LET ME SAY VERY RESPECTFULLY….JESUS DID NOT GIVE MARY ANY SPECIAL PLACE JUST BECAUSE SHE GAVE BIRTH TO HIM BIOLOGICALLY
INSTEAD, JESUS SAID BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HEAR THE WORD OF GOD AND KEEP IT.
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS WAS A FINAL SEAL HIS EARTHLY BRETHREN NEEDED TO BELIEVE ON HIM
KNOWING YOUR SPIRITUAL FAMILY IS ONE OF THE THINGS A CHILD OF GOD SHOULD AND MUST LEARN.
JESUS DID NOT GIVE ANY BIOLOGICAL ADVANTAGE TO HIS FAMILY. HE ALWAYS PRIORITIZED HEARING AND KEEPING THE WORD
SHOWING UP IN CHURCH IS NOT ENOUGH. GOD WANTS A FAMILY. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT HE IS YOUR FATHER
GOD OFFERS YOU FATHERHOOD BETTER THAN YOU HAVE EVER TASTED
JESUS IS LOOKING IN THE ASSEMBLY. YOU MUST BELONG TO AN ASSEMBLY WHERE HE CAN FIND YOU
YOU CANNOT LIKE GOD AND HATE THE CHURCH OR GOD’s CHILDREN. NO GREEK TERMINOLOGY CAN JUSTIFY THAT
AS BRILLIANT AS MY MUM IS, THE REASON SHE DOESN’T HAVE HER DOCTORATE DEGREE IS THAT WHEN SHE WAS DOING THAT, A LECTURER WAS TRYING TO ASK HER OUT. THE DAY I FEEL LED I WILL CALL HIM OUT
EVEN WHEN PEOPLE GET EXPELLED FROM A SCHOOL, THEY GO TO ANOTHER SCHOOL TO FINISH THEIR EDUCATION. WHY ARE PEOPLE SO QUICK TO CANCEL THE CHURCH?
ISOLATION IS THE FIRST REFLEX OF SIN. WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY FROM THE ASSEMBLY OF SAINTS? LOOK INWARD. IT’S A COMMITMENT ISSUE
GOD JUDGES YOUR COMMITMENT TO HIM BY YOUR COMMITMENT TO HIS CHURCH
WHATEVER YOU DO TO GOD’s CHURCH, YOU DO TO HIM. MAKE NO MISTAKE
– Apostle Emmanuel Iren on WHO IS YOUR FAMILY? at Tribe and Thrive Sunday Service || Celebration Church International || 5th November, 2023 ||
The title of my charge this morning is ‘WHO IS YOUR FAMILY?’ and by the time I’m done you are going to see that as simple as this charge is, it is one of the most important things that a child of God should and must learn. In education, there are compulsory courses and this one is very compulsory because this is one of the things that will come up when we see the Lord face to face. But as I build my case and continue my flow of thoughts, I want to start talking first and foremost about my children’s favourite cartoons. Church Gist. I’m heading somewhere, trust me. One of their favourite cartoons is definitely Superbook and amongst many other reasons why they like that cartoon, they like what is called the ‘Time travel’. The way they take you on a time travel into Bible days. I don’t know if it’s just me, but growing up, I used to imagine what it would have been like, to be there, maybe in one of the famous Bible stories, David faced with Goliath. Imagine you were there experiencing the banter and the exchange before they fought. You saw that, or you were there when Elijah was calling down fire. What would it have been like? How did the fire look like? How did it come from the sky?…and stuff like that or you’re there with the children of Israel in front of the Red Sea, it looks like there is no hope. The army of the Egyptians is closing in on them from behind and then suddenly, Moses stretches out his rod and then the ocean divides into two. I don’t know about you but I have imagined going to Heaven and asking God, ‘Lord, run it back. I want to see the tapes. Can I at least see what it looks like or something like that?’
