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  ENGAGING THE BATTLE FOR THE YOUNG
  by Gbile Akanni
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Summary: Gbile Akanni emphasizes the critical spiritual battle for the
youth, urging believers to actively engage in guiding young people to
fulfill God's purpose and resist the devil's schemes during their
formative years.

Duration: 1:14:29 Topics: "Youth Ministry", "Spiritual Warfare", "God's Purpose"
Scripture References: Matthew 16:26, John 10:10

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DESCRIPTION
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In this powerful sermon, Gbile Akanni addresses the spiritual battle for
the youth, highlighting the devil's tactics to undermine young lives and
the urgent need for believers to engage in this critical ministry.
Drawing from his personal journey and divine revelations, Akanni
presents practical insights and biblical principles to equip the church
in raising a generation that fulfills God's purpose. This message
inspires commitment to nurturing young people through teaching,
testimony, and spiritual warfare.

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CONTENT
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Living Seed Media brings to you God's Word, which is his comprehensive
equipment for changing lives. May the Lord impact your heart as you
encounter his Word. For further inquiry or counsel, contact Peace House,
P.O. Box 971, Boko, Benue State, Nigeria.

Telephone numbers 0703 03636 59 0703 76811 98 Email address
lsmediaatlivingseed.org or visit our website at www.livingseed.org Let
us sit back and listen as the servant of God brings forth the Word of
Life. I would thank God for how far he has brought us. Indeed, we can
testify that the promises God made to us concerning the objectives and
the outcome of this circle, you can testify and have a witness in your
heart that God himself is living to the expectation.

Things are already happening all over. There's a lot of movement going
on in our hearts. We are trusting God to tidy it up and to go out,
change men and women ready to take our nations for the Lord.

Now, the battle for the young, it's a very critical pivot that God's
brought us into since 2004. When suddenly the Lord came down in a
student congress meeting like this, and the utterance that came, and I
remember the theme of that congress was, Now that you are young. You
know, suddenly it was like everybody, including the young people, many
of them have become older now, and those of us that were there then,
including our father in the Lord himself, we knew that heaven came down.

The utterance was a direct help from heaven to supply a missing link
into what this segment of life is. I bear record, even people like
myself and several others who wanted to labor among the youths, many
times we even read books. We did researches to know what to do and how
to go about it, but then we also remember that many of those materials
and books that were available for pursuing the battle for the young,
then they were purely from physiological and psychological point of
view.

Nobody could really come out articulately to define for every person,
including the young people, what this segment of life was meant for. But
it was at that meeting that God showed us that the most critical segment
of any man's life is the youth age, and that's where the devil has
quietly pitched his tent over generations to cause havoc to nations and
indeed the entire world. Quietly, you know, over the time I've come to
discover a bit more of the kind of wickedness that is in the devil's
heart.

I used to think that all the devil wanted to do, you know, if he sees
anybody, is to just kill, to steal, to destroy. Yeah, that's all right.
But I discovered that the devil particularly specializes in that which
causes bitterness.

His greatest strategy is sifting, and that is to take a man and remove
the reality and the substance out of him and keep him alive. It was then
that it became clear that the segment of life that which the devil
succeeds in damaging any man, in making him or her to become just an
ordinary statistic on earth without any purpose, is during this youthful
period. And a commission has since been upon our lives that we must
pursue these young men and women and mount a campaign as to make sure
that all of them, as much as we can rescue, to rescue them from the
devastations, the dissipations of their youthful age.

And that's the battle so far in a nutshell. And God has helped us to
fight this battle, first of all, by giving us an utterance, which has
become a book since then, the battle for the young. Maybe in the due
time, we will see the book will be flashed on the screen for us to see
again.

The book itself has traveled far and wide. And that book helps us to,
you know, show us the danger of wasting that segment of life, the issues
involved, the battlegrounds, the subtlety of the devil, what are the
things he tries to cover up and the things he lures young people into to
make sure that that segment of life is not viable for them, is not
fruitful until they have wasted it and they become just an unentity
walking on the face of the earth. And that book, we called it Battle for
the Young, for what it is.

And the book itself articulates even principles and all that God wants
us to know. OK, you see, that's one of the versions of the book. This is
what we call the sports version of it.

This one was what we used during the recently concluded National Sports
Festival that concluded in those days not too long ago. Now, so this
book has quietly been very effective. It has moved into nations.

It has moved into language groups. Presently now, as we shall soon see,
the books have been translated into about eight languages across the
world. And more of them are still going on.

As time goes on, I'll give you more insight into that. Now, but why this
book gives us the principles and the insights, but God was not yet true.
God was himself willing to help this battle, eventually has provided
another material that is a corollary to that.

And that is the book that I'm going to be introducing to us now. It's a
personal life testimony and stories from the youthful years of our
father in the Lord, Brother Billy Akoni. The book itself is titled He
Leads Me, and by the grace of God, we're going to be dedicating it very
soon.

Now, you know, this book is the second leg of this battle for the young,
because while the battle for the young itself provides the principles,
the issues that every young man or woman must face and confront, be
confronted with in order to succeed and escape the flaws of the devil.
This book brings a life experience, a life testimony, and a life backing
of how those principles have been applied and how they are worked out.
And that book, He Leads Me, and it deals with several battlegrounds that
every young man or woman faces.

The issue of your calling, your purpose, your career. How do you
discover God's purpose for your life? How do you know what God wants you
to do? How do you even enter it? And because all these are the
battlegrounds by which the devil fights all the several young men and
women across the world. But by the grace of God, he has brought out his
personal life testimony of how God led him into all these areas and how
those battles, by the mercies of God, how God allowed him to win those
battles.

For instance, in one of the chapters, I'll just read a chapter of it. I
know you are eager, you are curious to know what is in it. But I will
beg a brother, Ebra Langley, who is with me on this program, but I've
chosen to stay behind to make sure that all the technical aspect of it
is handled.

And he will be making these inputs as we go on. So thank you very much.
Chapter one talks about captured from the cradle.

But since you are going to get a copy yourself and read it, I would just
want to move to chapter two. Because just take the issue of finding out
and knowing your career and what God wants you to do. I'm going to just
read that chapter two as fast as God will help me, hoping that you will
follow and you'll see the kind of things that we are talking about.

