Latest / Apostle Joshua Selman / A WISE MASTERBUILDER
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Recognition of something. Let's welcome Apostle Joshua Sell. Hallelujah. Blessed
- 0:20Speaker 1: be the name of the Lord. Good morning everyone. Please
- 0:26Speaker 1: walk up to one or two people. And tell them
- 0:30Speaker 1: God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Speak
- 0:34Speaker 1: over their lives. God bless you. Are you blessing someone?
- 0:39Speaker 1: God bless you. In the name of Jesus. Pastor Poggio,
- 0:50Speaker 1: thank you. Thank you so much, sir. And a big
- 0:52Speaker 1: congratulations for 30 years of impact. I think we should
- 0:58Speaker 1: celebrate the Lord for his good hand upon Pastor Poggio
- 1:03Speaker 1: and the Covenant Nation. I sincerely celebrate with this ministry
- 1:08Speaker 1: and I honor the grace of God upon his life
- 1:11Speaker 1: and upon this vision. And it's a great honor to
- 1:16Speaker 1: be sharing God's word like I'll be doing now. And
- 1:19Speaker 1: so thank you so much for you and your dear wife.
- 1:21Speaker 1: The Lord bless you and honor you in Jesus' name.
- 1:25Speaker 2: Please be seated, everyone. Please be seated, everyone. I have
- 1:36Speaker 2: a few things.
- 1:37Speaker 1: That I'll be sharing very briefly. And I'm happy to
- 1:42Speaker 1: know that this is a session for pastors and leaders.
- 1:47Speaker 1: And so we'll rub minds together for a few minutes
- 1:50Speaker 1: and trust God to give us wisdom. I'm hoping in
- 1:54Speaker 1: the name of Jesus that what we'll be hearing, in
- 1:56Speaker 1: addition to that which we have heard, will further equip
- 2:00Speaker 1: us and prepare us to be very efficient, first in
- 2:04Speaker 1: the ministry and then in every endeavor where we have
- 2:09Speaker 1: been called. So, Father, we pray that you'll grant us wisdom.
- 2:13Speaker 1: We look up to you. We obtain grace. Let your
- 2:16Speaker 1: word come with power. Let it transform us. Our hearts
- 2:20Speaker 1: are open. We are willing to learn. We are willing
- 2:23Speaker 1: to unlearn. We are willing to relearn. Grant us wisdom.
- 2:27Speaker 1: Wisdom that works in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen
- 2:33Speaker 1: and amen. Okay, so we'll be discussing a few things.
- 2:37Speaker 1: I'll be teaching on the wise or a wise master builder.
- 2:44Speaker 1: A wise master builder in honor to these 30 years
- 2:49Speaker 1: of God's hand upon his servant and this ministry. I
- 2:55Speaker 1: just thought to share a few things that will really
- 2:59Speaker 1: challenge our hearts. And I pray that God will help
- 3:01Speaker 1: us in Jesus' name. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 10.
- 3:06Speaker 1: A wise master builder. Paul is speaking and he said,
- 3:11Speaker 1: according to the grace of God which is given unto
- 3:14Speaker 1: me as a wise master builder. He says, I have
- 3:19Speaker 1: laid the foundation and another builder thereon. But let every
- 3:24Speaker 1: man take heed how he builded thereupon. You believe that?
- 3:30Speaker 1: Say loud amen. The first thing I want us to
- 3:34Speaker 1: know in charging our hearts this morning is Is that
- 3:40Speaker 1: as believers. Please lend me your attention now. As believers.
- 3:44Speaker 1: And more importantly ministers of the gospel. The Bible tells
- 3:49Speaker 1: us that we are co-laborers with God. 1 Corinthians 3
- 3:55Speaker 1: and verse 9. We are co-laborers with God. Very simple
- 3:59Speaker 1: expression but it's very profound. My life changed when I
- 4:02Speaker 1: came into this recognition. That a man can be a co-laborer.
- 4:07Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 3. And verse 9, the Bible says we
- 4:11Speaker 1: are co-laborers. Laborers together with God. Not laborers together with angels,
- 4:19Speaker 1: laborers together with God. Isn't this amazing? That God can
- 4:24Speaker 1: do without us, yet in his wisdom he's left out
- 4:28Speaker 1: a space as though limited. It then means that if
- 4:32Speaker 1: you have this revelation, you know that you count as
- 4:36Speaker 1: far as God's prophetic program is concerned. You count. You
- 4:39Speaker 1: are not just a number. You are a collaborator with God.
- 4:44Speaker 1: In Matthew 16 and verse 18, Jesus was speaking and
- 4:47Speaker 1: he said, I will build my church. And on hearing
- 4:51Speaker 1: that statement, you would think it was a statement that
- 4:55Speaker 1: absolutely meant I don't need any man. I can do
- 4:58Speaker 1: it alone. But now Paul is bringing perspective. He's saying,
- 5:01Speaker 1: although Jesus said he will build his church, But that
- 5:06Speaker 1: pragmatically speaking, in that business of building men, we are
- 5:11Speaker 1: co-laborers with God. Are we together now? It's the first
- 5:15Speaker 1: thought that I want to bring this morning. That as
- 5:19Speaker 1: believers generally, when it has to do with kingdom advance,
- 5:23Speaker 1: we are co-laborers. But as ministers of the gospel, the
- 5:26Speaker 1: Bible says we are co-laborers with God. Number two, the
- 5:31Speaker 1: second thought that I want to bring this morning is
- 5:34Speaker 1: found in Ephesians chapter 3. We'll read from verse 14
- 5:38Speaker 1: to 19. Profound statement. Ephesians chapter 3. For this cause
- 5:45Speaker 1: I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord
- 5:47Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Reading to 19. Next verse please. Of whom
- 5:54Speaker 1: the whole family in heaven and earth is named. That
- 6:00Speaker 1: he would grant unto you. Paul is praying now. According
- 6:04Speaker 1: to the riches of his glory. To be strengthened with
- 6:07Speaker 1: might by his spirit in the inner man. He says
- 6:11Speaker 1: that Christ. Pay attention now please. That Christ may dwell
- 6:15Speaker 1: in your heart by faith. And that ye being rooted
- 6:20Speaker 1: and grounded in love. May be able to comprehend with
- 6:25Speaker 1: all the saints. What is the breadth, the length. The
- 6:29Speaker 1: depth and the height. Let's read verse 19 together. Ready? One, two, go.
- 6:35Speaker 1: And to know the love of Christ which surpassed all
- 6:39Speaker 1: knowledge and that ye might be filled with all the
- 6:44Speaker 1: fullness of... Paul is praying now. And he reveals to
- 6:50Speaker 1: us through his prayer that in as much as we
- 6:53Speaker 1: are co-laborers with God, we are not given the liberty
- 6:57Speaker 1: to decide how to build men. There is a standard.
- 7:01Speaker 1: Are we together now? And that there is already a
- 7:04Speaker 1: standard that God desires that all men become a reflection
- 7:09Speaker 1: of what Paul calls the fullness of God. Very ambitious statement.
- 7:15Speaker 1: Very generous description. How can a man become an expression,
- 7:20Speaker 1: a reflection of the fullness of God? Paul is praying now.
- 7:27Speaker 1: In as much as we are co-laborers with God, it
- 7:30Speaker 1: doesn't give us the liberty to build anyhow or decide
- 7:34Speaker 1: or freelance our method. There is a standard. So he
- 7:38Speaker 1: goes further to let us know that there is an
- 7:41Speaker 1: expectation in the mind of God. He buttresses on that
- 7:45Speaker 1: when we get to Ephesians chapter 4. Please pay attention
- 7:48Speaker 1: and I'll tie everything together. Ephesians chapter 4 from verse
- 7:51Speaker 1: 7 now. Reading from 7 to 13. So there is
- 7:56Speaker 1: a standard. It says, but unto every one of us
- 7:59Speaker 1: is given grace. Grace. Grace. According to the measure of
- 8:05Speaker 1: the gift of Christ. It says, wherefore he saith, When
- 8:10Speaker 1: he ascended up on high, he led captivity captives and
- 8:14Speaker 1: he gave gifts unto men. The word gift there does
- 8:20Speaker 1: not just mean talent or spiritual gift. He gave men
- 8:24Speaker 1: to men. He gave men as gift to men. Are
- 8:28Speaker 1: we together? He gave men to men. Next verse please.
- 8:33Speaker 1: He says, now he that ascended, you know, is the
- 8:36Speaker 1: same that descended to the lower parts of the earth.
- 8:39Speaker 1: And then verse 10, he says that he might feel
- 8:43Speaker 1: all things. Let's go to 11 now. We're reading to 13.
- 8:46Speaker 1: He gave some. Not all, some as gifts to men.
- 8:51Speaker 1: He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors
- 8:56Speaker 1: and teachers. It says for the perfecting. The word perfecting
- 9:02Speaker 1: there means the maturing of the saints. Are we together?
- 9:07Speaker 1: For the work of the ministering. Do we have it still? Alright, beautiful.
- 9:13Speaker 1: For the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
- 9:17Speaker 1: the body of Christ. If you are a believer, let's
- 9:19Speaker 1: shout verse 13 together. Ready? One, two, go. Till we
- 9:22Speaker 1: all come. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And unto the measure, there it
- 9:33Speaker 1: is again, of the stature of the fullness. That means...
- 9:41Speaker 1: God is so intentional about raising this bar. There is
- 9:45Speaker 1: a kind of believer he seeks to see. There is
- 9:49Speaker 1: a kind of believer who can serve his purposes to
- 9:53Speaker 1: his satisfaction. And the Bible begins to tell us all
- 9:57Speaker 1: the resources and the machineries that God... put together to
- 10:01Speaker 1: help make this goal a reality are we together that
- 10:04Speaker 1: he did not just stop at giving us that standard
- 10:07Speaker 1: he went as far as by a divine election of
- 10:11Speaker 1: grace selecting a few people and dealing with them in
- 10:15Speaker 1: such a unique manner So as to be able to
- 10:18Speaker 1: labor to present this peshi, this kind of believer that
- 10:23Speaker 1: will be a reflection of what the Bible calls the
- 10:27Speaker 1: fullness of God in chapter 3. And in chapter 4,
- 10:31Speaker 1: Paul calls it the measure of the stature of the
- 10:37Speaker 1: fullness of Christ. So the first thing I told us,
- 10:42Speaker 1: a quick recap, is that we are co-laborers with God.