You know, but of all the stories, I think what I will really like to see, what I try to imagine once in a while is the incarnation of Jesus and what it would have been like. Church Gist. The African in me always wants to know what it should have been like knowing that your Son is the Son of God but He’s under your roof. How will an African manage that complexity? Yeah, you saw an Angel and everything, but you are under my roof. Do you know what it means to be under the roof of an African? So, how did Mary handle it? I think it was Mark Lowry that wrote that Christmas hymn…Mary, did you know that the Child you delivered will one day deliver you? That complexity, that yeah, you carried Him in your womb 9 months but you must place your trust in Him for salvation if you must be saved. Quite an image…and let’s start with the earliest memory we have of Him. Church Gist. At the age of 12, He basically ran out of home. There are many religious and spiritual ways to look at it, but He ran out of home and they were looking for Him. So, imagine, when you are reading the story, you could feel the tension and the complexity. Normally, when you see your child as an African, you have been looking for Him for 3 days, what’s the first thing? (Laughter…) Before you ask where? how? who? (A slap on the face). You are about to slap Him but you now remembered Angel Gabriel, the encounter, ha! You’re now like, ‘Where were you now?’ And then to make matters worse, He now said, ‘You should have known I’d be about my Father’s business’ In case you never reckoned, that’s a big shade on Joseph. ‘I’ve not done the paternity test but I know you’re not my daddy’ And then so many other things. You could imagine that He found at least some camaraderie with the lawyers and doctors in the Temple. It seemed like His house was a little dense, let me not be that extreme, but for the first time He could have conversations that were at least at par with the level of His reasoning at the time. Church Gist. He was just caught up for 3 days, it was like a release and He’s talking and there was such an exchange and mind you, the Bible says they were shocked at His understanding and answers. Luke 2:27. So, don’t get it twisted…the fact that Jesus was asking questions. You could tell that they couldn’t answer the questions. So, He asked the questions and answered them Himself. So that’s why the Bible says they were shocked at His understanding and answers which is remarkable, right?
Just reading the story and seeing that there was some friction. You may never have seen this before but I remember how shocked I was when I saw it at first. I’m just breezing through. This is part of my introduction. John 7:5. Church Gist. Listen, one of the major proofs that Jesus must have been raised from the dead was this…in His earthly ministry, His brothers, the other children that Mary and Joseph had did not believe in Him and so when you see them at the Upper Room waiting for the advent of the Spirit, it means that the resurrection of Jesus meant a lot to them. That was the final seal, they now believed. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, His family was one of the people that He visited and so they believed then. But managing all the complexities…you are the Son of God, you are a child from the standpoint of human reasoning but then you are God and you are talking like God. What would it have been like? Let me say this respectfully, the things I’m about to say, Catholics may need to consider this because you see, Jesus did not even give Mary any special place just because she gave birth to Him biologically. Church Gist. In one instance, Jesus was preaching and to interrupt the sermon, maybe someone was overwhelmed with the level of depth and was thinking about how blessed his family must have been to have a Son like that, the woman stood up in the congregation and says ‘Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked’ and He said ‘Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it’. Luke 11:27,28.
Jesus did not give any biological advantage to His family. He always prioritized hearing the Word and keeping it and you can understand how that might have been a struggle because it is one thing for you to encounter Angels and all of that, but there is this secret sense of pride and ego. ‘You see that great man of God? That’s my Son’ and then it works in every other context known to man except that this is God manifest in the flesh. Church Gist. This God created you. This is heading somewhere.
I want you to see another text as if the ones I’ve read do not interest you enough. Matthew 12:46-50. In this instance, Jesus is speaking, surrounded by His Disciples and the crowd and then for some reason Mary and the brothers wanted to see Him and they just go there, standing maybe outside and they say, ‘Usher, call Him for us’ That was interesting. Anyway, I said all of that to say this…and there are 3 important points I want to use as my foundation gleaning from this text.
1: God wants a family. You may be a Church who doesn’t understand this and of all the other things that God can call you or you can call yourself in God…I’m a servant of God, a soldier of Christ and all of that. All these things are nice and then they have a place in consecration but you must understand especially in the New Testament that God is your Father. God wants a family. Church Gist. He always wanted a family. I wish I had enough time to share on this. God in His omniscient, as powerful as He is, as omnipotent as He is, He always wanted to share responsibilities and powers. It’s a great mystery. The Almighty God is saying, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for me?’ Or at the beginning, He was saying ‘Let us make man’. There was always that camaraderie. Let me surprise you, in some context even Angels…you might want to listen to the teachings I did in Portharcourt, ‘Portharcourt Deeper’, I touched on some of these things but I just want you to know this, God wants a family.
