria. So I feel like we kind of saw the worst side of
that Nigeria has to offer. And it is also the largest settlement of people on the water in
history. Okay. It's called the Venice of Africa. And so we had to get around on all these little
boats and everything. And we were going there for two reasons. Okay. The first reason is I watched
a lot of YouTube videos about it and it looked really cool. So I wanted to go check it out.
Okay. But then the second reason is because Lola spent hundreds of hours compiling this huge list
of all of the IFB churches that are in Nigeria. And the only one in the Lagos metropolitan area
was in Makoko. So we went there to go visit the Makoko Independent Baptist Church. So we got there
a little late, you know, we had some issues with the boats and everything, but we finally got there
and they were so nice to us. Okay. They were very, very nice. And I'm glad that that church is there.
It's kind of like what Pastor Menes was saying yesterday. It's like the righteous remnant that's
there, you know, and they were very friendly to us. It's a very small church. I would say about
20 people are there. We've got to meet Pastor Adolph Bondi and his wife was there. Also some
of his church members is the chief, the chief of the entire village of 300,000 people. The chief
and his family goes there as well. He's got I think 11 sons and they all go there and everything.
And they were very nice to us as well. And also there was another white guy there. And this guy
was a missionary from Kansas. Okay. Now here's the craziest thing about this village and about
all the people I just mentioned is that if I can use this word, they're all kind of famous
a little bit if you think about it. Because if you type in the word Legos on YouTube or whatever,
like basically all the videos are just going to be about the Makoko Village. Okay. This is a very
famous village. I'm sure a lot of people in here have already heard about this village. But, you
know, one video that I watched had 10 million views and it had, you know, the chief and his
sons in there. And then another video I watched with 33 million views by the best ever food review
show guy, it had Pastor Bondi and his wife and a whole church service there in the B roll and
everything. So it's like I was recognized all these people. And one of the chief sons, I'm like,
are you the guy from the YouTube video? And he's like, yes, I am. And I said, since that video came
out, has anything changed here in your village? And he says, yeah, yes, absolutely. Every single
day now we get visitors coming to visit our village and we have a lot of money coming in now
and we were able to build our orphanage and all that good stuff. So I thought that was really,
really cool. And even the white missionary guy from Kansas, even he was kind of a little bit
famous as well. The next day, Daniel found an article about this guy. And so we read it. His
name is Jack Kyle. He's a biologist from Kansas. He's a biology teacher. And he went there to kind
of purify their water and help them out there, which was really cool. He was a Baptist as well,
of course. And we didn't check his salvation, but the chief and all of his sons, they were saved. So
we did check them. But anyway, it was kind of cool to read his story. So he's there for three
months and he's kind of purifying their water. But one thing that made us very angry about this guy
is that we read this article and he was talking about how he went swimming in their water.
And we were just like, what kind of a biologist are you? I mean, you of all people should know
not to be swimming in their water. And then he said something about like, oh, I just want to
you know, put myself in their shoes to help them. It's like, no. All right. You just don't go
swimming in that water. We saw a bunch of kids swimming in the water. And what we heard, what
people told us was that these kids, you know, they'll never get sick because their immune
systems are just like really good. So they'll never get sick. But whenever they finally do
get sick, it's like really bad. It's like life threatening or whatever. So they'll never get like
the cold or the flu or anything. But anyway, so yeah, it's just it's a crazy place. And yeah,
even in the article, he's like, I jumped in the water and I swim in it and I got typhoid.
It's like, yeah, of course. You know, and then he's like, I recovered from that,
but I still have this infection on my foot from it. And I'm just like, oh, my goodness.
And so anyway, it was just it was just kind of funny. But, you know, it is sad to see that
those people that are living there are living in such bad conditions, you know, and even Pastor
Bondi, the pastor of the church, he had to move after living there for six years. He had to move
because he just kept getting typhoid, malaria, typhoid, malaria, typhoid, malaria over and
over again because it's just so bad. And finally, what what broke the camel's back basically
is like one day he started coughing up blood and stuff because it's a fishing village where
there's constantly smoking fish. And so he's breathing all that in. And so he had to move
very far away and he comes in for church on Sundays. And so, you know, it's very sad and
everything. But I'm highlighting these two villages to show you that there are very poor
areas there. Don't get me wrong. But I think that these places and especially Makoko, you know,
are exceptions to the rule. Most people that we met and met there in Lagos are living pretty
normal lives. And, you know, we had to kind of travel outside the city a little bit for these
experiences. And so one of our biggest misconceptions, I think, before we went there
or that a lot of people might have is that, you know, they might be scrolling through YouTube and
see the Makoko village and think, oh, everybody lives like this. But, you know, it's a very it's
a very small percentage of the of the total population. And so, you know, that was a
misconception that we that we've got rid of there. So.
Misconception number two that we'll go over this morning is that Nigerians are very unreceptive.
OK, that was a that was a misconception. I guess that was out there. I mean, I never had this
misconception, but somebody here at church that I won't name, but now said said that she was
surprised that we even got one person saved there for the entire trip, just because and her
reasoning was because, you know, it's very Pentecostal there. So, you know, we would be
getting into lots of arguments and things like that. And while we did get into a few arguments,
it wasn't it wasn't that bad. You know, most people there were very, very receptive. And
and, you know, second of all, you know, even if they weren't receptive, OK,
we still got to reach those people. And so you're there in Ezekiel chapter two,
look down, if you would, at verse number five. And it says this a very famous verse.
And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are a rebellious house,
yet shall know that there have been a prophet among them. And so even if Nigeria was that
rebellious house, you know what? This trip still would have been a success. You know,
we still would have been able to preach the word of God. And that is what the Bible says, right?
Going into all the world, preach the gospel to every single creature. And so,
you know, we still must go preach them. But you know what? Praise the Lord. It didn't turn out
to be like this. It was literally, I think, the most receptive place I've ever visited before. So
I loved it. And, you know, they had great English there as well. You know, just like Pastor Shelley
was talking about the other day, you know, that is a big deal whenever you go to these other
countries is to make sure that they have a high level of English. And so they had great English,
great comprehension. They got saved so fast. I mean, you were just getting people saved left
and right. It was crazy. They already knew so much of the gospel. You just had to correct them
on a few things. And boom, they were getting saved. And I got the most people saved in one
day that I ever have in my entire life. So that was really cool as well. And another cool thing
about this as well that Daniel mentioned on Thursday is that whenever you go to a super
receptive place like this, you get a lot of practice preaching the gospel as well. Because
right here at home, you know, I go sowing, you know, basically every single day with the church
or whatever. And let me tell you something, even so, my gospel presentation gets pretty rusty
because, yeah, you know, it's not that receptive here where we've been going to Mesa and everything.
