WE ARE LIVING IN THAT DAY AND AGE WHERE THERE ARE ALL MANNER OF DAMNABLE HERESIES THAT ARE EXPOSED TO BELIEVERS. NOT EVERY THING THAT SOUNDS GOOD IS TRUE, SETTLE DOWN AND BE A STUDENT OF THE WORD OF GOD.
MANY OF US LISTEN TO ALL MANNER OF THINGS – TEACHINGS AND SONGS THAT ARE NOT OF GOD. THE CHEAPEST WAY FOR TRANSMISSION OF SPIRIT IS WORDS
- Pastor David Oyedepo Jnr at International Youth Alive Convention 2021 Day Four Morning Session
Lift your hands and give Him glory for the first word session we received this morning. Celebrate Him and thank Him. Church Gist. Ask him to speak to you again this morning. Father I am ready for more, More of your word, more of your insight, more of your Revelation. Let it come my way this morning.
Father in the name of Jesus we have come to give glory to you, since we arrived upon this mountain on Tuesday, it has been line upon line, change upon change, testimony upon testimony. For it we give you all the glory. Our eyes are you this morning, speak to every one of us, speak to us and let our life be transformed. In Jesus name we pray.
Our series of teachings has been GATEWAYS TO EXCELLENCE and this is the ninth part. This morning we are going to be looking at :
THE POWER OF RIGHT ASSOCIATION.
Every child of God is ordained for excellence, that is God’s expectation for every child of God. You are not designed to be shamefied, you are designed to be glorified. You are packaged for excellence, you are not designed to be ignored. Church Gist. You are not designed for mediocrity, you are designed for excellence.
We have also discovered that for every divine package there is a demand and one of the demands of excellence is right association. You cannot have wrong association and arrive at the right destination. Church Gist. Your association determines your destiny, the company you keep determines the height you scale. Those that you walk with determine where you walk to. Your association is a vital instrument for procuring destiny. According to scripture, you are either made or marred by association.
Psalms 1:1-3
The associations you deny, determine the destiny you arrive at. Church Gist. Association is a non negotiable factor of arriving at destiny.
Philippians 3:17
Who you company with, must be following you to a similar destination.
Romans 16:17
There are those to walk with and there are those to walk away from. Church Gist. No matter how dedicated or anointed, a wrong company can wreck a great destiny.
- Your destiny shall not be wrecked
2 Samuel 13:3-7
No matter how well positioned you are, wrong association can make you lose your position and Right company can be an asset to destiny
Proverbs 13:20
If you have right company, you end at the right destination. If wisdom is your desire look for the wise, if sanctification is your desire look for the holy. Where you are going to determines who you walk with. Sanitize your association. It is better to be alone than to be paired with the wrong person. The company you keep determines the life you keep. That a man goes to church does not mean you should walk with him. That an individual is in your cell unit does not mean they deserve your company.
DYNAMICS OF ASSOCIATION
Association can either be direct or by proxy. There are those you walk with physically and via other means.
1 Corinthians 15:33
- Take Heed What You Hear
Many destinies are destroyed by the voices that they hear, we must hear selectively.
Luke 8:18
Don’t open your ear to everything, your ear is one of the gates to your life (Ezekiel 2:2).
Many of us listen to all manner of things – teachings and songs that are not of God. The cheapest way for transmission of spirit is words. The words you listen to, infuse your spirit. (Romans 10:17) the voice that you hear determines the life that you live. Be cautious of what you hear.
2 Timothy 4:3
We are in an emotional generation, people want to feel good and they don’t what to hear truth. Anytime you hear ask if this is just facilitating my feeling or is it truth?.
- We Just Mind The Books That We Read
2 Peter 2:1
We are living in that day and age where there are all manner of damnable heresies that are exposed to believers. Church Gist. Not every thing that sounds good is true, settle down and be a student of the word of God.
Acts 20:29-32
We live in a day where many people are speaking different things “Live anyhow you like the grace of God will cover you”. My friend told me a story of a young man who while on campus wrote a book on living a holy life. He was commanding signs and wonders at a strange rate. One day he entered his compound and the landlord’s dog barked at him and he raised his hand and the dog died on the spot. Church Gist. The landlord came the next morning to beg him to park out. This my friend went for service and came back after a few years and saw that young man that the fire has expired. This person had about five women pregnant. He tried to talk to him and he was talking about the grace of God. Damnable heresies that extinguish the fire of believers. Be careful what books you read.
1 Timothy 4:1-6
It is not everyone that holds a microphone deserves your attention, not every one who authors a book deserves your readership. You just understand the necessity of selectiveness in the pursuit of knowledge. Church Gist. It is truth that to be without knowledge is not good, but it is also true that wrong knowledge can wreck a great destiny. There are books that believers have read and it paralyzed their faith. In order for us to attain destiny, we must be cautious of our association and that also includes the books that we read.