Like I said, you might be coming to Church regularly but you don’t know what God wants from you. As far as you’re concerned, you show up regularly, you give your offerings and in fact, you think that as you do these things you’re building collateral in prayer, where you can come and say ‘God you see that I’m faithful’ Church Gist. Some people almost act like they are doing God a favour or like they’ve done something great but God wants more. You come to a Church like this, thousands of members, no one knows you. You keep your anonymity. You sing with us, pray with us and you disappear. I want to tell you God wants more. God wants a family.
To some of you this is a great relief because God offers a kind of family relationship that you never had and even if you have the best father in the world, He offers you Fatherhood better than you’ve ever tasted. Luke 11:11-13. There is a ‘How much more’ in God where He’s telling you ‘I outclass any father known to mankind in terms of the quality of fatherhood. Like I said, this is a relief, if you’ve lost your dad or you had a bad relationship with your father, I’m telling you there is a Father in God. Church Gist. You might have a Creator in God, but I’m telling you there is a Father in God. There is a kind of comfort and solace in God that you must taste and in fact, He can even challenge the warmth you’ve experienced with the best mum on earth. When He says ‘Can a mother forget her sucking child?’ Even if you’ll be able to find a mum who will be crazy enough to do that. He said ‘I will not forget you. I’ve engraven you in the palm of my hands’ Isaiah 49:15. Such a graphic description.
It is one thing to write a tattoo of someone on your hand, God says ‘I have engraven you, not tattooed’ This is an inscription. So, He is trying to let you know that you are a priority to Him. Church Gist. This is the mentality He wants you to have of Him. Isaiah 49:15. So, the first thing He wants you to understand, you are not congregants. The Bible said in that text, ‘Jesus lifted up His eyes and pointed at the people He was talking to, ‘These are my brothers and sisters and mother’ So, God doesn’t want you playing Church. He wants to see you in the Assembly. He identifies more with the Assembly than people who have biological claims.
2: God reckons family by fellowship…which is what He was trying to say, ‘If she is my mother why is she not here, if they are my brothers, they will be here. It is those who hear the Words of my Father and do it that are my brothers and sisters and mother’. So, no matter the claim you think you have to God, He expects you to be in the Assembly hearing His Word so much so that even His biological mum could be outside and He said, ‘Well, the people here’. Church Gist. I think that is such a graphic picture to emphasize this point. He reckons family by fellowship. You need to know where you are. The Bible says ‘We are come to Mount Zion’ Hebrews 12:22,23. So, there is no Church without an Assembly. The revelation of Jesus is in the Assembly. That’s His provision for the Church. So, the verdict of Christ forever is this, ‘If they are my brothers, why are they not here?’ He’s looking in the Assembly. You must belong to an Assembly. He must find you somewhere. ‘Who is my mother? Those who hear the Words of my Father’. So, He reckons it by fellowship.
3. Family isn’t just vertical but horizontal in relationship. Let me give you a simple relationship hack because some people say you can never really know, some guys will be so nice to you. Someone will say, ‘There is this guy, I live on the Island, he lives on the Mainland. I work on the Mainland. He will drive, during the talking stage, he will drive to the Island, pick me for work to the Mainland, wait for me to finish, drive me back and then come home’. Church Gist. If you ask me, that’s a red flag on its own but call it romantic…and they are just like, ‘How could a guy that committed change eventually?’. I’ll give you a simple hack to know people like that from the onset because when he takes you out on a date, he parks the car and then quickly runs to your side of the door, he opens it and you’re like, ‘awnn’ and then when you’re walking towards the door of the restaurant, he runs ahead and quickly opens the door and when you get to the table, he quickly runs ahead of you and draws out chair, but when the waiter delays for 5 minutes or makes a simple mistake, he says ‘Are you a dunce? Is your brain under your leg?’. ‘Sorry my dear, don’t mind them’ (Talking to you)…and someone mistakenly steps on him, he just gives her a slap and then when you are about to shout, he says ‘No, my relationship with you is personal’ That’s what some people are trying to do with God. ‘God I like you but I don’t like your Church. I like you but I don’t like your kids’ and then they’ve come up with sleek Greek words and terminologies and perspectives in Bible interpretation that accommodate and seemingly justify it. Church Gist. That is why I said this sermon as simple as it is will be one of the important sermons you’ve ever heard because you see, there will be such a great surprise when people see Jesus…and He says, ‘I was hungry and you did not give me food’ They will be like, ‘When?’ Because like those wicked people on a first date who will do Heaven and Earth for you but won’t do it for anyone else, move Heaven and Earth for you but won’t move it for anyone else. They are surprised like, ‘You? God? Ask me anything. When were you hungry and I didn’t give you food? You were thirsty and I didn’t give you water? When? How?’ and Jesus says, ‘As long as you were not willing to do it for the least of these’.