How God in mercy has brought out a life sample for us to see how we can
actually, even in our own self, we do decide to take steps to follow the
Lord. How we can be led into all those things that God has prepared for
our life. Now, let me quickly read chapter two.

You may follow on the screen if you are close to your screen. But I will
read out and just to highlight some of the issues that the book is
dealing with. My career choice.

And it started with, Lord, what do you want me to do? Many years ago, as
a teenager. I sought to find direction for my life as regards what
career to pursue and what to become in life. The first set of things
that appealed to me, as it would to several young persons of my age and
generation, was either to become a medical doctor or an engineer.

A mechanical engineer, as that was more popularly known and celebrated
than all other branches of engineering then. And if I were not to be any
of those two, I wanted to become a chartered accountant, unfailingly.
Apart from the prestige accorded in those professions, they also
commanded affluence.

They rode the best of cars at the time, always well respected in the
society. But at the same period, God captured my life and I was
captivated with knowing him and touching his power. A power contest was
seriously raging in my home then and I needed to gain spiritual power to
combat the power of darkness I saw at work all around me.

I needed to dig deep into Christ so that I do not make myself cheaply
vulnerable to the powers of darkness, which I constantly confronted and
challenged as I went about preaching from village to village. My father
was critical and fiercely opposed to my faith. So I had years of
constant persecution and conflict of life principles at home.

Even though we could both be seen to freely relate as father and son, we
both knew deeply that we were on the opposite side of a power tussle. He
loved me, I was passionate about me, but I could not give up my love for
Jesus to keep his affection. He eventually began to listen to me and
appreciate my faith when he saw it working.

Still, he would not cross over to my own side until God miraculously in
his mercy drew him to himself towards the end of his life. A Different
Roots, that's a small subtitle. Now this scenario at home brought a
slant to my career pursuit.

I no longer desired empty prestige or affluence. I was more interested
in something that would bring a functional release of the power of God
constantly in my life. Soon, I began to notice a growing release of my
innate capacity to teach, particularly the word of God, to my converts.

I could spend all day and all night teaching biblical principles to my
young converts then. This made me consider becoming a pastor on the
pulpit. The only ministry I saw then was pastoring and the only place of
acclaim I knew then to train for it was the Nigeria Baptist Theological
Seminary, which coincidentally was situated in my hometown, Ogbomosho.

Despite my fasting and praying, the Lord would not lead me into the
seminary, so much that I thought he was rejecting me from the ministry.
However, he kept making it clear to me that he would use me and that I
would be a vessel in his hand. Eventually, he showed me that going to
study at the university and not the seminary would be his route for my
training process in preparation for the assignment he had for my life.

I did not get admission immediately to university as there was no money
or sponsorship for me. I forfeited the admission to do my HSC, Higher
School Certificate course, in the Federal Government College, FGC,
Ilori, Nigeria, as part of the pioneer set there because there was no
money for university education. And because I would not change my state
of origin, as others were doing, to acquire a state where the FGC,
Ilori, was located, I also forfeited an automatic scholarship, and so I
rather went looking for a job.

After a long search, I got appointed as an auxiliary teacher with the
Horseshoe Northwest Division Teaching Service Board in the then western
state of Nigeria. I was posted to a village to teach in the Ashombomole
D.C. Primary School. Later on, I was moved to another village school
around Ajawa, before I eventually got transferred back to the Baptist
Secondary Modern School, Ahoyaya, in Ugbomo Short Town.

My passion for raising young people for God grew, and my preoccupation
there was preaching and teaching the word of God, and to see my students
converted and grown for the Lord. Still not true with my ambition to be
a doctor, an engineer, or accountant, I pushed further to do advanced
studies in accounting. But being a science student, though damaged by my
failure in biology, the story about that damage is reserved for another
day.

My focus shifted to engineering. But as I grew in my work with the Lord,
going from one meeting to another, experiencing one divine dealing after
another, the Lord began to deal with this ambition. These various
dealings gradually brought me to the point I had to answer a pertinent
question.

What am I living for? What would I be remembered for? What does it
profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul?
Repeatedly, I was laying my all on the altar, and the song, Thy Will Be
Done, became thematic for me as I went about from fellowship to
fellowship. Finally, God graciously laid out His plan for my life
clearly before my eyes. He began to unfold what He would use me for.

He told me He would take me to a very far and strange place from where
He would start His work in my life. He told me I must go to the
University of Ibadan first, rather than the University of Ife. The
University of George and one other place then that I had admissions
into.

Moreover, God told me He wanted me to do a course in education and not
engineering again. These instructions about my career direction ran
contrary to my pet career ambition. My admission to the University of
George was to position me in a financial accounting and management.

And there was actually a drive to move some of us into accounting and
economics, particularly as I had the A-level economics and advanced
certificate in accounting. Even when I agreed to go study education in
the University of Ibadan, I only went because I figured I could change
my course after the first year to engineering. I can recollect my
attempts to change faculties when I finished the 100 level in Ibadan.

I had one of the best results. The Faculty of Technology was willing to
accept me and the Faculty of Education was willing to release me. Forms
were assigned, approvals were given, everything was set.

But as I crossed the street behind the Physics Department, University of
Ibadan, to climb the hill to the Faculty of Technology, I heard God's
voice. I asked, Mille, where are you going? I returned to my room
crying. This repeated itself several times until I lost my strength to
struggle with the divine hand.

Much as I struggled against the will of God for my life, He prevailed
with me. I had several questions which God had to answer for me before I
settled down to face His determined concern for my life. These questions
were so serious for me.

And if God had not answered them very definitely, I would have been
continuously restless. Lord, even if I agree not to become an engineer,
how will my becoming a teacher fulfill your call on my life? If I'm
supposed to teach the word of God, why not go and learn the Bible
directly? How does a career in physics and mathematics bring me into
this? If I'm not a colored clergy, how will anyone listen to me? There
is no money or affluence in teaching. How will I face all the challenges
of helping my poor family? More so, I was going to be the first graduate
in the family.