- We Must Guide Our Exposure To Social Media
Some of us are addicted without knowing, there are people who right now as I am talking right here in the church, they are on one social media app. There is a spirit calling them, telling them “Somebody must have said something on Whatsapp, check. Somebody must have posted something on Instagram, you need to see it. It can’t wait till the service ends, check”. Church Gist. Some people need to sell their smart phone because it is not making them smart.
In some parts of the world, they disabled some social media platforms because suicide rate was high. In some countries, you can’t see when someone likes your posts, so you don’t kill yourself because nobody liked your post. Church Gist. Watch your exposure to social media, it has its profit but it also has its disadvantages when used wrongly.
Numbers 33:52,55-56
We are living in a day where pictures whether still or motion, are causing destruction. Destroy it before it destroys you.
HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY RIGHT COMPANY
- Look out for Spiritual Alignment
Philippians 3:17
Check out those who are aligned with you. The company you keep must have alignment with you. Somebody is your friend and he is talking down on your God or your church, then he is not spiritually aligned with you. Church Gist. The company you keep must be the type that charges you up. Those who when you say “ I think I have done enough”, they say you haven’t done anything”.
Runners stay with runners, footballers stay with footballers, jumpers stay with jumpers, believers should stay with believers. When you find people that are not aligned spiritually, disconnect from them immediately.
I met a man a couple of years ago, he was a minister and we had a meeting. After that meeting I stood up and my spirit was out of place. The company was toxic to my spirit man. I got home and said “Lord may I never meet him again”. He didn’t say anything wrong, he was not spiritually aligned with me. Church Gist. You must decisive when it comes to relationship. God commands you to love everybody but not to befriend everybody.
If you are trying to restore someone who has gone into error, do it with caution (Galatians 6:1). You can try to help people and expose yourself to temptation.
Jude 21-24
Rescuing a brother who has gone into error is regarded in scripture as pulling one from fire. Church Gist. The greatest killer of fire fighters is fire. Don’t sit in fire to save one from fire.
- Seek People with Similar Values
Amos 3:3 , 2 Corinthians 12:18 -19
Do they value what you value? Are they packaged the way you have been packaged? Those you walk with must be waking like you. If you have value of passion for God, seek those who have same value.
- Locate People With Proofs
As you listen to messages and read books, locate people with proofs. Personally, I will never expose my ears to what a man has to say until I have investigated him. Church Gist. If somebody is going to speak to you, make sure he has proofs of what he is saying.
Hebrews 6:12
Today with social media, everybody has a voice so you have opinions flying everywhere of men without substance. Church Gist. Be selective of what you give your attention to. If somebody promises to give you a cloth, you will check the one he is wearing. There must be tangible results.
In this age of social media, check the results where they came from. Men must have results but the results that they have must have explanation.
Jeremiah 6:16-17
There are those who have gone ahead of us that can show us the way to go, follow after them. Church Gist. Follow in their steps and walk in it by reason of seeing the proofs. Locate people with proofs. The moment you position yourself under those with proofs, taking similar steps. The proofs will begin to answer in your own life.
Mathew 25:9
- Be spiritually sensitive
Galatians 4:16
Years ago, I had a young man that was my friend and I was driving to his house and on my way to his house, this was in another country, I was stopped and given a speeding ticket and I didn’t take note of it quickly. On another day, I was on my way coming from his house, I was parking beside the road and a trailer failed brake and hit my car from behind and I landed on the other side of the road. Church Gist. After that day I considered it well , going to his house – speeding ticket, coming from his house – accident. I don’t want to know what is coming next. So you and I no more, Sensitivity.
What profit has come to your life as a result of those you walk with? There is more to life than what can be seen. Sanitize your Association with spiritual sensitivity. There are people that once they come into your life, your spiritual life begins to go down. Church Gist. If you want wood to burn well, it is not the one that is soaked inside water. Watch your company by being spiritually sensitive.
1 Corinthians 2:14
Be spiritually sensitive about the sermons you listen to online, Stop going around looking for what is not lost. Have you finished digesting the one that they are teaching you here? Have you listened to all the messages and read all the books that are within our to oust spiritual family tree. Settle down and be sensitive.
Friendship is not by force, it is by choice. Make a choice for the right associations that you require in your life. Every man’s destiny is at the mercy of his choice. Church Gist. There are those who God brings you to and they are the reason for the blessings in your life, there are those who the devil brings to you, there are the reason for the curses in your life. God blessed Abraham and also blessed Lot who was with him. The same Lot left and went to stay close to Sodom. Lot who came to Sodom with substance, left with only his two days (Genesis 13:10,13).
Judas was with Jesus himself and he left Jesus and went to meet the Pharisees and he lost his throne in heaven. The choice of association is yours and you must be decisive about making the right choice.
- No one here will miss it concerning their Association again
- God will bring right people your way and every wrong entity around you, today is the day of severance.
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