Some people have not understood the concept of salvation in Christ and what it entails. First and foremost, the first man, he was never named. Adam wasn’t a name. Adam is the Hebrew word for mankind. So, this man was God’s Covenant man representing all of us. That is how come when he fell, we all fell. So, when Adam ate of the fruit and his body became dysfunctional and diseased, all his children carried that disease and I don’t want to go into the details of that. Church Gist. But now, how is it that salvation can come from a second Man, a second Adam, this is the Christ. How is it that His death will be efficacious for the blotting of your sins. How is it that His resurrection will be your resurrection. It is by a doctrinal concept called baptism. Gov has immersed us in Christ to be direct beneficiaries of everything that He did. This is what Paul was trying to explain when he said ‘He has blessed us with all Heavenly blessings in Heavenly places in Christ’ and I know we enjoy this. His death was my death. His burial was my burial. His resurrection was my resurrection. We might shout ‘Glory’ about it but there are grievous implications.
When Saul is playing with the Church, persecuting the Church. Jesus doesn’t come on the scene and say, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my Church?’ He doesn’t say that because through the lens of baptism if you are doing it to the Church you are doing it to Him, so, He takes it personal. Church Gist. He says, ‘Why are you persecuting me?’ Whatever you do to God’s Church you do to Him, make no mistake. He calls the Church His Bride, you need to be cautious with this…and so there will literally be people to whom He will say ‘I was hungry and you didn’t give me food’ and they will be like, ‘When? How?’. So, God is saying ‘It is not enough that if I ask you for something you will give me. I must be able to see patterns of compassion for my Church’. You can’t claim to love me if you don’t love my Church’.
The logic is this and this is not just logic, it is Scripture I’m quoting almost verbatim, ‘If you cannot love your neighbour that you see, how can you Love God that you do not see’ That is the logic of God. Church Gist. He judges and concludes on your commitment to Him by your commitment to His Church. Never forget this…and He has shown us in the incarnation that even if you were His biological mum, you must get this one thing…if you are not committed to the Assembly, if you are not constantly listening to the Word of God and fellowshipping with the Saints, He said ‘I don’t know you. That His biological mum could come and He says ‘If she was my mum she’ll be here. There must be something more to her than the fact that I passed her womb. This Word that I’m sharing, she also needs it to be saved. She ought to be here’.
Again, the title of the charge is: WHO IS YOUR FAMILY? Pastor Laju was preaching on this last year and she said something very profound. Was it last year or 2 years ago? It was around the time when the viral documentary came out. The documentary, ‘Set for grades’ and someone brought it to light, something we actually already knew that some lecturers will be irresponsible enough not to give people the grades that they deserve but to grade them based on their acceptance of their refusal of their proposal of love to students. As brilliant as my mum is, the reason she doesn’t have a doctorate is because when she was doing that one of the lecturers was trying to ask her out. It’s still out there. The day I feel led I will call him out. When she watches this tape she will say ‘Ha! Pastor!’ There is a famous textbook, his name is still there and I just look at it and say, ‘Ok’…but these things happen and why am I telling you the story? Because interestingly, when everybody watched that, the unanimous conclusion wasn’t that we should cancel school. Don’t you wonder? They didn’t say ‘School is cancelled. School hurts. I’m not going to get an education again. You mean this is what lecturers are doing? School hurts’ Church Gist. If you even get expelled, you’ll go to another school and finish. Why is it Church people are quick to cancel? That is the question you must ask yourself. Any small thing, ‘The usher did not greet me. Church hurts. They forgot the anniversary of my naming ceremony, Church hurts. My son had a raise in school, the pastor didn’t acknowledge it, Church hurts’.