But, you know, there you get tons of practice. And yeah, it was great. And not only, okay,
were the people there so receptive to the gospel, they were also extremely receptive to serving the
Lord even after salvation. You know, so many people after we would get them saved, they'd be
like, please teach me how to evangelize. Like, like you're doing, I want to show other people
how to go to heaven. Multiple people were telling us that other people were literally begging us
for a church, like, oh, please start a church here. We really want to go to church and all
this different stuff. And then this was cool. So one time Daniel was taking a break from soul
winning and he was playing basketball with these guys because he's so carnal and everything. No,
I'm just saying, but no, he was playing basketball with these guys. And then this teenager, he kind
of, I think he even like ran up to us. He ran up. He's like, please, please, I'm looking for a
spiritual mentor. Please be my spiritual mentor. I want to learn the word of God. And Daniel's like,
I'll be your mentor for the next 10 minutes. Let's go. Come on. And so, yeah, a kid got saved
and everything. I just thought that was great. He was just like, please. He was like desperate. And
it's wonderful. It's wonderful going to these countries and everything. And, and so I think
that we really destroyed this misconception that they were going to be unreceptive. You know,
with six soul winners for two weeks, we got 362 people saved. So it was wonderful. It was very,
very receptive. And so we, we put that to bed. And so turn, if you would, to Numbers 11.
Numbers chapter 11. And while you're turning there, I have another soul winning story that's
completely unrelated to anything else I'll talk about, but it's kind of funny. Daniel really
wanted me to bring this up, but me and him were soul winning together. And he was talking to this
older man and then he was in the middle of the gospel. And then this guy just totally cut him
off. He's just like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. I got a question. Okay.
So one time there was a woman and she was slowly poisoning her husband and his food
for the, for many, many years. And then he died. Is that good? And Daniel's, and Daniel's just like,
no, no, that's not good. It's anyway, you know, so I just, he thought that was funny. I thought
that was funny too. So I just wanted to bring that up. It has nothing to do with the rest of the
story. It was just funny. Anyway, misconception number three. Now this one's a big one.
Is that Muslims don't get saved. Okay. This is a misconception that's out there. Now in Nigeria,
it's about 50% Christian, 50% Muslim. Okay. So they got a lot of Muslims there. And of course
the Christians got saved so fast. I mean, it was just so easy to get them safe, but what about the
Muslims? You know, there's this viewpoint out there that Muslims just don't get saved. You just
can't get them saved. Okay. And a long time ago, you know, before I was saved, I was going to the
Southern Baptist church where none of them were saved either. And I was at this Wednesday night
Bible study. Okay. Where basically this, the guy who was teaching the class, he was talking about
this and he was talking about Muslims. He was just like, we just need to drop all these nukes
in the middle East and just kill them all and all this stuff. And then somebody in the class,
another teenager in the class asked a great question. I wish I could take credit for asking
this question, but she was like, well, shouldn't we be preaching to them the gospel? Like,
shouldn't we try to get them saved and stuff? And then the guy was like, well, no, no. Cause
they're not going to get saved anyway, whatever, you know, that sort of thing. And then another
kid in the class told this really bad, bad, bad joke, a super wicked joke. It was really,
really bad. But basically he said like, well, what we need to do is write on our troops,
bullets, Jesus, and then tell them to aim for their hearts so they can die with Jesus in their
heart or whatever. And that's super wicked. It's evil. But you know, and, and, but that is a very
mainstream viewpoint that's out there. It's just like kill them all and let God sort them out
because they're not going to get saved, you know, but you know what, even in Nigeria, even the
Muslims were receptive. We were getting Muslim saved there. It was great. Yeah. We got several
Muslims saved while we were there. One thing I think that really helped with that is that they
have a lot of Christian influence, you know, all the Muslims there know John three 16 and all that
stuff. So that was really great. But, you know, Daniel and I, we had the exact same experience
on different days of the week. And I'll tell, and I'll tell kind of what happened. You know,
I was preaching to this one lady at this at the college and she wanted to hear the gospel,
but she said, well, there's only one problem. I'm a Muslim. I said, that's fine. You know,
I can still preach you and everything. And so I preached her the gospel. We got to the end.
I'm like, okay, so in order to be saved, you must reject Islam. She's like, okay. And I'm like,
I'm like, yeah. Right. Like, excuse me. Like you do understand what you're saying, right?
You ha I'm saying that you have to reject Islam and the Quran and Muhammad. And she's like,
yeah, no problem. And I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait. If you do this, you will not be a Muslim
anymore. You will be a Christian now. She's like, I said, yes. And I'm like, okay, let's go.
All right. And so it was funny because Daniel had literally the exact same experience where
he was just like, really? And the guy was like, yeah. And that was his very first salvation for
the trip as well. So that was really cool. Also, Caleb got it. Caleb got a nine year old Muslim kid
saved as well. And then even there, there was this one guy too, who was in the long robes. Okay. The
long like Muslim robes and everything. We were mainly trying to avoid those guys, but anyway,
there was one of them. I just looked at him and I'm just like, he's receptive. I need to talk to
him. And anybody who goes soloing for a while knows like, you can just like, you can just look
at somebody's face and be like, this guy, if I preach him the gospel, I think he's going to get
saved or whatever. Anyway. So anyway, I just, I preached to him even though he was wearing all
the Muslim robes and everything. And he was very receptive. He got it. And he was at the end and
he was like wanting to pray with me and everything. And it was just like, and I was just like, okay,
but you know, you do realize that you're not adding, adding this to Islam. You know, you,
you have to stop being a Muslim and become a Christian. And he's like, oh no, I don't think
I can do that. You know, that's going to be a problem. And I, and I said, why is it because
of your family? And he's like, yeah, my whole family is Muslim and they'd be mad if I, if I
converted. I'm like, well, listen, you know, I, I love you. I care about you. I want you to go
to heaven, you know? And he's like, well, I got to think about it and everything. So I really wanted
him to get saved. He almost got it, but, you know but yeah, I mean, that, that guy was the,
that guy was great. I really hope that he gets saved in the future. I really hope that he makes
that decision. Just like pastor Robinson was talking about yesterday, you know, usually
it's very, very hard to, you know, change a Muslim's mind about the Trinity and things like
that. But you know, even, but not here, you know, here, you know, everybody was saying,
even all the Muslims were saying like, Jesus died to pay for my sins and Jesus, the son of God and
stuff like that. It was really cool. And so, yeah, we were getting tons of Muslims saved.
And then we were kind of not talking so much to the people who were just in the full on Muslim
robes and the ladies with the head coverings and everything. We were trying to kind of stay away
from them, but you know, I think that if we went back and we just like literally only targeted the
Muslims that were wearing all that stuff, we would still get tons of people saved because those
people were just very receptive. I'm so thankful that it's different here than like in, in brother
Segura's sermon, he was talking about, you know, the UAE and Pakistan, where you got to be very
careful about who you talk to here. You can talk to any of those Muslims and yeah, it was totally
fine. So it was great. So, so yeah, we did get Muslim savior. Now, misconception number four.