I'm being brilliant enough to do any of the courses. Why must I be
constrained to the classroom? Then God began to give me perspective
about who He wanted to make me. A peculiar understanding began to come
to me.

He intends that I become a man of influence and not merely a man of
affluence. The place to exercise influence and enduring influence is
where they make men and women when they are young and bendable. The
hearts of the young are open and flexible, but I must have a license to
gain their attention.

And that's why He wants me to be a teacher of mathematics and physics.
All students, whatever school I am part-time, must pass through my hand
for their training in mathematics. So I came to see my teaching career
as a license and a bait to attract the young into my net.

Once that became clear to me, I settled down to being a teacher, and an
excited one for that matter. My skills of teaching both natural and
spiritual began to break forth. I became tireless once I handled the
chalk in the classroom.

And when it was to teach the Word of God, there was an unquenchable fire
within me that has remained till today. I saw the raising of men and
women through teaching as my calling. I labored tirelessly to teach my
students the courses in physics and mathematics.

My objective was not just for them to pass examinations, but to become
scientists, researchers, and top hands in their chosen careers. Teaching
them was effortless for me. Creative teaching and designing of fresh
methodology flowed out of me on the spur of the moment.

My laboratories were on the road, in gardens, in kitchens, and in every
situation I could find to practically demonstrate the concepts I taught.
Calibrations and precise measurements were the only reasons I worked
with the regular stereotype laboratories. When I see some of my students
who are now professors and top leaders in academics, I rejoice.

And this leaves me with no sense of failure. Some are engineers, and
others have gone ahead to become medical doctors and other health
professionals today. However, some years later, I was tempted to query
the Lord as to why He was tying my life down like the biblical ass that
was tied to wear two waistbands.

I momentarily hated His choice of the teaching career for me. That was
at a time I was greatly challenged by men, in-laws, colleagues, and
others, and was somewhat provoked to break my consecration to prove a
point about my innate capacity. I had no money to meet the expectations
of men around me.

I had no title to flash when we went to functions. Some could even be so
sarcastic as they compared me with my wife, who in her own right was an
excellent medical doctor. I was tempted to go and prove my worth and
show them that I was not a dropout.

If God did not intervene and called me back then, I know I would have
indeed become one of the dropouts of the grace of God. I might still
have been a Christian, moving in cycles, pursuing the world and its
toys, but I would have lost out. I would have dissipated into
nothingness.

Heaven would have justifiably queried, oh, what a wasted life. This one
was born and born again to serve me and bring the aroma of my knowledge
to bear upon his generation, for he has ended up as a mere shadow, a
smoke that troubles the eyes. God answered my questions.

I did not need human certificate in theology. My one need is to know him
progressively, for his life in me to break forth. This is what will
command men to listen to me.

And if I become roasted enough in his furnace till what he wanted to
cook of my life is done, men will be attracted to come and partake from
my life. If I progressively grow in Christ and respond humbly and
obediently to his dealings in my life, I will not need postcards or hand
beads to draw men. Just as the sweet aroma of roasted meat or fish does
not ooze out until it's almost fully roasted, so it is with anyone who
wants to walk with God.

As I continue to follow Jesus obediently, come rain, come sunshine,
submitting to his will, the sweet aroma of a changed life under the hand
of God will begin to ooze out to affect people and draw them closer. The
fragrance of Christ's life will break forth in me. The fragrance will
reach their nostrils before they even hear my voice.

They will have settled and have been soaked in their tears as they
listen to me before checking my credentials. My life will become a life
that commands following. My only credential would be, see, he has been
with Jesus.

He is the ark the Lord chose to ride upon. Let us cast our carpet and
close down for the Lord whom he is bringing to us. But I must be
contented with obscurity, not isolation, which is the environment within
which he makes his man.

Though I minister in the public and in the midst of men, I must allow
God to hide me from public eyes. I must wait quietly there in obscurity
until his work in me and on me is complete, or rather until I become
presentable as his handiwork in progress. He has actually proved to me
that he does not forget where he deposits his anointing.

I do not need personal publicity of any kind. I only need to be on his
roasting grill, being turned continually to expose every part of my life
to his unquenching fire. In this way, I will not be a cake unturned,
burnt on one side and raw on the other side.

Raw things do not release their inner sweet fragrance. I appreciate and
give due regards to all the professionals I meet today without having
any sense of loss or envy. What I am by the grace of God is invaluable.

The weight of his grace that I bear is far more than what men celebrate
in high court judges, in the senior advocates of the legal profession,
or in the highly prized consultants and business moguls of this world.
It pays indeed to serve the Lord and ye to his bidding. All the
intelligence I thought I would miss is actually more abundantly embedded
in Christ who lives in me.

He is the embodiment of all treasures of wisdom and knowledge and all
the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily. But what about the
affluence that was staring me in the face, as if if I did not pursue it,
I would be stranded in this life. I stand before God to testify of his
faithfulness.

He has not denied me of any physical thing that is good and needful for
me. I am sufficiently provided for in things that are requisite and
necessary for living. He has proved faithful to me according to his
word.

All these things shall be added to you. There is nothing that any of my
colleagues possess that God has denied me, unless it is not of any good
for my life. What I do not have is what I do not need.

I do not have to keep a reservoir or an earthly store when I have a
constant unbroken access to the heavenly supply. What I need comes to me
fresh at every junction and not as a stay bond that I carry around.
Being his living sacrifice is another story for another day.

But suffice me to say, there is no other way to live and find joy and
fulfillment than to lay your all on the altar. Is your all on the altar
of sacrifice laid? Your heart? Does your spirit control? You can only be
blessed and have peace and sweet rest as you yield in your body and
soul. That is a stanza from a song, a hymn.

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Choices are the inevitable
obligations you have at every segment of your life, but more
particularly when you are young. The choices you make today determine
your chances tomorrow. Some young people make choices in their youth
that narrow and block their chances in life.

To let God, who sees your end from your beginning, guide your choice now
is what positions you for the great chances for your life in the coming
days and years ahead of you. It is very certain that God has a plan for
your life. You are not where you are by mere chance.

