IT IS POSSIBLE FOR A MAN TO BE SUCCESSFUL AND NEVER BE FULFILLED.
NOTHING PHYSICAL OR MATERIAL IN ITSELF CAN EVER GIVE YOU FULFILLMENT.
THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF FRUSTRATION IS LACK OF FULFILLMENT.
ALL PHYSICAL THINGS THAT WE SEEK ARE ONLY EXPRESSIONS AND CONVEYORS OF A DEEPER, SPIRITUAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL LONGING.
UNDERSTANDING THE SUBJECT OF FULFILLMENT IS ONE OF THE PILLARS FOR LIVING AN EFFECTIVE LIFE ON EARTH.
- Apostle Joshua Selman at Koinonia on ‘WHAT SEEKEST THOU?’
(PART A).
Hallelujah!
Bless the Lord in the Spirit; let’s give Him all the praise. Blessed be the name of the Lord, Hosanna to the One we can trust. Hosanna to the One who is ever dependable.
Father, some may trust in horses, others chariots but we trust in the name of our God; the One who is a fortress indeed even at times as this. We have come tonight to learn, we have come to show our dependence on your power, wisdom and Your grace. Therefore, Spirit of the Living God, we pray that You will breathe upon us afresh. Speak to our lives and transform us remarkably tonight in the name of Jesus. As always, we vow that Jesus forever will be revealed and even glorified in Jesus’ name I pray.
Welcome to church, God bless you for being here tonight. Just a little housekeeping and we’ll get into the Word. I want to start tonight by saying a very big thank you and I will tell you why? It’s one thing to have people believe in you and believe in what you do and take you and whatever you do very seriously and as a leader, when you find such people, you must be very vocal about communicating gratitude. Church Gist. We’ve been on with our search for a very good property so that we can begin our own project as you know and I decided to just make the announcement last week Sunday and I’ve been in simple terms, humbled and even broken by the participation, the response, not just from Abuja here; literally across the Nation and people have sent in proposed lands to see. I was very humbled when at least two people in all fairness, who were willing to literally stop their projects over acres of land to hand it over to the ministry. I had to reject it and tell them no, we are people of conscience, in as much as we love the Lord, I think it will be unfair for someone to be on in his project and because of his love for the work, just cancel a project worth billions and billions of naira. But that’s to tell you how far people have gone, we’ve been overwhelmed by calls, emails, everyone saying, look; “we want to check out this land, check out this place. Let me talk to FCT minister, FCDA” and this is just to say thank you. Thank you so much, the Lord bless you in the name of Jesus.
Second is to thank and bring a word to those who have been calling because there are people who think we have started the building project already and people have been calling all over the world, wanting to be part of it. We have not started giving people an opportunity to sow into the building project; we are people of integrity, when we are going to start, I will do the announcement myself. Church Gist. Why am I saying this? So that scammers again will not take advantage of the sincerity of the people, especially for our global family, you can sow any seed you want to sow but we have not started sowing particularly for our building project and all of that. Soon, we’ll start and we’ll announce the account we’ll be using and then officially, we’ll pray and give people an opportunity to sow.
So, if you want to sow any seed as normal, you can go ahead and do that with our account but if it is particularly for the building project, please be patient until we make that announcement and pray. It’s not so much about the money; it’s about participating in the work of the Lord. So the prayer and declaration is more important than even the giving. Please if anyone, I’m saying this now especially for international community; if anyone calls you in the name of Apostle Joshua Selman or any staff or anyone in this ministry asking you to transfer money to them and they can take it to the account or telling you they are part of the finance department, I’m saying it now, please know that you are dealing with fraudsters and scammers. Church Gist. We will never do that to call you to say, “Send in money,” maybe for prayer or whatever it is. It is lie and then if for any reason I have to say this; there are people who have been led by the Lord to maybe give properties that they have, pending on the blessing of the Lord, if for any reason you or anyone you know is interested in those kinds of things; please do meet the protocol and let me meet with them directly, we don’t do this kind of things by proxy.
So anybody who tells you, please just give me the land documents, I know how to get it across to Apostle, he’s still a thief, even if they are in Koinonia. So I’m saying this straight to the point so that there is no confusion about it. We cannot allow the devil to use men to take advantage of the sincerity of people. It is our cooperate responsibility, not only for Joshua Selman.