Okay. Is that got bad food. Okay. Now this is a misconception out that's out there. In fact,
a great man once said, he said, Africa is not known as an international culinary destination.
And if you can't guess who that was, that was pastor. Pastor said that our pastor said that.
Okay. And, and look, you know, I get it. You know, you don't think about Africa and you think good
food. That's not what comes to your mind. And in fact, whenever we got back from Nigeria,
pastor's first question that he asked me, he was like, Raymond, how was the food?
And I'm like, Oh, pastor, it was so good. Oh man. And he, and he's like, Oh no, Raymond,
if you think it's good, it must've been awful. That's what he told me.
Cause pastor does not agree with my food choices, but, but Hey, look, the food, I'm not lying. The
food was great. Okay. And look, even if, okay, even if the food wasn't good, then you know what?
I wouldn't be up here complaining about it. You're the, I don't know if I told you to turn to
numbers 11, but if you didn't, then that's okay too. But in verse one, it says this. And when the
people complained, it displeased the Lord. And if you know this rest of the chapter, you know,
you know that they, that at the end, you know, they're eating quail and then a bunch of them die
and then God just makes the plague happen and everything. And then it's turned to worms in
their mouth and all that craziness because God doesn't like it whenever you complain about your
food. Okay. And I mean, the other night, whenever Daniel was up here talking, I mean, did you hear
him complaining about eating rat? No, he wasn't complaining at all. And let me tell you, then the
rat in Nagaland is way worse than the rat in Nigeria. Let me tell you, no, I'm just joking.
Daniel never ate rat and there's no rat on the menu in Nigeria and there's no dog on the menu
either. Okay. Although I will say this, Caleb and Mrs. Dickon, they were eating some funky goat.
Let me tell you every single night for dinner, they were, they were ordering this goat that was
making all the rest of us gag while we're eating our food and stuff like that. But I guess it was
good. I don't know. I didn't try that one, but out of the food that I tried, I really liked some of
it. So there was this one food that was really good. It was called a boley and it was a grilled
plantain that was served with the sweet and spicy sauce that has onions and peppers in it. Oh man,
that was good. And there's this other one. I have no idea why this isn't in America, why this isn't
more popular, but it was a turkey wing. Okay. And it looked just like a chicken wing, like a buffalo
chicken wing or whatever that you get at Wingstop, but it was like four times larger and it was four
times as good too. It was so good. Oh my goodness. Whoever brings that to America is going to make a
fortune off of that. Cause that was awesome. And then we were eating it with coconut rice and then
we also had the Nigerian donut, which was a puff puff. And and then my favorite thing that I had
there was an egg roll. Okay. And it's not like a Chinese egg roll, not nice. So get that out of
your mind. It's not like that at all. Basically what it was was it was a hard bold egg that they
dipped in this really thick and sweet pancake batter. And then they deep fried it and it was
crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. And it had the egg in the middle, man, it was good.
Okay. And, and you might be thinking like, Raymond, why are you talking about all this food?
I'm hungry. Okay. I'm so hungry right now. No, I'm just joking. No, it's like, it's like
pastor Jimenez said, you know, Baptists love to eat. Amen. So, you know, and, and pastor
Thompson mentions this other day too. Food is a big part of these trips. You know, it's, it's,
we're fellowshipping while we're eating and it just really adds to the experience. You know,
I love trying the foods of the places I go, you know, I mean, that's a big part of it and I love
it. Even the rat. So I would even eat that. So anyway, turn if you would to Proverbs 21,
Proverbs chapter 21.
Now my fifth misconception, this was probably the biggest shocker for me personally, was
misconception number five is that Lagos is very, very unsafe. Okay. And I was for sure thinking
that was going to be very unsafe. And that was our biggest personal misconception that we had there.
And in fact, this verse was really on our minds. Whenever we were preparing for this trip, you're
there in Proverbs 21, look down. If you would have verse number 31, where the Bible says,
the horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. Okay. And so we had
all kinds of, you know, safety measures that we were kind of planning and trying to do. You know,
we were going to have dummy phones, a dummy wallet in case we get mugged, we can just hand them,
you know, stuff that, that we don't care about. We have pepper spray with us, all that stuff.
But you know what? It actually turned out in the end, that was very safe there, honestly.
And that's not to take away from the Lord. Of course, you know, God definitely kept us safe
because things can happen no matter where you're at. But you know, on top of that,
it was also just kind of a pretty safe place as well, which was really, really cool. You know,
not really what we were expecting. It was one of the safest feeling places I've ever been to
actually. And turn, if you would, to Psalm 34, please, Psalm 34. And even, I'll say this too,
even Mrs. Dickin over here, you know, she, she even brought her little baby Lucas and guess what?
We had no problems. You know, there was, she brought her baby and, you know, here's the thing
about it is that, you know, I would have no issue bringing my family there or whatever to visit
because yeah, it was, it was actually very, very nice. And then also too, on top of that,
there's also this phenomenon that we've seen all around the world. Okay. Where basically, you know,
if you're there and you're preaching the gospel and you got a Bible in your hand and you're dressed
nice and everything, then most, pretty much all the time, people are just going to leave you
alone. You know what I mean? And, and even, yeah. And, and even like Pastor Thompson said the other
day, they went to a white Swan and then those gangster guys in the car, they left them alone
once they realized that they were there just preaching the gospel, you know? And so the same
thing was true with us. Nobody's really going to mess with you whenever you have the word,
the word of God with you. And I'm not saying to necessarily try that, you know, just, just go
into these crazy places just because you can, but you know, you got to do what you got to do.
And then you're there in Psalm 34, look down if you would at verse number seven, I think that
this really illustrates of, well, it says the angel of the Lord and campeth round about them
that fear him and deliver them. Okay. And so on this trip, we really had God protecting us,
you know, because it could have gone badly at several different places. And in fact, we did
have, you know, kind of a sketchy moment there and I'll, and I'll tell the story about this.
This is really funny, but basically what happened was, okay, this was our second full day being
there. Okay. And Caleb had just landed the day before and the airline lost Kayla's bag. Okay.
So he had to go, so he had to go back to the airport. So him and Daniel went back to the
airport the second day that we were there, they got the bag and then they hopped in,
in a taxi and then they started heading out. And right before they left the, the little
airport complex area, you know, the taxi driver was really confused about where he was going.
So he pulled over to check his GPS. So he pulls over, he's checking his GPS,
Daniel's checking his GPS, Caleb's, you know, trying to help out as well. And so they didn't
notice whenever a split second after he pulled over another truck pulled in right in front of
them. Okay. And then four guys jumped out of this truck. And so they didn't notice what was going
on. And so one of the guys went over to the driver's side door and then he reached in,
he grabbed the keys and he starts yelling at the guy and then the, and then the driver is so
shocked. And so he's like biting them and stuff like that. And then Caleb looks up and he's
shocked as well. And he's like, whoa, what's going on? And then he looks out his window and on the
passenger side, this other guy had a crowbar and he stuck the crowbar into the wheels of the tire.
