YOU DON’T NEED TO DO ANYTHING TO BENEFIT FROM THE AUTOMATIC POWER OF RESURRECTION. JUST BENEFIT!
UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF RESURRECTION AS A SAINT, YOU MAY STILL HAVE UNPLEASANT SITUATIONS.
WHEN YOU BEGIN TO PERSONALIZE SPIRITUAL THINGS, YOU START TO MISS OUT.
WE BEGAN OUR CHRISTIAN WALK FROM THE POWER OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION THAT THE PATRIARCH OF OLD LOOKED FORWARD TO.
SOME MINISTRIES WILL NOT BE POPULAR BECAUSE THERE IS WHAT WE CALL GOD’S SECRET SERVICE.
YOU WON’T SEE THEM ON YOUTUBE BUT THEY ARE DETERMINING THE MOVE OF GOD IN A GENERATION!
CHRIST’S RESURRECTION RECONFIGURED THE REALM OF THE SPIRIT TO FAVOUR THE SAINTS.
BEFORE CHRIST’S RESURRECTION, PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS WERE IN BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.
WHEN CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD, HE RAISED US FAR ABOVE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS!
OUR KNOWLEDGE OF KNOWING CHRIST IS CONNECTED TO THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION.
OUR FASTING AND PRAYING IS A SERVICE TO GOD.
AN AVERAGE CHRISTIAN TODAY DOES NOT KNOW BEYOND JOHN 3:16
IF THERE IS NO POWER IN THE WRITTEN WORD WHY IS satan DOING BIBLE STUDY?
WE ARE IN A GENERATION OF BIBLE ILLITERATES AND THAT IS WHY ALL KINDS OF DOCTRINES ARE FLYING AROUND
YOUR STORY NOW IS NOT FROM SHAME TO GLORY BUT FROM GLORY TO GLORY.
WE DEAL WITH THINGS IN THE REALM OF THE SPIRIT WITH THE WRITTEN WORD.
YOU TEMPT GOD WHEN YOU MISREPRESENT SCRIPTURE.
YOUR WORD LEVEL DETERMINES YOUR SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE.
– Pastor Dele Osunmakinde on ‘THE IMPLICATIONS OF RESURRECTION’ at Mercy Conference 2024: The Resurrection || Morning Session Day Three || Household of David || 2nd February 2024 ||
Matthew 27:50-54.
– Even as we are reading this Scripture, something is already happening.
Apostle Mike Orokpo almost took the title of my teaching this morning and he mentioned it severally in the course of his teaching and it is ‘THE IMPLICATIONS OF RESURRECTION’.
The Bible says ‘The moment He yielded the ghost, the moment He gave up His Spirit’, please, note that. Church Gist. Know the sequence of events, it’s very, very important.
1: The veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. So, the first implication of the death of Jesus was a torn veil and you see why that is important because we are going to get to that now because, in the course of the teaching, you will now see that there are two types of veils that is still veiling people, not making people to access what Christ did for us.
2: The graves were opened.
I don’t want to go into the aspect of the earthquake and the rock splits but because it’s there and that’s how you get accurate with the Word of God, let’s just touch on that. So, let’s follow the sequence in the Word. Church Gist. There is a way and there is a reason why those things were recorded line upon line, precept upon precept in that regard. So, let’s look at it again.
1: The veil of the Temple torn and the Bible was so meticulous in telling us how it tore. Church Gist. It said number 1- From the top to the bottom.
2: The Earth quaked.
3: Rocks were split.
4: The graves were opened.
Write it down. The power of His resurrection is such an automatic power that just like Apostle Mike Orokpo was saying, you don’t need to do anything. You just need to benefit because these guys were not paying for the graves to open. So, it wasn’t their prayers that made the graves to open. Church Gist. I don’t think anybody in that generation knew God so much and to start interceding to say ‘I want this veil of the Temple to tear from top to bottom’. I don’t think it was an intercessor that made that to happen. An intercessor looks at the veil. As a matter of fact, in their own time, they thought that veil was the greatest piece of material that is depicting divinity because, every time they looked at that veil, they remembered Moses. So, it was not the prayer of an individual on the face of the Earth that made the veil to tear. Church Gist. It was not the prayer of an individual on the face of the Earth that made the Earth to quake. It was not the prayer of an individual on the face of the Earth that made the rocks to split.