- 10:46Speaker 1: Still remember? But that there is a standard. Please listen.
- 10:50Speaker 1: There is an expectation that God has and desires for
- 10:56Speaker 1: every believer to attain in terms of our spiritual growth.
- 11:00Speaker 1: And then for every man of God, there is an
- 11:03Speaker 1: expectation that In terms of those we raise. We are
- 11:07Speaker 1: not given liberty to just raise people as we think.
- 11:11Speaker 1: There is a standard. And you are not really in
- 11:14Speaker 1: ministry until you know that standard. Just because you have
- 11:19Speaker 1: a sincere heart. A good sermon. And the propensity for
- 11:23Speaker 1: integrity does not qualify you in truth. To be a minister.
- 11:28Speaker 1: A necessary requirement is that you must have that picture.
- 11:33Speaker 1: How many of you know that a lecturer does not
- 11:35Speaker 1: wonder what his students will become? Right from the first lecture,
- 11:39Speaker 1: he already has an idea of the kind of doctor
- 11:43Speaker 1: and sometimes they use images to paint the picture so
- 11:47Speaker 1: that as naive and confused as that doctor in training is,
- 11:51Speaker 1: he has an idea. Transformation is difficult without a reference.
- 11:56Speaker 1: There has to be a reference. You cannot become like nothing.
- 12:00Speaker 1: Are we together now? So the Bible says there is
- 12:03Speaker 1: a standard. Every man of God in training, in building,
- 12:08Speaker 1: in teaching, in pastoring, in discipling, it's important beyond learning
- 12:14Speaker 1: the sermon to preach, the series to take, you must
- 12:18Speaker 1: understand by the Spirit that as a collaborator with Christ,
- 12:22Speaker 1: I have a standard. There is a bar. Are we
- 12:25Speaker 1: together now? This becomes the basis for gauging your success
- 12:29Speaker 1: in ministry. Because if you do not understand God's expectation,
- 12:34Speaker 1: you will be tempted to use mundane parameters. Mundane parameters.
- 12:41Speaker 1: Mundane parameters. There is a standard. And the standard is
- 12:46Speaker 1: called the fullness of God. Please say after me, the
- 12:49Speaker 1: fullness of God. That is the standard. That means no
- 12:53Speaker 1: pastor is given the liberty to rest or necessarily clap
- 12:57Speaker 1: for yourself until we find imprinted upon the people you
- 13:01Speaker 1: are building. Until they cannot attain in experience what the
- 13:05Speaker 1: Bible calls the fullness of the stature of the measure
- 13:10Speaker 1: of Christ. Are we together? Galatians chapter 4 and verse
- 13:14Speaker 1: 19 says, Paul cried speaking over the Galatian church. He said,
- 13:20Speaker 1: my little children of whom I travail in birth. He
- 13:25Speaker 1: was speaking to people already saved. He says, again until
- 13:29Speaker 1: Christ be formed. The formation of Christ. Until Christ I travail,
- 13:36Speaker 1: I labor. Are we together? I will come and visit
- 13:41Speaker 1: you again. You would see the passion of Paul. Even
- 13:44Speaker 1: in prison, he was not bothered about his coming out.
- 13:47Speaker 1: He was still writing letters to warn them. That while
- 13:50Speaker 1: in prison, I'm hearing that there are deviations here. Shortly,
- 13:54Speaker 1: I'll be out of this place. And you believe me,
- 13:56Speaker 1: I'm coming back to you to correct certain things. It
- 14:00Speaker 1: seemed to me like this was the true north. the
- 14:03Speaker 1: focal point of Paul's ministry. He was not as interested
- 14:07Speaker 1: in fame. He was not as interested in visiting many churches.
- 14:11Speaker 1: His desire, this bar was what was before him to
- 14:15Speaker 1: produce in ordinary men the fullness of God and he
- 14:19Speaker 1: deployed every and all creativity whether it was letter, whether
- 14:23Speaker 1: it was a conference to settle their understanding, whether it
- 14:27Speaker 1: was training and mentorship of others. The goal was to
- 14:31Speaker 1: be able to produce in all believers the fullness of God.
- 14:35Speaker 1: Who is understanding so far? So that number one, we
- 14:38Speaker 1: are co-laborers with God. Many know that but the challenge
- 14:44Speaker 1: especially for ministers of the gospel is that we do
- 14:47Speaker 1: not even understand the reference, the bar. So everyone is
- 14:51Speaker 1: sincerely doing what he hopes to do. And so if
- 14:53Speaker 1: you ask an average pastor, what exactly are you trying
- 14:56Speaker 1: to produce? He tells you, I'm preaching the gospel. And
- 14:59Speaker 1: he's being sincere. Or he says, I'm raising a people.
- 15:02Speaker 1: And so for a long time, you would find members
- 15:05Speaker 1: loyal but not becoming anything. They do not even have
- 15:08Speaker 1: an idea of what they should become. Depending on who preaches...
- 15:13Speaker 1: Depending on who comes to the altar... Or depending on
- 15:17Speaker 1: the spiritual thoughts... That are a trend... The people are
- 15:20Speaker 1: like an amoeba... You know that creature called an amoeba...
- 15:23Speaker 1: They become anything... There is no form... There is no fashion...
- 15:27Speaker 1: There is no intention... In building the people... The programs
- 15:33Speaker 1: that constitute the sermons... Are largely freelance... As a result
- 15:38Speaker 1: of what is in vogue... Per time... Per season... Very dangerous... Unfortunately...
- 15:44Speaker 1: You see, the kind and the quality of believers that
- 15:47Speaker 1: are produced in any territory are a reflection of the
- 15:51Speaker 1: spiritual intelligence of the leaders that built them. You literally
- 15:57Speaker 1: can sample a people and use them as a report
- 16:02Speaker 1: card to assess the level of understanding and the level
- 16:07Speaker 1: of intelligence of the leaders that have molded them. Are
- 16:10Speaker 1: we together? So we are exploring a few things and
- 16:14Speaker 1: I'm saying that there is a standard. Please say there
- 16:17Speaker 1: is a standard. Say it again, there is a standard.
- 16:21Speaker 1: And that the standard is called the fullness of God.
- 16:24Speaker 1: The fullness of God. The fullness of God. The third
- 16:28Speaker 1: thing I want you to know is found in 1
- 16:30Speaker 1: Corinthians 3, where we got our text. It's a long
- 16:34Speaker 1: read and please be patient. I'll start from verse 1.
- 16:38Speaker 1: Verse 1, so that we'll put everything in context. 1
- 16:41Speaker 1: Corinthians 3, and... Verse 1. And I brethren. I could
- 16:47Speaker 1: not speak to you. As unto spiritual he says. But
- 16:51Speaker 1: as unto carnal. Even as babes in Christ. I have
- 16:56Speaker 1: fed you with milk. And not with meat. For hitherto
- 16:59Speaker 1: you were not able to bear it. Neither yet can ye.
- 17:03Speaker 1: Are ye now able to bear it. He was saying.
- 17:06Speaker 1: For ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among
- 17:10Speaker 1: you envies and strife. Listen carefully now. divisions he says
- 17:14Speaker 1: are ye not carnal and walk as men verse 4
- 17:18Speaker 1: for while one saith i am of paul and another
- 17:23Speaker 1: i am of apollos are ye not carnal follow the
- 17:27Speaker 1: discussion now who then is paul he says and who
- 17:31Speaker 1: is apollos but ministers by whom ye believed even as
- 17:37Speaker 1: the lord gave to every man Verse 6 now, I
- 17:40Speaker 1: have planted, he says, Apollo's water, but God gave the increase.
- 17:45Speaker 1: Let's stop here for a moment. Who gives increase? There
- 17:49Speaker 1: is no technology invented by the wisdom of man that
- 17:53Speaker 1: sustains the ability to bring increase in ministry if God
- 17:57Speaker 1: does not help men. I can tell you this. And
- 18:01Speaker 1: we need to be careful because in deploying all kinds
- 18:05Speaker 1: of ways, whether for church growth and the rest, and
- 18:07Speaker 1: I respect all of those things, Some of them have
- 18:09Speaker 1: been tested scientifically. Unfortunately, men are not animals. God gave
- 18:15Speaker 1: them a will. And if God does not touch the
- 18:18Speaker 1: heart of a man, there are times you can go
- 18:20Speaker 1: to the sea like Peter. Your boat is correct. Your
- 18:24Speaker 1: net is correct. The sea is where you will fish
- 18:28Speaker 1: and yet you will not catch fish. And there is
- 18:30Speaker 1: no explanation at all. It's not incompetence. There is a
- 18:34Speaker 1: God factor in this business of ministry. Only the size
- 18:38Speaker 1: of God. You can't use brain work. There is a
- 18:42Speaker 1: place for principles and diligence. But I can tell you,
- 18:45Speaker 1: there is a signature that only the hand of God
- 18:48Speaker 1: can write. And it's important we put this at the
- 18:51Speaker 1: back of our minds. Paul planted, please let's go back
- 18:55Speaker 1: to the scripture, Apollo's water, but God gave the increase.
- 19:01Speaker 1: God is giving someone increase. Increase in life, increase in
- 19:05Speaker 1: ministry in the name of Jesus. Next verse please, very quickly.
- 19:09Speaker 1: So neither then is he that planted anything, neither he
- 19:13Speaker 1: that watered, but God that giveth the increase. Verse 8.
- 19:18Speaker 1: Verse 8 now. Okay. Now he that planted and he
- 19:25Speaker 1: that watered are one. And every man shall receive his
- 19:29Speaker 1: own reward. Listen. According to his own labor. Verse 9.
- 19:34Speaker 1: For we are laborers together with God. I established that already.
- 19:38Speaker 1: Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building. Verse 10.
- 19:43Speaker 1: It says according to the grace of God which is
- 19:46Speaker 1: given to me as a wise master builder. I have
- 19:40Speaker 1: Verse 10. Verse 11. Verse 12. Other foundation can no
- 20:03Speaker 1: man lay than that which is laid. Which is Jesus Christ.
- 20:07Speaker 1: Verse 12. We'll stop at 13. Now. Listen please. If
- 20:12Speaker 1: any man build upon this foundation. Gold. So whatever you
- 20:17Speaker 1: build upon it. Is what determines the basis of your reward.