He's like, oh crap. And then, and then Daniel looks over and he sees somebody out there. And
so Daniel's like, like trying to do the, the, the locking mechanism on the door. He's just like,
and then Caleb is like, Daniel, run! And so Daniel, and so Caleb jumps out of the car
and then he's face to face with that guy with the crowbar. And he's like, look, man, look,
we're just tourists here. Okay. We, we don't know what you got going on here.
Okay. We don't even know this guy. We're just tourists, you know, please just leave us alone.
And then Daniel jumps out of his side and Daniel's like, Caleb, what do we do?
And Caleb's like, run Daniel, run! And then they just start sprinting down the street. Okay.
And so they get really far away from the car and then, you know, they're trying to catch
their breath and everything. And Daniel's like, Caleb, you left your bag there. It's in the trunk.
And he's like, oh no, I did. Do I risk it? Do I go back? All right, I'm going to go back.
And so Caleb starts walking up real slow. He's like, look, man, look, I don't know what you
got going on here, but we're just tourists, man. We just, we're just tourists. We don't even know
this guy. I just want my bag back. My bags in the trunk, please. Can I have my bag back?
And then the guy is like, yeah, you can have your bag back. And why were you guys running anyway?
We're just airport security. This guy's, this guy's not supposed to park here. So I guess they
were trying to tow his vehicle. I don't know, but yeah, I guess that's how they do it in Nigeria.
Yeah. TSA with crowbars, I guess. I don't know. But anyway, so that was kind of sketchy. Okay.
I'm not going to lie. They were, they were scared, but you know, it turned out to be, you know,
great in the end. And Hey, that was a big misconception that we ran into there, right?
They thought they were getting carjacked. All right. So anyway, I just thought that was funny
and yeah. So, so really it turned out to be a very, very safe place in the end.
Even at the end of the trip, even Lola said that like me or Kevin or Daniel, us or Yibos,
you know, we could go walking around at nighttime, no problem and have no issue. That's what she
said. She told us at the end of the trip, cause she didn't want us to actually try it,
but that's what she said. And by the way, OYIBO means white man. That's what it means. And we
heard OYIBO like 50 times a day, like, Hey, OYIBO, OYIBO. So we heard it like all the time.
And like pastor Shelley talked about the other day, you know, whenever you're white in these
countries, you really stick out and, you know, it kind of helps cause a lot of people want to
talk to you. And in fact, Lola said this too, that her and Mrs. Dicken, whenever they were
so wanting, like next to us, like everybody wanted to come and talk to them. But as soon
as we walked away, nobody wanted to talk to them anymore. So they just went back to being
normal then. And so I guess that's our white privilege. I don't know, but.
But anyway, you know, there are places in Nigeria that are legitimately dangerous. I've heard that
up here in the North, it's, it is kind of dangerous, but we were way down here in the
South where it's all, where a lot of Christians live and everything. So it was actually very nice,
very safe. And so, you know, in the North, I've heard that they kill Christians like all the time
because of insulting Muhammad or whatever. And, and I actually actually texted Lola's cousin
Toonji and I asked him, I'm like, well, what happens if in Lagos, you know, we start, you know,
insulting Muhammad or something like that. He's like, nothing bad is going to happen to you.
It's totally fine. It's totally safe. He said that Lagos is a bastion for freedom of speech.
Okay. That's what he said. So that was really cool to have that as well.
So it was actually very, very safe. Now, misconception number six, I want to go over
is that there's nothing fun to do there. Okay.
Now we're hearing, you know, all about the Caribbean, going to the beach every day and
all kinds of crazy stuff, but you know what? There's actually kind of, you know, some fun
things to do in, in Lagos as well in Nigeria. We had a really fun recreation day.
We went to the Leckie Conservation Center. Okay. And it was very nice. It was a huge jungle area
at 75 hectares of jungle and the, and it was actually in the middle of the city,
which was really cool. And they had crocodiles there, monkeys. We saw tons of monkeys. It was
really cool. And then we saw this one monkey in the parking lot. Another one tried to steal my
phone. It was, it was, yeah, it was kind of cool. And also we did this canopy walk where we got to
walk over the trees and it's the second longest canopy walk in the world. So that was really cool
as well. And we had like the best tour guide ever. Okay. His name was Moyo. He was really
nice to us. Super cool. And in fact, he even gave me an honorary Yoruba name. Okay. So the Yoruba
are the people that live there. He gave me an honorary name. My name, I've been practicing this.
Okay. Oluwaseunfunme. That's my name. Did I get it right? Yeah. All right. Cool. So that's my name.
And it means God has done me good. And you know, I like that name. Hey, amen. God has done me good.
And so I love that. And so turn if you would to first Timothy chapter six, first Timothy
chapter six. So that was really fun that we got to go and do that. There are fun things to do there.
All right. Misconception number seven. It is, and this is not one that we had. This is actually one
that we kind of ran into a lot while we were there by unsafe people. But basically a misconception
that's really prevalent there is that Pentecostalism is the right religion. Okay. Because the majority
of people living in Lagos are Pentecostals. And we were just running into this constantly in Lagos,
Pentecostals. And you know, surprisingly, we did not get into a lot of arguments. Okay. Which was
really good. But I'm about to tell one argument that I did get into. Okay. But on our Wednesday
or Sunday night service while we were there, I preached an entire sermon called the top 10
Nigerian false prophets exposed. Okay. So I just talked about how, you know, they're super wicked
and all that stuff. And obviously, you know, we know that Pentecostalism is wrong, of course. And
we know that they think that you can lose your salvation. Okay. So that means they're not saved.
They think that you have to do works for salvation. They believe that you can speak in tongues,
which are these ecstatic utterances and all this stuff. As Pastor Robinson said last night,
you know, the Bible doesn't say speaking in tongues, it's saying speak with tongues,
meaning other languages. And so we know that that's wrong. Also, they believe in doing all
those miracles where they slap you and then you, you know, you get healed and everything. In fact,
earlier in the week, Pastor Bogart was telling me about some of these crazy Pentecostals that
he's seen where, like, he drinks water and then he spits it on the people and stuff, and then they
all fall on the ground. So here, let me demonstrate. No, I'm just joking. And then that's baptism.
Okay. He was also telling me that some of these guys, I don't know why, but some of these
Pentecostal preachers are telling their church people to go outside and eat grass. Okay. I don't
know why. They're also spraying bug spray in people's faces and then making them fall out and
stuff. It's just weird. I don't know. Anyway, super crazy stuff there. And yeah, it's very
prevalent there in Africa. But there is one thing that Pentecostals believe in that I want to focus
on and kind of talk about this is that is the prosperity gospel. Okay. And this is huge,
especially in Nigeria. All 10 of the Nigerian false prophets I talked about were all into this
prosperity gospel. They were all Pentecostals, and they all had huge mansions and lots of cars
and jets and millions and millions of dollars in their bank account and all this crazy stuff.