Matthew 27:52. Apostle Mike, Pastor Sola, is it not amazing that the people in these graves were not sinners? So, you begin to see the kind of people He is talking about here. ‘Saints who had fallen asleep’ and the reason why we are going this way is because the same thing that happened then is still happening now that inside so many graves are still saints who have fallen asleep. Church Gist. Just like Apostle Mike said, it’s not because they are sinners. People are in situations today, that mean there is something about graves. It doesn’t respect the fact that you are a saint until you understand the power of His resurrection because these were saints locked up in the graves and they were going to be there forever if not that something happened and the moment that thing happened, grave said ‘I give up’ and the funny thing is that, you don’t see Christ addressing the grave. So, what you call crises, they know…oh God! I just pray that the eyes of the understanding of somebody will be enlightened this morning to understand the fact that when you talk about sickness or poverty, sickness knows because the whole essence of Christianity is for you to also agree that sickness knows. Church Gist. That means the grave knows when it is no longer in its place to hold somebody because these are automatic occurrences by the reason of the fact that somebody died.
‘And many of the bodies’. Please stay with me. Let that scripture be on the screen. You don’t really need to show my face. It’s not as important as the Scripture. Church Gist. Let’s stay with the Scripture because the more I see it, the more the revelation will begin to pour forth the more. ‘And the graves were opened’.
– Look at somebody, say ‘In the name of Jesus, that is why we are at Mercy Conference’.
– Look at that person and say ‘The graves are opened’.
Even the way you are saying it, I don’t think you believe it. (Congregation shouts)
‘And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were (raised)’ Pastor Sola, even if it is just ‘the graves were opened’ it’s enough. But the Bible is saying there is more. So, even if the graves are opened just like Apostle Mike said, that is death. If we don’t experience this other part which is called ‘they were raised’ and look at the next verse…is it not amazing Pastor Sola and Apostle and Pastor Abigail that despite the fact that they were raised, they waited? Church Gist. So, the graves can open, you can be raised but you are not yet out. Something made them to come out. Matthew 27:53. That means, despite the fact that the graves were opened, those guys knew better, ‘We can’t still step out’. Despite the fact that they were raised, they were still waiting for something. Church Gist. They said ‘What is going to validate this experience is’…because don’t forget, He died 3 days earlier and He was…the moment He yielded up the ghost, the graves opened. The moment He gave up the ghost, people were raised but they stayed there because they were waiting for something.
Matthew 27:53. You know why that is important? Because Christ must be the First fruit and Apostle Mike, if there is a first fruit, that is what we call prototype. Right? So, there must be second fruit, there must be third fruit. That means once the First fruit is established, it becomes common base. Church Gist. Any other person can experience it. So, they had to wait for Him and the Bible said ‘after His resurrection, they went into the Holy City and appeared to many’. That means, Elijah said ‘See me’.
Apostle, why did they have to wait for this? Are we not blessed? That what these guys waited for all their lives, we started from there. You are not getting it. I mean, guys like David had to wait for this, they looked for this. That was why Abraham insisted, ‘There is a place I must be buried’. Church Gist. They knew something was coming and they knew geography. Oh! Let me say something about geography. These are the days you can’t just afford to travel out of your country (japa) because, in the equation of spiritual things, geography is important. That was why Joseph said ‘Don’t leave my bones here’. Look, you guys don’t understand why those patriarchs insisted they must be buried within that vicinity because they were looking forward to the power of His resurrection. But for us, Christianity started from there. Church Gist. What these guys looked forward to, we began live from there and the part I like about this is that they went into the Holy City and they appeared. Imagine that day, you are seeing David and Abraham said ‘This is me. My name is Abraham. How are you doing?’.
People of God, Christianity is that real because at times, if we don’t pack it like this, we think God is joking. ‘They appeared’. Abraham was in that grave, Sarah, all of them, David, Isaac, Jacob. Church Gist. Suddenly, as the World was mourning and as people were looking at what we call the Good Friday, these guys were saying the greatest thing in human history just happened. ‘And they came out and appeared unto many’. Apostle, that is the power of His resurrection. But the part I really like there and that’s the part where I want to start from is that ‘They were raised’.
Pastor Sola is such a man of the Word and I know the next thing I want to say you know it in your spirit. I’m sure of that. We’ve been together for how many years? Over 40 years. We grew up in the same house.
One of the implications of resurrection is that Jesus reconfigured the entire spiritual realm. Write it down, the reconfiguration of the realm of the spirit. Before resurrection, there was a way the realm of the spirit was configured that once you die, the grave will hold you and it does not matter whether you are Abraham or David, you are not exempted. Church Gist. Because that was the configuration at the time so, it’s got nothing to do with you. It’s not anything personal. You see the beautiful thing about redemption or so is that it’s not anything personal. When people begin to personalize spiritual things that is where you miss out. Just like Apostle Orokpo was saying, you want your own story to be different. Just like I did in a recent post, you want to tell us the reason why you heard God was because you fasted and prayed 10 hours every day for 4 weeks. That is your personal experience. Church Gist. It doesn’t fit into our commonwealth and that doesn’t mean God can not raise you that way but you can not make a doctrine out of that because that is not profitable for doctrine. That is not scripture.
Then I’ll now raise disciples and I tell all of them ‘You have to fast and pray 10 hours every day for 4 weeks to hear God’. Church Gist. Then somebody will look at you and say ‘I was not even looking for God when I heard Him speak to me’. You know why that is very important? Look at Daniel 10.