- 20:22Speaker 1: Christ is the cornerstone. But it says there are all
- 20:25Speaker 1: kinds of things that can be built on that foundation.
- 20:29Speaker 1: Please leave it for us. Gold. Silver. Precious stones. Wood. Hay.
- 20:39Speaker 1: And then stubble. Let me do 13 now. It says
- 20:44Speaker 1: every man's work. Shall be made manifest. For the day
- 20:51Speaker 1: shall declare it. Because it shall be revealed by fire.
- 20:57Speaker 1: And the fire shall try every man's work. What sort
- 21:01Speaker 1: it is. Who is understanding so far? That a time
- 21:04Speaker 1: is going to come in ministry. Where your work will
- 21:08Speaker 1: be tried by fire. And it will reveal. It's not
- 21:12Speaker 1: something you can hide. It will tell us the quality
- 21:15Speaker 1: of the investment you have been making. Christ is the
- 21:19Speaker 1: foundation of everything. Are we together? But that the quality
- 21:23Speaker 1: of what your ministry becomes. Please listen. Is whatever you ask.
- 21:28Speaker 1: Add to that cornerstone that some can add gold, some
- 21:32Speaker 1: can add silver, some can add wood, some can add hay.
- 21:37Speaker 1: And that eventually fire will come and try the quality
- 21:41Speaker 1: of what you have built. Are we together now? So
- 21:46Speaker 1: when you find out that there are people who don't
- 21:49Speaker 1: seem to have longevity of impact, it's not always a
- 21:53Speaker 1: demonic attack. It's just that there are times and seasons
- 21:59Speaker 1: within the span of their work ministry where their works
- 22:02Speaker 1: are tried and they would have been found wanting. And
- 22:06Speaker 1: let me tell you the truth. It is not only
- 22:08Speaker 1: Satan that takes. According to the parable of the talent,
- 22:12Speaker 1: God also collects from inefficiency and adds to efficiency. It
- 22:17Speaker 1: is how the economy of heaven works. So verify who
- 22:22Speaker 1: took what you lost. So that you don't bind and
- 22:24Speaker 1: cast in ignorance. There are times that it is God
- 22:28Speaker 1: himself for his namesake. Is it not in your Bible?
- 22:32Speaker 1: He gave unto one five. He gave two. He gave one.
- 22:36Speaker 1: He gave to all of them. But what they added
- 22:39Speaker 1: on what he gave was what he judged them based on.
- 22:41Speaker 1: This is what Paul is saying. That Christ is that cornerstone.
- 22:45Speaker 1: But whatever you add on that building... A day will come,
- 22:49Speaker 1: fire will come to test it. The kind of people
- 22:52Speaker 1: you have raised. Are we together now? And I can
- 22:55Speaker 1: tell you sincerely, this is a pastor's conference, so I'm
- 22:58Speaker 1: at liberty to say a few things. Many of us
- 23:01Speaker 1: need to go back and re-examine whether the kind of
- 23:05Speaker 1: work we are doing will have longevity. We are celebrating
- 23:08Speaker 1: 30 years. I hope you know that 30 years old
- 23:11Speaker 1: anything is old enough. A 30-year-old fool needs a miracle.
- 23:18Speaker 1: He doesn't need prayer. He needs a miracle. A complete miracle.
- 23:22Speaker 1: If you are 30 years and you have been working
- 23:25Speaker 1: in wisdom, you have gained some experience. Am I right
- 23:28Speaker 1: on that? Yes. Longevity. There is a way, I wrote here,
- 23:35Speaker 1: God designed that men be built. Please listen. Please listen.
- 23:40Speaker 1: Please listen, dear laborers in the gospel. There is a
- 23:43Speaker 1: way that God designed that men be built. There is
- 23:48Speaker 1: a way that men need to be built in order
- 23:52Speaker 1: to be matured and useful vessels. This must be every
- 23:58Speaker 1: minister's approach in raising men. Now listen, the degree of
- 24:04Speaker 1: compliance to that model is what makes a man of
- 24:08Speaker 1: God a wise master builder or otherwise. When you are
- 24:13Speaker 1: called a wise master builder, it is with reference to
- 24:17Speaker 1: the degree of compliance to that model. Are we together? Now,
- 24:21Speaker 1: there are many estates in Lagos. And how many of
- 24:25Speaker 1: you know, some of you are in real estate here
- 24:27Speaker 1: I believe. When you carve out an acre of land
- 24:30Speaker 1: or some acres of land, you earmark them to be built.
- 24:33Speaker 1: And many times, some estates insist on uniformity of buildings.
- 24:38Speaker 1: Am I right? You buy the land, but you are
- 24:41Speaker 1: not given the liberty to build what you want. The
- 24:44Speaker 1: condition is that you can buy your land, use whatever engineer,
- 24:49Speaker 1: but you have to receive the architecture from the owners
- 24:52Speaker 1: of the estate. So you can find five buildings looking
- 24:56Speaker 1: the same, but built by different engineers. What brought the
- 24:59Speaker 1: consistency of results is not the engineer, it's compliance to
- 25:04Speaker 1: the architecture. That means I should see a believer in Lagos,
- 25:08Speaker 1: in Kaduna, in Ghana, and the difference should not be
- 25:12Speaker 1: too wide. The variety and species of believers we are
- 25:16Speaker 1: raising tell the degree of compliance or deviation to that pattern.
- 25:23Speaker 1: This is what God is helping us understand. Are we together?
- 25:26Speaker 1: That the same way you can see a professor of
- 25:31Speaker 1: medicine from, say, my degree, meeting with a professor of
- 25:36Speaker 1: medicine in Lagos, meeting with a professor of medicine in Johannesburg,
- 25:41Speaker 1: they can meet for the first time. And nobody would
- 25:44Speaker 1: doubt one another because there was a system that standardized
- 25:48Speaker 1: their practice. They literally can meet for the first time
- 25:51Speaker 1: in the theater and nobody is doubting another person's proficiency.
- 25:55Speaker 1: How come when you say believer A, believer B, you
- 25:59Speaker 1: are still not sure? It tells you that another kind
- 26:03Speaker 1: of architecture exists. that may not be part of the blueprint,
- 26:07Speaker 1: is what is being deployed. Do you understand this? It's
- 26:10Speaker 1: not about being good or bad. It's about compliance to
- 26:14Speaker 1: the standard. No wonder we have a lot of activities
- 26:18Speaker 1: that happen weekday, week in, but we do not find
- 26:21Speaker 1: that conformity to that standard called the fullness of the
- 26:26Speaker 1: measure of the stature of Christ. Who is understanding? This
- 26:30Speaker 1: is true. This is true. This is true. If I
- 26:34Speaker 1: see a believer who is part of the covenant nation faithfully,
- 26:39Speaker 1: genuinely connected, whether here or in the island or any
- 26:44Speaker 1: other expression, Even from an organizational standpoint, I expect a
- 26:49Speaker 1: similarity in belief systems. Some things should not shock you.
- 26:53Speaker 1: Are we together now? If it does, it becomes an
- 26:56Speaker 1: embarrassment to the investment of your pastor on you. Either
- 26:59Speaker 1: you are a, we call it in civil service, ghost worker.
- 27:03Speaker 1: So they are there, but they are not really there.
- 27:05Speaker 1: You understand? You know what I'm talking about? There are
- 27:08Speaker 1: people who are in the payroll, but they never show up.
- 27:10Speaker 1: Nobody knows who they are. This has been a bother
- 27:17Speaker 1: for me for a very long time. The kind and
- 27:20Speaker 1: the quality of believers. And sometimes we spiritualize our architecture.
- 27:26Speaker 1: It is still wrong. There is a standard. An intelligent
- 27:30Speaker 1: God would not design a program and leave it to
- 27:33Speaker 1: the personal creativity of people. No, there is a place
- 27:37Speaker 1: for creativity. But you see, when you walk with God,
- 27:40Speaker 1: creativity is not needed. It's when you are manifesting as
- 27:43Speaker 1: a king that creativity becomes required. Are we together? There
- 27:48Speaker 1: is a standard. There is a reference. Your call is
- 27:52Speaker 1: alignment and obedience. There is a pathway that if you
- 28:00Speaker 1: pass any believer from a non-believer to a believer, there
- 28:04Speaker 1: is a guarantee that that believer will have a minimum
- 28:08Speaker 1: standard of excellence as far as reflecting the Christ is concerned.
- 28:14Speaker 1: And I'm not just going to leave you in limbo.
- 28:15Speaker 1: I want to show you the coordinates that the Bible
- 28:20Speaker 1: calls the fullness of Christ. The fullness of God. So
- 28:25Speaker 1: that you use this to benchmark the kinds of sermons.
- 28:29Speaker 1: You know sir, as God helps me in ministry and
- 28:31Speaker 1: as I grow, I'm learning again. that if we do
- 28:35Speaker 1: not become intentional about raising people, and sometimes spiritualize, you know,
- 28:41Speaker 1: once someone spiritualizes an idea, no matter how wrong it is,
- 28:44Speaker 1: there's no, except you are a spiritual man, it becomes
- 28:48Speaker 1: difficult to judge, to say, look, this thing, the person
- 28:51Speaker 1: himself can be in delusion, because the error came from
- 28:54Speaker 1: the realm of the spirit does not make it correct.
- 28:58Speaker 1: Are we together now? there is a way God designed
- 29:13Speaker 1: that men be built you become a wise master builder
- 29:19Speaker 1: to the degree to which you understand that blueprint that
- 29:23Speaker 1: architecture and you submit yourself to it as you build
- 29:27Speaker 1: God's people remember the goal is that the fullness of
- 29:32Speaker 1: God as revealed in Christ be expressed in the people. Now,
- 29:36Speaker 1: it's a theological expression. In theology, we call it the reality. principle.
- 29:41Speaker 1: The reflection principle is a principle by which you find
- 29:46Speaker 1: a parallel and an image reflects an object. Are we together?
- 29:51Speaker 1: You find that even in geography, the sun and the moon.
- 29:54Speaker 1: How many of you know that depending on the level
- 29:57Speaker 1: of the alignment of the moon, the shape It gives
- 30:01Speaker 1: from the sky. It's not the same. There are times
- 30:04Speaker 1: we call it full moon. Is that true? There are
- 30:08Speaker 1: times it looks like it's almost there. In fact, many
- 30:11Speaker 1: religions use those alignments to even decide seasons. That's how
- 30:16Speaker 1: many believers are. You can see a believer barely there.