And so, and here's what's wrong with the prosperity gospel is that they equate the amount
of material possessions that you have and the amount of money that you have with how much God
is blessing you. Okay. And obviously in every lie, there is a little bit of truth. I think that
every time that you serve the Lord, you will get rewarded by God. But, you know, the vast majority
that is going to be in heaven. Right. And just like the Bible says, you know, Jesus said,
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth or rut does not corrupt and thieves do not
break through and steal. Okay. So these guys are laying off all those treasures on earth
because they're a bunch of false prophets. They're going to go to hell someday. And so,
you know, I preached an entire sermon against them. And, okay. And here's the thing. So that
was on Sunday that I preached a sermon. The very next day on Monday, I got into the argument that
I got into on the trip with a Pentecostal guy out. So it was kind of a funny story.
First, Lola was talking to him and Lola was so nice because what she said was whenever she
realized that this guy was a PTW, a professional time waster. Okay. She was like, she was like,
you know, that's very interesting. I think you should meet my friend, brother Raymond.
And so she brought me over there and I started talking to him and then she like darted out of
there, of course. And so I started arguing with this guy and then turns out this guy goes to one
of the pastors that I had preached against the day before, the third largest, you know, I guess the
third most successful, I guess you could say Pentecostal preacher there in Nigeria. And his
name is Pastor Chris, not brother Chris, Pastor Chris. Okay. Pastor Chris Oyakolome. Okay. And so
I'm talking to this guy and everything and it sounded like at first, okay, he was just lying
through his teeth, but it sounded like at first he was actually saved. He said, oh yeah, you don't
have to do any works and you can't lose your salvation. And I'm like, and you go to Pastor
Chris's church? Well, you know, they don't teach that. Right. And he's like, they don't. And I
said, no, I, I preached a whole sermon against this guy yesterday and just all of the wickedness
that he teaches and stuff. And then his countenance totally changed. He's just like, what did you say
about my pastor or whatever? And I'm just like, well, I was just talking about how, you know,
he talked to how he preaches that you can lose your salvation and you have to do good works to
go to heaven. And I can't remember exactly how he worded it, but I, what he said was, no, you can't
lose your salvation because once you get saved, you will never sin again. That's, that's kind of
what he was saying, which was just like, whoa. Okay. And so obviously, you know, I quoted him
the verse from first John where it says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and truth
is not in us, but he didn't really care about that. And I'm like, well, you know, that your pastor is
a sinner, right? And then he got mad. He was just like, what did my pastor do? And I, and I said,
well, didn't, cause I just did research the day before. I'm like, didn't he just get a divorce,
like a couple of years ago? And he's like, where did you hear that? He never got a divorce.
And I'm like, oh really? Where's Anita then? Where is she? Where is she, dude? I can't find her. Where
is she? And he's, and he's just like, you know, he's so mad. And I'm like, okay. Okay. Okay. Let's
say that he didn't get a divorce. He's got $10 million in his bank account. I mean, do you have
$10 million in your bank account? Why did he share with you? You know, this isn't right. He can't
have all that money. That's not good for him to do. And he's like, the Lord blesses abundantly is
what he said. And I'm like, no. Okay. No. And I took him to first Timothy six. I was just showing
him these verses. So look down, if you would, at verse number five, we'll go through these
verses as well, just like I showed him. In verse five, it says this, perverse disputings of men of
corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness from such
withdraw yourself. And I told him, I said, your pastor is destitute of the truth because he thinks
that gain is godliness. You need to withdraw yourself. And then I continued the first Timothy
six, six, look down, if you would, but godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought
nothing into this world. And it is certain we can carry nothing out and having food and Raymond,
let us be there with content. And I told him, I said, look, if your pastor only had food and
Raymond, he wouldn't be content with that. He wants all this money. And I told, and then verse
nine, it says this, but they, that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many
foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. And then it says a
verse 10 for the love of money is the root of all evil. Look, your pastor loves money. And then
it goes on to say, watch while some coveted after they have aired from the faith and pierce
themselves through with many sorrows. Okay. And then, you know, by this point, he's so,
he's so mad and everything, uh, and he just wants to argue and everything. And so I'm pretty much
done with him, but I show him one last verse. I show him verse 11, look down, if you would at
this, it says, but thou O man of God, plead these things. And he's like, yeah, you know, but, but
the Lord blesses. And, and I think it's okay for him to have money. And I'm like, no, it's not
okay. He's a pastor. It says, but thou O man of God, plead these things. He's like, yeah, but,
but, but that O man of God, plead these things, but that O man of God, plead these things. And
he's just like, and he just freaks out and he just, you know, walks away or whatever.
And so, okay. And so he, he got mad and look, okay. I'm not advocating to argue with people.
I don't think it's, it's necessarily right to always, you know, argue with people
out soloing, although I'm not going to lie. I kind of liked seeing his head explode a little
bit. That was kind of cool, you know, but it wasn't necessarily right. But here's the silver
lining. Okay. Because I told you about how Lola kind of pawned this guy off on me. And then she
walked over here, uh, not like five feet away. She, while I was talking to this guy, she got
four middle school kids saved all at the same time. So that was really cool. So I was glad
I was able to distract this guy so that she could get those kids safe. And afterward I told her,
I'm like, Hey, look, I helped you here. Uh, I'm going, I'm going to steal two of those kids.
I'm going to steal two of your rewards for two of those kids or whatever. And, and she's like,
okay, that's fine. So I heard that from brother Brad Papares. He always says that. So that's funny.
But, um, but anyway, so, so that was, that was cool, uh, that we got to, yeah,
get those kids saying everything. So I want to talk about my next misconception, misconception
number eight, you can go ahead and turn to first Corinthians three, first Corinthians three.
So misconception number eight, and this one's a big one. Okay. And we ran into this a lot over
there as well. This is also by unsaved people is that Islam and Christianity are the same.
Okay. Now I never, of course have ever heard a saved Christian say that of course,
but I've never even heard an unsaved Christian, you know, say that before, like, Oh,
we're all the same. We're all worshiping the same God. And so I've never even heard an unsaved
Christian say, it's always Muslims and stuff that say stuff like that. And so, you know,
all these Muslims were like, Oh yeah, I think that we're, you know, worshiping the same God
and all this stuff. And Hey, you know what, let me tell you guys, this might be a big shocker,
but you know what? We're not the same of course. And I know that we already know that of course.
And in fact, while we were there, Daniel preached an entire sermon against Muhammad. Okay. Just
talking about how he was a wicked false prophet and all this different stuff. He talked about all
this different stuff. And in fact, he kind of mentioned this the other night, but I wanted to
bring it up again. Cause it's just, it's such a good proof that Muhammad was a total fake and a
fraud. Okay. But then the other night in the sermon, he was talking about how, you know,
in the Quran Muhammad's like, if I'm a false prophet, let my aorta be cut off or whatever.
