THERE WAS A CLEAR DEMARCATION BETWEEN THE BELIEVER AND THE UNBELIEVER IN THOSE DAYS. THE LINE IS GETTING THINNER TODAY!
ABSENCE OF REPENTANCE MEANS NO FORGIVENESS; SO WE KEEP POSING TO MAKE IT WORK
THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL IS ABOUT CLEARING THE SIN BARRIER BETWEEN MAN AND GOD TO BRING MAN BACK TO GOD
FORGIVENESS IS GATEWAY TO ACCESSING OUR INHERITANCE AND REPENTANCE IS GATEWAY TO FORGIVENESS
WHEN YOU REMOVE THE SIN BARRIER FROM THE GOSPEL, IT IS ANOTHER GOSPEL.
MAN’S SEPARATION FROM GOD IS AT THE ROOT OF ALL HIS PROBLEMS
IF YOU ALLOW CRISES IN YOUR FAMILY, YOUR PRAYERS WILL BE HINDERED AND YOUR MINISTRY STAGNATED
NO ONE CAN CHANGE HIS LEVEL IN THE KINGDOM; IT IS GOD THAT DOES ON THE BASIS OF HIS WORD
IF THERE IS NO REPENTANCE PREACHED ON YOUR ALTAR, THE FUTURE IS BLEAK. THE FUTURE OF THAT MINISTRY IS BLEAK!
MAN’S GREATEST NEED IS NOT POVERTY, MAN WAS ENJOYING ABUNDANCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. MAN’S GREATEST NEED IS THE SALVATION OF HIS SOUL.
NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD. LIES NEVER LAST BUT YOU CAN’T KILL THE TRUTH.
BEWARE OF REMOVING THE OLD LANDMARK. THIS FANCY GOSPEL HAS NO FUTURE
I HAVE SEEN SOME TRANSLATIONS THAT DON’T MAKE ANY MEANING. THE ENEMY IS USING HIS AGENTS TO WATER DOWN THE BIBLE AND PEOPLE ARE CONSUMING POISON.
WE MUST THEREFORE BE AWARE OF THE ABUSE OF THE MESSAGE OF GRACE.
IT BEGAN TO GAIN ROOTS AFTER CORO AS A SURVIVAL MECHANISM PERHAPS AND AN ‘ALL INCLUSIVE GOSPEL’
IT HAS GOTTEN TO BE ABUSED FOR SOME TIME NOW IN THE BODY OF CHRIST
LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU BY ANY FANCIFUL WORD, EVERYBODY IS SAYING IT DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT.
THE SAME POWER THAT MADE US WHOLE, MADE US RIGHTEOUS. IF OUR WHOLENESS CAN BE ATTACKED, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS CAN BE ATTACKED. LET’S WAKE UP!
WITHOUT A GENUINE PASSION FOR SOULS, YOU CAN’T MAKE FULL PROOF OF YOUR MINISTRY
EVERY BELIEVER IS CALLED TO BE A WITNESS, THAT IS A SOUL WINNER.
– Bishop David Oyedepo on “REDEFINING THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL” || NEXT LEVELS ||International Ministers conference 2023 || Covenant University Chapel || Day 3 Morning session || 11th May, 2023.
We all know that no one can promote himself in any organisation. The authority thereof is responsible. No one can promote himself in the Kingdom of God. God is the judge of all. Church Gist. Acts 10:34; Psalm 75:7. No one can change his level in the Kingdom; it is God that does and he does that on the basis of His Word.
If you allow crises in your family, your prayers will be hindered and when your prayers are hindered, your ministry is stagnated. Church Gist. If you won’t be faithful, no matter how hardworking, you can’t be fruitful. God is the judge of all. Psalm 75:7. So until he qualifies us, we can’t change level.
You can’t be in the military and just suddenly say to yourself, “I am now a Colonel.” They say, when? ‘I just became that last night.’ Church Gist. By who? ‘By me.’ No. If you put up any uniform like that, that will be impersonation – you will end up in prison.
1 Timothy 1:12. So our placement is a function of His appraisal of us.
– Lord, engrace me to be worthy of the change of levels that I desire.
I will be speaking to a very strange subject and I’ll like you to please listen with rapt attention. REDEFINING THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL. Galatians 1:6-8. Today we are face to face with another Gospel – all kinds. Church Gist. We have people writing their Bibles. We are under the siege of another Gospel in the now. I’ll like you to follow through because there will always be a remnant reserved by God.