We are to start a new series tonight, but I’ve shifted it for next week so that it will give me room to teach and to discuss the things that I want to share tonight. Tonight’s message will bring healing, hope, true freedom and deliverance. This is one of the messages that whether you are a Christian, Muslim, free thinker, you are serious with God or a backslider; it doesn’t matter what category. Tonight’s message will be most applicable to your life. So I want you to pay attention and let’s trust God to grant us wisdom in the name of Jesus.
PRAYER:
Father, give me an encounter by Your Word in the name of Jesus.
We’ll look at three scriptures and then, I’ll begin my teaching; Ecclesiastes 12:1-14, Proverbs 30:14-16
The assignment of a man of God is to bring God’s people into different dimensions of spiritual intelligence. In a house like this, we are mandated to ensure that believers are taught the various facets of Kingdom living. The first being the knowledge of God and the knowledge of the things that pertain unto God. The next being understanding the mysteries (Principles) of the Kingdom that make for an excelling, empowerment and results because, there is an expression of effective living that comes as the power of personal results. Church Gist. But then, in the midst of all these dimensions and pursuits, it is also important to every once in a while, bring in superior wisdom that helps people to manage their lives effectively and that will help people to live lives of meaning and purpose and at the end of it, they will not regret and wonder, what have I lived my life for?
The subject of purpose is one that the Body of Christ is not in confusion or in ignorance over; pulpit after pulpit, book after book, different people have taught on the subject of purpose and destiny. I remember many years ago, listening to a very powerful message by Dr Myles Munroe. He preached that message in South Africa and he spoke about five questions that every man must ask himself. I may not remember the whole questions but I remember question number one is: Who am I? I remember him saying every man born of a woman must within his life time be able to answer that question, who am I? I only remember the first and the last question, the last question is where am I going to? When I wake up in the morning, what is the objective behind my pursuit, drive and all of these things?
In the School of Ministry, there is one of our courses called Personal Transformation and I teach there about the graph of life, helping men to understand the brevity of life and how to live effectively and I’ve done a few teachings along that line. I think if I were not a preacher and a Christian, I probably would have been a philosopher. I love to think intuitively and look at life from a logical standpoint and from a standpoint of value. What is life about? Church Gist. Why do we wake up in the morning and sleep late in the night? I have the privilege of travelling a lot because of my schedules and ministrations and there are cities I travel to and in this nation and even around the world, I am surprised that people don’t sleep. At any time you go to that city, someone is moving and driving and laughing and selling and smiling. In fact, there are regions where the moment it is night, that’s when other people wake up; there are regions you go, you hear someone shouting in the middle of the night, calling passengers and they are coming.
I have seen a bit of the interesting thing in life, I have seen people wake up in the morning and sleep late in the night, I’ve seen people aspire for so many things. By reason of what I do, I’m always praying for people who are trusting God for new heights, levels, dimensions in life; financially, in government, politics, academics and all of that and I am amazed at how our needs do not seem to end. You will think that with all of the achievements, the frustration should diminish. You will go to the house of a wealthy man and turn left and right and see everything you desire and aspire for and yet, that man is still looking for something and you are asking, what are you still looking for? The man may say something like; “I can give all these things you see for what I am looking for” and he’s still frustrated. Remember when he made his first million and billion, he thought it will give him peace and satisfaction and even in the midst of plenty, there is still that frustration.
How about those who hang and write letters with billions piled in their accounts and shoot themselves or hang themselves. As painful as death is, that a state can come in a man’s life where it seems better to die than to live. How about a young preacher on campus catching the fire, praying for eight hours, learning about Greek and Hebrew as a new experience and this gentleman is now beginning to step into some kind of dimension of grace. Church Gist. This young man is rediscovering a whole new world about his destiny; happy and excited for a while, then campus days are over, he decided to start ministry, another frustration comes with where do I get venue and money? Thirty years later, he’s angry and frustrated; looks back and he does not even know whether he was called or not.
What are we really looking for?
Please I want you to listen to this message, the Lord put it in my heart to share. For the terrorists or one who will stand and kill people and rob a bank and people, what are they really looking for? For the preacher who has a large congregation and yet, continues to pray and say, “Lord, give me increase.” What are we really looking for? This message will give your life meaning, perspective and peace.