By His mercy, God speaks and leads in the best path for one's life. You
can hear His voice speaking to you now, and surely His hand is stretched
out to guide you and lead you to the expected end you hope for. But the
first choice you must make is to choose Him as your Lord and Savior.

Then He will guide you along the best path for your life. The right to
make choices is yours, but the wisdom to make right choices is not in
you. I counsel you to let Him and His wisdom position you right.

Have you made the crucial choice? Have you asked Him to take the
steering of your life? While you do not know what the future holds for
you, you can place your life in the hands of Him who not only holds the
future but sees the end from the beginning. Give Him space to lead you.
Let Him take the driver's seat of your life and you will have a smooth
sail into the things He has kept in store for you.

He has stretched out His loving arm to you. Put your hand in His hands
right away. Then and only then will you avoid the pits and the snares
that the enemy has set for your feet.

Friends, God indeed is committed to your making it. As you are sitting
here in this meeting all over the world hearing this and all that the
Lord has been saying since the beginning of this meeting, you will know
that you will have no excuse if you end up in life as a failure and as a
victim. And for that reason, by the mercy of God, we are going to give
God praise and thank Him for this book again that has come into our
hands.

The issues are quite serious. And God has gone all the way, not just to
give us principles, not to give us theories, but to give us a living
example of how you as a young man can face the challenge of your life
and make it your youth. I'm going to call on our Mother in the Lord, Dr.
Mrs. Shadia Akoni.

She's right here in the studio with us. By the mercy of God, she's going
to help us take this to the Lord and receive it on our behalf to the
nations of the earth. God again by this is going to wage a mighty
warfare against the powers of darkness.

And by the mercy of God, I want you to please bow down your head as she
leads us in that prayer. And it's going to also be a prayer for yourself
to commit yourself to the Lord. Yes, ma'am, please.

Praise the name of the Lord. We have a messenger in our hands. This book
titled, He Leads Me, My Personal Stories from the Days of My Youth by
Bile Akoni.

We thank God for giving us this story. You know, the Bible says we
should not be sluggish or we should be followers of those who through
faith and patience obtained the promises. God has given us the story of
our brother for these past decades that he has lived up to this point.

He has told us the stories step by step, but is actually a synopsis. But
is quite a useful story that could shine the light upon our own path. As
we see him follow Jesus, we can also put our feet on the steps that he
took and it will be well with us.

We are going to stand up wherever you are. I would like you to rise on
your feet as we pray and dedicate this book to the Lord. Would you like
to rise up on your feet everywhere and lift up your right hand to heaven
and pray.

Please speak to God and give him thanks for giving us such a story as
this. Give him praise. God has done us well that he has given us an
example, a living example to follow.

He is still going on, he is still marching on with the master, but so
far we have seen the Lord faithful as he followed him. Would you like to
pray now and say, Lord this book we hand it over to you. Please bless
it.

Let the Lord bless it. It is the blessings of God that makes rich and
adds no sorrow to it. Ask for the blessings of God upon it.

When the Lord took the five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish, one
could not imagine that that would feed 5000 people. But because he
blessed it, it became more than enough and 12 baskets of fragments were
picked up. Would you pray, Lord bless this book.

Let it achieve its purpose on the earth. Let it reach the depths of many
a heart. Let it speak for Jesus wherever it goes.

Please pray. Will you please pray also that God will wing these words in
this book to the depths of many a heart. That God will carry it on the
wings of the most high.

Let it go where we cannot go. Let it go to nations. Let it go to
churches.

Let it bring restoration. Let it bring glory to God. Let it command
following.

Let it bring people on their knees to Christ. Let's round up our
prayers. As we have prayed in Jesus name.

Amen. Our father we give you thanks. And we bless your name.

For sending your word to us in this form. You said in the book of
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1. That God in those days spoke to our fathers
in many ways. In diverse ways.

Through the prophets. This is one way again. That you are speaking to
us.

But this time by Jesus Christ. We have seen oh God a life that you have
helped. Is not done yet.

But you have helped him to this point. That he could bring up his
stories. For others to learn a lesson.

Father we commit this book into your hands. We ask first of all oh God.
That because you are the one who brought it to be.

May you bless it. Lord bless it oh God. Make it a blessing to many.

In the name of Jesus Christ. We ask oh Lord that your hand will be upon
this book for good. Carry it oh God on the wings of the most high.

To places to nations. To churches to congregations. And particularly to
young people.

Adults will read it. Their lives will change. But particularly to young
people who are still starting in life.

We pray that you will minister mightily to these lives. By this book in
the name of Jesus Christ. We ask oh God that your hand will rest upon
it.

Lord we pray that you will wing the words to many hearts. You will cause
it to bring liberation. It will bring revival.

It will bring glory and honor to God wherever it goes. Thank you Father
for hearing us. For we have prayed in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. Yes, over to you sir.

Just to make an announcement again. That the books will be available all
over the country. Thank you sir.

Now we need to please move on. This battle by the grace of God is being
fought in every aspect. And at different points.

God has again asked us to fight this battle. In the various areas and
segments of the life of our young men and women. And towards this, there
is a strategy and a platform that he has loaned us.

I will not let the bell out of the cut. But just to let you know that
I'm going to be asking Brahm Moses Ogyanyu. To please come in briefly
and introduce to us what we call the Ledeyu.

The leadership development for the youth. As part of the implement that
God is asking us to fight this battle with. Go ahead sir.

Thank you brother Charles. We want to thank God for this opportunity. To
introduce to us.

Especially those of us that have not heard about our program. That is
called leadership development for the young. This particular training
program body.

Sometimes in 2014. When the leadership of the Living Seed team. Were
holding the millet summit.

To review the millet training that has been going on for several years.
At that summit it became clear that. There was a need for a training
that is focused.

Particularly for the young people. This time around. That training will
not be exactly like millet.

It will be a training that will address the matter. That has become
pronounced in our society. And especially in different nations of the
world.

So that was how. The committee was set up to look into it. To bring out
the realities of the training.

Now at the end of the day. It came out as a training that is going to be
focusing. On young people.

Especially between the ages of 21 to 35. Because we are looking for
leaders. That will be trainable.