– May each one be part of the remnant!
We understand from Scriptures that man’s separation from God is at the root of all his problems. Genesis 3:3-24; Romans 6:23. Genesis 2:16-17; Genesis 3:14-20; 23-24. Church Gist. Christ came mainly to bring man back to God by clearing the sin barrier. When you remove the sin barrier from the Gospel, it is another Gospel. God came to bring man back to Himself through Christ. Matthew 1:23.
We saw how Christ sent his disciples to preach mankind back to the Kingdom. Ministry can therefore be defined as a divine task that centers around reconciling mankind back to God through the preaching of the Gospel. Mark 1:14-15. The anchor of the Gospel message is repentance. Now that sin is no more sin, there is no place for repentance. Church Gist. The ministry of the Gospel is always about clearing the sin barrier between man and God thereby bringing man back to God. Matthew 1:21. Ministry is bringing man back to God through the preaching of forgiveness of sins by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Acts 13:38-39.
The essence of the Gospel is the recovery of man back to God through the preaching of the Gospel leading to repentance and the validated by fruits of repentance – Not theoretical repentance. Acts 26:20. What we have today is theoretical repentance; there are no visible changes.
Redemption is of no value without visible changes. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18. The Bible defines ministry as the ministry of reconciliation – bringing man back to God. There was a clear demarcation between the Believer and the Unbeliever in those days. Church Gist. The line is getting thinner by the day! Almost nonexistent in many cultures. That’s why there’s a lot of make up because it takes repentance to access forgiveness. It takes forgiveness to access our inheritance. Proverbs 28:13; Acts 26:18. Forgiveness is gateway to accessing our inheritance and repentance is gateway to forgiveness.
What is in our inheritance? 2 Peter 1:3. So because there is no repentance and there is no forgiveness, so we keep posing to make it work. Church Gist. No access to our inheritance so, all kinds of games to make it look like working because they won’t come through the door.
Repentance remains at the root of our redemption. ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved?’ on the day of Pentecost, they asked Peter. Repent! Repent! Acts 3:19. It is repentance that begets forgiveness, forgiveness begets compassion. Romans 14:17. That is the refreshing we are talking about. Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Therefore man’s greatest need is the salvation of his soul. Man’s greatest need is not poverty. Man was enjoying abundance in the Old Testament. Man’s greatest need is the salvation of his soul. Romans 3:23, 6:23. Church Gist. Until our spiritual need is addressed, man remains a vulnerable being on the earth. Romans 8:6. One can be saved and be carnal. He said to the Corinthian Church “Are ye not carnal?” There are many believers including ministers who are walking as men. The anchor message of the gospel till forever is repentance. Wherever repentance is not found, salvation cannot be realized. Acts 5:31, 11:18. Repentance is man’s access to life. I am speaking to someone here today, not all that glitters is gold. Lies never last but you can’t kill the truth. We must beware of removing the old landmark. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 3:11. Beware of removing the old landmark. This fancy gospel has no future. If the foundation is faulty, the righteous can do nothing. Church Gist. We are the righteousness of God whether we do right or wrong, it doesn’t matter. God can’t love you any less is a lie. Judas was in the team of Jesus, he fell by transgression. He became a son of perdition. Jesus preached repentance. Mark 1:14-15. Mark 2:17. Jesus preached repentance. He is the truth. You can’t be truer than the truth. Jesus preached repentance. Matthew 9:13. Luke 5:36. If there is no repentance preached on your altar, the future is bleak. The future of that ministry is bleak. A faulty foundation has no future. Peter preached repentance (Acts 2:37-40). Peter, the foremost apostle preached repentance. Repent! Paul the Apostle preached repentance. Acts 20:20-21, 26:16-20. Watch! Christ preached repentance, Peter preached repentance and Paul preached repentance so where are you getting your preaching from? Church Gist. The Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. Ephesians 2:20. That is the foundation of the Church the gates of hell will not prevail against. Repentance is the foundational message.
One can not repent of what He is not sorry about. Because it is godly sorrow that leads to repentance. ‘I just divorced my wife, praise God!’ He doesn’t feel anything. He works against the truth with delight. He enjoys it, he takes pleasure in it. 2 Corinthians 7:9-10. Church Gist. It is time to be grieved when you notice that God is not pleased with any area of your life. Be grieved to avoid damage.
