Empty And Void 1 by Apostle Femi Lazarus: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

God Is Not a Nigerian

The concept of God most people carry has been shaped by the kind of father they grew up with, the culture they were raised in, and the pain they have absorbed from their environment. For many in Nigeria, the image of a father is one of harshness, unpredictability, or disappointment. That image gets projected onto God. If your idea of who God is has been formed by dysfunction, then your idea of who God is may actually be dysfunctional.

The way someone who grew up in a stable, resourced environment perceives God is measurably different from how someone raised in constant scarcity and pain perceives him. The innocence of the latter's heart is noticeable. The suspicion built into the former is equally noticeable — a reflex, formed not by theology but by survival.

Losses, breakups, betrayal, debt, being scammed, being forgotten, being rejected — all of these change a person. And before long, what remains is not what was designed. It is what survived.

Christianity Was Never Meant to Be a Tool for Maintaining Injustice

There is a place in Ghana — a dungeon where enslaved people were held in chains, hands and feet bound, men and women naked. Above that dungeon, built directly on top of it, is a church.

If Christianity is not properly understood, it will be recruited as a tool that maintains injustice — promising people heaven while their time on earth is destroyed.

The powers that have historically governed the earth understand that religion can maintain balance. Promise people heaven. Keep them pacified. In the meantime, take everything else.

This is why the church must recover its understanding of the kingdom. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:9-10, he said: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." There is a dimension that is about going to heaven. There is also a dimension that is about bringing heaven to earth. These are not in competition. Both are real. And the church has largely abandoned the second one.

Peace Is Not the Same as Freedom

Peace can exist within bondage. It is possible to be comfortable and captive at the same time. Peace is not freedom. A person who has no plans that challenge any system will never have their peace disturbed — but they are also not free.

The moment a person decides to do something significant — to contest, to lead, to speak, to challenge the structures that hold people down — peace becomes a luxury. Opposition rises. That is the litmus test that confirms something real is being touched.

The church has historically gathered people who could challenge systems — bright, capable, spiritually sensitive people — and given them nowhere else to go. They cluster together, say amen, attend services, and graduate into the next service. From start to finish of their lives, they are not a threat to any system. They have peace, but they are not free.

The Foundations of the Earth Are Out of Course

Psalms 82:1-5

"God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods. How long will he judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; rid them out of the hand of the wicked."

Then the consequence: "They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course."

The reason the foundations are shaking is not because God is absent. It is because those who were supposed to defend the poor, do justice to the afflicted, and deliver the needy have walked on in darkness — unaware, uninvolved, relinquishing their duty.

What the Church Is Supposed to Be

Two hours of tongues will not replace capacity. Healing is supposed to flow from the people of God — not as performance, but as function. The ability to come near someone and perceive what they need is supposed to be active, not dormant.

The reason so many layers of armor have been built around the average believer is that the environment demands it. Every new person is a potential threat. The instinct to suspect is formed by constant exposure to disappointment. And yet worship offered from that guarded, fractured place — carrying the weight of all that has happened — struggles to break through.

Pure streams flow when things are broken open honestly. An atmosphere does not change because a person performs. It changes when something real is released.

What God Actually Wants

Amos 5:21-24

"I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I am sick of your fundraising schemes, your public relations and image making. I've had all I can take of your noisy ego music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice — oceans of it. I want fairness — rivers of it. That's what I want. That's all I want."

That is Christianity. That is the kind that can change a nation.

God is not happy when people suffer. It breaks his heart. The imbalance of justice — some people with more than they could spend in a hundred lifetimes while others cannot afford emergency medical care — is not something God is neutral about. The foundations of the earth are laid on the pillars of his righteousness and justice. Where those are held up by his people, there is peace. Where they are abandoned, things collapse.

Deuteronomy 8:18 — "But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant."

Wealth is not about cars. It is about justice on the face of the earth. When the lens shifts from "what will I eat and drink" to "who can I lift," insight arrives at a different level — not the level of a beneficiary, but the level of a lifter. God gives divine assistance at the level of what a person is ready for.

Father, let the things that break your heart begin to break ours. Where we have settled for peace in the place of freedom, wake us up. Let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven — not as a phrase, but as a commission we actually carry. Use us. We want justice — the kind that flows like oceans. We want fairness — rivers of it. That is what you want. Let it be what we want too.