Imagine Abraham, despite the fact that He was the father of faith, could not change this configuration because it is beyond Abraham. It’s beyond Moses. Imagine Moses, to even show that level, the moment Moses died, another cosmic battle started fighting over his body, because that was the configuration at the time and the Book of Daniel explained the configuration in a graphic manner. Church Gist. Daniel 10:12. Look at that, that was the configuration at the time. Not because you fasted for 21 days, ‘From the first day’. So, what fasting does is not to make God to hear us better. There is something that is called…look at another principle Daniel brought to bear there, it’s called ‘When your heart is set to understand’. Church Gist. You can fast but your heart is not set. Daniel 12:13. So, there was a delay for 21 days Pastor Yinka and there was nothing they could do about it because that was the configuration.
In the days of Daniel and in the Old Testament, look at it everyone. The configuration of the realm of the spirit was as such that God was there (above) but in between God and man were principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this World and spiritual wickedness in high places. Church Gist. So, when a signal is coming from God, they co-intercept it and you just saw it now even for as long as 21 days. Apostle Mike, look at that configuration. Is that not a bad configuration Pastor Sola, that something occurred now, you’ve received the answer but for the answer to get to you, it took another 21 days because where the answer was coming from was configured in such a manner that one Prince of Persia can tamper with the answer.
So, God, principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this World, spiritual wickedness in high places, then man. When Christ rose from the dead, He raised us! In that configuration, we were too low, so, what He did was that, to raise. Just like Apostle was reading Ephesians 1. ‘He raised us and made us to sit’. Church Gist. So, whatever is coming from that realm gets to us first now before it gets to principalities and powers. In fact, we need to miss it for it to get to them. That’s why I want you to appreciate that word ‘Raised’. You were raised. That means, from this realm, you were taken to a realm above. The Bible did not just say above, it says ‘Far above’. The moment that happened, the graves opened. Church Gist. The bodies that were decayed 2000 years, 1000 years, just regained their strength. But they knew why it happened and that was why they didn’t come out, they had to wait for Him to come out first because Christ must be the First fruit and they did not want to mess up that equation and that was why that despite the fact that all these things happened, they waited and the moment He rose, they appeared unto many.
Look at me everyone, that is the story of our lives. That was why Paul was crying ‘That I may know Him’. You know, we have in scripture, things here and there that tell us Apostle Paul prayed. Only very few places in scripture we were given insight into the prayer points so that those that we like and we respect in scriptures, at least we can have some insight into their prayer lives. Church Gist. When we say they prayed…when Paul said ‘I pray in tongues more than you all’ What did they say when they prayed? What kind of prayers did they pray? So, we were very fortunate that the Bible gave us insight into one of the prayers Apostle Paul used to pray and that was ‘That I may know Him’ and that level of knowledge is connected to ‘The power (of His resurrection)’. Why would Apostle Paul be praying that? That there is something called the power of His resurrection. So, even if you don’t get anything from this Conference, the first and the most important implication of His resurrection is the reconfiguration of the realm of the spirit to favour the saints. Church Gist. As a matter of fact, the saints are now part and critical to the production of the answers to their prayers. Because in Revelation 5 now, if you see the settings where prayers are being answered now, there is a golden vial there full of incense and the Bible tells us, that is the prayer of the saints.
So, even for books to open, for seals to be broken in Heaven, the prayers of the saints…that is why we fast and pray. We are fasting and praying because it is our service to God because even in that realm, certain things can not happen until the prayer of the saints rises like incense. Church Gist. So, when you wake up in the morning and you are doing the 2 hours, it’s a service of God, just like Anna. Apostle Orokpo, how can a woman fast and pray, day and night for 84 years? You Joseph now want to leave Mary because you think your love for Mary is your own making but you don’t know that a woman’s life…and the Bible said that she was a prophetess who never gave a single prophecy. She was not even known until the day Christ was presented and that is to warn all of us. Church Gist. There are ministries that will not be popular because there is what is called ‘God’s secret service’ and what those people are moving, you won’t see them on YouTube but they are determining the move of God in a generation. That was Anna.
Do you know…I mean at times we just say 84 years. Do you know 84 years? That means somebody started praying since 1940. 1940 to 2024 is 84 years. You don’t understand. Some of us here our fathers were not even born in 1940. My father was born in 1946. Apostle Orokpo, imagine since 1940, one woman never left the Temple one day and her prayer was not for her need. Church Gist. The Bible says ‘She was serving God’. So, that’s where prayer becomes a service. When you get to this level, nobody is going to beg you to pray. It is how resurrected people pray because they now know it is a requirement in those realms that is reconfigured. That if saints don’t pray, something will go wrong again. So, when you see a praying Church like HOD…Pastor Sola used to tell me how much you guys pray. Come, pray, almost every time, pray. In fact, You remember you used to tell me that (on) Saturdays, people would just gather before Mercy Encounter started and start praying and you told me that as much as 200 people, before you knew it, almost everybody just started coming and somebody could be wondering why are we praying like this. Church Gist. It’s called prayer as a service. It’s part of divine architecture to keep that configuration intact. You’ve heard software as a service before, platform as a service, it’s called architecture. So, there is also an architecture in the realm of the spirit that prayer as a service is part of what keeps that infrastructure intact, that configuration intact.
