ALL OF MAN’S W0ES AND CHALLENGES HAVE A SPIRITUAL ROOT
OUR SPIRITUAL NEEDS ARE OUR MOST IMPORTANT NEEDS
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE HEAVEN WITHOUT SANCTIFICATION
ACCESS TO REVELATION IS IMPEDED WITHOUT THE FEAR OF GOD
HOW WELL WE ARE SERVING GOD IS IRRELEVANT IF WE CANNOT SECURE ACCESS TO ETERNITY WITH CHRIST
SANCTIFICATION GUARANTEES PEACE AND SERENITY THAT PASSES ALL KNOWLEDGE
NO ONE GOES FORWARD IN LIFE WITHOUT TAKING STEPS
IF YOU’RE TOO BIG TO REPENT, THEN YOU’RE TOO BIG TO BE SAVED
OUR SPIRITUAL GOLDEN DESTINY IS IMPOSSIBLE IN THE ENERGY OF THE FLESH
DON’T IGNORE FELLOWSHIP! YOU DON’T ABIDE, YOU DRY UP
THERE IS NO LEVEL OF SIN THAT CANNOT BE FORGIVEN WITH GENUINE REPENTANCE.
REPENTANCE IS THE COVENANT GATEWAY TO FORGIVENESS.
WE NEED FAITH IN GOD’S ABILITY TO ENABLE US LIVE A LIFE THAT PLEASES HIM CONSISTENTLY.
- Bishop David Oyedepo on UNDERSTANDING PATHWAYS TO SANCTIFICATION 2A at Covenant Day Of Escape Service || Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland|| 10th November 2024 || First Sunday Service.
All of man’s woes and challenges have a spiritual root. Man was in his best of states before he rebelled against God’s instructions. From the garden of splendour, he found himself in a wilderness of struggles. That is the root of man’s problems. Church Gist. So until his spiritual life is recovered, he has a long way to go. Our spiritual needs are our most important needs. Romans 8:6. It can’t be well anyone spiritually and not be well with him ‘everywherely’.
2 Corinthians 7:1. The way back to the Garden of Eden is to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the spirit and of the flesh. Church Gist. That is the only way back to the Eden. I like you to purpose in your heart that you must get back to Eden, you must not remain in the wilderness.
Thank you Jesus for another day. We are in your presence today, reach out to everyone of us. Church Gist. Grant each one of us an encounter with your Word that will open a new chapter to our lives. Let it be Lord in Jesus name.
I am told we have some challenge on the road, a trailer fell off. They are clearing that. Church Gist. Satan is always a loser and we keep winning and winning forever in the name of Jesus.
UNDERSTANDING PATHWAYS TO SANCTIFICATION 2
Remember the prophetic focus for the month is GODLINESS IS PROFITABLE UNTO ALL THINGS. 1 Timothy 4:8. Godliness is highly profitable in the now and eternally profitable in the hereafter. Church Gist. That is a quest to please God as a lifestyle. A quest to living a godly life. A quest to departing from evil, it is profitable unto all things. Godliness is a function of sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
How profitable is godliness? It is the only way to access our inheritance in Christ. Acts 20:32. Certain inheritance are hanging because we are yet to meet the requirement for delivery. Church Gist. So we continue to be robbed and spoiled, deprived of what belongs to us because we have not met the conditions for delivery.
Also, it is impossible to make heaven without subscribing for the demand for sanctification. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. It takes sanctification to secure access to eternity. Church Gist. That is how powerful that is. Sanctification is simply an undying hunger and thirst after righteousness. Matthew 5:6.
Following the pattern we have following since this series began last week, we will look at two costs of ungodliness.
- It Opens The Door To Sickness And Disease.
Not all sicknesses are caused by sin, some are caused by carelessness. Some are caused by exposure to weather hazards. But quite a number are direct oppressions of the devil and he gains access by sin. Church Gist. Jesus’ testimony was “The prince of this world came to me and has nothing in me.” We must have his nature for him to gain access. We saw Jesus’ diagnosis of the man that was carried in through the roof: “Son, thy sins be forgiven you.” (Mark 2:5). That means that condition was a result of sin.