Please, I’m not trying to make light of whatever you might have gone through legitimately, I’m just telling you God’s idea of the Assembly will never change and so, instead of ditching Church, you change Church…and the thing is, I keep telling you this, God watches every other aspect of your life. He sees your commitment to everything else. When it comes to school, you are not this flimsy, this petty. Things will happen, you move on, but Church? It’s a commitment issue. Church Gist. For some of us, the truth is this, we have a reflex that you must point out. You see, isolation is the first reflex of sin. The moment Adam sinned, he had not read a book, no body advised him to hide himself. There is something about the life of sin that makes us hide away from the accountability that the Assembly of the Saints forces us to. You run away. The truth is this, you are hiding something. That’s why you hate accountability so much, that’s why you hate the Assembly so much. Look inwards, why are you running away? and for some of you, it’s affecting the practical aspect of your life, maybe that’s why you are still single. Okay, okay, let’s not talk about it. Let’s pretend like you never come early and you’re the first to leave. ‘We serve God by His Spirit, we boast…’ You’re on your way to the car park…’In Christ, for Christ…’ You’re opening the door and you’re praying, ‘God, send this man my way’ How?…and even when you’re alone, even when you stay, you surround yourself with 7 friends. Your friends are in a relationship, some of them are married. You stay away, let them talk to you. Let me give you some scope, pretend as if you are making phone calls, stay in one corner, ‘Hello, oh network. Is your network good?’
Matthew 16:18. When Jesus was saying I will build my Ecclesia, He was talking to people who knew exactly what that was. That’s why He didn’t have to explain and no one asked ‘What’s that? What’s Ecclesia?’ Because they knew exactly what it was and I want to show you what Jesus was pointing them to. Church Gist. Acts 7:38. So, he called the Assembly of Israel in the wilderness, he called it the Church…and so this is what you need to know and I’ve taught you this a lot of times that the Exodus of Israel was a spiritual metaphor of salvation. That when God gave them the Passover as an institution, He was in a metaphor teaching them about salvation that when Christ shed His blood, judgment will pass over them, that’s number one.
2: The same way in salvation, you make an Exodus out of darkness into marvelous light. God brings the Children of Israel out of Egypt into the Church in the wilderness. The Bible tells us that the Children of Israel were baptized in the clouds unto Moses. Church Gist. The Red Sea was a spiritual metaphor of baptism, how that you are saved, you are baptized, immersed into Christ and then at Mount Sinai that’s consecration. God begins to tell you this is how you must live your life as someone who is saved.
All of these are spiritual metaphors. No wonder Stephen said there was a Church in the wilderness and that tells us that there are two important things we must learn about the Ecclesia.
Just the same way the Children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt to the Promised Land, in the Ecclesia, there must be a past and there must be a present. Colossians 1:13. He has translated you from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His dear Son, meaning you cannot claim to be in Church, in Christ and not be separated from your past. Church Gist. You cannot go on the way you used to live and then be calling the name of Christ. This is so important. That’s why I said you need to know what Christ wants from you. Some people think that as long as they come to Church, that’s okay and you go on in your old sinful ways, nothing has changed. That’s not how to do Church. You must leave something to be here.
Maybe you woke up this morning, your girlfriend by your side, both of you greeted each other, had your bath, wore clothes and came to Church together. I want you to know you’re doing the wrong thing…or all the clubs in Lagos know you. You will be full of the Spirit on Sunday and be full of the spirits. During worship you’re staggering here, in Club, you’re staggering. ‘You dey confuse satan. Stand well well’ At least when you’re staggering let’s know what is doing you. Church Gist. James said, ‘From the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing’ James 3:10. So, there must be a departure. It says, ‘Let those that name the name of Christ depart from iniquity’.
This is family. ‘If anyone is overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore’ So, we are not saying this for your condemnation, we are saying this for your restoration. Even the best of us, in moments of unguardedness, can find themselves in compromising positions. Restore yourselves or you restore one another with the Word of God but you don’t come to a point of complacency where you just accept it, it is no longer pricking your heart as if it’s normal. No, that’s not how to do Church. I know you speak in tongues but you must change. ‘Let those who name the name of Christ depart from iniquity’. 2 Timothy 2:19. So, there must be a departure from ‘that’ into ‘this’. Church Gist. There must be a ‘that’. There must be a definite past, distinct and different, that’s no longer you and you’re brought into fellowship. So, you’ve left Egypt, you’ve left the ways of Egypt. Stop thinking about Egypt. Stop desiring to run back into Egypt. It’s all in the past. You’ve crossed the Red Sea. No going back!