Are we getting something?
1 Corinthians 4. 2 types of veil then I can begin to close and when we come back in the evening, we’ll look at some other things.
So these saints who are kept in the grave until the configuration time, changed.
– and somebody is hearing me this morning, it doesn’t matter what you’re in. It doesn’t matter what is keeping you in, just remember this morning, the configuration changed to favour you.
– The saints are now operating in a realm far above and because of that, graves must listen. It has to open.
– Because of that the bodies must come together again and because of that they have to appear.
– After this Conference, you will appear because many of us have not appeared.
Those guys appeared unto many and they were like ‘We’re here!’.
2 types of veils. 2 Corinthians 3:14. Let’s begin from there. Then we’ll look at 2 Corinthians 4:3. Then, I can begin to close. Church Gist. It won’t really be a long one this morning then when I come back in the evening, like Apostle Orokpo said, we’ll look at some stuff.
Hallelujah!
—Singing in the Yoruba language—
That song just came and I’m happy I’m in Lagos because it’s difficult to sing these songs in England. They won’t understand.
2 Corinthians 3:14.
– Look at your neighbour again. Say ‘You were raised’.
You know, when we were in Secondary School, when you were ‘broke’, you asked your friend, ‘Can you raise me?’. Church Gist. Are there ‘broke’ people here this morning? Even if you are ‘broke’, you are raised.
There is something grace is looking for and that is a witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever it is witness, great grace will be upon them all. Even if you don’t believe, we will always have people like that. Maybe somebody is here, you are struggling with rent, or somebody is here, you are struggling with school fees, or somebody is here, you just need…just believe with us because Christianity is very simple. Church Gist. There are times you need a preacher to convince you, it’s very simple. Believe, because all these guys were not praying for the graves to open. So, something happened. How come a grave held somebody for 2000 years and one day the grave just said ‘I repent’. Somebody instructed that grave on your behalf.
You see, we are talking about the finished works of Christ, what Christ did for us. We’re getting off a tangent now in the Body of Christ that our emphasis now seems to be what we can do for ourselves not necessarily what Christ did for us and that’s why He’s showing us this story that there are graves beyond you. They’ve got nothing to do with you. Church Gist. They’ll continue to hold you until a higher power reconfigures things on your behalf and that is the power of His resurrection.
Look at this place now. So, the veil tore. Where is the veil today? 2 Corinthians 3:14. You see that veil that tore, is now present every time you are reading the Old Testament, unlifted. You know why we need to talk about this? Whenever we are teaching scripture, for those of us who are preachers, it is important for us to understand and appreciate that some Old Testament truth happened when the realm was reconfigured like the days of Daniel. Church Gist. That some of those truths are no longer true in the light of the New Testament or else, you’ll be quoting Moses and you’ll be justified. Meanwhile, the Bible is saying whenever you are reading the Old Testament without the mindset of the power of His resurrection, there is already a veil there.
Apostle Mike and thank God, one of the fathers is here, Dr. Amos. Pastor Sola, let’s look at the bulk of our prayer points in the Body of Christ today. They are Old Testament compliant and they create veils and that is why in a place like Nigeria, we pray. If we are to go by the volume of prayer that’s been offered in this Country, this Country should be the best Country in the World. There is nothing wrong with the Old Testament. It’s a testament but, this is now the Bible. 2 Corinthians 3:14. ‘This day’. Church Gist. What is today’s date? So, I can come here and say ‘You know what? Like Elijah, like Moses, like Daniel’. You know, just like we just looked at Daniel now. Somebody can just say ‘The reason why we need to pray 21 days was that it took Daniel 21 days’. So, we even come up with a concept like ‘Daniel’s fast’. What is Daniel’s fast and why must you do Daniel’s fast? Why not do Christ fast? That one is too ordinary right? Pastor Segun, we must Danielize it. So, it’s called Danielization of theology, right? Because if you sound Daniel, it looks more real. Church Gist. But when you do not understand that Daniel himself was looking forward to Christ, was looking forward to resurrection. In fact, he said it. He said ‘Many that are in the dust of the Earth will be raised’. Daniel was talking about that. You see that in the Book of Daniel. Daniel 12:3. Even Daniel was already contemplating. Just like Apostle said, David sat one day, he said ‘Ah! I foresee the Lord before my face. Church Gist. He’s at my right hand so, I’m not going to be moved. For you’ll not leave my soul in hell neither will you allow your holy One to see corruption’ and on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and said he was talking about Christ. So, what many of us are enjoying today, all these guys were looking forward to it. So, therefore, they could not have presented to us a perfect theology in that sense.