When Christ appeared after His resurrection, He commanded them to preach repentance and remission of sins. Luke 24:45-47. When he came out of the grave, one of the appearances, he gave them the mandate of what to preach. Preach repentance unto remission of sins. It is a mandate, preach repentance. That He led us into from the beginning. Even if the same people that came to church today came last Sunday, we will still make an altar call. That you may be in Church and you are not in Christ. It is never late to be right. Luke 24:48-52. Don’t go for signs and wonders, they are part of our inheritance in redemption but our access is repentance that engenders forgiveness that leads to conversion leading us into our inheritance in Christ. God does not want anyone to perish but wants all men saved. All men! There are many in Church who have never experienced repentance in their life. Most of us were in Church before we got saved, what did we hear? You can’t hear anything, a dead man can’t hear. Church Gist. But from the time I got saved, I began to hear from God. You have been redeemed as a priest and a king to reign on the earth. It is good for a young man that he bears his yoke in his youth. I began to learn at the feet of Jesus. I had been reading the Bible before but it didn’t make any meaning. A dead man can’t learn anything. There are people in Church, they have never experienced repentance so they have never experienced forgiveness so they don’t know conversion, they can’t access inheritance. Church Gist. Nobody should attempt to rewrite the Bible. All these Greek said, Hebrew said, you don’t want to agree with the truth that is why you are looking for it. I didn’t know one Hebrew, one Greek and the gospel has continued to decorate my life since the day I got saved. I saw some translations, they don’t make any meaning. Zero meaning, watered down by the devil. The enemy is using agents to water down the Bible, people are consuming poison.
For every minister here, reaching out to the lost with the message of the gospel is a way to make a full proof of our ministry. 2 Timothy 4:5. Full proof! Every believer is called to be a witness, that is a soul winner. John 15:16. All of those who have received the Holy Ghost are empowered by the Holy Ghost to be a witness of Christ. This includes every apostle, pastor, prophet and evangelist. Romans 1:16. Without a genuine passion for souls, you can’t make full proof of your ministry. Woe is me if I preach not the gospel. That is Paul the Apostle. Acts 26:22. We must therefore be aware of the abuse of the message of grace. I am sure I am hitting some people now below the belt. It began to gain roots after Covid-19 as a survival mechanism perhaps all inclusive gospel. It has gotten to be abused for some time now in the body of Christ. Romans 6:1. Reading from Chapter 5 of Romans all the way to Chapter 8, it is clear that the sin question was dealt with. Thanks be to God who has brought us victory through Christ Jesus. Church Gist. We were helpless before. Help came when Christ came. Sin shall no more have dominion over you. Just like we are made whole through redemption, Jesus took our sickness and bore our infirmities, by His stripes we are healed. In the same way, we are made righteous but we must stand against sickness to possess our redemptive heritage of wholeness. ‘Is any sick among you?’ Though you have been made whole by redemption, are you under the attack of sickness? Pray! If it is not going, call the elders to pray over you. The same way we must resist sin to realize our heritage of redemption in Christ. The same power that made us whole, made us righteous. If our wholeness can be attacked, our righteousness can be attacked. Let’s wake up! Be not deceived also, he that doeth righteousness is righteous. It is not an appropriation, It is an action! 1 John 3:7. Let no man deceive you by any fanciful word, everybody is saying it does not make it right. He that doeth righteousness is righteous. 1 John 3:8. That we are made whole does not imply that we are not vulnerable to the attack of the spirit of infirmity. Just like that woman was bound by the spirit of infirmity for 18 years. Therefore the same way we have the heritage of healing health and wholeness, that same way we have the heritage of sanctification and holiness in redemption. We must continue to enforce our right to live a life that pleases God through faith. We are justified not by works but by the law of faith. We engage with the fact that Jesus has destroyed the power of sin to leave a life that pleases God.
There is no substitute to doing righteousness for anyone that desires to make Heaven. How many want to make Heaven here? I’m sure Heaven is still real to us. Is Heaven real? Church Gist. Because the way this message is going now, Heaven will no longer be relevant. There is no more salvation, no altar call any more. Heaven will no longer be relevant – just confess, possess, have, grow, build an empire, put rings on your hands and legs, My God!
Somebody asked me one time and said, “What is your ambition?” The word sounded strange to me. If it’s what one looks forward to, I want to hear from Jesus when I arrive in Heaven, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” Ambition, your money, your car … Not that I had it before; I have never heard it. Church Gist. You better know where you are going and face there. All these “fefeyeye” ministry have no future. You better wake up and be real. Let’s stop faking this thing.
