- I decree: Begin to live life at its best.
- We are ordained to be advertisements of the fingerprints of God
UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE OF THE COMING OF CHRIST
Christmas is the celebration of Christ as a gift to the world (John 3:16). Understanding is what gives value to any divine provision (Colossians 2:2). Understanding is the only assured way to the riches of redemption: whatever God has provided in Christ can only be made available or visible in our lives through the channel of understanding. In fact the truth is that honour of redemption is of no effect without understanding (Psalm 49:20). Understanding is a vital requirement for anyone to make the most of their Christian adventure. It is what you understand that determines how much you stand out in life. You and I must pursue what the purpose of the arrival of Christ is all about because until our understanding is complete, our inheritance cannot be complete. The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of mysteries which means it’s a Kingdom that demands understanding (Mark 4:11).
WHY DID GOD SEND JESUS? What did He come to Accomplish?What did He Execute?What did He come to Fulfill?What did He come to Deliver?
1. To bring salvation to mankind. Salvation from what?
a. He came to save us from sin
b. He came to save us from satan
c. He came to save us from death
d. He came to save us from wrath
a. He came to save us from sin (Matthew 1:21): The foundation of every calamity on the earth is sin and Jesus came as the only solution given by God to the problem of sin. We must understand that one of the reasons why Jesus came, is to save us, deliver us from the captivity of sin. Romans 7:18 – when it comes to the authority and the power of sin, there is no man without Christ that can escape it. Sin operates in the flesh of man but Christ came to make us free from the captivity of sin (Romans 8:1-2). Before Christ’s arrival in the lives of men, individuals were captives of sin: you were a captive of sin; you were predisposed to sin, so Jesus came to save us from our sins.
b. He came to save us from satan: The Bible calls him the prince of the power of the air, but when a man is in Christ (Ephesians 2:2,5,6; 1:20-21). Jesus came to save us from the sin, but He also came to save us from satan. That means when a man is in Christ, he is no more a victim of the enemy: he escapes the grip of the enemy. He is no more subject to the intentions of hell. It means that no matter who gathers against him, because he belongs to Christ, he remains defended by God.Jesus came to offer salvation from the power of the enemy.1 John 3:8 – you are not to be an advertisement of what satan can do, NO! You are to be defended to show what God can do.You are not designed to be a victim, you have been redeemed from the victimization of hell.
c. He came to save us from death (Romans 5:12-17): One of the things that Jesus came to give you is dominion over death. He came to save you from death.
d. He came to save us from wrath (Romans 5:9-10): Wrath means punishment: one of the outcomes of sin is punishment from God but one of the things Jesus came to do is not only to save us from sin but from the consequence it should have procured for us. The truth is this, according to scriptures, everyone that in born on the earth is born into sin, so it is only Christ that saves us from sin. It means that there were punishments that should have accrued to us but Jesus showing us by the gift of Christ given to you and me, we don’t only escape from the hold of sin but from the punishment we should have received.By reason of the gift of Christ, we are not only saved from the power of sin but from the consequences that should have accrued unto us. That’s why you discover that there are people who may have come out of a lineage where evil has been done in the past, but now that they are in Christ, the past is past and they are walking in the newness of life. There is no more effect, no more consequence, no more manifestation of the consequence of the former life. – I see that becoming your own experience. Jesus came to bring salvation unto mankind.There is no root of escape if anyone neglects this pathway of salvation but I see each one of us walking in the fullness of the comprehensive provision of salvation in the name of Jesus Christ.
2. To restore divine presence to man (Isaiah 7:14): Emmanuel simply means ‘God with us’.Jesus came to bring us into the place of divine presence (Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5-6).As soon as man sinned, the presence of God departed from man, but when Jesus came: He came to restore the presence of God back to man.- Wherever you go as a believer, you must understand, if you are in Christ, wherever you are, God is there. – No matter the corner where you find yourself, you carry the presence of God (Colossians 1:27)- You are a container of divinity in humanity. That’s who you are in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6-7).
What you are is simply a vessel, that’s why the Bible calls us vessels of honour, we are containers. Our human body is a container that carries divine presence to different locations:If I am in Ikeja, I have carried God there.If I’ve gone to Ikorodu, I’ve carried God there.If I’m in Badagry, I’ve carried God there. Anywhere I go, God went with me because God lives in me. This is one of the areas where you find that Jesus brought us into higher union with God. We don’t only go to meet God, God goes with us and if God be for you, who can be against you?
You don’t need to be worried about anybody who is angry, upset, just be excited about the one who is happy with you and who is living in you.:“That wherever I go, I know God goes with me.”“Wherever I am, I know God is there with me.”“Wherever I find myself, I know God is found there with me.”