Then, of course, there is fellowship in the Lord which you must take seriously also. There is a powerful metaphor when it comes to the Temple in Israel, in Jerusalem. One thing that distinguishes the levels of intimacy in the Temple was the lighting. So, there was the Outer court, the Inner court and then the Most holy place…and then of many things that distinguished all those places was the source of light. Church Gist. The Outer court, the source of light was the sun, in the Inner court, the source of light was the candle stand but in the Most holy place, the source of light was the Shekinah, the glory of the Lord. These are metaphors of revelation. This is how you know that you are in Christ. This is how you know that you are changing. People who are babes, new to the Christian fold, their mind is not yet renewed, their light…the Outer court has the same source of light as everyone else, it’s the same sun. So, your mind is unrenewed. That’s why when you talk we can’t distinguish you. Your communication is not yet refined. You still think like the world, act like the world. But in the Inner court, there is some change. There is still some dependence on natural light but at least there is progress. That place has no windows but there is a lamp stand with 7 candles. But then, there is a place where your revelation comes strictly from the light of God, the light of God’s Word.
This is how you know you are changing, when you come to a point where your views on marriage, your views on money, your views on Church, your views on life, you have adopted a biblical worldview. There must be that transformation in your life. ‘Depart from among them he who bear the vessels of the Lord’…and one of the things that will change is the way you think, renew your mind. So many things to say about that but I’m going to move on.
The case I’m building right now, when Jesus said Ecclesia, it wasn’t strange to them at all. Number one, the Church in the wilderness was called Ecclesia, but there was another Ecclesia. This is powerful. Ecclessia was actually a system of governance so, there were 3 major systems of governance in Greece.
In Athens in Greece, the first method of governance was called the Aristocracy which attends to favour and I don’t want to tell you why lest I get into trouble, but let me say this, sometimes I feel frustrated. I think I know the direction this country should go. It might be arrogant of me, proud of me, but at the end of the day, I think I know the direction this country should go. Church Gist. I think I know the kind of leaders that should lead this nation. At the end of the day, I have just one vote. Everyone else has one vote and sometimes you go on Twitter and you see people’s opinions and you are worried, ‘This one too has votes’ So, sometimes it’s frustrating that the future of this country…but once upon a time, there was something called the Aristocracy. ‘Aristocracy’ The word actually meant ‘Governance by the best’ There was like a political elite that was put in charge of governance and then they would come together, they would decide the direction and all of that. Well, they might have had a faulty basis, they believed that leaders were born not raised so, it was by race and that was wrong but it worked for a while. Sometimes they will reach what is called an impasse, none of them can agree on what to do and things get unnecessarily bureaucratic so, they will now raise a Tyrant. Tyrant wasn’t always a bad word, it was just one Autocratic leader who would rule for a while and all the Aristocratic leaders would trust his decision. Church Gist. The reason ‘Tyrant’ became a bad word is because this Tyrant leader, even if the power was rented, he was supposed to make decisions and hand it over to the Aristocratic people, he will hold it. So, that’s where the concept of tyrannical power came in.
There was a particular Tyrant who instead of handing powers to the Aristocratic leaders said, ‘Let’s take power to the people’ Democracy…and so they formed a more Democratic system and they had like a forum of 6000 people representing everyone else and those people would decide. Church Gist. Those 6000 people were actually called the Ecclesia. Now, this is the concept of Ecclesia. You might be an individual but you have legislative power. Let’s see if this makes sense in the Matthew 16 context. Jesus said ‘You are Peter, upon this rock, I will build my Church, my Ecclesia and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven’ What was He trying to say? That the Ecclesia will have spiritual legislative power. This is the concept. God wants a Church that understands its power. Every individual has legislative power in such a way, that God goes too far as to say anything that is happening on Earth it’s because you allowed it. You have that right, you have that privilege. He says ‘If two shall agree as touching anything under the Heaven, it shall be done’.
3 things I want you to understand about the Ecclesia: You have left Egypt, you have come into a fellowship with God and now you are responsible for what God is doing on Earth. You have become the face of God’s movement, God’s legislative arm. Church Gist. God is saying, ‘Everything I want to do, enforce it’.
1: I experience sanctification in the Ecclesia, I am cut off from my past.