Bendable. Ignitable and sendable. We were trusting God.

That at this time around. These are young people. That after training.

They will have something to offer. Both in the kingdom of God. And the
society.

Where God has placed all of us. Now the first edition of the training.
Came up in 2019.

The training is actually meant to lay a very solid foundation. For young
people. That God will be using in the future.

To carry out his purpose. After the training. It was meant to produce
leaders.

That will be able to take responsibilities. Leaders that will be able
to. Have critical thinking on issues.

That are very germane in the society. And after that. They will be able
to produce a positive solution.

That everybody can benefit from. Now it was also meant as a training. To
prepare the next generation of leaders.

In such a way that this vacuum. That we are beginning to feel. Will not
continue.

Now the training is designed in such a way. As to make it. Not to be a
conference.

And it's not to be another duplication. Of what the living seed is
already running. But it was designed to be unique.

To the youth. To which it was targeted. So generally.

This training is meant to be a response. To all the myriads of problems.
That we are finding in the society of today.

Instead of complaining and grumbling. Which doesn't solve the problem
that we are grappling with. We feel that God is asking.

Us to design this training as a response. So that youth can be planted.
Prepared.

Produce and propel. To take responsibilities in the nearest future. When
their times arrive.

Now there's a time frame for this training. It is meant to be a two-year
training program. Because we know that youths are very mobile.

And they are usually in haste. To move from one thing to another. In a
year we will have two contents.

And one is to focus. First on life formation. And then the other side of
it broadly speaking.

Is to deal with issues of leadership. We are developing them for such
responsibility. That is waiting for them.

Now the program has already kicked off. Like I said. But because of what
happened last year.

With COVID-19. We could not run it as planned. Now we want to say that
this program.

Is meant to also act as. A platform for youths. Apart from laying
foundation.

To build fence. You know that youths sometimes. There are pits that they
fall into.

During their time of growing. Like smoking. Drinking.

Immorality. Drugs. Some of the issues that have been mentioned.

In the course of this congress. These are pits that they dug for their
future. And whenever they fall into it.

It becomes difficult to get them out. So this program is meant to fence
them. After God has prepared them.

They will be able to avoid such issues. The foundation has been laid.
That they will be building their future on.

And the other thing. That we need to say. Is that it also raises
awareness.

Of the importance and necessity. For skill acquisition. That could also
be a very positive.

Aspect of national development. Now for that reason. The training is not
just for theory.

Apart from the intensive 10 days. Camping that the training requires. It
has been designed also in such a way.

That there is a period of practical attachment. Where the youths. That
are undergoing the training.

Are exposed for life situations. Those that are choosing a particular
path. Of their career are exposed to elders.

And leaders that have gone through that. And they are exposed to them.
To do some kind of internship.

So that they can have life application experience. To ask questions. And
by the time they come back.

They will be able to have something to hold on to. When it is their
time. Now it is not open to everybody.

It is reserved for youths. Of ages 21 to 35. And there is an application
process.

That you can find. In our website. Which is released at the season.

There is a season for it. Right now. We are going to have the next
contact training session.

In July. And for that reason the application is closed. So for those
that are interested.

Information will be passed around. Next time the application is made
available. You will need to fill the application.

And you will need to be interviewed. And you will need to be admitted.
Before you can come in.

It is as simple as that. That is all. We are grateful for that.

At this time. I would like to bring somebody in from Lagos. He is going
to share with us.

Another arm of this battle. And the strategy that God is asking us to
adopt. In making sure that these are young men.

They fulfill their destiny. And become the answer to their generation.
Are you ready for us? Thank you.

Thank you very much. As we continue to learn. Of the great principle.

God has revealed to us to conquer the world. Which is the principle of
the new Christian life. Which we have been learning and growing in.

It has come to us. The life of Jesus is not just. To transcend.

To the marketplace. We are convinced. That this move of God is
unstoppable.

And according to. Everywhere the river flows into. There will be
healing.

All the challenges in our society. We already know the healing solution
is available. The leadership of the work.

Has been burdened by the Lord. And commissioned to see specific
solutions. That will transform the world.

And so was. Price. Peace House research and innovation center.

Of excellence. Price objective. Is to raise young people.

That will through research and innovation. By the power of the Holy
Spirit. Transform their world.

In practical terms. So as in imagined countries. Africa and other
countries of the world.

Infrastructure problems. Farming problems. And all areas of human
endeavors.

We have seen that the same life of Jesus. That is going to take us to
heaven. Is also able to replenish the health.

And so it is high time to connect. With the bread on the table of the
Lord. And not just leave the crumbs.

For the unbelievers to gather. So we are much more convinced now. That
it is time to carry the new Christian man.

To innovate. In order to replenish. And give solutions to the problems
ravaging the world.

Price was born for this cause. Price is just like. That is specifically
focused.

On innovation and technological breakthroughs. That will affect every
human endeavor. The history of price.

That the Lord began to do a kind of. Incubation system. Where we have
young people.

Who are led by their teachers. Begin to innovate. And they have
innovated things around healthcare.

We have things like. Ventilation system. Enclaves.

We have things like visually impaired technology device. To be able to
help the people who are blind. We have things like.

Produlence challenges. We have things that detect. Even road challenges.

Transportation problems. And very, very amazing things. That are being
done.

Even the PHD holders are amazed to see. With a lot of international
award. by global foundation, local companies and all around us.

We see that if God could do this, with just a few young people, then
he's ready also to do it to solve national and continental problems. So
to that end, we are seeing prize being launched in order to raise young
people for extensive research and innovation that will bring practical
solutions to the needs of the world and thereby show them Jesus. Because
Jesus has the answer to all human problems.

In him is life and the life is the life of man and everything that we
require is right there in Christ Jesus. How do you get into prize? Prize
originally designed to be used of technology, mechatronics, mathematics
and STEM courses to drive innovation. So those who are eligible for
prize will be people with science background, technology background,
engineering background, mathematics, statistics, which we call the STEM
courses in the first instance.