And that's his little heart tube or whatever. Anyway. And he's like, let my aorta be cut off.
And then many years later, this Jewish lady, God bless her, you know, gave him a
poison goat. Okay. And, and then he got super sick from that. And I think that might've been
the same goat that Caleb was eating. I don't know. No, I'm just joking. I'm just joking. Okay. But
anyway, this Jewish lady gave her a goat, a poison goat, or maybe it was a sheep. Anyway,
he gave it to her and then he got super sick. And then like two years later, he ended up dying.
And then it literally says in their scriptures or whatever it's, you know, I'm, I'm exaggerating
a little bit, but he's like on his death bed and he's like, Oh, my aorta. So it was just funny
that the exact way that years before he said, Oh, if I'm a false prophet, let my aorta be cut off.
That's literally how he died. Okay. I thought that was incredible. Okay. I thought that was amazing.
I'd never heard that before, before me or Daniel talk about it, who here already knew that before
very few people. So just a couple of people. Yeah. You know, I was so happy whenever I heard
that. I'm like, thank you Lord for, you know, working it out that way and orchestrating it and
stuff. And I, I sure hope, I mean, over the past, what thousand years, 1500 years since he was alive
or whatever, I'm sure a lot of Muslims have probably read those things and been like, Oh,
this guy isn't legit. And, and probably left Islam. So I'm glad that that, that, that, that,
that that's there. So for sure. And I liked what Daniel said as well, that he died one of the worst
deaths ever. Right. And he compared that to Jezebel's death or whatever. And, and, you know,
I'm glad, I'm glad that he just died this horrible death and everything. He's a horrible false
prophet and he's a horrible person and human being. And he's just this sick pedophile guy
and stuff like that. You know, he married Aisha when she was six and consummated the marriage
when she was nine. I mean, how disgusting is that? You know, and I, I like this story too.
So then Caleb, okay. It was preaching to this Muslim guy while we were there. And he was
actually in the robes as well. So he was kind of a little bit more hardcore as well. And he
was preaching to him at the college campus. Me and Daniel were kind of just sitting there taking a
break and then like 10 times in a row. Okay. He just said this phrase over and over again.
He's like, you're following a dude who slept with a nine year old. Okay. Why are you, why are you
following this dude who slept with a nine year old? I mean, you, you don't want to sleep with
a nine year old. I mean, if you, if you knew that that guy over there had slept with a nine year old,
you'd want to go beat him up. And the, you know, if the police knew that he slept with a nine year
old, he'd go and arrest him. You know, who never slept with a nine year old Jesus. Jesus never
slept with a nine year old. He was just like getting in his face and stuff like that. It was
so funny. And then, and then the Muslim guy, he put up like a very feeble like defense. He's like,
well, the Bible says, be fruitful, multiply. And then he's like, be fruitful with a nine year old.
And then the guy was like, okay, yeah, you're right. That's sick. That's disgusting.
And so, and then after that, the guy actually got interested in hearing the whole gospel until he
heard the whole gospel. So I thought that was really, really cool that he just, he was just
like ripping on Muhammad. And then this Muslim guy was just totally taking it with like a smile on
his face, everything. It was really cool. And he actually got more interested after that. And,
and yeah, you know, that's super sick. And then another thing that Daniel mentioned in his sermon
about that is like, apparently whenever he first met this, this Aisha chick, you know, she, he
walked into this room or whatever, and she's in the floor playing with dolls. How sick is that?
Just see a little girl playing with dolls and, and like, you know, have the romantic music playing
or whatever. That's ridiculous. You know, it's sick. He's such a horrible person. And you know,
what else is that, you know, we were talking about this a while back. We were thinking about,
you know, who is like the worst human who has ever existed on the face of the planet. Like,
who is it? You know, we were just talking about, you know, I say Muhammad a hundred percent. Okay.
Because not only is it all these physical things, like hurting people, abusing people, the Quran
says, kill the infidels. So Muslims all around the world are persecuting Christians. Not only that,
the Muslims who live in Muslim countries hate living there and want to leave. And it's just,
he's just hurt so many people through his wicked false religion, false prophet, false tongue teaching
lies, you know, and, and, and it's horrible. And, and not only that, the worst part about,
you know, about it all about Islam is that this guy has literally, you know, the physical is bad
enough, but he has literally sent billions of people to hell since he was on this earth.
It's not millions and it's not a billion it's billions. Okay. He has sent so many people to
hell. I mean, no, no Pope ever did that. You know, no, no, nobody else has ever done that.
And so that's why I would say Muhammad takes the cake. Muhammad is literally the absolute
worst human being that has ever existed on the face of the planet. And, and, and, you know,
somebody else said Judas. Okay. So Muhammad and Judas just right there. Okay. And, and here's the,
and, you know, you want to know the biggest difference between Islam and Christianity
is that Islam is literally following the worst person that's ever existed on the face of the
planet. And we follow the greatest man who ever lived, you know, we follow God made in the flesh
or God in the flesh. And so that is the biggest difference between Islam and Christianity. Okay.
And so let's move on here.
Misconception number nine. Okay. I'm getting close to being done.
Misconception number nine, and this is something that we heard as well,
is that all Nigerians are scammers. Okay. I heard this. One of our church members was like,
I'd love to go to Nigeria, but everybody there is a scammer. So I don't want to have to deal with
that. And, and look, okay. Here's the thing. I'm not going to lie. Okay. We did get scammed. Okay.
Not, not lying here, telling a hundred percent sure. In fact, it was funny. So some teenagers
that Lolo was preaching to said, me and Kevin were standing by and they were like, Oh, Kevin,
he looks so cool. He looks so cool with his sunglasses. He looks so cleanly dressed and
everything. And the Lolo was like, well, what about Raymond over here? And they were like,
well, Raymond looks like he's easily scammed. That's what they said about me. Okay. Maybe.
I don't know. But anyway, so I just thought that was funny. And but here's the thing we
did get scammed, you know, we did a little bit, but I will say this though. It wasn't even close
to being as much as I thought that we would get scammed. I've been scammed way worse than
in other places, but you know, yeah. Why are you laughing?
No, no, but anyway, no, no, no. Most people there were honest and very nice. You know,
they were some people were giving us free food. Okay. One guy offered to buy us some sodas at one
time and we weren't really getting the WMP. We weren't getting the white man price everywhere
that we went. Okay. And in fact, this was a cool story too, at our hotel, whenever we first landed
and we were going to check into our hotel. Basically what happened was I had reserved it
online, but I hadn't paid for it yet. So I was getting ready to pay for it. And they were like,
you know, you can't pay for it yet. You can't check in yet. I need to decide your price.
