OUR SPIRITUALITY DETERMINES OUR MATERIAL BUOYANCY.
STOP LOOKING FOR WHO TO BLAME FOR MAKING YOU FALL INTO SIN. KEEP YOURSELF.
DON’T BE A PART OF INIQUITY. DEPART FROM IT.
THERE IS NO ONE THAT IS NOT TEMPTED. WE ONLY MAKE CHOICES TO RESIST AND SUBDUE.
IF YOU DON’T GIVE satan ACCESS, HE CAN NOT FORCE HIMSELF ON YOU.
YOU ARE NOT FALLING INTO SIN BECAUSE SIN IS GREATER THAN YOU.
YOU ARE FALLING BECAUSE YOU ALLOWED IT.
YOU CAN CONFRONT THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY WITH THE MYSTERY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE DOING EVIL. YOU CAN BE EXEMPTED.
YOU HAVE TO BE EXTREME IN YOUR RIGHTEOUS WALK IF YOU DON’T WANT SATAN TO CATCH UP WITH YOU.
– Bishop David Abioye on ‘SPIRITUALITY DEMANDS GENUINE PERSONAL COMMITMENT’ at Crossover Night Service, Living Faith Church Worldwide || Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland || Word 3
I want to count it a very great privilege in this Cross Over Service to bring to us the Word of the Lord which is the third one and I deeply appreciate God’s Servant for this.
The foundation has been laid that spirituality is the foundation for our destiny. Looking at Jesus our perfect example in Luke 2:40. Our spirituality determines our material buoyancy. Church Gist. The deeper you are in the Spirit, the fatter your destiny becomes. Spirituality is superior to intellectualism. We live in a world today that celebrates a lot of intellectualism. But I have discovered from scriptures that most successful people didn’t go to school in the Bible. Many of them, because they didn’t have opportunities to do so but they excelled above those who went to school because of their spirituality. I’m not saying don’t go to school. I hope somebody gets that right now. Church Gist. So, you won’t leave this service this morning and say ‘Finally, finally, I’m done with schooling. I’m a spiritual man. I must make it in life’. That’s not what I said. They (people in the Bible) didn’t have opportunity to do so but their spirituality brought about the highest order of intellectualism. What are we saying? Spirituality is core, intellectualism is a plus. Spirituality is our foundation. If you are not spiritual, you are building on rubbles and no rubbles have a future.
But quickly, the Word we are bringing tonight is captioned ‘SPIRITUALITY DEMANDS GENUINE PERSONAL COMMITMENT’. Somebody, say with me, ‘Personal commitment’. If you like, call it ‘Personal responsibility’. Responsibility is required for our getting into the fullness of God’s plan for our lives and that has to be personal. A few scriptures establish that.
1 John 3:3. So, purification is a personal responsibility. The word purification is another word for sanctification. Personally purify yourself. 1 John 5:18,21. Church Gist. So, you have the responsibility of purifying yourself and from this verse, you have the responsibility of keeping yourself ‘and that wicked one toucheth him not’. So, if you keep yourself, the evil one cannot touch you. Stop looking for who to blame for making you fall into sin. Romans 6:14. Keep yourself.
– Somebody say with me, ‘I purify myself. I keep myself and the evil one can not touch me’.
1 John 5:21. Keep yourself. ‘Abstain from all appearances of evil’. ‘Flee fornication’. 1 Corinthians 6:18. ‘Resist the devil and he will flee from you’. James 4:7. Church Gist. These are scriptures that we no longer apply to our lives that’s why satan has had (an) ill road into our lives. Keep yourself, purify yourself. 2 Timothy 2:19-21. Don’t be part (of iniquity) but depart.
– Say with me, ‘I purge myself’
So, it is possible for you to purge yourself from these things. You are responsible for your sanctification. Now, evil is pressing so hard on everybody. Not you alone. We live in the same World, we are faced with the same temptations. Church Gist. We are faced with the same evil. Somebody asked me, ‘Are you tempted with fornication?’ ‘Plenty’ ‘Are you tempted with covetousness?’ ‘Plenty’ There is no one that is not tempted, we only make choices to resist and to subdue. Temptation comes the way of all including ministers of the Gospel. Don’t think we are different from you. I’m not carrying a body different from what you are carrying. Church Gist. We drive on the same street. We see billboards carrying all kinds of pornographic photographs. Why are you the only one tempted? Make your choice. It’s a matter of choice.