Now, in John 5, we saw Jesus’ diagnosis of the man that was at the Pool of Bethesda for 38 years. John 5:14 – again, he had a sin diagnosis of that plague. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. (The Holy Spirit) and revelations are two vital forces of breakthroughs. The breakthrough of the Church came alive when the Holy Ghost came. Isaiah 60:1-3, 8, 22. But, the secret of the Lord is only with them that fear Him so access to revelation is impeded without the fear of God. Church Gist. You’ll be reading the stories but you can’t access the mysteries and we gain mastery by the mysteries of the Kingdom. “Help me Jesus.” We are redeemed as breakthrough entities on the Earth. We are the Light of the world and the salt of the Earth. But that breakthrough requires that we turn at His reproof so we can enjoy the ministry of the Holy Ghost who opens Scriptures to us and enjoy access to revelation that triggers breakthroughs. So breakthrough is anchored on that Proverbs 1:23. Turn first – things won’t turn until you turn.
That man rededicated his life to Christ and his destiny opened up. Many destinies will open up this time and that includes yours.
- It blocks access to eternity with Christ – the most costly of all the costs. That is, eternal damnation. So how well we are serving Him is irrelevant. Matthew 7:22-23- That day is the day of Christ where no worker of iniquity will have a hiding place, where you don’t have opportunity of witnesses – he already knows you and me in and out. Church Gist. I asked a very funny question at the Workers’ Meeting yesterday, “How many here believe there is Heaven? How many believe in the reality of Heaven? How many believe also there are conditions to meet to make it there?” So if you do, then embrace the conditions and align with them.
Singing, when we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be, when we all see Jesus…
- No one here will miss it!
Benefits of Sanctification includes peace and serenity. Sir, there is no position, no possession that guarantees the kind of peace we are talking about. It passes all knowledge – inexplainable, off the limits of psychology, you can’t program it. Church Gist. Isaiah 32:17-18. Isaiah 59:8. Proverbs 28:1. Instead of looking for a short cut for peace – wasting time.
- It secures divine honour. That means, it eradicates shame and reproach. 2 Timothy 2:19-21. So, there’s a purging that qualifies a believer for Divine honour. Church Gist. There’s a purging that must take place. Stop waiting for things that won’t happen without you taking responsibility. No one goes forward in life without taking steps. No one goes forward sitting down. Any faith that seeks to make God absolutely responsible for the outcome of our life is an irresponsible faith. Church Gist. As free as salvation is, you have to repent to be saved, no shortcut. You’re too big to repent, you’re too big to be saved.
What are therefore the pathways to sanctification?
- It’s not a life that anyone can live by his strength or might. We have this picture in Zechariah Chapter 4 of seven golden candlesticks. Zechariah 4:6. Church Gist. Our spiritual golden destiny is impossible in the energy of the flesh. Jesus came down here with the seven spirits of God upon His life from Revelation 5:6. We saw these seven spirits in Isaiah 11:1-3 and therefore he knew no sin. Church Gist. He was carrying upon His life the spirit of the fear of the Lord. In Romans 1:4, that spirit is now defined with specific terms. So, it’s a thing to crave. “Lord, endue me today with the spirit of the fear of the Lord that will make me panting to please you as a lifestyle. Endue me with the spirit of holiness that will make me remain a bonafide son of the Most High God. It’s a thing to crave for. Church Gist. Remember Romans 8:13. So, in the name of Jesus, may the fire of the Holy Ghost consume every notion of sin inside each one of us in the name of Jesus!
Ezekiel 36:27. “I will put my spirit within you, it will empower you to walk in my ways”. Church Gist. So, we need His help. His name is called The Comforter, The Helper, we need His help.
- may that help come our way right now in the name of Jesus Christ.
- We must continue to fellowship with the saints. Hebrews 3:13. For those of us who have been following these series since the Spiritual Week of Emphasis, we discovered that God is coming down with His cleansing Word to reposition us to make the most of our lives. Church Gist. Don’t ignore fellowship. You don’t abide, you dry up. Any branch that abides in me, the stem brings forth fruits. Ensure to abide. God is not gaining anything by your abiding, you and I are gaining everything. When a branch disconnects from a tree, it has killed the tree, only the branch is dead. Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. Church Gist. The branch does not determine the future of the vine, it’s the vine that determines the future of the branch. Hebrews 10:25. Psalm 84:7.