2: I experience Koinonia, I begin to fellowship with the Saints.
3: I become actively involved in what God is doing in this world. You are not the Ecclesia until you are binding some things to be bound in Heaven and you are loosing some things on Earth to be loosened in Heaven.
So, that’s why I’m telling you, it’s not enough that you come to Church, you hear the Word of God, you give your offerings, you go home. What are you doing for God? What arm of the Kingdom is advancing on your account? These are questions you must ask and answer. Now, even in your Church, you are not doing anything. No active service, no contribution. Church Gist. You don’t know how we set up the speakers, you don’t know how we set up the lights, you don’t know how anything works. God wants more from you.
So, this month as we establish our Tribe and as we Thrive, that’s the theme of this month:
1: You must reemphasize the fact that you are no longer of this world, there must be that divide. Some of you must break some friendships this month.
2: Get acquainted with fellowship with the Saints. Don’t be a stranger. If you are in trouble, who are the 5 people in this Church you can call and will be at your doorstep? You are born again, tongue speaking, your inner circle full of unsaved people. Something is wrong. That must change.
3: What are you doing for God? How are you going to partner for the advancement of God’s course in this age and then one simple thing I can use to mark this is this – Which of God’s people can say ‘I was hungry and you gave me food? I was thirsty and you gave me drink’ Which of God’s people? Please, I am not asking a philosophical question to be or not to be. I am asking you something that you must answer. No matter where I am in my state, who am I helping? Who is better because of me? In this Assembly, let’s start with this Assembly, who am I encouraging spiritually and practically? This is how to be Church. Church Gist. Who have I prayed for besides myself? You said, ‘Lord, this lady must not go down, this guy must not go down’ This is how to be Church…and again, God is looking for you in the Assembly. Are you aware? No New Testament book was written to individuals. It was written either to a Church or to the pastor of a Church. God has no words for an individual Christian. You’re either in Ephesus, or in Galatia, or in Philippi. You must be somewhere in an Assembly. God wants to identify you with an Assembly.
Are you aware that there is also a security aspect to Ecclesia? God instituted the Passover. As these guys were eating the Passover, judgement was happening in Egypt. So, there is a security consciousness. I know that the world is going to be judged, identify with God’s saved people. It is a spiritual principle to identify with God’s saved people. Every time you gather together like this, you are symbolically demonstrating the Ark of Noah. This is where safety is. It’s important.
As I close, I want to show you two things in the Word of God. You know, these days, someone can wake up on a Sunday, ‘It was a long week, I won’t go today’ Then the next Sunday, ‘I’m not sure what to wear, I won’t go today’ Then the 3rd Sunday, ‘I have a program by 12:30. If I go to Church I’d be late so, I won’t go’ and then you can have someone who identifies as a Christian who hasn’t been in Church in a month or 3 weeks and he doesn’t even have withdrawal symptoms. Church Gist. Let me tell you the Biblical implication of that, anyone who was not in the Assembly in the early Church, there was no dividing line, you were either in the Assembly or belonged to satan. I’m not making it up. If you read 1 Corinthians 5:5, when they wanted to kick someone out of the Assembly because he was not acting as a believer, Paul said ‘Deliver him to satan’ meaning if anyone was not showing up in the Assembly, the general consensus and spiritual understanding was that he was not of the fold because that was the only reason why you will not identify with an Assembly. ‘Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh’ It was a judgement. So, it was judgement to say, ‘We won’t allow you to come to Church’. Try it today, say ‘You won’t come to Church again’ The person will say, ‘What’s that? What’s in your Church?’ Because we lack the understanding. Even David, a man of the senses said ‘I was glad when they say to me let us go’ You need to know where you are. This is not the Red Cross…even though it’s about the Cross. That was good abi? and the Cross is also red. I’ll stop there. You are not a volunteer, you were bought with a price, with blood. You must take it as a serious thing.