Did you hear that even Jesus was tempted in all points, yet without sin? Hebrews 4:15. He was tempted with fornication, He was tempted with drunkenness. Church Gist. He was tempted with many things and by many things. So, no one is exempted from temptation, but not all fall into temptation. It’s a matter of choice!
Evil is not closer to one person than the other. The mystery of iniquity doth work. Church Gist. Satan is at work every day, he knocks at the door of everyone. 2 Thessalonians 2:7,8.
– Say with me, ‘I will not let it’.
That is, if you don’t let satan access, he can not force himself on you. Those who are taken out of the way simply let it, they allowed it. God has given you and I the power to resist, to say no to sin if you want to say no to it. Church Gist. Sin is not closer to you than it is closer to me. It’s a matter of choice. Jesus was tempted, He refused to fall.
It will interest you to also know that just as we have the mystery of iniquity, we have the mystery of righteousness. So, when you are confronted with the mystery of iniquity, you can confront it with the mystery of righteousness. Church Gist. 1 Timothy 3:16. You are not falling into sin because sin is greater than you, you are falling because you allowed it, you let it. You can now take on the mystery of godliness to confront the mystery of iniquity.
– Somebody, say Amen! Say a louder Amen!
The Scripture tells us, ‘Evil shall bow before good’. Proverbs 14:19. That is to say, no matter the evil coming your way, if you stand in good, the good Word of the Lord, it will bow before you.
Please, let us note tonight. Evil is not new. There is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9. In the days of Noah, there was wickedness. Church Gist. There was sin to the extent that God said He would destroy the whole World. Genesis 6:9. It does not matter how many people are doing evil. You can be exempted. You can make a choice not to join them.
– Somebody, say with me, ‘I refuse to join them’.
In the days of Enoch, there were evil people. In the days of Lot, there were evil people. Lot was described as the Righteous. 2 Peter 2:7,8. So, all around us today there are evils, they are vexing us, they are tempting us to join them.
– Say it again, ‘I will not join them’.
Evil is not new. Let no young person here say ‘You see, in our generation, there are a lot of girls who tempt young men’. Church Gist. It’s not true. You are not the first person to be tempted at your youthful age before.
– We didn’t fall by the help of God, you will not fall by the help of God.
Make your choice!
The Holy Spirit has given to us the power but you need to engage the power to subdue the evil of our time. Purge yourself. Cleanse yourself. Save yourself.
What do we mean by spirituality?
God’s Servant gave us a lot of definitions. The core is, walking in the fear of the Lord. Walking in the fear of God. In the days of Job, there were evil and wicked men, but Job feared the Lord. How? He eschewed evil. Job 1:1. He was not not chewing evil. He was eschewing evil. They were pushing evil into his mouth, he was eschewing it. He was spitting it out of his mouth.
Today, we have a lot of devices by which people push evil to us. Modern methods for making people to commit sin. Pornography is there. Many believers, unfortunately, are victims. They have it on their telephone. In the middle of the night, they shut the door. Look this way, look that way, nobody saying ‘it is well’ (and they watch pornography). Church Gist. There are many believers today who have wine, hot drinks, in their fridge, in the fridge in the bedroom. Nobody is saying ‘It is well’. He opens the fridge, satan says ‘Settle down. It’s not bad. It is only 10 percent alcohol’ and from there, satan moves you to take 50 percent until you become a drunkard.