The Bible says, there are four that never say enough. They never attain any state where they can say, “I have had enough.” I have the honour and the privilege of studying very successful people and successful system. I didn’t want to be a failure myself. I hate failure and I knew that for you to succeed in life, you will need knowledge and indeed, a lot of it. So, I submitted myself to learning, I still do and I’m humbled by the things I have learnt through the years from books, men, materials and my experience. I used to think that the greatest tragedy in life was failure. But I would soon discover that there is another tragedy that is greater than failure and it’s not death.
What is worse than failure? I will tell you; there is one thing that is worse than failure, it is called: ‘Success without fulfilment’. That success without fulfilment would bring a greater frustration than even failure. It is possible for a man to be successful and never be fulfilled. In my studies and my learning about God and systems, principles of posterity, stability in the lives of people and in organizations, I have found out that the subject of fulfillment is one that many people have downplayed to their detriment. There are many people today who are victims of the absence of fulfillment, even though successful.
Genesis 37:15
What seekest thou? What is that thing that you are looking for that makes you to hate and detest failure so much? As simple as this question is, ladies and gentlemen, you can spend your entire life trying to search for the answer. Church Gist. You would think you have found the answer and ten years added to your life, you will discover what you found was not really the answer. Many people have gone to their graves unable to answer this question; what are you looking for?
Understanding the subject of fulfillment is one of the pillars for living an effective life on earth. I took out time to learn the subject of fulfillment because I do not want to live a useless life. In as much as you love me and believe I am a man of God, sent from God and you have been blessed by the privilege of the investment of grace upon my life, do you know it is possible to live a life impacting people whilst you are frustrated? There have been many people on earth in the secular and even in church who kill themselves in the presence of overwhelming impact, travelling from pillar to post blessing people. It means that there is something if we do not understand, we stand the risk of living a life that is extremely successful but in the midst of our success, we found out that we live defeated lives that do not count as far as fulfillment is concerned.
What is Fulfillment?
I define fulfillment as the satisfaction and the joy that is derived from knowing that you have lived your life effectively, serving the purposes of God and being a blessing to humanity. There are six fundamental human cravings; they are more than needs. They are desperate cravings that every man, provided you are alive, it is the craving that defines the motivation that drives everything that you do in your life:
1). The need for security (physically and emotionally secured). This need varies based on gender, age, level of exposure, but ultimately, all of us have the same need. Church Gist. It is just the various degree of these needs that now defines our personality. Men will give up anything to feel secured even if they are not secured.
2). The need for variety or dynamism. This is the reason why anything that is new, especially in the mass media sells because we like to know what is the breaking news, what is the new information. People hate boredom; it is not given to the human species to endure boredom indefinitely. People like things that create for variety, that’s why people find special moments and celebrate them.
Companies based on this awareness re-invent their products, the packaging of their products and just by re-inventing the packaging of their products can rise to millions of dollars, simple because they satisfy this craving for variety.
3). The concept of respect, honour that is embedded in most of the masculine gender if not all, came from the need for significance. When you bow down and greet me and say, Good Afternoon Sir. Why am I excited as you’re bowing down? It gives people a perception of significance.
People crave for significance more than you can ever know; preachers, parents, young people, business people, men, women – everyone. People crave for respect, honour and acknowledgment; to make sure you are aware of the extent of the worth of that individual and that you can attest to the fact that that individual is that valuable. Church Gist. In every occasion, there is something called High Table. What is the difference between those who sit there and those who sit everywhere else? They can even eat the same thing; these are various names that were invented to help manage and communicate the idea of significance.
4). Love and acceptance. The opposite of acceptance is rejection. Go and ask any psychologist or man of God who is serious with God and they can tell you the severe consequences of being in a position of rejection.
Why do you think most people join occult groups? They will tell you; “I came from a family where nobody believed in me, nobody accepted me and here is this group and they told me, if they can scar my body and do all kinds of things, I’ll be accepted” and they will endure such pain provided it will provide acceptance. People crave for love and acceptance. Church Gist. People have cried because doors were shut at them, they were not accepted. People have cried because they did not give them employment. It was not about the employment or lack of it, but that it was communicated in the way that shows that you are rejected and they go back feeling things that have no business with that job.
5). Growth and increase.
Every parent wants to see their children grow and every child wants to grow to become an adult. Most people in Africa hate being called children, except it is a very old man who says you are a child but anybody who is maybe just a few years older than you, if he calls you a child, you’ll say, “Look, you are older than me but don’t you dare call me a child. I’m not a child.” Because there is something about our passion for growth.
