Meeting: Season of the spirit (Day 5)
Minister: Pastor Olaide Olaniyan
Pastor Olaide Olaniyan
We should resolve and make a commitment to follow Jesus all the way. Rarely do we find believers who want to follow Jesus regardless – for the rest of their life. We shouldn’t only make up our minds to follow Jesus but much more to learn of him.
Truth is, many of us weren’t given the actual cost of following Jesus from the beginning. In fact, most of us are not even told there is a price to follow Jesus. The gospel that tells us that there is no cost for following Jesus is a wrong gospel – “5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Philippians 3:5-8)
There is a cost to following and apprehending Jesus. You cannot expect to gain the things of Jesus and also gain the things of the world – the cost will touch our life and things that pertain to our being. We must know that there are costs that pertain to our inheriting of Jesus. Sometimes the cost can be loneliness. We saw our God separate Abraham from his family and even his close cousins only to wander about in the wilderness with just the hope of inheriting God. Now, we all want the blessings of Abraham but most times, we don’t want to pay the price Abraham paid to get it.
We should find the balance between grace and works. (1 Corinthians 15:10) – “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” There is grace that makes us pay the price. Grace doesn’t mean there is no price to pay, but rather it enables us to pay the price.
There is a cost for following Jesus. What grace begins to show us is that it’s worth it. What I stand to lose versus what I stand to gain cannot be compared. We should be ready to lose some things and call some dung if we want to gain something.
The soul that doesn’t want to lose anything will never gain Jesus. We should be like Paul who counted all but loss for to win Christ. Sometimes, we have to ditch our smartness to be dull so we can be saved – “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” (1 Corinthians 3:18). We don’t like to be called fools, but scripture admonishes us that before we can be made wise in Christ, we must be foolish, we must suffer the loss of something, which for some could be their wisdom.
A commandment of faith that dulls our mind is when the lord said we should “wait” on a matter. Heaven does that to kill haste in us, because we cannot apprehend Jesus with what’s inside of us.
We don’t follow Jesus on our own terms, there is a cost. Jesus cannot be gotten by any believer on their own terms, we only apprehend Jesus on his OWN terms and there are some things that are not compatible with his terms that we have to relinquish.
One of the things that we must give up from our souls is sin. All sin in us must be purged for us to lay hold on Jesus. As long as we continue in this journey, Jesus will collect everything from us. We might not know the mannerisms, but we must be willing to cooperate for him to do all he wants to do.
The reason many don’t do well on their christian journey is because they didn’t make heart commitments from the start on what Jesus wants to deal with. Many were made to see what the journey entails so they can commit to it. Jesus will not stay with our sins, he will keep trying and purging us even down to our intent. Jesus will sanctify and cleanse us from wrinkles and spots even to any such things. Indeed, the road will be rough, there are times it will be very touch on us, tough on our finances and so on.
Jesus went all the way for us down to Calvary. We also will go all the way for him – we should make that resolve. Even Jesus ensures the cross despised the shame, so there is no way we will accept the gospel of enjoyment
Nobody will inherit glory without giving up things, but what they want to give to us outweighs our suffering. Sometimes, it is in making resolutions and forging ahead in face of serious contradictions that we break the hold of spirit over us.
Paul counted things that were gain to him and even all things that pertains to him as loss. Christ collected all grounds totally from Paul. We too must suffer the loss of all things. For us to inherit all things in God, God will also deal with all things that we are, every of our lot in this vanity world will be demanded by Jesus.
The Lord will come for our Isaac.
The payback of God is incommensurate and that’s what gave courage to Moses not to fear the wrath of the king.
We need heart commitment to endure the rigours of the hope to continue learning in hope of something. Heat commitment to continue journeying, to continue walking, to continue learning. The journey is a long one, some will get tired on the way, some will get weary. Even the people that preached to us might turn back and not continue to the end, but we must make a heart commitment not just to believe in Jesus but to follow him and walk with him to the end. The issue isn’t believing in Jesus, because even Satam believes in God more than us. However, much more than believing, we should obey and follow him to the end.
1st Tongues & Interpretation
For this new phase opening upon you,
and new ground you are coming into,
there is a new dedication that needs to happen.
you need to check the commitments of your heart again.
It’s because of the entrance that is before you and ahead of you
That’s why I am bringing this thought again
It’s for the sake of the entrance you are coming into as a people and individual
That’s why I am saying to you, loveth me more than this?
Everyone needs to evaluate the hearts once again
Even their heart’s commitment in following after the ways of the lord.
It’s for the entrance.
For the ground we are coming into cannot be thread with uncertainty of heart and commitment
We must enter with fullness of assurance of heart in followimg the lord
That we might not be swept away
But make commitments knowing the cost of following
And be willing to pay the price regardless of what may come upon us.
It’s for the entrance that is coming upon us as an assembly.
The Lord will beat us until we are mailable to follow him whithersoever he goes. Sometimes, His instructions might be foolish, but we should be foolish also to follow, just like Jesus instructing 500 people to wait for him in Jerusalem until further notice. We should learn to wait and stay on the instructions the lord has given us until He gives a new one. Let us be gullible enough to follow Jesus even if it means losing our own things because what we call our thing are our sins. They are the things that make us defiled.
Christ apprehended us for a resurrection. He apprehended us so we can resurrect in a particular order. This is not a physical resurrection of the dead because everyone both good and bad will physically resurrect. This is a resurrection followers of God will experience when they are physically present in their body – “23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (John 11:23-25)
There are two levels of resurrection stated in this scripture, the resurrection for those who are in their body is that they will never die again. The two resurrection we are to come into is sinlessness and deathlessness. They will teach us until we die no more. It’s God’s project to reign until all death is brought under his footstool. The key of deathlessness is couched in the gospel of God.
We should believe that it is possible to be without sin and without death – sinlessness is possible.
So we see Paul, because he knew what he signed up for, he didn’t turn back from following God despite all the persecution he faced.
The teachings of Christ will show us how to handle lack, because the teaching of milk has raised us to know he will always provide. If we will progress with God, we will look at lack in the face and not be moved. We should be persuaded that nothing in this present or in the world to come will separate us from the love of God – Romans 8:39.
Separating us from the love of God is separating us from loving God. In Romans 8:37 downwards, we see that storms will surely come.
May heaven bring us to a place where they will take away all things from us.
THE END