Let me give you an example of the fast of Christ. Because you now have to understand that that veil is taken away in Christ. So, Daniel can not be our perfect example in fasting and prayer, it is Christ. Church Gist. Because it is only when you subject everything you are reading in the Old Testament to that civilization that is called Christ, that is when you now begin to see the essence of what they’re doing. But to do it outside of Christ, you get into religion.
Apostle Mike, I think it was one of the phone calls between myself and Pastor Sola. We started discussing this about the implication of the fast of Jesus and I’ve heard Pastor teach on it before too. When Christ fasted and prayed for 40 days, He was not fasting and praying to defeat satan. Church Gist. As a matter of fact, satan came because He fasted. Are you ready for this new configuration? So, in this new configuration, fasting and praying for 40 days is not to move satan because you can’t impress him that way because it was after 40 days he showed up. So, if the 40 days is to build capacity, then by the time Christ got to the 35th day, satan should pack his load and leave the Earth. But look at satan, he waited and said ‘Are you done?’ Because the real essence of fasting is not really fasting and paying. Church Gist. The real essence of fasting is for you to answer some questions and if you miss those questions you just wasted time, you just went through a hunger strike…and look at the first question, ‘If you are the Son of God’. Look at me. I remember saying this in Jos in Pastor Chingtok’s Church last year at their conference.
– Oh! Thank you, Lord!
How can after 40 days and 40 nights, from satan, he was not even impressed once? Because he never referenced it. He didn’t say ‘Oh, you have fasted and prayed’. He said ‘If you are the Son of God’. He didn’t say ‘If you are the prayer ‘guru’ or you are the fasting man’ because those are the things people are trying to use to impress the enemy now that ‘Look at how much…’ and don’t forget, that veil is taken away in Christ. Church Gist. We are looking at fasting as an example now, of how fasting can veil you if it’s not done in Christ. It can become a veil. That veil that tore, people are reintroducing it again in the reading of the Old Testament…and Jesus said ‘It is written’. Pastor Yinka, 3 times, ‘It is written’. That means, before you fast know the written Word. It is not in fasting and prayer you get identity. God must have spoken to you ‘You are my son’ before you fast and pray. Because a lot of people are trying to use fasting and prayer to get identity, you run into errors. Church Gist. Your identity must be clear before you begin to fast and pray and fasting and prayer in this new configuration can not give you an identity that the Word has not given you. So, even before He fasted, the Father said ‘You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. I’m drumming it now because you are about to go into a realm, that is what is going to be challenged’.
So, in this new configuration, it’s better you receive a word from God and go and fast because if you fast to see something, you will see something and people are seeing things. Isn’t it? Is that not the basis of our Gospel now? I didn’t say so o. Church Gist. ‘That 7 Angels came into my room’ and so what? So, the question we want to ask you is that, is your configuration, Zion? Because if your configuration is Zion by default there are already innumerable companies (of Angels). So, don’t try to impress us with 7 when we have access to innumerable. 7 over innumerable. So, stop veiling Angels for us because we don’t need that.
As we are here now there are innumerable (Angels). That’s why you need to look at the person seated next to you very well and say ‘Are you an angel or you are…?’ Because there are too many. They are even more than all of us here. Innumerable company. We can still count the number of people here. Church Gist. But the Bible says Angels at that new configuration, innumerable…and that was why in that configuration, after all said and done, Angels came and ministered to Him. He didn’t have to look for them, by default.
So, we are not fasting and praying to see Angels. They are already here!
It’s either you walk by faith or you walk by sight…and just like Apostle Orokpo said, one of the greatest areas resurrection power has come to educate us is our faith. It says if Christ is not risen, you are still in your sins, your faith is…in fact, it says our preaching is empty. Church Gist. That means, once we don’t draw the source of our preaching from His resurrection power, we are just producing hot air. It’s empty. It’s of no consequence in the realm of the spirit. So, before He started fasting and praying, the Father said ‘You are my son, be clear about that’. So, in fasting and praying, ‘You are my Son’. After fasting and praying, ‘You are my Son’. So, fasting and praying should not give you identity because your identity can not be derived from that. Church Gist. It has to be derived from the new configuration. ‘If any man is in Christ’ Not that he will become because he prayed. ‘He is’.
One of the reasons why they insisted that we must have C (Credit) in English is because of (the) Bible. A credit in English is now needed in the Body of Christ more than ever before. Church Gist. We need people to understand simple English. ‘He is’ not that he will become. It’s an automation. ‘He is’.