And it's going to run for a minimum of two year period intensive camp
institutes, where we are innovating, we are researching under the
auction of the Holy Spirit to bring practical solution to the problems
of our nations, to the problem in our various communities and that will
become very evident within a short time. We're going to be covering
healthcare, we're going to be covering agriculture, we're going to be
covering every area that will enable us to be able to conquer immediate
problems, particularly of Africa and then to the other parts of the
world. We believe that Colossians chapter two verse three will be
fulfilled in our time, that in Christ I eat all the treasures and all
the wisdom of God to bring solution to all human problems because in
Christ is all that we need, Christ in us the hope of glory.

Admission into prize, for every young person that require admission is
going to be applied on the website of livingseed.org,
www.livingseed.org, application will be posted and you can apply. If you
have that background, you must have finished your university, it's
applicable to university graduate up to PhD and you are willing to spend
two years intensive training and research in an research environment in
Goko and we're going to of course go through necessary interview process
and you're ready to bend your neck to carry something much, much bigger
than you have ever seen before. Jesus is set to conquer the world and
through the preaching of the gospel and practical solution, evidence
through the research outputs that God is going to be bringing.

From now on we are seeing missions, no longer just in rural areas, no
longer just in preaching the gospel by mere preaching but through
practical solutions that God's people are innovating and are bringing to
solve world problems. The Lord bless you as you apply to Christ in Jesus
name. Amen.

Thank you very much. That's the question before you go, I want to ask is
the center for innovation currently existing or is this still a future
project? When will you be ready to take on students? Thank you very much
sir. Christ already exists today and the center is in Bethany Resorts,
Goko.

We are going to begin to take in fresh students against July admission.
The first set of students that will be in price for these two years
intensive training will be admitted in July this year. All right, thank
you.

Over to you brother Charles. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you.

Quite a lot of ground to cover. We must now move on to some of the other
implements that God has given us to fight this battle globally. Now we
have some materials that I'll quickly want to flash across the board and
Brian Landry would do that for us.

Now the first set of materials are the different versions of the battle
for the young book itself and the various languages. So if you just help
us to flash them so that all over the world, you might as well know
whether you already have your language or your country. And if God is
also touching you to translate, it's quite an enormous work.

Yes, we have the, okay, the versions. Thank you, sir. Okay, so the first
version there is the one that is a payload for the African countries.

As you can see there, the outlook on the cover. Then you have the Europe
version. That's the one that is moving around UK, US and Canada and
several of those countries, as you can see by the cover concept.

Then the Portuguese version is been out for many years now since 2014
and is widely working on. Thank you, sir. After the Portuguese version,
you have the Spanish version.

You have battle for the young in Spanish. Then we have the French,
battle for the young in French. Thank you.

Go on, sir. Then battle for the young in Arabic. Arabic version is on.

So those of us that are in the Middle East and some of those areas, you
can contact us, the bookshop on how to get there. Then, sorry, the
battle for the young in Russia. And then the one in Pakistan.

Sorry, we have one also in Romania, but I'm sorry, we don't have the
copy of that to flash to you. So now this book is our primary weapon for
evangelism, for reaching out, for cutting down and confronting the
deceptions in the hearts and in the mind of several of those young
people. Now it has worked so effectively.

Maybe if I highlight the other materials and I'll come back to within
the next few minutes that I have, come back to some of the places and
how we have used these materials effectively. Now, going along this
material are some other materials that help us to consolidate, that help
us to deal with specific areas and aspects of these young lives. Now,
when we confront people with the need for them to encounter the Lord in
their youth and enter into God's purpose for their life, it immediately
leaves us with the matter of follow-up.

And one quick implement that God has given us for that, number one is
the New Beginning, a very small booklet that instantly, even if you have
just a very few minutes to relate with a soul, with a young person, you
can quickly give the booklet to him. We try to make sure that it's
affordable. And many times, at least it's free.

We have a lot of free copies of it. And even if you need to pick it for
anything, I'm sure it can be more than 10 era or 15 era at most. So that
material is in two parts.

Even if you didn't have enough time or for some reason, you can't sit
down to go through it with any convert. If you go to the part two of it,
it gives quick instruction on what a soul can easily, you know, how you
can find help. Talks about the issue of the word of God, the prayer, the
fellowship and the discipleship arrangement that these quick
instructions for the souls to move on with.

But when we do have opportunity to follow the soul, what we immediately
want to confront the soul with is another book called God's Commitment
to You. It's a very short, but very powerful, comprehensive insight into
the Nehemiah itself, the mystery of the gospel itself, how Jesus Christ
has dealt with the issue of the old man, how it must be Christ living
and moving in us. All of that in that small book, you will find it.

Liz, can you flash that? Okay, it's all right. The God's Commitment to
You. Especially if you want to go straight to deal with the root of any
man's problem, which is the heart.

Normally what I do is that once I meet a soul and is ready to give me
attention, I immediately go to chapter three of that book is dealing
with a new heart. And in that book, you will find all the provisions,
all that Jesus has made available to deal with the old man, which is the
critical obstacle in any person's life in becoming what God wants him to
be. Now, after the God's Commitment to You, as a young man, you would
like to give them other life examples for them to follow.

I will do flash the journey into your vision. The journey into your
vision is another biblical life example of those who have walked in this
path. The story and the life of Joseph is written in such a way that you
could almost think that Joseph was your classmate, the way it is
presented there, but it is articulating for us all the principles, all
that every child of God, every young person needs to go through in the
hands of God.

It brought out the issue of God's divine disciplinary dealings, the
issue of discipleship, the issue of dying in order to live, the issue of
victory over self and victory over the old man and the old nature. You
can find that all exemplified in the story of Joseph. Now, after that,
we have some other materials like Knowing God's Will for Your Life and
Handling Your Thoughts.

As young men, the issue of loss is quite a big matter. It's a
battleground for the young people. So Handling Your Thoughts provides a
first aid material to which you can quickly sit with any young life who
is going through that struggle in order to handle that.

But I don't think we have the digital version of that now. Handling Your
Thoughts is another big implement. Then you have another book, though
it's in collaboration with some brothers across Europe, they escaped the
trap.