- 30:20Speaker 1: And the problem is not the sun. The problem is
- 30:22Speaker 1: how you found yourself there. Are we together now? Yes,
- 30:26Speaker 1: the reflection principle. There are so many believers who when
- 30:31Speaker 1: you look at their lives, they do not sell the
- 30:34Speaker 1: idea of God in a way that the nation should desire.
- 30:38Speaker 1: They are such a disturbing misrepresentation of God. And sometimes
- 30:42Speaker 1: it has nothing to do with being good or bad.
- 30:46Speaker 1: It is largely a product of the kind and the
- 30:50Speaker 1: quality of mentorship. Listen, I want you to thank God
- 30:54Speaker 1: if you are truly a member of this church. And
- 30:57Speaker 1: I'm saying it not because I'm on stage here. When
- 31:01Speaker 1: God really wants to show you mercy, he shortens the
- 31:05Speaker 1: distance between you and a teaching priest. So we have
- 31:12Speaker 1: two believers here. saved on the same day but for
- 31:16Speaker 1: the one he had the opportunity to be planted in
- 31:22Speaker 1: a church under a teaching priest and for the other
- 31:25Speaker 1: i was so unfortunate he freelanced his way and you
- 31:29Speaker 1: draw those people after five years you will see the
- 31:32Speaker 1: difference the difference is not the holy spirit no Are
- 31:36Speaker 1: we together now? The difference, I hope you know that
- 31:39Speaker 1: the moment you get saved, maybe I should run this
- 31:42Speaker 1: progression with you. I hope I'm not boring you. That
- 31:45Speaker 1: when an unbeliever becomes a believer, so this is the pathway.
- 31:49Speaker 1: When an unbeliever becomes a believer, and I hope you
- 31:53Speaker 1: know how that happens. There are many pastors who don't
- 31:55Speaker 1: know how unbelievers become believers. It's not an impartation. No.
- 32:03Speaker 1: And it is not everything about Jesus that translates to
- 32:07Speaker 1: salvation of your soul. I hope you know. There is
- 32:10Speaker 1: an exact body of truth about Jesus you must believe
- 32:13Speaker 1: to be saved. There are things demons believe about Jesus,
- 32:17Speaker 1: but they are not saved. So, if you say you
- 32:20Speaker 1: believe in Jesus, I'm still concerned. What about him do
- 32:23Speaker 1: you believe? Because there is an exact information about Jesus
- 32:28Speaker 1: that translates to salvation. Don't tell me you believe in Jesus. Uh-uh.
- 32:34Speaker 1: Idol worshipers believe in Jesus. They believe in an idea
- 32:37Speaker 1: called Jesus. There are many, many people who have Bibles, Korans,
- 32:43Speaker 1: other books, and they are quite sympathetic to all of them.
- 32:47Speaker 1: They don't mind opening anyone. They are very comfortable with
- 32:50Speaker 1: any idea that comes from them. This is a pastor's conference,
- 32:54Speaker 1: forgive me, but just allow me to draw it in
- 32:56Speaker 1: the name of Jesus Christ. There is an exact information
- 33:00Speaker 1: about Jesus you must believe. If not, you are not saved.
- 33:04Speaker 1: There are three things in Paul's sermon. I'm not dealing
- 33:07Speaker 1: with that. But there are three information about Jesus that
- 33:12Speaker 1: Peter gave in the first sermon that brought 3,000 people.
- 33:16Speaker 1: If you miss that information, then let it be known
- 33:19Speaker 1: to you, O Israel, that the same Jesus whom you
- 33:22Speaker 1: have crucified has today been exalted as Lord and Christ.
- 33:29Speaker 1: It matters what idea about Jesus you present. Are we together? Anyway,
- 33:35Speaker 1: so believing in Jesus as Savior, Lord, and Christ brings
- 33:39Speaker 1: you to a point where you are a believer. But
- 33:42Speaker 1: the Bible tells us that being a believer is in levels.
- 33:45Speaker 1: There are those that the Bible calls babes in Christ.
- 33:49Speaker 1: Are we together? that maturity is not a gift in
- 33:52Speaker 1: the spirit. You will never find a gift of maturity.
- 33:55Speaker 1: So you are in Christ, but you are still a babe.
- 33:58Speaker 1: And the Bible defines a babe as one who is
- 34:01Speaker 1: bankrupt of knowledge, bankrupt of spiritual intelligence. Now, from that
- 34:06Speaker 1: point where you become a believer, there are three forces
- 34:10Speaker 1: that must come into your life to help your growth.
- 34:12Speaker 1: Number one is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Number
- 34:16Speaker 1: two is the ministry of the word. Number three, the
- 34:19Speaker 1: ministry of a teaching priest. If you lack any of
- 34:22Speaker 1: these three, already you are disadvantaged. The ministry of the
- 34:27Speaker 1: Holy Spirit guiding you in all truth. The ministry of
- 34:31Speaker 1: the word helping you to understand the modus operandi of
- 34:34Speaker 1: the kingdom. The ministry of a teaching priest like a
- 34:38Speaker 1: lecturer serving you grace. filtering sense from nonsense and helping
- 34:44Speaker 1: you to grow when you find a believer who becomes
- 34:47Speaker 1: efficient you check that person's life you will see that
- 34:51Speaker 1: he was exposed to these tripartite forces even if you
- 34:54Speaker 1: don't know anything about the holy spirit even if you
- 34:57Speaker 1: don't know anything about the word you just be exposed
- 35:00Speaker 1: to a teaching priest you see the reason why ministers
- 35:03Speaker 1: will be judged Because this is the gravity of influence.
- 35:08Speaker 1: You literally wield that level of influence over any man's destiny.
- 35:15Speaker 1: There are people whose prayer for church growth, God himself
- 35:19Speaker 1: will not allow to be answered. You know why? Because
- 35:22Speaker 1: it is a risk to be trusted with more people.
- 35:25Speaker 1: He does not hate them. But he needs to verify
- 35:29Speaker 1: your understanding of his project. Do you understand what he
- 35:33Speaker 1: is building? You can't keep saying, God, give me more members. Why?
- 35:37Speaker 1: You say, I love souls. No, no. The degree to
- 35:43Speaker 1: which you understand his project is the degree to which
- 35:47Speaker 1: he will trust you with the people who should attain
- 35:50Speaker 1: unto that. So you will find sometimes very unlikely people
- 35:55Speaker 1: and God seems to honor them with his presence and
- 35:58Speaker 1: honor them with visibility. It's not anything of themselves. It's
- 36:02Speaker 1: the degree to which they've paid the price with childlike
- 36:05Speaker 1: faith to understand this project. I can tell you that
- 36:09Speaker 1: anybody who understands this maturity project, that God's goal is
- 36:15Speaker 1: not just to have more members. God's goal is not
- 36:18Speaker 1: just to have more salmons. God's goal is not just
- 36:21Speaker 1: to have a big church as important as that is.
- 36:24Speaker 1: God's goal is to be able to raise a people
- 36:27Speaker 1: to bring them to a point of maturity where the
- 36:30Speaker 1: least among them is able to reflect through their growth
- 36:56Speaker 1: In Isaiah
- 37:00Speaker 1: chapter 40, popular scripture on verse 28, the Bible there
- 37:04Speaker 1: clearly tells us that God is infinite. It already says
- 37:07Speaker 1: there is no searching of his understanding. Are we together?
- 37:11Speaker 1: An extent of the vastness of his understanding. So how
- 37:15Speaker 1: do you now say that an ordinary believer can reflect
- 37:19Speaker 1: the fullness of Christ? Now, probably, let me digress for
- 37:22Speaker 1: a minute and help you, you know, just to understand
- 37:26Speaker 1: something so that it makes sense what I'm about to
- 37:29Speaker 1: say now. When the Bible calls us partakers of God's
- 37:33Speaker 1: divine nature, please lend me your attention. I hope you
- 37:36Speaker 1: know it is not every part of God's nature he
- 37:39Speaker 1: gave man. No. It is not every part of God's nature.
- 37:46Speaker 1: There are dimensions to God and in God that are
- 37:49Speaker 1: exclusive to him. For instance, he says, I am the vine.
- 37:55Speaker 1: You are the branches. You will see a tree there,
- 37:58Speaker 1: but he differentiates it without hiding. Make no mistakes. Don't
- 38:01Speaker 1: confuse it because they look the same. I am the
- 38:04Speaker 1: one who is the vine. You are the branches. Are
- 38:07Speaker 1: we together? There are three attributes of God, just for
- 38:11Speaker 1: your knowledge, that God did not share with man. And these,
- 38:15Speaker 1: among others, are the major attributes that brand him as
- 38:18Speaker 1: God in a class by himself. Number one is called omnipresence.
- 38:24Speaker 1: God did not share that with man. Man is not omnipresent.
- 38:28Speaker 1: You cannot be everywhere at the same time. No matter
- 38:32Speaker 1: how yielded, no matter how anointed, you are finite. Even
- 38:36Speaker 1: when Jesus became a man, he could not be everywhere
- 38:39Speaker 1: at the same time. And that was our pattern man
- 38:42Speaker 1: who is learning. So man, even though a partaker of
- 38:46Speaker 1: God's divine nature, is not omnipresent. Number two, man is
- 38:52Speaker 1: not omniscient. We are not all knowing. We see in part.
- 38:58Speaker 1: We prophesy in part. Are we together now? That means
- 39:01Speaker 1: the most yielded, the most aligned. We cannot know everything.
- 39:07Speaker 1: This is what separates us from God even though we
- 39:09Speaker 1: are one. Number three. Omnipotence. All powerful. I have spoken
- 39:16Speaker 1: once and twice. Have you heard that power belongs to
- 39:19Speaker 1: the Lord? Are we together now? So God is all powerful,
- 39:24Speaker 1: but man is not all powerful. The power that is
- 39:28Speaker 1: manifested in the believer is Dira. Our dominion in this
- 39:32Speaker 1: kingdom is not absolute dominion. It is derived from our relationship.
- 39:36Speaker 1: And depends on our relationship for its function. God does
- 39:40Speaker 1: not need you. Are we together now? Yes. I wish
- 39:45Speaker 1: I had the time would have dealt with the issue
- 39:47Speaker 1: of authority, power and jurisdiction. Because there are two things
- 39:52Speaker 1: God gave man and it's very important for you to understand.