I'm like decide my price. I got, I got the screenshot right here. You know,
it's not more than this. And so she's like, oh, it'll just take a few minutes, two hours later.
Okay. She just left me sitting there waiting and I'm so exhausted. I just got off the plane,
everything. And I'm just thinking to myself, man, are they about to totally charge us like
way more money or whatever. I don't want to deal with all that. And, and they've got us too,
because I've done research on this place. I know it's safe and it's in the area that we want. So
even if they were going to weigh up, charge us, we're going to have to pay it. So I was a little
bit nervous there, but then it turns out two hours later, whenever she got everything figured out,
it ended up being like $900 less than what we were supposed to pay, which was really cool. So
they were like, oh yeah, the price online is different or whatever. So I thought that was
cool. So, you know, a lot of people there were honest and were you know, very nice to us and
everything. And so we did get scammed, you know, but not that much. Okay. And, and maybe I'm like
the easiest going person out of the whole group. Cause you know, even whenever we did get scammed,
I'm just like, not a big deal, whatever. But then let me tell you, Lola hates being scammed. Okay.
And I've never, and I've never seen her. Like I saw her on this trip for sure. Like she was just
like screaming at all these people and stuff like that. And it was kind of funny to see,
but anyway, one time we were traveling at nighttime. There were four of us out of the
group. We were traveling at nighttime. We were trying to get back to our hotel. We got caught
up late. And so we're heading back and basically there was this one, the old guy, you know, we had
agreed on a price or whatever. And so I handed him, it was the equivalent of a dollar 20. Okay.
So I gave it to him and he erupted. He was like, ah, and he punched me in the chest. I'm like,
whoa. And then he jumped out and he's screaming. And then Lola's like, what's going on? And then
he calls over his thug friends and everything. And so, yeah, maybe this was another sketchy
moment that we had there, but anyway, it turned out to be okay. But anyway,
he called over his thugs and everything. And, and then he's like, ah, they screaming and stuff.
And then all of a sudden Lola understands what he's talking about. And then she starts screaming.
I'm just like, what's going on here? And then after a few minutes of this, I'm like, Lola,
what's going on? And she's like, he's lying and he's trying to scam us. I'm like, what's going on?
I already gave him a dollar 20. And she's like, well, he doesn't want a dollar 20.
He wants $4. And I'm just like, $4, $4. Let's just give it to him and go. Why are we,
why are we arguing for the past 10 minutes? Let's just give him the money and go.
And she's like, it's not about the money. It's about the principal.
I'm like, forget about the principal. Let's just go. Let's just go. Okay. And so we gave
him the $4. We got out of there and she's like, and she handed them money. She's like,
you take your money and you perish with it and stuff like that. And so it was just funny. Okay.
So, so Lola really hated being scammed. I'm just like, whatever, but I wanted to,
I want to say this too, that later on in the week, the person in our group that hated the scammers,
the most actually got a big time scammer saved. And so I wanted to tell that story too.
She was arguing with this one dude and this one guy was like, oh yeah, I think it's fine
for people to scam white people. Cause they probably scammed other people to get their money
and they are not sharing. So it's okay. Or whatever. And then she's like, no,
that's not what the Bible says. That's stealing. That's wicked or whatever.
And then the guy was like, okay. Or whatever, you know, he went, he didn't like that,
but anyway, it got him more interested in the gospel. So he heard the whole gospel.
He got saved at the end. And then afterward he said, Hey, look, can I tell you a secret?
And she's like, okay. And he's like, I haven't told anybody this. Okay. I haven't told my family
members. I haven't told my best friends, not told anybody this, but I'm a Yahoo, Yahoo boy.
That's what he said. Okay. And let me explain to you what that is. Okay. Now we all know about
those, you know, Nigerian scams from the nineties or two thousands where they're like sending
emails, you know, I'm a Nigerian Prince and I want to give you $10,000 and stuff like that.
And they send it primarily through Yahoo mail. Okay. So these guys, these big time scammers,
they're scamming white people online or whatever they're called Yahoo, Yahoo boys.
And obviously now they're a little more sophisticated and advanced. You know,
this guy, he had like three iPhone 14s in his pocket and stuff like that. And he kept checking
them all and stuff. And he was dressed super nice and everything. So he's, he scams a lot of people.
And she, so she was like, Oh wow, this guy's a big time scammer, but he had just gotten saved.
And she's like, well, you know, if you never stopped being a Yahoo, Yahoo boy,
where are you going to go? Whenever you die? It's like, I'm going to heaven. And so,
and she's like, but you really should stop though. You shouldn't do that. So,
so anyway, I just thought that was cool that the person in our group that hated scammers the most
got a big time scammer saved. So that was cool. Now, I think I already told you to
turn to first Corinthians chapter three, and I'm going to basically wrap it up now.
This is my last point.
And here's my final misconception I want to talk about. Now we didn't necessarily
encounter this from the Nigerians that we ran into. And obviously we don't have this misconception,
but the final misconception is that they don't need our help. Okay. Now this is mainly said by,
you know, atheist types, anti-Christian people, you know, they're like, why are you going to this
country? You know, they don't need you there. You know, they're doing fine. You know,
all this different stuff. I've heard it many, many, many times before. Oh, maybe they'll say
something like, oh, they're already Christian there. Why are you going there? You know,
I've heard that. Or maybe it's a race thing as well. Like, like pastor Thompson mentioned the
other day, he gets hateful emails. Sometimes it's like quit trying to recolonize the Indians
or whatever, you know, it's a, it's a race thing. Although on the side, on a side note, okay. The,
we found tons of Nigerians who were talking about how they loved it whenever the British
were there, they got their independence in 1970. They were just like, we want the British to come
back and stuff like that. We had it so much better then. And so Mrs. Forte, we got to write
parliament and we got to tell them because I don't think that they know. No, I'm sure. But anyway,
no, no, but here, you know, so it's a race thing and stuff. And even on this trip while we were in
the Germany airport in Frankfurt, we met this one crazy Canadian lady who was also going to
Nigeria and she was just like really down to white people and stuff like that. And she's,
and she was not liking that we were going there and stuff. Anyway. So here's the thing is that,
is that, you know, this is oftentimes said, you know, why these people don't need your
help and stuff. These are oftentimes said by people who hate God or hate Christians or just
hate white people or whatever. But let me tell you something, the people who actually live in
these countries, they want us to come there, right? They want us there. They want to get
saved, you know, and, and let me tell you something that they do need our help, you know,
and, and everybody in here should know that because here's the thing about it is that
Legos is not a place that has like an abundance of, of biblical preaching going on, unfortunately.
Okay. I talked earlier about how we went to the Macoco church, you know, the Macoco church is
very, and I'm glad that they're there, don't get me wrong, but you know, it's a very small church.