3. He came to destroy the works of the devil: this includes sicknesses, diseases and all forms of oppressions (John 10:10). Jesus came so that the works of the devil can be destroyed (1 John 3:8). Acts 10:38 That’s why we are ordained to be advertisements of the fingerprints of God (1 Peter 2:9). You are to show forth His praises, when people see you, they should be seeing what God has done.
4. To restore the supernatural back to mankind (John 3:8): Anyone that is born of the Spirit, who is born again, is ordained by God to live a supernatural life. One of the most unstoppable forces on the earth is the wind. The Bible says the same way the wind can go where it wants, it’s the same way a believer can break any barrier. “Oh nobody has done it before”: you are about to be the first.
According to the provisions of Christ, you are ordained for the supernatural. Things are not permitted to be restricted by natural limitations. You are ordained by God for a supernatural lifestyle.- From this day onward, that will become your experience. No more natural limitations for you in the name of Jesus (John 14:12)
5. He came to bring unspeakable joy to the world (Luke 2:10): One of the scarce commodity on the earth today is Joy. We live in a world full of plastic smiles where people smile and they are sad. One of the great things ravaging the world is depression. There are all kinds of tablets for depression because the things that people used to get to try to make them happy cannot sustain their happiness anymore.Somebody thought, ‘Oh if I bought a car, I will be happy’: He gets the car, he smiles, drives inside the car and then on the first day, he is already sad, ‘is this all? No the car is here, now what!’ Everybody congratulated him, he said Thank You…nothing external can give you joy, only Christ can give you joy. Make no mistake about it, external things can give you temporary happiness but only Christ can give you a fountain of Joy that never dries up (1 Peter 1:8).When a man has Christ, he is joyful and people cannot understand the reason. They don’t understand why he is excited everyday, never down, no matter what is happening, no matter what is going on…because there is a fountain within that no one can see.
One of the signals of a person who has drawn back or backslidden is loss of joy (Psalm 51:12).When you have lost joy for living, check it: you may not be in right standing with God.- Every day is an opportunity, not a problem. There are some people when they wake up, ‘oh another day again’… but when a believer wakes up, “thank you Jesus, I slept and awoke because the Lord sustained me.”That’s one of the trademark of true believers: they wake up with excitement. When I wake up, I am excited every day, “Thank You Jesus, the blessing of another day.” There is always something to look ahead to when you are in Christ, so you are never downcast. Even when it looks as if there are challenges around you, ‘Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despised the shame and now He is seated on the right hand of God on high’ (Hebrews 12:2).You are never downcast.Isaiah 61:10, Habakkuk 3:18
6. Jesus came to bring peace that passes understanding (Luke 2:14, John 14:27, Philippians 4:6-7): No matter the storms around, your heart is calm: no trouble inside, you are just calm, not disturbed, not perturbed, your heart is just continuously serene. Romans 15:13, John 16:33. There can be storm everywhere but you are cocooned inside the bunker. So everybody is agitated and troubled but your heart is calm:- People are shouting, ‘dollar is going up, dollar is coming down; economy is going up, economy is going down’, but you are cocooned inside Christ.- People are telling you, ‘jobs are going out, they are firing everybody’ and inside you, you are at peace because you are cocooned inside Christ.
7. He came to give us life at its best (John 10:10): There is no better life than a life in Christ. You can’t find someone who is genuinely in Christ and is envying his past life. When you are in Christ, the past is a mess, you’ll look at the present and you see the blessings of God everywhere, the finger of God everywhere (Galatians 3:13-14).
HOW DO WE EXPERIENCE THE BENEFITS OF HIS COMING?
1. Receive Him as Lord and Personal Saviour (John 1:12, Acts 4:12, 1 John 5:11-12).
2. Believe in the provisions of redemption (Habakkuk 2:4, Hebrews 10:38, Galatians 3:11, Romans 1:17, Revelation 5:12).
3. One must engage with obedience of faith to access these blessings (James 2:18).“
Lord, we have come to say thank you for this awesome day where we celebrate the Gift that you gave to us. You have done all things well and for it, we give you all the praise. Accept our Thanksgiving this morning in the name of the Lord of Jesus. In accordance with your Word, whatever You have provided in Christ, that is yet to be manifest in anyone’s life here, let it begin to manifest from today. The peace that passes all understanding shall become your portion from today.The joy that is unspeakable and full of glory becomes your portion from this day.Every spirit of depression and heaviness, I declare them lifted today.From this day onward, you begin to live life at its best. By the authority of Jesus, every work of the devil in anyone’s life is destroyed today. In the name of Jesus Christ.By the encounter you’ve had here this morning, begin to experience total liberty in the name of Jesus. So shall it be, in Jesus Precious name.”