- 39:56Speaker 1: God did not just give man power. God gave man
- 39:59Speaker 1: power with authority. It is dangerous for a man to
- 40:03Speaker 1: have power alone. The only person who has power alone
- 40:08Speaker 1: is God. Do you know why? Because power is the
- 40:12Speaker 1: capacity to influence things. The force that compels compliance. But
- 40:18Speaker 1: authority is the legitimacy to use power. An armed robber
- 40:23Speaker 1: has a gun. Power. A military man has a gun power,
- 40:28Speaker 1: but a military man has a license to shoot. That's authority.
- 40:32Speaker 1: That's the reason why when an armed robber shoots his gun,
- 40:35Speaker 1: he goes to jail. And then you commend a military man.
- 40:39Speaker 1: But you see, the rules of authority is that there
- 40:42Speaker 1: cannot be two authorities except, number one, there is jurisdiction.
- 40:47Speaker 1: Number two, there must be a system of supervision. It's
- 40:51Speaker 1: impossible to have authority because authority is conferred by someone
- 40:56Speaker 1: higher than you. The person who confers that authority automatically
- 41:00Speaker 1: supervises its use. This is the reason why God as
- 41:06Speaker 1: God cannot have authority. Because there is no other entity
- 41:11Speaker 1: higher than him that supervises compliance. And there is no
- 41:15Speaker 1: jurisdiction That restricts his power from function. Now, you understand
- 41:24Speaker 1: what I'm saying and don't just go and preach. You know,
- 41:27Speaker 1: the challenge again we have is that when I'm having
- 41:29Speaker 1: the liberty because I'm speaking to preachers, sometimes, and please
- 41:33Speaker 1: don't feel insulted, preachers sometimes get excited over things. They
- 41:37Speaker 1: don't really understand the context. They think they do and
- 41:41Speaker 1: then they carry it like that and just slam it
- 41:43Speaker 1: on believers who are just growing and completely scatter the
- 41:47Speaker 1: pace of their growth and at the end, the people
- 41:49Speaker 1: don't even know what they're talking about again. So, The
- 41:52Speaker 1: idea is just for our knowledge, connecting to what we're saying,
- 41:56Speaker 1: not just that we run with something new from this
- 41:59Speaker 1: conference and then you tell someone something and the devil
- 42:02Speaker 1: uses that shock and starts manipulating his experiences. I hope
- 42:08Speaker 1: you know Satan is an opportunist. Satan uses both good
- 42:12Speaker 1: and evil. Any raw material that can help him toward
- 42:16Speaker 1: the purposes of God, whether it's light or darkness, he's
- 42:20Speaker 1: available to use it. go and read your Bible, you'll
- 42:22Speaker 1: see Satan using truth many times to destroy. It's the
- 42:25Speaker 1: reason why when the spirit of truth comes, even though
- 42:28Speaker 1: you have truth, you must be guided. If you are
- 42:31Speaker 1: not guided to use truth like a knife, you can
- 42:33Speaker 1: injure yourself with it. How did I get here? Forgive me.
- 42:37Speaker 1: Let's get back. Let's get back to... Okay, so we're
- 42:42Speaker 1: talking about the fullness of Christ. Now, please pay attention.
- 42:45Speaker 1: If you did not get anything that I said, I
- 42:48Speaker 1: beseech you, standing upon the grace... Of God's servant to
- 42:52Speaker 1: please listen to this. When you want to study God.
- 43:00Speaker 1: Because of how mysterious he is. You do not have
- 43:03Speaker 1: the liberty to study God. Except through the lens of
- 43:08Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the most accurate portrait of
- 43:13Speaker 1: the invisible God. Are we together now? The Bible calls
- 43:16Speaker 1: him the express image of the invisible God. That means
- 43:21Speaker 1: any other study on God... Without Jesus as a reference,
- 43:26Speaker 1: we'll land you in various shades of error. Are we together?
- 43:29Speaker 1: Your most accurate study of God is through the lens
- 43:34Speaker 1: of Jesus as a pattern man. Are we learning now? So,
- 43:38Speaker 1: we have to study Jesus to be able to filter
- 43:43Speaker 1: out the various dimensions that the Bible calls the fullness
- 43:47Speaker 1: of God. And very quickly, I want to show you
- 43:50Speaker 1: three dimensions. These three dimensions must be captured in every
- 43:56Speaker 1: believer you raise. Else it cannot be said they are
- 44:00Speaker 1: compliant with this pattern called the fullness of God. Number one.
- 44:06Speaker 1: The first dimension of God that represents his fullness that
- 44:11Speaker 1: he seeks to see reflected in all believers is And
- 44:15Speaker 1: that becomes a mandate for every man of God. Is
- 44:18Speaker 1: the nature or the character of God. Please write that quickly.
- 44:22Speaker 1: The nature or the character of God. In Exodus chapter 33.
- 44:27Speaker 1: Please give us 18 and 19. The nature or the
- 44:31Speaker 1: character of God. This is the first dimension of the
- 44:35Speaker 1: fullness of God as revealed in Christ that God seeks
- 44:39Speaker 1: to see in every believer. Exodus chapter 33. And he said,
- 44:45Speaker 1: I beseech thee Moses now, show me your glory. And
- 44:50Speaker 1: he said, I will make all my goodness, my goodness.
- 44:55Speaker 1: Moses is asking for his glory and he's saying, my goodness,
- 45:00Speaker 1: it is an expression of my glory to pass before you. Hallelujah.
- 45:05Speaker 1: I will make my goodness. Now, when you read Psalms 103,
- 45:11Speaker 1: I've read my Bible a bit and this Psalm has
- 45:14Speaker 1: the most concise capture of God's character as revealed in
- 45:19Speaker 1: the Bible. You literally can use Psalms 103 as a
- 45:24Speaker 1: lens to study God. Most people do not understand the
- 45:28Speaker 1: character of God. It is dangerous to depend on men
- 45:34Speaker 1: to reveal God to you. It's not very accurate. Are
- 45:38Speaker 1: we together now? The most accurate revelation of God is
- 45:42Speaker 1: seen in Jesus. Then, from the lens of Jesus, you
- 45:45Speaker 1: can now find supporting models that come close to that reference.
- 45:50Speaker 1: So the principle of transformation is number one, looking unto Jesus.
- 45:54Speaker 1: Then number two, be followers of them in that order.
- 45:58Speaker 1: Looking unto Jesus, then followers of them. If you follow
- 46:03Speaker 1: the them who are not following Jesus, you will become
- 46:06Speaker 1: something else. These are the models of transformation. Number one,
- 46:10Speaker 1: looking unto Jesus. The author and the finisher. Then number two,
- 46:14Speaker 1: following them who are looking on to Jesus. Are we
- 46:19Speaker 1: learning now? So I'm saying the character of God. Psalms 103.
- 46:23Speaker 1: Maybe let's look at two or three verses very quickly.
- 46:27Speaker 1: Please give it to us, media. Psalms 103. Very powerful.
- 46:32Speaker 1: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is
- 46:34Speaker 1: within me. Bless His holy name. Verse 2. It says,
- 46:37Speaker 1: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His benefit.
- 46:40Speaker 1: Then it begins to list five of them. Who forgives
- 46:43Speaker 1: your sins. Who heals your diseases. You know, who redeemeth
- 46:48Speaker 1: thy life. This is a description of who God is.
- 46:51Speaker 1: So that if you do not know God and you've
- 46:53Speaker 1: never met Him, you do not know Him. You literally
- 46:56Speaker 1: can use His nature to identify Him and separate Him
- 47:00Speaker 1: from other gods. It is possible that I want to
- 47:06Speaker 1: meet a gentleman I have never met. You can use
- 47:09Speaker 1: that person's nature and character to help me identify that person.
- 47:14Speaker 1: You will say, enter this room, you will see a gentleman.
- 47:16Speaker 1: He doesn't really talk loud. He will most likely be
- 47:19Speaker 1: a respectful fellow. When I will use the lens of
- 47:22Speaker 1: your description. And with prophetic accuracy, without being a prophet,
- 47:27Speaker 1: I can say you are most likely the person who
- 47:29Speaker 1: I was sent to. So you can use the nature
- 47:32Speaker 1: of God to decipher between him and every other entity.
- 47:37Speaker 1: Most people do not know God. Because they do not
- 47:41Speaker 1: know his nature. And in order of priority, the first
- 47:45Speaker 1: dimension of God he wants to see in believers is
- 47:48Speaker 1: his nature, his character. The Bible says in John chapter 4,
- 47:52Speaker 1: 1 John chapter 4 and verse 7, just write for
- 47:54Speaker 1: reference 7 to 12. It says God is love. This
- 47:58Speaker 1: is profound. I can spend all day talking about this.
- 48:02Speaker 1: It says be loved. Let us love one another. It
- 48:05Speaker 1: says for love is of God. And everyone that love it.
- 48:09Speaker 1: Please listen. Is born of God. And nowhere God. Verse 8.
- 48:15Speaker 1: He that love it not. Ah. Knoweth not God. Even
- 48:21Speaker 1: if he's talking about him. God is saying you do
- 48:24Speaker 1: not know me. It is impossible to love me. Or
- 48:29Speaker 1: to claim to know me. Without loving me. And loving
- 48:33Speaker 1: your brother. He says for God is love. Everybody please
- 48:36Speaker 1: say God is love. So the Bible tells us in
- 48:40Speaker 1: one word that the very nature of God is love.
- 48:44Speaker 1: That means God uses love as the ultimate index to
- 48:49Speaker 1: measure maturity, not enlightenment. In the economy of God, when
- 48:53Speaker 1: he comes to measure your extent of spiritual maturity, he
- 48:57Speaker 1: does not search for revelation, uh-uh. That is very secondary.
- 49:02Speaker 1: He looks for how much the love of God has
- 49:05Speaker 1: been furnished within your heart. And the proof is not
- 49:08Speaker 1: your love towards him. The proof is your love towards
- 49:11Speaker 1: your brother. That if you cannot love your brother who
- 49:14Speaker 1: you can see, it's impossible to claim who is learning now.