It's got about 20 people in it and they're really isolated. You know, they're in that community
where you have to take a boat for like 30 minutes to get there and stuff. So they're not really
reaching the whole, you know, Legos metropolitan area there. And, and that's sad. You know,
I am glad that they're there, you know, like pastor Mendez was talking about,
they're kind of like the righteous remnant that's there. I think I already mentioned that.
But, you know, here's another story is that a couple of college kids that Kevin was preaching
to, they got saved and they told them, they said, nobody, nobody here is preaching this message.
Nobody's talking about once they've always saved. I have never heard this before in my life.
Okay. That's what they told. So from their perspective, they had never heard,
you know, this, this message of salvation by faith alone. And once they've always saved
and they were just like, please keep preaching it, keep preaching this, you know, keep telling
people about once they've always saved and salvation by faith alone. And so I thought
that was great. You're there in first Corinthians three, look down. If you would have verse number
five, it says, who then is Paul and who is a Paulist, but ministers by whom he believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man. And so, look, all of us, we've all had somebody by whom that
we believe, right? We've all had a minister by whom we have believed for those two college
kids. I mentioned it was Kevin, but, you know, and, and here's the thing about is that they need
more ministers over there, preaching the word of God, preaching the gospel, right. And turn,
if you went to Matthew chapter nine, Matthew chapter nine.
So one more verse and one more story. I've got one more story that I want to tell.
You know, there's so many other stories I could have told. You know, the time would have failed
me to tell them all the world itself can't contain the books and I'm just sure it's,
it's not that serious, but anyway, no, no, no, but you know, there, there are many stories that
we had, but I want to just highlight this last one and then we'll be done. So, and this was very,
you know, heartwarming, I guess you could say. Anyway, it was towards the end of the day,
we were on the college campus and we were pretty much done. Me, Caleb and Daniel were hanging out,
just talking. We were waiting for Lola, Kevin and Mrs. Dicken to get done preaching. And so
we were just standing there talking and I look over and then I saw a lady sitting there and
she was like staring at me. I'm like, whatever. And I keep talking and I didn't really pay that
much attention. But then I looked again, I just glanced and then she was still looking at me.
So I'm like, okay, you know, I got a few minutes. Let me go try to preach this girl.
And so I walked up and I give her the card and she wants to hear the gospel. So I preach her
the gospel and we get to the end. Okay. And she had some hangups, right? She, she thought, you
know, that you still had to obey or you, or you had to repent, something along those lines. And
so I was just going to show her a couple more verses and kind of leave. But then she said,
well, I've got a question. Can I, can I, I have a question. I said, yeah, what is it? And she said,
well, I have, I'm going through a lot right now. Can I tell you about it? And I said, yeah,
you can. And she said, well, a few minutes ago, I was trying to get your attention
because I'm not a believer. And I was trying to find a Christian
who could help me repent because I'm about to go home and I'm about to kill myself.
And so I was, of course I was like, whoa. And so, you know, we talked for the next like 45 minutes.
Obviously, most importantly, I got her saved during that time. But then even after that,
you know, we talk about all of her problems. You know, she got kicked out of college. She can't
afford her school fees. She hasn't told her parents, all this stuff. And, you know, I gave
her advice or whatever. And then, you know, we got done and then she got up and she started walking
away and she's just crying and everything. And then she turns around and she says, thank you,
Raymond. Thank you. Because of you today, I'm a believer. And today I'm going to heaven. And today
I will not kill myself. Thank you. Thank you, Raymond. And so, you know, that was,
yeah, that was life changing, you know, for her, for me. And so here's the thing about it is that
they do need our help. You know, they need our help there. And I'm so thankful I was there at
that time to preach her the gospel. And so here's the thing, you know, why did I preach this sermon?
Okay. I preach this sermon because I want more people to get on board with Africa missions.
Okay. Now look, you know, I get it. Okay. I get that Africa gets a bad rap, right. You know,
Africa, you know, I have people all the time who tell me like, oh, it sounds so receptive. It
sounds great, but isn't it pretty dangerous there? I mean, isn't it, you know, I mean, you know,
I don't know if I could handle it. It's kind of rough. You know, I don't, I don't know about that.
Well, here's the, well, here's the thing, you know, I think that they think that we're going
to be staying in those mud huts that I mentioned earlier, you know what I mean? But the thing is
that, you know, Lagos is, is specifically is a great place to get started. If you've never done
Africa missions, you know, in the past, I mean, it's kind of, it's kind of Africa for beginners
almost. And, and so I get it, it gets a bad rap and everything, but look, I preach this sermon
so I can at least just change like one person's mind about reaching Africa, you know, or, or I
just want, I just want to give somebody, you know, this heart for reaching Africa. You know, I want,
I want more people to feel about Africa, the way that I feel about Africa, how I just want to keep
going back. And I just want to keep preaching the word of God there and keep getting people saved
there because here's the thing, you know, I'm, I'm glad for people like pastor Bogart, for example,
I'm glad that he's there and I'm glad that he's standing up for the truth and standing up against
persecution and ministering to those people down there and faithfully preaching the word of God.
But let me tell you something, you know, Cape town is a long ways away from Legos,
you know what I mean? And, and pastor Bogart is great, but he, you know, he can't
reach 1.2 billion people on the whole continent. And so, you know, eventually, you know, us,
the new IFB, we need to start planning churches all over Africa. I can't wait to see that happen.
Okay. But of course we're far away from that. And so in the meantime, we need to start,
I mean, what I would like to see happen is more trips going to Africa, you know,
more soul winners, more soul winning, getting more people saved. And, and pastor said this
on Wednesday and his sermon, and I really liked it a lot, you know, common sense missions, right?
We got to go to where it's receptive, safe and legal. And you know what Legos in particular
matches all three of that criteria. It's super receptive. It's very safe. And the door is wide
open. It's very, it's legal to go there. And so you're there in Matthew chapter nine,
let's look down at this very famous verse in verse 38. It says, pray ye therefore the Lord
of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. And so I want us all here to
be praying for Africa, you know, praying for Nigeria, praying for Legos, praying that the
word of God will be preached mightily in these areas, but, and, and that laborers would go into
that harvest. But not only do I want us in here to pray for laborers, I want us also to be those
laborers, you know, and I, and I want to do many more missions to Africa, more missions to Nigeria,
to Legos and everything. And so, you know, just be praying in this meantime. And, and let me tell
you, stay tuned because we're going to go back. We're going to go back at some point. And so I
want more people to be on board and, and, and excited about Africa missions. And so let's pray.
So dear Lord, thank you so much for this opportunity to preach. And I just prayed
that I would have helped somebody and I would have changed somebody's mind, Lord,
Lord, you, you, you care about Africa and you want those people to hear the gospel,
just like everywhere else in the world. And Lord, just please help us to get a heart for Africa and
to, and to reach it. And just please bless us and please bless them and please help pastor
Bogart as well. And pastor Bondi at the, at the other church. And, and Lord, just please
help those people. And it's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.