We don't have a digital version of that, but you will come across it
from time to time. It's a little booklet like Battle for the Young, but
this time it deals with the issue of pornography and sexual lust and
internet sex and all of that. And it's such a very simple, it's really
very colorful.

So you can also ask for that in our bookshelves. Many times we have them
to give out free. We actually give them out free when we have them.

And there's another material there, Dynamics. Please bring our Dynamics.
Now this actually, after going through that chapter we just read or that
new book, you may want to find out more on how do you go about
fulfilling discovery, fulfilling God's purpose for your life.

This book, we handle that for any young man. And you can't be doing any
discipleship. You can't be training any young man.

You can't be relating with any young man without confronting him or her
with the issue of fulfilling the reason why he was born. And this book
articulates for us the very key things that once God helps you, you are
able to watch out for them. And of course, the last chapter of that book
deals with the issue of the viruses you must run away from.

As a young man, you want to fulfill God's purpose for your life. Now,
after that, yes, Dynamics. All of these are available.

If you go to the centers at the depot and the store, you'll be able to
lay your hands on this material. Now they work together. If I have time,
I would have explained.

Now, this book, Finding the Bone of Your Bones is a very critical book.
It deals with that major part in any young man's life, the issue of
relationship and marriage, which has become a very big stumbling block
and the mighty weapon in the hands of Satan to put many great people who
would have been great for the Lord. Now, it gives us at this critical
stage of your life, all that you need to do, all you need to know.

I wish I could just read chapter two of that book for you. It's amazing.
No, even chapter one.

Now, I have used chapter one to reach out to win several young girls who
would ordinarily not have come to Christ. I wish I could just read that
chapter one for you. You know, it's a bit that you cannot ignore as a
young boy, as a young girl.

It helps you to answer a very big matter in your heart. And I want you
to please go through it and the several other principles that could help
you to discover and to marry properly and make sure you escape the trap
of the devil. Now, those materials, they are there, they work together.

They are integrated, they are cumulative. See, they give you the next
step. Now, you have seen this, he leads me.

Now, what you want to quickly see is how do we use these materials to
reach out to the young people? Those of us that God is laying this body
on our heart and young people, yourselves, how do you use it? Apart from
going through it, apart from articulating it. Now, those books
themselves, they are hooks for reaching out to other young men and
women. Of course, one-on-one evangelism, you can do that.

We have done that severally. It's very powerful too. You put that in a
person's hand and if he or she reads the book, I assure you that you'll
never be the same.

But many times you can read it with a person. I've done that several
times. Sometimes I sit with a person and I just ask that we read a book
together.

And by the time you just reach up one, dealing with the issue of regret,
before you know it, the person is sober and is willing many times to
make a turn and make a commitment to the Lord. Now, you can do that with
subgroups. What we have been doing of recent is that we have been
experimenting and we've been seeing how God has, in mercy, given us a
tool to reach out to these several lives.

Amongst students, one of my blessed sister, who has gone to be with the
Lord, she works in the federal government college. One of the things she
does yearly, you know, during this time when students want to fill YF
form, they want to read, write, jam. You know, one of the questions in
their heart is what do I feel? Which university should I go to? What
course should I read? And all of that.

She uses that opportunity to organize a career talk for the whole
school, sometimes a full weekend. And these materials are the implement
you use. These materials in your hands, workshop materials, I want to
counsel you, they are part of the implement for this.

They are so relevant, so useful. Those workshops you are seeing, those
seminar papers, academic excellence, vocational excellence, you will do
well to keep them. And many times we have used them to call meetings,
short-term trainings, or groups, even community youths.

Sometimes we go about even higher associations. We have met them, we
have proposed trainings for them. Those are the materials that we use
for them.

You can do that in your place of work, among some youth groups,
subgroups. You can use that as a bait in order for you to share with
them the issues of the Battle for the Young and to lead them to Christ.
Okay, you can see some of our own little efforts there, engaging people
in the streets with Battle for the Young.

Some of them are so ideal, especially this period. You see them sitting
for hours. Sir, can you flag the second one, sir? Thank you.

The one on sports. Now, this is very critical, especially now that FIFA
is boasting that over 500 million people are involved in soccer all over
the world. A lot of our young men are into football and sports.

Some of them that are not playing actively in the club, they are in the
football houses. They are inside the cinema, those small, small cubicles
where they are watching Manchester and all of that. Now, what we have
done that have worked effectively is to move from club to club.

Sometimes by donating a little football, they suddenly make us patrons
of the football club. Look at what we are doing here. This is a football
club, Nanette Football Club in Boko that I'm almost like one of their
patrons with Peter Key.

And all it did was just to, one day just contribute with one other
sister. We got the football for them. So we can try that out.

Several of those football clubs, yes, that are springing up all over the
places. There are so many of them. We can begin to endow some of them.

Sometimes you can decide to sponsor a tournament for a local government.
You know, it gives you access to these young people. They are looking
for people that can show them direction, people that can tell them how
they can win and how they can go far and all of that.

So that's a very big feat for us. The area of sports is a very big for,
like I just told you before, our brethren in Benin, we just mobilized
and we were effectively present at the, just concluded the Nigerian
Sports Festival in the Benin, at the Obe Stadium. They were there with
Battle for the Youngs and the Lord helped them.

And it was a very good outing. We have gone to Nougat Games. We have
even gone to the World Cup in Brazil.

And this is part of our trip. Now, look at this. I'll come back to this
later.

This is quite interesting. This happened in Brazil. This was one
strategy that the Lord gave us.

We went to a church and they were so affected in a state in Brazil that
before I know it, the pastor of that church went and mobilized all the
Christians in that city, all the associations and everything. And we did
a march past, you know, all the way through the town with a big vehicle
like this, you know, making noise and distributing tracts and preaching.
Of course, it was a glorious day, as you can see on that big vehicle.

We have also tried that here in Nigeria, in Benin State. You can use
this to train church leaders. The one you have on the screen is a
meeting we had with some church leaders in Brazil, you know, youth
group, fellowship groups, you know, training them on how to reach out to
young ones.

You can see me sitting there among some youths. I was almost becoming a
young person there. When we went there, you know, opportunities, because
those books are the instructions for the hour.