Matthew 7:21-23. It is a will to do not a will to preach. It is when you do it that your preaching it becomes impactful. No substitute for living right.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
– There are people here today, certain deadly habits that follow you here will become history.
– Every taste for ungodly habit dies here today!
Jesus taught practical righteousness. Matthew 5:6; Matthew 5:17-20. People are busy trying to destroy the commandments of Scripture. Church Gist. Matthew 5:27-30. Peter taught practical holiness. 1 Peter 1:13-16. Paul the Apostle taught that we should go on to perfection. 1 Thessalonians 2:10. Behaviour is part of our Christian testimony – godly behaviour, behaviour with dignity. Philippians 3:13-120.
Most people who are preaching this thing today were not there before; they shifted from where they used to be. How? I can’t tell. It is called the Mystery of Iniquity – it took over them.
– May God engrace us to be living examples to the flock.
The Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets and if they preached righteousness, they taught holiness, they drove perfection, we must beware of another Gospel. Church Gist. Jesus did not come to redefine sin; he came to destroy the power of sin. 1 John 3:8.
We do not belong to a lawless kingdom. People seem to hate law. You’re not fit to live. Every territory, kingdom, is guided by rules and regulations. You don’t believe in law – why do you obey traffic rules in your nation? You don’t have rules and regulations in your family – you have a family in shambles. Church Gist. Romans 8:1-2. You can’t be free from one law without engaging another law. We cannot be free from the law of sin and death without engaging the law of the Spirit. You cannot overcome the law of gravity without engaging the law of upthrust.
We are guided by the law of Christ. Without engaging the law of Christ we remain in spiritual crises. Church Gist. The law of the spirit constitutes mainly the commandments of Scriptures. John 6:63. While the law of Christ simply implies the law of Scriptures because Christ is the Living Word.
To realize our heritage of righteousness in Christ the following laws of the Spirit must apply:
1. Walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:16; Romans 8:13.
2. Exercise yourself unto godliness or your spiritual life becomes floppy and end up paralyzed. 1 Timothy 4:7-8; Acts 24:16.
3. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. Matthew 5:6
4. Engage in praying in the Holy Ghost. Jude 1:20. Before any evil thought settles, (pray in the Holy Ghost). You are invoking the refiner’s fire, burning up every chaff in your mind.
5. Flee youthful lust. 2 Timothy 2:22; Don’t meddle – flee! Flee fornication – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20. Put on righteousness consciously. Church Gist. The way you put on your suit and put on your dress, put on righteousness. You are walking out in the morning, put on your robe of righteousness. Lay aside every weight and every sin. No, I am not interested, not here. No credit today, come tomorrow. Lay aside every weight and every sin that doth easily beset you. Hebrews 12:1.
6. Cast off the works of darkness. No! I don’t belong there. Romans 13:12.
7. Purge yourself, engage in a cleansing, Word cleansing, spiritual cleansing. Can I tell you this? Our level in ministry is a function of our depth of purging. 2 Timothy 2:19-21. Church Gist. So it is not about all the other principles we are teaching. Without a genuine purging, our level will be stunted. Church Gist. There will be no way forward. Lot of noise but no motion. “You don’t have to do anything but you have to give. Christ has done everything but you have to give and you shall receive”. Can you imagine that kind of theology? Haba! Man should be true to himself. You don’t do anything to please God but you give. Give your seed right now. Hallelujah. But you just told us not to do anything now? ‘God is in need, if you don’t give God, you will go down’. All kinds of atrocities. Purge yourself. 1 John 3:3.
In conclusion, Isaiah 32:17-18. There is no peace to the wicked says the Lord. The righteous are as bold as a lion.
– So I see you walking to new realms of peace. Church Gist. New realms of quietness and assurance.
– I see you walking to new realms of change of levels supernaturally.
When we were growing up in our own time, you do something and people will tell you ‘you say you are a Christian, should a Christian behave like this?’ you can’t say that anymore. Church Gist. They are big boys in town! they are doing other things people are doing and they want to have a different experience? It never happens but God has reserved the remnant for Himself. Aren’t you glad you are one of them? You can do nothing against the truth but for the truth.
2 Corinthians 13:8. Repentance is at the foundation of our lives.
– may this truth keep burning hot on every altar represented here.