Luke 2:49-52
Growth is very powerful. I do not know anybody, no matter how critical who does not celebrate any major milestone in his life. People celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, why? Because it culminates to growth. Everything that is alive grows.
6). Impact and contribution.
The sixth craving in all humans regardless who, is the craving to know that your life is counting, that you are living an impactful life and you are contributing towards a cause.
These sixth craving is so serious, it is one of the root causes of violence that is accelerated in many under developed nations because most young people, they want to be part of a cause and because they are idle, there is nothing; the moment they see there is something that catches their attention on media, everybody wants to be part of it; whether it is election or whatever it is. There is that feeling of relevance, I’m doing something, my life is counting for something. There is nobody who does not what his life to count.
In all of the messages that people send, the most touching for me is; “Apostle, thank you, listening to your teaching, it changed my life. Now, I love the Lord more, now I’m passionate about the things of the Kingdom” or “your teaching has brought me knowledge.” You know why it gives me joy? Yes, Jesus is glorified but it gives me joy because I can through that text message, it can give me a basis to say thank God, my life is counting. Church Gist. There is nobody who wants to live as a nonentity, to know that your life is not counting. When we acknowledge people, we begin to list some of the things they have done that has blessed us; so and so has blessed me, he has changed my life as a businessman, he has mentored me as a lecturer or a man of God and you see people rejoicing and give glory to God. But then, you can see that fulfillment because their lives count.
I’ll tell you why I listed all of these things: All that we seek for, all that we look for, all that we work or fight for, all that we pray for is hidden in these six things. No matter how you want to twist it spiritually, from a psychological standpoint, it’s an attempt to draw into your life, one of these six cravings. Nothing physical or material in itself can ever give you fulfillment. Church Gist. As a young boy, a student, graduate, married man, father, grandfather, career person, an expert, poor person, millionaire, billionaire, an enlightened person and as a successful man of God, the same thread runs through all of these people; a craving that many do not understand. We invented various ways of trying to fulfill this craving, I can tell you; that is the principal cause of frustration in today’s world.
Many people live lives that are frustrated today and you will ask them what they are looking for and they cannot really articulate what is driving them. They think they are looking for a car, a bigger house, husband, wife, twins or triplets; believe me when I tell you, nothing physical and nothing material has been authorized by God to give anybody fulfillment. You think it is a car that you are looking for, I’m giving you an advance notice; you will find that car and only rejoice for a short time. That’s why we enjoy things that are new and then, they stop giving us fulfilment. Remember when you bought the SUV, you smiled and gave God glory, danced around it and snapped it. It’s in your house but you wanted it to be within your sight. Four months later, it’s not fixed and you don’t care. What changed? You found out that you do not have the ability, it deceived you.
Man of God, I know you think what you are looking for is more members. You are sincere, but that is not what you are looking for. What seekest thou? My dear sister, I know you are trusting God to have children. It is your obsession and it is your prayer; “Lord, if only You will give me children and take away this shame.” You are sincere, but let me announce to you in advance, that is truly not what you are looking for. You are only looking for it because you suspect there is something in it. I’m going behind your physical desires to tell you what you are really looking for. Can I tell you? Not knowing this is the reason why respectfully speaking, many homes are broken and scattered. Any time you fight anybody in your life, let me tell you what you are fighting; what you are really fighting is a violation of these things. You hate people to the degree to which they violate your agenda to having one or more of the six cravings.
When a man of God is saying, “Lord, anoint me.” What is he saying? “Lord, give me what will take away shame from my life he’s saying. Now, he thinks he just wants soul saved and he’s right, but why does he need the anointing that he will lock up himself for forty days, what does the anointing do to him? He knows that when the anointing is there, the sick will be healed, oppressed people will be delivered and inevitably, the Lord Himself will increase his influence, so he would have significance and acceptance. Church Gist. When you buy a car, why do you rejoice? You are too smart to rejoice over a metal. It is not the metal that is giving you joy. You think it is the car that is giving you joy? That car is spelling something to your psychology – significance. That car may make a group now finally accept you. What you are really looking for is not a car. I bring you an interpretation so that we’ll find rest from this endless mundane pursuit. Remember, what seekest thou?
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Powerful message