Some years back, during Christmas like this or the Christmas that just passed, some fellow brought me some hamper and inside it, all kinds of hot drinks and they put my name. Pastor so, so (Pastor David Abioye). I said, ‘These people must be very deliberate’. So, I took a pen and wrote them, ‘We are not wine bibbers like you. Church Gist. Get your wine back’. Somebody says, ‘But that is too rough’ If I didn’t answer them that way, when next they are coming, they will come with double of it and then they will say ‘Oh! No wonder the way they preach. Do you see their eyes red? They must have been drinking before they came to Church’. That’s what we are talking about. Purge yourself. Resist evil. Don’t allow avenues of evil around you. What you will not eat, don’t smell. Don’t smell it. Church Gist. Don’t let evil survive around you because what you don’t reprove, you will soon approve. You know the Bible tells us we should reprove the works of darkness. Reprove it. You see, you have to be extreme in your righteous walk if you don’t want satan to catch up with you. You have to be extreme.
As a young student, young believer, four of us in the Hostel room. A young man brought a girl into the room one day and they started to be fornicating in my presence. Ah! I said ‘In the name of Jesus, I stop you right now. I stop you’. Somebody says ‘Why are you like that?’ The right he has to the room, I have to the room. Church Gist. If you want to pollute the room, I want to make the room righteous. If I didn’t do that, when next he is coming, he will come with 2 girls. One for himself, one for me. This is how gradually, evil is creeping into the believers’ lives. Keep yourself.
– Say with me, ‘I keep myself’.
I heard God’s Servant one day sharing testimony when he was….before ministry when he went on vacation job somewhere. He said one man brought a bill where he was working and he loaded it with all kinds of fake receipts (and) fake claims and he stood there. Church Gist. He said, ‘Sir, this is not true. I saw this man. This man didn’t travel anywhere’. This is the order of righteousness that kept us in the past. We live in a world today, a world of compromise and gradually we are saying, ‘It doesn’t matter’ and little by little, the enemy is creeping into the Church until we are no longer speaking against evil and that in ultimate, is getting the Church weaker and weaker by the day. Church Gist. When sin stepped into the camp of the children of Israel, the Lord told Joshua, ‘I have left and I’m not coming back again. Until you take away the accursed, I’m not coming back’.
Why do we need the fear of the Lord?
– It is because it is the beginning of wisdom. The God order of wisdom. Psalm 119:9. Proverbs 9:10. Church Gist. God’s Servant quoted all of that to us before.
– It is through wisdom that we can reign in life. Proverbs 8:15,16.
– He that loves wisdom loves life and he that hates wisdom loves death, as in the case of Judas. Proverbs 8:36.
Even Christ, the Living Word, who was given the Holy Spirit without measure, had to be committed personally to a sanctified life. John 17:19. He had to be committed personally.
– Somebody, say with me, ‘I sanctify myself’.
Now, let’s quickly run through a few examples in scriptures.
1: Abraham. He refused to take bribes. Genesis 14:18-20. The reason why we don’t have our own is that we are taking what is not our own. Don’t touch what is not yours. It is counterfeit. Pastors, don’t touch Church money.
One day, somebody came to me in my office and he said he wanted to pay his tithe. I said ‘But you pay tithe in the Church’. He said ‘I feel I should write your name’ Ah! What a temptation. As he was talking, I called the accountant, ‘Somebody here wants to pay tithe. Please, take him. Let him follow you’. Church Gist. Before he sits down and writes my name and I start rejoicing that God has buttered my bread. Did I not have needs? Plenty of needs. What was the tithe? 2 million. About 15 years ago. You know what 2 million would have done. But I will not touch what is not mine! In your place of work, don’t touch what is not yours. Joseph didn’t touch what was not his own. Church Gist. God gave him his own. Abraham did not touch what was not his own, the following chapter in verse 1, after he rejected that, the Lord appeared unto him and said ‘I am your exceeding great reward’. You know, counterfeit will come before original will surface. Don’t touch what is not your own.
2: What about Moses? Hebrews 12:24-29. He will not take what is not his own. He realized that he belonged to the children of Israel. He was to be enjoying what they enjoyed in Egypt. Pleasure of sin is for a season. You may be afflicted for a while for refusing to take what is not your own. Church Gist. Today in Church, we don’t know how to refuse evil again. ‘We take it. We just take it now, everybody is taking it’. You are not everybody. Everybody is everybody, but you are not everybody. ‘Our people say if you can’t beat them, join them’. Don’t join them. When you join them, you are disjoined from God.