- 49:19Speaker 1: so the love life of a believer is proof that
- 49:22Speaker 1: the nature of god is at work in you these
- 49:26Speaker 1: are exact references they are not given you are not
- 49:28Speaker 1: given the liberty for argument the love of god When
- 49:34Speaker 1: the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
- 49:37Speaker 1: in truth, the fruit of the Spirit is love. And
- 49:41Speaker 1: then its various expressions is what you find as joy, peace,
- 49:45Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. That is the outworkings
- 49:48Speaker 1: of the nature of God within the recreated human spirit.
- 49:53Speaker 1: Are we learning now? So the first dimension of the
- 49:56Speaker 1: fullness of God. That we must see to it. That
- 50:00Speaker 1: is reflected in everyone under our care. Is the nature
- 50:03Speaker 1: of God. The character of God. The nature of God.
- 50:08Speaker 1: The character of God. The Bible says the Lord is
- 50:11Speaker 1: gracious and compassionate. He is slow to anger and rich
- 50:16Speaker 1: in love. If you are going to reflect the Christ
- 50:18Speaker 1: like him. You must also be gracious and compassionate. Regardless
- 50:23Speaker 1: your background. Regardless your temperament. That's why the Holy Ghost came.
- 50:27Speaker 1: He came as an equalizer to terrible temperaments. Are we
- 50:31Speaker 1: together now? So once you get born again. Your excuse
- 50:34Speaker 1: of foundation is over. You cannot say it's because of
- 50:39Speaker 1: the way I was raised. Now, I understand that and
- 50:41Speaker 1: I respect it. But the moment you get born again,
- 50:45Speaker 1: you have entered into a system that can wield a
- 50:49Speaker 1: force upon your limitations and still make you Christ-like. Who
- 50:54Speaker 1: is learning? The nature of Christ. Let me hurry up
- 50:57Speaker 1: for sake of time. Number two. The second dimension... That
- 51:05Speaker 1: represents the fullness of God. As seen in Christ. Is
- 51:09Speaker 1: called the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God. That
- 51:13Speaker 1: means in building man. This is the architecture. That you
- 51:17Speaker 1: labor to sit with. That number one. The nature and
- 51:21Speaker 1: the character of God. As revealed in Christ. Is fashioned
- 51:25Speaker 1: within them. Then number two. The wisdom of Christ. What
- 51:29Speaker 1: the Bible calls the ways of God. Psalms 103 and
- 51:32Speaker 1: verse 7. The ways of God. Now this is important.
- 51:37Speaker 1: And the other matters. He made known his ways unto Moses.
- 51:41Speaker 1: His acts to the children of Israel. The Bible says
- 51:45Speaker 1: in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 11, Jesus was speaking.
- 51:48Speaker 1: He said, it has been given unto you to know
- 51:52Speaker 1: the mysteries of the kingdom, the wisdom of God. Now,
- 51:57Speaker 1: as important as the nature of Christ is, if you
- 52:01Speaker 1: stop there, you will produce a lopsided people. You have
- 52:04Speaker 1: to in addition to planting within them the nature of Christ.
- 52:09Speaker 1: They must manifest the wisdom of Christ. Because it is
- 52:12Speaker 1: through wisdom a house is built. Not through character. Character
- 52:15Speaker 1: is wonderful. But it is through wisdom. There are believers
- 52:19Speaker 1: who have the nature of Christ. But you see the
- 52:22Speaker 1: deficiency of the wisdom of Christ. And they do not
- 52:25Speaker 1: attain that stature called the fullness of Christ. Who is learning?
- 52:29Speaker 1: The wisdom of Christ. Teaching after teaching. Submitting yourself to
- 52:33Speaker 1: the ministry of the teaching priest. It does something to
- 52:37Speaker 1: your spiritual understanding. It says let this mind be in you.
- 52:41Speaker 1: Which was also in Christ Jesus. It is superior belief
- 52:47Speaker 1: that brings superior experiences. Your experiences will be a reflection
- 52:52Speaker 1: of your belief systems. In fact, I say it this way.
- 52:55Speaker 1: That your belief system is your contribution to your failure
- 52:59Speaker 1: or your success. Your belief system is your own contribution
- 53:03Speaker 1: to your failure or your success. The nature or the
- 53:07Speaker 1: character of Christ. Number two, the wisdom of Christ. Number three, finally,
- 53:15Speaker 1: is called faith. The power of God or the works
- 53:19Speaker 1: of Christ. You see. There is something called the power
- 53:24Speaker 1: of God. The power of God. Matthew 22 from verse 29.
- 53:30Speaker 1: The B part. The power of God. Please give it
- 53:34Speaker 1: to us. Jesus answered and said unto them. Ye do
- 53:38Speaker 1: err not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God.
- 53:43Speaker 1: He wants you to know both. Not knowing the scriptures.
- 53:47Speaker 1: Nor the power of God. In Ephesians chapter 1. When
- 53:51Speaker 1: you read from verse 18 and 19. Paul was praying
- 53:54Speaker 1: over the church in Ephesus. And he lets us know.
- 53:57Speaker 1: He lets us into the content of his prayer. And
- 54:00Speaker 1: he says the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. That
- 54:03Speaker 1: you may know the hope of your calling. The riches
- 54:07Speaker 1: of the glory of the inheritance in the saints. Let's
- 54:09Speaker 1: read verse 19 together. And the exceeding greatness. He wants
- 54:13Speaker 1: you to know. You can know the exceeding greatness of
- 54:17Speaker 1: his power. To us world who believe. And you can
- 54:20Speaker 1: walk in that reality. Ladies and gentlemen. The nature of
- 54:24Speaker 1: God as revealed in Christ. Plus the wisdom of God
- 54:28Speaker 1: as revealed in Christ. Plus the power of God as
- 54:32Speaker 1: revealed through the works of Christ. Equals the fullness of Christ.
- 54:39Speaker 1: Now hear me. Every time you find a lopsided believer,
- 54:44Speaker 1: you will trace it to the deficiency in the patterns here.
- 54:50Speaker 1: So we have various versions of believers and you can
- 54:54Speaker 1: explain that variation from the degree of compliance of these
- 54:57Speaker 1: patterns or otherwise. Number one. You can have a believer
- 55:02Speaker 1: who has been mentored well to understand the implication of
- 55:08Speaker 1: opening themselves to have the nature of Christ. Moral excellence, holiness, righteousness.
- 55:14Speaker 1: But that person can be broke, mediocre, defeated. And you'll
- 55:19Speaker 1: be wondering why, how can somebody who has such integrity
- 55:23Speaker 1: and such character be defeated in life? Usually we blame
- 55:27Speaker 1: it on God. But God is saying it is a deviation.
- 55:31Speaker 1: There is a standard that if this gentleman followed through mentorship.
- 55:37Speaker 1: So the gent, he would never bribe. No, he would
- 55:41Speaker 1: not be corrupt. He would rather pay the price. And
- 55:44Speaker 1: yet the gentleman believes that just because he has the
- 55:48Speaker 1: nature of Christ. He has the fullness of Christ. And
- 55:51Speaker 1: he desires results that only wisdom and power can give.
- 55:55Speaker 1: And it becomes dangerous if you are now deceived and
- 55:58Speaker 1: beguiled to ignore other dimensions. Then number two, we have
- 56:03Speaker 1: those who have ignored the nature of Christ. And they
- 56:06Speaker 1: have pressed through sound teachings, communication of doctrine, the principles
- 56:11Speaker 1: of the kingdom, and the laws that govern the universe.
- 56:14Speaker 1: They have accessed the wisdom of Christ. they are system
- 56:18Speaker 1: builders they run businesses they have a lot of things
- 56:21Speaker 1: they are prosperous but they do not have character they
- 56:24Speaker 1: will compromise at every given opportunity and sometimes you wonder
- 56:29Speaker 1: how can you be so full of light and darkness
- 56:31Speaker 1: at the same time it depends on how you were
- 56:34Speaker 1: trained are you seeing that now it doesn't matter they
- 56:40Speaker 1: are smart they can get the contract but they can
- 56:42Speaker 1: cut corners and it does not matter And then, number three,
- 56:49Speaker 1: you have those who can prophesy, can manifest the gifts
- 56:53Speaker 1: of the Spirit. Are we together? Can heal any sick body.
- 56:56Speaker 1: But oh dear, you sit down under that atmosphere, you
- 56:59Speaker 1: will be lean and hungry till you die. Even in
- 57:02Speaker 1: the presence of the anointing. Because all you will receive
- 57:06Speaker 1: is you will be healed and yet not be transformed.
- 57:10Speaker 1: You will receive all kinds of prophetic word until, in
- 57:14Speaker 1: all sincerity, you become confused. Because your whole life, you
- 57:18Speaker 1: can't walk in authority and confidence. The side effect of
- 57:21Speaker 1: gifts alone is that you have fear. Because they open
- 57:25Speaker 1: you up to the realm of the spirit beyond your
- 57:27Speaker 1: level of transformation. And you live your entire life, I'm
- 57:30Speaker 1: going to travel, tell me, will I die or will
- 57:33Speaker 1: I live? Authority becomes useless to you because you have
- 57:36Speaker 1: become a slave to gifts. Is someone learning now? Now
- 57:44Speaker 1: let me tell you this. No single man of God
- 57:48Speaker 1: as a ministry is given the liberty to bring any
- 57:53Speaker 1: believers to this threefold dimension alone. No matter how yielded.
- 58:00Speaker 1: I'm wrapping up now. I want to show you where
- 58:02Speaker 1: the challenge most times in the body of Christ is.
- 58:05Speaker 1: So if there are people who by reason of their
- 58:08Speaker 1: alignment and their election, this is the area of stay.
- 58:12Speaker 1: To help the body of Christ become a people fashioned
- 58:15Speaker 1: after God. in character, righteousness, and holiness. And the bias
- 58:20Speaker 1: of your training is such that God trains you in
- 58:23Speaker 1: such a way that you excel where he has called you.