40 days, satan showed and Jesus said the only way we deal with things in the realm of the spirit is not our feelings, it’s not what we see, it’s the written Word. ‘It is written’, 3 times…and Apostle Mike, you know what surprised me Pastor Sola about this whole story is that the moment Jesus said ‘It is written’, satan had nothing to say again. Church Gist. I mean, you are debating, you just said ‘It is written’ and it just happened that the guy said ‘Okay, let’s move to the next one’ and to my greatest surprise, satan now also said ‘It is written’. If there is no power in the written Word, why is satan doing Bible study? Because we now saw satan himself also saying, ‘Sorry, you want to go there. Let’s go there’. Satan now said ‘It is written’. Matthew 4:6. Who is quoting scripture? Pastor Segun, imagine satan saying ‘Oga, it is written’. That means while people are snoring and sleeping, believers, satan is studying. He was like ‘This their Book. Church Gist. There’s something about this Book. Let me also come in the volume of books’ and here an average Christian today doesn’t know beyond John 3:16. We are in a generation of Bible illiterates where the Word level is too insignificant for anything significantly spiritual and that is why all kinds of doctrines are flying around.
In one of my recent posts, I was saying why it is important for us to go back to our evangelical routes because evangelicals produced all of us. Little things like Bible study, quiet time. Pastor Sola you remember in Abeokuta Grammar School, you would be ashamed if you came to school and they asked you ‘Did you have your quiet time today?’ You will start repenting that you did not have quiet time. Church Gist. But, how many of us had quiet time this morning? We’re looking for breakthrough because we just believe there is something outside of us and what Christianity is saying is it’s in you. You have it. Pastor Yinka, satan now said ‘It is written’, quoting from Psalms. It is written to throw yourself down but that scripture says ‘He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High’. That means, there is a level of what you need to know for the Word not to even be misrepresented because that scripture says ‘dwell’. Satan took the same scripture that says ‘For he that dwells’, he converted it to ‘For he that jumps’. Church Gist. You read the original scripture, there is nowhere there that says jump. The original scripture says ‘Dwell’. So, even when satan is quoting scriptures, look at it again. He has adulterated it. He’s the father of lies and it’s easy because once they say ‘John’ or somebody says ‘Isaiah 40’. Even the way they say it, you are already shaking, but you need to look at the Word yourself.
Jesus now said, ‘Oga, what is written can kill you if you don’t know what is written again’. Oh! you’re not getting me. Look at how Jesus answered, He said ‘It is written? Is that what you’re saying? That’s where we are now?’. He said, ‘It is written again’. Matthew 4:7. Because once you misrepresent scripture, it is no longer me you are tempting, you are tempting the Lord your God because once scripture can be misrepresented, Christianity has ended, because that is the only thing…and that’s why we are like let’s give witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ looking at scripture. Church Gist. Because Apostle Sola was quoting…and that’s where I’m coming back to dwell in the evening. He said…according to scripture, Paul said ‘That is what I have received’. That means Paul was saying those who were there, doubted it because somebody could say ‘Oh! I wish I was there in Bible times’. If you were there maybe you would be the one even nailing Him. Church Gist. Thank God you were not there because it’s a configuration. The people that were there did not know better. Look at Apostle Paul, he thought he was actually serving God. He said ‘I thought within myself that I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus’. He actually thought he was serving God. So, you are better off.
– That veil is taken away in Christ.
Read on please, let’s quickly finish. I just have about 10 minutes more.
— Singing —
Then the last scripture. 2 Corinthians 4:13. Hallelujah. Church Gist. Let’s begin to read from (2 Corinthians) 4:3.
Let’s complete 2 Corinthians 3:14. Move on, there is still something there. Church Gist. At least you know the last scripture we are closing with, 2 Corinthians 4:3.
2 Corinthians 3:14,15. The ‘Moses’ there is talking about the entire collection of what we call the Old Covenant. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18. That is why the Holy Spirit is here. So, it does not matter…I was telling them in Church on Sunday in (the) UK (United Kingdom). Church Gist. I said, look, our song can no longer be, 10 years after we became born again, our song can no longer be ‘Look at me. They used to think I would not succeed. I’ve succeeded’. That was before you became born again. That’s not the song of a Christian. You see, the realm in which you operate now, to start singing like that, you are undermining grace because that is no longer your story. Church Gist. Your story now is not from shame to glory, your story is from glory to glory. But a lot of our songs are still showing us as if we are moving from shame to glory and we pride ourselves in that. Every time you do all that, you veil the Gospel again. 2 Corinthians 3:18. 2 Corinthians 4:1,2.