When the Lord gave me insight on the mystery of the oil, the Kingdom of darkness was shaking. “Ah, it can’t happen”, everybody is on it today. You can’t kill the truth. Church Gist. Your automatic access to your inheritance when you follow the process of repentance, forgiveness and conversion. Easy and easy. Acts 20:32. I said to God, “whatever you cannot do in my life, let it remain undone. Whatever you can’t give me, may I never have it. Wherever you can’t take me to, may I never get there”. He will give you your inheritance among them that are sanctified. Church Gist. We are not there yet but we are going there, we mustn’t go backward, we must be going forward. Where up to we have attained to, let’s mind the same thing and follow the same rule, don’t go backward. Jesus said, “be ye perfect even as your Heavenly Father is perfect”, what a law. Matthew 5:48. Jesus preached righteousness, sanctification and perfection.
– we are going there.
Please, lift up your two hands and call for fresh grace upon your life, “I refuse to follow the crowd, I must follow the truth”. Church Gist. There’s no such grace that justifies sin. Justification of sin is an abuse of grace, it’s not the truth.
(PRAYERS)
Before we round up, impact is a function of unction and unction is a function of sanctification. No one puts new wine in an old wineskin. The new wine would burst the old wineskin and the wine will spill out and God hates waste. Church Gist. He will not anoint you and me beyond the worthiness of our vessel to sustain it. Jesus was anointed without measure, his impact was without measure, so the new anointing demands a new lifestyle to accommodate it. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him and Divine secret is the master key to the world of unlimited breakthroughs. Church Gist. When Job accessed the secrets of God, he became the greatest of all men in the east. So, we are limited in access to Divine secrets and Divine secret is what makes stars in the Kingdom. We don’t know how much we are working against ourselves when we live anyhow.
– “Lord, deliver me from me. Whatever I’m doing against myself, my destiny and my ministry, set me from it” go ahead and pray.
(PRAYERS)
The only spiritual virtue that remains relevant until eternity is Godliness, not Faith, not breakthrough, not breakthrough, not signs and wonders. 1 Timothy 4:8. Church Gist. Godliness is the only virtue that remains relevant until eternity. Let’s stop celebrating vanity. “I have 10 houses”, that’s your cup of tea. “I have 10 planes”, well-done, aviator. The only one thing that remains relevant at the end of the day is Godliness, which is a summary of righteousness, sanctification and holiness. Let’s stop celebrating vanity, let’s start celebrating substance. Church Gist. Heaven is real and it’s from eternity to eternity. Human accolades and celebration is temporary. Heaven is real. He said, “give me food that is sufficient for me, lest I be rich”.
– “Whatever will reach my habd that will make me miss you, don’t let me have it”, go ahead and pray.
(Prayers)
Can I please ask you to forward this message to as many ministers of the Gospel that you have contact with. Help forward this to them. Church Gist. Without engaging the mystery of Godliness, the mystery of iniquity will keep prevailing. When Aaron put down his rod, the greater rod, the magician put down their own but the rod of Aaron swallowed their own. Church Gist. We can’t watch the rod of the magician having a field day, let’s put down the rod of God. 2 Thessalonians 2:7. 1 Timothy 3:16. Iniquity is a mystery but this one (Godliness) is a great mystery, so when we put down the great mystery of Godliness, it will swallow the mystery of iniquity. Exodus 7:11-12. We can’t watch the rod of the magicians having a field day, put down the rod of God to swallow it up.
– in the precious name of Jesus, the Gospel of the Kingdom is recovered!
Matthew 24:14. Not the kind they are preaching now, this kind that Jesus and the Apostles preached. The Gospel of repentance, forgiveness, conversion and access to our inheritance in redemption shall be preached and then (shall the end of come). “This Gospel”, not “the gospel”, if anybody preaches another gospel, it’s his own gospel. So, pass it on to as many as people. Church Gist. The Holy Ghost spoke to me for the past 3 days, “it’s time to put down the rod of the great mystery of righteousness to swallow the mystery of iniquity” and it’s done and it’s beginning from your ministry.
– Sin shall no more have a field day in your ministry, beginning with your life and my life.
1 Corinthians 10:12. Jesus said to Peter, “pray that you fall not into temptation”. Peter said, “I don’t need to pray. Anybody here, they know me, Jesus ask them na, they know me”. Church Gist. A little girl, she didn’t carry a gun when Peter started swearing. “Watch and pray that you fall not into temptation”.
– grace to watch and pray, receive it now!
—–PRAYERS
#BishopDavidOyedepo
#11May2023
#IMC2023Day3
#NextLevels
#OnCovenantHighways
#LFCWorldwide
#ChurchGist