- 58:26Speaker 1: And that excelling can beguile you to imagine that any
- 58:31Speaker 1: other dimension outside of your space is not useful. But
- 58:34Speaker 1: you will see the deficiency of your not embracing other dimensions. So,
- 58:41Speaker 1: the man can say, I will die poor. Let my
- 58:44Speaker 1: children eat grass. I will stand on my, what they
- 58:48Speaker 1: call it now, on my integrity. I agree. But that
- 58:52Speaker 1: person produces a disaster. And if someone is to lend
- 58:56Speaker 1: God through the lens of such a life, he will say,
- 58:58Speaker 1: God must be a wicked God. Because based on that,
- 59:01Speaker 1: he does not reward holiness. And yet, it's because he's
- 59:04Speaker 1: not wholesome in that expression. Then you have someone who
- 59:08Speaker 1: is wise. I mean, anything he touches becomes gold. He
- 59:12Speaker 1: can tell you the principles of anything. He knows the
- 59:15Speaker 1: principles of influence. The principles of leadership. The law of honor.
- 59:19Speaker 1: The Bible says, This is the assignment of wisdom. Wisdom
- 59:29Speaker 1: is connected to mighty works. And because of the excellency
- 59:34Speaker 1: of that dimension, you will find out that sometimes you
- 59:38Speaker 1: can ignore the nature of Christ or ignore the power
- 59:42Speaker 1: of Christ. For such people, the Bible says, ever learning,
- 59:45Speaker 1: but never coming unto the knowledge of the truth. Because
- 59:49Speaker 1: there is a grace dimension that makes what you have
- 59:52Speaker 1: heard become profitable. Are we together? And for most, unfortunately
- 59:56Speaker 1: and with all due respect, Especially the apostolic and the prophetic.
- 1:00:00Speaker 1: This is where there's been a very big mistake. You
- 1:00:05Speaker 1: can be carried away by the abundance of the demonstration
- 1:00:09Speaker 1: of the gift of the Holy Spirit. And because signs
- 1:00:12Speaker 1: and wonders are very compelling in the world of men.
- 1:00:14Speaker 1: If someone rises up, you know, you're speaking now, someone
- 1:00:18Speaker 1: stands up from a wheelchair. It's too spectacular to ignore.
- 1:00:22Speaker 1: And chances are excellent that how do you now tell
- 1:00:25Speaker 1: me I don't know what I'm saying? But it's possible
- 1:00:28Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm saying. You see that now?
- 1:00:35Speaker 1: So a lot of miracles have made many bad things
- 1:00:38Speaker 1: to remain. Because when error seems to be endorsed by
- 1:00:44Speaker 1: a miracle, it's just the mercy of God for the
- 1:00:47Speaker 1: sake of those who have come to receive. It's not
- 1:00:50Speaker 1: necessarily endorsing that limitation of the vessel. God will not
- 1:00:55Speaker 1: because of the carelessness or the lack of growth of
- 1:00:57Speaker 1: one man of God. ignore the hunger and the prayer
- 1:01:00Speaker 1: and the fasting of someone there are many miracles that
- 1:01:03Speaker 1: happen in a meeting i tell you sincerely that has
- 1:01:06Speaker 1: nothing to do with the man who is there it's
- 1:01:08Speaker 1: just that we claim credit because you were the one
- 1:01:10Speaker 1: holding the mic at that point But the truth is
- 1:01:13Speaker 1: that that man had been praying and he had gotten
- 1:01:17Speaker 1: to the fullness of time that coincided with your preaching.
- 1:01:21Speaker 1: So it may not necessarily be. Now don't get me wrong.
- 1:01:25Speaker 1: There should be a performance to the things that you say.
- 1:01:27Speaker 1: But it is not always an endorsement. But chances are
- 1:01:31Speaker 1: excellent that in the presence of... Of such spectacular manifestation.
- 1:01:35Speaker 1: We take credit for it to mean God is endorsing
- 1:01:39Speaker 1: even our limitations and our ignorance. And so we stop
- 1:01:42Speaker 1: being students in the school of the spirit. And people
- 1:01:45Speaker 1: begin to follow after that error. Their search is for
- 1:01:49Speaker 1: the miraculous and not for growth. A wise master builder.
- 1:01:56Speaker 1: If you are to bring the formation of the Christ
- 1:01:58Speaker 1: in his fullness. It is going to be the nature
- 1:02:02Speaker 1: of Christ plus the wisdom of Christ plus the power
- 1:02:08Speaker 1: of Christ. This is the portrait of God, the portrait
- 1:02:14Speaker 1: of Jesus that every church must contend for. Now, if
- 1:02:19Speaker 1: you do not have the grace to make all these
- 1:02:21Speaker 1: three possible, it is your responsibility to, through humility and discernment,
- 1:02:27Speaker 1: outsource other graces that can complement and supplement for that deficiency.
- 1:02:35Speaker 1: Are we together now? We're going to pray. Many of
- 1:02:46Speaker 1: us here are ministers of the gospel. The Lord just
- 1:02:48Speaker 1: answered your question. As to why there are many poor
- 1:02:52Speaker 1: people in your church, even though they are holy. I
- 1:02:54Speaker 1: can tell you, don't feel embarrassed. It is because the
- 1:02:59Speaker 1: wisdom of Christ is deficient. With the intelligence of a consultant.
- 1:03:03Speaker 1: You can diagnose the spiritual state of those under your care.
- 1:03:08Speaker 1: And know what dimension of God is deficient. And know
- 1:03:12Speaker 1: how to bring it. Like a doctor says, oh you
- 1:03:15Speaker 1: lack vitamin D. You lack vitamin E. Take this supplement
- 1:03:19Speaker 1: for two months. And you find out that the pain.
- 1:03:22Speaker 1: That came as a result of lack of vitamin D.
- 1:03:25Speaker 1: Because you are taking it. For some of you, you
- 1:03:28Speaker 1: came for this meeting. And God is telling you, go
- 1:03:30Speaker 1: back and work on your own character. And the character
- 1:03:33Speaker 1: of those under your care. There is a gross deficiency
- 1:03:37Speaker 1: of the reflection of this dimension of God's glory. For many,
- 1:03:42Speaker 1: I presume, with all due respect. The deficiency is in
- 1:03:46Speaker 1: the area of wisdom. You see, wisdom, wisdom. The stuntedness,
- 1:03:53Speaker 1: the absence of longevity in our impact is the bankruptcy
- 1:03:58Speaker 1: of wisdom. The ups and downs are a testament that
- 1:04:03Speaker 1: wisdom is missing. It's an uncomfortable truth, but it's true.
- 1:04:08Speaker 1: And then for many... We still lack the power. And
- 1:04:11Speaker 1: I'm not just talking of falling down and standing up.
- 1:04:14Speaker 1: I'm talking about the spiritual investment upon you. The wherewithal
- 1:04:18Speaker 1: to bring performance to your speakings. Because the assignment of
- 1:04:22Speaker 1: the anointing is to bring validation to the speakings of God.
- 1:04:26Speaker 1: If the word of God does not proceed, the anointing
- 1:04:28Speaker 1: does not have any assignment. The assignment of the word
- 1:04:32Speaker 1: of God is to bring validation. To insist that God
- 1:04:36Speaker 1: did not lie. So if you have the truth and
- 1:04:39Speaker 1: you do not have the power that backs the truth,
- 1:04:43Speaker 1: the truth will soon look like a lie. Are we together? Jesus,
- 1:04:49Speaker 1: as the word said, he would die and rise again
- 1:04:51Speaker 1: after three days. That was the truth. But he took power.
- 1:04:56Speaker 1: To raise him. That same power. It didn't take truth again.
- 1:05:00Speaker 1: Truth made the statement. Power defended the statement. So you
- 1:05:05Speaker 1: can teach the truth. But you need the power. That
- 1:05:08Speaker 1: bans that truth upon your people. So it stops it
- 1:05:11Speaker 1: from being a lecture. you tell people god is the
- 1:05:14Speaker 1: lifter and teach them the principles the law of honor
- 1:05:17Speaker 1: the law of relationships but whilst you are teaching you
- 1:05:20Speaker 1: are aware that there is an invisible transaction there is
- 1:05:24Speaker 1: an impartation happening someone is saying wow i'm learning the
- 1:05:28Speaker 1: law of honor then the enabling power of the spirit
- 1:05:33Speaker 1: is resting upon them do you know that to obey
- 1:05:36Speaker 1: the truth requires grace There is something called the doing grace.
- 1:05:41Speaker 1: It says, now that ye know these things, happy are
- 1:05:43Speaker 1: you when you do them. They heard the word just
- 1:05:46Speaker 1: like we did. They didn't hear a lie. But they
- 1:05:50Speaker 1: could not perform it. It says, son of man, stand
- 1:05:53Speaker 1: up upon your feet. Ezekiel chapter 2 and verse 1.
- 1:05:56Speaker 1: He didn't have the power to stand. He heard the truth.
- 1:05:59Speaker 1: But the grace to stand was not there. Then it says,
- 1:06:02Speaker 1: the spirit entered me. The spirit entered me. There is
- 1:06:08Speaker 1: an embracing. And this is the dimension. And the dynamics
- 1:06:13Speaker 1: for walking in these dimensions are different. Maybe one day
- 1:06:16Speaker 1: God will give us grace to discuss them. How you
- 1:06:20Speaker 1: build the nature of Christ. It's different from how you
- 1:06:23Speaker 1: build the wisdom of Christ. It's different from how you
- 1:06:26Speaker 1: build the power of Christ. So don't tell me you
- 1:06:28Speaker 1: are doing spiritual exercises. For which goal? Which one are
- 1:06:32Speaker 1: you doing? Prayer and fasting is wonderful. And it helps.
- 1:06:36Speaker 1: But it does not get all of these things at once. No.
- 1:06:40Speaker 1: It's an uncomfortable truth. Oh dear. I tell you with
- 1:06:47Speaker 1: all humility, you believe me on this. There are people
- 1:06:51Speaker 1: who want the nature of Christ. There are the spiritual
- 1:06:56Speaker 1: dynamics that builds within you the nature of Christ. There
- 1:07:00Speaker 1: are variations when you want to contend for the wisdom
- 1:07:04Speaker 1: of Christ. You see, you can build the nature of
- 1:07:07Speaker 1: Christ alone through consecration, through prayer, through repentance. You can't
- 1:07:12Speaker 1: build wisdom alone. You need to be taught. He says,
- 1:07:15Speaker 1: how can I understand except some man teach me? Are
- 1:07:20Speaker 1: we together? You can stay alone and cry in repentance.
- 1:07:24Speaker 1: Pour out your heart. You don't need anybody. When it
- 1:07:27Speaker 1: has to do with building. The nature of Christ. Your
- 1:07:31Speaker 1: secret place is your real secret. But when it has
- 1:07:34Speaker 1: to do with building wisdom. The house of God. When
- 1:07:39Speaker 1: I came to the house of God. Then understood I.