2 Corinthians 4:3. The second veil. Apostle, Pastor Sola, I can really understand that first one but this second one is now the issue. That Apostle Paul is now saying that despite the fact that we’re teaching authentic Christianity, we’re teaching the New Testament, there is still a possibility that it’s still veiled. Church Gist. So Paul said ‘Even if our Gospel is veiled’ Because somebody can be listening to us this morning, listen to Apostle Mike and I’m happy the way they even set it up that I have to come after. Listen to all that I’m saying and still say ‘They’ve come again’. There’s a possibility that somebody can go through this Conference and the entire Conference is still veiled.
2 Corinthians 4:3,4. Have you seen that resurrection is always synonymous with glory?
Tap your neighbour and say ‘There is a version of you that is glorious’ and that is what we have come to provoke. Church Gist. That is what the power of His resurrection is, that is the access we are granted.
Look at it again, move on. I’m going somewhere and you could see that deliberately I’m reading scripture and that is the culture we also need to bring back to the Church, not just do one verse and start…let’s read because, at times, the power is in the reading. Church Gist. As you are reading, something is happening to you. You see, we might not need to say much, but the fact that you are reading… 2 Corinthians 4:4. What is the strategy of satan in this configuration? It’s to make sure that the real Gospel is veiled so that people can perish just like Apostle Orokpo said and it’s true. Somebody can have a need of 1 million now and in this Conference, you’re like ‘Oh God, 1 million’ and the Bible is saying let the light of the glory of God just shine on you. Church Gist. It will amaze you that the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened and you’ll know what you need to do to get the 1 million. You just need the light to shine on you.
2 Corinthians 4:6-8. The implication of resurrection and this is how you react. This will show us whether the Gospel is still veiled to you or not because every time you are hard pressed and you are crushed, you are veiled and that is why we have to thank God for Pastor Sola. Church Gist. Hard pressed, the place got burnt but here we are, we are still having a conference. Look at our story in this new configuration. Whenever we are hard pressed, we must never be crushed. You must know the limitations of every hard press. You see, you must not allow it to get to that yet.
You know, I just remembered something Pastor Sola and it will amaze you at times the way God works. When I came for Excellence in Leadership Conference 2021. That was before we left for the UK. I sat there behind Rev. Sam. Church Gist. Rev. Sam and Pastor Nike, they were there so, I sat behind them and Apostle Mike, you will not believe this, the Lord just opened the eyes of my understanding like in a flash. He said ‘One day, you’re going to minister on this platform’. I did not know that it’s HOD that will make it happen. Am I not ministering on this platform now? Because the Lord did not say for Pastor Sam or Pastor Nike, the Lord just said ‘You will’. Church Gist. So, don’t forget that scripture when you are hard pressed on every side in this new configuration. You know, there is one phrase that is going on everywhere in Nigeria, ‘Don’t accept’ (No gree). So, when you are hard pressed on every side, ‘No gree’ to be crushed. You say ‘Ah! I refuse to be crushed’. It must not crush you.
If you look at the prayers of many believers today, they are prayers of crushed people and if you start praying like a crushed somebody, your prayer is veiled. Believe me, multiple veils on it. Church Gist. Once in a while, God will show mercy. The prayer of a believer must never show desperation because, in Christ, we have victory.
Now let me say this and that’s where I’m going to start from in the evening. All that you are going through that you call crisis is God trying to introduce into your own private life, syllabus of death, burial and resurrection. Because at every point, what Christ experienced, you must experience too. Church Gist. But just like Christ Himself, He too said ‘Lord, if it is possible, let this cup…’. Who wants to wake up as a Pastor and your Church is burnt? ‘Let this cup pass over me’. That means in most cases, the cup we are asking to pass over us is our introduction into His death, into His burial, so that you can be partakers. Because if you don’t die with Him, you can’t be buried with Him and if you’re not buried with him, you can’t rise…and that is what we call crisis. Church Gist. It’s an introduction into that civilization, that means every time God wants to raise you, He will find a way to first of all make sure you die. But that death, many of us prematurely accept deliverance and we lose resurrection. So, those guys understood. When they offered them deliverance, they said ‘No way, we’re not going to take it’. God can start that process in your life. God has started it and you’re already about to go into burial, then somebody says ‘No, you can not be buried. Let’s suffer you. Come to this prayer meeting let’s pray’ and they offer you deliverance. Church Gist. But the people in Hebrews 11 knew better not to accept deliverance. They said no. So, there are some things you’re going through, it’s a syllabus, go through it and don’t allow any preacher to talk you out of it because if people help you…
I remember when we got to Abuja, for the first 2 years, no, one year, 6 months, because from NYSC straight, I went into full time ministry and I did not even start ministering in Lagos or Ibadan where I knew people. God said ‘Go to Abuja’ and my wife and I got to Abuja. For the first one and a half years, we did not have a TV. We only had two things in the house. Church Gist. Mattress in the bedroom and gas cooker in the kitchen…and the gas cooker was a wedding gift. Imagine my father came to our house. My father entered and he said ‘Where is the sitting room?’ He was in the sitting room because there was no furniture there, imagine. He said, ‘I thought this was a lobby that there is still a sitting room’ because we had to use newspapers to cover the windows because we could not buy curtains and the Lord said ‘Don’t call anybody’ He said ‘Because if you call somebody…’ and by that time, don’t forget I did ministry on campus. I already know who was who in the Body of Christ. Just one phone call to somebody like Pastor Sam Adeyemi. Church Gist. I could have said ‘Sir, your boy is suffering here’ and they’ll bail me out but the Lord said ‘Don’t, because I’m using this your story in the days to come to encourage somebody, especially young people who wants to marry, to see that you don’t need any of those things to marry’ and guess what? We were saying that and we stayed through that season. I was the first person to cry. I woke up in the morning, I remember that morning. I broke down and I said ‘God, now is time to talk’.