You just need to present. Sometimes you need to just give it an
introduction or write a letter of intent and just present to the
leadership. We have used these materials for inductions, pharmaceutical
inductions, even for call to bar.

I remember when one of our daughters here was called to bar. We went
there with Battle for the Young, and it was a wonderful time. We went
there sharing Battle for the Young among those young lawyers, and it was
quite exciting.

And many of them have called back to tell us how they were blessed by
the gifts we gave to them. And of course, street area boys, it doesn't
cost you anything to sit and just prepare a meal. In preparation for
this SEIKU, what we did in my local area was we approached the community
youth leaders.

And with a little promise that we are going to serve them with
refreshment, provide a little meal, they gathered, were able to mobilize
them for the SEIKU. It's effective. You just need to go there, show
intention that you want to see them and that you are ready to give them
some little refreshment for their sitting down.

And the same thing with the bike association, higher unions. Once you
can meet their leadership, because of the very short time I'm trying to
round up, I'm going to hand over to Larry who is going to tidy up for
us. So we fight the Battle for the Young in all those aspects.

Going to targets, using it as a graduation package. Like I said, many
times we have used it for even pharmaceutical inductions. We have
approached the institutions and tell them we have this gift to give to
these pharmacies that are going to be inducted.

And they have to patiently allowed us. Sometimes they give us 10
minutes, five minutes. And it's wonderful.

You know, it's an opportunity to place this book on the hands of these
young ones that they are joining in life. Birthday parties are another
opportunity for us. And one of the places where we have used it also is
the NYSE camps, parade grounds.

I remember we had such a breakthrough that in the NYSE camp, early in
the morning, during the parade, both with the other religions and
everything, the camp commandant was so bold and asked us to come in that
he thinks that everybody needs to read this book. And they gave us some
minutes at the parade ground to introduce the book and distribute to the
whole camp because those books themselves, they meet the needs of every
human being, irrespective of your religion. It's not a religious book.

It's a book about life. You should be very bold and courageous about it.
I'm going to stop at that point.

But just to note that we want to move into the virtual world. Of recent,
I was reading a research report that claims that almost every youth all
over the world spends four hours on movies every day. That's quite a
month.

So that's another platform with which we need to encounter those young
men. And it's true. You just need to look at our young ones.

They have devices. They move from one series to another. So that's
another world.

God intends that we should enter into the movies, into the virtual,
cartoons, 3D animations, some of those things that captivates them.
Those are opportunities for us to present these truths. And if the Lord
is steering your heart towards that, some of us may already, by divine
arrangement and providence, by the course that God has led you through,
you may already have been having competencies for that.

And if you feel the Lord is leading you, you will do let us know, as
part of your discipleship, how God can guide you into all of that, to
use that as a platform to wage this battle for the Lord. Okay, thank
you. For now, let me pause.

Bralare, please. Thank you very much, brother. And we have overshot our
time, so I'm not going to say more.

Just to mention that all of these books that we have showcased today,
they are available in all our bookshops nationwide and outside the
country. We have shipped some to several of the countries. If it has not
reached your country, just be patient, we will get it across to you.

Then to also mention that a soft copy of all of these books are
available on Amazon at the cheapest possible that they will allow us to
put it there. We'll put them there. Battle for the Young is there.

We had to put a cost because they insisted we must put a cost on it. But
on our website, you can get Battle for the Young, the soft copy, free of
charge. You just download them from our website.

Battle for the Young, Your New Beginning, they are all available on PDF
for free because we intend for you to use them for evangelism and for
follow-up of these young people. Just to also mention that if you want
to get some of these materials on bulk, the bookshop normally gives some
discounts, which are available. Even the prices that we have put on
them, Battle for the Young has been adopted.

Battle for the Young and Your New Beginning, we adopted them as our
ministry books. So we produce them and sell them at much lower prices
than even the cost of production. Deliberately, we are believing God
that God will keep supplying our needs and we'll be keep pushing these
materials out.

That will be probably all that I would like to add to it. Just contact
the Charles or any of us in the Boko if you are interested in some of
these books and we'll get it. We are working to make sure all our books
are on Amazon.

We're even working to make sure they are available. We found out that
it's not so easy to reach Amazon from the African countries because of
our reputation. So we are working to put these books also on our website
and some of the book software companies that are being developed in
Nigeria.

If you will allow me to just pray with us, except that Charles still has
anything to do, I will pray with us. We are going to go into our various
local centers for 20 to 25 minutes. You will sit down in your centers
and try to discuss what are you going to immediately do about this
Battle for the Young? What is our center? What is our locality going to
launch into? Are we planning to do a match pass? Do we want to acquire
these books in bulk and distribute on the campuses? Do we want to have
our own Battle for the Young? I want you to sit down together and
discuss very quickly.

I will pray with you. Gracious father, we have done the best that we can
do as human beings, as you have led us, provided these materials. Some
of the authors, our dear elder has sat down overnight to put some of
these materials together.

People have labored over them in proofreading, typesetting, in printing,
in all of these things. People who have given their lives to you full
time doing this and bringing these materials to be. Father, we plead
with you that these materials will not rot on our shelves.

They will not rot in the stores. They will not rot even in the hands of
people who buy them. You will give these books wings.

They will fly from hand to hand, from device to device, from desktop to
desktop, from station to station. They will go to places where we cannot
go to. We consider them as the unaccompanied missionaries.

Father, give strength to them, give wings to them, give mobility to
these materials all over the world. Let them go behind iron curtains
where men are not allowed to go in. We ask you to do this for us in the
name of Jesus.

And as they go, Father, let there be impartations. Let there be
encounters. Let there be dealings.

Let men come to submit their lives at your feet as they look at these
materials and read them. Please, we ask you to do that for us in the
name of Jesus. And as we sit down to discuss our various strategies,
please bring wisdom, bring inspiration.

Lord, add even into the sentence what we have not been able to speak
about. At the end of it all, may the young people pour a mass into the
kingdom of God. Thank you because we know you have heard us.

We worship and exalt your name. In Jesus' mighty name, we are praying.
Amen.

Amen. Amen.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/gbile-akanni/engaging-the-battle-for-the-young/
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