- 1:07:42Speaker 1: The ministry of the teaching priest. Methodically helping you line
- 1:07:46Speaker 1: upon line. Precept upon precept. I have to wrap up.
- 1:07:57Speaker 1: Who has learned something? A wise master builder is the
- 1:08:03Speaker 1: one who, number one, realizes that I'm a co-laborer with
- 1:08:07Speaker 1: God in any dimension at all. Ministry, business, leadership, number two.
- 1:08:16Speaker 1: A wise master builder understands that there is a standard.
- 1:08:21Speaker 1: The Bible calls it the fullness of God. The fullness
- 1:08:25Speaker 1: of the measure of the stature of Christ. So that
- 1:08:29Speaker 1: when you go back to your various churches as you
- 1:08:32Speaker 1: stand on the pulpit. You are not looking at congregants.
- 1:08:35Speaker 1: You are looking at people who have been trusted. God
- 1:08:39Speaker 1: gave them to you as a trust. And you must
- 1:08:41Speaker 1: account for them. John 17. All that you have given
- 1:08:45Speaker 1: me I have kept. And none is lost except the
- 1:08:48Speaker 1: son of perdition. And that that scripture might be fulfilled.
- 1:08:52Speaker 1: Do you know Jesus had to account for Judas? He
- 1:08:57Speaker 1: had to explain why Judas fell. And he said, look,
- 1:09:00Speaker 1: he's a son of perdition. There is a prophecy that
- 1:09:03Speaker 1: I will be betrayed. Unfortunately, he partnered with that word.
- 1:09:05Speaker 1: That's how he landed here. God had to explain that.
- 1:09:12Speaker 1: For many of us here, listen to me. I'm wrapping up.
- 1:09:17Speaker 1: Now you see that you'll be careful when you are
- 1:09:19Speaker 1: crying for increase. Lord, what you gave us, it must
- 1:09:22Speaker 1: come in this conference. And God is saying, hold on.
- 1:09:25Speaker 1: I don't have a problem bringing increase. But it becomes
- 1:09:28Speaker 1: a risk. You become another kind of error that will
- 1:09:32Speaker 1: be sold. You see, the thing about error is that
- 1:09:36Speaker 1: it travels almost at the same rate as truth. So
- 1:09:40Speaker 1: until it damages a lot of people because it takes
- 1:09:43Speaker 1: a lot of courage to stop error. The person who
- 1:09:46Speaker 1: becomes the one anointed to stop error must be prepared
- 1:09:49Speaker 1: to be wounded with many blows. You have to be wounded.
- 1:09:54Speaker 1: It is once you are wounded, then people eventually see that, oh,
- 1:09:59Speaker 1: this is true. But for the time being, and not
- 1:10:02Speaker 1: many people have that courage to stand the way of
- 1:10:05Speaker 1: error until it stops. So it continues. sometimes transgenerationally. I
- 1:10:13Speaker 1: wish we had the time. We would have spoken about
- 1:10:15Speaker 1: a man in the Bible called Balaam. We would have
- 1:10:18Speaker 1: followed the progression of how that guy got into a disaster.
- 1:10:23Speaker 1: Are we together? Yeah. It started from the error of Balaam.
- 1:10:32Speaker 1: It was an error. Then eventually it became a way
- 1:10:36Speaker 1: of Balaam. By the time we get to Revelation, it
- 1:10:39Speaker 1: had become the doctrine of Balaam. God told you, buy
- 1:10:47Speaker 1: only three cars. That's his unique dealing. Your obedience produced
- 1:10:52Speaker 1: great results. And you mentored people after that. And it
- 1:10:56Speaker 1: started becoming a way. All the people who come from you.
- 1:11:00Speaker 1: And for someone... His assignment demands 10 cars because you'll
- 1:11:03Speaker 1: be given a lot of them. You now made his
- 1:11:06Speaker 1: assignment stunted in honor to what you call revelation. Until eventually,
- 1:11:11Speaker 1: because of the excellency of your obedience, it now becomes
- 1:11:15Speaker 1: a doctrine. Are we together? We're going to be praying.
- 1:11:22Speaker 1: We're celebrating a man today, and I say this in
- 1:11:25Speaker 1: all sincerity, 30 years of consistency. 30 years of grace
- 1:11:32Speaker 1: only God knows the giants that have been brought down
- 1:11:37Speaker 1: the walls that have been pushed the troops that have
- 1:11:39Speaker 1: been pushed through and we're not just here to celebrate
- 1:11:43Speaker 1: but we're here to learn and to inspire ourselves if
- 1:11:46Speaker 1: you see the covenant nation standing then I believe that
- 1:11:51Speaker 1: it is because of God has brought longevity to this
- 1:11:55Speaker 1: ministry in honor to its degree of compliance to this pattern.
- 1:12:01Speaker 1: The lesson is that all of us must examine ourselves
- 1:12:04Speaker 1: first in light of this. To what degree can you
- 1:12:08Speaker 1: say the character of the Christ has been formed in you?
- 1:12:13Speaker 1: And when it has to do with this thing of character,
- 1:12:16Speaker 1: there are no generals there. Let me tell you up front.
- 1:12:20Speaker 1: There are generals in Revelation. There are signs and wonders generals.
- 1:12:24Speaker 1: But when it has to do with the nature of Christ.
- 1:12:27Speaker 1: It must become our consistent pursuit per day. To become
- 1:12:31Speaker 1: more like him. To become more like him. Paul said
- 1:12:35Speaker 1: that I may know him. Paul cried desiring his conformity.
- 1:12:40Speaker 1: As an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. At the
- 1:12:42Speaker 1: zenith of his apostolic ministry. Paul opened up his frustration.
- 1:12:47Speaker 1: Battling the flesh and the spirit. And he said, listen,
- 1:12:49Speaker 1: let me tell you a true confession. I serve the
- 1:12:53Speaker 1: Lord with my spirit, but he says within my body
- 1:12:55Speaker 1: I find another Lord walking within my members. Such that
- 1:12:58Speaker 1: the things I want to do, I do not find
- 1:13:00Speaker 1: myself doing them. And the things that I do not
- 1:13:02Speaker 1: want to do, I find myself doing them. Paul said,
- 1:13:05Speaker 1: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me
- 1:13:08Speaker 1: from this body of death? The one who casted out
- 1:13:11Speaker 1: demons is crying for help and mercy. So when it
- 1:13:15Speaker 1: has to do with this issue of character, godliness, moral excellence...
- 1:13:21Speaker 1: If we give Pastor Poggio the mic to come and
- 1:13:24Speaker 1: help us, I am sure he will tell us stories.
- 1:13:27Speaker 1: There are people who scattered their testimony at their 29th year.
- 1:13:31Speaker 1: So you can't be too old to fall. When it
- 1:13:37Speaker 1: has to do with the issue of character, we must
- 1:13:40Speaker 1: learn to hold on to the four horns of the altar,
- 1:13:42Speaker 1: obtaining mercy by God. And out of the abundance of
- 1:13:46Speaker 1: that mercy we have received, we communicate same to those
- 1:13:49Speaker 1: who are under our care. Who's understood me so far?
- 1:13:53Speaker 1: It's true. And then the wisdom of Christ. Don't come
- 1:13:56Speaker 1: here and just be admired and admire all the things
- 1:14:01Speaker 1: that God has done through the man of God. Learn.
- 1:14:03Speaker 1: Everything you see that makes this ministry work is a
- 1:14:07Speaker 1: product of wisdom. Wisdom is connected to mighty works. Learn.
- 1:14:11Speaker 1: What do I need to add to my church or
- 1:14:13Speaker 1: my organization? I don't understand people's skills. I need to
- 1:14:17Speaker 1: go and get a book. Don't say it's unnecessary because
- 1:14:19Speaker 1: you are praying. The Bible says, add to this, this.
- 1:14:22Speaker 1: Add to this, this. Add to this, this. It says
- 1:14:26Speaker 1: if you do that, you will be entire, lacking nothing.
- 1:14:30Speaker 1: And then for the power of God. We have other
- 1:14:33Speaker 1: sessions and I trust that within the course of this conference,
- 1:14:37Speaker 1: God will expose us to the truths that will build
- 1:14:40Speaker 1: afresh in everyone again. This threefold dimension. Is it alright
- 1:14:44Speaker 1: to say a word of prayer? Let's rise up on
- 1:14:46Speaker 1: our feet.
- 1:14:51Speaker 3: You are the one that we praise. You are the
- 1:14:57Speaker 3: one we adore. You give the.
- 1:15:01Speaker 1: Healing and grace that our hearts always hunger for. Oh,
- 1:15:10Speaker 1: our hearts always. Just one prayer point. Father, I obtain grace.
- 1:15:17Speaker 1: I obtain mercy. Someone cried. celebrating 30 years of your
- 1:15:22Speaker 1: faithfulness over this church, over this ministry, over God's servant
- 1:15:28Speaker 1: in ministry, go ahead and obtain grace. The doing grace.
- 1:15:32Speaker 1: The keeping grace. Someone go ahead and pray that by
- 1:15:36Speaker 1: the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that God will work
- 1:15:40Speaker 1: upon you to deepen your consecration, work upon you to
- 1:15:44Speaker 1: cry like never before, To have the nature of Christ
- 1:15:49Speaker 1: manifested in you. In experience. The love life. The character
- 1:15:54Speaker 1: of the Christ. Mercy. Compassion. Love. For God and for
- 1:15:59Speaker 1: one another. And for the people that you lead. For
- 1:16:02Speaker 1: someone you are crying for wisdom. It's time to step
- 1:16:05Speaker 1: up to a level of wisdom. Wisdom that works. Wisdom
- 1:16:09Speaker 1: that works. Not ignorance laced with pride. Wisdom that works.
- 1:16:15Speaker 1: And then for someone you are crying for the power
- 1:16:17Speaker 1: of God. Because you are entering a season of performance.
- 1:16:20Speaker 1: Mary said, how shall these things be? Seeing that I
- 1:16:23Speaker 1: know not a man. There are many projects that some
- 1:16:25Speaker 1: of us have. It needs the power of God. Take
- 1:16:28Speaker 1: a minute to pray. And let it be from the
- 1:16:30Speaker 1: depth of your heart.