You see, Apostle Mike, have you noticed…Pastor Sola, don’t think people don’t have faith. Let people go through crisis and they want to talk to God, they believe God is hearing. It’s religion that configures our minds. I just said ‘God, we need to talk’. Church Gist. I just said ‘Look, if I did something wrong in UI (University of Ibadan) that you are punishing me for, let me know’ and tears were running. I said ‘What is this suffering?’ because there were days, I’m talking about 5 days no food in the house, no food at all and the Lord said ‘Don’t cry’. Church Gist. I said ‘If you want to punish me let me know’ and my wife came and she was comforting me. Only 5 days after, she broke down too. So, we were telling this story in our sitting room. Pastor Segun Coker came to Abuja to come and resume work at CAC (Christ Apostolic Church) and he heard our story. Right there in the sitting room, he fixed his wedding date. He said ‘My situation is even better and I’m thinking I’m not ready’. Then we now understood why God took us through that dearth. Church Gist. Somebody would have offered us money and that would be premature. We would have forfeited resurrection. It is not every time that the enemy is the one behind your story. So, let me say it in our local dialect. It is God that is doing you, not satan. Because He’s trying to introduce you into His power of His resurrection.
Look at that scripture again. My time is up. Let’s quickly read it and finish. We’ll continue from there in the evening because that’s the crux of the evening message. How you are introduced into this flow. That was why even Christ had to pray, He said ‘Lord, if it is possible’ That means, whatever is going to produce resurrection is what you are praying against’. Church Gist. Oh! You’re not getting me. Even Christ Himself in His humanity got to that. He said ‘Lord, if it is possible’. Apostle Mike, imagine God answered that prayer and took away that cup. So, there’s a cup you don’t like but that is the cup that will activate resurrection. That is the cup that will activate glory and that is the cup you are praying against every day and the Lord is saying, ‘The reason why you are praying against this every day is because you don’t understand the Christian message’. Church Gist. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. That means, refuse to ‘gree’. How do you put it around here? No ‘gree’. You see this time, no ‘gree’ for the situation. Don’t allow any situation to make you to look…you see, tell yourself ‘Once I’ve become born again, this death…’ Just like Jesus told Mary and Martha. He said ‘This sickness is not unto death’ They thought He was speaking English. Pastor Yinka, come. Church Gist. Jesus will take Mary and Martha, He said ‘You know what, I am the resurrection and the life’. They’ll say they’ve heard. He’ll look at them again ‘I am the resurrection and the life. I hope you’ve not forgotten’. So, the day Lazarus died, Jesus said ‘Have I not told you?’ Because at times, He’s telling us some things people don’t remember. So, situation must happen and when the situation happens Jesus said ‘I have told you’. He said ‘Let me now tell you something you don’t know. Resurrection is not an event. I am resurrection’. Church Gist. So, that means, if any man is in Christ, that means that man is in resurrection because resurrection is not an event, resurrection is a person. Jesus said ‘I am resurrection and life’ because He said the sickness of Lazarus is not unto death, it’s for the glory of God.
So, there are some situations in your life, hard pressed, perplexed, its not unto death, that is the glory point and it is how you handle that situation.
– Let’s give the Lord a big hand for this Church.
See Pastor Sola and Pastor Abigail taking these things in their stride. If it were to be some people, that’s the end but you will see what this will produce. Church Gist. You’ll see how fast we are going to get the property we have been believing God for because God has a sense of humor and Pastor Sola will remember this. When he invited me for this Conference about September when he called me, he kept on saying, I don’t know if you remember Pastor Sola. He said ‘I don’t see us having that Conference in that venue’. He kept on saying it. He said ‘My spirit is just telling me we’re not going to use that place for the Conference’. Imagine the Lord now showed him that the place, whatever will happen. Church Gist. Pastor Sola will have also prayed, ‘Lord, let this cup pass from me’. That is what we call spiritual warfare. But Jesus now said ‘Nevertheless’. That is the point many people have not gotten to. ‘Not my will because I know this sickness is not unto death’.
– Shall we rise up and begin to pray in the Spirit this morning?
— Prayers —
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