- You won’t lose your place!
- No one here will lose his place!
- We must recognize that a sanctified life is impossible without faith.
Hebrews 11:5-6, we saw the testimony of Enoch. Hebrews 11:6. So, to please God, we need faith. Faith in God’s ability to enable us live a life that pleases Him consistently. We need faith. Mark 11:24. So we need the Holy Spirit, the Refiner’s Fire. We need faith in God, our eternal helper, to live a life that pleases Him. But repentance is the covenant gateway to forgiveness. Psalm 130:3-4. Church Gist. How do we then secure forgiveness? It’s important to note that there is no sin that God cannot forgive but there is no sin that He would forgive without repentance. Anyone too big to repent is too big to be forgiven and unforgiven sin will remain a barrier on his spiritual life. For instance, David repented of his sin of adultery and mürder at the same time at the rebuke of Nathan, the Prophet and was forgiven. Written off! 2 Samuel 12:1-6 and 7-13.
As gruesome as those things were, repentance turned it off. When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness, God will forget the wickedness that he ever did and the righteousness in which He found him, then shall he live. Ezekiel 18:21-23. How do I know that David was forgiven? Church Gist. At the end of all of that, Christ came through his lineage and today, you hear from Scripture to Scripture: “Jesus, thou Son of David have mercy!” He will respond. That’s my name!!! Revelation 3:7. That’s how forgiven David was. For the Son of God to be called the Son of David and He answered. That’s how forgiven he was. Genuine repentance will secure forgiveness any day any time, it’s our insincerity that is our problem. So important. Psalm 32:1-2.
-And that’s you and I today! Whatever you genuinely repent of will be written off and the grace not to go back there will be given to you.
Again, we saw how Peter repented for denying Christ. Three times and was forgiven! Matthew 26:31-35 and 69-75. He did that three times and when Jesus looked at him, Peter wept! Jesus said: “That’s okay! It’s off!” Three times! Church Gist. And he still remained Peter, the Rock on the Day of Pentecost. He still entrusted the Church of the Firstborn into his hand. Forgiven and written off! There is no level of sin that cannot be forgiven with genuine repentance. 1 John 1:8-9.
-The good news is: It’s never too late to be right. Never too late to be right!
The thief at the right side of Christ on the Cross made it to paradise in his dying moment. Church Gist. It’s never too late to be right. Here was the most wicked king, one of the most wicked kings in Bible history. He turned and God said: “You’re forgiven!” It’s never too late to be right.
The Prodigal Son committed such atrocity against his father, wasted all his substance on riotous living, he came to himself and repented of his ways and was restored back to dignity. It’s never too late to be right. Church Gist. Luke 15:17-27. But on the other hand, Eli did not repent, he lost his priesthood forever. 1 Samuel 3:13,18. That was it. He lost his life same day with his two sons, all ended. He was too big to repent, he was the High Priest, so he lost it all. Then we have this situation with the Man, Samuel. 1 Samuel 8:4-9. That was the end of the reign of priesthood in Israel. He was protesting, he didn’t repent. Church Gist. He was too big to repent. He lost it all. While it’s never late to be right, until you genuinely repent, no sin can be written off.
As we conclude, we must recognize that promptness of repentance is required to secure forgiveness, promptness. Hebrews 3:15. Church Gist. We saw the Man called Esau, his repentance was belated. He sought with tears, but it was over. Hebrews 12:15-17. Repentance can be belated and the cost is like no repentance.
Look at King Ahab, as soon as Elijah delivered the verdict in 1 Kings 21:27 and God responded – 1 Kings 21:29. Church Gist. If you check verse 25, he was listed as one of the most wicked Kings whose wife made to do unbelievable evil, but he turned and God restored. On time, as soon as he heard those words, he turned.