Matthew 18:15-17. The moment someone is not in such a position of accountability where the Church can talk to him, entreat him…someone says, ‘Pastor wants to see you’ He says, ‘Pastor my foot!’ Nobody can talk to you. The Bible says, ‘Treat him like an unbeliever’ There is no such thing as a lone ranger in God. Don’t listen to the lies, all those sleek phrases. ‘I belong to the Celestial Church, not Assembly, not a name’ There is no such thing. If God doesn’t find you in an Assembly, there is a spiritual implication and I’m not saying this to try and keep you in this Church. I’m saying this to try and keep you in Church. I think Celebration Church is a good Church. If you feel blessed somewhere else, it’s fine but just be in an Assembly where you are known and you know people. Church Gist. Where Paul can say ‘Say to Archippus’ They knew who Archippus was. So, when they were reading…’Say to Archippus’ (They turn to Archippus, direct feedback) ‘Say to Archippus, fulfill the ministry you were given’ (To Archippus, they said we should tell you to fulfill the ministry). We don’t know your name to begin with. We have this ‘Do bad all by yourself’ attitude that must change. Come into a fellowship, let’s be able to restore you. Let’s be able to know just by your pulse, you’re not doing well so we can rush in and save you. Very important. One of the best things God can do for you is to give you a solid Church that cares about you, that is passionate about your progress and joy in the faith and can pray for you.
I read a testimony on Twitter just this morning and it’s very funny it’s from Reboot Camp. I remember the exact moment I was preaching. I had seen in a vision some people talking to their muslim friend, ‘Come to Church’ and they persuaded the lady and she came to Church. As I was done preaching, I said, ‘I see a vision, some friends persuaded their muslim friend to come to Church and you are here. I want you to come forward’ The lady was shocked to the marrow. Church Gist. Just imagine you’re in Church for the first time and the Lord reveals, that was exactly what happened. They had been persuading her ‘Come to Church’ She won’t listen then they invited her for Reboot Camp, she didn’t pay attention then she dreamt and in the dream she dreamt about Reboot Camp. So, she decided, ‘Let me go’ and there she was in Church for the first time. I preached the sermon of salvation, gave the Word of knowledge. It was too specific, in a room filled with thousands of people God singled her out.
Now, what I’m saying is this, just imagine the friends. According to the story, I don’t know, someone said he was sitting behind them, as the Word of Knowledge came, all of them started crying that this was too specific. Now, I’m thinking, you brought your friend to Church, God singled her out, now she’s born again, she’s filled with the Spirit. What do you think God will think of you? Those of you who have friends here on your accounts, it’s no small thing. When Paul said ‘You are my joy and rejoicing at the coming of Christ’ He is saying ‘I have done such a good job. I can’t wait to hear what Christ will say’ It’s a beautiful thing to encourage people in the Lord and then they are born again. Church Gist. I think one of the most touching testimonies ever in the history of this Church just because of the way it happened, this lady has a friend who had seizures every week. I think they said 3 seizures per week or something like that. She doesn’t go to Church. I don’t think she believed in God and all of that and then we’re having a healing service, she persuades the lady to come. I remember that also, I think it was February last year or so, March last year…I was about to be done preaching, I saw a vision, I said ‘There’s someone here, you brought your friend to be healed, come’ Prayed for her, she fell on the floor, demons left her and then from that time till now, not one seizure.
Now, I’m thinking. This is not even about our Church, this is not even about me, but it’s one thing for you to be blessed in Church. It’s another thing for you to have the presence of mind to think of someone else and then you bring the person and the person is blessed. The lady I was trying to call out yesterday. When I got home I saw she had sent me direct messages. ‘I hear you’re calling me pastor, I’m actually based in Abuja I just came to Lagos. So, she came to Lagos, brought her sister to Church. 12 year old sister who had had a growth in her body for years and she came to see her pastor for the first time, was prayed for and then the growth disappeared. So, when because of you people are blessed, not just in healing, especially salvation, or people grow…you know I remember those days, Pastor Bisola and Pastor Yemi then, every week, someone from their office will come and I remember there was a particular mid week service, they had brought someone from the office who was having great problems in the office and the person was about to be fired or something and I’m preaching and I said ‘There is someone here, you’re having problems in this office’ and I think after the service he went to one of them and said ‘Why did you tell your pastor about me?’ I am saying all of that to say this, you are Ecclesia, this is a system of governance. God is working through you to establish His counsel on the Earth. Play your part. Win souls, heal the sick, partner with your Church to reach your community, bring as many people as you can, or if they will be comfortable elsewhere let them go, just make sure they are in Church. Get actively involved because one day you will see Jesus and then He will tell you ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink’.
– Singing and Prayers.
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