3: Look at Joseph. He chose to live a godly life. A woman, his master’s wife came and said, ‘Here am I. Free of charge. Just touch me. Touch any part of me’ Joseph refused! Where others were infusing, Joseph was refusing. To the extent that this Woman pressed so hard on him every day. Church Gist. When Joseph couldn’t get a way of escape, he decided to lose his dress than lose his destiny. He was castigated. He was wrongly accused. He went to prison for it but he didn’t mind. Prison time is only for a while, it can not erase your destiny. His destiny emerged on the account of righteousness.
Listen to this, every time you are being tempted, it is not about bodily pleasure. It’s about the oil on your head. Satan wants to take that oil away from you. It’s about the crown on your head. He wants to steal that crown away from you. Look at what happened to Adam. Church Gist. It’s not a matter of pleasure. It’s a matter of ‘they must be driven away from the garden into the wilderness’. Every time you touch sin, you are on your way to the wilderness. It may not be immediately but one day, you will find yourself there. Sin is not about pleasure. It is satan’s instrument to take you away from the favour that God has planned for you. Genesis 39:19-24; 42:18.
Remember, Fortune 2024, keep yourself.
4: What about Daniel? Daniel 1:8. Everybody was eating and eating, but Daniel purposed in his heart. I can not purpose for you, you can not purpose for me. Everybody is taking it, I will not take it. Church Gist. Everybody is getting fat by it, no, I’d prefer to be lean. I will not touch it. I will not eat it. They said ‘What about wine?’ They said ‘Our fathers have told us not to take wine with them’. If you don’t refuse it, you end as a refuse. At the end of the day, he excelled all of them. Daniel 6:4,5.
Look at the New Testament. Paul the Apostle. 1 Thessalonians 2:10. Godly behaviour. Unfortunately today, many people don’t believe in that. Our sanctification is not only in our spirits but spirit, soul and body. 1 Thessalonians 5:23,24. Church Gist. Sanctification is spirit, soul and body. Even our bodies should reflect that we are children of God. We are bought with a price. Don’t use your body anyhow. Don’t appear anyhow. Don’t you see how our spiritual parents appear? You are watching your children wearing (a) dress that is showing their lap. Did you see that from our mothers? Did you see that from our fathers? 1 Corinthians 11:1. Somebody says ‘It doesn’t matter’. That’s why those matters are entering into our lives. You say people are chasing you, because you look chaseable. Church Gist. You look chaseable. Your appearance looks chaseable. There are believers, when you see them, you see sanctity. You don’t move close to them. You don’t know them before but you start calling them brother, sister, pastor, because they look like one. I am not saying that physical appearance is what determines our spirituality but our deep spirituality will reflect in our soul, in our conversation, in our disposition and even in our physical appearance.
Today, too many pollutions in the Church. (You) find young men, young believers, you can’t point out that they are believers because of the way they appear. Put earring here, put another one there, do their hair anyhow. Church Gist. Did you learn that from Jesus? Jesus didn’t dress like unbelievers to win unbelievers. The anointing on Him was so strong, they couldn’t resist it. We have replaced those material appearances to replace the unction that should convict sinners. Let’s get back. ‘I’ve walked holily before you all’ Paul said. Church Gist. No one can live the sanctified life by accident. It’s a product of continuous personal commitment to do so. 1 Timothy 4:7,8. 1 Corinthians 9:22-27. Acts 24:16.
Let’s get back. There is no modern Bible, no modern Christianity, no modern spirituality. We want to see the fire that Elijah saw, let’s get back to spirituality. We want to see the fire that John the Baptist bore, let’s get back to the subject of spirituality. Church Gist. We want to live like Jesus whose appearance was driving away demons and like Paul the Apostle, whom they described as ‘the gods are come down in the likeness of men’, let’s get back to the root. Let’s get back deep into spirituality to possess and reclaim our world.
– In the Year 2024, you will not drop in spirituality!
How many of us desire this order of spirituality? I’d like you to rise to your feet please in one minute and cry out your soul. Sanctify me, Lord.
— Prayers —
Thank you, mighty Father. In Jesus precious name.
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