The People of Nineveh, when they heard the judgement that God sent Jonah to proclaim, they went into a fast asking God for mercy. The King said “No one eats here oh. We must cry mightily unto God so that this evil can be turned away from us” and God repented of the evil and set the people free. Church Gist. Jonah 3:1-10. As soon as the verdict was delivered, they responded by repentance and God wrote it off. We saw it also in Peter.
Procrastination is an enemy of destiny. Don’t toy with it. Genesis 49:3,4. Judges 5:15,16. Procrastination is an enemy of destiny. That was the lot of Reuben. He never excelled. He’s one of the two and half tribe that was lost. ‘To go, not to go. Church Gist. To move, not to move’. Caution! Caution! James 1:7,8. If you have heard His Word today, please turn before it’s too late and you start crying bitterly when the time is over. Turn today. All that turned, the same day, they had their forgiveness. David turned as Nathan stood and said “David, you messed up”. David said “Lord, I have sinned” and God said “Okay, I have written it out”. Church Gist. Forgiveness is not a process, it’s a decision. You are not thinking through whether to repent or not. You know you’re wrong, repent. You want to live a profitable life on Earth, repent. You want to make Heaven in grand style, repent.
- May no one end like Esau!
- May no one among us end like Esau!
Today is our Covenant Day of Escape. Hebrews 2:3. Sir, salvation is the grand escape of man from the w0es of this life. But escape from what? Escape from the w0es of this life. Church Gist. Revelation 12:9-12…that’s where the root of the challenges of people on this Earth is and we can only be exempted by salvation.
The same way God exempted Israel from all the w0es that befell Egypt, when we become His children then we have escaped the woes of this life happening while we are still here. That’s a whole lot of it. When one is saved, he is translated from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of light. Church Gist. There are two kingdoms out here – the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of light. But when we are saved, we become children of light. Amen! Ephesians 5:8…and as we walk in the light, darkness loses his power over our lives. Thank you Jesus!
The Following Are Biblical Ways To Secure Our Escape:
- God’s escape agenda demands that one be born again. We have just said that now. That’s where the journey of escape begins.
- It demands that we engage with the Word to enforce our escape. John 8:32, 36, Psalm 107:20, Isaiah 5:13. Church Gist. We must keep engaging with the Word and walking in the light of the Word.
- It demands that one walks in the fear of God as a lifestyle. Psalm 34:7, Isaiah 38:1-5. Church Gist. Our escape demands that we keep walking in the fear of God as a lifestyle.
- We must recognize that the blood of Jesus is the lifeline for our escape. Zechariah 9:11-12. The blood is our stronghold of escape. The blood covenant is the blood of an everlasting covenant. Its effect is everlasting. We can always take hold of the blood for our escape. Church Gist. By the blood of Jesus, I escape this trap. By the blood of Jesus, I refuse to fall into this. We engage the blood covenant for our escape.
Sin puts us in a pit where there is no water. We are choking – spiritually choking but we can get hold of the blood for our escape. Romans 5:9. It’s the blood that justifies us for an escape. Church Gist. We are saved from the wrath of sin and the wicked one by the blood. Thank you Jesus!
- Be committed to serving God and the interest of His Kingdom as a lifestyle. Exodus 4:22-23. God vows to free His son that will serve Him. Church Gist. Let’s stay committed to serving God and the interest of His Kingdom as a lifestyle. Matthew 6:33.
- You will never be held in captivity anymore!
- Engage the testimonies of others for your escape. Because every testimony is a pointer to our heritage in Christ. Psalm 119:111. Every testimony is prophetic. You believe in it, it replicates in your life. We have seen that severally here. Church Gist. Can I tell you this? Your rededication will rewrite your story. It has done that for too many, it will do it for you also!
- Recognize that faith is the only way to make our escape a reality. 2 Corinthians 5:7, 1 John 5:4. It takes faith to experience the reality of our escape. Church Gist. Faith in God, faith in His Word, faith in His prophets and then the escape is established. Thank you Jesus!
- Today is your day!
- Can I have you say with me? “I have escaped!”
You can’t struggle with a door when you have the key in your hand. Church Gist. The key has been delivered, everyone’s escape is established!
- You will never be hedged in again!
- You will never be held bound again because the key is now in your hand!
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